Chapter 15 Lex
LEX
I struggled against the man’s hold as he dragged me down the hillside, away from the house. Away from West. I tried to scream, but he had his hand clamped over my mouth.
“Stop fighting me,” he growled.
Nausea rolled through me at the familiar voice. The voice that had always been kind to me. The voice that was supposed to mean safety.
Max. The deputy who’d always seemed to be on my side since this whole thing started.
As we reached the bottom of the hill, Max’s hand slid away. He knew we were far enough now that West and Holt wouldn’t hear my screams. But his other hand tightened on my hair. “Why did you run from me? Make me follow that trash up here?”
“I-I didn’t.”
His grip tightened further, and he shook me hard. “You did! It was bad enough when you let the whole world hear my songs. But then you ran off with those men. You let him touch you!”
Max’s free hand gripped my throat, squeezing. “You’re mine. You sing just to me.”
“I sing for me,” I wheezed.
His fingers tightened, cutting off my air supply. “For me! You played on that balcony every time I patrolled. You’d come out there just because you knew I was on duty. You’d play for hours, just for me.”
My mind whirled. I played for hours every night. It didn’t matter who was around. Even in the dead of winter, I sat out on my balcony and played.
“W-what about your wife?” It was the only thing I could think to ask. As if she’d somehow be able to miraculously bring him back from the brink of this insanity.
Max’s hold on my throat loosened a fraction. He shook his head back and forth. “Beth’s a good woman. But she doesn’t get me like you do.”
“I don’t even really know you.”
It was the wrong thing to say.
Max’s grip on me went iron-tight, lifting me off the ground. “Don’t you lie. You do it all for me!”
I kicked out on instinct, my knee coming up hard and swift between Max’s legs. He howled in pain, and I crashed to the ground. But I didn’t stay there. I scrambled to stand, running up the hillside.
Sticks and rocks jabbed into my bare feet, but I only pushed harder. I heard a shout and knew Max wouldn’t be far behind me. Panic lanced my chest. This couldn’t happen. I couldn’t let him get me.
I darted around one tree after the other, trying to pick a path that would give me the most cover. But it also cost me precious speed.
“Get back here, you bitch!” Max yelled.
My lungs burned, and my vision wavered, but I kept fighting.
A hand fisted in my hair, yanking me back. We fell in a tangle of limbs. Max slapped me across the face, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth.
“You don’t run from me,” he sneered. “You’ll pay for that. You’re mine. Don’t you ever forget it.”
I squirmed, trying to get my hands free so I could fight. “I’m not yours. I never will be.”
He groped my breast, squeezing painfully. “I’ll show you. You’ll see.”
The intrusion spurred an unearthly fight in me. I bucked and snarled, shocking Max for a moment. Just enough so my hand broke free.
I yanked it up in a palm strike, putting all the strength I had behind it. There was a satisfying crunch of bone, and then Max screamed, rolling off me.
I was on my feet in less than a second, scrambling up the darkened hillside, praying for help. Praying for West.
Breaking through the opening in the trees, arms caught me around the waist, hauling me into a hard form. I opened my mouth to scream, but then West’s scent filled my nose.
“You’re okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
Tears filled my eyes. “It’s Max. He’s coming. He—”
“Let her go,” a low voice growled.
My gaze jerked to Max. Blood streamed down his face from his nose, but that wasn’t what I zeroed in on. It was the gun pointed directly at West and me.
West held his weapon trained on Max. “Drop it. This is over.”
Max’s eyes went wild. “It’s not over. It’ll never be over. If I can’t have her, then no one can.”
Everything happened in slow motion. A deafening pop. West shoving me to the ground. Shouting. And then it all went black.