Chapter 64
“CALLING ALL THE MONSTERS” BY THRIII AND MESSENGER
Iwas halfway to Murdafest, not far from the farm, when a flash of blue blazed past me. At first, I didn’t notice it on the old highway besides the headlights.
Then, it made a sharp U-turn to follow behind me.
My hands held the large stirring wheel so tight, it felt like my hands were burning. There were a few cuts on my hands from where the glass had sliced my flesh. Angry and irritated, they burned against the steering wheel.
The engine behind me roared as it tried to keep up with me. I’d recognize that purr anywhere—it was Valentina, Quinntessa’s Mustang. Old baby blue. Judging by the erratic racing behind my accelerating truck, he was following me into the sun rise.
He as in Sebastian. Who the fuck else would be going after me in his daughter’s car like a rabid race car driver?
Dominik’s truck squealed as the front of Valentina bumped into the back corner of the bed. I slammed down on the gas and shot forward, attempting to get out of range for him to pull some pig maneuver on me.
It was hard to hide pink hair. I was sure he spotted me in the lights.
Valentina’s engine roared as he fought to move up to my left, but I didn’t give him the chance. I slammed on the brakes and looked to the side, spotting Sebastian angrily working the steering wheel as his momentum carried him significantly in front of me.
This wasn’t the fucking Ken Miles Cup. If he wanted to catch me, he’d have to do much better than swerve around like a manic.
The old pick up wasn’t much for speed. Sebastian had no issue catching up to me after I made a sharp turn. Dominik’s wood truck was clunky and apparently had too little gas for me to be messing around like this. It had been sitting out in the woods, transporting dead bodies more than live.
“Come on. Come on,” I growled, hitting the dash when the orange tank glowed.
The Mustang behind me gave an animalistic growl from its engine. I yanked the steering wheel and turned again, just as Sebastian slammed into the back of my vehicle.
“No, no!” I shouted, grabbing the gun from my passenger seat.
Valentina shoved me against into my steering wheel, and I turned against the leather gear and forced the wheels to shriek against the pavement.
At this angle, Sebastian’s dark eyes met mine. He looked pained. The anger that tied his distraught features together reminded me only of a worried, fearful father.
I felt bad for pointing my gun out the window and pulling the trigger.
He hit his breaks as I fired twice. I didn’t want to hurt him.
Quinntessa wouldn’t forgive me if I did.
I only wanted to scare him enough that I could get him off my tail and focus on looking for her.
I would die at the hands of this sick pig if he knew I had brought his daughter into this mess and got her killed.
The sun was coming up now—red across the skies as warning for the day to come, all underneath a large blanket of gray clouds. I watched the Mustang spin out to the side through my rearview mirror, hoping it wouldn’t follow me any further.
But I was wrong.
Sebastian Dawson had lost his father to Papa. I doubted he wanted to lose his daughter to me.
The Mustang caught up quickly to Dominik’s truck. This time, he didn’t bother playing it safe and slammed into the rear left side of the truck, force of the hit throwing me out of the driver’s seat and into the passenger side.
My head slammed into the passenger window. It felt like I was soaring in slow motion. A flash of regret for not wearing a seatbelt entered my mind as the truck rolled off the highway and toward the woods.
I heard the Mustang hit its breaks under the crushing sound of glass and metal. I grunted as my throbbing ribs hit the steering wheel, my body rattling around until the truck finally stopped right side up, leaning against thick trees.
Dragging myself out of the passenger side, I grabbed my gun and fell out of the truck.
“Fuck!” I shouted, my body screaming for me to stop. My shirt was torn, blood running down my shoulder where window glass had stuck me.
I heard the car door of the Mustang slam and quickly dragged myself up from the gravel-filled grass. My eyes darted to Sebastian as he carefully ran across the highway.
Without a second thought, I turned and bolted into the woods. We weren’t that far from the farm. We’d hit my uncle’s property eventually. Everything within the woods was known territory. I could eventually figure it out.
“Quinn, wait!” he called after me.
My feet moved faster than my lungs, each step a painful stroke of discomfort from my toes to my head. It was like I was running in a bubble, slamming into tree trunks and low-hanging branches. There’s no telling how close Sebastian was to taking me down.
I couldn’t leave my daughter. I couldn’t leave her.
“Running is like freedom.” Quinntessa playfully jogged beside me, her eye sparking in the rising sunlight coming from the treetops. “So run, rockstar.”
Holy shit. I was losing my mind. She was there. With me. Her smile and the cute laugh that echoed off the fucking trees as I raced away from any possibility of being captured.
I was a daughter of the devil. The princess of thieves. The damn idiot who fell in love with an agent’s dazzling angel of a daughter.
I was not dying today.
Quinntessa wouldn’t have wanted that.
I was not fucking dying today.
A yelp escaped my mouth as I hit a trunk unexpectedly down in the middle of my path. I threw my hands out and tried to catch myself as I flew over the tree and slammed my knee into a rock.
I tumbled down a large hill, dirt and leaves sliding me through the damp soil, down and down, hitting everything in my way.
When it finally stopped, I struggled to take a break, the adrenaline finally draining as I stared up at the thick, eerie treetops where sun barely poked through this park of the dark forest.
My eyes fluttered, and I let my hands fall to the sides. Distantly, I heard gun shots. Distantly, I smelled smoke. Distantly, I could see her pretty eyes and gorgeous smile waiting for me in the school parking lot all over again.
I wasn’t dying today.
I wasn’t.