Chapter 23
Summer
Kyle takes another step toward me as I line Kurt up in my sights. I’m running out of time. I need to get Violet away from Duke. If I can do that and get to the car we have a fighting chance.
I aim at him. “Let Violet go.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Duke grabs her harder, forcing her body to cover more of his. “I’ll let her go when you put down the gun.”
“That’s a terrible deal.” I aim at his head, over her shoulder. Ignoring the panic on her face I apply a small amount of pressure to the trigger. I could make the shot three years ago. I can probably—no, I can—make it tonight.
“You won’t risk her life,” Duke says. “You don’t have the guts.”
I tip the sight an inch and squeeze the trigger.
“Fucking hell.” He ducks, loosening his hold on Violet.
“Run.” I scream at her. All she has to do is get away from him and I can keep them in place long enough for us to get in the car and drive out of here. Kyle will probably give chase, sirens blaring, but I only need to make it home to my brothers.
“I’m sorry.” She doesn’t even try to get away from him.
Something pokes me in the back of the head. Cold and hard, it rests against my scalp. My heart stops. I can tell what it is before I hear the click. Before Travis drawls, “Did you forget about me, slut?”
I fight the urge to be sick.
“She knows her place.” Duke sneers. “Like you will when we’re done with you.”
Travis shoves me hard. “Move.”
One foot after the other he marches me across the yard.
“I’m sorry,” Violet whispers as we pass her into the house.
“It’s not your fault.” My voice trembles with anger. It’s these assholes that are to blame. That and me thinking I could be strong enough to take them down. I’m no match for the four of them. Clearly, I was deluded. The price of that delusion will be steep.
“What do you want done with her?” Travis asks as he takes away my rifle.
“Put her on her knees,” Duke orders.
“You heard him.” Travis forces me down. I grimace when my knees hit the wood floor too hard. He keeps the muzzle pressed to the back of my head as Duke approaches.
“Watch her,” Duke tells Kyle as he hands Violet over to him. He approaches me. “You need to be reminded that this is our town, slut?”
“Devil’s Bend is full of dickless wonders.
How could I forget?” Perhaps it would be wiser to keep my mouth shut, but I’m done doing that.
“And Rebel would have noticed I’m missing by now.
That means he and my brothers will be sending out a search party.
Guess where they’re going to come looking first? ”
His hand whacks across my face, twisting my head with the force. My ears ring, and my cheek is on fire. I lift my hand to the hot, stinging spot.
“Gun.” He holds out his hand to Kurt.
The other man hands him a pistol. Taking the safety off, he places the barrel between my eyes. “You know, we never got to experience you the way we wanted to.”
A cold shiver runs down my spine. Fear prickles at the back of my neck. I’d been saved by my brothers from the worst of it physically. It had been my reputation they fucked right into the dust. Hoping Owen will have a gut instinct about the danger I’m in now is not a plan.
Duke reaches for the zipper on his pants. The click of the tines is like the ticking of a time bomb.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
The sound of someone at the door has them all reacting. Duke stops undoing his pants. Kyle’s grip on Violet tightens, and she yelps.
“Want me to see who it is,” Kurt asks?
“Go,” Duke says.
Kurt leaves the room and a moment later he says, “Dawson.”
My hope sinks. If he’d wanted to help me, he would have done it earlier today, or back when people first found out about what these assholes were capable of. But he protected Duke. He protected them. That makes him no better.
I finally understand why Ivy is so chill about Rogue keeping tabs on her everywhere she goes. I need Rebel. I need my husband. Never seeing him again… coming here was a mistake. I should have stayed at the ranch. Or better yet in L.A. In our bed and in his arms.
If this could all be a bad dream that would be great.
“Get up,” Duke hisses as he drags me to my feet. He shoves me at Travis. “Put them both in the basement.”
“Let me go.” I stamp down my heel on Travis’s foot. Outnumbered as I am, I am not going to be quiet and let them hurt me. I’m going to fight.
“Fuck.” Travis snarls. He hits me across the back of the head with his gun hard enough that I see stars.
“Who was that?” Dawson grows louder. “Where’s Duke?”
“You can’t come in here,” Kurt says.
“The hell I can’t. Whose car is that out there? It looks like the one Summer got into.” Dawson storms into the room with Kurt on his heels. He stops dead when he sees me. And then Violet. “What the fuck? Duke, what the hell are you doing?”
“Help us.” The back of my head hurts like hell.
“Shut the fuck up or I’ll pull the trigger,” Travis whispers close to my ear.
“Turn around and leave,” Duke tells Dawson.
“What are you going to do with them?” Dawson narrows his gaze on me. He doesn’t appear to be shocked at what he’s seeing.
“That’s not your business,” Duke’s brow puckers. “Why are you here?”
“Saw the car. Recognized it. Thought I’d make sure you didn’t need a hand.” Dawson inches toward Duke as he speaks.
“It’s a mile and a quarter long driveway,” Duke says. “You wouldn’t have seen the car from the road. You couldn’t have.”
“Needed to make sure you weren’t doing anything stupid. Lo and behold, you are.” Dawson glances at Violet. “Why don’t you put the gun down and let me deal with the girls.”
Duke straightens his arm, the gun still in his hand pointed at his brother. “You always wanted what’s mine, but you never had the guts to take it. And you won’t now. Help Travis take the girls to the basement.”
Dawson’s shoulders rise and fall, but then he lowers his head. “Okay, Duke.”
“No.” Cold fingers of dread wrap around my throat. I knew he wouldn’t help, but this is worse. He’s choosing to take part. “You don’t have to let him order you around like this. You don’t have to keep protecting him.”
“Shut up, slut.” Dawson snarls at me as he approaches Violet, who flinches when he drags her out of Kyle’s grip. To her he says, “Don’t make it harder than it has to be.”
She starts to sob as he marches her to the door that leads downstairs and opens it.
I stand my ground when Travis urges me to follow. If we go into the basement we might never come out again. He trails his weapon from the back of my skull, down my spine between my shoulder blades and settles it in the small of my back. “Move.”
A gunshot wound there could be fatal. To me and my babies. He must realize that. I have no choice but to follow Dawson and Violet into the basement. I have to protect my babies until Rebel and my brothers work out to come looking for me.
“We need to get rid of the car,” Duke tells Kyle. “And report the mess at Violet’s.”
“I’ll handle the shop. You need to move the girls,” Kyle says. “This is the first place those crazy fucking Hearts will come.”
“Once I’ve dealt with the car,” Duke says as we reach the threshold. “Lock all three of them in.”
“Down you go.” Travis shoves me at the top of the stairs.
I try to catch myself on the railing as he shuts the door behind me, taking the light with him.
Dawson catches me before I do. His voice breaks through the darkness. “Are you okay, Summer?”
“Don’t touch me.” I shove him aside and blindly use the rail until I’m off the stairs. My eyes adjust to the darkness, mainly because there’s a small window that’s letting in light from outside.
I make out Violet’s shadow. She materializes as I make my way to check on her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m so sorry.” She grabs my forearms and doesn’t let go. “You have to believe me. I didn’t mean for any of this—”
“Let’s do this later.” I extricate myself from her grip and tear the makeshift pouch I’d duct taped into the train of my dress open to retrieve my phone. “We need to get out of here before they decide what to do with us.”
“That won’t work,” Dawson says. “No signal down here.”
“What do you care? You were ready to jump in and help them. You always protect Duke. Tonight. This morning. Back in high school.” I turn my phone on anyway. Walking around the room, I look for a signal and find nothing. “Damn it.”
“Duke doesn’t trust me. I’m in here with you.” Dawson finds and switches on the light.
“Through no choice of your own,” I snap at him, blinking as my eyes adjust and I get my first real look at the room we’re in.
Other than the too narrow window there is no obvious way out. There’s a couple of cots with a pile of blankets on each. Two doors lead off from the main room. One of them is a rudimentary bathroom with a toilet and a basin. The other is locked. “What’s in there, Dawson?”
“I don’t…” He comes over and rattles the handle. “Used to be a laundry, but I haven’t been down here in a couple years. And I clearly don’t know my brother at all so it could be anything now.”
He takes a few steps back, raises a leg and kicks directly at the spot just below the handle. The wood around it splinters and the panel swings in. The room is empty other than cleaning equipment. Bleach. Branding irons.
“Branding irons?” Violet’s hand flies to her mouth.
“Does that mean something to you?”
A car engine starts up.
And then another. Tires crunch on the driveway. My rental and… I run to the tiny window. “Give me a boost, Dawson.”
Bending down in front of me, he makes a cradle with his hands for me to put my foot in and boosts me up until I can grab the window ledge and see over it. “Yep, the rental is gone. And so is Kyle’s cruiser.”
“That means at least two of them are gone.” Dawson lowers me back to the floor. “We need to make a move before they come back.”
Violet has pulled herself together. Despite amassing more bruises tonight, she looks ready to fight. “What’s the plan?”
“We’re going to lure them in here,” I say. The detail hazy, having not come to me yet. “Somehow.”
“If you can get them in here, I can take them down,” Dawson says.
I’m not sure I trust him yet, but what other choice do we have?
Violet stares at my belly. “Can you pretend there’s something wrong with the baby? Medically?”
Dawson nods a couple times, then turns off the light and jogs up the steps as quietly as he can manage before pressing himself flat to the wall. “Ready when you are, Summer.”
I suck in the biggest breath. Rebel’s the actor, but tonight I’m putting on the performance of my life.
I scream. “Help me! There’s something wrong with my babies!”