Chapter 27 #2
I’m almost to the stairs when I hear the door close.
I look back to make sure it was her and not another door.
She’s gone. My heart kick starts at what I’m about to do.
I run toward the open door on the left and pause before going in.
It’s the kitchen like I assumed, based on the noises. I can’t just walk in, can I?
What will people think? I can’t stand here either.
God, this is the dumbest plan.
I can only see three people from where I’m standing and none of them are young. Two are middle-aged men and one is an early thirty-something woman. Each of them is cooking and talking, but I can’t understand a single word they’re saying.
Clattering sounds from a door across the hallway. I enter a storage-type stone room. Dim lighting greets me. Goosebumps form on my skin at the colder temperature.
“Hello?”
Someone grabs my arm and yanks me deeper inside.
I squeal.
“Shut yer shitehole,” a girl barks in a whisper.
My heart races. Is this Maisie? Did someone hear me scream? “Are you helping me?” I ask.
“No. You’re helping me.” She drags me to the end of the storage room which grows darker as we go.
I can’t see a thing, afraid I’ll run into something as I let her lead me. Is Lachlan looking for me?
A light shines on a steep stairwell. It takes me a second to realize it’s the flashlight on her phone.
“We’re going up. Don’t fall.”
Panic has me by the chest. I force myself to breathe as we scamper up the steps to a metal door.
“Hold this.” She hands me the phone, and I’m thankful her accent is slight enough that I can understand her. “Shine it here.” She directs me to the lock.
She digs a medieval looking key from her pocket and works it into the hole.
It rattles but doesn’t open.
I jerk at a noise in the storage room. “Hurry,” I whisper-shout.
“Hold the bloody light still,” she snaps back.
I try to, but my hand trembles.
The lock clicks and she shoulders the door open. If she were slight of frame like me, I don’t think she could have forced it up and open. I follow her out and she grabs the door before it falls closed.
“Help me,” she whisper-shouts. “We can’t let it slam.”
I don’t know how, but my reflexes work, and I grip the metal door using every bit of strength I have. Together, we manage to close the door quietly.
We’re in a dimly lit alley between two rows of connecting cottage-like businesses.
“Now what?” Her pale skin glows against her short dark hair. A tiny heart graces her upper cheek like a beauty mark, while three distinct earrings adorn her nose. She’s in her early twenties like me.
“Run.” She bolts in the opposite direction of where Connal is parked at the end of the buildings. I can’t see him, but I know he’s there because of Lachlan.
Adrenaline pumps through my veins, and my feet fly so fast I’m surprised I haven’t tripped.
I follow the girl, praying she knows where she’s going.
If we’re caught, could I play this off as a joke? I didn’t think this through.
I glance behind me so many times, I’m surprised I don’t lose my balance. No one is coming. Why?
The girl cuts between two buildings down an alley so narrow I wouldn’t have noticed it was there.
I follow close behind her, feeling the burn of my legs and my lungs.
I’m in better shape than when I got here.
Riding almost daily helps and sex with Lachlan isn’t light work, but I’ve never been a good runner.
We break free onto another road that borders the buildings and a wall of darkness. It could be anything, a field, woods, a cliff. A tiny car that is so small it looks like a toy sits across the street, parked away from a few other cars at the corner.
The girl runs to it. “Get in.”
I climb into the passenger seat, doubtful this vehicle goes over ten miles an hour.
She starts the engine and drives away faster than seems possible. My head whips back and forth, my heart in my throat as I search for movement. Lachlan has to know I’m gone by now. It feels like forever ago when in actuality it’s probably only been a few minutes.
The girl turns left onto a dark road and drives.
“Where are we going?” I can’t keep still, fearing Lachlan will swoop in like a bat or dragon and drag me back to the castle by my hair.
“I have a place.”
“I need to go to the airport.”
“I think we should hide out for the night, or we risk getting caught.”
“Do ride-shares come out here?”
She laughs. “Good luck with that.”
Dammit. “If you see lights behind us, it’ll be him,” I warn her. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Dumbest plan ever! What was I thinking? I wasn’t. I was emotional, reactive, and now I’m being stupid. “Take me somewhere,” I blurt. “A hotel. An inn?”
“He owns all of them,” she says, her knuckles white as she grips the steering wheel.
“Owns? What do you mean owns?”
“Lachlan MacReid Ashford owns the village and everything around it.”
What! “I thought he just employed everyone.”
“For his wife, you don’t know much about him.”
“I sure don’t.” I agree. Like when she said his full name a moment ago. It dawned on me that his mother made his middle name, MacReid, to help bind him to the family lineage.
I sit forward and keep my gaze on the side mirror to give my neck a break. So far just darkness surrounds us with no lights in the distance. “How far is it to the airport?”
“About two hours.”
Oh my god! “He’s going to catch us.” Why did I trust Tessa? “Is there a closer one?”
“Private only.”
I groan with frustration. My phone buzzes in my pocket, the ringer on silent. I remove it and tense.
“It’s Lachlan.” Fear taints my tone. “If he knows I left, he’ll be out looking for me. We can’t stay on this road. We can’t be out at all. He’ll catch us. Where is this place? Is it close? Hidden? Can he find it?”
“You need to calm down.”
“And you should be more afraid. I know Lachlan well enough to know this will piss him off and he will not react kindly.”
Her features twist showing her nervousness for the first time. “He won’t find this place. It’s out of town.”
“How long will that take?”
“It’s not that far.”
I ring my fingers together to the point of pain. “Okay. Go there. Quickly.”
We drive for fifteen of the longest minutes of my life. I chew off both pinky nails and watch the time. That’s how freaked I am. I’m literally watching the minutes on my phone.
I’m also watching to see if Lachlan calls again or texts. He hasn’t, which is disturbing.
Something occurs to me. I gasp so loudly Maisie jumps.
“What?” She points her wide eyes at me.
“He knows where we are,” I say in a panic. “He’s tracking my phone.” It’s why he hasn’t reached out again. He doesn’t need to threaten me with texts when he can ambush me. I roll down the window and toss it out. “Go fast. Hurry!”
She steps on it, and we go a teeny bit faster.
“You have to get us far away from my phone. Like now!”
“Hang on.” She jerks the wheel and drives into long grass, the headlights brightening the way. The car bumps as we off-road it. Thank God there are no trees. “Do you know where you’re going?”
“Across a field.”
“I know that! Do you know where this field ends?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?” I shriek. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I know this area, but I’ve never cut across the field. I think I know where we’ll end up, but if not, it’ll be close enough.”
I can’t believe this is the plan. It’s not a plan. And this girl… she has about as much emotion as a robot.
I try to calm down. If she crashes, we won’t get anywhere.
She strains to see where she’s going with the headlights only illuminating a short distance ahead. The car bounces on uneven ground as we plow down tall blades of grass.
I can’t believe I’m stranded in a different country so far from home. If I were in America, I could easily find my way back to Connecticut. Here, I’m helpless and much like a sitting duck. I doubt Pippa would help aide my escape. Wait! Maybe Adelaide can.
“Can I use your phone?” I ask Maisie.
“Hang on.” The car drops like we went over a small hill.
My stomach flips, and I squeal, my hands braced on the door and the ceiling. My cry is cut short when we slam onto the ground so hard I’m shocked we don’t blow the tires.
A road appears.
“Found it.” Maisie smiles like it’s a victory.
I scan the darkness again, searching for lights, houses, a village, a city. Nothing.
“Please tell me we’re close to a place to hide?”
“We’re close.”