Chapter 24 #3
“Sorry, I’m just leaving the Shed. I was with D and he’s not doing too great, so I left and got Skeeter to check on him. I’m heading home right now,” I replied, hearing him telling the others I was fine.
“You have to stop doing this, baby,” he practically begged, and I cringed.
“I know. I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I promised, saying goodbye before heading towards home.
The road to the Shed was long and quiet, making it easy to see any trouble lurking, so I could relax for five seconds before reaching the road it connected to. One part took me towards Diesel’s, the other took me deeper into Ashburn Valley.
I turned towards Ashburn Valley, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel to a silent tune as I checked my phone.
Those two seconds were all it took for someone to fucking sneak up on me, a car suddenly slamming full force into the backside of the car. I screamed as the car spun out, tires screeching as I flew off the road into the field.
And then it began to roll.
The carbon fiber started smashing to pieces, nausea swimming as the dizziness hit me, and it took me a second to get my bearings when I stopped moving. I didn’t remember the car coming to a stop, and I reached a shaky hand to my head, feeling blood.
I must have hit my head.
My movements were sluggish as I tried to unbuckle myself, grateful that the wheels were on the ground to make it easier, but I kept blacking out.
The next time I came to, someone was moving me, and I wondered if this was it? Did the Soldiers get me after all? Would they kill me, or just make me wish that I was dead?
I cried out from being jostled, but my kidnapper gently cradled me to their chest to get a better hold, a familiar voice breaking through the pain.
“I’ve got you, Killer. Shit, stay with me, babe.”
I’d hit my head way too fucking hard if I was hearing Slash, but when I opened my eyes and blinked against the light, there he was.
Those beautiful dark gray eyes peered down at me, and I’d never seen him look so terrified before.
“Slash?” I choked out, trying to reach a hand to touch his face.
“I’ve got you,” he repeated, my vision dimming as everything went black again, his curse fading away into the distance.
Skeeter
“I’ll fucking deal with you when I get back,” I snapped at Matteo, who was eyeing me from the bar knowing exactly what I was talking about. Not only had he given out Diesel’s address without permission, he’d sent Rory there knowing Diesel would try and kill her.
Depending how drunk he was, he could have taken more than one shot at her before asking who it was, and then it would have been too late. There was no way he’d survive killing her, the guilt would drown him on top of the guilt he already carried for Sasha.
I didn’t even make it to the door before Diesel stumbled in, crashing into me and grabbing my jacket.
“Is she here? I fucked up, Skeet. I—”
“Calm down. She just left, she’s okay. I was coming to find you,” I answered, not really caring if the guys wanted to call him a pussy right now as I hugged him tightly. “She’s fine.”
“I kissed her.”
“I know.”
“Then I—”
“Rory told me everything. She’s really worried about you, man. Did you fucking drive here?” I asked, not knowing how that was possible when he could barely stand.
“I’m sorry. She’s your girl. Fuck, why did I—”
“Deal with it later, you’re too drunk to discuss anything right now. You want to come to mine for the night? If not, you’ll have to let me take you back to yours, bro.”
I should have seen this coming. The fact that she was the only girl he let in. The one he could open up to and felt protective of.
They were never just friends, even when he honestly believed that was the case.
I didn’t have the energy to figure this shit out right now, just needing to get Diesel into a bed somewhere and let him sleep it off. If I decided to punch him, it would be when he was sober enough to remember it.
“You,” Diesel suddenly spat, pulling away from me and making a zigzagging beeline to the bar, and I stood back and watched as he grabbed Matteo and started beating the shit out of him, letting all of his emotions out with each punch.
Matteo might have been sober, but he had nothing on Diesel right now.
My phone rang after watching them for ten minutes, and I glanced down to see it was Rory.
“Just remembered to call me?” I asked dryly, seeing there wasn’t a message to say she’d made it home okay. The line stayed silent, and I frowned as I pulled it from my ear to check that it was still connected. “Baby girl?”
I hung up and tried to call, but she didn’t answer. A shiver skated up my spine when the call ended and she rang back instantly, not saying anything again.
I took off out the door, Diesel and Matteo be damned as I jumped into my car and sped off in the direction Rory would have gone.
The shiver turned to absolute panic when I came across the scene before me.
The Corvette was scattered in pieces across the field, the roof dented in and the driver’s door open. I slammed on the brakes and bailed from my car, running towards the wreck to find the car empty. Had someone taken her? Who had been calling me?
I rounded the car, finding her lying on the grass close by with her phone in the grass beside her, blood dripping down her face and soaking into her shirt.
“You’re okay,” I said in a panic, not wanting to move her. Had she been flung from the car? Had she crawled out herself?
What if she had a spinal injury?
I shoved my jacket off and tore my shirt getting it over my head, using it to press against the wound. She’d hit her head hard, that much was obvious.
She groaned in pain, trying to move.
“No, baby girl. Fuck, don’t move. Hang on.”
There was no way I could let Otto treat her. She needed a hospital for head scans and internal bleeding.
I pulled my phone out to call an ambulance, confusion filling me when I told them the location and they said an ambulance was already en route. She’d tried to call them herself it seemed but passed out, so they’d traced her location for a welfare check.
I shushed her, gently holding her still when she tried to move again, and for the second time in my entire life, I prayed to any god that would hear me.
I’d already lost Slash, I wouldn’t survive if I lost her too.