Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
ROYCE
Never in my life had I ever considered for a single moment that the magical lemon orchard from my childhood would be the place that my worst fears would manifest. I wanted something familiar, something that reminded me of a happier time.
Initially, I parked in front of the cottage, but then I remembered when I was there last how it felt like someone was watching me.
So I cut through a secret path that only Uncle Silas and all of us kids knew about.
I was warm under Ford’s leather as my arms remained fastened to my chest, my gaze on the ground.
On the edge of the grove was a massive hickory tree that I used to climb and relax in.
It seemed like the best place to curl up and cry, thinking over the way my heart had cracked and splintered over Ford’s lies.
I realized how in love with him I was, and how deeply he’d sunk into my soul, and worst of all, I realized he’d never left that space.
I’d invited him in when I was just a girl, and it seemed I’d never let anyone else fill it. Not even Connor. I needed a little time to gather up my hurt, sort it, and then begin to heal. It was right when I reached my favorite tree that I realized my stealthy exit plan wasn’t so secret.
“I hate to do this to you, Royce,” a man’s nasally voice sounded in my ear, “But I’m out of options.” I froze, immediately recognizing that voice as Rodney’s and the metal at my neck was the barrel of a gun.
Panic seized me so tight, I couldn’t move.
I slowly reached into the leather, going for my phone when Rodney suddenly shoved me.
It was such a hard jolt that my phone fell to the ground.
“None of that. Let’s go, I need you to leave the phone.
” Rodney kept the gun on me, while shoving me forward again.
“And take this off,” he seethed. His fingers gripped the edges and began ripping the leather from my shoulders.
“Fine, fuck. I can do it!” I yelled as he manhandled me. I was too angry to cry, but as I faced him, seeing that stupid triangle patch of hair on his chin, I lunged for him.
The butt of the gun whipped across my face, forcing it to the side. I tried to right myself, but a sudden bout of dizziness hit, making me see double. I couldn’t seem to get my feet under me as I tripped toward the tree.
“I don’t have a choice, Royce. The entire point of them releasing that video was to draw Ford out and place him at the mercy of the Murdoch Devil Riders. But guess where your stupid as fuck boyfriend is right now?” His mouth was close to my ear, the barrel of the gun pushing into my back.
Rodney began pulling me in the opposite direction of the cottage. I tried to look behind me, but Rodney yanked my arm even harder, shoving me forward.
“He’s on his way here, Royce. He was supposed to be headed south, but the fucking idiot is on his way here. Do you know what the Murdoch Devil Riders will do to me when they realize this didn’t work? They’re going to kill me. So, I thought up a plan B. I’ll take you, and Ford will follow.”
“Rodney, stop.” I tried to fight him, but he kept twisting my arm with a bruising hold.
My heart thrashed as I tried to get my feet under me.
I knew self-defense; I could use a move to stop him if I could get him to stop pushing me for two seconds.
Even digging my boots into the dirt to add resistance so I could pivot didn’t work.
He shoved my back, making me lose my balance.
“No, Ford is already on his way here. I have to get you out of here.”
That meant Ford might be able to hear me. Without giving it another thought, I opened my mouth and screamed.
Rodney slammed the butt of the gun into the back of my head, making me fly forward.
“That was a warning, but if you do it again, I will be forced to knock you out. Now move.”
With my head throbbing, my vision blurring, I kept shuffling forward.
I couldn’t get in the car with him, or allow them to bait Ford.
He wasn’t thinking clearly where I was concerned.
I had no idea what sort of president he was, or planned to be, but I knew from hearing things from Dad, and a few comments Mom let slip that Ford couldn’t afford to rush into a trap.
I was still angry with him over the lies, but I also still loved him enough to do whatever I could to prevent it.
Up ahead there was a small ditch, which would force Rodney to lose his grip while navigating the terrain below it.
When we nearly approached it, I dropped my weight, which forced us both to fall, and the gun he was holding landed out of reach.
I maneuvered to my feet before he did. He wouldn’t actually shoot me because he wanted me alive.
Which gave me the edge I needed and ran.
Without looking back, I took off toward where we’d come from. I remembered what Rodney said about Ford being close, so I let out another scream. Although uncertain if he really was on his way, I knew it could help me if he had a direction in which to go.
I kept pumping my arms, lifting my legs as I covered more ground.
My mind kept going back to Ford. To seeing his hazel eyes again, that warm smile that he’d finally started sharing with me.
I thought of Gus, and how Ford and I had barely started our relationship, and someone was already threatening to tear it from us.
I began whispering his name as I ran, my heart pounding angrily. My pulse hammering.
There was someone ahead, I could make out their shape. I knew it was Ford. It had to be him. A smile stretched along my face, as tears slid down my cheek. Relief nearly made me falter, but I kept running. He was here. He’d come for me.
He was running toward me, when suddenly a loud shot rang out through the orchard.
I worried that Rodney had seen Ford and shot him, but it was me who went down to the ground, my hands landing in the loose dirt and my face sliding against it.
It was me who had blood coating my skin, and I realized that perhaps it worked to Rodney’s advantage for Ford to see me die as much as it would to discover that I’d been kidnapped.
I’d fucked up, and now I was going to die because of it. My eyes were on the sky, and my pulse felt really weird, my body tingled, my extremities going numb. I wanted to hang on until Ford got there, but it wasn’t easy. Darkness clung to my vision, and then I couldn’t see anything at all.