Page 109 of Surrender

“He’s still trying to drive out of here,” Corjan says.

“He won’t get far,” I remark. Not with those tires. Not with how close I am to Lucy and Bennett.

More officers appear, surrounding the car. They’re shouting at him to exit. To stop hitting the accelerator.

My lips part as I see movement in the back seat. A little head of blond hair pops up in the window.

“Lucy.” Her name chases my exhale.

I don’t even realize I’ve moved until a hand clamps tight around my bicep. “They’ll get her, Jack.”

I wrench my arm free and take two steps forward.

The sparks continue and arc high, a gold shimmer in the distance. The engine revs again, and suddenly, the sparks flash in a burst of yellow light, and the car catches on fire.

And that’s when I lose it.

Shouts in the distance. The sound of feet slapping on the pavement. Another set follows me as I race toward the burning vehicle. A flurry of activity and crackling radios as officers make calls for backup and grab fire extinguishers.

I don’t stop. I keep running with Corjan on my heels, not giving the first fuck about what I’m running into and how much trouble I’ll get into for doing it.

The back doors are flung open before I get there. Someone in a blue uniform drags Lucy from the back seat. The tears on her cheeks making them shine in the flashing lights.

But I still can’t breathe. I can’t breathe until I see that Bennett is okay too.

“He’s stuck back here!” someone shouts. A second later, the cop stumbles backward to the ground with Bennett’s car seat against his chest.

Devon flops out of the front onto his hands and knees, choking on the smoke as flames engulf the car.

I skid to a stop by the officer on the ground, grip him beneath his pits, and drag him twenty feet away from the car while he hangs on to Bennett.

“Give me my baby.”

“Goddammit, Jack, help a guy up first,” Silas says without a trace of humor.

I tear Bennett from the straps and settle him against my chest, my cheek to the top of his fuzzy hat. My heart goes a mile a fucking minute. His weight only halfway settles the racing pace.

Corjan helps Silas to his feet as I march in the direction I last saw Lucy.

I scan faces, my heart pumping. The whoop of more rescue vehicles arriving on the scene rings in my ears, drowning out everything except the sound of blood rushing through my veins.

“Mr. Jack!”

I jog around the side of an unmarked cruiser.

“Luce,” I breathe her name and drag her from Sutton. She has a black smudge across her forehead, and her cheeks are still wet with fresh tears. “I’ve got you, honey.”

Her small arms wrap around my neck, squeezing so tight I sway beneath the force. Her head follows, burying beneath my chin where her scared little breaths fan against my throat.

“You’re safe,” I murmur. With them both tucked in my arms, the entirety of my heart settles.

Her back bows with a hitched sob. “I want my momma.”

I cut a glance to where Devon’s being cuffed on the ground, seriously considering killing him.

“We’re going back to your momma right now, okay?”

She lifts her head and gazes at me with tear-filled brown eyes. “You come?”

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