Page 49 of Ruthless Son

“Huh.” Cold seeped in, my grief washing away like the tide. I called on that persona, the one that I used on the wards when I had to deliver bad news, or deal with arsehole patients. Rex frowned, registering the change in my demeanor. “Joke’s on you, Gavin.” Rex winced hearing his given name, he hated it. He’d told me one night when I lay in his arms while we whispered our secrets to each other. I guess he left one really big fucking secret out. Storming past him, I dragged open the drawer, digging behind clothes for my passport. “Where is it?” I threw everything over my shoulder, underwear and pajamas that he had bought for me hitting the walls.

“You won’t find it.”

“Where is my passport, Rex?” My whole body froze in fear, I was trapped. “You can’t do this.”

“I can do this, princess, and I have.” He towered over me, his hard eyes were like granite and stared straight into my soul. “Did you think I’d let you take my kid?” His whispered words were filled with venom and spite, and through sheer will I stayed uncowed, meeting his cold gaze with my own.

“You can’t keep us here, this is kidnapping.” I shoved him, his large body stood firm before me.

Rex lowered his head to mine, his hot breath burning my skin. “Not in the state of Ohio, that child is mine and I have equal rights. When the baby is born, I’ll give you your damned passport back, and then you can do whatever you want, but my baby stays here.”

He stepped back at my gasp of outrage. “You’d keep me from my child?” My eyes widened, fear slithering inside me. “You… you can’t—” I looked around for something, anything that would show me this was all a dream, that the nightmare of the last hour would disappear, a figment of my overactive imagination. But Rex glowered down at me. I felt his anger… at me. As if he had a reason to be angry when I was the one who had her life completely turned upside down by a decision not my own.

I walked back toward the door, keeping him in my line of sight, until my back hit the wall. “I’ll never forgive you for this.” For a second, a flash of regret sparked in his eyes, and he stepped forward, but before he could reach me, I bolted. My feet pounding the floor until the sunshine hit, almost blinding me.

“Uh, Mia?” Easton walked toward me, I’d taken so long he had got out the vehicle to look for me, his face a mask of confusion at my sudden change of heart. “I kept the truck running.”

I darted past him, hearing Rex’s boots thud behind me, getting closer and closer. But I wouldn’t stop for him, I wouldn’t stop for him ever again.

The cab door was left open, the key dangling in the ignition as I jumped in, shutting the door firmly before locking myself in and reaching for the gear…

“Fucking automatic,” I screeched, slamming my hands on the steering wheel, as I looked at where the gear stick was supposed to be.

“Mia, baby. I need you to get out of the truck.” Rex spoke softly as if I was a wild animal he was trying to calm down. My mind was a raging mess of chaos. An ache deep in my chest was trying to consume me, my breaths coming fast as I tamped it down, along with the tears that threatened to escape. Rex knocked on the driver’s window, the handle outside jarring as he tried to open the door. His pulling rocked the vehicle. “Just come inside and we can talk some more, I’ll explain everything. I know you don’t want to go driving in this condition.” His bright blue eyes pleaded with me, his knocks getting faster and harder. “You can’t go out there, you don’t even know where you’re going.”

Slamming my foot on the gas, the truck shunted forward. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rex jump back, avoiding being run over. In the rear-view mirror, I saw him dart into the clubhouse.

As soon as I reached the main road, I put my foot down, speeding toward an unknown destination. I couldn't go back to the motel, it would be the first place he looked for me. Not to mention I’d dropped my bag inside, so I had no money and no phone. I was literally on my own.

The town gradually gave way to country roads, trees and open highway. The blurred lines had me gripping the steering wheel with all of my strength, trying to remind myself to drive on the opposite side of the road to what I normally did kept my tears from falling.

My heart burned, the searing need to get away from everyone and everything kept my foot on the pedal. I felt violated, my trust destroyed by one decision that Rex made without my permission. He had taken my choice away from me, snatched it out of my grip and made me into this… this shell of a person who spent half her time anxiously considering a future with a man who could treat me like I was nothing. As if I was incapable of deciding these things for myself. He didn’t even speak to me about what happened next, whether we had a future together or if our relationship would work based on mere weeks of knowing each other. Instead he ripped my future out of my hands and molded it into what he wanted… what suited him.

I needed to pull over somewhere and find a phone, if I could get through to Millie, she could meet me with my things. She could get Kannon to try and find my passport and I could be on the next flight out of here. A tiny spark of hope lit in my chest as I revved the engine and put some speed between me and the Street Kings.

The road was lonely, not a car in sight, and if I’d been in any other kind of mood, I could have appreciated the sheer beauty of the view before me. But beside that spark of hope was a swirl of anxiety that swelled more and more the further I got from the clubhouse. Rex wouldn’t let me go that easily. He had been determined in keeping me with him, stealing my passport was a low blow, but I was pretty much neutralized until I got it back.

A dark spot on the horizon appeared in the rear-view mirror, and I passed it off as some stranger traveling in the same direction as me, begging to some unknown entity that it wasn’t Rex catching up. The car sped toward me, a trail of dust in its wake.

Apprehension reared its ugly head as the blacked out car raced up the highway and a breath of relief expelled in a long sigh as it overtook me, its taillights a welcome sight.

Before I could count my lucky stars that I’d gotten this far without a biker catching up with me, the car swerved into the middle of the road, parking across both lanes and blocking my exit. “No fucking way.” I slammed my hand on the horn, the sound ripping into my quiet solitude. “Get out of the fucking road, you prick,” I screamed to myself, hating Rex even more for his blatant disregard for my safety with this bullshit stunt.

Smashing my foot on the brake, I shoved the car into reverse, remembering a small lay-by about a mile back I could pull a U-turn and get the hell away in another direction. Anger had me fisting the steering wheel with all of my strength, and wanting to ram the truck in the car at the same time. The dodge was big enough to do some damage, but I didn’t want to run the risk of also doing damage to myself.

The engine picked up speed, and I threw my arm over the passenger seat to get a better look behind me. A dark flash of metal glinted through the rear window, and before I could slam on the brakes, the truck collided with the car behind me. The crunch of metal on metal rang in my ears, and my body jolted forward, the seat belt digging into my chest, pinching my skin. I groaned as we came to a halt, the smaller vehicle shunted back but ultimately stopping my escape.

Releasing my seatbelt with a ‘snick’, I shoved the door open and tumbled to the ground, my shaky legs barely holding me up. I hunched forward, my hands on my knees and sucked in great lungfuls of air, trying to calm my racing heart. “Holy shit.” My words rushed out in a wheeze as I looked up to take in the scene. The bonnet of the smashed car was crumpled, charcoal smoke filled the sky hindering my view of the driver.

I wobbled over, my nursing experience kicking in, and tugged the driver’s door open. The man inside was slumped forward, a crimson trickle working its way down his face from a gash on his forehead. “Sir, can you hear me?” I didn’t recognize him, his clothing spoke more of a cowboy than a biker.

I looked to the car that had blocked my way, waving at the occupant, I could just make out the shape of a man behind the wheel, his features hidden by the dark tinted windows. “Come on, come on,” I muttered. “Hey, I need your phone.” My shout and frantic wave got his attention, and his door was thrown open.

The man that exited wasn’t Rex. In fact, he wasn't even a Street King, there was no leather in sight on his lean body. Each door opened to reveal another stranger, their icy gazes fixed on me. I suddenly knew that Rex had been right about the danger outside of the clubhouse.

And didn’t that just annoy the hell out of me even more.

Rex

---