Page 83 of Rough Ride

It took everything she had not to run to the door and rush in. That wouldn’t do any of them any good. Instead, Crysta inched closer to Sean.

“Stay here. I want to go in and assess the situation. Make sure to follow my orders,” he whispered with a frown.

“Anything to save Eli.”

He nodded and kicked open the door.

* * *

Rose was about to land her third lash on his back, when the door exploded.

“Ah, I see that you have friends here, Eli. Who is this naughty boy?” Rose asked. He was almost feeling better that he only saw Sean. He knew that Crysta had been smart enough to stay back at the ranch.

“Sean Kaheaku.”

“Ah, and you decided to come see your friend. You can see that your stepbrother is dead.” She glanced in the direction of Sam’s body. “He really didn’t like you.”

“No, he didn’t. He hated me. No worries because the feeling was mutual.”

Then, she raised the gun. “And while I do like a good plaything, you can see I have one.”

She pulled the trigger. Sean dove away but not before she nicked him in the shoulder.

“I think you need to drop the gun.”

The moment he heard Crysta’s voice, Eli’s heart stopped. Rose would kill her. She would make her hurt, torture her, then Rose would kill her slowly. And the bitch would do it in front of him, just like she said she would.

Rose looked at Crysta, anger and then pleasure moving over her features. “Is that so? Look Eli, the woman I hate has come to save you. Too bad she didn’t do as you instructed.”

Crysta’s gun didn’t waver. “One thing you need to know about me is that I don’t take orders from men outside of the bedroom.”

“Don’t tell me that you like when he ties you up?” Rose asked. “How very stereotypical.”

She sounded bored and Eli knew that made her dangerous. He finally worked his binding loose enough he could get up out of his chair. Seeing the way she was eyeing Crysta, it was just a matter of time before Rose struck out at her. He rose out of the chair and ran toward Rose. He rammed into her. The gun fell from her hand as they hit the ground hard. His hands were still bound, so she got away from him easily. She grabbed the gun and pointed it behind him. He knew without looking that it was Crysta. He turned, trying to think of something to save her, but he didn’t need to.

Crysta fired her gun, hitting Rose in the chest. Rose staggered back, falling, and dropping the gun.

Crysta rushed forward to him. Cupping his face, she kissed him gently.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Somewhat.”

She kissed him again and helped him up. His vision wasn’t that good and the room was starting to spin. Aftereffects of the adrenaline and drugs they had used on him.

“Where’s Sean?” she asked. She spotted him and ran over to him.

She listened to his chest for a few seconds. “He’s still breathing.”

“Of course I am, but damn woman, stop yelling,” Sean said.

She smiled down at Sean as Eli made his way over to him. “Aren’t you glad you had me come along now?” she asked.

He laughed as Eli helped him up.

“Just nicked me, but I’ll take a kiss to make it better.”

Before Eli could tell him to fuck off, there was a snick of a gun behind him. Eli felt the bullet hit him in the shoulder, throwing him forward into Crysta. She screamed as they stumbled to the ground. Another loud report of a gun filled the small room. Eli struggled to lift his head and he saw Sean, a gun in his hand as he walked forward. There on the ground was the woman from his nightmares, her eyes open…but there was no life in her.

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