Page 111 of Killer Kiss

Planted my foot and took off back the way I’d come, thankful that my father, though good for little else, had at least taught me to drive well.

It would only take Riddick seconds to do the same, but those seconds were all I needed.

At the bottom of the bluffs, I took a side road. And then another. Cutting through the backwoods of Saint View that I’d learned well after the past few weeks of following Augie around. I pushed the car hard, and then harder, getting my foot as close to the floor as I dared. I spun around another corner, and then another, eyes alternating between the road ahead and the miles behind.

Searching for Riddick’s headlights.

Listening for the roar of his engine, and his car closing in.

But there was nothing.

After twenty minutes of driving, burying myself in the heart of Saint View, I dared to pull over.

My breaths came in short, sharp pants, fear pulsing through my bloodstream.

I needed to get out of the car in case there was a tracking device. I retrieved my gun from the glove box, not needing to make sure it was loaded because it always was. I abandoned the car on the side of the road, taking off on foot through the darkness.

I shouldn’t go there.

Everything inside me said I couldn’t.

That I could be leading Riddick right to Augie’s doorstep.

And yet I couldn’t stop my feet from heading in that direction. From scurrying through the dark night with even deeper shadows. From turning down his street, and then his driveway, until I was standing on his doorstep, crying, desperate, and so fucking broken I was sure I would never be whole again.

I’d looked. I’d made sure he wasn’t following me. I’d taken my ID and phone and a few other bits and pieces from my purse, but then dumped the rest while I’d been running. I’d checked everything still with me for trackers, as well as my clothes and my shoes.

Riddick knew nothing.

I was safe here.

I banged my fist against the broken screen door, rattling it on its hinges.

It opened.

Augie stared out from inside the house, his face instantly flushing with relief as he reached for me, hauling me inside. “Jesus fuck, Lia. Where the hell were you? What happened? I’ve been calling your phone and you didn’t answer. I thought…”

I didn’t know what he’d thought, but he held me closer, so tight I thought my bones might break.

But I welcomed it. Needed it.

He shut the door behind me and guided me into the living room, kissing the top of my head, cradling me close, not willing to let me go.

I clung to him. Dug my fingers into the back of his shirt. Inhaled his scent that I’d let myself get attached to. Breathed it deep, letting it soothe the ache in my lungs that was threatening to rip me in two.

A sob broke free, my eyes filling with tears that couldn’t be contained. They spilled over onto his shirt, soaking the material and his skin beneath it.

“Tell me,” he said into my hair. “Whatever it is, I’ll fix it.”

He’d said something similar before. The first time I’d shown up here on his doorstep, terrified by Riddick.

But this wasn’t even about the psychopath who’d hunted me across town. He could chase me and threaten me all he wanted. It was only ever going to be a temporary distraction from the real pain that lay below, just waiting to destroy me.

There was no fixing this. No coming back from what we’d done.

Wordlessly, I handed Augie my phone, the horrific video I’d been sent still open on the screen.

It was cruel. I should have warned him. Should have prepared him so he didn’t have to feel what I did.

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