Page 82 of Defending Casey

Casey flinched back but he didn’t strike her again. He grabbed at her jaw which hurt like the dickens, but she could handle it. She had to.

“Don’t think of playing any games with me, Casey. I’m not joking about any of this.” He drew in a breath and let it out while his eyes roamed over her face and his fingers bit deeper into her skin. “I want you and I’m going to have you. My cousin can fuck off and die for all I care, but he won’t have you… I won’t let him.”

Casey slid into the passenger seat and pulled the door closed.

Running wasn’t an option.

With Nora in the back of the car, he had more than her attention, he had her life in his hands.

She would stay with her daughter no matter what.

Brian slid in behind the steering wheel and gave her a smile. “Seatbelt, Casey. You don’t want to get hurt, do you? Imagine what would happen to- Ha! I knew you’d see it my way.”

She would’ve put her seatbelt on without all of his cold words. She wanted to see his head through the windshield, not hers.

Brian pulled out of the parking spot and stopped.

As she watched in horror, Brian lowered her window and threw her purse out of the window and into the shadows at the corner of the building.

He smiled at her as if he had just done something wonderful.

“You didn’t think I’d let you keep your phone and whatever you have in your bag. I’ve seen some of the shit you pull out of that bag like you’re fucking Mary Poppins.”

As they pulled out on to the road and headed toward the mountains, he laughed out loud.

But he stopped laughing soon enough. Approaching Main Street, she heard Brian grumble under his breath.

Almost everyone around them were locals and while taking her car, with Nora in the backseat, she was under his control. The people outside the windows, they were another matter. Casey could feel Brian’s anxiety like it was her own.

Well, it was her own. She could only hope that someone would notice her. Notice the car? Something. Casey just hoped that they didn’t make a big deal of it. Once someone figured out that they were gone, they could provide details to help.

Her pendant.

Before she could stop herself, Casey started to reach for the pendant around her neck. It was under her shirt, so she didn’t alert Brian to its presence.

Casey’s tension eased a little.

Once Hale knew that she was missing, he could track her.

Her lips twitched and almost curved into a smile, but reality kept a smile from her lips.

“Come on,” Brian grumbled under his breath. “Why is everyone driving so damn slow?”

Casey kept silent and let her eyes scan the sidewalks and the vehicles around them.

A space opened and Brian put his foot on the gas, and they started to move through the intersection.

That’s when they both heard the siren.

Brian’s hand landed on her leg with the sharp sting of impact and his fingers clamped onto her thigh. She stifled the pain by biting into her lip.

As she watched, Sparrow pulled out onto the road, her lights flashing and siren blaring. Her gaze swung left to right and again as she made sure the way was clear. As soon as all four wheels were pointed in the right direction and the traffic gave her enough room, she took off.

She heard Brian’s relief in his exhale. She felt it in the way his hand gently gave her leg a pat instead of risking bruises with his painful grip.

“I hope she’s headed far out of town,” he tapped a few fingers against the steering wheel, “so we don’t have to worry.”

Casey remained quiet. What she wanted to say was going to get her into trouble one way or the other. Brian was too volatile at the moment. Behind the wheel of a car? Who knew what he was going to do?

---