Page 51 of Four Times Saved

I stayed hidden, watching him fight himself. But as the cops moved closer, I waited.

"Who the fuck are you?" He whispered back.

"Do you really want to have a conversation now? I have a car parked nearby. I didn't expect the forest to be this fucking crowded tonight. You know what I mean?" I hissed.

His gun wobbled, but he straightened up, looked toward the lights in the trees and back at the shadows. Once he tucked the gun in his waist, I stepped out.

"Okay, fine." He panicked, shifting from foot to foot.

"Follow me!" I whispered, pulling him next to me. He shrugged me off, defensive. "Best if we stay close. I keep an eye out, you keep an eye out, get me?"

"Yeah. Yeah! Keep moving!" He shoved me forward.

I was aware that he could flip this around and hang me up on a string for the cops, framing me for taking Lily to buy himself enough time to make an escape. But I was banking on him having a little bit of sense. If he did that, he'd have to reveal himself which was a hell of a risk. If he managed to convince them, it wouldn't buy him enough time to make an escape, because well, he'd be surrounded. He'd have to take a few more risks: take off running, have them question why he was running, get caught— or don't run, stick around to give a statement, tell them he didn't want his face shown on the news and have them question why while I asked the cops to solve the case in a single phone call to Lily, to identify him as her kidnapper.

So, I made him walk ahead of me, hand on my gun if he decided to try anything stupid.

The Pink Panther theme song played in my head as I kept my focus on the sounds around me, the lights and him. He kept asking where we were going like that one movie with the kids in the car asking if they'd arrived yet. I contemplated whether it would be easier to knock him out with my gun and carry him over my shoulder. That would slow me down, so I gritted my teeth and kept up the charade.

GPS in my earphones, I sighed when we approached my car that was hiding in the bushes near the scanty highway. I'd parked here earlier after driving around the area a few times, looking for a place the officers hadn't marked off.

He let out a breath when his wild eyes landed on my black rental car. "Man, I owe you one." He hurried toward it.

In long steps, I approached him from behind. "Ah, don't worry about it. I'm the one who should be thanking you," I said, right before knocking him in the back of the head with my handgun, popping my trunk and shoving him inside.

My skin tingled with the shocks racing through my body and I jumped in my car. However, before I could get far, my rearview mirror alerted me to the officers' lights as they raced toward me. Fuck.

Chapter 26

Lily

The blade of a knife sang, wild eyes glowered at me, and the snarling teeth of a rabid man bared themselves. My whole body shivered. Curling into a ball, I squeezed my eyes shut. The smell of earth returned, clogging my nostrils.

"I'm back." The voice whispered in my ear. "This time, you're not going anywhere."

"No. Please." I cried, wondering how I ended up here again. I was supposed to be safe. There was a click behind me, followed by a bang. A gun went off, but I was still alive.

Shaking and unable to breathe, I opened my eyes and turned around with my heart in my chest, to find Eric sound asleep with his arms still wrapped around me. Reality filtered back into my body with the sounds of my men's snores.

Still, I swallowed hard, my throat desperate for moisture. My breath left me in a rush. I turned to make certain that it was Matt, Ethan and Ryan in the bed with us, and not some random men.

They were curled up toward the head of the bed, while Eric and I were wrapped around each other at the foot, with one of Eric's legs hanging off. I didn't know if the guys knew they were hugging each other, but it was adorable and hilarious all at once. The sight steadied my breathing and released the constriction around my lungs.

Needing some more reassurance, I turned my body to face Eric. He was beautiful in the soft shadows cast in the dim night light. Tracing my fingers over the frame of his face, I admired the smoothness of his skin, until I got to his beard which sent a tickle through me as my thumb brushed over it.

My touch was as light as a feather as I traced the outline of his closed eyes and long lashes, grounding myself in the present. He had blond peeking through the brown and red of the tiny hairs there. When I got to the length of his nose, however, his lips kicked up into a smile and my heart skipped a beat.

"What are you doing?" His eyes fluttered open and I cupped his cheek, scooting closer.

"Admiring how beautiful you are." I grinned.

He frowned.

"And being grateful that I get to be here with you." I whispered, thankful I had brushed my teeth.

He must have done the same when I wasn't looking, or popped a mint or something, which I was grateful for when I didn't smell onion on his breath.

He held me tighter, smiling. "You're stuck with me."

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