Page 196 of Burn the Wild

My stomach roils. My parents wanted me back?

“They didn’t fight because they couldn’t. So poor, so stupid.” He closes his eyes and slowly smiles. “I told them if they came after you, I’d kill them. And then you.”

“You’re a monster,” I hiss.

“I am, Reese. I’m your monster. You made me love you, and then you took it all away.” I flinch as he sits beside me. His eyes are manic in a way I’ve never seen them before. A way that makes me terrified.

That makes me want Ford.

Ford.

At the thought of him, I close my eyes. His handsome face. That lazy grin. How safe he makes me feel whenever I’m with him.

We made promises just the other night—our future, our hope. Only to be snuffed out by Gavin. He’s ruined so much for me, and he won’t ruin this.

Mustering all my strength, I look Gavin in the eyes. “Ford will come for me.”

“He doesn’t love you,” he taunts.

Never. I’m never going back to that place where Gavin breaks my will. Takes my freedom. My hope. My joy.

My voice tremors. “He does. He loves me.”

At my words, Gavin explodes off the bed, the knife raised in his hand. I flinch, waiting for it to rip through me. Instead, he stabs the papers at the end of the bed in a froth of anger, desperation. Over and over, he shreds my contract. “I love you, I love you,I love you, you little bitch!”

I stare at him in horror as he screams. He’s going crazy now.

Gavin’s head jerks up. “He doesn’t deserve you. So that means I take you away from him.”

Breathing heavily, he drops the knife and crosses to the kitchenette. He mutters as he unzips a duffel bag, his back to me.

Nausea swirls as my eyes race around the cabin. My heart jumps when I spy the two-way radio on the nightstand. Ford’s words float through my memory.

Glitchy wiring.

Sweat drips down my spine. Keeping one eye on Gavin, I wiggle the best I can toward the edge of the bed. To the two-way radio.

If I can just knock it over…somehow turn it on…

I wiggle my toes. No longer numb. Whatever drug Gavin’s injected me with, it’s wearing off.

Hope flickers.

With all my remaining strength, I lift my arms to the edge of the nightstand and knock the corner. The radio wobbles once. Steadies.

I choke on a sob.

Fuck. Please work. Please glitch.

“One last song, Reese.” Gavin’s voice jerks me from my task.

He stalks toward me, a syringe in one hand.

I recoil and scream for Ford, for someone, but he’s too fast. The needle slips into the crook of my elbow, and I yelp in pain. Sudden dizziness surrounds me. My fluttering eyes look up at him in horror as I slump back against the pillows.

“No,” I slur. “N’more. Please…please…”

“That’s right, Reese. No more. After this, no more.”

---