Page 54 of Salacious Devotion

“What do you think, JT?” Dane asks. He must have added JT to our line. Thank God he didn’t disconnect me.

“I think he’s onto us,” JT answers. “I say we ride his tail. Force him to pull the fuck over and confront us.”

I purse my lips. I hate this idea. I’m sure Dane and JT have a weapon in their laps, but I’m equally certain Tombeck has more than one, and he doesn’t play fair. He uses a semi-automatic.

I’m watching their speed on the GPS. The road is too windy for what they’re doing. My heart is racing. I’m impotent here. All I can do is watch and wait.

I wish I knew how close they were tailing him. I hate this. If Dane lives through this, I never want to feel this way again. It’s like a horror movie. The bad guy is going to pull a U-turn and kill everyone in a moment.

The only reason I know that can’t happen is because the road is too narrow, and from what I can tell, there’s a cliff on one side. That fact is not making me any calmer.

“He’s speeding up,” JT shouts. “Shit, he’s leaning out the window. Is he going to shoot at us while moving at that speed?”

I gasp and cover my mouth. I might faint. In fact, I collapse onto my desk chair just in case.

“There’s a sharp left ahead, Dane!” JT screams. “He’s?—"

“Holy fuck!” Dane yells.

I’m shaking violently. What’s happening? “Dane!” I shout at the top of my lungs.

A few seconds pass—long seconds—in which I die a thousand deaths.

“I’m here, Paige. I’m fine,” Dane finally says. “Tombeck went over the cliff.”

I hear the skid of tires. I hope that means Dane is stopping. I lift my free hand to rub my temples with my thumb and first two fingers, arching my body as I take deep breaths. I need to be patient.

“Paige?”

“I’m still here.” I’m so relieved to hear Dane’s voice. I’m panting as though I ran up all the stairs leading to this penthouse.

“It’s over. I’m looking over the edge of the cliff now. The car exploded on impact. I know he was in it because I saw him flailing his arms outside the window as he went airborne.”

“Let’s get out of here,” JT says. “I’ll report the smoke on a scrambled line.”

I slide off the chair onto the floor, landing on my knees. As I rock back and forth, I start sobbing. Is it really over?

“Deep breaths, baby. It’s okay. He’s gone.”

I can’t stop, though. I need to release it all. I don’t even care if JT is listening to me. Let him listen. If he spends the rest of his life thinking I’m a pansy-ass girlfriend, so be it. Dane is alive. That’s all I care about.

Chapter 20

Dane

* * *

I’m surprised that Paige isn’t standing at the entrance to the elevator when I step into the penthouse. For a moment, panic swells inside me. A million thoughts rush through my head.

What if my actions were too much for her, and she left me? She argued with me over and over, not wanting me to go after Tombeck. Was the stress of this too much for her?

She’s free now. She could have safely left the penthouse. She could be anywhere.

Suddenly, movement catches my eye, and I shift my attention to the sectional in the living room. Paige jumps to her feet and runs toward me. It takes her a few seconds to speed up, which tells me she’d fallen asleep waiting for me to come back. I’m glad. She had to have been exhausted.

I drop my bag on the floor and brace myself with good timing because Paige leaps into my arms. When I catch her, she wraps her legs around my waist and hugs my neck hard enough to cut off my oxygen supply.

Neither of us speaks as I shuffle toward the sofa and sit in the same corner she just vacated. I rub my hands up and down her back as she sobs.

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