Page 47 of Ink Deep Devotion

The call connects. He answered!Okay, this is good.I can’t talk, or Dom will know.

I slide the phone back into my pocket, pretending to adjust my hold on my wound. I need to give Damian clues somehow.

“Dom, please pull the car over.” I press. Damian’s smart; he’ll put my pieces together.

“Dom, please stop this. You hurt me, and I’m bleeding. You need to pull the car over before we get too far from the school.”

“You’ll be fine. I’ll fix it. Patch you up. I always have.”

He reaches over, removes my hand from my wound, and tries to hold it tenderly. I yank it away.“Don’t touch me!” I glance at the door.Should I just open it and jump?My chances might be better.

The car accelerates, tipping over 100mph.“Slow down!” I grab my seatbelt and buckle it.

“Dom, please!”

“I need to know the truth, Mila.”

“Where are you taking us?”

He keeps heading north, but the school is isolated for security reasons. Most students heliport in since the main highway is a good hour away. Just a few more hours north, and you reach my old school, Silverstone Preparatory. Dom used to make this drive at least once a month when he took me out of school, and we’d go to our field.

“You’re going to our field just outside of Silverstone Preparatory, aren’t you?”Please hear that, Damian!

Dom stares ahead, his eyes combing the road like a pendulum, stuck, swaying endlessly back and forth.“Did you ever love me, Mila, or was it all a lie? Remember I told you I’d pry it from your lips? Tell me.”

The arrow on the speedometer hits 140.

I know that’s where Dom is headed, but I fear we won’t reach the final destination. He’s too upset to think clearly. And if I’m going to die, then I need Dash to know. Damian will tell him.

I curl my fingers into the seat belt.“I never loved you. How could I when my heart belonged to Dash King.”

Dom glares at me through dark, malice eyes.“Thank you for being honest.” He says, so devoid of emotions, I inch away.

Screech! Jerk!I scream as the car slams on its brakes, but we’re going too fast to stop smoothly. We slide and then spin; my head hits the window, and my entire body’s weight presses into the door.

Bang!The back of the car slams into the tree line.

I scream again, tasting blood from where I bite my inner cheek. Blood trickles from a gash on my head. Glaring to my left, I see the window is crack from where my head hit it. My blood seeps into it like a stained glass work of art.

Breathing heavily, I look down. I’m alive.That's not a good thing.

The car door opens, and Dom staggers out. He stands, arms outstretched, and pats his body down. I don’t move, all I can hear is my breathing.

Dom shakes his head, then slowly he tips it back as he looks up at the sky.“I would suggest you start to run, Mila.” His shout is so calm and controlled, it has my body shaking with violent tremors.

Run?

Struggling, I press the seatbelt again and again until I hear that click, and it snaps back, releasing me. I open my car door and take a step outside. How I manage to stand is purely the effects of the adrenaline in my veins. Aches and pains pulse through me as if some invisible force is playing with me like Playdough.

Dom hangs his head and sighs.“You know, when I was in The Cleansing, I didn’t just have a simple fight. It's not always a fight ring.” He glances my way. Only the broken car separates us.

I gulp, feeling a rawness from my screams. I reach into my pocket and grab the phone. The call never dropped. Raising it to my ear. Dom glares at the phone as I press it to my ear.“You liar!” He shakes his head.

“Damian?” My hands shake so badly that I drop the phone. Frantically, I grab it, mixing dirt under my fingernails.“Damian!”

“We’re on the way, Mila!” He replies.He’s coming!The strength I had dwindles and breaks. Tired pain sweeps through me.

Dom braces his hands against the car; the knife clutched in his right palm.“My challenge was to hunt.” Dom slowly grins.“At the time, I thought it was silly, but I grew to love the chase. The scent of fear the prey leaves behind in the air…” He tips his chin up and inhales.“I love that smell.”

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