Page 8 of Beautifully Reckless

“You mute bitch! I’m gonna have fun showing you what it’s like to have a train run on you!”

“Motherfuckers!” Jared roars before swerving his ute hard into the side of their car.

I scream. Dee raises her gun, and Jared white knuckles the wheel as he tries to run them off the road.

Oh my God, we’re going to die.

I clutch onto my stomach, fear gripping me at the thought that I might not be able to keep my unborn baby safe.

With a sudden jerk, Jared swerves his ute hard in the other direction, tyres squealing as the back fishtails before he guns it up the freeway on-ramp, trying to put distance between us and Daniel.

Glancing over my shoulder, my heart sinks as I see the silver car gaining on us, headlights glaring through the darkness.

“They’re coming!” I screech.

“I seethem,” Jared mutters, tossing Dee his phone without taking his eyes off the road. “Call Ayden.”

She nods, tapping the screen, and a moment later, the phone rings through the car speakers as Jared weaves across four lanes of light traffic on the freeway.

“You got her?” Ayden’s voice booms through the cabin, rough and urgent.

“We got her, but we can’t shake Stone and Allen. We’re about to hit the tunnel,” Jared grunts, eyes flicking to the rearview mirror.

“Fuck. Okay. I’ll call for reinforcements,” Ayden replies, but as we shoot into the tunnel with Daniel on our tail, something else catches my attention.

A distant rumble. Like a storm rolling in. Only this rumble doesn’t stop. It just gets louder.

“Uh, who were you going to call?” Jared asks, still focused on the mirror, his voice tight.

“You know who,” Ayden barks, and Jared snickers.

“No need. They’re already here. Gotta go.”

Dee ends the call, glancing over her shoulder, and for a long moment, as we race through the tunnel, I just sit there frozen as my heart flips over in my chest.

It can’t be? Right? I’m imagining something that isn’t real.

There’s no way there is an entire pack of motorcycles entering the tunnel behind us… right?

I don’t realise my left leg is jittering up and down until Dee’s hand comes to rest on my knee, giving it a squeeze.

My eyes flick from her hand to her face, and she offers me a small smile before mouthing.‘You’ll be okay.’

Idon’t know how true that statement is, but as the thunderous roar of engines gets louder and closer, something inside of me settles. Like just knowing who might be in that pack makes me feel a little safer.

“Fuck, hold on!” Jared yells right before the ute lurches forward from being hit from behind.

In an instant, Jared’s and Dee’s arms shoot out protectively, one from each side, holding me back against the seat. It’s such a simple, instinctive act, but it ignites a storm of emotions inside me. Like maybe, just maybe, there are still people besides Lexi who care about me despite everything I did wrong. Despite how I pushed them all away.

“Pricks.” Jared sneers, slamming his foot on the accelerator harder and swerving into the middle lane as we descend under the Yarra River. “Are you both okay?”

Once again, Dee gives a thumbs-up, and I manage a squeaky “Yes” before they both relax their hold on me.

When I glance up at Jared, he’s wearing a wicked grin, eyes fixed on the rearview mirror, which is when I notice how loud the roar of motorcycles has become—deafening, like a tidal wave crashing down behind us.

When Jared rolls his window down, I stiffen, the noise roaring through the cabin like a freight train before a motorcycle rumbles up beside his window, and I see a familiar face.

“Hey there, Charity. Good to see you’re still in one piece.”

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