Page 33 of Queen of Blades

She had to keep going. It didn’t matter how comfortable she felt around them or how well she knew them. They wanted her dead, and she wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Stop!” Paul sounded far too close. She couldn’t look back, though. If she did, she’d definitely trip.

Summoning all the adrenaline she could muster, she tried to go faster.

Her heart sank the moment the arms looped around her waist. When his weight crashed against her back, it threw her off. Tripping over her own two feet, her eyes widened as she went down.

The air was knocked from her lungs when she collided with the ground. The forward momentum didn’t stop, so they skittered in the dirt as he fell atop her. Small grains of sand and tiny rocks bit into her knees, her chest, and her cheek. Pain seared through her as she tried to find her ability to breathe again.

With his knee in her back, Paul yanked at her arms. Wriggling, kicking, and flailing, she did her best to not comply with his wants.

She gasped. When she could breathe again, she wasted no time before she screamed at him. “Get the fuck off me!”

“You’re making this harder than it needs to be,” he said, not sounding winded at all.

Of course not. The fucker was in ridiculously good shape. If she survived this, she needed to get back into the gym and take some new self-defense courses and maybe use the treadmill.

This position made it harder to fight him off. Paul overpowered her and brought her wrists together. The feel of cool, thin plastic had her sucking in a sharp breath.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

The familiarclicksof zip ties filled her ears. That fucking asshole.

“I tried to be nice, but you ran away.”

“You’re going tomurderme!” she screeched. “How is thatnice?”

“I haven’t done ityet.” He had the audacity to sound calm, as if they were talking about making dinner and not her death.

With her hands effectively tied behind her back, the pressure of his knee was removed.

“Are you going to be a good girl?” he asked as he gripped one of her elbows.

He had to be out of his mind asking that. “Areyougoing tokillme?”

“I don’t know,” he said as he tugged her up.

Wait. What did he just say?“Excuse me?”

She glared at him as he brushed her hair out of her face.

Wincing, he clucked his tongue. “You’ve got road rash on your face.”

As his fingers tapped at her tender cheek, she hissed and reared back against the sting. “Youtackledme!”

“I wouldn’t have had to if you didn’t run. Really, you brought this on yourself.”

“I’m so kicking you in the balls,” she muttered.

He chuckled, a rich and hearty laugh, while dragging her back toward the house.Bastard. He maneuvered her in such a way that she had difficulty keeping her feet under her and fought tripping repeatedly. Which was why she never got the opportunity to kick him.

Once they returned, Eddie stood, smugly leaning against the post at the top of the porch stairs. She glared at him while Paul yanked her up. Of all the things she needed right now, his mocking expression wasn’t it.

“You’re bleeding.” Paul’s brother gestured up and down.

“I was thrown into the dirt. What do you expect?” she snapped.

Snickering, Eddie shook his head. “Not you.”

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