Page 94 of Pulse
I have to buy enough time for Troy to find me.
“You know Troy’s coming for me,” I say as calmly as I can manage. “You won’t get away with this.”
“What? Are you fucking him now too?”
“Are you looking over your shoulder? Because you should be.”
His laugh is wicked. “The only thing behind me is the pizza delivery guy. But he’s taking a little nap right now, so I think we’ll be okay.”
I still, my blood turning cold as I realize the horrifying truth …he’s going to kill me.
Troy
“I’m coming at you from the mainland,” Grey says as soon as I answer his call. “What the hell’s going on?”
I press the pedal to the floor, ripping by the guard shack at the neighborhood entrance. I can’t see them before me, and catching up will be nearly impossible, considering their head start.
“Someone took Dahlia,” I say, focusing on the task at hand and not on the fear gripping me like a vise. “They’ll want to get off the island to avoid looping around. We have to catch them before they’re off the causeway, or we could lose them in traffic.”
“I’m ten minutes from you.”
“Fuck!”
I scramble to remember the road layout on the island, which I memorized on the plane ride just a few days ago. A sign for the bike path entrance is up ahead. It’s a nature road, if I remember correctly, and follows the shoreline. It’s not made for cars, but … “Fuck it.”
Lincoln’s car makes the sharp angle a breeze but doesn’t love the terrain as much. Sand whips around us. It’s replaced with water as I plow through a shallow wetland.
God help me. Help me get to her.
I force a swallow.
Please let me save her.
I can’t lose the woman I’m utterly and completely in love with.
I can’t.
I won’t survive that.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dahlia
“You can still walk away from this,” I say, working to loosen the pillowcase as discreetly as I can. “You haven’t done anything wrong that can’t be forgiven.”Lies.“I’ll say I went with you, and we had things to work out.”More lies.“This is just between you and me.”
If I can get him to think he’s not going to prison, hemightreconsider this.Maybe. I have to give it a shot.
He laughs like a madman.Or not. “I’ve already killed the pizza delivery boy. He’s a little involved, too.”
My stomach hits the floor, my hands shaking.No, Dahlia. Focus. Don’t be a victim.
I gather myself. “Well, that’s one death,” I say as casually as possible. “And maybe you’ll kill me. But I promise you, Freddy, Troywillfind you. And when he does, you’ll wish you hadn’t done this. Think about that.”
Tears lick my eyes because I know I’m right. Troy will not sleep until he finds him.Until he finds me.
I’ve thought about his words earlier …“I just want to protect you and make you happy. And I worry I can’t do that. I worryI can’t do that. I worry I can’t keep you safe, and you’ll see that I’m a fraud.”
Those words were the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever heard from him. They say everything.
