Page 47 of Demon
“I’m still not sure that was a gunshot.I hear backfires through there all the time.”She stepped inside and headed for the kitchen.
“That was a gunshot.And it wasn’t some random one either.”He caught her shoulder, spinning her around to face him.“You must not have seen the way the dirt kicked up a few feet from you.Whoever was out there was aiming for you.Not to kill you, but a hit like that would have stopped you, slowed you down enough that they could capture you.Once they had you, they would likely have drugged you and smuggled you out of the country.”
She blinked up at him, the hair on her arms stood on end as the world seemed to slow.Ronnie stared up at him, not sure what to think.Someone was really out to get her.Whether or not her father sent them, she had no way of knowing right now, but she had to admit there was someone looking for her.
Before this, she’d gone along with what Gavin and Demon had said, but she hadn’t believed it.Not really.Now she had no choice but to believe.
Ronnie stared at Demon, her chest grew tight, and it became hard to breathe.She struggled to get enough air.It felt like there was a steel band around her chest.
Her throat seemed to be closing.
The world began to spin.
"Look at me.Focus right here," Demon pointed to his own face."You're hyperventilating, you need to slow you breathing."
Ronnie shook her head.She couldn’t be hyperventilating.She could barely breathe at all.
"Ronnie!"Demon's sharp tone, along with the name she didn't think he'd ever used, pulled her attention back to him.
"Breathe with me.Match your breaths to mine.”He had his hands on both her shoulders and held her steady as she struggled to match her inhales and exhales to his.
"What's going on?"She heard her brother's words, but they're meaning didn’t register, not right away.
"Give us a minute," Damon said without breaking eye contact with her."Come on, breathe in, hold.Breathe out."
By the time the world stopped spinning and the band around her chest had eased, she felt almost normal.
Well as normal as it was possible to feel when you'd been shot at and someone was trying to kidnap you so you could be sold into sexual slavery.
"Okay now?"Demon asked once she was able to breathe normally once more.
Ronnie nodded."Thank you."
"No problem."He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then released her and turned to where Gavin watched them from the bar where he sat with his coffee cap and a laptop open on the counter.
"Something happened.”Gavin’s words were a statement, not a question.
"Justa bit,” Damon said.
25
“Youhaveanyalcoholin the house?”Demon kept one hand on Ronnie as he guided her to the bar and helped her sit.
“There’s beer in the fridge, but I would think water would be better after a run,” Gavin said with a frown.
“Not beer, liquor.And water’s on the plan, but she needs a shot.”Once he had her seated, he went to the fridge, pulled out a couple bottles of water, opened the top on one and set it in front of Ronnie.“Start with that.You have any liquor in the house?”
“There’s whiskey.”She didn’t reach for the bottle, but did answer him.
“Good.Where is it?”
She didn’t say anything, but pointed to the door that Demon had learned overnight was the pantry.
“Keep an eye on her will you, I think she’s in shock,” he said to her brother, then he stepped into the tiny room.
He’d been here a few times, first when he was determining where the door went.That was just a quick look and out.After that had been this morning, quick trips to put food away after the groceries had been delivered.Still, those were quick trips to put things where they belonged, not an inspection or inventory of what she had there.
He started with a quick scan, hoping to spot the bottle, and got lucky, it was on a top shelf near the back, but he had no trouble reaching back and snagging it off the shelf.It was a bottle of Jack Daniels Fire, and about three quarters full.Not what he would have chosen, but it would get the job done.
