Page 1 of Savage Obsession
1
WILLOW
Snow isn’t supposed to fall in New Orleans. Not like this. Not like the kind of whiteout that erases the world in seconds, blanketing every cypress and willow in ghostly silence.
On any other night, I would revel in the eerie silence and let it swallow me whole if only for a night.
Instead of shutting out the world, I struggle to keep my four-wheel drive out of a ditch. The storm is relentless and the deeper I drive into the swirling storm, the less I can see.
I reach forward and swipe at the glass with the back of my sleeve, but it doesn’t do much good against the cold.
The wall of white in front of me swallows my high beams, muffling the roar of my engine, and steals every last hint of color from the sky.
Today went from what I hoped would be a quiet day to all out hell all because my freaking father can’t keep himself out of trouble for a single day.
I grip the wheel and fight against the punching wind. My heart beats like it’s trying to beat fast enough to catch fire in my chest. It burns bad enough, that’s for damn sure.
I can’t tell if it’s because of the storm or the fear of what my father will do when he catches up with me.
Does it matter? Not really. I mentally reach for the phone I have tucked between my thighs. Everything I need to stop my father and his criminal ways is there. He’s the reason I’m risking my life in this crazy storm. Someone needs to stop him before more people die from the drugs he’s selling. Since none of his raggedy crew want to step up and be decent human beings, that leaves me.
I just have to get out of Peril and make it to New Orleans in one piece. There’s a detective there waiting. She’ll know what to do and then I can finally rest. And maybe beg for witness protection, because there’s one thing my father won’t stand for and that is betrayal. Especially from his family. I know because my mother once tried to step in and stop him.
She’s now dead.
“I just have to make it to the city.” I offer up to my guardian angels. “Help me get there and I promise to do all I can to stop my father from hurting more people.” I can only hope someone somewhere is listening, but if not I have big problems on my hands right now.
The snowstorm is not letting up and the heater in this thing isn't making any progress in heating the cabin. I punch at the controls to the heater but the damn thing is barely warm enough to keep my fingers from freezing, never mind the rest of me.
I grip the steering wheel tighter, my knuckles blanched bone-pale, the worn leather squeaking as I fight to keep the Jeep from fishtailing into the nearby marsh. My foot is barely grazing the gas at this point, but every arctic gust shoves the SUV sideways. Frost claws at the edges of the windshield, creeping up the thick glass like curling tendrils I can barely see through.
I swipe at the glass with the back of my sleeve again just in time to swerve around a steep curve in the winding back road. The defroster gave up ten miles back and so did my cell service. I grab my phone and check the signal again. “Yep. Still out.” I shove the cell phone back in place and send up a prayer. Thirty more minutes tops, and I’ll be inside the New Orleans Police Department and safe.
I dreamed about getting out of the biker life, but not like this. This isn't the freedom I was going for. This is desperation, pure and cold as the night air leaking through the cracked seal on my driver’s side door.
Damn my father for his greed. If he didn’t want to eliminate every rival Savage biker in the state, and need the money to do it, then… then…
I slam my frozen hand down on the wheel. Frustration and massive amounts of adrenaline force a scream from me. “ARGH!”
Some days I really hate the blood running through my veins. Of all the men who could have fathered me, it had to be the lowest of the scum.
I swipe at the unwanted tears running down my cheeks. “Fuck!” I roar again into the empty cabin. I don’t know much ofanything, but I know with all my soul I can’t take another minute living under that man’s thumb and violence.
I keep driving, eyes stinging, breath hitching in my chest. I catch my reflection in the rearview mirror. Wild, snow-damp hair, cheeks blotched red with cold and panic, eyes that look too much like my mother’s. I press trembling fingers to the snowflake charm at my neck. It belonged to my mother. She loved winter and snow. And once upon a time she loved my father. She turned a blind eye to the monster that lives inside that man. Why? Who the hell knows, but she did.
As for me? I can’t do it. Through the years I watched him grow more ruthless and hungry by the day until today. I touch my phone. I finally have what I need to take him down.
“You got this, Willow,” I whisper. “Just one more mile.” And after that, one more. It won’t take me long to get out of Péril, past Savage territory and then I’ll damn near be home free.
The wipers groan across the glass and with that sound comes a wave of goosebumps to run up my back. I reach for the heater and make sure the damn thing is cranked to max, but there’s not much that will fight the cold settling into my bones.
Fat, wet flakes slam against the windshield and hood like a million little fists. I’m barreling straight into Savage Reign territory. Another couple of miles and I’ll be out of enemy territory. Not mine, but I have the cursed Caine surname so I don't think any Savage would stop to ask me where I stand on my biker politics before offing me for being in their territory.
I take a bend in the road a little too fast and hit a patch of black ice that sends me fishtailing all over the freaking road. I swerve, turn the wheel and swerve the other way. By the grace of amiracle I don’t end up tucked around a tree, but my heart thuds frantically like I did anyway.
Freedom should feel sweeter than this, but I know the minute I am out of danger I will finally take a deep breath.
A low, unholy groan splits the night and the Jeep’s engine chokes before stalling out. The orange and white dashboard lights flicker, and then everything turns pitch black.
