Page 69 of Tinley's Daddy
He bent down and reached for us.
“No, stay away.” Rayna pointed at him. “You can’t take my bestie.” She kicked her feet, and her head flew back and bumped me in the nose. I grabbed my face. He had a hand on Rayna. That wasn’t going to happen. I slapped at his arm, but I was too late. He was being dragged away from behind. One second, he was coming after us; the next, he was face down in the middle of the sidewalk. A guy in black held him to the ground and was securing his arms. Another guy had a gun pointed at his head.
“Oh, thank goodness.” Rayna collapsed against me.
“Are you okay?” I hugged her to me.
“I should be asking you the same.” She cradled her arm. “You’re bleeding.”
I touched my nose and winced. “You head-butted me.” I giggled.
“I’m sorry.” She stood and pulled me up next to her with her good hand. “If he was going to take you, he had to take me, too.”
Tears sprang to my eyes.
“Was he one of the guys who…” She frowned.
I nodded.
“Oh, Tinley.” She hugged me to her.
Yelling and cars and sirens surrounded us, but I held tight to Rayna. When footsteps approached, Rayna went into defense mode again. She really was a ninja.
“Oh, no.” She groaned.
I looked up. Josh and Kyler were sprinting toward us. “We’re never going to be allowed to go out alone ever again.”
“You are probably right.” I giggled.
They both skidded to a stop in front of us.
“Tinley. Oh my God, what happened? Are you okay? Did that man hurt you?” Josh took a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it to my nose as he hugged me. His rapid-fire questions made me dizzy.
“Josh.” My voice muffled. I couldn’t breathe. I pushed his hand.
Police cars with flashing lights came from nowhere and stopped in front of us. The cops jumped out and took over securing Mr. Family Man.
I pushed Josh again.
“What’s wrong?” He let go of me.
“I can’t breathe.” I took the handkerchief and held it myself but snuggled up close to him.
A coat was draped over my shoulders. Rayna spoke a mile a minute, but I couldn’t understand. I want to get out of here. Leave and go back to my safe space with Josh.
“Sweet T.”
I lifted my head.
“Tell me what happened.” He cradled the back of my head.
“He was one of the guys I was with in Turkey, I think.” I peeked over.
“Stay with me.” He held me tightly.
“I guess he recognized me, and I don’t know what happened.” I shivered. “I just had to get away.”
Josh stiffened and I could see the anger waft off him. He pulled away, but I gripped his coat and practically crawled inside it. I didn’t want him to leave me. Tears fell down my cheeks. “I didn’t want him to take me away, so I ran.”
