Page 100 of Nowhere to Hide
Didn’t anyone see I was in trouble?
One woman frowned at me, but turned away.
I searched for Locke, my heart racing so fast that black spots started dancing in my periphery. I was a dead woman if he got me out of the crowd. I dragged my heels even as my thigh screamed at the position.
The man didn’t say a word and the strength in his fingers left my hand numb from his grip. I twisted and clawed at his hand, finally dropping like dead weight as my old defense training kicked in.
He snarled out a “for fuck’s sake,” as he bent down to get me off the ground. His short nails scraping over my wrists and forearms.
It was the distraction Locke needed. He blasted through the crowd, pushing people out of the way like a wrecking ball.
I reached up and tore off the man’s mask. He stumbled away, turning his face before I could see it. He tripped and nearly fell forward, but caught himself and sprinted away.
Locke scooped me off the ground and into his arms.
I could tell he wanted to go after him, but he just held me tighter. His hand cupped the back of my head as he tucked my face into his neck.
Now people stopped and held up their phones to video this.
Not when that asshole tried to take me away.
I wrapped my arm around Locke’s neck, the adrenaline turning to racking shudders. He hopped on his boat and did another leap onto the main deck between the hulls.
“I need to put you down, baby.”
I shuddered and held on tighter. “Don’t leave me.”
“I won’t. I wouldn’t. Ever.” He buried his face in my disheveled hair. “I just need to get us gone.”
I nodded. Shoring up whatever little pieces of bravery I had left inside of me, I pushed him back. “Go.”
He touched his forehead to mine once then scrambled back up the steps to the dock. I could hear his heavy footsteps on the dock as he ran around and untied the boat. A black case clattered down onto the deck.
I jumped, still in flight mode.
The boat bounced as he clambered into the captain’s seat. The engine roared as he pulled into the harbor.
I rolled off the bench at the kick in the forward momentum.
I bit down on the scream of pain. I pressed my forehead into my forearm as the adrenaline and pain coalesced into white noise in my head. I knew he needed to get out of the harbor.
To get us away.
I took a minute to gather myself and crawled to the table and pulled myself up onto the smaller bench seat, sweat popping up on my forehead and down my back.
Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes and rolled down my cheeks as I breathed through the pain.
Twice I’d been thrown around and the tearing inside my muscles felt like I’d been put into a shredder. The engine growled beneath my feet as he pushed the big boat for more speed, to put Boston in our rearview.
I looked down at the mask in my hand.
The overdrawn smile in the graphic black and white reminded me of a bastardizedAlice in WonderlandCheshire cat grin. I flung it away and dragged in a deep lungful of sea air.
The sun was low in the sky, burning the sky in slashing strokes of red and magenta.
Finally the engine went quiet and the sound of Locke’s voice dented the panic.
“He came out of nowhere.”
