Page 79 of Hitch
“You’re the blackmailer,” I say.
A hint of amusement flickers over Todd’s lips, but it disappears as soon as I spot it.
“What are you saying?” he asks. “Why would I do that? We’re working together, Duane. We’re partners.”
I try to piece it together, but my mind is stretched thin, so focused on Reggie. The woman I thought was my blackmailer.My Hitch.
But Todd was the one fucking with me this entire time.
Energy floods through me. I pummel forward, grabbing his neck, and he reaches for his gun. I grab his arm, holding it down while he sets off gunshot after gunshot. He shoves me off of him but I run forward, nailing us both to the ground. He hits the back of his elbow into my nose and it burns like hell, blood gushing down my face.
We swing at each other, each of us connecting hits, then another gunshot rounds off, hitting my ear. My ears ring and Todd laughs, his teeth like fangs, but I don’t hear anything. Ineedto kill him. I need to stop him before he hurts Reggie.
“Took you long enough,” Todd says as my ears finally clear up. He pulls back the hammer again but I smack the gun from his grip. “Cut out the middleman. Run the business myself,” he laughs. “Blame the blackmail on Reggie. The finger was hard to find, but not impossible with the Dark Web. And the rest was so easy. Cutting her tires. Planting the digital camera. Once I got you to kill her, the cops would’ve caught you for her murder. They would’ve thought they caught the real criminal,” he chuckles, but then his face contorts with irritation. “But then you had to kill Braden before he taught me how to grow the mushrooms. You fucking idiot.”
I grapple forward, and we roll on the ground. Todd gets on top of me, holding my neck as I hold his, both of us trying to crush each other’s windpipes. But I’m on the ground, so he’s got the advantage. All I can hope is to outlast him. That I can survive a little while longer and kill him before he kills me. That if I die, Reggie will know that it was Todd. That she’ll stay away from him before he fucks her over too.
Todd’s teeth peel back as he squeezes harder. Blood puffs in my cheeks, and Todd’s face purples too.
“It’s over,” he wheezes out.
And I know it’s true.
But then a gunshot echoes through the fields, and the side of Todd’s head disappears, brain splattering over my face. His body collapses on top of me, and I knock him off, barreling my fists, ready to fight whatever just killed him.
But then I see who it is. I drop my defenses.
Reggie stands across from me, holding my gun. A plume of smoke rises from the barrel. Shock and relief simmer in her eyes, her mouth open in a wide circle.
Chapter27
Reggie
A drum beatsin my chest, my heart out of control as the gun shakes in my hand. I squeeze the weapon tighter. Duane’s eyes widen.
“Reggie,” he says, his voice soft, as if he’s surprised that I’m here.
“Duane,” I whisper back, my voice full of tears. He comes forward and I hand him the gun and he holsters it quickly, then wraps his arms around me like a blanket. The tears come rushing down, and I don’t know why I’m crying. But I can’t make it stop.
Duane holds me close, and for a while, we stand in the darkness, neither of us saying a word. Relief floods through me, heavy like chains. I shouldn’t be relieved. I shouldn’t be grateful that Duane is alive.
But I am.
Duane puts a finger under my chin, lifting my eyes to meet his.
“Why did you come back?” he asks. His voice is so different from before. It’s like he’s not quite sure how to process everything that’s happened, and to be honest, I don’t either.
“Because you’re mine,” I say. It’s the only thing that comes to my head. “Because I knew something wasn’t right. Because I had to make sure you were okay.”
“All that matters is you,” he says, anger and defeat warring under the surface.
I reach up, cupping his chin. Blood crusts his lips, purple in the moonlight, and his stubble is caked with blood too. A gentle tug pulls at my heart. Duane may not say it aloud, but I know he didn’t want me to come back, because that means I risked my life for him.
But it’s worth it.
“I know we both agreed that love is stupid. That sex is the only things we’re supposed to want, but I—” I shake my head, my lips quaking again. “But I can’t help it. I want to be with you. I want to hold you. I want to do everything with you—”
His lips smash against mine, our teeth crashing in a harsh collision, and my chest seizes with a bolt of heat. I close my eyes, losing myself in his touch. With him, it’s like everything inside of me is chaotic and unleashed, the danger and the instinct to run twisting inside of me. But now, I realizewhyI want to run. I want to runwithhim. I want to run awaytogether.To find our own world where our love, as fucked up as it may be, makes sense. And if that place doesn’t exist, then I don’t care. I just want to be with Duane.
