Page 135 of Swept for Forever
How close had I been to getting caught then? Lulu had started barking for a reason. She’d been alert. The guy concealed in the black Jeep could’ve been Stiff-Neck.
“Where’s Dom?” I asked.
“He’s with us,” one of them said. “If you want to keep him alive, come with us.” He gestured to the open door of the SUV.
Pickle stood to the side, blocking any real chance of escape. But I didn’t try to run. Not yet. Not until I saw Dom. Being apart,not knowing, was how they won. That’s whenenemies got bold, when panic crept in and took root. If Dom and I were together, we’d find a way, so I climbed in. Not because I trusted them, but because I trusted us.
“Put this on,” the man said, holding out a blindfold.
Pickle warned me with a grunt. I took it and tied it on.
Soon, we were moving.
Time blurred. It could’ve been ten minutes. Could’ve been thirty.
When the vehicle stopped, I was led out. I stumbled, my boots slipping on loose soil before knocking against timber. The sound changed, and we were inside. Floorboards wobbled beneath me. The air carried rot and grease, the dust thick enough to taste. Then my weight tipped forward, my feet catching the drop of each tread. Stairs, leading down.
“Keep going!”
It wasn’t far to the bottom. Hands clamped my shoulders, driving me on. My knees jarred with every step until we stopped. They shoved me into a chair, my arms yanked back and strapped to the wooden slats.
The blindfold came off.
One man remained. The other one, not Pickle.
Something glinted in his hand.
Dom’s coin.
The one he always carried.
“This?” the man said, flipping the blood-smeared silver between his fingers. “My boss, he’s a clever one. Psychology, I think you call it. Saw this in your man’s truck. Courtroom on one side, liberty scales on the other. Figured it was his. Not the other guy’s.”
“The other guy” was Noah. He wasn’t justsomeguy. Nothing could’ve happened to him. Maya, Atlas…they didn’t deserve that kind of heartbreak.
My captor went on, “Boss made a call and took a shot. Looks like he was right.”
He tossed the coin up and caught it in one hand. “Me? I’m not into all that mind game crap. I’m the kind that likes to finish what others start.”
“Where is Dom?” I asked, my throat dry.
“Still breathing, far as I know,” he said lightly, pressing the coin close to my face.
I angled away, my eyes shut. I didn’t have the heart to sniff Dom’s blood, even though deep down I would kiss it.
But it wasn’t blood. Instead, I smelled…tomato.
Fuck! Son of a bitch tricked me.
And I’d walked right into it with eyes open, brain off. Dom was my weakness, and they’d used that. Fuck, I’d been so stupid!
He laughed, wiping the coin on his shirt. “Relax. Boss didn’t get to him. Turns out brains aren’t much use when the other guy walks like a soldier and climbs like a fucking cougar.”
I told myself that Dom and Noah were safe. They had to be. But that didn’t stop cold sweat from snaking down my spine.
He kept going. “If it were up to me? I’d have dropped them both. No questions. But the boss…he gets twitchy when things spiral. He said those two weren’t your average ranch boys. But hey, I wasn’t there, so now you get the pleasure of my company.”
He was talking too much. Maybe it was ego, or maybe he just figured I wouldn’t live to repeat any of it.
