More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
I twist around again and realize the silver truck just rear-ended us, and he’s not easing up, he keeps right on our ass. Kayla pulls into the other lane to let him pass but he follows us, tailing close behind.
He pulls up along Kayla’s side next and turns the wheel sharply, side-swiping us. We both scream as the car swerves. “Julia, grab my cell and call 9-1-1. Hurry!”
“Kayla, wake up!” I shake her shoulder then remember I shouldn’t touch her. With trembling hands, I undo my seat belt and look for her phone. Realizing I still have my purse around my shoulder, I dig through it to find my cell when my door flies open, startling me. I turn with a yelp to see Wyatt.
He whips his sunglasses off, his eyes filled with a wild rage I’ve never seen before. “Shut the fuck up, you dirty whore!” His fist smashes into my face, turning my world black.
Cade, Sawyer, and Cooper are all standing by the ring looking pissed when I walk in. I can already tell this is going to be messy.
The moment we enter through the emergency doors we can hear Kayla’s pleading cry. “Please, you’re wasting time. You need to find her!”
“He took her,” Kayla cries, sending icy terror through my veins. “He fucking took her.” “Who damn it?” “Wyatt! He ran us off the road. I passed out but I woke up to her screaming my name. He was dragging her by her hair to his truck, then he hit her.” She starts sobbing uncontrollably. “Oh god, Cooper, he hit her so hard that she stopped screaming, he knocked her out.”
A strong smell penetrates my senses, burning my nostrils. Opening my eyes, I fight against the wave of pain it brings and look over to see Wyatt dousing the walls with gasoline. So he was telling Jaxson the truth, he’s going to burn me alive. I have begged, pleaded, and fought with everything I have left in me, but it has only ended with cruel taunts, inappropriate fondling, and severe beatings. I’ve come to accept that I’m not getting out of here, at least not alive. My broken body is already close to death, I can feel it.
“I’m going to fuck you until my cock goes limp, then I’m going to light you on fire and watch you burn until there’s nothing left of you but ash.” His hand squeezes around my throat, cutting off all oxygen as I feel him fumble with his pants. Darkness finally begins to close in on me, and I blessedly welcome it. Right when I am about to fade into nothing, an enraged roar rips through the room. “Motherfucker!”
He made it. My relief soon morphs into sadness when, no matter how hard I try, I can’t open my eyes. I fight against the darkness that only a few minutes ago I wanted so desperately to consume me.
I feel him struggle harder to free me, my heart breaking because I know he’ll die here with me if he waits too long. “Leave me,” I whisper. “No! Don’t say that. We’re both getting out of here.” His words become distant as I feel myself drifting, my body giving up. I fight against it, just long enough to mumble what I want my last words to be. “I love you.” It’s then the darkness finally takes me, sucking me into a sweet oblivion of nothing.
“Julia, baby, wake up!” My hands run along her battered body, noticing every bruise that marks her skin. “Julia! Wake up!” She remains lifeless.
For the first time since I was seven years old, I cry, the most excruciating grief ripping from my chest. “Please don’t leave me, I’m so sorry, so fucking sorry. I love you so much. Please, Julia, wake up!”
“Well I thought I should give in, that tattoo on your back kind of ruins you for anyone else,” I tease. He doesn’t laugh like I hoped he would; instead his expression sobers, his hand moving to my cheek. “Every other woman was ruined for me the moment I laid eyes on you. You have always been mine, and you always will be.”
7 Months Later
