Page 40 of Flash (Iron Thunder MC 2)
But the thought that she might decide to go, that someday, some other man might touch her, made me want to kick my bike with fury.
No. I wanted her to stay. I was going to have to find a way to make her stay with me.
I charged up the steps and opened the door.
“Allegra!” I shouted her name and banged the door shut. I expected her to be in the living room, or maybe she was taking a nap?
The house looked clean and neat; maybe Rosie, the housekeeper had come around? Maybe they’d even had a little chat.
I checked in the kitchen, expecting there to be a full dinner laid out on the table. But it was empty.
“Hey!” I shouted, making my way toward the bedroom.
It was empty too. Her bag was on the floor, so it was obvious she hadn’t left. Her car was still in the parking lot of Fifth Element, so where could she have gone?
“You in the house? I’m sorry for being late. Did I miss dinner?” I was talking aloud while I walked around the rest of the house.
She was nowhere to be found.
I was beginning to grow angry and worried. I’d told her to lie low today. Did she leave the house? Where did she go? Would she be back?
I expected that she would have the good sense to not stay out this late at night. She’d been on the run long enough to know it could be dangerous. She was afraid of Billy. She wouldn’t be out right now voluntarily.
So there was only one explanation for her absence.
Something had happened to her. Someone had hurt her. Maybe she was abducted. Had Billy found her?
No questions asked. I needed to find her.16AllegraI didn’t last in Billy’s backseat for very long. He had me there for about fifteen minutes of the drive, but I kept begging and pleading with him to let me go. I even lied to him, saying I had the ten grand he wanted. All he had to do was take me back to the red-brick house.
Eventually, my screaming and crying must have gotten on his nerves because he screeched the car to a halt. I got my hopes up, thinking he was going to let me go. Maybe he had a change of heart. But what really happened was that he pulled me out of the backseat and carried me to the trunk.
I continued to kick and scream but he threw me in the trunk and then banged the hood shut.
This was worse. A new kind of Hell hole.
It was dark in there. Other than the bits of light that slipped through the cracks of the trunk, there was nothing else to see.
I felt claustrophobic and hot, and kicked and screamed some more, but it was of no use. Now all Billy could hear was a muffled sound and my screams didn’t bother him so much.
After what felt like us driving around in circles for hours, we stopped somewhere. I thought he was going to pull me out, but he didn’t. He’d clearly parked the car somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Some place nobody could hear me kicking and screaming in the trunk of this car.
What was he doing now? Having a snack? Taking a piss? Trying to make a deal with those drug dealers he owed money to?
Even though I was once attracted to this man, and we had shared a home together, and although this man had once proclaimed he loved me and I cooked him his meals, it was obvious that I didn’t actually know him. Maybe I had never known him. Maybe he’d always been a stranger to me.
I sobbed in the dark. My cheek was pressed down on the floor of the trunk. I could smell the diesel, mud, oil and grease. Everything made me nauseous. I thought I’d choke or suffocate.
All these months of trying to outrun him, and today I’d made it so easy for him to find me and trap me.
I should have known all along that the end was near. That I wouldn’t be able to escape my fate forever. I should have stopped running a long time ago.
And what about Flash?
We had a very short time together, but I was so sure of him. He was the man I should have been with. The man I should have saved myself for. Of all the wrong decisions I’d made in my life, he was definitely not one of them.
And I would probably never see him again.
The thought made me sob even harder.
If only I had some more time with him. If only I had the courage to tell him exactly how I felt. That my attraction toward him was instant and real.
But instead, I was sure I would die tonight.Soon enough, Billy popped open the trunk of the car, letting the light flood in and blind me. I’d been laying there in the dark for so long that I thought I would never be able to see again.
