Page 44 of Link (Dragon Riders MC 1)
I love you, Link.
Something crashed in the distance and I hit the floor. Even before my eyes opened, I crouched down and covered my head with my hands. I felt a tight grip around my arm as men yelled everywhere. Bullets whizzed by me as someone tugged me toward the edge of the stage.
Before I was tossed over a shoulder.
“Help! Someone help me!” I roared.
A hard smack came down against my ass. Causing me to cry out in pain.
“Shut up or I’ll kill you myself,” someone growled.
I drew in a deep breath. “Help me!”
I didn’t care how hard that man hit me. I didn’t give a shit how quickly he ran. I screamed at the top of my lungs, hoping someone might have mercy on me. Whether they saved me or killed me, I didn’t care. All I wanted was to be away from this fucking situation once and for all.
Take care of Hope, Link.
“Someone help me!” I exclaimed.
My back slammed against the wall. “Shut. The fuck. Up.”
Something tightened around my throat as my eyes bulged. Gunfire rang out in the room as shadows covered both me and the behemoth that seemed hellbent on never letting me out of his sight. He glared down at me, his fingers tightening around my throat. And as I swallowed hard, I felt myself standing onto my tiptoes.
As this man pinned me to the wall.
“I should take you for myself and kill you before you can cum,” he growled.
And before I could answer, the most relieving sound hit my ears.
Link’s voice.
“Over my dead body,” he grumbled.
I screwed my eyes shut as a disgusting sound filled my ears. It sounded like a sponge being squished down a drain, along with bark cracking from the wind. I knew what had happened. It made me sick to my stomach. But what I couldn't see I couldn't testify to. Not honestly, anyway.
“Joanna. It’s okay. I’ve got you,” Link said.
I refused to open my eyes, though. Even when I felt him cup my cheeks.
“JoJo, look at me.”
I shook my head. “If I see it, it’s fact.”
He kissed my forehead. “Come on. I’m getting you out of here.”
His hands slid down my shoulders. My arms. My hips. Before he picked me up and put me back over his shoulder. I clung to him, burying my face into the back of his leather jacket. I jumped every time a gun went off. I whimpered every time a bullet whizzed by. I kept my eyes closed, even though they leaked with tears as the darkness fell away. The bright lights of the hallway illuminated the backs of my eyelids. From black to red, the room tried to tease me. Taunt me. Tried to get me to open my eyes and witness the carnage around me.
I didn’t want to witness it, though.
I only wanted to look at what might bring the Golden Jags down.
Girls cried and screamed for one another. Men gurgled on their own blood before they slumped to the ground. I drew in broken breaths, trying to contain myself as the cold, harsh air hit my bare skin. The red behind my eyes didn’t fade away, though. Signaling to me that it was still daytime.
Selling people off in broad daylight. What a fucking nutjob.
“Come on. I’ve got you. Here. You can have my jacket.”
He helped me down to my feet, but I still refused to open my eyes. Because I didn’t want to open them up and this all be a dream. I didn’t want to open them and still be on that stage, ready to be shipped off into sexual slavery for the night. Something warm wrapped around me. Link helped me slide my arms through his leather jacket. He zipped it up, the massive thing falling just above my knees. And when he cupped my cheeks, I grew enough courage to peek up at him.
As he stared down at me with concern in his eyes.
“We need to get out of here,” he said.
I swallowed hard. “You’re—you’re really here?”
He nodded. “I’m really here. But I’m really ready to not be here. What about you?”
“Did—did Hope—”
“We can talk about that later. Right now, though? We have to get you somewhere safe.”17LinkI carried Joanna in my arms as I walked her into my childhood home. I had changed some things over the years. Like the hot tub on the back porch. Or the garden I kept at the back corner lot. I ripped up all of the carpeting years ago and laid down nice hardwood, and I also had the kitchen and bathrooms tiled instead of dealing with my parents’ cheap linoleum. Most people walked into my house and rubbernecked, to some extent. And I got it. My house was pretty big for just one person. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a sitting room right at the front of the house. A sprawling backyard with twenty acres I owned that stretched out back and across two smaller lakes. It was a lot for one person. But I enjoyed it.
