Page 15 of Knuckles (Dragon Riders MC 4)
What if I didn’t have a place in the picture he’d painted for himself?
Just get over it and talk to him already.
“I can talk to him while we walk,” I murmured to myself.
A soft breeze kicked up and I closed my eyes. I let it wash over me, comforting me even as my stomach continued to jut out from all the food I practically inhaled. My dress fluttered around my thighs. I smoothed my hands down the fabric, trying to make sure it didn’t kick up too far. And when I opened my eyes, I felt a surge of strength rush through my veins.
Before I heard a car door close behind me.
I whipped around and searched for where the sound was coming from, especially since I didn’t hear a car pull up. But I didn’t see anyone out in the parking lot. I slowly backed up toward the motel door as that rock settled in my gut.
The rock that was always there to warn me of danger afoot.
“Hello?” I asked.
I didn’t get a response, though. Just the rustling of the leaves as the breeze blew harder.
“Anyone there?” I called out a little louder.
And after my stomach settled back down, I turned to open the door.
Before I hand clamped down over my mouth from behind and dragged me away from the motel.
“Justin!” I shrieked.
But even I heard how muffled my voice sounded.
“Justin! Please!”
Simeone dragged me back as tires screeched to a halt behind me. And as I was tossed into the backseat, I finally let out an ear-piercing scream.
“Justiiiiiiiiiiin!”
Before something cracked against my temple and knocked me out.7Knuckles“Justiiiiiiiiiiin!”
The second I heard her scream I leapt out of the shower. With the water still running and steam clouding my view, I rushed into the room and tore through the unlocked door. I didn’t give a shit that I was naked. I didn’t care that people would see me without clothes on. The only thing I cared about was Simone.
And the fear in her voice.
“S!” I roared.
I tore outside and stepped straight into a cloud of burnt rubber, making me cough.
“What the fu—Simone!”
All that greeted me were squealing tires, though. And when I stepped through the thick cloud of disgusting smoke, all I saw was a car careening onto the main road. I didn’t have enough visibility to clock anything about the damn thing. I didn’t know make, model, or even the fucking color! It was too dark outside and coupled with that goddamn smoke, I didn’t stand a chance.
“Shit!” I roared.
Panic flooded my gut. My eyes dropped to the ground and I tried to scout out anything that might tell me what had happened. There were scuff marks in the asphalt. That would give us some tread to run through some databases. I moved to dig around in my pocket for my phone to take pictures when it hit me.
I was still naked.
“Damn it,” I hissed.
I marched back inside and threw on some clothes, and that gave the cloud of smoke enough time to dissipate. I zipped up my jeans and kept my eyes on the ground, searching for any clues. A fiber, a hair, or possibly a piece of clothing. And when my eyes fell upon Simone’s cell phone, my heart sank.
There goes tracking her number.
I reached down and picked it up and saw the screen was cracked. But the phone still lit up. She had a password on it, though, and fuck if I knew what it was.
“Simone!” I roared.
But all that came back to me was the echo of my own voice.
The woman I loved had been taken, right out from underneath my nose. With a stomach full of food that, if jostled too much in any car, would come right back up on her. The thought made me nauseous myself. I stormed back inside and slammed the door behind me. I stared at her phone, wondering what the connect-the-dots password might be.
I tried a few different combinations before it threw up a ‘three more tries’ warning, so I stopped. If anyone could get into this, Ash could. I needed to wait and hand this over to him.
I need to get into this, though.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, running down the facts. Simone had gone outside without me hearing her. A car had approached her while she had been outside, and someone snatched her up. She dropped her phone, at some point in time screamed for me, then the car she was in tore out of here.
Damn it, for all I knew she was in a fucking pick-up truck.
“Fuck!” I shrieked.
I sat down on the edge of the bed and raked my fingers through my hair. I’d never felt so off-kilter and worried in all my life. Was it possible Simone had been taken by this threat that had her so fearful?
