Hard Bastard(55)

I headed into the parking lot and looked around. I felt a little dizzy, like I’d had too much to drunk. I shook my head and sucked in some cool, clean night air. I headed over to my car and got my keys out.

Dizziness hit me hard. I had to clutch onto the door of the car, not sure what the fuck was happening to me. I dropped my keys but was too nauseous to bend over to grab them.

Just then, I felt hands grab my shoulders. “You okay, brother?” Liam said into my ear. “Wouldn’t want you to drive in this state. Had too much to drink, I’ll wager.”

That fucking bastard. I tried to move away, but my whole body felt like fucking molted lead.

“Roofies,” he whispered harshly into my ear. “Not just for raping sluts, but also good for incapacitating trusting fucking assholes like you.”

I tried to fight, but the drug had taken over my system. Things moved in a blur around me, my whole body dead weight.

I got shoved into the back seat of my car and the last thing I could remember was the engine turning over and the car backing out.





Chapter 23





Sadie





I woke up suddenly drenched in sweat. I’d been having a nightmare. In my dream, Gage was completely naked, but he had no cock. He looked like a demented Ken doll, and he kept trying to push me into oncoming traffic. The man that tried to rape me was there, laughing the whole time.

I stretched out my hand to touch his back, but found only sheets. Confused, I checked the clock.

It was five in the morning.

I sat up, looking around the room. There was no sign that he had come home. The television was still on from the night before, and I realized that I fell asleep while waiting for him.

I got up and quickly checked the bathroom. He wasn’t there. I looked around for a note or some sign that he had come home, but I knew I wasn’t going to find anything. If he had come home, he would have turned off the television.

I was freaking out, not sure what to do. If Gage hadn’t come back, that meant something went wrong. Maybe the Russians caught him and killed him and murdered him in cold blood. Maybe he was dead somewhere in a gutter, all because of me.

As I quickly threw my clothes on, another horrible thought occurred to me, maybe worse than the first one: he could have simply left me.

There was nothing keeping him here. Gage had the skills and the knowledge to run away and start over. I was the dead weight in our relationship, dragging him down. He would do so much better without me, and maybe he realized it. Maybe Liam had convinced him that I was just going to get him killed, and he would be better off without me.

I banished that thought from my mind. I couldn’t obsess about that, not yet. I had to get away and go far, far away, though I had no clue where I was going to go or what I was going to do.

I packed my bag. I found the stack of cash under the mattress and shoved it into my bag. I grabbed the gun that Gage had left behind for me and slipped it into my jeans.

I took one last look at the room and then found a pen and paper. I left him a note: I’ll be at the diner at Bleaker and Ash until five tonight. Find me if you can.

I knew that was stupid, but I couldn’t just leave. What if he was just delayed, but he was coming back? I was naïve and stupid to hold out hope, but I couldn’t help myself. I had to believe in him.

I quickly left the room and headed downstairs. I walked past the front desk and out into the parking lot where I took a second to get my bearings. I needed to find a place where I could grab a bus or possibly call a cab, though there weren’t really any payphones around anymore.

As I went to turn around to go back inside and ask the front desk to call me a cab, I suddenly saw it. Parked across the street in front of a closed-down car dealership was Gage’s car.

There was no mistaking it. I’d know that car anywhere, even from across the street. I walked fast toward it, my heart beating fast in my chest.

I had to cross traffic. I sprinted across the busy street, nerves setting in. I felt the comforting weight of the gun against my back as I walked toward the car.

It was parked closest to the abandoned building. Debris was everywhere, broken glass and trash, and the place had clearly been closed down for a while. It was once called Big Dan’s Car Paradise, which was an awful name, so no kidding it was closed. I turned back toward the car, slowly approaching it.

Nothing looked strange. Nobody was in the front. I slowly made my way around toward the back and then froze mid-stride.

There was a body back there.

I got close, peering in.

Gage was tied up, his wrists bound, his ankles tied, duct tape over his mouth. His eyes were shut and he was pale as hell, and I wasn’t sure he was even alive.

I reached back for the gun tucked into my jeans. My heart was hammering in my chest. The people that did this are still here.