He spread his arms, and his lips stretched into a smile, though the pale red of his eyes told me I might’ve just finally driven him crazy. He jumped in place, cracked his neck.
He was daring me.
I reversed off the driveway, leaving the stunned ATV owner and his family at their front door. With Vice in his kill mode and my collar with his name around my neck, nobody intervened. ATV in the middle of the street, Vice about seventy feet away, I released the brake and went reverse full throttle at him.
He advanced on me, then jumped.
I steered right and shifted to Drive.
Vice’s claws scraped the back bumper.
I gunned the ATV across the back fields, entered the City Park, drove over the grass, zigzagged between the tree trunks, trying to shake him off my tail.
But I couldn’t. Damn. He sprinted, then leapt. I hit the brake. He overshot me. I turned a sharp right just as he leapt again and his ass hit the seat behind me. His leg swung up and over my right one. I steered, turning in a circle. His long leg slid to the grass, his feet hitting the ground while he held on. “Watch the tree!”
I turned the gas handle to the max.
Just before I hit the tree, I steered to the left. “Ahhhh!”
Vice’s legs far too long for the small ATV, caught the tree trunk, and his body flew off. He didn’t stay down. Damn it! I couldn’t shake him off. The only way to leave the park right now was over the fence. I revved the engine, gunned the ATV. The small ATV had little room to roam between the trunks, but I managed, bumping and crashing, hitting trunks with the tires, almost falling off twice, but I broke through the edge of the park and stopped at the last tree right before the fence.
Leaving the ATV, I scrambled up the trunk. Palms scratched, blood welling from the wounds I ignored, I hooked my legs over the first thick branch and strained, pulling myself up. Two more to go. I pushed my body while my muscles tingled, threatening to give out.
Somewhere around the middle of the tree, I found a thick branch. I balanced, bounced, testing it for strength. It was strong and thick and would hold my weight. Good to go. Hands outstretched to the sides, I walked along the length, closing in on the upper end of the fence.
Under me, twigs cracked.
Vice was here.
I jumped.
My body slammed against the fence, and I gripped the rusted iron spikes on the top. I pulled myself up, spent muscles quivering.
I looked down.
Determined, Vice climbed. I focused on holding the iron and pulling against the strain. When his grunts got closer, I kicked out with my left foot and caught what I hoped was his head. I kicked again and again.
“Get your ass down here right now.”
“Forget about me, Vice. I’m never gonna be a good little wife for you, I’m not gonna have babies, and I sure as fuck can’t cook. I hate cleaning. I hate closed spaces. I want to live in the fucking sky.” Right foot on top of the fence, I pulled myself up with a grunt. Stomach against the spikes, I looked down. Vice was halfway up the fence and progressing fast, not even using his legs to help him climb. Damn, he was strong. Left arm, right arm, he was next to me in a blink, his fist wrapped around my bicep.
He yanked me back down.
My lower body, like deadweight, fell. My knees scraped against the fence, but I hung on. Knuckles white, I held on to the iron as if it were my lifeline. Nobody would find the key; nobody would eat. If I went back to Vice, I’d stay there with a man who loved me. I too was tired of running. But he’d left me when I told him not to leave me. I strained, pulling my body back up.
One hand came over my hip.
I back-headed him.
Crack.
Maybe I’d broken his nose, but I couldn’t think about that now. The rusted iron bars scraped my palm, and I screamed when I pulled upward.
My right hand gave out.
Left hand on the fence, I tried to get the right one back up. Vice gripped my right wrist and curled my hand at the small of my back.
“You think it’s the red hair or it’s just this one?” came from below. Through the jungle of leaves, I saw two beasts standing on each side of a tree. Mayhem waved. “I wager my best knife on you, girl,” he said.
Jamie wasn’t as entertained. He balanced on his heels, his silver eyes trained on his brother.
“Dewlyn, baby, you’ll break something if you fall,” Vice said. “Let go.”
Hand folded against the small of my back, I extended my middle finger.
He swiped his face against my shoulder to clean the blood from his nose.
“Errr, Alpha,” Mayhem said to Jamie, “this one’s gonna hurt herself running.”
“No shit, genius,” Vice mumbled, then swung around me, trapping me between the fence and his body. “You gotta come down,” he said at my ear.