My ribs blazed with a fire I’d never felt before. I rolled into a ball, letting out a low moan. But I couldn’t regret my words—not if it saved Holt. We might not get our second chance, but he could get his.
Jude shoved his phone into his pocket and chuckled. “You just made lover boy’s end that much quicker. He hears one cry from you, and I bet he’s running his ass off to get here.”
The tiny flicker of hope I’d felt at warning Holt extinguished instantly. Because Jude was right. Holt would never back down. He’d never save himself if I were at risk.
Jude adjusted his grip on his gun, seeming to make sure everything was all in working order after laying waste to Amber. Making sure it was ready for Holt.
Fury burst free, dumping adrenaline into my system—adrenaline that numbed the worst of the pain. This wasn’t going to happen.
I moved before I had a chance to think it through. Before I had the opportunity to realize how dumb my plan was. Shoving up with my elbow, I sprang to my feet and charged at Jude.
Pain flared along my ribs, stealing my breath, but I didn’t care. I ran straight for him. I didn’t have a weapon to fight with so I would use what I did have: me.
The shock of my movements had Jude’s head snapping up, but he wasn’t quick enough.
I dipped my shoulder, colliding with Jude like a linebacker would in a football game. He let out a pained grunt and went down, but not before grabbing hold of my hair with a curse.
“Crazy bitch!”
I slammed my bound fists into his face, and Jude howled in pain. The surprise of the hit made him loosen his hold on me for just a moment, and I didn’t waste the opportunity.
My body screamed in pain as I ran for the door, but I didn’t slow. That light was my goal—my freedom.
A shot sounded behind me, but I didn’t stop. I had no idea where Holt was, where I should go, but I knew I needed cover. The bright sunlight had me blinking rapidly, but I kept running.
My surroundings came to me in flashes of images. Trees. A hillside. A tiny glimpse of the lake.
We were close to my cabin. So close to home. But I knew that would be the first place Jude would think I would go. So, instead of heading south, I went north into the trees with a prayer that they would shield me.
A shout sounded behind me, and I knew I was too late to disguise my direction, but not too late to hide.
I pushed my muscles harder as I ducked behind one tree after another. My legs trembled as I ran, fatigue and pain clawing to take hold. Tears stung my eyes—ones of frustration and fear. I just needed a little bit more from my body. Enough to find a place to hide.
My gaze jumped from one thing to the next, desperately searching. But there was nothing I could see. Nothing that would shield me the way I needed.
Footsteps pounded behind me, and twigs snapped.
“I’m gonna make you hurt for this,” Jude called.
My heart stuttered in my chest, but it didn’t matter if he did. I would take all the pain in the world if it meant keeping him away from Holt.
That little flicker of hope gave me a burst of energy. My muscles carried me farther up the hill and deeper into the neighboring property. I tried to remember what was near here—the other homes and where the road led. But I was moving too quickly to truly get my bearings.
I had to hope that I’d find something—a place to hide until help could find me. Holt wasn’t stupid. Lawson knew what was happening, and he had to be right on Holt’s heels. I could only hope that he’d bring the entirety of the Cedar Ridge PD with him.
A sharp pain stabbed through my side, and light danced in front of my eyes. Panic seized me as I struggled to suck in air. More tears gathered as I cursed. This couldn’t happen. My body couldn’t give out when I was so close to escape.
I wheezed out a painful breath as I desperately searched for somewhere to hide. My gaze caught on a cluster of young pines that had sprouted up near some more mature ones. It was all I had because my body was giving out.
My limbs shook as I dove for the trees’ cover. Burrowing as deep as I could between them, I wrapped a hand around my ribs.
My breaths came in heavy pants, sounding like my lungs were crunching as they struggled to work. And each one hurt. My chest was so tight it was as if I were breathing with a two-hundred-pound weight on my shoulders.
The pounding footsteps that had been tracking me slowed, and I held my breath, squeezing my eyes closed. I was almost too scared to hope. So, I clung to thoughts of what I always did in my hardest moments. Holt.
I pictured his face. The tender way he looked at me when he told me he loved me. The feel of his stubble beneath my fingertips. The sound of the chuckle I loved so much. I played it over and over in my head, trying to hear each incarnation of it from boy to man.
“I know you’re here, Wren…”
Jude singsonged the words in a tone that was too damn happy. I just played Holt’s laugh louder in my mind.
“This is just like when we would play Ghost in the Graveyard. Remember that?”
My chest throbbed as I bit the inside of my cheek. We’d played it too many times to count. At least a dozen of us running all over the Hartleys’ property in search of the one person hiding. Screaming in laughter as we all raced back to base when someone found the person. My first stolen moments with Holt Hartley under the moonlight.
“But who is going to find you first?” Jude snorted. “You were always such a wimp. Holt would hide with you when you were the ghost.” His voice grew farther away. “Remember how pathetic you were? How pathetic Holt was for putting up with you?”
My fingernails dug into my palms as I struggled to keep my breathing even. Jude would always see Holt’s kind heart and empathy as a weakness because he lacked those things. But I would grab hold of that kindness and never let go.
I swore I could feel Holt with me now, his body huddled next to mine, his voice whispering in my ear. “Don’t worry, Cricket. I’ll scare the ghosts away.”
He had a way of taking the fear out of any situation. A way of always making me feel safe. And he had given me a bone-deep knowledge that I was never alone.
Even in the years we’d been apart, I’d carried Holt with me like a brand on my soul. I would hear the whisper of his voice reminding me that I was perfect just as I was. That I didn’t need to prove my worth to the world around me, and that those who were meant to love me would see it in me every day.
A twig snapped. Closer now.
My fingernails pierced the skin of my palms in an effort to keep my screams at bay.
A hand dove between the trees and grabbed me by the throat. With a vicious yank, Jude pulled me from my hiding spot. He shoved the gun under my chin.
“I planned on going easy on you. Got a little partial to seeing how wrecked you were by Holt’s abandonment. But I changed my mind. Now you’re gonna feel it, too. And I can’t wait to hear you scream.”
