Page 105 of Nixon’s Promise

With one last breath, I screamed like a banshee and fought.

I was going to die, but I was still fighting.

Then Dick Dillinger was gone.

Poof.

He was no longer on top of me but across the room, and in his place was the devil himself. His face was shadowed, the light from the open door pouring in from behind gleamed all around him.

Nixon Swagger.

He’d come for me.

With one eye swollen closed, the other only open a sliver, I didn’t see the man I loved. I didn’t know this cold, calculating, fierce warrior. He didn’t say a word. He turned, and with lightning speed was gone.

“I got you, Micky.” Gentle hands lifted me and I cried out in pain. “Shit, girl, I’m sorry.”

The sound of fists hitting flesh was unmistakable. Labored breathing and grunts filled the room.

“Hold tight, girl, we’re gonna get you out of here.”

Wood crashed, then silence.

I tried to focus on the man holding me, but through my haze I didn’t know if it was Chasin or Holden and I didn’t care.

“I’ll take her.”

I was transferred to Nixon’s arms and couldn’t stifle the sob that tore from my throat. Everything hurt. Every muscle. Every bone. Every hair on my head.

“I got you, McKenna. Promise, baby, you’re safe.”

I cracked open my eye and stared up at Nixon.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

The fury faded and his brown eyes warmed.

“Fuck.” His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. “I’ll go as gentle as I can.”

“Don’t let them see me like this. Please, Nix, they can’t see this.”

“I won’t, babe.”

The twenty minutes it took Nixon to slowly walk us out of the woods were just as painful as the previous hours. Every step he took felt like a sledgehammer was slamming into my body.

The only thing that kept me from falling into a blissful unconsciousness was Nixon’s voice. He’d never stopped talking. Never stopped telling me how much he loved me.

Nixon Swagger, my black knight.

42

Nixon sat vigil next to McKenna’s hospital bed. She’d been lucky. Dick Dillinger had beat the shit out of her, but did not break her. Pride swelled in his chest. His woman was fierce. When he’d made it to the shack and heard her battle cry he knew she hadn’t given up.

She was a warrior.

A fighter.

All his.