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I grab my keys, but before I can turn and sprint out, a hand wraps around my bicep.
“Nate,” Noah starts, and my eyes close. The anger inside me wants to lash out at him for stopping me. “We all deserve to go. You’re not the only one who wants her safe.”
“Then why the fuck am I the only one ready?” I ask through tightly clenched teeth.
“Logan will already be gone, even if we go now. Let’s get Bry and Max, then I’ll call Logan and find out their destination,” he offers.
He’s compromising, and I know I have to accept, but I don’t want to. He must read the reluctant agreement in my expression because he squeezes my arm before walking down the hallway. Fucking leaving me to stew in my panicked thoughts.
Seconds, minutes, or fucking hours later, they’re all finally ready. We make it to my truck, and I jump in, barely waiting for them all to get seated before I pull out.
“Where are we going?” I demand, coming across as more of an asshole than usual. I don’t have the willpower or inclination to rein it in. My entire focus is taken up by my girl.
“He shared his location, so we can follow that,” Noah says, then links his phone to the truck to bring up the directions.
They’ve managed to get a head start, but we aren’t too far behind.
“What if she’s not there?” Bry eventually asks after we’ve been driving in silence for ten minutes or so.
“Fuck,” Max mutters brokenly, his voice cracking.
I don’t bother checking the rear-view mirror to see what he looks like. I know without a fucking doubt that he’ll look just as shit as he sounds.
We fucking all do.
All of us are broken and fractured without her.
“There’s a chance she will be,” Noah answers, but he doesn’t sound positive.
SIXTY-FIVE
ROSY
I know time’s running out. I’m so very aware of it, and the anxiety’s building with every ticking moment. My bladder’s squeezing with nerves, and I desperately need to pee.
He’s been moving around, coming in and out of the room he’s tied me up in. There’s a lot of checking his phone and the laptop too. I’ve been too scared to ask questions to try to get information that might help. Rather than think calmly, my brain is just screaming at me, making me even more useless. Though I’m not sure how much longer I can wait; peeing myself won’t go unnoticed and will most likely incur punishment. Something I really, really want to avoid when my head and shin still smart and throb from his temper.
“S-sir?”
He sighs and looks at me expectantly without offering me a verbal response.
“I need t-to use the b-bathroom…please?” I tack on the last part in hopes it will ease his ire, even if the nicety hurts to use. I want to scream at him, to yell, to hurt him like he’s done to me. Not sit here and say please and thank you, like he deserves it.
“Again?” His brow creases, suspicion twitching his features, and I swallow thickly.
A nervous bladder doesn’t help in any situation, but it makes me want to curl up and disappear.
“I…d-don’t know how l-long the journey will be and if I c-can hold it,” I confess. My palms turn clammy and damp as they twist in my lap.
A niggling sliver of an idea has been brewing, and I’ve got every cell within my body crossed.
Please, universe? I need this. I need you to finally give me a break, to give me the chance to make it back to my guys, to the place that’s finally starting to feel like home. To the people who have become my home.
He walks to me, his footsteps seeming loud and poised. Each step is a countdown within my mind.
The repulsive, familiar leash gets clipped back onto the collar around my neck. The clip attaching me to the pole is removed with a loud clink. Then, his back turns.
I suck in a breath. It’s now or never. There’s no chance they’re going to find me if we leave. I don’t even know what the chances are if we stay here. But seeing as that’s not an option…it’s now.
