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“Lifelines”—IPrevail
The past week had been surreal, yet amazing. Ogun and I had developed a routine, and each night he held me in his protective arms. I’d begun to feel invincible with him at my back. Only one night did something strange happen. He’d been midthrust as he hovered over me, and he’d literally frozen up and stared blankly.
After that he was shaken, and I worried he’d had some kind of seizure, but he didn’t want to talk about it. Since then, everything had been damn near perfect.
I should’ve realized it was the calm before the storm and that all good things must come to an end.
Clichéd but so very true.
It had been an awful day at work. Two dogs that got bit by a timber rattlesnake came in late in the afternoon. I’d had to call Ogun and let him know I was going to be late. It was touch and go with one; the other suffered a “dry bite” and would be sore and swollen but likely just fine.
Pulling my hair out of the tight ponytail, I massaged my scalp. The headache that had been raging began to diminish. I shot off a quick text to Ogun to let him know I was almost done, then dropped my phone in the cargo pocket on my leg.
“Do you need me to help with anything?” I asked Veronica and Lexi. They were busy cleaning up after the procedure, and I hated leaving them behind to do all the grunt work. Doc was in the back with Mrs. Moran doing his final paperwork. I’d tried to offer to do it, but he didn’t like letting the rest of us do his charting even though the poor guy sucked with the computer.
“No, we’re good. You go home to that sexy biker of yours,” Veronica said with a sly smile. Lexi was a part-time high school tech, and she turned her head to hide her giggle. They’d been teasing me all week about Ogun.
Especially after they saw the tattoo.
Dr. Moran had seemed extremely concerned at first, but when he saw how attentive Ogun had been, he’d lightened up. Ogun had been by almost every day during his break, bringing me lunch or coffee when I hit that midday slump.
I laughed. “If you’re sure. Thank you for all your help today. You both did great.”
“Thanks, Doc,” they said in unison.
“Sasha, come,” I called, and she came running from the back office. “Goodnight, Doc and Mrs. Moran!” I called down the hall. I’d already said my goodbyes when they headed to the office, but I always let him know when I was going out the door.
“Goodnight, honey!” Mrs. Moran replied as she peeked her head out the door.
One last wave, and I made my way outside. Hitting the unlock button, I walked around to Sasha’s side. Though I was tired, I couldn’t wait to get home to Ogun. I’d missed him something fierce that day. Especially since he’d called to say he was working through his lunch.
Right as I opened the door, a meaty hand slammed over my mouth. Immediately, I tried to scream, but his hand was so big it not only covered my mouth, it nearly occluded my nose. There was a vicious snarl from Sasha, then the man shouted.
Fighting to see what was going on, my eyes wildly scanned around me right as I heard a gunshot, followed by a yelp. Behind the filthy hand, I screamed as he dragged me backwards and I saw Sasha lying on the ground with blood all over her. Fighting for all I was worth, I tried to get back to my dog.
“Shut up, bitch, or I’ll go inside and kill every one of those assholes inside. Keep fighting me, and you won’t make it two miles down the road. You ain’t worth much more alive than you are dead.” My heart was shattering as tears poured down my face. The man shoved me in the back of a pickup with a solid metal top on it.
“Hurry up!” Another guy rasped. “And she might not be worth more alive, but it’s the only way he’ll show up. Now get her in the goddamn truck!”
When he went to shut the back door, I scrambled to escape. The barrel of a gun against my forehead made me go stock still. “Don’t. Do. It.”
For two seconds, I thought I was looking into Ogun’s eyes, then the man pushed me back until I fell on my ass and slammed the door.
Pitch-black surrounded me, and I fought the panic clawing at my insides.
They drove like lunatics, leaving me to be tossed and battered around in the bed of the truck. It must have been hours before we finally stopped, and I’d cried the whole way. Nothing I tried could get the vision of Sasha bleeding onto the ground out of my head.
When the doors opened, I was so terrified, I wanted to scream.
Thanks to the bright fluorescent lights, my eyes took a minute to focus. When they did, it was like being tossed into some kind of alternate universe.
There was a man dragging me out of the back, but I couldn’t stop gaping at him. It was like looking at a blond Ogun. His face was a little more weathered, and a hideous scorpion was tattooed on it. The man who’d grabbed me came around the side of the truck just as the younger one smacked me for struggling.
“Bitch, I ain’t gun tell you agin!” Blinking rapidly to clear my tears, I realized they had heavy accents that sounded kind of like the people on that alligator hunting show. Though there was a strong resemblance to Ogun in the younger one, the older one was heavily scarred. The eyes were eerily the same on all three.
They had parked in an underground parking garage. Glancing around, I saw there wasn’t a soul in sight. The older one was messing on a phone, but all I heard was him muttering about no signal down where we were.
“Come on. He knows we here by now, anyway.”
