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“I got it,” he whispered. “I got it!” he repeated and then his slim arms were going around me and Puddles.
I was so happy for the teenager that I didn’t even notice Puddles’ growls until Riley released me. Puddles began barking like a maniac and trying to get out of my arms. I was about to put her down when my eyes caught a hint of black just outside the entrance to the kitchen. Before I could even react, a strange man stepped into the room and pointed a gun at us.
“Shut that thing up,” the man snapped. He was dressed like he was about to walk into a boardroom or something, but his eyes…
His eyes were all kinds of wrong.
I handed Puddles to Riley and softly said, “Hold her tight and calm her down.” The teen was shaking violently but there was nothing I could do for him. Thankfully, once Puddles was in his arms, she stopped barking and focused on licking Riley’s face.
“We have money—” I began even though it was a lie. I had very little cash on me, and I doubted Riley was carrying any around.
“Get him here right now,” the man demanded.
“Who?” I asked even as I tried to look for some kind of weapon.
“Get him here now!” the man yelled as he pointed his gun at me. “Tell him that little bitch is sick or something. Fucker will come running for sure.”
I nearly jumped to cover Riley’s body when the man pointed the gun in the teenager’s direction but quickly realized he was talking about Puddles. “Sawyer,” I managed to say. “You want to see Sawyer.”
“Call him now!” the man demanded. “And if you even try to tell him I’m here—”
“I won’t,” I promised quickly, hoping to draw the man’s aim back at me. “I need to use Riley’s phone,” I said as I pointed at the phone on the table. “I don’t have Sawyer’s number.”
“The kid calls him,” the man responded. “Make him believe it—”
“He will,” I interrupted. As much as I hated the idea of helping this man ambush Sawyer, I knew I had no choice. Hopefully, between the call and Sawyer’s arrival I could find some way of reaching Cam or finding a weapon.
I slowly reached my hand across the table to get Riley’s phone. I found Sawyer’s number but before I hit dial, I looked at a terrified Riley who was struggling to keep his sobs under control.
“Tell Sawyer that there’s something wrong with Puddles. That she’s bleeding and you’re worried about the puppies,” I said.
Riley shook his head. I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t want to put Sawyer in danger or he was afraid he couldn’t say the right words. It didn’t matter because we were fucked either way. The best we could do was buy time.
I hit the dial button.
“Put it on speakerphone,” the man ordered.
I did as he said.
Riley managed to play his role but there were several times that I had to lean in and whisper the correct response in his ear. My heart broke when poor Riley was forced to confirm it was just him at the house and he couldn’t reach anyone else. Even as Sawyer tried to reassure him that Puddles would be okay, I wanted to hug the boy because he was barely holding it together.
When Sawyer announced he was pulling into the driveway and hung up, the man shook his gun at us and pointed toward the front of the house. I put my arms around Riley and pulled him to his feet. I kept one arm around his shoulders and tried to shield his body with mine as we moved to the living room at the front of the house. The man moved toward the far corner so that Sawyer wouldn’t see him when he entered.
Sawyer was literally walking into a trap orchestrated by what appeared to be a very deranged individual bent on revenge, leaving me and Riley as collateral damage, and there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it.
In the time it took for Sawyer to realize we weren’t alone in the room, I could only think about the last time I’d seen Lincoln and the look in his eyes.
I couldn’t let that be the last thing he remembered about me. I just couldn’t.
I closed my eyes even as I listened to the deranged man and Sawyer talking and did the one thing I hadn’t done in a really long time.
I prayed.
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
LINCOLN
As I’d sped down the driveway toward the highway, I hadn’t had any particular destination in mind. The only thing I’d been thinking about had been escaping all of it.
