Once again Evette made short work of following my orders.
“Wallet. No keys.”
She stood and shoved Dickhead’s wallet in her pocket and picked up her baton.
“All right, now listen. We don’t have much time. Run as fast as you can into the living room. Kitchen counter, table, couch, look around for keys. I’ll be right behind you. If someone comes in scream, then do the same thing and fight.”
This was a new kind of hell. The deepest, fiery, burning hell where instead of me clearing the house making it safe for my woman to follow I was sending her out in front of me.
What kind of man am I?
“Okay.”
“Go, baby, do it now. Be fast.”
Evette took off like a shot and just watching her swift movement had my stomach roiling and my eyes blurring until black spots dotted my peripheral.
I just had to make it out of the house and a few hundred yards away, then I’d be able to convince Evette to leave me behind.
Slowly, with my hand on the wall for support, I dragged my broken ass down the hall.
Evette came running back and did a skidding halt in front of me.
“No keys but I found a phone and I don’t think the other guy is here.”
Fuck.
Dickhead’s words came back to me—give her a ride to the nearest gas station.
That meant we were nowhere near civilization.
“Does the phone have service?”
“Yeah. One bar. I think it’s a burner. No code to get in it.”
“I need you to dial a number for me.”
“Oh-kay.”
Her voice was hesitant and a little shaky but for the most part she was holding it together.
“You’re doing good, honey. We’re almost out of here.”
I gave her Zane’s number and when she was done I asked her to hit send. She handed the ringing phone to me.
“Lewis,” Z clipped.
“Zane. It’s me.”
“Christ. Where are you?”
“No clue. A cabin somewhere. Evette said all she saw was trees all around. Listen, we need to get out of here. Evette took out one motherfucker but there are two, so before the second gets back we need to leave. But if we’re in the middle of nowhere I doubt we’ll get much service.”
“Leave the phone there. I’ll call in Garrett and he can track it. We know who took you and the only remote property they own is in Big Island, Virginia. Coop and I are two hours out. If I’m right, it’s a half-mile dirt road to Blue Ridge Parkway. You’ll want to follow that east. Now here’s the issue—you’re high in the mountains and you’ll need to go twenty miles on that road before you hit anything. Take to the woods and there will be a creek. Stay near that creek moving east. We’ll find you.”
“Copy that.”
“Gabe?”
“Yeah.”
“How bad?”
I swallowed before I admitted, “Bad.”
“Just you or her, too?”
“Just me.”
“Fuck. Will you be able to hold on until we get there?”
“Negative. We’re hitting the woods and I’ll find the creek and get us as far as I can. But, Z, it won’t be far.”
I heard his swift inhale followed by a string of colorful curse words, most of which were nonsensical.
“Brother, I need you to hold on.”
“Just get my woman outta here, Z. I’m counting on you.”
“You know it. But I’m getting you, too.”
“Sure. I’m setting the phone down and we’re leaving.”
I didn’t wait for Zane to get the last word in like he normally insisted. I handed the phone back to Evette and told her, “Don’t disconnect the call and put the phone on the counter. Screen down.”
“Should we Google map our location or something?”
In a perfect world—one where I wasn’t going to pass the fuck out at any moment—yes, looking up our location would’ve been smart. In a scenario where I wasn’t fucked-up and worried I wouldn’t wake up again after I was out we would’ve stayed at the cabin and waited for Zane and Cooper. But the waves of dizziness were coming faster and lasting longer. My vision was darkening. I needed Evette out before Asshole came back.
If Zane said he knew where we were, then he knew. He was rarely wrong and if he had any doubt he would’ve told me.
“No time. We have to be gone before someone comes back. Zane’s two hours out. We need to get into the woods and disappear.”
“Okay.”
Thank fuck.
Evette hustled across the room and set the phone down. Once that was done I grabbed Evette’s hand and without Asshole Associate there to stop us, we walked right out.