does this all day. Tons of people ride in cabs and they are fine.
He’ll take you out of the city and never stop. You’ll be in this car forever, no control, Mia. No control. Trapped. Dying. No way out.
Shaking, I closed my eyes and suddenly saw Devon’s face. The image pushed the panic away. With deep breaths, I focused on that face, the face of the beautiful girl I was falling in love with. My bird, even if I wasn’t hers, she was mine. And I would save her, and I would save myself in the process.
When the cab driver dropped me off at the right house, I stood in front of its front door feeling like a woman in a lame horror movie. The house was two-stories, no lights on, just a dense shadowy shape.
I wanted to grab Devon, put her in a cab, and burn the house down with TJ in it.
That’s when I heard it.
The screaming woke me out of my mad fantasies, scaring me. The sounds coming from the house, somewhere below, were harrowing, primal.
This was way bigger than me. But I wasn’t without a weapon. I dialed a few numbers after calling 911 and prayed Devon would be alright.
I waited, standing there with tears falling down my eyes, my heart in my throat with fear, until the officers arrived. And just in time, too. When the sound of gunshot rang through the night, I fainted.
Chapter Eight
Devon
Beeping. Something was beeping and pissing me off ‘cause it wouldn’t let me sleep. When I opened my eyes, which I didn’t even know were closed, I realized I was in a white room. Cold and sterile.
“Hi,” someone said nearby.
It was Mia’s voice. I tried to turn my head, but it felt like a boulder set into a mountain.
“What… why am I here?” I croaked. I was in a hospital, obviously, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how. This was the shit you’d read about in a book or see on those stupid hospital shows, I thought. I never figured it was a real thing, waking up in the ER or wherever I was. Huh.
I wiggled my toes and the movement made me gasp. My thigh was suddenly on fire.
“Shh, it’s okay. I rang the nurse.” Mia came around the bed and instantly her face crumbled when she saw me.
“Thank God you’re okay.” She wiped her eyes and gave me a tiny smile, trying to pretend she wasn’t a damn mess, as usual.
“What happened?” I asked her, ignoring the burning pain in my leg.
“TJ took you last night, well, this morning. He had you and some other girls in his basement. Long story short, the police were called, he’s dead, and the press is here waiting for statements. But Diane, remember my friend at the safe house? She’s shooing them all away. She and some therapists with the county. Everything’s being handled.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah. Seriously.” She cleared her throat. “The nurse will bring you something for the pain. Besides that, how are you feeling?”
I was about to shrug but thought better of it. “Like shit.”
Nodding, she looked me over head to toe. “I’m sure,” she said wryly. “Concussion, torn shoulder, broken ankle, and a thousand bruises on you. Fucking burn….” she choked up, not able to talk for a second. “Burn marks. God, I was so worried I wouldn’t get to you in time.”
“Get to me? You mean, you were there? But… how… Wait. You left the house.” I thought about it, then made a face. “Duh, of course you left the house. You’re here now.”
She touched my cheek and I wanted to lean into it. “I did. I am. I couldn’t let him take you, Devon. You’re my bird.”
I started to cry. And even though it hurt, it felt good, too. I was in love with this beautiful woman, and she was in just as much trouble as I was, judging by the look she was giving me now.
We stared at one another until a nurse came, checking my vitals and adjusting things, feeding something I didn’t want to know into my IV. Once she left, I asked Mia about TJ, how he had died.
“He shot himself,” she answered. “Diane says he never would’ve faced prison, that criminals like him are always cowards in the end.”
I could believe it. TJ thought way too highly of himself. He hated being beat.
My God, I couldn’t believe he was really out of my life for good.
“The other girls?” I