I let the doubts disintegrate in my brain. Her warm body pressed against mine sets off new charges of determination.
As I cup the back of her head and deepen the kiss, my conviction turns to concrete. Indy’s right. We do belong together, and I’m gonna fight to make that a reality.
Whatever it takes.
34
And Then… Nothing
Nerves race through me, settling into a heady thrum as I buckle up and we prepare to head back to Hollywood.
I can’t believe everything Brody just told me. My mind is reeling, yet I’m not afraid.
All I can feel is this deep sympathy, an aching pain for the scared teenager he must have been. Having his father bust in like that, basically killing his grandfather in the process. They must have all been so afraid.
“How’d you hide it?” I softly ask.
Brody starts the engine. It rumbles to life, and we sit in vibrating silence for a moment.
“We buried his body up by the ridge. Got rid of his truck. Scrubbed the floor.” His voice shakes unevenly.
I bite my lips, wondering how much more to ask. “No one ever came looking for him?”
His shoulder hitches. “I was too scared to even think about that. The guy was a drunk loser. I don’t know if he had a job or any friends. I’ve got vague memories of someone in uniform visiting our first foster home, but Jake did all the talking.” Brody’s voice drifts off for a moment, but then he sniffs and starts nodding. “Yeah, I’m guessing they just put it down to a missing person case.”
“You must have been terrified.”
“Yeah,” he croaked. “Worst thing that’s ever happened to me. Followed very closely by today. When I was driving back here and you wouldn’t answer your phone. That dread in my stomach got worse and worse.”
“How’d you find me?”
Brody sniffs, tipping his head with a reluctant smile. “Azim made me install a phone tracking app. Thankfully, Wren grabbed your bag, so I was able to pinpoint his location.” He gives me a pained look that makes me want to cry. “I nearly walked right past you, but I just caught this movement out of the corner of my eye.”
Resting my hand on his cheek, I give him a watery smile.
I love you.
The words whisper through my brain, but I don’t have the courage to say them.
I can see how much he cares about me, and it’s making my heart do weird things. Things I’ve never felt before.
Leaning forward, he brushes a kiss across my lips. “Let’s get you home safe.”
The words “safe” and “home” don’t seem to pair very easily right now, and I can’t help a small snicker as he flicks on the lights and does a quick U-turn.
“What?” He grins at my laughter and I’m about to tell him, but instead I let out a scream as a set of headlights seems to appear out of nowhere, charging toward us.
“Ah!” Brody cries out, wrenching the wheel to avoid it, but it’s no use.
A pickup truck rams into us.
My neck pings forward and then back, slamming into the headrest. Black spots scatter across my vision as Brody’s car skids off the road, tumbling into the ditch with a bone-shattering crunch.
Fear punches a fresh scream straight out of me, pain following swiftly in its wake.
My head is spinning, the black dots converging into a large mass.
“Brody,” I rasp, reaching out for him, unnerved by his silence. My fingers fumble over his body, figuring out that he’s slumped forward and resting against the wheel. Unbuckling my seat belt, I nearly drop onto him, the angle of the car working against me. “Wake up.” I shake him, but he’s still not saying anything. I feel around his face, my hand skimming his mouth. A soft breath whispers over my skin and my body shudders with relief, until I feel a wet, sticky sensation beneath my fingertips. “Brody!” I gasp. “You’re bleeding!”
The door behind me wrenches open.
I yelp, straining away from the two strong hands when they snatch my arms and haul me out of the car.
“No!” I scream and try to fight, but my limbs have turned to rubber.
They pick me up off the ground, and I’m hauled out of the ditch and thrown into the bed of the truck. My elbow smarts as it hits the unforgiving metal, but I lurch up, trying to scramble back out.
A firm hand slaps across my mouth.
I scream and struggle but am no match for the strength I’m battling.
A foreign, sweet smell