Queen of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #4) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,61

to my muscles.

Deepthroat slapped me hard enough to wheel my head to one side, before catching my throat in her grip and shoving me back against the headrest with a snarl of fury.

Bait was murmuring prayers from the front seat as he sped up, but I was forced to give my attention to the cunt in my lap as she made me look at her.

"If you haven't realised how much you love me yet then that's okay," she breathed. "Because it'll just be me and you when we get to my family's summer house. And then we'll have all the time in the world for you to realise that you belong with me."

I snarled as she forced another kiss on me and tried to tug my hands out of whatever was tying them behind me. But I still didn't have enough strength in them. It didn't matter though. Because it was coming back to me bit by bit and the moment I could, I was going to snap her scrawny neck. But as her hands travelled down to my waistband again, I got the horrifying sense that I needed to hurry the fuck up with that. Because I had to manage it before she did anything worse than she already had or I knew I’d never get over it.

I followed the Land Rover, using Saint’s phone to guide me as I kept my foot to the gas and tried not to freak the fuck out. Where were they taking him? What did they want with him? Was this somehow connected to his family? Or Troy? These terrifying questions just kept circling in my brain and there was nothing I could do but fight off the urge to panic, pushing the car harder.

I’m coming, Kyan.

I hunted the road ahead of me, but they’d gotten too big of a head start and there was no sign of them.

Just as I made it to an intersection, the dot that marked the location of the Land Rover doubled back onto a road through the trees ahead of me. Holy shit, I could cut them off if I could just get through the woods first. I slowed the car as I spotted a dirt track across the road and weighed my options. There was no sign of it on the map, but it might just pass directly through to the other side. And if it did, I’d make it in front of their vehicle. I knew it was my best chance to catch up to them. But if my instincts were off, it could cost me so much time.

My dad’s words echoed in my head, sounding so close for a moment that my heart lurched. “Always trust your gut, kiddo.”

He had always had complete faith in me. And whenever I’d let my instincts guide me in the past, they hadn’t led me astray. Dad had known that. He’d trusted me, so I had to trust myself.

Fuck it.

I slammed my foot to the pedal, speeding across the road, but in my haste I didn’t look around and a truck came tearing toward me, blaring its horn. I screamed in fright, giving the car more gas and it took off with a roar, the power of the engine zooming me out of harm’s way and down onto the muddy track. Fuck that was close.

The car bumped along and a metallic crunching noise said it was not happy with this choice. Fancy ass sports cars which sat a few inches from the ground didn’t enjoy dirt tracks apparently. Sorry, Blake.

My head was still buzzing from the near collision, but I didn’t let up as I forced the vehicle to keep going and drew in a shaky breath. I’d just survived a near certain death by the skin of my teeth. The guys would so not be happy with me right now, but I thought of the bruise that had marred Kyan’s chest. That bullet could have ended him when he’d come to rescue me and the fact was, risk came with our territory. We fought to be together even when death was close. For whatever reason, the world was making it damn difficult for us to remain as a unit, but we’d been through too much and were bound too deeply to ever let go of one another. Our enemies needed to realise that ripping us apart was akin to a death sentence. And if they wanted to take us on, then they’d better be ready to face