Ash (Dragon Riders MC #3) - Savannah Rylan Page 0,34

to figure a way out of this for myself. No one was here to help me. No one was here to protect me. So, like always, I had to rely on myself.

Had I stayed at the bar with Ash, none of this would have happened.

Maybe he’d listen to me next time instead of only thinking about his fucking dick.

My eyes fell open and I looked up at the rearview mirror again. And I saw my ex’s wild eyes dancing everywhere on the road. He kept eyes on his side mirror and in front of him. Every once in a while, he turned around and looked out the back window. I had to catch him at a vulnerable point, though. I had to catch him at a time where he wasn’t focused on me at all.

So, I scooted myself closer to the back door and waited for my moment.

Hold on…

His eyes locked with mine before he looked back out the windshield.

Hold on…

His head turned to the right before he looked back to merge lanes.

Hold on…

He leaned forward to gaze harder out the windshield.

Now!

I fumbled with the lock on the door and finally got it to release. I threw the car door open and leaned myself out, feeling the fresh air whipping through my hair. I waited for him to scramble. I waited for him to pull his gun and take his foot off the gas pedal so he could aim. But instead of him reaching for his gun, the car took a sharp left turn.

And my body fell back against the opposite side.

“No!” I shrieked.

I tried to scramble and get up, but the car door shut as David slammed on the brakes. Cars squealed around us, honking their horns and yelling curses out of their windows. I didn’t pay attention to any of them, though. I couldn’t. Because David’s heated stare pinned me to the vomit-filled floorboard before I watched him press a button.

And all of the locks jammed back into place.

“You were always a fighter, Hannah. I always admired you for that.”

Dread filled my gut. “What are you going to do with me, David?”

He snickered. “What I should’ve done a long time ago. Before you decided to screw me over.”

I swallowed hard. “And that is?”

He slammed the gas to the floor. “I’m sure your memory will jog once we get there.”

I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, but I didn't like how he talked in the first place. I turned around and scrambled for the lock on the other door, but it didn’t work. Every time I pulled it up, David clicked that damn button up front, and I’d watch it slide back into place. I’d rip it up, and he’d press that button.

Rip up, button pressed.

Rip up, button pressed.

Until his wry chuckles filled the car as sweat beaded against my forehead.

“God, you really are a pain my ass sometimes,” he breathed.

“Then, why the hell do you keep pursuing me?”

“Because I love you, Hannah. Why else?”

I shook my head. “You know nothing about love, David.”

He peered over his shoulder. “I don’t?”

“No. You don’t. You don't do this to someone you love. You don’t hurt them, stalk them, and almost kill them, David!”

He shrugged. “You did that to me.”

I blinked. “What?”

“You hurt me. You might not have stalked me, but you did almost kill me when you left. When you turned your back on me after making love to me the night before and telling me I was the only one for you.”

I furrowed my brow. “What!? That never happened!”

He rummaged around for something. “You might have forgotten, but I know how to bring those memories back. Those precious memories that will remind you that you’re still in love with me.”

I lunged for him. “I never once told you I loved you. I never once gave you any inclination—”

I didn’t see it coming, but I sure as hell felt it. And when the butt of his gun clocked itself against my temple, I fell to the floor. My head spun with a pain that made me wish I were dead instead, and the bile working its way up the back of my throat threatened to drown my lungs. Maybe I needed to let it happen, too. Maybe death was the only escape from this man.

And as I coughed and sputtered on my own puke, the world around me faded to black.

Maybe I’m not strong enough to be on my own after all.

13

Ash

Work sucked. The meetings sucked. The paperwork