Crazy Eights (Stacked Deck #8) - Emilia Finn Page 0,81

I want you to know that we’re doing this for you. For your safety. And I’m sorry you think Will has abandoned you, but I swear, it’s the opposite. It broke his damn heart to let you go, but until he takes care of business, what you guys are doing, this life of hiding and running, that’s not a real life. That’s the same as imprisonment. And it’s not the life he wants for you.”

“Stop speaking,” she rasps out.

“He loves you more than his own life. He wants you to be safe, to be happy.”

“Stop.”

“He made the biggest sacrifice of his life tonight when he put you in this car. But he’s doing it for you, I—”

“I said stop,” she growls. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.”

“He loves you.”

“Sto—”

“And I love you too,” I add. “Sometimes, we have to do things for those we love, and maybe those things won’t be popular. But it’s the responsibility we take on when we decide to love.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

She says it so calmly, so matter-of-factly, that there isn’t a single cell in my body that thinks her threat isn’t real.

“I’m going to kill you,” she continues. “I will escape this fucking car, then I’m going to find Will. I’ll kill him too.”

“Quinn…”

“Then I’ll go find my dumpster.” Her eyes come to mine. Dead. Dark. Done. “Congratulations, Secretary. You asked me when I was seventeen what happened to make me the way I am. Now you know.”

Checking my GPS sometime around midnight, I search ahead and find a suitable roadside motel. I make a call, book a room, and pay for it over the phone, then with instructions to leave the room unlocked and the key inside, I hang up and pull into the parking lot only thirty minutes later.

I can’t walk into a reception area with a girl handcuffed to my arm. I can’t walk in with a blood-covered face, and expect no one to call the cops. And I can’t leave Quinn in the car and expect her to still be here when I get back.

So I plan ahead, pull into the parking space outside our room, then I cut the engine and wait for Quinn to climb across the seats and follow me into the darkness.

She’s quiet, angry… worse, she’s hurt. The spirit and fury she showed earlier, while painful for my face, meant she still had fight left in her. But now she simply follows. Head down, shoulders bowed, hand fisted between us so I can’t hold on.

She walks with her head down so her hair curtains her face. And even when I go to the back of the SUV to grab our bags, she says nothing, gives no answer when I ask if she’d like her bag so she can shower and change into fresh clothes. Blood is matted in her hair, and more is dried on her skin. Some of it is hers; most of it is mine.

I lead her into our room in silence, close our door with a quiet snick, and flipping the lights on, I swallow and study her long frame in the new light.

She’s beautiful, lean, strong. But she’s tired, defeated, and – dare I think it? – broken.

“It’ll be better soon,” I murmur. “I promise. This won’t hurt so bad once you realize that everyone is trying to help you.”

“I don’t want to talk about it. Can you undo my cuff?”

I glance into her eyes, and lift a brow. “Why?”

“I have to pee,” she answers quietly. “I’d rather do it in private.”

The silver key burns a hole in my pocket. I could undo her. I could trust her. But my throbbing face says that would be a rookie move, so I lead her past the single queen-sized bed and toward the bathroom.

Flicking the light on, I peer around the space, and study the shower cubicle. The toilet. The ugly orange counter, and the chipped sink built into the center. The taps are ancient, rusting, and the showerhead droops and leaks.

“The cuffs?” She lifts our hands and waits. “I demand privacy.”

I look to the window. It’s not large, and it’s kind of high up. It wouldn’t be impossible for her to pass through, but it would be difficult. Noisy.

“Alright.” I draw a fortifying breath and prepare for another kick to the face. But she needs to pee, and call me a hopeless gentleman, but I was raised to let a chick have her privacy if she needs it. “I’m only giving you a minute,”

readonlinefreenovel.com Copyright 2016 - 2024