Expired Getaway (Last Chance County #7) - Lisa Phillips Page 0,37
out.
She launched herself out of the tub, going for his gun. Clarke grabbed her foot. She slammed into the floor, her legs still in the tub, and he laughed. He actually laughed. As though he was enjoying this.
She kicked back at him, but he didn’t let go. Clarke landed on her back. Her injured hip pressed against the floor. “I’ve always admired your spirit. Too bad you never showed me just how deep it goes.”
His hand ran down her side and squeezed, right over the bruised spot where she’d been hit by the police car.
Aiden.
She couldn’t let him find her like this. Clarke would kill him.
Bridget pushed against the floor and moved up into plank position. She shoved him off her and stood. Reached for the gun. He yanked on her foot, and she fell. Her knee slammed into the floor, and she cried out.
“Too bad Sasha didn’t show as much spirit as you. But blondes are okay, I guess.”
“What did you do to her?”
He laughed.
Bridget spun to hit him. Clarke jabbed the stun gun into her side. She braced and heard the crackle, then thousands of volts surged through her.
Her stun gun. The one she’d brought to use on him.
His laughter continued. Aiden, where are you? She didn’t care now how he found her. Maybe he wouldn’t be killed, and he could take down Clarke. Bridget might’ve admitted then, if only to herself, that she could use the help right now.
“This was fun.” His breath brushed her ear. “Let’s do it again soon.”
He grunted as he stood, and then he was gone.
Bridget only had the strength to breathe. She lay on the floor in the bathroom. All the while trying to muster the energy to get up.
Clarke was gone.
Where was—
“Bridget?!” Aiden called out her name. His shoes thundered down the hall to her. “What happened?”
She gasped.
“Okay, okay. Don’t try to move.” He pulled out his phone and called for an ambulance, then went quiet for a minute or so. “You’re kidding me.” Pause. “He was here. Bridget is down, and she needs medical attention.” His hand on her shoulder shifted as he turned. “Copy that.”
He hung up, and she thought he might be calling another number. It was confirmed when he spoke again.
“Yeah, I need your help. The ambulance is up at Victoria’s cabin because Eric got shot.” He sucked in a breath. “It sounded bad. But I need you here.” He gave them her dad’s address. “I don’t know what happened.”
Bridget managed a breath. “Stun gun.”
He repeated that to whoever was listening. “But she’s pretty beat up already, and I don’t think she’s been looked at much since she was shot. And then I hit her with my car. And now this.” He blew out a breath. “Okay, okay. I got it. Yeah, see you soon.”
Aiden squeezed her shoulder. “Dean is on his way.”
“Millie.”
“She’s with Eric. Apparently, he was shot.”
That meant Millie would’ve responded in kind, right? That had to have been what happened to Clarke. Why there was blood everywhere. But she must’ve missed, because he’d only had a graze.
Now he was on the run with her stun gun and their fight was something they’d be doing again, “soon.” Whatever that meant.
“Can you sit up?”
She groaned.
“Okay, then stay where you are.” He shifted and plopped his backside on the floor next to her, his back against the bathroom cabinet. Aiden tugged on her until her head rested on his leg. His very muscled leg.
Bridget shut her eyes.
“Rest. But I need you to stay awake.”
“I’m not…” She took a breath. “Pass out.”
“Good.” He ran a hand over her hair. “I like it blonde. I mean, the red was cute. All your freckles.”
She covered those with makeup now.
“This is beautiful.”
“Don’t.”
“Hate to tell you, but I’m not gonna listen to that.”
Bridget pushed out a breath. She wanted to get up and walk away, but there was no version of this moment where she had the strength to do that. Or the will.
Truth was, she didn’t want to leave him.
She could try and tell herself all day long that getting out of Last Chance as quickly as possible was for the best. But it would be a lie.
Even though the lie was what she’d lived for years, trying to believe she’d done the right thing by never coming back. Being here was making her see the real truth.
Too late.
She could never come home. Not really.
Aiden shifted. “Dean is here.”
He didn’t know that. It might not be a friendly. “Clarke—”