“Babe, what do you think we were planning on doing? Nothing?”
“No, of course not. I know you’d be there—but just to keep me safe, not to be the ones who put everything they have in danger.” I leaned closer to him so it felt like it was a conversation between only us, though I was sure the others could still hear. “Do you remember how hard I tried to push you away? How I constantly told you not to help me? I knew that coming to you last night was me giving that up and letting you help, but that’s all it is, Knox. Help. Not do everything for me while I hide away.”
His dark eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I can’t let you near him.”
“Do you think I can stomach the thought of you near him?”
“I have spent the past two weeks dying every day thinking of what you could be going through while I paced around here doing nothing,” he said. “Only to find out my fears didn’t skim the surface of what you’d actually been enduring. And then last night? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if he ever got close enough to touch you again.”
I placed both hands against his cheeks and kissed him softly. When I pulled back, it was all over his face that he knew what I was about to say. “I did not spend the last two and a half years living with him, and living with what he was doing to me, just to let someone else finish things for me. He’s my problem. I need you, Knox. But I need you to help me stay strong in this, okay?”
He wouldn’t respond to me, because he and I both knew he didn’t plan on letting me do this my way.
After a minute passed, Knox’s eyes went past me, and Deacon cleared his throat before he started talking. “Right, so. I have nothing then.” When Knox’s eyes narrowed, Deacon said, “I was going to say we needed to start thinking of safe places. Maybe the fire department, unless you think Collin has people there, too.”
“It’s doubtful,” Knox said.
“Not that it matters, but the treasury is in control of the fire department’s money,” I added, but Knox shook his head.
“I still don’t think—”
“But we can’t know,” Graham interjected.
“Well, she can’t stay with friends or family. He’ll know to look there first,” Deacon said with a sigh, and sank into his chair.
“But if he does find out that she’s with me, he would quickly find out that I’m a firefighter,” Knox argued.
“Yeah, but I doubt he’d think you’d hide her with a bunch of them.”
“It still wouldn’t matter. I’m not hiding,” I said defiantly, and hoped only Knox noticed my shaking since he was holding me. “You don’t understand, I can’t. He’ll go after everyone I love if I do. My family won’t have that much time. I need to figure out what I’m going to do, and do it today.”
We all sat there in silence for a while until Graham eventually asked me, “What was your plan? You can’t go back to him.”
I laughed uneasily. “I would never go back to him. I just don’t have a—” I straightened and gasped. “The new chief of police in Richland! I-I don’t know who he is, but I’ve heard Collin talk about him in the last few weeks. They’re all mad because he’s not from here, and they wanted the Benton County sheriff’s cousin, or something like that, to get the promotion. They were livid over it—still are. Collin and one of his dad’s coworkers were just talking about it this week. If they hate him so much, then he’s our best bet.”
“Done,” Graham and Deacon said together, then Graham asked, “Knox?”
When I looked back at Knox, I saw the muscle in his jaw twitch. He refused to meet my gaze. “One of you, find out a way for us to meet with him. Don’t bother us until it’s set up.” Without another word, he slid me off his lap, stood up, and pulled me down the hall with him.
He was furious.
Knox didn’t stop walking until we got to his bed, and then it was only to pause to sit me down on it before he began pacing in tight circles. A few minutes passed before he finally stopped and turned to look at me, and my heart sank at the rage and pain I saw in his eyes.
“Why won’t you let me take care of this for you?”
“I told you.”
“Harlow—”
“I’m here, Knox. I left him. I’m letting you help me, but I can’t let you do this for me. Please understand that.”
“I can’t!” he yelled, and my body jerked from the sudden boom of his voice. He groaned and ran a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I just—Harlow, I can’t,” he choked out and shut his eyes. A single tear ran down his cheek when he did.
I stood from the bed and pressed close to his body—his arms immediately wrapped around me. “We’re both going to be okay.”
Knox’s dark eyes opened, and I knew he didn’t believe me. Then again, I wasn’t sure I did, either. “He has police, Low. I know what you said about Collin not liking this guy, but we can’t know. It feels like a trap that we’re setting up.”
“And that’s exactly why you’ll be there.”
“What?” Knox whispered when there was a knock on his door—like the sound alone was too much for him right now, because it meant there was some news.
“Some lady said the chief will be in at eight and you can just show up. I didn’t say names, just said I wanted a meeting with him.”
Knox shut his eyes and inhaled deeply, but didn’t respond. So I gave my thanks to Deacon and waited for him to leave. Once the door shut, I pulled Knox back onto the bed and situated us in the middle, pressed close to each other.
We didn’t speak over the next forty-five minutes, just lay there watching each other. Every now and then, Knox would cradle my cheek in his large hand, and I tried to memorize the feeling.
My body started trembling, and Knox looked sick when Graham and Deacon came in later.
When we didn’t move, Deacon murmured, “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can all stop worrying.”
“We get this done?” I asked. “No. You’re not coming.”
“Yes, we are,” Graham said, and left no room for argument. At least the guys weren’t acting like mother hens anymore. They’d stopped after breakfast.
“Look, I appreciate what—”
“Harlow,” Graham said, and looked directly at me. “I understand what you want. I understand it and respect that you want to be the one to finish this. But it’s stupid for us not to go with you. Even if you’re worried about us, you have to admit how stupid it is for you to go alone—”
“I’m letting Knox come,” I interjected, but he kept talking.
“—and how stupid it is for only him to go with you. He’s so in love with you that he won’t be able to think clearly. Which is where we come in. Besides, do you think with the unknown amount of dirty cops, that you would just be able to walk into the police department alone without one of them telling Collin where to find you? Or taking you to him? You need us there.”
“Oh,” I whispered. That hadn’t been something I’d thought of, and I felt stupid for not thinking that far ahead. That didn’t mean I wanted these three guys to put themselves in even more immediate danger. I turned to look at Knox’s guarded expression. “You knew they were going to do this?”
“I told you,” he mumbled. “Being mine means you get them, too. We didn’t discuss it, but I know what I would do if the roles were reversed. I figured they would come.”
I looked back to Deacon and Graham and shook my head. “I really wish you—”
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing we’ve never listened to you before,” Deacon said. “We already discussed it; we’ll go in a separate truck just in case anything comes up where we would need to put you in a different one.” When I just continued to shake my head, he turned around and marched from the room as he said, “Get over it, Harlow: we’re coming with you.”
Graham raised an eyebrow in challenge, but I didn’t say anything; just let my shoulders sag. After a few seconds he said, “You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met, and, in a way, the strongest. But even the bravest war
riors needed armies with them.”
“I’m not a warrior,” I said softly.
“You sure about that?” His eyes darted to Knox. “Time to go.”
I was still staring at the spot where Graham had been standing when Knox pulled me off the bed. He slowly walked us to the front of the house with my hand clasped tightly in his.
“Stay a few car lengths behind us, and let me know if you see any dark BMWs following us,” Knox ordered, but he sounded exhausted. “When we get there, whoever is driving, stay in the truck; the other can follow us into the station a couple of minutes later. Try to stay somewhere where you can look out for—shit. Do you even know what he looks like?”
“Think so,” Graham mumbled.
“I do,” Deacon said. “The guy with the smile’s son. I told you before. He has the smile, too.”
“But how do you know that, and what if he isn’t smiling?” Knox asked.
“I watch the news.”
“Since when?” Knox and Graham asked at the same time, but before he could respond, Knox continued. “Never mind. Let’s just get this over with.”
None of us moved. But after a minute Knox clenched his teeth and turned to leave with me tucked close to his side. Once we were outside, I stopped breathing and felt Knox’s body grow tense. It was obvious that even though his head was still, he was looking everywhere for someone who shouldn’t be there.
He opened the passenger door to his truck, but before he let me get in, pulled me close and captured my mouth with his.
The kiss was slow and unhurried, and completely didn’t fit the anxious and worried mood that had just filled his entryway, but I needed it all the same. I traced the line of his jaw with one hand while clinging to him with the other, and a soft cry fell past my lips when he reluctantly pulled away.
“We’re going to be fine,” he whispered against my forehead, careful not to touch the huge cut on the side.
I simply nodded, and didn’t bother to acknowledge out loud the fact that he’d sounded like he was trying to convince both of us.
It felt like we were both shaking from how tight we were holding our bodies once we were in the truck and driving away from his house. Each house we passed felt like it took an eternity, and I wondered how we were going to survive this drive, just from our fear alone.
We’d just passed the center of Thatch when Knox’s phone rang. We both jumped, and I wanted to laugh at us, but couldn’t find it in me to.
Knox cursed, then answered the call. “What, Deacon?” he growled, his tone laced with worry as he put the call on speaker.
“That car from our street is behind you. The BMW we talked about at breakfast. It could be a coincidence; we don’t know how long it’s been there. We waited a minute after you left before even leaving the house to get into Graham’s truck.”
Knox and I were both looking in the side- and rearview mirrors, and the mumbled curses continued. “Okay, I see the car. Can’t see the driver; they’re too far back. I didn’t even look for it when we left; I just focused on driving.”
“Like I said, it could be a coincidence. Do you want to turn somewhere? See if the car follows?”
“Where, Deacon? I just passed the last damn street. I’m about to hit the bridge before the freeway.”
Deacon and Graham shouted curses, and I turned to look behind us just in time to see the BMW smash into the back of Knox’s truck.
“Fuck!” Knox yelled, and tried to correct the truck when it slid. “Face forward!” he yelled, but I couldn’t move. My eyes were frozen on the man driving the SUV pushing ours across a bridge.
“Collin,” I whispered.
Chapter 22
Knox
Present Day—Thatch
I THREW MY truck in reverse and slammed my foot down on the gas. “Low, forward, baby!”
“It’s Collin!” she whispered in horror.
I didn’t need to be able to see him to know that. I couldn’t think of anyone else who would try to push us off a bridge. After gaining a few feet back, and then feeling the resistance coming from the SUV, I glanced at Harlow to make sure she was facing straight ahead.
Without giving Collin a chance to let off the brake, I slammed my truck back into drive and took off in the direction of Richland. I pushed my truck as hard as she would go, but Collin was in a BMW; it didn’t take long before I saw him eating up the distance in my rearview mirror.
“Hold on, Low,” I gritted as he closed in, and braced for the impact. We jerked and swerved, but I corrected it quickly. “You okay?” I shouted as I floored it again.
“Yes! Go!”
I was already going 115 mph on a 55 mph road, and Collin was still right behind me. My truck was shaking; I couldn’t push it much more.
“Harlow, I’m going to hit the brakes, okay?”
“What?”
“On the count of three, be ready for the brakes!”
She didn’t respond, but I saw her bracing herself out of the corner of my eye. I waited until Collin was within a car length from me, and watched as he slowly began moving to the side as he prepared to come up beside me for the next hit.
“One . . . two . . .” I watched the SUV closely, then shouted, “Shit!” as I slammed on the brakes.
We hadn’t even come to a full stop when I saw Collin’s airbag deploy, and I took off again.
“That wasn’t three,” Harlow choked out, and I glanced over to see her entire body shaking and tears streaming down her face.
“I’m sorry.” I brushed her hair back from her face and looked her over quickly before paying attention to the road again. I tapped on my phone when it rang, and put it on speaker. “Yeah?”
“Whatever the fuck that was, it hurt like a bitch!” Deacon yelled. “But he’s already driving.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, and glanced into the mirror. My stomach fell and fear flooded my veins when I saw the misshapen front of the BMW coming up not far in the distance. “Shit.”
“Yeah, we were getting ready to try a pit on him whenever that last thing just happened. We’re coming, but he’s fuckin’ fast, man.”
“I know,” I groaned as Collin got closer. “I’m almost to the city. If I can get there, he’ll back off. He won’t do anything in public.”
I could see Harlow nodding as she sobbed.
“It’s gonna be okay, Harlow. We’ve got this.” Deacon tried to sound encouraging for her, but I could tell through the phone that he was in pain.
I tried to coax my truck to go a little faster, but it wasn’t happening, and Collin was almost to us. “Come on, come on, come on,” I mumbled, and only felt the tiniest bit of relief when we started getting into civilization. Deacon was still trying to calm Harlow, and Collin was going faster than ever—despite having smashed into the back of my truck.
He knew he was about to lose his opportunity.
I glanced down to my speedometer, 118 mph, and we were finally seeing cars now. Collin and I wove in and out of them. Horns were honked and cars swerved out of the way, but I didn’t slow down. When I got on another stretch where there were no cars, I allowed myself to feel some small bit of hope.
“We’re almost there, Low.”
We had three, maybe four minutes before we got to a place where the traffic would be too heavy to continue at high speed. And while I was betting Collin would stop then, I had also thought earlier that he would’ve stopped as soon as we got around other cars, and he hadn’t.
Collin pulled up directly behind us again, but this time he drifted to the right, and I did a double take when I saw him leaning out of the driver’s window.
“What in the fuck,” I whispered as my eyes darted between the road and my rearview mirror. “What is—” I broke off suddenly, and felt sick when I saw why he was risking leaning out. “Shit,” I hissed, and started using the entire road to drive, hoping it would make it harder for him. “Don’t look back!” I yelled when I saw Harlow turn. “Just keep talking to Deacon, Low. Close y
our eyes and talk to Deacon,” I begged.
Harlow was right. He’d snapped.
Harlow screamed when Collin shot his gun, and I shouted another curse but didn’t stop driving. Another shot rang out, and Harlow started whimpering incoherent words. I’d barely registered the third shot before my truck swerved from where he’d hit the rear right tire. I didn’t stop, but it gave Collin the perfect amount of time to line up for another shot—and hit the front right tire. My truck swerved across the entire road as the first tire Collin had hit shredded from how fast I’d been going. I clipped the front of the car Collin was driving as we swerved, and shot my arm out in front of Harlow’s chest when I felt my truck start to defy gravity.
She grabbed on to me, and it somehow felt like I had all the time in the world to turn my head to look at her—and yet, no time at all—as my truck started flipping.
The last thing I remember was looking into her panicked blue eyes before the airbags went off.
Harlow
Present Day—Richland
MY EYES SLOWLY cracked open, and at first all I saw was white and started to panic. But then slowly I heard noises—like people shouting—smelled something acrid, and realized the white thing in front of me was squishy.
I looked to the left and a sob burst from my chest when I saw Knox sitting there, unresponsive. I hurried to unbuckle my seat belt so I could try to climb over the center console to get to him, and had just gotten it undone when the passenger door was ripped open.
Someone grabbed at me, and at first I thought it must’ve been someone coming to check on us, but I should’ve known who it was by the way his hands gripped at me possessively—should’ve known he wouldn’t stop.
“No!” I shouted, and tried to get away from him, not that there was anywhere else I could go in the truck. But if he was trying to pull me out of it, I wanted to stay in there, and I wanted to stay with Knox. “No! Knox! Knox, wake up!” I screamed, and kicked at Collin as he pulled me from the cab of the truck.
“I have a feeling this belongs to you.” Collin tossed my secret cell phone into the truck, then turned us both away. “Walk,” Collin demanded. His voice was the same as it was last night. Soft, bored, detached, but still held power.