Page 56 of Rear View
Xavier
I love you, Xavier. My girl’s words echoed in my head and my gut dropped, ’cause they’d been a goodbye. A fuckin’ goodbye.
Nah, dream girl. Not lettin’ you go. Not yet.
Not ever.
“Guardrail’s eighty feet out,” Alec called.
One hundred and fifty feet to dead air. To a plummet they wouldn’t survive.
The helicopter’s spotlight bounced off the sixty-foot rock face to our right when it tracked from us to Barlowe. “Pull the vehicle over. Stop. Pull the vehicle over.”
The cops were too far back, useless. So, I only had one option to help my girl. And my plan only gave me a single damn shot.
Downshifting, I slammed my foot on the gas. The car punched forward, and I closed in. Fast. Barlowe veered into my path, but the prick’d picked the wrong fight, ’cause he wasn’t on his turf anymore.
He was on mine .
His car’s momentum shifted across the center line.
Alec’s voice tightened. “Fifty!” He gripped the roll bar tight.
I jerked right in a Scandinavian slide. Just like I wanted, Barlowe followed, trying to block me out.
Popping my e-brake, my wheels locked up and I cut left again.
The ass end of my vehicle swung wide, drifting as I passed him.
My wheels skimmed the edge of the road, inches from the scattered trees and sheer drop down the mountainside.
“Ten feet!”
Time slowed. I found my girl and locked on that copper gaze, screaming my message. Hold on, darlin. Hold. The. Fuck. On!
The whites of Barlowe’s eyes lit under my headlights. He paled.
Ryah’s arm shot to her left and his seat belt snapped away.
“FIVE!”
My tires shrieked as my car’s ass end raked across the guardrail.
Sparks flew. When I reached Barlowe’s front quarter panel, I dropped it into gear and released the e-brake.
Punching the gas, I drove forward, into him, knocking him off course.
Ryah grabbed Barlowe’s wheel and cut it, veering farther right and straight toward the cliff face.
She and Barlowe snapped to the side. Her hair flew, whipping as their momentum shifted.
His car hit, giving under the stone. Metal screeched and buckled.
Plastic exploded. My girl’s seat belt locked, and Barlowe went airborne.
His body launched toward the windshield.
The glass shattered and cubed as he broke through.
The car came up short, back wheels lifting.
Barlowe’s shriek of terror echoed across the night. His head collided with the rock face. Then his shoulder. His body broke, and crumpled, painting everything with blood and bone and my sheer satis-fuckin’-faction.
He dropped to the ground.
Dead.
“Holy shit,” Alec said.
The car crashed back to the road. I locked up my brakes, skidding to a stop twenty feet away.
“RYAH!” I thundered, tore off my harness and exploded from the car. “RYAH!” I ran, vaulting over what was left of Barlowe’s hood and toward her side.
Alec followed, tight on my heels.
The airbag was inflated against her chest, its dust covering her clothes and face. And blood. Some dried, some new. Her eyes were closed, her head slumped to the side.
Alec’s attention snapped to the right. “We got gas, X.”
The smell hit me a second later as it leaked from the tank on Ryah’s side.
I ripped at her door handle, but the warped metal blocked it from opening. There was a hollow sound, then a whoosh. Flames erupted, shooting from the engine.
“FUCK!”
I snatched a rock from the base of the cliff and reared back, swinging hard for the bottom left corner of her window—its pressurized weak spot. It exploded, glass flying everywhere.
Shoving the airbag aside, I leaned in and angled her face my way. “Come on, dream girl. Open your eyes.”
Nothing.
The fire’s heat was intense and getting worse. It sucked the air from the car and filled it with smoke.
“Is she breathing?” Alec asked.
“I don’t know.” I couldn’t tell if her chest was moving, but she wasn’t, even when I jostled her. Again, nothing. “Wake up, darlin’. Please, Christ. Wake up!”
Reaching down, I unhooked her seat belt. Sliding my hands under her, I lifted, but something caught.
Alec shook his head. “Her foot’s stuck.” He threw open the back door.
I twisted my head to see the imploded dash pinning her leg. The bone sat at a bad angle. Broken. Definitely broken. SHIT!
The wail of sirens got louder, the cop’s red and blue lights tracking across the road, through the car and reflecting off Ryah’s blood. The blaze burned hotter, melting plastic and creeping closer to us.
To the fuel all over the ground.
Alec climbed in behind Ryah.
“The hell you doin’? Get outta there!” I growled.
“I’ve got the seat,” he said. “You get her.”
Jesus! I hated it, but it was the only goddamn way. Reaching down, I grabbed the scalding lever on the side to manually shift the thing back. “Ready!” I crushed my eyes closed against the heat. “NOW!”
His face turned red when he jerked it hard. The seat gave, barely. But not enough.
“AGAIN!” Digging my feet into the ground, I shoved my shoulder against it, using every ounce of power I had.
We roared, our muscles straining hard. It clunked back an inch.
Good enough.
“Go!” I ordered him.
He burst from the back and bolted.
Grabbing my girl, I ripped her out the window, brought her to my chest and ran. Another whoosh filled the night when the fire caught the gas.
BOOM!
The explosion rocked me forward. Alec was knocked away as I locked my arms over Ryah. Pieces of car and stone and debris hit my back. I grunted when they sliced into me. Something jagged punctured my side. I kept moving, the spotlight from the helicopter chasing me as I ran.
The cop-car cherries blinded me as they closed in, the sirens muffled in my ringing ears. Their cars screeched to a stop. Doors were thrown open. Guns were drawn.
I glanced around for Alec but stumbled and dropped to a knee.
“HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!” the cops yelled.
They fanned out, circling us.
Ryah’s breath was warm on my neck, but it was rasped. Uneven. I set her onto the asphalt. “Help her.” I looked for Alec again. Ten feet to my left, he knelt, hands raised, palms up. His stare met mine. He nodded.
“FACE DOWN ON THE GROUND. HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!”
That sharp pain cut through my side again and I doubled over. Blood leaked down, coating my lower half. My vision tracked in and outta focus. I swayed. “Just help her,” I said, then collapsed onto my chest next to my girl.
Wake up, darlin’. Let me see those eyes. Please. I reached for her. Was an inch away.
“Don’t move,” the officer approaching me said. She holstered her gun and dropped a knee onto my back. My arms were jerked behind me, and cold metal clamped over my wrists.
“They’re all bad,” she said. “Get EMS up here and check the other driver!”
“He’s dead,” another cop called, his tone flat.
Someone stabilized my neck, while that lady cop put pressure on my ribs.
“Help my girl.” Darkness crept in at the corner of my sight. “Help my girl,” I repeated, the words croaked.
“He’s losing blood here,” the lady cop yelled, then said something else, but it faded out, and so did my consciousness. A second later, my eyes closed. And the world went black.