Page 16 of Sequoia Flames (Black Timber Peak Hotshots #6)

SIXTEEN

LASSITER

“Hey, buddy! Wake up! Come on, Lassiter, wake the hell up!”

Groaning, I move slowly, easing my eyes open and fighting to focus through the fog and haze around me.

As soon as I can see straight, I whip my head around. “Where the hell is my Firefly?”

“Huh?” Jude studies me, his eyes searching. “Did you hit your head? Well, I guess you did. You’ve got blood on your forehead.”

Gritting my teeth, I inch up and glare at him, pointing at the open door across from me. “Verity. Where is she? Some asshole hit us and that’s the last thing I remember. But she was sitting right beside me when the car hit me.”

“There’s no car here. I can see where it hit you. But I don’t see anything else. And Verity isn’t here.”

“I can see that,” I grit out between my clenched teeth, pulling myself out of the car and limping around the front of it. I reach the other door and glare at the empty seat. “She was sitting right here. What the hell happened?”

Reaching up, my fingers touch a lump and I wince.

“We need to get you to the hospital. Come on.”

“I’m not going any fucking place until I find out where my Firefly is.”

Stalking back around the car, I check the tracks and groan. The car was here and then it took off down the road. My brow creases and I glare into the distance like I’m gonna see it right there.

“He took off. Why the hell did he take off?” Glancing around on the road, I grimace when I see broken taillights from where the idiot slammed into the side of the car. “How the hell could he try and pass us and miss and hit us? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Jude sighs. “There’s no hesitation. No braking. It almost looks like he did it on purpose.”

I reach down and find a piece of twisted metal under my back tire. When I turn it over, I grin angrily. “He lost something.”

Jude grins when he sees the license plate. “I’ll call the Sheriff’s office and have them trace it.”

He stalks back to his car and I grimace when I see a phone lying on the front seat where Verity was sitting. Reaching in, I grab it and that’s when I realize that it was recording. The video feed was on. I turn it off and my muddled head finally clicks into motion.

I go back in and play the last video. It’s at least twenty minutes long and I growl under my breath.

Immediately the picture is full of smoke and fog but I hear Verity’s voice when I turn it up.

My heart skips a beat when I hear a man’s voice in the background.

It’s so familiar and I struggle to place it.

I hear the man telling her that he came for her because I kept them apart and I scowl, fighting the fog around my brain.

That’s until I see his big body come into the frame when he opens the door and pulls her out and then she yelps and passes out in his arms.

“Hey, we’ve got a name. It’s a rental. It’s rented by…”

“Alex. His name is Alex. The asshole that I helped get off that fucking mountain. I should’ve thrown him off of it,” I snarl under my breath, wincing at the strain in my ribs.

“We have an address for a cabin that he rented for him and a buddy. They were with another group but that group left and these two stayed on.”

“Let’s go.”

“I’ve got people coming. The Sheriff’s on his way. The guy’s gonna get it for leaving the scene of an accident.”

“He’s gonna get it for more than that.” I hold up the video and hit play.

Jude runs his hands over his head and growls. “Shit! That’s where she disappeared to.”

“We need to get to that cabin and right now. We’re closer than them.”

“You need to go to the hospital and get checked out. I’ll…”

“If that was Treaty would you run to the hospital and hope that somebody else who doesn’t love your woman gets to her in time?”

“No,” he sighs. “Get in.”

In seconds we’re moving and he glares at me. “You better not do anything stupid, buddy. You look like shit. Let me go first.”

I glare over at him. “Not gonna happen. Just drive.”

He sighs and rolls his eyes. “Treaty’s gonna be pissed at me if anything happens to either one of you.”

My lips stretch into an evil smile. “I suggest you don’t fuck up then. I’ve got this.”

He rolls his eyes and floors it. “You’re an idiot.”

I might be an idiot. But I’m damn sure not gonna let some crazy psycho have my woman. I’m gonna kill him with my bare hands. Slowly and with a great deal of intent.

And then I’m taking Verity home and I’m keeping her with me for the rest of our lives.