Page 37 of Trusting Skulls (Rebel Skull MC #8)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Lexie

W hen I wake up, I snuggle into Ash. He’s so warm. His lips find mine, and he kisses me leisurely until I open my eyes.

Our situation comes flooding back. I sit up, but he pulls me back down.

“Shh, it’s okay.”

How can he be so calm? We’ve been kidnapped!

“Do you remember what we talked about last night?”

I nod, jumping as the door to the room slams open.

Graham comes to stand at the foot of the bed, pointing his gun at us. “Good morning,” he sing-songs. “It’s a beautiful day for a hunt, and you’re both looking especially bright-eyed and bushy-tailed today.”

Ash sits up, pulling me with him.

Graham points to the door. “Chop chop.”

I hold Ash’s hand as we follow his orders.

“Have a seat at the table.”

We both sit down.

Graham sits across from us. “I’m not going to lie. I was pretty disappointed you were joining our hunt, but after going through your bag I see this is going to make it even more interesting. Ex-military. I’m quite impressed with your resume.”

Ash remains quiet, his gaze scanning the room every time Graham looks away.

“And being as this is my final game …” His words trail off, and he turns his focus to me. “That’s why I chose you. You were my favorite. One of my easier conquests. So lonely and desperate for attention.”

He looks at Ash for a reaction, and when he doesn’t get one, he beckons me to him with a finger. “Come sit with me.”

Ash squeezes my hand once before letting go with no emotion whatsoever on his face.

My legs shake as I make my way around the table. Graham pulls the chair out beside him. As soon as I’m seated, he pulls me close and runs his nose through my hair, inhaling loudly.

I lean away from him, but he doesn’t seem to take offense. He chuckles.

“So here’s the game.” He drapes an arm over my shoulders and focuses his attention on Ash. “I’m going to give you both a thirty-minute head start. If you somehow evade me and it falls dark, we pause the hunt until first light. Then, we begin again.”

Ash leans forward. “And what happens when you find us?”

I close my eyes because I know what happens.

“I’m going to fuck her in ways a young man like you can’t even comprehend.”

“And then you’ll let us go?”

Graham laughs, and I open my eyes.

“You’re not stupid, kid. She shouldn’t have gone to the police. If I’m going down, so is she, and because you were stupid enough to follow us, you will be joining us on the other side.”

His fingers trail over my breast, but Ash doesn’t lose focus.

“It wasn’t me,” I whimper. “I swear, I didn’t tell anyone.”

This makes Graham shrug. “I guess it doesn’t matter who it was. It will all be over soon.”

“Unless we escape.” Ash leans back in his chair and stretches.

“I’ve been hunting for years,” Graham tells him.

“Me too.”

Graham laughs. “Without your gun, you’re not the hunter. You’re the prey. But if you’re as good as you claim, maybe I should shorten your head start to fifteen minutes.”

Ash shrugs as if it makes no difference to him.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Graham says to me. “If you kiss me, I’ll let you have an hour head start. Ash here only needs fifteen minutes, but you …” His fingers wrap around the back of my neck. “You need more time, don’t you, sweetie?”

My eyes lock with Ash’s brown ones. “I’m … I’m okay,” I stutter, dropping my gaze to my lap. I can’t kiss him in front of Ash. No way.

Graham whistles. “Wow, she’s really into you, isn’t she? What about you, Ash? Do you want to make a deal?”

Ash’s chair creaks as he leans forward. “Let’s hear it.”

“You tell her to kiss me, and I’ll give you the fifteen minutes back.”

“Fifteen whole minutes,” Ash says, tapping his finger over his mouth as if he’s considering it. “I’ll kiss you for the fifteen, but her … she’s already said she’s not interested.”

This makes Graham mad. He grabs me and kisses me so hard, my teeth crack against his. I’m so humiliated that he’s doing this to me in front of Ash. I let out a loud cry, and push at his chest, fighting him. Something I’ve never done.

But Ash doesn’t move. He watches.

The minute Graham shoves me away, he barks out one word. “Go!”

Ash immediately jumps from his chair and pulls me outside with him. “Run that way, and don’t stop. I’ll be right behind you.”

I do as he says, stumbling through the brush. When I don’t hear him behind me, I begin to get nervous. What if he stayed behind to try and kill Graham? What if Graham kills him?

But I keep running. I trust Ash with my life.

Eventually, I hear footsteps behind me. I keep running, but I turn to look. Oh thank god, it’s Ash.

He catches up, and I see he’s got a bag over his shoulder. “Come on. We can’t slow down.” He touches my back lightly as he moves in front of me, so he can lead the way.

I can’t believe this is happening. Graham has never been this unhinged.

As I got older, he seemed to get bored with me, and that’s when he started making me do things.

Like hiding in my house from him in the middle of the night.

It wasn’t like we saw each other all that often.

It wasn’t until he started taking me out into the country and making me run that I began avoiding him.

Things between us were just getting more and more intense … but this … I never saw this coming.

Ash pulls me behind a tree and puts his finger over his mouth. He listens for a few seconds, and then we start running again.

He manages to keep us ahead of Graham all day, something I never could have done on my own.

As the day wears on, so do I, but Ash doesn’t let us stop until the sun slips behind the horizon. Finally, he slows down.

“It’s pretty dark, but I don’t think we should stop yet. Can you give me a little more?”

I nod, tears burning my eyes, because I know I hit my limit hours ago. My vision blurs, and that’s when it happens. A twig snaps beneath my feet, or was that my ankle?

I fall to the ground, covering my mouth so I don’t scream. Ash turns around and rushes back to me.

“What is it?” he whispers.

“My ankle,” I grit out. “I think it’s broken.”

He pushes my hand away from my foot and carefully rolls my sock down. “Fuck,” he whispers.

“Just leave me,” I tell him.

“Never. Stay right here. I’m going to go see where he is.”

I grab his arm. “Ash, no.”

“I need to see how far behind us he is. He’s probably set up camp for the night. If this is a new area for him, he’ll stop. Don’t worry; he won’t hear me.” He drops the strange looking bag on the ground. “It’s a bag for hauling wood,” he tells me.

It falls open, and I see he’s filled it with rope, a lighter, and a few other tools. “Where did you get all this?”

“Back at the house. That was what I was doing when I sent you on ahead.”

My eyes tear up again. This man is so much more than I deserve. I got us into this mess, and he is the one who has to get us out.

“I’m going to move you behind this rock, so it keeps the wind off you.”

He grabs me under my arms and drags me. I bite my tongue. I don’t want to let him know how much pain I’m really in.

He kisses me quickly on the cheek. “I promise I’ll be back soon.” And then he’s off without another word.

I pull my shoe and sock off. Oh my god, it’s already swelling. I’ll never be able to continue on.

Tears fall freely as I rest my head against the rock. I’ve really messed up this time. I close my eyes and play all of my bad decisions over and over again in my mind.

I must doze off, because when I wake there’s a fire burning a few feet away from me. My ankle is wrapped, and there is a pile of wild berries by my side. Ash is nowhere to be seen.

Hours go by before he finally appears. He crouches down beside me. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay. Where have you been?”

“I’ve been working on a plan.”

“Is he far behind?”

Ash shakes his head. “Not far enough.”

“What are we going to do?”

He picks up a berry and pushes it into my mouth with his finger. “I’m going to move you to someplace he can’t get to you. Do you trust me?”

I nod as he shoves another one in my mouth, forcing me to eat.

“I’m going to drop you over a cliff.”