Page 30 of Wedding Cake Carnage

“I heard that.” Beasty offers a lethal sounding roar. “He’s alone.”

“He’s alone!” I say it a touch too loud as I begin to dance to the front door and do my best to burst my way inside. “It’s locked, Noah. Do something. Can you pick it?”

He runs his finger along the seam. “There’s a bolt.”

“Kick it down! Oh my God, he’s here, Noah. We’re going to save him. I just know it’s not too late.”

“Back up, Lottie,” Noah pants as he holds me back with his hand.

In one svelte move Noah kicks in the door as if it were made of balsa wood. He pushes his way inside and I follow as the faint scent of flowery perfume infiltrates the air. The cabin is clean and sparse. A bowl full of apples sits on the small kitchen table big enough for two.

Noah and I make a beeline for the hall and I yank Noah into the room where Beasty’s light is emanating from. I turn on the lights and feel faint when I see him.

Lying sprawled over a full-sized bed is Everett’s enormous frame. He’s shirtless, still wearing the pants he had on from his office that day. The scruff on his cheeks is bordering on a beard and his eyes are closed, his body perfectly still. His right hand and right leg are handcuffed to the metal bedframe.

Noah checks Everett’s wrist. “He’s warm. Pulse is good.”

“Oh my God.” I hop onto the mattress and gently tap his face in an effort to rouse him. “Everett, wake up. I’m here. Noah and I are here for you. I love you so much. Please wake up for me.” But Everett doesn’t move. A low moan comes from him.

“Crap.” Noah picks something up off the floor and holds it up my way. It’s slender and white with a red tip. “She shot him with a tranquilizer dart.”

“We’re going to have to drag him out of here. How are we going to get the handcuffs off?”

“The fun way.” Noah aims his gun at Everett’s ankle.

“Noah, stop!” I look to Beasty and Lea. “Can the two of you use your superhuman strength to break these chains?”

Lea goes on the attack, gyrating her body wildly in the process, but to no avail. Her hair is back to covering her face once again and it really is an unnerving sight.

Beasty gives it a go as he tries to bite down over the bedpost, but nothing happens. “I may not be able to free him, but I can tell you with certainly there is a car approaching from down the road.”

I look to Noah and nod. “Back to the fun way.”

Noah ushers me into the hall and shoots nearly point-blank twice, and soon enough Everett is free from the bedpost with half the handcuffs still attached to his ankle and wrist. But my heart stops beating when I note the blood around his leg.

Noah hoists Everett up over his back with a grunt and we make a dash for the door. Beastly and Lea run ahead, and I lead the way to the truck where Noah dumps Everett into the back seat. Once we stuff him inside, we hightail it out of there. Just as we hit the cross street that leads to town, a small blue sedan drives past us with the shadow of a woman in the driver’s seat.

“Noah, that has to be her.”

“We don’t have time to do an arrest. We need to get Everett to the hospital.”

“Beasty,” I say as I spot the oversized cat sitting directly over Everett’s chest with Lea sitting over his back, her arms wrapped lovingly around him. “Take Lea and follow that car. See if you can memorize the license plate.”

He leaps right onto the road, and I watch him jag like lightning until the evergreens block my path.

Noah dips his gaze to the rearview mirror. “Call the hospital, Lottie. Tell them we’re bringing him in. He needs medical attention stat.”

I’m quick to comply as Noah speeds us to Honey Hollow General Hospital where there is an entire team of doctors and nurses waiting to greet us.

Everett is going to be okay.

I hope.

Chapter 11

They say the happiest day of your life is your wedding day or the day you have your first child—but for me, knowing that Everett is out of the hands of that maniac—this, right here, is the happiest day of my life. Noah and I wait in the lobby while the doctors and nurses run a thorough examination. I called Everett’s mother and sister with the good news, and despite the late hour, they’re on their way to the hospital. I texted just about everyone I know to tell them the good news. I’m so elated, I’m about to float to the ceiling with sheer joy.

Noah flexes those dimples my way, no smile.