A Redo (Sterling Shore 6)

With that, he ends the feed with his jaw ticking angrily, as though he was cutting himself off before he lost his cool. Oh no. Oh no. No. No.

“That’s… so… I’m about to cry,” Tria says, sniffling around a small laugh.

He just told the world he loves me, and I’m the idiot who thought he was playing me. More tears prick my eyes, and I sigh in content, ignoring the truck behind us that is now riding our ass and blinding us with their bright lights.

Her phone rings, and I look back down.

“Dominant Lover?” I ask, confused by the name flashing on the screen, and she bursts out laughing while taking the phone from my hands.

“Hey, Kode,” she says, smiling, but her smile falls quickly, and even in the dark, I can tell she just paled. “When?” There’s a long pause and she sucks in a breath while turning down my road. “Yeah. We’re close to Allie’s house, and since Wren just went viral with that epic video, I’m sure it’ll be safe to stay there… Be careful. I’ll see you when you get here.”

She hangs up, and her hands are shaking.

“Tria, what’s wrong?” I ask when my house comes into view.

The blinding lights behind us don’t fade, and I scowl behind me at the jerk. “Oh no,” she whispers. “Please don’t let that be Pete,” she adds under her breath.

“Pete? As in your psycho ex—”

Air explodes from my chest, and my words end in a screech when the truck behind us suddenly slams into our rear. Tria jerks forward, crying out when her seatbelt catches, and she tries to speed up, ready to pass my house. But the truck revs loudly, ramming into us twice as hard this time, and it forces us to spin out of control.

The world around us spins violently, sending my stomach to my throat and my heart into my mouth. My body tenses as the seatbelt painfully catches again, keeping me from being thrown around in the car.

The car jolts again from a third attack, and metal whines and crunches. I hear the glass shattering as the world outside us blurs when the car is slung around harder, sliding into the grass of my small front yard. The smell of burning rubber assaults me, and my breath heaves out when the seatbelt holds me in place, bruising me with its forceful hold.

Seconds feel like hours, and my head pounds with my pulse. Actually, my pulse feels like it’s all over my body, thudding heavily and in panic as the madness continues.

The car rocks once it finally stops sliding, fortunately still staying upright. Tria groans, blood dripping down the side of her face from her lip that looks to be cut. I feel a warm trickle and reach up, wincing when my fingers touch my forehead, feeling a burning pain. I pull my hand down to see the small touch has loaded my fingertips with blood, and it’s dripping down my face, sliding onto my chest.

The front windshield is intact, but the back glass is shattered, and those damn lights are still blaring at us. I look over to see a spider-vein crack in the window of my door, and my blood is smeared all over it.

Since I bleed easily, I try not to freak out. What the hell just—

Tria’s door is ripped open, and she screams, “Run!”

Two large hands grab her out of the car after the seatbelt is cut away, and she struggles uselessly, while I helplessly stay trapped, finally managing to get my seatbelt undone.

My heartbeat pounds in my ears when I hear the muffled voice of a man, and I shove my shoulder against my door when it refuses to budge. Fuck!

Tria yelps in pain after a loud smack resonates in my ears, and I look for anything at all, but only find an ink pen. I scramble across the car, shifting over the awkward space to climb through Tria’s side just as the big, bald man throws her to the ground.

“Call the cops!” someone yells from down the street as Tria screams again, unable to stop him when he kicks her in the stomach.

My feet are moving before I realize it, and I suck in a breath just before I slam the ink pen into his side as hard as I can. I feel the flesh give, I hear the roar of pain, and I watch as blood coats the wound. I kick him as hard as I can right between the legs the second I get an angle, considering it’s the only way I really know how to hurt a man.

I don’t wait when I see him fall to the ground, because I know I don’t have long. Reaching down, I start dragging Tria to the house, and she whimpers as she pulls herself up. I don’t chance a glance back as I throw her arm over my shoulder, trying to support her weight as I force her to move faster.