Illusions That May (Court High 2)

Fuck.

I backed up, then ran the moment he grabbed for me. He missed.

His friend hadn’t.

He grabbed me, strong-arming me as I heard something horrible fall from the shop guy’s lips.

“Hold her down,” he said, throwing his beer bottle to the street. It crashed into a million tiny pieces under the streetlight, the shop guy messing with his pants. “We’ll show her not to steal from me.”

I screamed, my voice stifled when a hand came over my mouth. Shop guy did that while he messed with his pants, trying to get his junk out, but a car screeching to a stop not only made him hesitate but run when a force the size of a young gorilla came charging out of the car like a beast out of a cave. That force grabbed the shop guy, throwing him down, and the beast sent a blow into his face.

The blows didn’t stop. They came hit after charging hit, as this huge guy literally pummeled the shop dude’s face in. His hand came away bloody, the guy looking back at me and shouting for me to get into his car.

I got a good look at his face then, his voice chilling and dragging me right back into my past. Knight Reed was beating a dude’s face in.

Knight Reed was killing a guy for me.

Fourteen

December

“Knight… stop!” I physically had to pull him off the guy, no easy feat with his size and strength. In the end, I think he submitted only because he didn’t want to swing back and accidentally hit me, my tiny hands on his arm as I dragged him away. He caught a look at the shop guy’s friend on the way and when he went for him next I had to pull harder.

The friend ran like the chickenshit he was, the guy not knowing how close to death he was if I let go of this boy.

What the hell?

“Knight, what are you doing here—”

“Get in the damn car, December,” he grunted, physically tossing another man’s blood into the street when he flicked his hand. His next venture apparently consisted of getting my bag because he spun, picking it, then grabbed me by the arm on the way back. He opened the SUV’s door, tossed the bag in the back, and after forcing my stunned body inside, got into the car himself.

He peeled away like the psycho he was, the guy he pummeled rolling to his front in the side-view mirror. I only let out a breath when I noticed him get up, but I didn’t get a look long before Knight rounded a corner like he didn’t know what brakes were.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I shot, bumping around and trying to get my seat belt on. Knight pulled another tight corner and I had to grab the dash. “Slow down. How did you even find me anyway?”

So many questions in his car, but none of them he seemed to want to answer. On top of his fierce driving, he grabbed his phone, texting something before tossing it in the cup holder. This was obviously a rented car, something I didn’t recognize.

“If you didn’t want someone finding you, probably shouldn’t have posted a tagged photo of where you were on social media,” he grunted again, and calling his bullshit, I pulled out my phone. I didn’t post anything on social media.

Shit.

I had, a picture I snapped at the park today but I hadn’t posted it. At least, I hadn’t meant to do so. The picture also tagged itself, hence my “knight” in shining armor here today.

Knight snorted, bull-like in the way he did it. He was amped the hell up and didn’t look like he was coming down from that anytime soon. He braced the wheel. “I was already in town when you posted that. Went to that park, and when I didn’t find you, I drove around a bit, got lucky when I spotted you at a streetlight a ways back. I followed you after whoever dropped you off.”

I swallowed. “Why? And why are you here?”

“Royal.”

“Royal?”

He nodded. “He sent me to check on your ass, and thank God I did. I mean, what the fuck did you think you were doing? Buzzed the fuck to hell? You smell like a damn brewery.”

Okay, so it was so not that serious. I only had like a couple of drinks and Royal sent him? What the fuck?

“Why the fuck would Royal send you to check on me? Royal doesn’t care. He left me, shipped my ass here.”

This had him chuckling, but not jovially. He was still pissed, and when I realized he was pulling us onto the highway at basically warp speed, I shot around in my chair. “Where are you taking me?”