As she tore off out of the lot, the backdoor was thrown open, and Reload stepped out onto the wooden landing and yelled, “There she goes. She’s gettin’ away.”
Flooring it, she heard a shot fired and ducked her head hoping to God that Reload got his name from having to re-load because he was a lousy shot. As she got to the highway, she saw two squad cars fly by and a paramedic ambulance heading back in the direction she’d come, their lights flashing. She prayed the ambulance made it in time. She prayed Rusty was still alive, but she knew in her heart he was already gone.
Knowing it would only be a matter of minutes before she heard the roar of a hoard of bikes chasing after her, she drove as fast as she could, dodging in and out of lanes while her shaking hand dialed Eric. He was the only one who could help her now.
Her eyes on the rearview mirror, she hoped the police would be able to waylay the club before they were able to come after her, and she waited for Eric to answer his phone.
“Come on. Pick up. Pick up.”
****
“You need to go to the police,” Eric insisted, kneeling in front of her chair as she sat in his office twenty minutes later. It was Sunday morning, and she’d gotten him out of bed to meet her here.
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and wiped her nose with a tissue, her hands still shaking. “You don’t understand. You don’t call the police on these people. It would only make it worse.”
“What other option do you have? Go into hiding?” he frowned.
She nodded. “Yes. That’s the only thing I can do.”
“You can’t be serious, Skylar. You have a life here.”
“Eric, it’ll only be a matter of time before they come for me. They may even show up here.”
He pulled back at that. “This guy you were seeing, did you tell him where you worked?”
“No. But they know I work for an attorney. They know I delivered papers to Grayson Dentistry. It’s next to the tattoo shop they all use. They know it’s where Rusty first met me. That’ll be their next stop after they hit my apartment. They’ll question him. It won’t take them five minutes to get the information out of him. And then they’ll show up here.”
“Christ, Skylar. What did you get involved in?”
“I’m so sorry, Eric. I’m so sorry. I never meant to bring you any trouble.”
“But, bikers, Skylar? What the hell?”
“He was charming and…”
“Charming? They aren’t going to be so charming when they show up here.”
She looked up at him, panicked. “You can’t be here when they come.”
“I can’t close my practice indefinitely.”
“Then you have to tell them I disappeared. I never showed up for work. You haven’t seen or heard from me. Oh, God, I should go.” She got up to leave, but he pushed her down.
“Go where?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does, honey. You think I’m just going to let you walk out the door. I couldn’t live with it…and Ben would kill me.” He tried to make a joke.
She barely cracked a smile. He dipped his head.
“Hey, look at me. I’ll put you up in a hotel. Or better yet, you can stay in our Boca Raton condo.”
She shook her head no. “I think I’m going to go back home.”
“Birmingham?”
She nodded.