“Need to get the fuck outta here.” His voice was raw and rough like it hurt for him to speak. Had he been screaming the whole time while she had worked on the fire?
He jackknifed up as soon as she had both arms free and she immediately moved to his ankles. As she sawed at those restraints, he yanked his underwear and pants back up over his hips, securing them.
As soon as both ankles were free, he rolled off the bed, grabbed her arm and yanked her behind him as he began to surge toward the door she had closed behind her. He flung it open, rushed outside, dragging her along with him, toward the path in the woods, not hesitating one second.
Like he was running from the devil.
He probably was.
She had so many questions and so many thoughts, but she didn’t let any of them escape. Time for that was later. Right now, they both needed to get the hell off that mountain in one piece while they could.
Jet only glanced over her shoulder once to see the glow of the spreading fire before they ducked into the woods.
After that, she only looked forward toward escape as both of them raced down the narrow dirt and dark trail, hoping neither of them fell and broke anything.
They made it down the mountain in record time, broke free of the woods, sprinted across Copperhead Road and down the berm to the hiding spot where she’d parked her SUV behind the Honda.
Even though she was a runner, she was almost wheezing as hard as Rook, mostly because of her adrenaline and the effort it took to run down the dark, rough terrain.
From now on, she would find places to run cross-country. Hiking paths, nature trails, whatever. Not that she ever wanted this kind of adventure again.
When they got to the vehicles, Jet spun around, leaned her ass against her Toyota and bent over at the waist, planting her hands above her knees and trying to catch her breath and her racing thoughts.
Rook immediately opened the trunk of the old Honda, pulled out his cut, and shrugged it on before collapsing against the car. He dug inside his cut and when his trembling hand reappeared, he was holding something thin and white.
Even in the dark, she could see it was a damn joint.
He flicked a lighter with his other hand, taking a long hit of the pot and holding it in his lungs as long as he could before blowing it out and panting again from the previous exertion.
“Do you think it’s smart to do that in front of me?”
“You think I give a goddamn fuck right now?” he growled, still out of breath.
No, she supposed he didn’t. “We need to get out of here.”
“Fuckin’ go, then. Nobody’s tellin’ you to stay.” He turned his head to look up the mountain they’d just left behind. “Busy fightin’ that fire, anyway.”
Did he actually sound a little impressed by her efforts? That couldn’t be right. “But probably not for long. They might come looking for you.”
He took another long drag off his joint, this time blowing out the smoke slower and more calmly. “You got a gun.”
Her eyebrows pinged her hairline. “I’m not going to shoot them.”
“I will.” He held out his hand, like she was just going to hand over her .38 to a felon to kill people on her watch.
Uh huh, sure. That would turn tonight’s nightmare into a colossal cluster-fuck. “They need to be arrested and charged for sexual assault, Rook.”
It didn’t matter if he didn’t actually penetrate that woman or not. What they’d done to him was clearly assault. Not to mention, kidnapping. At minimum. She could stack on other charges, as well.
“No.”
His answer didn’t surprise her. “They can’t get away with what they did and also what they... tried to do.”
She grimaced as she remembered how he looked tied to the bed, his pants and underwear pulled down with his crotch completely exposed. She had kept her eyes averted from that area as best as she could to not make it worse for him.
“They get charged, so would I. Was trespassin’. Break a law, break my parole. I go back behind bars.”
Shit. But they couldn’t just ignore what happened. “Well, I can’t bring the charges. I was never on this mountain, so you would have to do it. You’d have to file a report. They can’t get away with what they did to you.”
He pushed himself off the Honda and pinched out the end of the joint. With stiff, jerky movements he tucked the remainder inside his cut and turned to face her. “No, Jet,” he growled. “Never fuckin’ speak of tonight again. You fuckin’ hear me? Never. I ain’t tellin’ anyone, you ain’t, either. You do, you’ll regret it.”
She stared at him, again not surprised at his words, but still... “Is that a threat?”