DARK FALL (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) (3 page)

Erik looked at the little boy in
the backseat. He took his hand off his gun and pushed away from the truck. He
looked up at the night sky. It was filled with millions of twinkling star
clusters. Erik made fists and his hands were already sore. He looked back and
saw the man slowly fall sideways to the ground. Miller was on his cell,
probably calling Jerry to come clean this mess up. Blaine stood with one leg up
on the truck, offering one of his rings to the little boy. Gaige stared at
Erik.

There was nothing to say here, it
was clear to them all.

Erik was intense, pissed off, and
desperate to kill. He just hoped he could kill the right person before he
killed too many of the wrong.

three.

Kaity ran. Her hands were covered
in dried blood, blood from where she didn
’
t
know. The only thing she did know was that she needed to keep running. If he
caught up to her, he
would kill her. In fact, that was his last promise
to her. Part of Kaity always knew it would end in death. After all the time she
spent helping him, this was how it would end.

The hallway was long and dark.
Kaity put her hands out and could touch each side of the hallway. As she ran,
her fingertips brushed against unknown objects. At first, she screamed,
wondering if he was crazy enough to hang knives or something right on the
walls. But it wasn
’
t knives
touching her. It was pictures. They slid and fell back into place. Two fell,
shattering the glass. Kaity whimpered, knowing he
would hear the
breaking glass and come find her.

She knew she was close.
So very
close.
Down the hall and to the right. That would lead right to the steps.
Freedom waited outside the front door.

Yes.

She was so close to having all of
this.

Kaity
’
s
legs hurt. Her shoulder ached. The dried blood on her hands was crusty. But
that would wash off. It would all wash off. Maybe with time, the memories would
wash off too.

At the end of the hallway, Kaity
turned, stumbled, and caught herself against the wall. She braced herself for a
few seconds and took deep breaths. She swallowed and prepared herself for the
next part of the escape and turned to face the steps.

The tall silhouette was a living
hell.

He reached for her and before Kaity
could move or scream, a hand was on her neck. A big hand. A strong hand.

He
squeezed.

So fucking tight.

Kaity touched his hand. She pulled
at his fingers, desperate to pry them loose. But it was impossible. He
had
always been so strong.

“
Fuck,
”
she whispered.
“
Please
…
I
…”

“
Die,
”
he whispered.
“
Just
…”

Die.

“
DIE!
”
Kaity yelled as she sat
straight up.

Her head slammed against the roof
of the car and she jumped, thrashed, and fought the back of the driver
’
s seat for a few seconds before
she realized that everything had been a dream. A reoccurring dream.

Kaity took a few deep breaths and
looked around the beat up car. She bought it for cheap from a druggie who
needed quick cash. The car sometimes didn
’
t
start and she wasn
’
t even sure
if the car was legally registered or insured. But that didn
’
t matter. All that mattered was
that it put miles between her old life and a new life that waited
…
somewhere.

The car was parked at the end of an
auto repair lot. It blended in perfectly with the other cars, accept for the
fact that this car had a woman thrashing and screaming inside of it.

“
Calm
down,
”
Kaity whispered to
herself.

She ran a hand through her hair and
then touched her chest. She had no idea how her heart managed to keep going
this long. The pounding and racing seemed like it would only end if and when
her heart finally exploded within her chest.

Brad
. A crooked detective who
had charmed and seduced Kaity so that he could ultimately use and abuse her to the
brink of death. She had no choice. She had to do what she did. Now Kaity was on
the run, hoping that each mile that separated her from him would erase the
memories. But it wasn't working yet.

Kaity looked out the windshield to
the quiet street beyond the auto garage lot. She feared a cop would appear and
take her in. A cop wouldn
’
t
just take her in, he would take her back to
that place
.
That place
of darkness didn
’
t exist
anymore, or she had been told, but Kaity didn
’
t
know what she wanted to believe anymore. She had only been assigned to help
once.
Help him once.

Kaity laid down in the backseat
again and pulled a blanket over her. She stretched out the best she could, trying
to pretend that she was in her own bed in a beautiful, safe house. But the
images kept her from closing her eyes.

Brad was dead.

That
’
s
all that mattered.

Brad. Was. Dead.

Dead people couldn
’
t come back and do anything. It
wasn
’
t a movie. It was real
life. Brad was gone; dead and buried. He could still haunt her dreams though,
which made sleep hard to come by.

Kaity closed her eyes for ten
minutes and woke to the sight of the sunrise beginning. She jumped up and
couldn
’
t believe she had
fallen into such a deep sleep. She scrambled to get her hair out of her face as
she climbed into the front seat. She looked out the passenger window and saw
someone walking through the lot. A tall, bald man wearing glasses. His lips
were puckered as though he was whistling.

“
Fuck,
”
she whispered.

She needed to leave before the man
realized someone was here.

Kaity put her hand where the keys
should have been in the ignition.

There were no keys.

“
Shit,
”
Kaity yelled.

She looked at the floor and moved
her feet.

No keys.

She looked out the window again and
saw the man getting closer. His eyes still hadn
’
t
met Kaity
’
s, but Kaity knew
how this would work. He
’
d
see her. He
’
d call the
police. Then all hell would break loose.

Kaity had a gun in the glove box of
the car, but that was only for an emergency. Such as Brad somehow coming back
to life. Or perhaps an innocent mechanic inspecting his lot.

Kaity leaned over the passenger
seat and saw the keys on the floor. She reached down and lifted them by the
ring. She scrambled to get the key in the ignition and turn it. As soon as the
car started, the man in the lot looked at Kaity. He pointed and let out a
whistle, but Kaity already had the car in drive.

She hit the gas pedal and sped out
of the car lot and down the street. She looked in the mirror and saw the man in
the middle of the road, waving his hands. Kaity kept staring in the mirror
until she heard a car horn blare. She looked forward just in time to see a car
moving through an intersection. Kaity was going too fast, so she cut the wheel
to the right. The car hit a curb, bounced up onto it and then came a stop with
a loud
hiss
and a puff of smoke.

The engine died.

“
No,
no, no,
”
Kaity whispered.
“
No
…”

She turned the key, but the engine
protested. The man was walking toward her now. Whether he was just coming to
help or not, if he got close enough Kaity knew she would shoot him. She would
never go back to that hell again. Nobody understood that kind of hell. Nobody
understood how much this freedom meant.

Kaity turned the key again and the
engine sputtered to life. She threw the car in reverse. It seemed like the
entire bottom of the car scraped the curb as she cut the wheel. The traffic
light was red. Kaity bit her lip and took her chances. She stepped on the gas
pedal and locked her elbows straight. The car took off and Kaity made it
through the intersection without getting hit or killed. She sped along the
roads until she connected to a highway.

Every few seconds she looked back
and expected to see someone chasing her. But there was nobody else. Nobody
followed her.

It took Kaity ten minutes to
finally calm down and take a deep breath. The morning was still very fresh, the
early sunset scattering across the highway in a brilliant shade of yellow. Kaity
wanted to go back to bed. She was sweating. Her heart was racing. Her nerves
shaking. She swore to herself she wouldn
’
t
be like this everyday of her life, but it looked as though she had no choice
right now.

Alone in the right lane of the
highway, Kaity heard a metal
clink
sound. The car started to bounce,
even on the smooth road. The dashboard lit up like a strand of Christmas
lights. Kaity tried to ignore the damaged vehicle, but the more she drove the
worse it got. The car soon lost power and she was just coasting down the
highway now.

“
Shit,
”
she said.

The next exit was just a quarter of
a mile away, so Kaity put on her blinker. She needed to get the car looked at.
If something big was wrong with it, she would either trade it in at some small
lot or she would find a way to hide it and ditch it. Leaving the car on the
side of the highway would be stupid. She knew how investigations worked. They
’
d find the car and connect it to
Kaity. Then they
’
d hunt
down Kaity and take her back.

Back for what?

It didn
’
t matter.

Kaity took the exit and read the
sign as she passed under it.

“
Frelen,
”
she said.

The car suddenly came back to life
but Kaity knew it probably wouldn
’
t
last long. Driving down the streets of what looked like a small beach town, she
rolled down the window. The touch of salt from the ocean, the call of the
seagulls, and the warm air were completely refreshing. Kaity smiled,
appreciating the way her luck had taken her here. This seemed like the kind of
place she could hide out for a little while.

She continued on the main strip and
finally picked a random street to turn down. As luck would have it there was a
two bay garage in front of a large junkyard. If she couldn't get it fixed, she
could at least have them put it in the junkyard. That would hide it from
investigators for now.

Large letters hung loose from the
building, an outline of the letter
‘
E
’
was missing, so the sign read
WOOL Y
’
S. Kaity pulled into
the lot and crept up to one of the open bays. She saw two men inside the
garage, cigarettes hanging from each of their mouths. She felt uneasy the
second she saw the two men, but then they started moving toward her and she
really had no choice but to wait. Driving the car wasn
’
t an option anymore. This was the perfect spot to
try to get it fixed or just dump it and run.

As the men got closer, Kaity rolled
the window up until there was only a crack open and locked the doors.

“
Hey
there,
”
one of the men said
with the cigarette still hanging from his mouth.

He put his hands on the roof of the
car. Kaity saw his shirt had a faded patch that read
Jack
.

“
There
’
s something wrong with my car,
”
Kaity said.
“
It
’
s
not really mine, but a friend let me borrow it. Not sure if it
’
s worth fixing.
”

“
Anything
is worth fixing,
”
the other
man said.

His name tag read
Willy
.

“
Why
don
’
t you come on out and
let us have a look?
”
Jack
asked.
“
What
’
s the problem?
”

“
Noise,
”
Kaity said.
“
I may have had a situation with
it earlier this morning. Sounds like some metal is bouncing around. And it has
no acceleration.
”

“
Okay,
”
Jack said. He reached for the
door handle and pulled. The door didn
’
t
open and he stepped back.
“
Can
you unlock the door?
”

Kaity froze. She shook her head.

“
What
is this?
”
Willy asked.
“
This a joke?
”

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
Kaity said.
“
It
’
s
…”

Out of nowhere came the thunder of
a motorcycle. Kaity looked to her left and saw two motorcycles barreling into
the lot. The men wore leather and black sunglasses. They each had helmets on
and wore a shit ton of rings. They parked the motorcycles and Kaity could
instantly sense tension between the bikers and these two mechanics.

“
Boys,
”
one of the men yelled as he
took off his helmet and glasses.

Kaity noticed his eyes. They were
dark and scary. His half smile like that of a killer.

“
What
do you want?
”
Jack asked.

“
I
’
m here for a blowjob,
”
the man said. He reached down
and unzipped his jeans.
“
Who
’
s sucking?
”

“
Fuck,
Blaine,
”
the other biker
said.

He looked at the two men and then
at the car. His eyes locked to Kaity
’
s
and she was frozen again. The biker was tall, had broad shoulders, and was
gorgeous, even with what looked like fresh scars.

He pointed to the car and asked,
“
Who is this?
”