Hold Me Closer: A Rebel Walking Novel (8 page)

Fuck.  She's mostly right.
  I would love for there to not be any issues and have the opportunity to take her away without worrying about her safety, but this isn't that time.  Swallowing the urge to tell her isn’t easy, but I have to do it.  I respect her brother's reasoning behind not telling her anything until he can be sure he's off the mission.

I decide it's time to interrupt them and push this along a little faster. 

"I think we're all set, I was just telling Gus that we're leaving."

"And that she's going to tell me where you end up."  He says this to me with an expression that tells me he isn't pleased.  He'll be even less pleased when he doesn't get that information after we arrive.  Since I'm not sure what the extent of the danger is, I have to dump her phone sometime.  The first thing someone will tap into if they want your coordinates is your phone.  I'm not one for being a sitting duck when it comes to shit like this and have no intentions of letting her give out any information about our
whereabouts.

The thought passes through my mind that Gus has no idea about what is going down.  I'm thinking if it was me, I'd want the person I'm closest with to keep tabs on her, but Kayde chose to go elsewhere.  This is information I need to keep close.

"Sounds good.  Let's get on the road." 

Chapter Ten

Lyndsey

I do my best to get everything in order quickly.  Holden is being impatient and I really hope he can calm down now that we are actually on our way.  This could be a great time for both of us.  Who would've thought a few days ago that I'd be here right now, with him, on my way to a vacation I've never had and one that's long overdue.

Before I open the door to the truck
, I decide to approach Holden about his insane eagerness to get out of here. 

"You have to promise to lighten up if we're going to do this."

"What do you mean?  I'm excited to do this."

"You're intense and being impatient as hell.  It's actually stressing me out."

"I'm sorry.  I'll just feel better when I get out of here and can distance myself from some stress I've been dealing with at work.  This weekend will be great and I promise to make it one that you'll remember."

"That I can't wait for and I know
we'll make it memorable.  Just remember to also make it stress free or we lose the purpose of getting away from everything."

"I'll work on that."  He opens my door and waits for me to get in.  I let him be the gentleman that he's trying to be with a feeling that there's a hint of impatient barbarian in his action
s, wanting to finally be on our way. 

It isn't long before we're on the open road and he seems to relax a little.  I unbuckle and slide over to sit next to him and begin to recognize the little butterflies inside.  The feeling of the unknown leaves me eager to see where this weekend takes us.  I really like him and this could be an awesome time with someone that I really enjoy spending time with. 

He seems to like me as well.  I'm pretty sure this is the longest first date in the history of dates, but I'm not complaining.  Who would've thought the two of us would be running off together so quickly
? 

"Look at us
, running away together on the longest first date in history."

"That's an interesting way to look at it."  He turns his attention to me as I search for the
seatbelt, making me stop to look at his eyes.

"Well
, technically, this date hasn't ended.  It doesn't end until I go home without you."

"I can tell you I've never had a date quite like this before and I'm looking forward to the next few days waking up next to you in random places all over that cabin."  He slides his arm around my shoulders after I buckle and I melt into his side
, preparing for our time together.

We come to four corners and stop for the stop sign and I notice a gray van on the shoulder.  Holden barely stops for the stop sign
when the van slams into the side of our truck, hitting the driver's side door.  I watch in horror as the whole thing plays out and can't wrap my mind around why someone would be so crazy. 

Holden removes his arm from around me and slams on the gas causing the metal from the two vehicles to scrape togeth
er until there is space between them. 

"Holden.  What the hell?"

"Just hang on."  He begins to drive at an insane speed, watching in the rearview mirror the whole time.  I look back to see the van following us and it scares me.

"Oh my God.  What's going on
?  Why are they doing this?"

"Not sure.  Hang on."  My brain can't wrap around everything that's happening when another van, this one black, comes straight at us
, causing us to run off the road. 

Watching the world tumble over and over until everything goes black when I squeeze my eyes shut terrifies me.  I can feel the weight of his arm across my chest as we roll around too many times to count before coming to a complete stop.

I say a quick prayer and open my eyes to see everything upside down.  Holden is on top of me and he's bleeding from his nose. 
Shit.

"Holden.  Are you okay?"  I still the second I hear voices. 
The sense of danger all around me has me on edge and I don't know what to do.  Holden is breathing, but he's not talking to me. 
Damn it.

I remember Holden pulling a gun from under his seat and begin to search frantically for something.  Please let the cowboy be just as crazy as Holden. 

I push Holden off me as much as I can and reach under the driver's seat.  Sure enough, there's a gun strapped under the seat, and now I just pray to God it's loaded.

Checking that the safety is off, I look around to see what I can see. 
Three sets of legs. 
I listen to the voices and try to make out what they're saying.  They're foreign and I can't understand a word.

Trying to calm my breathing and stay quiet is almost impossible.  Tears fill my eyes as fast I can wipe them and I'm trying so hard to keep it together.  Do I shoot now or wait to see what they're going to do?  Can I really hurt them enough to stay away if all I can see is their
legs?  I don't even know how many bullets are in this gun, not to mention the fact that I'm hanging fucking upside down and it's doing a number on my mother fucking perception.   

Okay.  Calm the fuck down. 
     

Holden starts to stir and I grab his face to look at mine.  He's obviously confused as he begins to come to.  I do my best to talk to him
in a whisper and be as clear as possible.    

"Holden.  Look at me.  I need you right now. 
There are at least three foreign guys out there.  They ran us off the road and we're upside down right now in some field in the middle of nowhere.  I found this gun under the seat and I'm about to use it on those assholes.  Please understand me."

He seems to at least understand the danger we're in because he starts to look around frantically observing everything for himself.  He bends at the
waist, reaching over me to pull out another gun.  I'm scared as hell and can't stop shaking while we wait for the guys to make a move.

"Focus on the one on the right.  I'll take the other two out first and then him if you miss.  Try not to miss.  Wait for my shot before you go."

The blood is rushing to my head and making it even harder to focus, but I know if I try to move that I'll make too much noise. 

Please don't miss.  Please don't miss. Please don't miss.

Chapter Eleven

Holden

Mother Fucker.

This isn't looking good, but there's no way in hell that I'm letting them get to her.  I'll go out shooting every last gun in this cab before I let them near us. 
These assholes better be ready for the bullets that I'm about to fire straight into their asses.  My nose is bleeding and my head hurts like a son of a bitch.

The sound of a raging engine tells me everything I need to know and everything I was hoping for.  I knew we weren't very far out and Aiden would know about
this.  He takes this security shit even more seriously than I do.  His truck is installed with cameras and I knew he would keep tabs on us while we we're gone.

The guys begin to scramble as the sound gets louder.  I'm not letting these bastards get away because I know they'll be back.  I take out the guy that runs toward us and then move my aim to the one trying to get into the black van.
  The bullet takes him down instantly.    

I search for the other guy and can't locate him. 
Where the fuck is he?

Aiden
pulls in, throwing dirt like he's rolling in on some four-wheeler doing donuts.  Lyndsey is hysterical and I'm still trying to find the last guy before he gets away.  Unlatching my seat belt was a bad decision because gravity isn't my friend right now. 
Fuck.
  It's cramped all to hell in this space.

"Shhhh.  Lyns, try to stay quiet a little longer.  I can't see the last guy."  She puts her hand over her mouth in an attempt to stifle her cries, but she's way beyond the point of being calm. 

I pull her into my arms and hold her, never taking my eyes away from the small area I can see out of.  She buries her face into my chest and clutches with a death grip around my waist when we hear male voices. 

"Here's the last one.  Holden nailed the other two."  Aiden's voice allows me to take the breath I've
needed to take since we rolled this bitch upside down.

"Holden, seriously
, man, can't you pick a better time to roll around with your girl?  It's time to move."

"Very funny
, asshole."

We crawl out of the cab and I look at her to see if she's injured.  I don't see any external injuries, but I know she's scared to death and that will take some time to heal.  I wrap her in my arms and let her fall apart with tears and sobs.

"Thanks for taking care of my truck."
  Aiden points at the mess I made when we wrecked.  It actually seemed like it would look a lot worse than it really does.  Being inside the smashed in cab, hanging upside down tends to make things seem like a nightmare. 

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Are you driving or am I?  I just became your third wheel and we need to get the hell out of here
now
."

"What about all of this?"

"This is all so far beyond us that we need to get the fuck out of town, NOW.  My father wants us out of here and to keep her safe until he tells me everything is clear."

"You can drive.  I'll be in the back with Lyns."

We get out of there in record time.  Aiden's father was there along with some other men and I can't help but worry that this will come back on me.  Leaving a scene like that without giving any information goes against everything I'm used to doing, but in the end, her safety is our job and my priority.  I did get all of our bags from his truck and wasn't stupid enough to leave the gun behind. 

If I have to pay the price when it's all over, I'll face that when I get to it. 
    

Lyndsey

What is happening?  Who is trying to kill us?  Why did we just leave after he shot at least two guys? 

All of these questions keep running through my mind and I still can't form words to ask Holden for any information.  The guys definitely know more than I do and it's time they share what they know. 

It feels good being wrapped in Holden's arms.  He hasn't let me go since we climbed into the backseat together.  This isn't quite what I had in mind when I thought we'd spend the weekend wrapped up in each other.  But then again, our time together has yet to be typical or what anyone would expect. 

The image of those guys falling to the ground is haunting me.  The bloody pictures keep replaying over and over and it's tearing me up inside. 

"Just let me hold you, Lyns.  I promise to keep you safe and not let anyone hurt you."

"What's happening?"

"We're not entirely sure."

"Who were those guys?"

"We don't know that
, either."

"What
do
you know?"  He pulls me in tighter and kisses the top of my head.  Inhaling then exhaling and kissing me again. 

"I know someone is out to get something from you and we don't know who or what it is that they want."

"How do you know all of this?"

"It's just obvious by what's happened since I met you, babe."

"None of this was happening before that night."

"I know it may seem like that, but these guys want something from you.  I'm sure they have more information than we know about, so you can't talk to anyone.  Your phone needs to be tossed and I mean
zero
contact with
anyone
until we figure out who we can trust."