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“No.”
“Yes, bestie,” Rylan spits out. “It is your fault. You tempted my dad. I told you…” she growls. “Motherfucker, I told you he’s mine. But you just had to flaunt your big tits and seduce him, didn’t you?”
“Shut up, Rylan.” Marcus launches at the phone, venom dripping from his words. He doesn’t yell. Doesn’t lose it. He’s poised and furious all at once. A dangerous combination I’m familiar with up close. “I wanted her first. Do you hear me? I. Wanted. Leighton. First. I made the first move. I’m the one who’s going to get down on one knee and ask her to be my wife.”
“Stop, please, stop.” I try to shut him up, my hands darting to his mouth.
Marcus is faster than I am. He wraps my middle again, pinning me to his chest while his other hand holds the phone. I fight, but he’s too strong. Too focused on his mission.
Dr. Hatchett gurgles as if she’s seconds from having a seizure.
“Stop, please, stop,” Rylan mimics me, her voice derisive. “You were always pathetic, Leigh. You would’ve been raped if it wasn’t for me. I saved your sorry ass, and this is how you thank me?”
Dr. Hatchett lets out a sad, low sigh.
“Your bitch doctor has passed out, Dad.” Rylan’s chuckle isn’t borderline psychotic anymore. It’s one thousand percent deranged. “It’ll be so much easier to play with her now.”
I lift my gaze to him, mouthing, Please. Please let her come. I’ll hide.
“She has big boobs, this one. Spilling blood all over my rental.”
Marcus forms a plan in his head. I can see the cogs turning. How the unhinged side of him surges so we can have a chance against Rylan.
My best friend.
“Send me a picture of Dr. Hatchett admitted to the hospital, Ry.” His muscles tighten around me. His lips snap together, forming a thin, pissed-off line. “I’ll send you the coordinates then.”
“Underestimating me again?” she growls.
“No, sweetheart.” His brow furrows, fury pulsing from his body. “I know exactly what you are. You’ll dump her on the side of the road if I give you the address. I can’t have that now, can I?”
“No, Dad, you can’t.” The Rylan I remembered resurfaces in an instant. Genuinely sweet. Eager to please her father. Giving me the whiplash from hell. “I’ll text you soon. Love you.”
“See you soon, Ry,” he says behind clenched teeth and ends the call.
“I’m staying here,” I blurt out as soon as the line goes dead.
“The hell you are.” His anger finally ripples from his voice as well as his body. He grips my chin and brings his face close to mine. “We have enough time. You’re going to a hotel. Nonnegotiable.”
“I won’t leave you alone.” I’m no longer crying. I’m scared, mad, and tenacious as fuck. “I won’t sit there protected, while you’re here. While you might be dead. Fuck, no, Marcus. Fuck. No.”
“I can put you in a trance,” he warns. “I don’t want to go down that road with you. Force my hand, Leighton, and see what I’m capable of. What I’ll do to protect you.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” I call him out on his bullshit. “You won’t leave me unattended in a trance for hours. You won’t leave me like that knowing there’s a chance you might not come back for me. And you won’t drug me, either. You won’t drug what could be our baby.”
“Fuck.” His grip becomes punishing. Painful. I stand my ground, anyway. “You have to leave. I don’t beg anyone, but I’m begging now. Please, Leighton, let me check you into a hotel. Rylan won’t kill me. I know that for a fact. Please.”
“Never.” My fingers clutch onto his shirt, crumpling the fabric. “Hide me somewhere inside the house. At least give me the option to be here and call an ambulance in case she does hurt you. Please.”
He puts some space between us, dragging his thumb along the laceration on my collarbone. The blood has dried, yet it doesn’t stop him from sucking on his thumb. From embedding me into memory.
“Fine. You’ll be in the closet. Behind the clothes racks.” He surprises me with a kiss that has me losing my breath. “You’re not to come out of there. I have guns here, but I don’t want to bring them out. I will not escalate the situation. You’ll just have to be a good girl and hide. Do I make myself clear?”
I nod.
“Words.”
“You’ve made yourself clear.” Part relief, part anxiety flood through my veins. “I’ll stay there until you tell me to come out to talk to Ry. I thought about it, and I’m not afraid. She needs to hear me out.”
