Page 102 of Greed

“Riker, you’re not hearing me. It wasn’t like that.” She grabbed my arm, and I jerked it away.

“I can’t believe I almost told you I love you. Michael is always manipulating me. He must have been having a great old laugh over this one.” I marched away, but Minny ran in front of me and held her hands up to stop me. I held out my arm and pushed her to the side.

“Riker, please, he didn’t manipulate you. I chose to give you a chance. It was my choice to see what you were really like.”

I spun around and looked at her beautiful face, and my rage hitched up another notch. “But, would you have, if Michael hadn’t said it would supposedly save the world and whatever else he dressed it up with?”

“I don’t know, you weren’t exactly the kind of guy I’d date, and after the office incident and my track record, I honestly don’t know.”

“No, you prefer soul-sucking losers that don’t bother to work and cheat on you because you know what to expect. That is safe in your world.” She took a step back like I’d slapped her. “Stay away from me, Minetta. Maybe you seeing Skye, jumping to a conclusion, and choosing to think the worst of me was the sign we were both needed to see we were making a huge mistake.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and even angry, I couldn’t stand to look at them and wanted to pull her into my arms.

“Goodbye, Minetta.” This time she didn’t follow or try to stop me, and an ache formed in my chest and got worse with every stride. I growled as I got to the car and hopped into the driver’s side.

Skye was right, Michael was playing with me from the moment he got to town, and I was blinded by a pretty face that he knew would remind me of Callista.

Fucker.

No more, I was done playing his game. The world could burn for all I cared.

Minetta stood on the edge of the grass to the parking lot and watched the sports car as the tires squealed and then sped out of the parking lot. The painful sobs hit the moment Riker was out of sight. What had she done? Why did she tell him? She’d always thought that the truth was better, but right now, it didn’t feel that way. Instead, it felt like her whole world had crumbled around her. He was right. She’d thought the worse of him and had the moment she drove to his home. Jared, Skye, it didn’t matter. She’d been ready to implode things because the feelings were too real. She was terrified that she would lose him, so she was gearing herself up to end it no matter what and classically pushed him away.

She straightened her shoulders and wiped the tears off her face. “I had to tell him the truth. I was honest, and he ran.” That told her all she needed to know.

By the time she got back to her mom’s room to gather her purse, her mom was sound asleep. She could never hate him, there was no doubting she loved him, but it was time to move on. Minetta kissed her mother’s forehead and made her way out to the car.

Slipping inside the Mini, she pulled out the map she’d purchased at the gas station. She’d decided that she was going to fulfill the journey she and her father hadn’t got to do.

“Okay, dad, where to?” She stared at the map and smiled as she made her decision. She pulled the small car out onto the road as the storm rumbled closer, the dark clouds in the distance announcing it was going to be a bad one.

She hadn’t gone very far when the rain began to hit her windshield. What started out as normal drops quickly turned into a blinding torrential downpour. The car shook violently from side to side. The wind was so strong she could barely keep the car on the road, and the sound was as loud she’d ever heard. Everything echoed inside the little car, and with the loud boom of thunder, she would’ve sworn ripped the roof clean off.

Minetta leaned forward over the steering wheel as she tried to gauge where the lines on the road were. She flicked on her four-way flashers as the rain turned into massive ice pellets and decided that if a tornado was coming, she better be parked. She pulled over and put the car onto the shoulder, and came to a stop. She’d never seen a storm like this. The sky was darkening further, blocking the sun completely with a strange inky hue that made her shudder.

She yelped as a particularly large pellet hit the car with a bang, shaking it. The thumping on the roof had her looking up and worried if it would hold. A dark shape out of the corner of her eye had her looking out the front windshield, but nothing was there. Her eyes scanned the growing inky darkness closing in on the vehicle and wiped the sweat off the palms of her hands.

“No, you’re imagining it. They wouldn’t want you now. It couldn’t be,” she said out loud, trying to calm the building nerves in the pit of her stomach. She hit the on-button on the radio and jumped, covering her ears as the loud screech and crackle sound of no channel blasted through the speakers. The hair stood up on the back of her neck a moment before she caught a glimpse of something out the side window.

This time as she looked up, she screamed, a massive fist of a creature that was certainly from Hell slammed through the glass of the passenger side window. Instinct alone had her slamming her foot down on the gas. The demon held on to the side of the door as it growled and spit at her as she sped recklessly down the road. She yelped as a sharp claw scraped across her arm as she reached into her purse. Her hand wrapped around the small canister of pepper spray she kept. Not even caring if she got the thing in the face, she pulled out the bottle and pressed the button.

The demon roared and fell away from her car, but she could see more lumbering beasts running along the shoulder beside her. No, no, no this was not happening again!

“Go away! He left me. It’s over,” she bellowed out the open window. Only red glowing eyes and the sound of snarling greeted her. “Please go away!”

Tears like the rain outside streamed down her face as she coaxed more speed out of the small vehicle. What looked like waves of water sprayed up either side of the car and flowed through the broken window, soaking her to the bone.

“Please just leave me alone,” she whispered as her foot pressed to the floor.

* * *

“What is wrong, Sir,” Shilo asked as I streaked down the road.

“It was all a lie, all a fucking lie!” I slammed my hand on the steering wheel.

“What was Sir?” Shilo gripped the door and the center console, his knuckles going white with the death grip.

I filled Shilo in on everything that Minetta had just told me. When I finished, I looked over at him, and he simply stared back. Slowly his face darkened. I couldn’t remember a time the man looked at me with such anger.