Page 74 of Risky Passion
I climbed into the cop car. The leather seat felt cold against my back, but my hands were hot and shaking as I gripped the steering wheel. My head pounded, and my chest was tight, like I wassuffocating.
And then Alice came rushing into my mind.
Her body was in the trunk.
My heart ached, and my head felt like it might shatter. It was cruel that she was back there, stuffed into the trunk like some forgotten package.
Alice deserved more than this. She deserved peace.
My breath hitched, and a sob clawed its way up my throat, but I swallowed it down. I couldn’t fall apart now. Not yet.
I turned the key in the ignition, and the engine roared to life. As I pulled onto the driveway, the orphanage loomed in the rearview mirror. A tiny glow flickered in the corner of the building, faint but growing.
I didn’t stop to watch it burn. I didn’t need to.
The flames were taking over now, doing what I couldn’t . . . erase the past.
But I was getting there, and soon every single person who had ever wronged Alice and me would be dead.
CHAPTER 20
Tory
At a sectionwhere the road widened enough for two cars to pass side by side, Jaxson slowed down and pulled onto the dirt shoulder.
I frowned at him. “What are you doing?”
“Fixing you up,” he said, killing the engine.
“I told you I’m fine.” I scowled.
“I heard you.” He opened the door, and Onyx barked as Jaxson strode to the trunk.
Onyx leapt into the driver’s seat, her tail wagging furiously, and before I could stop her, she bounded out after him.
“Onyx!” I called after her.
She ignored me completely, sniffing the air before squatting to pee—something I needed to do very soon.
Jaxson appeared at my side of the car and opened the door, holding up a battered first-aid kit like it was a trophy. “It’s your lucky day.” He offered a lopsided grin.
I groaned. “If it were my lucky day, I’d be at home with my cats, eating ice cream straight out of the tub, and wearing my comfy slippers.”
He chuckled, a low, gravelly sound that surprised me. It was warm, unguarded, and so different from the intense, scowling man I’d been saddled with for hours. That laugh softened him. Underneath the rough edges and perpetual scowl, Jaxson was handsome. Ruggedlyso.
“Come on,” he said, offering his hand. “Out you get.”
Sighing, I reached with my uninjured hand, and Jaxson gently gripped his fingers around mine, helping me out of the cruiser. As I slid from the seat, tiny shards of glass slipped from my clothes and scattered across the ground, catching the moonlight like glitter.
The moment I stood, the adrenaline that had been holding me together drained from my body, and my legs wobbled beneath me.
“Alrighty, I got you.” He caught me with a steady hand under my elbow, his touch careful and soft, nothing like the man who’d fought Eddie with his bare fists.
He guided me to the back of the car and settled me at the edge of the trunk. “Can you roll up your sleeve?”
The wound was high on my arm, just below my shoulder; too high for the sleeve to roll. “No. I’ll have to take my shirt off.” I nodded toward the buttons.
His jaw tensed, but he gave a small nod. “Okay. Do what you need to.”
