Page 98 of One Filthy Kiss

“Come on, Amber.” I drag her back onto her feet, still gripping her bloody hand tightly. “We’re going to the next cabin. Do you think you can do your best running?”

“I-I’ll try.”

I swallow my tears and kiss the top of her head. “Ready?”

She nods. This time, I don’t bother counting down.

We pick our way carefully through the trees surrounding the cabin until we reach the exposed area between the two buildings. The light has flickered out, but I’m certain that I didn’t imagine it.

I don’t even consider that it might be him when I drag Amber along behind me. We’re almost there, the vacant windows staring back at us, when someone steps into our line of vision from behind the cabin.

I almost cry out with relief when we’re close enough for his face to come into focus.

It’s Ric. He’s holding a gun, and my heart reacts to the sight of help.

He’ll save us. He must’ve been waiting for us since Nikki got shot, tracking our movements until we got close enough for him to show himself. Ric will know what to do.

“Ric!” I yell between heaving breaths. “He shot Nikki.”

He doesn’t speak. Something inside me twists when I realize that he isn’t moving at all. Didn’t he hear me?

“Ric! We need to get away from here!”

As if he doesn’t already know this.

My legs slow down of their own accord. I don’t understand what’s going on. I didn’t expect a warm welcome followed by a hug and a cup of freshly brewed coffee, but neither did I expect him to look at me as if I’m the enemy.

The thought is like a sucker punch.

He thinks I’m the enemy. If all his men have been killed… Is he blaming me?

I freeze, instinctively dragging Amber to stand behind me.

Ric faces me squarely forming a blockade between me, Amber, and the safety of the cabin behind him. “You’re not in the bunker.” He shakes his head. “You were supposed to be in the bunker.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” My voice barely reaches my own ears. “Ric, please. I don’t know what’s going on, but you have to help me save Amber. Please. Please don’t let him get her.”

“I sent them away.” His cracked voice is terrifying. He doesn’t even look like the same guy who took Amber on the ferry across the Hudson and pointed out famous landmarks.

“Sent who away?”

Was it him all along? Has he been leading Amber’s father directly to us?

I shake my head to clear the terrifying thoughts. I’ll beg if I have to; I’ll give it my best shot.

“I wanted him all to myself. He was mine. It was always going to end this way.”

“Please, Ric.” I’m sobbing now because I have no idea what he’s talking about, and we’re running out of time. “Amber doesn’t deserve this. She’s just a child. You have no idea what he’s like, what he’ll do to her. He doesn’t care about her. He doesn’t care about anyone. I can’t lose her like this, Ric, I can’t. Please help me.”

My tears are flowing freely, and I don’t wipe them away.

I swear my heart stops while I wait for him to speak.

Then, as if waking from a dream, his eyes come back into focus, and he guides us toward the foliage shielding the back of the cabin from prying eyes. When we’re surrounded by thorny branches, he leans closer. His face is gray, as if he has aged ten years since I last saw him a few hours ago.

“Keep heading straight left and stick to the shadows. There’s a car near the road. The keys are in the ignition.” He hesitates.“You can drive, can’t you?”

He waits for me to nod before he continues. I don’t tell him that my dad paid for me to have driving lessons when I was seventeen, but I’ve never owned my own car. Or driven since.