Page 44 of No One But You
Bailey screamed, struggling desperately to get to me, but the two men dragged her to the door, and one of them crammed something into her mouth.
As I lost consciousness, I could only hope that I’d been able to help, even if I’d failed to protect her.
Sometime later, I came awake in bits and pieces.
I opened my eyes for long enough to see a small, rust-colored spot on the carpet.
Darkness.
Bailey!
I bolted upright, but my head screamed, and I slumped back down.
Fuck, I was so tired.Why was I so tired?
My phone.I needed my phone.
It seemed to take an eternity to find it, and when I did, the numbers swam in front of my eyes.The words on the screen doubled and merged as I did my best to focus on them over and over, making bile rise up my throat.
I tried to find Nate’s phone number, but when I hit it, the call failed.
Frustrated, I squeezed the Power button five times.Alerting emergency services wasn’t as good as calling Nate directly, but it would have to do.
When the SOS option appeared on the screen, I swiped it and closed my eyes.
My phone buzzed, jolting me awake.I could hardly make out the name on the screen, but when I managed to answer, the voice demanding to know if I was okay was as familiar as my own.
“They took her,” I rasped.“And I…”
Need help.
TWENTY-FIVE
Reason #10 why Max Braddock is husband material:
He’s smart as hell.
BAILEY
I fought as hard as I could as the two masked men hauled me to their car, which was parked around the corner.I tried to shout because surely if I could make a little noise, then someone would notice what was going on, but the fabric they’d shoved into my mouth stifled my cries.
Unfortunately, this part of Destiny Falls was quiet, and I couldn’t be certain that anyone would see.
One of them let me go to open the back door of the car and then withdrew a zip tie from his pocket.I thrashed, realizing that if I didn’t do something now, I’d have to rely on someone else saving me because I wouldn’t be able to do anything to help myself.
Wriggling awkwardly, I made sure to knock the GPS tracker Max had passed me deeper into my sports bra, where it would hopefully remain undetected.I’d meant to return it to Nate but had forgotten, and I was so grateful for that now.
It was the equivalent of a smart tag, which meant I couldn’t send an emergency signal out like I could with a personal locator beacon, but hopefully it would allow someone to track me.
The bigger man shoved my wrists together and held me firmly while his companion looped the tie around them and yanked it tight.I grimaced as it bit into my skin.Hopefully they wouldn’t leave it on for too long because my fingers were already tingling, the blood flow partially blocked.
The guy holding me wrestled me into the back of the car, then slammed the door and locked it.I grabbed the opposite handle, but it must have childproof locks, because it wouldn’t open.
The two men got into the front, the bigger one driving.
Now that I was no longer fighting them off, I was able to work the fabric—a shirt, maybe—out of my mouth.
“You don’t have to do this,” I panted, trying to catch my breath.
