Page 105 of Riot’s Revenge

“Are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Tell me where you are.”

“I don’t know.”

“Look around.”

His voice had changed. It was calm and controlled. The voice he used when everyone else was panicking.

I stared through the windscreen, but tears blurred everything. “I was heading back toward Lucy’s. I turned off the main road near the gas station.”

“Stay in the car.”

“What if they come back?” My voice broke.

“They’re not coming back.” He sounded so certain that I almost believed him. “I’m coming to you. Keep the phone in your hand and stay on the line.”

The call suddenly went quiet.

“Riot?”

“I’m here.” There was movement on his end. A door slammed. Voices shouted. Then the unmistakable roar of motorcycle engines burst through the speaker.

I tried to breathe the way I taught panicked patients to breathe. In slowly. Out slowly. It didn’t work. Every shadow beyond the windscreen looked like a person moving toward me. Every distant engine made my heart stop.

“I’m scared,” I whispered.

“I know, baby.” The softness in Riot’s voice made me cry harder. “I’m coming.”

Headlights appeared at the bend.

“No.” My entire body locked.

“What?” Riot demanded.

“They’re back.”

“Maria, listen to me⁠—”

The vehicle slowed near the wreck. A truck. Not the same car. Its headlights swept across the grass and stopped. The driver’s door flew open before the engine had fully died and Reaper jumped out.

Relief hit me so hard my vision blurred again. “It’s Reaper,” I gasped.

Riot swore softly. “Stay with him. I’m almost there.”

Reaper slid down the grass toward the car, boots tearing through the mud. “Maria!”

“I’m here.” He yanked on the driver’s door, which groaned but didn’t open.

“Move back.”

I pressed myself against the seat as much as I could.

Reaper grabbed the frame with both hands and wrenched it until the damaged metal shrieked. The door finally gave way. His eyes moved over me quickly. The blood on my face, my shaking hands and the broken glass scattered across my clothes.

“Jesus Christ.”