Page 58 of Redemption in the Dark (The Righteous 5)
He shook his head and cleared it of the image of Maeve wrapped around a tree inside the twisted metal. He couldn’t do this again. He couldn’t handle someone else he loved killing themself.
“Shit,” he swore as he hit the button to turn on the AI.
He could only hope that the modifications that Kes told him to do had worked. Otherwise, the Hummer would be a bright beacon for anyone looking for him.
“Hey, Hummer, track the pickup truck ahead.”
“Pickup truck tracked.”
“Auto drive on. Lights off. Follow the pickup truck, but remain a quarter mile distance back.”
Wolf lifted his hands from the wheel as the vehicle took over the controls and the lights switched off. He wanted her to think she lost him, so she’d hopefully slow the fuck down. He quickly calculated how much gasoline he had in the truck’s tank and how far she could get.
“Show me a map of the area.”
The windshield lit up, and he zoomed in on all the gas stations within a fifty-mile radius. He knew she’d want to stay off the main road, but the question was, where did she think she was headed? Did she have a destination? He was half tempted to let her fill up and follow, but if she didn’t have a destination and just continued to drive, then at some point, she would end up on a camera that would lead those after her right to her.
As he’d hoped, she slowed down when she could no longer see him on the dark road. His heart rate slowed enough for him to breathe normally again. Wolf watched the little dot on the screen and knew exactly where she would end up. Sure enough, thirty minutes later, the dot pulled over at the small, twenty-four hour gas station.
“Auto drive off.” He gripped the wheel, pulled over to the side of the road, and watched as Maeve jumped out of the truck and filled the tank before heading inside.
She must have found his stash of cash. Otherwise, she would be offering another service, and that thought made his blood boil. Did he have a right to feel that way? No, but that didn’t matter. His reasons for not sleeping with her were not because he didn’t care for her. If anything, it was because he cared too much.
He pulled the Hummer up to the truck and hopped out. He was casually leaning against the truck she’d taken when she stepped outside. She froze mid-stride and then looked from side to side for an escape route.
“Don’t do it, Maeve,” he called out, but like a bad cop show, she took off for the back of the gas station. “Dammit!”
Pushing away from the truck, he took off after her. Rounding the back of the station, he took a boot to the ribs, driving all the air from his lungs.
That was going to bruise.
Grabbing his side, he spun and barely avoided the second kick that was coming for his face.
“Stop it, Maeve,” he growled out.
He had to jump in the air as she went low and tried to take out his legs. With a yell, she jumped up, and with a seriously impressive roundhouse kick, her boot came for his face again. She wasn’t playing around. She was aiming to maim him or knock him out cold. She wanted to hurt him badly. He could see it in her eyes and feel the anger burning inside her with every move she made.
The sole of her boot skimmed the tip of his nose as the sand from the bottom caught him in the eye. He stumbled back, trying to blink away the small particles while he dodged swift jabs. She managed to sneak a fist through his block, and he sucked in a sharp breath as she made contact with his ribs. Maeve gave a yell and lifted her leg to give him a kick to the kidneys, but he saw it coming this time and grabbed her leg mid-flight. He pushed her backward until her back came into contact with the wall.
“Leave me alone,” Maeve said, her eyes snapping with anger as she wildly swung at his face with her fists.
“I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you can. Just go away, and you’ll never have to see me again.”
She was quick with the right hook, and he barely got his arm up to stop the blow from connecting with his chin. She immediately tried the other side, and he ended up in a fast-paced game of blocking the shot with his free arm. Wolf had enough as her two fists consecutively grazed his jaw, and she raked her nails down his forearm, leaving long thin red lines of blood. He yanked her away from the wall to knock her off balance before spinning her around and pushing her face first up against the brick so she couldn’t hit him.
“Stop Maeve, I mean it,” he growled out as her leg kicked back, trying to make contact with his knee. He ended up having to press his body into hers to protect all of his sensitive areas from abuse.
“Or what? What are you going to do that hasn’t already been done to hurt me?”
The comment stung, and he wanted to try and explain but just couldn’t find the right combination of words. She slammed down her heel on his foot, and he swore under his breath. He grabbed the thick zip ties stuffed in his back pocket.
“Obviously, we can’t have a civil conversation with you acting like this,” he said as he secured her hands.
He didn’t want to hurt her, so it took a great deal of effort to secure her flailing form. Her legs were trickier, which forced him to lay her down on her stomach to manage them as she squirmed and lashed out. She reminded him of a vulgar worm as she thrashed around on the ground. She managed to call him every name in the book and some that would make a hardened sailor blush.
He hated to see the rage in her eyes and especially directed at him, but the first problem was to get her out of here before they were seen or drew any attention.
