Written in Ink (Montgomery Ink #4)(49)

She’d thrown the pepper spray on her passenger seat so she could have both hands on the wheel as she made her way down the street. Her body was shaking, and her teeth bit her lip, cutting into it. She tasted blood but ignored it. The pain kept her present and not in the past where screams and fear overwhelmed. She was stronger now than she ever was before.

Far stronger.

Her heart ached at the same time it raced. She would be leaving Denver. Leaving the Montgomerys.

Leaving Griffin.

All without so much as a goodbye. But she couldn’t afford to stay. The man that had haunted her nightmares for far too long had found her and it wasn’t safe to stay. She’d go somewhere warmer like she’d thought before. Denver was too cold for her anyway. It was good she was going to see new places. She’d learn so much and gain new friends—the new ones not as close, of course. She couldn’t afford to have her heart break like this every time.

She licked her bit lip and winced at the taste of blood and salt from her tears. She had her forged documents in her bag and her emergency kit in the trunk of the car. With that and her almost full tank of gas, she didn’t need anything else. She never did.

She didn’t need anyone else.

Autumn was on the road, her mind on getting out of Denver when she realized where her subconscious had led her. Fifteen minutes, she inwardly screamed. A fifteen-minute drive, and look where it had led her.

Not to safety. Not to a far-away place where no one would know her.

But to a driveway she knew better than her own. A house she spent more time in than hers. She pulled in, but didn’t let her foot off the brake, didn’t put her car in park. She shouldn’t be here. It wasn’t safe. Her body shook, and tears poured down her cheeks as she tried to gain the courage to drive away, to do what she always did.

Run.

Only she didn’t have the energy. She was just so tired. She didn’t want to do this on her own anymore. But what if he’d followed her? What if he was there now, watching her in front of this house. She swallowed hard, her lip still bleeding slightly. For all she knew, the man had watched her all this time and already knew about this place. He knew enough about her to be able to trash her home when she wasn’t there.

“Oh, God,” she cried out. What was she going to do?

A knock on the window forced a scream out of her and her foot fell off the brake. The car lurched forward, almost hitting the garage door. She quickly pressed down on the brake again and put the car in park.

“Autumn! Unlock the door. What the hell is going on? Are you hurt?”

She shook her head, but didn’t let her hands leave the steering wheel, didn’t turn off the car. She needed to go. It wasn’t safe here. She kept saying that over and over to herself, even as Griffin pounded on the car door.

Griffin cursed and called her name, but it was as if she could barely hear him, her mind going to her safe place. Only it wasn’t safe there, not when she needed to be on the road and out of Griffin’s life forever.

“I will break this window, Autumn. Open the f*cking door. Now.”

She turned to him, her mouth opening and closing, but she didn’t say anything. Couldn’t. This was what shock felt like. She’d felt it before, but it had been a while. He hadn’t been this close before.

Griffin put both palms on her window and rested his head between them. “Autumn, baby. Open the door. Please. Please let me help.”

She studied him. Oh, Griffin. He tried so hard. Tried to help her, and she refused to let him. It would have been better if he’d never offered, never tried. It was too hard now.

Carefully she lifted one hand from the steering wheel and placed it on the glass mirroring his. His fingers twitched as he met her gaze, his eyes dark with worry.

“Please, baby. Please, Fall. Open the door for me. Let me in.”

Let him in? Could she do that?

Let him in to see everything?

She wasn’t sure she could, but she knew she couldn’t drive right then. She’d hurt someone or herself if she drove in her condition. With her eyes on him, she turned off the car, watched the way his shoulders relaxed marginally. Then she unlocked the doors. Before she could open her mouth to speak, he had the door open and her in his arms.

“You weren’t even wearing your f*cking seatbelt, Autumn,” he growled in her ear. His hands went down her body, checking for injuries it felt like. “You’re bleeding,” he whispered, his hand on her chin.

“I…I can’t be outside.” She pressed her lips together, the sting of the cut pulling her a little more out of her fog. “I need…I need…” She couldn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t know what she needed.

Griffin nodded then reached around her and closed her car door. “You have your bag on you still so that’s something. Anything else you need out of the car?” He took her keys from her then surprised her by tucking his hand under her knees and pulling her to his chest. He carried her that way, kicking his front door shut behind him. Apparently, he’d left it open as he’d stormed out to her.

That made her heart clench, warmth spreading through her, but she tried to tamp down those feelings. It wasn’t smart to feel that. She shouldn’t be in his arms, shouldn’t let him carry her…but it had been so long since she’d let another help her, let another take her burden.