Search Me(66)

With a contemptuous snort, the bouncer stood toe to toe with Maddox before reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling an enormous gun out. “Shut your mouth.”

Maddox’s vein throbbed in his head, and I feared he was going to lose it. Quickly, I swept my hands to his face, forcing him to look at me. “I’m fine,” I assured him.

His expression was tortured, but he gave a brief nod. The bouncer sneered at Maddox before slipping an arm around my waist and jerking me away.

Terrance cleared his throat. “Easy Julius. Remember what Jensen said about hurting them.”

At Terrance’s words, Julius eased his grip on me. “Get in,” he commanded.

I eyed the rope in his hands nervously. “Y-You’re not going to t-tie me up?”

“Nah, I think we’ll leave those for lover boy.”

I scrambled through the door and slid across the seat. When I reached back for the seatbelt, he shook his head. “Floorboard.”

I glanced down and swallowed hard. This was all a nightmare. I knelt behind the driver’s side seat. Leaning over, Julius took one of the blindfolds and covered my eyes. Darkness enveloped me, and I couldn’t stop trembling. A prickly panic needled my skin, and I struggled to breathe. Stay calm, Lane. Everything is going to fine. Maddox is here, the GBI are on their way, and everything is fine. But no matter how hard I tried reassuring myself, it didn’t help.

Terrence must’ve finished with Maddox because I heard his voice close to the driver’s side door. “Julius, you’ll stay in the back with them. Parker will drive you to the location, and I’ll follow you in their truck.”

“Whatever you say,” Julius replied.

Just as I thought I might start hyperventilating, Maddox dropped down beside me. Julius nudged us to lie down, so we would be better hidden. After I stretched out my legs and Maddox lay across me, a thick blanket dropped over us, making it even harder to breathe.

Somehow in the emotional and physical darkness, Maddox’s voice hummed in my ear. “It’s all going to be all right. I love you, and we’ll get through this.”

“I love you, too,” I whispered.

His lips met mine in a reassuring kiss. We jolted apart when the car lunged back in reverse. Our bodies shook and vibrated with the car while it rambled along the broken-up pavement. When we rolled to a stop, Maddox’s chin knocked into my forehead. “Ouch,” I gasped.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

I tried to reach my hand up to rub it, but the car lurched forward onto the highway, throwing us against each other again. At the rate we were going, we would be black and blue by the time we reached Jensen’s hideout. We’d probably traveled for a few minutes when the pressure from Maddox lying on me caused my legs to go to sleep. I tried shifting them but ended up kneeing Maddox in the groin. Hard.

He groaned in agony and pulled away.

“Oh, jeez, I’m so, so sorry,” I said.

Julius kicked us. “Pipe down!”

“You try getting nailed in the balls and see how quiet you are,” Maddox growled.

While Parker snickered in the front seat, Julius’s boot heel nudged into us again. “Shut the f**k up before I gag you.”

Maddox muttered a string of obscenities under his breath before maneuvering his legs to the side to where he wouldn’t be in danger of me kicking him again. He heaved a frustrated sigh.

“Are you okay?” I whispered.

“I’m tied up and blindfolded, I’ve been harassed by armed ass**les, and I just had my balls rearranged. Oh yeah, I’m peachy,” he hissed in reply.

Even though he couldn’t see me, I narrowed my eyes at him. “I can’t believe you’re being sarcastic at a time like this.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sorry that I’m not living up to your heroic expectations, princess.”

I started to lay into him with a smartass response when we turned off the highway and onto a gravel road. Once again, Maddox and I were thrown against each other as we bumped and jostled on the uneven terrain. The thought that we were getting closer to Jensen caused me to shudder. Maddox must’ve sensed my uneasiness because he nuzzled his cheek against my forehead. All my aggravated feelings evaporated with the warmth of his breath on my face. “Sorry for being an ass**le,” he murmured.

“No, I’m sorry, too.”

He chuckled. “You’re just a ball-buster in more ways than one, Lane.”

I giggled, silently thanking him for momentarily trying to ease the tension and make me forget I was blindfolded and being held at gunpoint.

We rolled to a stop, and Terrance killed the car engine. “It’s all going to be over soon, and we’ll look back at all this and laugh,” Maddox assured me in a whisper.

I nodded in reply while silently praying Agent Montrose lived up to his word of being fast. From above me, I heard the back door open. The car rocked to and fro under the strain of Julius rolling out. A few seconds passed before the blanket was ripped off of us. “All right, up and at em, lover-boy,” Julius said.

He dragged Maddox off me. Julius must’ve then thrown Maddox out of the car because the next thing I heard was a body scuffling on the ground and Maddox cursing. I rose out of the floorboard and tried pulling myself on the seat, but Julius’s meaty hand wrapped around my arm and dragged me out. Still unable to see, I lost my footing and collapsed to the ground, right on top of Maddox.