Saint Sloan (Saint Sloan #1)
Kelly Martin
To the readers who loved Saint Sloan enough to want a sequel
To my friends and family for the support
To Brandon
PROLOGUE
Before the Fall…
“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?” It was probably the stupidest question ever. Sloan knew exactly why he was doing it, but she needed to keep him talking. Keep him driving. She had a bad feeling what would happen if he stopped. The gun lying on his lap was a big clue. The fact that he’d told her what would happen was a bigger one.
She was going to die.
He laughed humorlessly and pushed the gas pedal harder. “You aren’t that stupid, Sloan. You know what’s going on. I tried to warn you. You can’t say I didn’t. Gave you plenty of opportunities. I tried to get you to drop it, but you wouldn’t.”
“I will now. I promise. I’ll go back and tell them everything.” Anything to keep him talking.
“That’s what I’m afraid of. You’ve never been a good liar.”
The car turned around a curve, one of the easier ones. Brown Hollow had a lot of curves, a lot of blind spots, and lots of animals that could run out in front of a vehicle. It also had a very pretty overlook to the river and a waterfall that had been rated one of the best in Tennessee. She couldn’t let him get her to the Falls.
“I can. If I’m motivated enough.”
He ran his fingers over the pistol. “Are you motivated?”
“Very much.”
He smirked. “I don’t believe you. You are now, that’s for sure. Quaking in your fancy dress, but what about when you get home? What if you see him and change your mind?”
“I won’t.”
“Excuse me if I don’t believe you.”
“Don’t you think shooting me is a bit dramatic?” Sloan asked, trying her best to stay calm. Despite her best efforts, her fingers shook.
Morbid as it was, she’d often thought about the best way to die. Asleep in her bed when old and gray seemed the best option. Drowning, the worst. Shot? Depended on where he shot her, she supposed.
At eighteen, she never thought she’d have to consider such possibilities.
“Who ever said anything about shooting you? Haven’t you been paying attention?” He glanced at Sloan with a twinkle in his eyes and then back to the road. The lonely road that barely got any traffic.
“Then what?”
“Did God give you wings?”
That caught her off-guard.
He spoke again when she didn’t answer right away. “Give you wings. God. Did He give you wings when you were saved?”
“No,” she muttered, not liking where this was going.
“What? Sorry, didn’t hear you.”
“No,” she said louder, hopefully with more defiance.
“No. Well, too bad. A saint like you. A perfect creature, even if it’s in your own mind, like you should have the wings of an angel to go with that crooked halo you like to show off.”
“I don’t…”
With his right hand, he grabbed the gun and held it up to her temple, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut. He was crazy, totally crazy.
And she was totally alone with him.
“You do. You know you do. You’ve been little Miss Perfect since you started this church mess, and it needs to stop. You need a reality check. You need someone to show you the way.”
He pushed the barrel of the gun harder against her head. She tried very hard not to flinch. Who knew what he’d do if she did?
Please, God, don’t let him kill me. Please. Don’t let him. She screamed the prayer in her mind without moving a muscle.
“I owe you something, Sloan, and I’m going to get it tonight. You can talk, you know.” He chuckled and put the gun back in his lap.
Her muscles gave way and Sloan fell over in her seat, sucking in a deep breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. She was afraid of what he thought she owed him. The first thing that crossed her mind was he was taking her somewhere to force her to sleep with him. That brought the question, would she do it if he had a gun to her head? Or would she let him shoot her before he touched her again?
“It’s not what you’re thinking, Sloan,” he said like he could read her mind. After taunting her for a week in the shadows, maybe he could. “I wouldn’t touch you. Don’t want to touch you. Been there. Done that. No, I have a much better plan for you. We have to test the theory.”
“What theory?” she asked barely above a whisper. There was no stopping the shaking now. She was freezing even though he had the heater on full-blast. Strange for May.
Just like old times.
Her red-sequined prom dress wasn’t exactly keeping her warm, and the fear sucked whatever heat she had out.
“Your wings. Weren’t you listening?” Up ahead, illuminated by the Mustang’s headlights, Sloan saw the sign which sat between yellow and black arrows, warning of a sharp curve ahead. Chapel Falls
“We’re going to see if an angel like you can fly or if you are a sinner like the rest of us… and fall.”
CHAPTER ONE
Five Days Before the Fall…