For a few minutes I didn’t know what to do. I just sat in the dark in complete shock. I still had no idea what had just happened. Or why. But I knew who would help me.
Who I needed.
“Chief. You close?” Cash’s voice greeted lightly.
“I need you to come.” I was still gasping for breath. It was painful to talk. “Can Em stay with Riley?” I managed.
His response was clipped but controlled. “Where are you?”
I rattled off the name of the gas station, explaining that I was behind the bathrooms.
“Are you safe?” he asked quietly.
“I don’t know.” My voice was hoarse and foreign in my ears.
“Do you need an ambulance?”
I took a moment to consider his question. “No,” I managed.
“Okay, baby. Do me a favor. Is there a convenience store?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered, my eyes filling with tears as I remembered the other man walking in there. “But I don’t know what happened in there. I don’t think I want to go in there,” I whispered tearfully. What if they’d killed whoever worked there?
“Okay. Stay where you are. If the cops can get there first, call ’em. I don’t want you alone. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“They said… they said if I told anyone, they’d kill me.”
“Fuck,” he snarled. “Then you wait for me. I’m coming.” He added urgently, “Gotta call Em, get Riley sorted. Stay out of sight.”
“Okay.” I ended the call and curled into a ball on the concrete, praying he could get here soon.
****
The distant rumble of motorcycles jarred me out of the half-consciousness I’d been lying in. I was with it enough to know it was more than Cash who’d arrived. Time or the loss of adrenaline had only made my throat hurt worse.
I didn’t even have the chance to sit up before I was being lifted into familiar arms. “Fuck, baby. You’re frozen solid.”
I lay prone in his arms, so grateful to feel safe as he carried me out from behind the bathrooms into the florescent lighting of the gas station.
“Let me have a look at you,” he demanded as he sat me in the passenger side of my car. I noticed absently that Max and a man I hadn’t met flanked him, arms crossed with matching expressions of fury.
He tipped my head back gently, eyeing whatever damage was visible with barely restrained rage.
“Motherfucker,” Max swore. “What the hell happened?”
“Found the convenience store clerk tied up in the back,” X announced, joining his brothers. “Solid bump on his head. Wants to call the cops. I told him to cool it ’til we know what’s going on.”
“Robbery?” Max wondered.
Cash’s eyes remained fixed on me, waiting for my response. I shook my head, wishing it was that easy.
“I don’t understand what happened,” I croaked tearfully. “I think they were following me. They—they wanted photos. They stole my camera,” I explained, cradling my neck.
“Had you ever seen either of them before?” he demanded.
I shook my head urgently.
“What did they look like?” X pressed.