Gunner (Ride Second Generation #4) - Megan O'Brien Page 0,2
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“You can’t.” My words were spoken through numb lips as I tried to make sense of what he’d just said.
He shoved away from me. “I’m trying to protect you,” he growled.
I sat up, wrapping my arms around myself. “Protect me from what?”
He paced in front of me like a caged bear. “I can’t explain. Fuck!” he exploded, his eyes tortured when he looked at me. “I should go.”
“Are you joking?” I demanded as he whipped his tee back over his head. “After all these years being such a jerk to me, you finally act like you want me only to reject me? Is this just a game to you, Gunner? Are you really that cruel?” I demanded angrily.
“It’s probably easier if you think that’s true,” he rasped brokenly.
“How could I think otherwise at this point? For years, you’ve criticized my outfits or made some joke at my expense. But there were those mere seconds where underneath all that bravado, I thought that maybe I meant something to you. Those seconds where I thought that maybe, maybe there was something here worth waiting for. Worth fighting for, even. I thought maybe you could have been the one. God, I’m so stupid.” I snorted at my own expense. “I guess I should thank you for making it crystal clear that I need to move on. Now get out.”
He stared at me for a second, as though warring with himself about what to say, what to do. But in the end, he did what I knew he would. He turned on a heel and walked out.
I made sure to wait until the door closed to let my first tears fall. I’d be damned if he saw me cry.
* * *
A few days later found me in the middle of a very different type of nightmare. One that had me fighting for my life.
“Go!”
Layla’s panicked scream sounded behind me as another crack of gunfire blasted through the otherwise silent woods around us. We’d agreed to this. If only one of us could escape, we’d keep going in order to get help for the other.
Trouble had caught up with Layla, and I’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’d dropped by Layla’s house to deliver some coffee and a treat and gotten kidnapped in the process.
My feet paused, every instinct in me wanting to turn around and fight for my friend. But I’d tried that already, back at Layla’s house when the man had attacked us. Even between the two of us we hadn’t been able to gain the upper hand.
I doubled my pace, determined to rescue Layla another way.
It felt like I’d been running forever when I broke through the tree line and onto the road.
I staggered from both exhaustion and relief. I’d made it at least this far.
“Fuck!”
The deep bellow was tortured and out for murder. His voice, so familiar while at the same time such a source of torment for me, was the last I’d expected to hear, while at the same time, the only one I wanted to.
Gunner.
I’d avoided him ever since his swift rejection several days before. And now here he was, sweeping me up in his arms before I could take another step.
“Was Layla with you? Is she okay?” Cash demanded.
His fear for his fiancée had me fighting back tears. But I knew I had to hold it together long enough to give them the information they’d need. “We escaped together. I was a bit ahead of her when Marty fired his gun. She told me to keep going.” My voice shook. “I can’t believe I left her. But I was trying to find help.”
“You did the right thing,” Gunner assured me as he carried me toward Cole’s truck. It was only then that I realized he and my pop were here too, their blue eyes bright with fury.
Gunner sat me carefully in the passenger side of the truck, stooping down to look me over. His gaze roamed over my bruised face, and though I hadn’t had a chance to look at it, I could tell it must look awful. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” he demanded.
I shook my head. “Layla was okay when I left her, but he had a gun, and I don’t know if something happened to her.” I whimpered, conveying my deepest fear.
Cash stepped to Gunner’s side. “I’m gonna go get her. First, I need you to tell me what we’re dealing with,” he ordered.
I took a deep breath, not hesitating to