Chapter 80

The grip on my arm tightened and a hand went over my mouth, effectively shutting off my scream. The man pulled me to him until I was pinned against him. I struggled as much as I could, but it felt like I was caged in iron. Why didn't I work out more? Or at least take a self-defense class? I'm sure if I asked Jack, he'd be more than happy to sign me up for one.

"Celeste, please stop fighting. I meant it when I said I wasn't going to hurt you. I just want to talk, but we can't do it here. We have to go somewhere where we won't be interrupted," the man said calmly, despite the situation we were in. He was taking me to a second location? Even I knew that was bad. I couldn't let him take me, no matter what I had to do.

I licked his hand, hoping it would gross him out enough that he would remove it so I could scream again. At least one person had to be somewhere nearby. Someone would hear me.

Only he didn’t remove his hand. He just sighed. “Now that I have you, I’m not letting you go. Do whatever you feel you need to do, Celeste, but we are going to have this talk,” he said with a note of finality.

Tears burned behind my eyes. If he succeeded in taking me away, what if he never let me leave? What if I never saw Jack again? Even worse, what if I never saw Matt again?

As if summoned by my very thoughts, Matt’s voice rang out in the silence. “Let her go!”

“Matt!” I yelled, but it came out more like “Mmnn!”

“Shit!” The man cursed quietly and his grip around me tightened. Without warning, he tossed me over his shoulder and started running. I bounced against his back, not able to prop myself up to see where Matt was.

A gunshot sounded behind us and the man stumbled before coming to a stop. I knew he wasn’t hit. Matt would never risk hitting me like that. At least, I didn’t think he would.

The man turned around to face Matt. “This has nothing to do with you, boy. Stay out of it. Let me leave with Celeste and no one here has to get hurt.”

Matt scoffed. “Yeah, like I’m going to believe that. I’ll say it one more time. Let. Her. Go.”

His voice sounded deadly. I’d never heard that tone from him before. Jack, sure. Violence was in his nature. But not Matt. He’d always been sweet and gentle. I almost didn’t recognize it.

The man growled. Like actually growled. He lifted me up and set me to the side, patting my cheek gently. “Stay here. I’ll deal with him quickly and we can be on our way.”

Yeah, like I was going to do what he said. The minute he stepped away from me, I was going to make a run for it. Now that I could see Matt, he wasn’t that far away. I could totally make it.

Something cold clicked around my wrist. He had to be kidding. He’d handcuffed me to the fence behind me while I’d been staring at Matt. I pulled on it, testing to see if I could somehow break it. The steel cut into my skin and I whimpered.

“Please don’t hurt yourself, Celeste. I’ll be back in a minute,” he said and I looked up, finally getting a good look at him. Shaggy, unkempt blonde hair framed an angular face. Dirt smudges and the dim lighting made it hard to see the true color of his skin, but it looked pale.

But his eyes made me pause. They were the exact same shade as mine. The exact same shade.

“Who are you?” I blurted out, but he just smiled and ruffled my hair. Then he stood up and went to face off with Matt.

“Toss the gun away, boy, and fight like a man.”

Matt actually laughed, the gun still trained on the man. “I’m not going to ‘fight like a man,’ whatever the hell that means. My goal is to get Celeste and get out of here. I figure this is the fastest way for me to achieve that goal. Now, you can either leave or die. Your choice.”

The man paused, a conflicted look on his face. He looked between me and the gun several times. He had to know that the only choice was to leave. If he died, he couldn’t tell me whatever it was he wanted to tell me.

He must have come to the same conclusion because he made a sound of utter frustration. Then he turned tail and ran, zigging and zagging in case Matt decided to shoot him anyway.

When we couldn’t see him anymore, Matt lowered the gun, storing it in such a quick motion that I didn’t even see where it went.

He walked over to me and cupped my face between his hands. “Are you okay, Celeste? Did he hurt you?”

I shook my head, the tears finally spilling over. He wiped them away with his thumbs.

“I have to get you out of those handcuffs. Don’t worry. I have a key in my pocket.”

That revelation made me raise my eyebrows. Why did he have a handcuff key in his pocket? Who just carried that around.

He smiled at my expression. “Hey, you never know when you might need it. I’ve helped Jack out of a few sticky situations.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and I made a face. I did not need to know about my brother’s sex life.

Matt quickly got me out of the cuffs and I rubbed my wrist. There was a red line from where the cuff had bit into the skin. So much for not hurting me. Although I guess I had done it to myself.

Now that I was free, Matt’s expression turned hard. I flinched. I was probably in for a lecture.

“What were you thinking? Why did you go off on your own? You should have called me when Jack didn’t show up. I would have come,” Matt didn’t raise his voice like Jack would have, but the quiet calm was somehow worse.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to bother you and I waited for Jack for thirty minutes. I didn’t like just standing there,” I said, crossing my arms. I looked everywhere but at Matt. Mostly because I felt guilty.

Matt huffed out a sigh before lightly putting his hands on my shoulders. “Celeste, look at me.” When I didn’t immediately look at him, he turned my face toward him. “You could never bother me. If you need something, just call me. I’ll do my best to help you. Okay?”

The look on his face was so sincere that it hurt to look at it. I bit my lip to keep from crying. The movement brought his gaze downward and I swear I saw something dark flash in his eyes, but it was gone so quickly that I must have imagined it.

He pulled away. “Come on, let’s get you home. I’m sure Jack is about to round up a posse to come look for you.”

I followed him as he pulled out his cell phone, presumably calling Jack. “Yeah, I’ve got her. She’s fine. No, you don’t need to do that. I handled it. No. You can talk to her when she gets home. We’ll be there soon. Just meet us there.”

He hung up and shoved the phone back into his pocket. He reached behind himself, palm up. He shook it at me and I hesitantly put my hand in his. Matt held on tightly and we walked hand-in-hand all the way home.