Swallow

Chapter 1.87:

The door flung open and the woodsy smell of the burning bonfire drifted throughout the air, singeing the inside of my nostrils.  Excited voices carried up over the hill, unaware of any of what just transpired up at the house. It was better that no one else knew and I wanted to keep it that way.

Riley was walking about a half step too slow and I had to hurry her along, almost dragging her with me before someone else would find a way to delay or stop us.  I had her now and I couldn't give her another chance to change her mind about leaving with me tonight.

I led Riley through the lines of cars to the spot where I parked. When we got to my car, I released her waist and grabbed hold of her arm to cement her in place until I could get her inside. I ripped the door open and pushed her down into the seat. Riley went down harder than I intended and flew sideways over the console. She tucked her feet in and got herself upright, shaking it off.

I slammed the car door shut and dashed around the front to get the driver seat with one mission and one mission only—to get Riley and me as far away from these assholes as possible. 

Every second we let pass was another opportunity for someone else to interfere.

I jumped inside, gunned my engine, and took off in one motion without giving my car time to change gears.  By the time I flipped on my headlights, two cars had appeared right at the edge of the driveway.  I barely managed to weave around them just in time before I clipped their sides.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Riley clamping her hand down on the door handle like she was ready to open it and jump out. I took a sharp left out of the driveway and floored the accelerator to keep her glued in her seat. 

She wasn't going to jump out of a moving car—at least I didn't think she would. 

I quickly hit the power lock button just to be sure. It wouldn't stop her completely, but it would slow her down enough for me to do something about it if she did lose her mind and tried to escape.

Riley remained silent next to me. She put her hands in her lap like she was calming down, but her body stayed tensely wound like a rubber band ball.  If I cut one thin band or made a sudden move near her, she was going to detonate. Who knew what that was going to entail.

Silence was good. I could handle silence. In fact, I preferred it in my current mangled condition.

A jackhammer was performing full-on construction in my head and my eyes kept going blurry like I was in a dream.  My adrenaline was crashing quickly and my beaten-down body just wasn't adapting quick enough. Everything I had used tonight to numb myself burned up too fast. I was coming down at the worst time and if I didn't do something about it soon, I would end up on the side of the road writhing in pain as all I had been through and done came flooding back in. 

Riley couldn't see that. She wouldn't be able to handle it.

The road was dark and turned at odd angles, following the natural curve of the rolling hills.  I tried to remember exactly where each one twisted from my drive up here, but I didn't pay it much attention at the time.  I didn't expect to need to. I wasn't planning on driving a getaway car tonight.

I punched the accelerator to climb up and over the twisting peaks, trying to decide where Riley and I could go. We didn't have any options that didn't put us back in the same awful situation we were in earlier.  JD had probably gone back to the house with Anna to cool off and would lose it as soon as we strolled in the door. Taking Riley back to her parent's house was out of the question as well since it meant I wouldn't be able to stay with her tonight. Riley's dad wouldn't appreciate waking up in the morning to find me sleeping naked in his daughter's bed with my dick buried between her thighs.