Mr. Bad Influence

Chapter 21 - Part 2

Kerri couldn't walk fast enough. She and Nick had continued to play the couple who couldn't keep their hands off each other for the few minutes they remained in the house.

Nick opened the car door for her, and she got in, all the while clutching her purse. No one had come near her purse since their little adventure. No one had even come near them, but the need to check that the hard drive was still in her purse was raging so strongly that she wanted to yell at Nick to hurry up.

When he got into his car and pulled away, she unclipped her purse and sighed.

"It's almost over."

She nodded. All they needed to do was to hand this and the thumb drive over to Stephanie. "But why doesn't it feel that way?" She kept her head down as they pulled out of the community's gate that had kept the paparazzi out, then straightened when she was sure there wasn't any need.

"It is." Nick reached over and took her hand. "We've gotten what Stephanie wants, and Eric and I will be your slaves for the rest of eternity."

She laughed softly, then she spotted the speeding car to their left, heading straight toward them. "Nick!"

His head swiveled to the side, and his hand made a quick movement on the steering wheel, causing their car to swerve to the right. But it wasn't enough. The black SUV that had beaten the red light seemed determined to ram into their car.

"Jesus!" She put her hands up against her ears as she was jerked to the side the moment the SUV made contact with their car.

The car tipped, and her shoulder knocked against the window. Instinctively, she put her hands up, trying to brace herself against something.

Seat belt. She hadn't put her seat belt on. Why hadn't she put her seat belt on? She had always done that since the accident.

"Kerri, are you all right?"

Nick's voice brought her thoughts back to reality. His voice was so close to hers. She turned her face to him and found him next to her, his shoulder pressed up against the same window.

"Seat belt."

"I'll remember that next time," he said and groaned when he pushed himself off. "Are you all right?"

That was when she realized the car had come to a stop. "Yes." At least she thought she was. "Are you all right?"

"Are you hurt?"

"I don't know." She tried to push herself up as well, but she couldn't. She moaned and tipped her head back when she felt the sharp pain shooting up her neck.

"Stay still. I'll get you out."

She looked at him as his face came into view and saw the blood streaked across the side of his face. "Nick, you're hurt."

"Stay still."

Just then, a figure of a man loomed over the driver side's broken window and partially blocked out the light from the street lamp.

"Please, help us," Kerri said.

The shadow grew larger as the man reached in and grabbed Nick.

She closed her eyes as Nick got out, then someone grabbed her arm. She assumed it was Nick until the fingers around her arm tightened. Opening her eyes, she looked over at the driver-side window, but she couldn't see much except for the dark shadow.

She had just braced her elbow against her side of the door when she heard Nick shouting for her.

"No! Kerri!"

The grip on her hand tightened further, and for a moment, she thought whoever was grabbing her would break her bones. The man jerked her out of the car as if she was nothing but a rag doll. "Ah!" She screamed from the pain when her head knocked into something in the car.

"Let go of her!"

She registered Nick's voice, particularly the panic in it, but she couldn't quite understand why.

She was still reeling from the crash and jarred from the recent knock on her head. But before trying to figure anything out, she instinctively searched for Nick and found him struggling with a man in dark gray T-shirt and a plain black cap.

"Kerri, run!"

The grip on her hand tightened though she didn't think it was possible, and she was jerked to the side as she was dragged along by an imposing man wearing a navy-green T-shirt and the same kind of black cap.

She tried to pull away from the man holding on to her. She yanked her arm back and tried to break free, but the man grabbed her by the throat and rammed her against their tipped-over car.

She would've screamed if she could. She felt the air leave her lungs, but no sound came out of her.

"Let her go!"

Kerri turned toward the unfamiliar voice belonging to the man who had just run into the guy choking her, and she dropped to the ground, gasping. She recognized the man who had helped her. He was her stalker, the one who had pretended to be a server in church.

She looked up just as Nick broke free from his struggle and landed a punch in the face of the man in dark gray. He was sprinting toward her when a shot rang out.

Her eyes widened, and Nick froze. She stared at him, thinking Nick had been shot.

But no blood was oozing out of him. She looked down at herself, then turned to the side and saw a blank face looking back at her. She didn't see any blood on her stalker's face; she didn't have to. The lifelessness in her stalker's eyes told her everything she needed to know.

She should scream. That was what everyone did in the movies, but she couldn't.

She couldn't find her voice. All she registered was the cold stinging sensation on her cheeks.

"Wait. No!" Nick shouted.

She took her eyes off her stalker's face when she felt something hard pressed up against her temple.

"Leave her alone," Nick said.

"Stay still, or I'll shoot her right here."

Nick raised his hands in front of his chest, and the man in navy-green threw something over to the guy in black. "From that idiot."

Nick suddenly arched back, and he shook from something that must have hit him in the back.

"Nick!" She crawled forward, but she was yanked back. "Nick!"

He didn't move, and she tried moving forward again.

"This is going to hurt."

She looked up at the man in black. She saw the blue flashes before she felt the sudden jolt that punched all the air out of her. She couldn't scream, couldn't breathe, and couldn't even thank God for the all-consuming darkness.

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