Kimber also couldn’t help but reflect on the recent traumas of some of her new friends. Dylan’s sister Jennifer had been viciously attacked and lived in fear for years until her brother’s love, her therapist’s compassion, and the love of her new boyfriend helped ease the way into beginning to heal her trauma.
Most recently, Gwen had been the target of a drug dealer and her own brother. She’d persevered, though, and was now healthy and looking forward to a much brighter future.
If those two women could survive their harrowing experiences, Kimber knew she could do the same. Besides, she had too much to live for now.
When Brett let out another string of curses, she knew she had to do something until someone on the road called 911 and reported his driving or Traci and Dylan and the rest of the Bridgeport Police Department found them.
When they finally got to a somewhat empty stretch of road, she said, “Where are we going, anyway?”
“Why do you want to know?”
Why did he think? Struggling to keep all signs of sarcasm out of her voice, she shrugged. “Just curious. Are we driving to New York?”
For the first time, he looked unsure. “We’re driving as far as we can get today. We need to put as much distance between us and your new family.”
“Ah.” Pretending she wasn’t handcuffed, bleeding, and fighting a killer headache, she crossed her legs. “Well, I hope you have money because I had to leave without my purse. I don’t even have my driver’s license.”
“Like I would ever let you drive.”
He was such a jerk. However, since he did look slightly less manic, she figured the conversation was doing them both some good. “I’ll have you know that I’m a good driver. I passed my test on the first try. I scored a hundred percent on the written test too.”
He nodded. “That doesn’t surprise me. You’ve always been smart.”
That almost sounded nice. She was making progress. Pushing back the terrible fear that he was going to take her to some isolated shack where no one was ever going to find her, she sought to keep the conversation going. “You know, you never told me what you’ve been doing since I left New York. How’s Jill?” Jill was his long-time live-in girlfriend who Kimber and all of her friends had regarded as both slightly difficult and also in need of a medal for putting up with Brett 24-7.
He sped up, likely going close to ninety miles an hour now. “Why are you asking about her? What do you know?”
Oh, crap. What had she done? “Nothing,” she said in a rush. “I was just asking.”
“Jill left me. Did you know that?”
“No. Of course I didn’t. I wouldn’t have asked if I did. I’m on your side, Brett. You should—”
He pressed on the accelerator, she watched the speedometer edge up to ninety-five, ninety-eight, one hundred. “She said I was too fixated on you, Kimber.” His voice turned even more clipped. “She said that I talked about you too much. That I thought about you too much. She couldn’t handle it.” He looked over at her. “Even though I kept telling her that I wouldn’t have been fixated on you if you hadn’t left me the way you did.”
“I’m sorry. Hey, would you please slow down?”
If he heard a word she’d just said, he didn’t let on. “We had a fight. Yelling, screaming. She threw a vase at me. It was Waterford, Kimber. She broke my Waterford vase!”
Cars were honking. She was now afraid to look at the speedometer, she was sure it now read way over a hundred. The little rental was obviously not made to go that fast—at least not very well and in the sleet. This was very bad. She was going to die before she ever told Gunnar that she loved him and that she wanted to help him raise Jeremy. She was going to die before she told her sisters how much she appreciated them. Before she ever looked both her parents in the eye and thanked them for adopting her and loving her.
Then, in the passenger side mirror, she saw some blinking lights. Had help finally arrived?
She had to get him to slow down and focus on her before he did anything even more reckless. Grasping for straws, she pulled up every single hurt emotion she could summon and started crying.
Soon, her tears had turned to real ones.
But it seemed she’d been wrong. It didn’t appear to make a single difference to him.
Brett kept ranting about Jill, his pain, Kimber’s betrayal, and how much he hated Ohio. Through the side mirror, the lights were brighter. She realized now there were multiple vehicles in pursuit.
Realizing once again that everything about the whole situation was out of her control—with the handcuff locking her to the seat, she wasn’t even going to be able to escape if the car crashed and went up in flames—Kimber put her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. She prayed for help and strength. She thought of Gunnar and how even their short relationship had been such a blessing.
She simply let her tears trail down her cheeks. The whole situation was out of her hands.
CHAPTER 33
“ ‘Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,
From heaven’s all-gracious King.’
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.”
—E. H. Sears
“We’re gaining on them,” Traci called out as she weaved the flashing police cruiser down the highway. Beside her, Dylan was both talking on the cruiser’s radio and typing things into his phone.
From his position in the backseat, Gunnar stayed silent and kept his attention on the gray Hyundai sedan up ahead. There was no way he was going to do a single thing to make either of them regret giving into his pleas to allow him into the car.
Even he knew he shouldn’t be in the vehicle. Traci had tried to make him stay behind. But, to his surprise, Dylan had been the one to allow his ride-along.
“As much as I don’t want you in our way, there’s no way I can ask you to stay behind,” he’d said. “If it was Shannon in that car, I’d be doing anything I could to be by her side.”
“That’s good to know, because there’s no way I’m sitting here in this theater while Kimber’s in trouble.” After seeing her blood on the floor, Gunnar knew he would do whatever it took to help.
“You better keep quiet, though,” Traci said with a glare.
“I will. I’ll sit in the backseat and won’t say a word until you tell me I can pull her into my arms.”
Dylan’s expression had stayed relatively blank, reminding Gunnar that Kimber’s rescue wasn’t a sure thing. A lot could happen that was out of their control.