Taylor shivered. “Eagle?”
He glanced over at her then. “Yeah?”
“I really wish we’d taken the interstate.”
“Shit. Why? Are you carsick? Do I need to pull over?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m fine.”
“Then, why?”
“Because I want to fuck you so hard, and show you exactly how much everything you just said means to me. No one has ever stuck up for me before. I was always the weird kid everyone made fun of. I’ve been kicked, spit on, and punched, and not one person ever gave a shit. I’ve never liked violence, but knowing you’d resort to it on my behalf doesn’t scare or disgust me . . . it makes me feel valued. Granted, I don’t want you going around shooting people or beating them up if they accidentally run into me, but I can’t help feeling even safer just knowing you’d want to.”
“I’m not exactly proud of the fact that I’m that kind of man,” Eagle admitted. “But the thought of you being hurt makes me crazy. I’m sorry I’ve been so over-the-top protective this past week. But the more I think about this guy coming into your apartment, and what he could’ve done to you, the more nervous I get.”
“I don’t understand who he is,” Taylor admitted softly.
“I don’t give a shit who he is,” Eagle retorted. “He doesn’t get to scare you. If he’s thinking about putting his hands on you, he’s not going to get the chance. We’re going to find out who he is, and I’ll have a little talk with him.”
“I don’t want you to get into trouble,” Taylor said worriedly.
“I won’t,” Eagle responded. “I’m good at what I do, Flower,” he added softly.
That made Taylor feel a little better. She just had to trust that Eagle knew what he was doing. He’d been a Delta Force soldier; it wasn’t like he was a hotheaded punk who flew off the handle at the slightest provocation.
She opened her mouth to tell him she trusted him—but never got the chance.
A car hit them from behind. Hard. The curves they’d been going around had prevented either of them from seeing the vehicle until it was actually upon them.
Eagle’s Wrangler immediately spun. Taylor’s seat belt locked in place, but her head whipped to the side and barely missed hitting the window next to her.
She screamed as the car was hit again. This time the driver’s side was T-boned, and their Jeep went careening off the road into a shallow ditch, rolling once before landing on its roof.
Hanging upside down, Taylor was dazed. She looked over at Eagle and saw that he was limp, blood dripping from his head. She couldn’t see the wound, but judging by the blood pooling below him, she knew it had to be bad.
“Eagle?” she yelled frantically.
“Miss?” a voice called from next to her, and Taylor screamed in fright. She turned her head and saw a man kneeling next to her broken window.
“Sorry for scaring you, but we need to get you out of there. The engine’s smoking.”
Taylor could smell the smoke, but her head was still spinning.
The man produced a knife, and she flinched back.
“Easy, now. I’m going to cut your seat belt. Brace yourself so you don’t fall on your head.”
His voice was low and soothing, but it didn’t make her feel any better. Before she could tell him to just leave her where she was and to help Eagle, he’d already sliced through her belt.
She fell with a grunt onto the ceiling of the Wrangler. Her hands landed on broken glass from the side windows, and she cried out.
Before she could orient herself, the man had a hold of her upper arm. “Come on, this way. I’ve got you. Good, crawl this way.”
Overwhelmed, Taylor let the man help her out of the upside-down car.
“I’m an off-duty paramedic,” the man said. “I was driving behind the other car when I saw that guy hit you. What an asshole. Let’s get you to my car, where you can sit down. I’ve already called the police.”
Taylor stumbled as she walked toward the man’s car. She looked back at Eagle’s Wrangler and gasped. The driver’s side was completely smashed in.
“Eagle!” she exclaimed.
“I’ll check on him in a second,” her rescuer said. “I want to get you settled first. Come on.”
Taylor stumbled again and realized the man had a very tight grip on her biceps. He was practically marching her toward his vehicle.
The second she saw it, Taylor’s insides instantly froze. She tried to stop walking, but the man wouldn’t let her.
“No, I’m okay. Let me go,” she said. Her voice wavered, wasn’t nearly as strong as she would’ve liked.
“I don’t think so, Taylor,” the man said, strengthening his grip.
Adrenaline had already been coursing through her veins, but her heart started beating even faster at hearing the man say her name.
She recognized the car he was hauling her toward. A dark-brown Cadillac.
The same one that had hit her bumper a while back; she’d bet everything she owned on it.
She looked at the man and racked her brain, trying to find anything familiar about him. Was this the same guy who’d been so apologetic after he’d run into her? Who’d asked for her insurance information?
Inhaling deeply to try to slow her racing heart, Taylor only managed to increase her panic. She recognized his smell.
Disinfectant, urine, and bleach.
This was the same man who’d creeped her out at the dementia center. He was the maintenance man who’d changed her air filter. And she’d bet anything he was the guy who’d brought her pizza with the word soon spelled out in olives.
Looking around frantically, Taylor realized they were in the middle of nowhere. There were no cars in either direction, and she couldn’t see even one house. She was in big trouble.
She began to struggle in the man’s grip, but he held her effortlessly. “Oh, you aren’t getting away from me that easily,” he said. “I’ve waited and planned far too long for you to get away from me now.”
Taylor had to do something. If she didn’t, she knew no one would ever see her again.
Looking back at the car in the hope that she’d see Eagle climbing out and coming to her rescue, Taylor wanted to cry when all she saw was a bit of smoke lazily rising from the engine.
“Eagle!” she screamed, continuing to struggle.
But the man holding her just laughed. “He’s dead,” he said bluntly. “He can’t help you now. No one can. Now, come on,” he growled as he jerked her arm viciously.
It hurt, but Taylor ignored the pain. The thought of Eagle being dead made her want to collapse on the ground and sob.
She suddenly realized the front of the Cadillac was smashed. Not so badly that the vehicle couldn’t be driven, but his lights were broken, and the grill was completely messed up.
He’d been the one to hit them.
If he drove off with her, there was a chance a police officer would stop them because of the condition of his car . . . but she couldn’t risk her life on it. If she allowed the man to put her in his car, she was all but dead.
Instead of opening the passenger door, the man walked around the back and reached to open the trunk.