Full Throttle (29 page)

A tall, rangy man with floppy, dark hair and
well-tailored trousers stepped from inside and faced him. His arms crossed over
his chest and a silver blade hung loose in his hand. The man held an air of danger,
the glint in his gaze mocking and self-confident. But it was the way he held
the blade that made Josh’s blood flow cold.

Josh stopped dead. He watched the blade for a moment
and slowly lifted his gaze. “Where is she?” He asked, certain this man—Rachel’s
husband—knew where Sammy was.

Josh didn’t like the slow smile that spread across the
man’s mouth, nor the casual way the psycho stood, as if he were immortal. He
held the blade with such ease that Josh would totally believe the man was
capable of using it—or at least, willing to use it.

“Why don’t you come inside and see?” Rob said.

Josh glanced around and wondered just what the fuck
he should do. Man, why the fuck didn’t he bring Jason? His friend was trained
in combat and defense, the best Josh had managed was defending
himself
in juvey. There was no fucking way he was going to
walk into that garage. The police would be here any minute and he just had to
wait this guy out.

Josh shook his head. “Where is Sammy?” When the psycho
smiled, Josh considered moving backwards. When a low, pain-filled moan filtered
from the inside of the garage, Josh stilled, his heart halted and horror filled
his mind.

Sammy!

“You fucking—” Without thinking Josh lunged at Rob.
His fist connected with Rob’s cheek, but the psycho ducked and spun before Josh
could do more than skim his face. Josh pivoted and grabbed at Rob’s shirt. He
pulled Rob back and threw him down, the move jarring Rob and making the blade
spin from his hand. Rob scratched at Josh and struggled, but Josh was bigger
and heavier as he pinned Rob down, though the mean fucker didn’t want to go
down easy. “Fuck—” Josh grunted as he dodged, pretty unsuccessfully, Rob’s
flailing hands.

Rob threw his fist out blindly and connected with
Josh’s nose. Pain bloomed across his face and blood spewed instantly. His
vision fogged, but Josh gritted his teeth and grappled to keep Rob pinned.

The fucking man was like a bar of soap as he writhed
and wriggled violently. Josh swore loudly and threw his fist into the Rob’s
face. The Psycho grunted and went still. Josh had a moment of peace, thinking
he had won, when Rob shouted out and plunged the knife into his side.

How
the fuck had he gotten hold of it?

Josh grunted and lifted his hand to his side. He let
go of Rob as pain seemed to flow like a tide over his entire body. He glanced
down to his hand and paled at the sight of blood.

Rob shoved Josh aside, but all Josh could focus on
was the heat of his blood as it seeped out. Josh looked up to find Rob staring
down at him. That same cold light was in his eyes but now, Rob smiled as if he
were watching something fun.

Psychotic
bastard!

Josh sucked in tight breaths, but his chest ratcheted
tighter and tighter. His vision swarmed with a million angry wasps and he
dropped to his hands. Josh watched as drops of dark blood dripped onto the floor,
then
he closed his eyes.

Oh, God,
Sammy. Where are you?
If she had suffered
the same fate?
Josh lifted his gaze and watched as Rob
walked away from him and back inside as if he was done with him. He sucked in a
pained breath and dragged himself up to the doorway. He sat with his back
against the frame and looked inside.

His heart stopped beating when he saw Sammy tied to
a chair, her head slumped and hair flowing all around her. She was wearing his
t-shirt, and her broken leg was twisted to the side. The cast was cracked and
broken, which meant that the bastard had damaged her healing leg. Josh groaned
and shook his head. “Sam!” He called out, relieved when she stirred. Her head
moved a little, her curtain of hair swaying with slight movement. Josh sucked
in an increasingly difficult breath and said her name again.

Sammy lifted her dazed face, her eyes watery and
unfocused. He saw the gag and his heart turned over. It was too tight, he could
see her cheeks were bunched under the tape and her skin was pale and waxy. She
tried to lift her head higher and when her gaze found him, her eyes filled with
horror. She whimpered behind her gag and Josh shook his head and hissed as the movement
jarred his injury.

He tried to get up, but when he placed his hand flat
on the floor, Rob kicked it away leaving him in a pile in the doorway.

I
have to save her. I can’t die like this.

“You know, I am being rude. You should come inside.”
Josh shook his head, but Rob reached down and hooked his arms under Josh’s arms.
Josh cried out as Rob dragged him, and the pain ripped through his mind like a
dagger against his spine.

He felt like a fucking wimp, a bloody worthless
dick.
Where were the bastard police?
It had probably only been five minutes since he had arrived, but it felt like
hours.

Josh panted past the pain, forced the rising
unconsciousness back, and blew breaths out. Rob moved to the garage door, went
to close it, but the sound of staggered footsteps made everyone pause. From his
prone position of the floor, Josh couldn’t see who had arrived, but when Rachel
stepped into his view, his breath left his lungs.

Bruised, covered in blood, and wearing ripped
clothes, Rachel stood and stared inside the garage. Her usually perfect hair
looked like a bird’s nest and her makeup was spread across her face, amalgamating
with her injuries like morbid clown makeup. She glanced to Josh on the floor, swallowed
hard, and moved her gaze to Sammy. Rachel seemed to crumple. She lifted her hand
to her mouth and shook her head. “No, no. Rob, I told you, she knew nothing.”

Josh frowned but stayed perfectly still.
Knew nothing about what?

Rachel tried to move to Sammy, but Rob spread out an
arm and prevented her from going inside. He bent and gripped a fist into
Rachel’s hair and pulled her head around so she looked at him. Rachel cried
out, but didn’t fight. From the look in her eyes, he could tell she was more
than used to this side of Rob. Josh had seen that look in his mother’s eyes so
many times as a kid. It was a look of expectation, pity, and guilt.

She didn’t hold up her hands to defend herself, she
just stood limp and lifeless as she took Rob’s abuse. Rob got right into
Rachel’s face and hissed through his teeth. “I found the letter, Rachel. The
fucking letter you kept secret for so long. I know that he left it all to you,
if she dies.” Rob pointed to Sammy with the blade and Rachel cried harder. She trembled
and cried under Rob’s aggression. Rob shook her so hard her head yanked back
and forth, but still, feisty Rachel took it without a fight.

“But she is my friend.” Rachel sobbed.

“
You
are
my
wife!” Rob countered, spittle flowing
from his lips as he gripped her upper arms tightly.

Josh tried to sit up. He cringed and winced, but he
still pushed himself. Sammy hadn’t moved in the last couple of minutes, her
head dropped heavily against her chest, and from where Josh was
,
he couldn’t see her breathe.

Panic was a real thing as Josh gripped his side and
dragged himself closer to Sam. Rob was still holding Rachel, speaking through
his teeth as he
sneered
hateful words at her. If
Rachel had seen him moving across the garage floor, she didn’t make it obvious.
And Josh strived for silence.

“Please, Rob—
“ Rachel
,
cried out, but the fucking psycho spun on his heel and went for Sammy.

Driven by more than pure adrenaline, Josh shoved
back the pain of his
injury,
he climbed to his feet
and lunged for Rob. The man deflected Josh and continued to head for Sammy with
the blade.

Sirens cut through the grunts and pitiful sobs and
Rachel shouted. “No, Rob!”

Josh watched as she fell upon her husband. Rob
twisted and bucked, but Rachel held fast. He swore at his wife, threw his hand
around and smacked her hard. When Rachel bit into his arm, Rob spun and slashed
out with the blade, Rachel fell to the ground lifeless, bleeding from her
chest. Her eyes were wide as she breathed in a stuttering motion.

Rob dropped to his knees and called out Rachel’s
name.

Josh felt his vision waver, and his stomach rolled.
He dragged himself to Sammy, laid his hand on her knee. The sight of her eyes
fluttering open was the last thing he saw before the blackness swarmed and
dragged him under.

Chapter
Twenty Five

Sammy sat on the sterile, white, plastic chairs and
stared at the floor. Her eyes were gritty and tired and her hands shook
constantly. Her leg hurt like the first day she had broken it, but she hadn’t
moved from this spot outside the operating theatre since the police had dropped
her off there. She didn’t know how long she sat, in pain, cold and terrified.
Images of the nightmare flashed inside her mind and Sammy wondered if it all
were true. A nurse had helped her remove some of the duct tape from her hair,
but Sammy had asked her to give up, the pain was too much, she would cut it out
later.

The one thing she knew with clarity was that Rob,
her best friend’s husband, was her stalker. Rob, her best friend’s husband, had
tried to kill her.

The rest seemed like a blur.

Had
Josh really gotten stabbed during it all? Had Rachel really looked so beaten?
Sammy
reached up with stiff, achy arms and rubbed her temples.
Where was everyone?

Warm arms snaked around her shoulders and it took a
good five seconds before Sammy could turn her head. Her body was tired, her
mind fractured and she was shivering like a leaf in the wind.

Dark brown eyes similar to Josh’s stared down at her
and Sammy took a moment to understand that Tony was beside her. She tried to
smile, but somehow the smile turned to tears. Her chest constricted painfully
and confusion fogged her mind totally.

Tony pulled her in close and Sammy began to sob. A
blanket was laid over her shoulders and Sammy tried to curl up into a ball. Her
cast leg pained her, so she left it dangling, but with the rest of her body,
Sammy tried to disappear into the blanket.

“Shhhh.”
Tony
hushed. The comforting sound reached into her soul and dragged yet more of her
pain to the surface.

“The poor thing is in shock.” A female voice admonished
and Tony rubbed his hand up her arm vigorously.

“She’s fucking freezing, Mandy.” Tony growled to his
wife, so much like Josh would.
All growls
and bad temper…
“You’re ok, Sammy. You’re okay now.” Tony repeated the
words, and Sammy listened to the sound of his deep voice to tether
herself
to reality.

No one had come out of that operating room to inform
her of Josh’s condition, and her heart cracked more every minute that ticked
by. Sammy didn’t care about anything but Josh. She thought she had an argument
for why the woman shouldn’t get a nurse, something about needing to wait, but
her thoughts fluttered by like paper in the wind.

A short time later—or was it long—soft hands removed
the blanket from Sammy’s head and Sammy found herself looking into kind, blue
eyes.

“Hi, Sammy.”

Sammy just stared. The woman’s eyes searched her
face and Sammy knew the woman was seeing a broken expression.

“Josh?” she muttered and the nurse looked up to
where Tony sat next to her.

“My brother, Josh.
She’s his girlfriend. She was there when…”

The nurse comprehended Tony’s attempt at tact. She
looked at Sammy and smiled. “Josh is okay. His operation is nearly over, and I
have been told he will be okay.”

Sammy frowned as the woman’s words filtered into her
slow mind. She sucked in a breath and choked on her scratched throat. Tony
rubbed her arm and whispered, “He’s going to be okay.”

And it was then that Sammy broke down.

The nurse reached for Sammy’s shoulders. “Come on, I
think we need to get you in a bed, get that leg x-rayed and re-cast.”

When the nurse ushered Sammy into
a wheelchair.
Sammy lifted her gaze and looked at Tony. He was
stood with a dark-haired woman who had a sweet smile, and Sammy felt ashamed.

If it weren’t for her, Josh wouldn’t be in the hospital.

“I’m sorry, Tony.”

She lowered her watery gaze and the nurse wheeled
her away.

****

The Next Day

Sammy sat in the waiting room, and jiggled
nervously. Her mind felt a lot more solid and her leg was properly cast again,
so the pain was once again at a manageable amount. Tony had visited her late
last night in her hospital bed and told her that Josh was doing well. Relief
had been a punch to her gut as she comprehended that not only was Rachel going
to be okay, Josh would be, too. Rachel needed surgery to her neck, the
procedure having taken most of the night. But this morning, Rachel’s mum had found
Sammy and let her know that she would be okay.