Redeemed: Bad Blooded Rebel Series #4 (6 page)

“Time’s
up, baby girl,” he said and before I could even blink he lunged at me.

I
screamed and jumped back from fear as he tried to attack me. My finger reacted
before the rest of me could and before I realized what I was doing the gun
fired in his direction. I stumbled back and fell to the floor, my head hitting
the dresser hard. My head was screaming and my vision went blurry as I tried to
put as much space between us as possible. At that point I wasn’t aware if I had
even shot him at all.

I
felt for my shirt and when I found it I quickly covered myself back up. When
the pain in my head started to dull and my eyes finally adjusted they landed on
Scott…and I screamed.

He
was lying on the floor of the motel room. There was a pool of blood all around
his head and a large gaping wound in his forehead. I’d shot him point blank in
the head…and he was dead. I’d killed Scott.

I
screamed louder and I dropped the gun to the floor. Right in mid scream my
stomach started to roll from seeing Scott’s lifeless body and I got violently
sick on the carpet next to the bed. After all of the contents of my stomach
were gone and I’d stopped heaving, I pulled my shirt back on and crawled as far
away from his body as possible. I needed to call for help so I reached up and
grabbed Scott’s jacket in search of my phone. I fumbled through the pockets and
quickly found it.

My
first instinct was to call the police but there was one call I needed to make
first. Scott was a sadistic freak and I had to know for sure if Ryder was
really dead. After he’d killed Trish I had no doubt that he would do whatever
he could to get me, but I had to hope against all hope that he’d lied just to
hurt me. Even though I had seen Ryder lying on the bathroom floor with blood
all over his head, Scott was evil enough to try and make this as painful as
possible. I had no doubt that he would lie to me and tell me that the one man I
loved more than anything in the world was dead. I dialed Ryder’s cell phone
number, not knowing what I would hear on the other end.
Please be okay,
Ryder…please be okay.
After two rings someone answered. “Everleigh? Evie,
baby, is that you?” a weak voice croaked.

My
heart leapt in that moment and relief like I’d never felt washed through me as
I heard the most beautiful voice in the world say my name. I started sobbing as
I said, “Ryder…you’re alive…thank God you’re alive.” Scott
had
lied to
me about Ryder’s death and I’d never been happier to have been lied to by that
man.

“Of
course I’m alive, baby. Why did you…Jesus Christ, Evie, thank God! Are you
okay? Where are you?”

“Um,”
I cried. I had no clue where I was.

“Where
did he take you, Evie?”

“I
don’t know. I only know I’m at some kind of run down motel.”

“Can
you find a window and look outside? Maybe see something that might tell us
where you are?” he begged.

I
crawled past the puddle of vomit on the carpet and peeked out the window. “The
only sign I see says Hidey Hole, I don’t know what that means.”

“I
know where that is…guys, she’s at the Hidey Hole Inn! That’s not far from where
we are and we will be there soon baby, okay?”

“Okay,”
I answered numbly.

I
heard him take a shaking breath. “Evie…did he…did he hurt you?” he asked, his
voice tortured.

I
sobbed harder. I just then noticed that my right eye was starting to swell and
it was hard to keep it open and my mouth had the metallic taste of blood in it.
I traced my tongue along my lip to find it busted and I winced at the sting.
“Y-yes,” I whispered into the phone and I heard him scream on the other end.

“Did
he r-rape you, baby?” he asked, heartbreak and fear in his voice.

“No
but he tried to. He…touched me.”

“Fuck!”
he yelled. I could hear him openly crying on the other end. “I’m going to
fucking kill him!”

I
suddenly felt like I was going to vomit again as I said, “Ryder, you don’t need
to do that.”

“Yes
I do, Everleigh! That sick fucker needs to die for what he’s done!” he yelled.

Taking
a deep breath-mostly to calm my stomach-I said, “Ryder, he’s already dead.”

There
was momentary silence on the other end of the line before I heard Ryder say,
“What? What do you mean, he’s already dead?”

“I
had my gun in my boot for protection like you told me to and I…I…he told me you
were dead and he was coming at me with the knife and said he was going to rape
me before he killed me too and the gun went off and I shot him,” I cried,
breaking down and bawling.

“Oh
fuck,” he muttered and I heard him yelling something about driving faster.
“Listen, baby, we’re only about five minutes away. You just hang on until we
get there.”

“Okay,
I will.”

“What
room are you in?”

I
looked at the key that was on the table and I said, “6C.”

“All
right. Just keep talking to me, okay? You are so brave, do you know that?” he
said, his voice cracking.

“I
don’t feel brave. Ryder, I just killed someone,” I sobbed.

“Hey,
don’t you dare. You were protecting yourself. He was going to kill you, baby.”

“H-he
told me he killed you and that he was going to kill me and then go after Danni,
Jessie, and Sadie next,” I cried. “Ryder I was so scared for them.”

Ryder
shushed me and said, “Calm down, okay? We are almost to the motel and we will
get you out of there,” he said as calmly as he could.

“I’m
going to jail,” I said softly.

“No
you’re not. I won’t let that happen, okay? I promise,” he said. I really wished
I could believe him.

I
saw red and blue lights flash outside the room and I crawled to peek and see
who it was. I saw two cop cars come to a stop outside the room. I also saw a black
SUV pull in behind them and I saw Ryder immediately jump out of the back before
John was able to stop. I thought I saw Kris and Jude get out of the SUV too but
the only thing I could focus on was Ryder running toward the door, coming to
pull me out of this nightmare.

I
heard banging on the door and Ryder’s frantic voice yelling, “Evie baby? Open
the door, I’m here.”

I
moved over to the door and unlocked the knob. As soon as it clicked the door
flew open and Ryder was immediately by my side pulling me into his arms. “Oh
Ryder,” I sobbed into his chest, “you’re here. You’re alive, thank God. I
thought I’d lost you.”

“Shh,
Evie, calm down. I’m here. I’ve got you, baby,” he said, smoothing my ruffled
hair and I could feel his tears hit the top of my head as he cried for me.

“I
thought I’d never see you again,” I sobbed. I shivered as I pictured a world
without Ryder in it and held him as close to me as possible.

“No,
it would take much more than a sadistic fuck like Scott to keep me down,” he
said, pulling me into him as tight as I would go.

I
heard a man clearing his throat and I reluctantly looked up, not wanting to
leave my safe place next to Ryder. “Excuse me, Miss Stone?”

Ryder
rubbed my back comfortingly as I blinked a few times and took a deep breath. My
eyes landed on a police officer that looked like he was not much older than I
was. “Yes?” I answered.

Kneeling
down in front of us, he said, “Miss Stone, I’m Officer Liam Tanner and I know
you’ve been through a pretty traumatic ordeal tonight. Can I get you anything?”
he asked gently, as if he were talking to a frightened toddler or a wounded
animal. I appreciated it because in that moment I could be described as both of
those things.

“No,
I’m fine,” I lied, leaning into Ryder’s embrace. The man I loved was holding me
safely in his arms…that was the only thing I would ever need. He kissed the top
of my head gently and continued to stroke my hair.

The
officer nodded his head and gave me a sympathetic look. “I know tonight has
been difficult to say the least, but I need to ask you a few questions, is that
okay?”

Ryder
answered before I could. “Can this wait until she gets checked out? Look at her
face, man,” he said, a lump clearly in his throat. “She needs to get to the
hospital.”

Officer
Tanner, who seemed like a genuinely caring guy, nodded his head at Ryder.
“There is an ambulance on the way and we can chat at the hospital, Everleigh.
Is it okay if I call you that?”

I
nodded. “Yes, that’s okay.” I was actually glad for once to be able to go to
the hospital…that would delay my arrest by hopefully a few hours. However, as
scared as I was in that moment, I needed to know if I was going to be in major
trouble for this. “Officer Tanner?” I asked as he stood.

“Yes
Everleigh?” he answered.

“Am
I going to jail for this?” I asked point blank. “Scott kidnapped me, beat me,
tried to rape me, and threatened to kill not just me but my friends. I’m
terrified,” I said, and I started sobbing again. I waited with bated breath for
his answer, terrified that I would be punished for not only saving my own life
but the lives of the three women I loved so much.

Ryder

I
had never felt as helpless as I did in that moment, seeing my beautiful
Everleigh beaten, bruised, and terrified. My heart was aching knowing the hell
she’d just been through and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to take that
pain away.

I
was devastated that Everleigh had to end up shooting Scott to protect herself
but I know that if I’d found them before she shot him I’d have killed the fucking
bastard myself. If I wasn’t holding onto Everleigh in that moment I probably
would have done something heinous to his dead body just to revel in the fact
that he was dead and he wouldn’t be able to ever put his hands on my girl
again.

I
calmly held her in my arms and cried openly for everything she’d been through
tonight, hell for everything she’d been through in the past few months, knowing
there wasn’t a damn thing I could have done to ultimately stop it. I didn’t
care if I looked weak in that moment, because once I heard her voice on the
phone I broke down. I was relieved that she was alive but I was also terrified
of how I’d find her.

Thankfully
Scott wasn’t able to do what he ultimately planned to do but he’d gotten some
shots in on her and after we made it to the motel and I saw her bloody and
swollen face I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. I didn’t know what
else to do but just hold her in my arms and promise to take all the hurt away.
Holding her was the only thing right now that felt real.

When
the cop came over to us and wanted to ask Everleigh some questions, I demanded
that she be taken to the hospital first. Not only did she need to get her lip
and eye looked at, she needed some time to wrap her head around what she had to
do to protect herself. She’d killed someone to save her own life and that was
going to really hit her harder than anything ever had. I wanted to delay anyone
pressing her about it as long as I could.

I
was about to help her to her feet and get her outside the room and away from
Scott’s dead body but she weakly asked the cop, “Am I going to jail for this?
Scott kidnapped me, beat me, tried to rape me, and threatened to kill not just
me but my friends. I’m terrified.” She started to cry hard and I cradled her
head into my chest, careful to not hurt her.

The
officer, whose last name I thought I heard was Tanner, knelt back down to us
and said, “Everleigh, I will do everything I can to help you. We have a
mountain of evidence that will prove you acted in self defense, including two
restraining orders, his prior arrest record in Muncie for the assault on New
Year’s Day, and the pending murder charges for killing Trisha Cramer. I promise
I will do anything and everything I have to do to make sure you will not face
any charges for this, okay?” he said.

Everleigh
nodded but she wore a look of doubt and disbelief on her face. “Evie, you’re
going to be okay. Do you trust me?” I asked her.

Her
eyes went from Officer Tanner’s to mine and when our eyes connected, a weak
smile spread across her bloody lips. “With my life,” she said.

I
leaned and kissed her swollen eye and said, “Okay then. Let’s go to the hospital
and get you checked out. All right, gorgeous?”

“All
right,” she answered and I helped her to her feet. As we exited the motel room
I looked back at the cops that were investigating and taking pictures of the
crime scene. I saw Everleigh’s boots lying on the floor and her bra carelessly
tossed on the bed. Rage boiled my blood and I glanced at Scott’s body for the
first time since entering the room.

Narrowing
my eyes at him I growled, “Rot in hell, mother fucker,” and I ushered Everleigh
out of the room.

A
few hours later both Everleigh and I were still at the hospital. I’d had my
head checked out by a paramedic at the club and I was already cleared so we
were just waiting for the doctor to look at the test results. During the final
struggle between Everleigh and Scott she’d suffered a nasty blow to the back of
her head and it required a CT scan to check for any damage. The cut on her lip
wasn’t bad enough to require stitches. Her eye thankfully looked okay and would
eventually heal but the doctor said that she would be sporting a black eye for
about a week.