OWNED by Dominic (Possessed #1) (13 page)

“Always with the family jewels, man. Ain’t nothing going to happen to them. Chill out and get your ass back to the house ‘cause this girl looks fit to be tied.”

Hanging up with Case, he knew she was mad. She had every right to be. He should have woken her up and told her where he was going, but he’d been in a hurry to meet his contact.

Larry was someone he’d once trained with in boot camp and had kept in touch over the years. He had become a criminal investigator for the metro police because his hands are dipped in a little bit of everything. He knew Larry would pull through with the information he was looking for. Everyone in the tri-state area went to him when they needed someone located.

Turns out Dom had been right to worry.

Bradshaw and Brooke had both landed at the BWI Airport nearly one right after the other. He didn’t believe in coincidences, so now he knew that Bradshaw would probably have eyes on her soon. Brooke had already found them, which he had his D.C. contact looking into where she could have gotten that information from. He had no idea what anyone’s end game was with them, but he did know one thing; no one was taking Deidre or Jaxson from him.

It would be over his dead body before either happened.

Twelve

As Casey was
driving them back to Dom’s farm, the hairs on the back of Dee’s neck felt like they were standing on end. Like they were trying to tell her something. She got a shiver up her spine as if someone had walked across her grave.

Covertly looking behind them as she pretended to check on a sleeping Jaxson, she spotted a dark SUV with tinted windows preventing her from seeing the passengers. To her it was suspicious. Facing forward again, she murmured, “Casey?”

“Yeah?” he responded seeming distracted.

“Does it feel like someone’s watching us?” She had to know it wasn’t just her.

“Nope.”

His short answers weren’t very comforting.

“That SUV is all tinted,” she suggested, hoping he’d let her in on whatever he was thinking.

“Yup.”

“Casey?” The fear in her voice was palpable.

He finally looked at her. “It’ll be fine, Double D.” He tried to joke with the name he’d given her a couple days before. It didn’t work.

“Should I call Dominic?”

“Nope.” His eyes were glued between looking at the road ahead, the rearview mirror, and his side mirror.

“But he should know.” She needed to hear his voice. She needed the comfort of his arms wrapped so tightly around her she couldn’t breathe. She needed Dominic.

“He does.”

Now she was confused.
How could he possibly know?
Unless he was following them.

Whipping around in her seat, she tried to see if the SUV was his when it sped up, slamming them from behind just as Casey told her, “Hang on!”

The impact had her head whipping back just as Jaxson woke up screaming in fear. “Sshhh, baby, it’s okay.” She tried soothe him. Unfortunately, her voice vibrated with her own fright.

“He hangin’ in there?” Case yelled over the boy’s screaming.

“I...I think so.”

“Turn around and hang the fuck on!”

But she couldn’t take her eyes off the SUV gaining speed on them.

Not when it slammed them so hard she hit the door cracking the back of her head off the window.

Not when it rammed them a third time, making them spin out.

“Turn the fuck around!” Casey yelled at her.

She was in some sort of trance. The need to see what was happening as it occurred overriding her fear to listen.

When she saw the passenger side window roll down and a body come out of it, she reacted on instinct. Unbuckling herself as Casey screamed at her again and Jaxson cried, she got one last look before gunfire erupted around them.

“Casey, down!” she screamed as loud as she could, hopping over the seat and unbuckling Jaxson just as glass exploded around them. She slammed onto the floor of the back seat, quickly turning over so Jax was under her and the glass pelted her back as it fell.

A curse came from Casey, followed by a hard hit from behind and some weird pop and hiss noise. She felt the truck begin to slow. Panic consumed her at the thought of being caught by whomever was after them. “Don’t stop, Casey!” Tears flowed heavily down her cheeks as the small boy in her arms whimpered in fear.

Risking a glance at Casey, she saw his shoulder covered in blood, and he was drooping to the side. “Casey?” she called, hoping he’d answer or wake up or something. “Casey!” she screamed louder.

“Sorry, Double D,” he sputtered as the truck slowed even more, and he slumped over all the way.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Acting fast, she held tightly to Jax as she hopped back over the front seat, landing where Casey should have been sitting. Slamming her foot on the gas, she scrambled to get Jax on the floor of the passenger seat. “Stay there, baby, don’t you move.” She tried to smile when he nodded, but even she could tell it was forced.

With one hand on the steering wheel and a quick look to see where the SUV was, she saw it gaining speed on them again, so she floored the gas as hard as she could.

“Casey?” she half-whispered, half-cried in fear that he was dead. Silence was her answer.

*****

As Dom was
speeding back to the farm, he heard the quick rapport of gunfire just seconds before he saw it. “Don’t let it be them,” he bit out knowing full well it was going to be. Finally cresting the hill, he was unprepared for the scene before him. Case’s truck was speeding down the highway faster than he normally would, being chased by a dark SUV with a man perched out the passenger’s side window shooting at them. Rage consumed him to the point that all he could see was red. His woman and child were in that truck, and those fuckers thought they could shoot at them?
I don’t fucking think so
.

Grabbing his cell, he quickly called it in to the authorities knowing that if he caught up to the assholes attacking his family, he would do as much damage as he could. Just as the SUV caught up to them, Case would book it away from them. Dom was confused because Case knew evasive maneuvers well enough to lose those guys. He’d aced the course in the Rangers. Hell, he’d even made the course better. But now he was driving like a scared soccer mom…“Motherfucker!”

Deidre was driving.

*****

“Casey!” He just
couldn’t be dead. She needed his help. She didn’t know what to do. Barely holding onto the steering wheel to keep the truck straight wasn’t going to get them out of this deadly situation. “Casey, please wake up,” she cried.

“Pincess?” Jaxson’s scared voice pulled her out of her terror enough to realize she had to pull it together if only to keep him calm.

“It’ll be all right, baby. We’ll get through this.”
Don’t let him hear the fear in my voice
.

Another shot rang out making her scream, but it was bigger...louder. Not closer, just more. When the truck lurched to the right and she heard a pop and hiss, she knew they were in more trouble now than before.

“Casey! Wake up, goddamnit!” Her anxiety was back and burning bright as ever.

When she heard him moan, she had hope he was coming to, only for him to let out a huge breath that worried her almost as much as the uncontrollable vehicle.

“Okay, baby, here’s what we’re going to do–” she started to say just as another loud shot rang out and had them hitting the ditch. Jax’s cries grew louder and more panicked as her head collided with the steering wheel.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Slightly disoriented, she knew she had to get them out of there. Too bad the smoke from the engine would probably prevent that. As everything quieted down, she realized it was too still. As in there were no whimpers from Jax or moaning from Casey.

Running her hand up to Casey’s neck, all she felt was slick blood everywhere. The smell was pungent, coppery, like she’d been chewing on a penny. It overwhelmed her senses. As she searched his neck for a pulse, she reached out her other hand for Jaxson.

“Come here, sweetie,” she mumbled, head pounding with every word.

“I dizzy, and my head hurt,” he uttered weakly.

Finally finding Casey’s pulse—weak but there—she reached down for Jax hoping he’d come to her. When she realized he wasn’t even looking at her, she knew she was going to have to go to him.

A door slamming told her she had seconds to get him out and run.
Run where? You’re in the middle of bum-fuck Maryland. Fuck, fuck, fuck! One step at a time, Dee. Get Jax first.
Grabbing his arms, she pulled as hard as she could without hurting him. Stumbling from the truck, she froze as she saw four huge men pointing large rifles at them.

Turning so Jax was protected, she lost her breath as she heard the rapid fire of gunshots while Jax screeched loudly in her ear.

Please don’t hit him.
She prayed for the first time in years waiting for the bullets to assault her body.

*****

Dom watched in
horror as four large, burly men exited the SUV at the same time he saw Deedee reaching over to the side, presumably for Jax or Case since he didn’t know what the fuck was going on. Watching as the men shot out the tires of Case’s truck had his adrenaline racing faster than any drug ever could.

As the two back tires blew, he’d watched Dee struggle with the wheel and finally lose control just as it hit a small post in the ditch. The way her head had bounced off the steering wheel like a basketball had his stomach knotting.

Stopping his own truck not far from the black SUV, he quietly crept out needing to surprise them, or he’d never have the upper hand. Sirens sounded in the distance just as Dee stumbled from the truck with a shaken up Jax in her arms. “Run!” he silently screamed.

When the men raised their automatic rifles toward his entire life, intending to snuff them out, he didn’t hesitate pulling the trigger on his own. Hitting two of the goons in the back of the head before the others were any the wiser.

“Fucking run, Deidre!” he roared out as she lay frozen on the ground protecting his son.

Just as a bullet flew towards him, he was able to duck behind the vehicle as he watched Dee and Jax hide in front of theirs. Knowing they were safe for the moment, he was able to easily take out one more of the men. Followed quickly by shooting the other in the shoulder and knee. They needed answers, and the best way was to keep at least one alive.

Coming out of hiding, he called out, “Deidre!”

She took a look around the hood of the truck before darting towards him with a crying Jaxson in her arms. “Dominic!” she wailed as he caught them both.

“I got you.”

“I am so sorry!” She cried, confusing him.

“What the hell for?”

“This is all my fault. I’m so stupid. I just wanted to get out of the house and now this...and Jaxson’s hurt...and Casey might die. I’m so sorry!” Her hysterical cries worried him, but no more so than what she’d said.

“Ambulance is on the way, Princess. Take a few breaths,” he instructed her. Looking down to his son, he saw a glassy-eyed looked in his gaze that had him worried. “How you doin’, bud?”

He laid his head down on Deedee’s shoulder quietly and didn’t answer. “His head hit the glove box as we crashed.”

“Shit. And Case?” His voice betrayed his worry for his friend. When she shook her head, he ran to the truck in the hopes that Case would be alright.

“Case, man,” he called opening the door. His friend was slumped over with blood pooling on the floor in a steady drip. The slow rise and fall of his chest eased some of the worry.

As the ambulance and sheriff’s cruiser pulled up on scene, Case began to cough and moan. “Fuck, that shit hurts.”

A bark of laughter left Dom at his words. Only Case would try to make a joke out of being shot. “Usually does, man.” Helping him sit up in time for the paramedics to come over, Case asked as he was about to back off, “Double D and short stack okay?”

“They will be,” he assured the other man. “Take care of him,” he told the medics, walking away to where the asshole he’d let live was bitching about being arrested. Searching out Dee, he saw that she was with Jax at another ambulance being guarded by the sheriff.

Satisfied, he kept moving towards the bitching goon. Stepping on his leg before he could be helped to his feet, he snarled, “Who the fuck are you working for?”

“Fuck you,” he spat out.
Wrong answer.

Putting more pressure on the wound, he asked again, “Who?” When he refused to answer, Dom was fed up, pissed, and ready to blow his head off. So he whipped out his gun and stuck it between the guy’s legs, telling him, “Five seconds and I pull the trigger.”

“You can’t do that!” he protested.

“I can. Five…”

“This is police brutality!’

“Four…”

“Officer are you just gonna let him shoot me dick off?”

“Three…”

“Answer the man’s questions,” the officer suggested with a sick smile on his face.

“Two…”

“Fuck!”

“Dominic?” Deedee’s quiet question halted his progress.

“Not now, Princess,” he told her, not taking his eyes off the man with the muzzle of his gun implanted between his nuts.

“I know him,” was her quiet response.

That stopped everyone cold.

“What do you mean you know him, Deidre?”

“That’s Brock Simons. He’s my da’s cousin.”

“Nice to see you again, Deidre,” Simons snarled. The sick light in his eyes told another story.

“Shut the fuck up,” Dom snarled at him.

Turning to face Deedee, he asked her, “He works for Bradshaw?”

Her eyes didn’t leave the injured man’s face. When Dom truly looked at her, she seemed paler, heart-broken, like someone had kicked her puppy or something. It was more than what had just gone down. Her emotions were bone deep. “Princess?”

Clearing her throat, she finally looked at him. “He used to work for my mam.”

Well that fucking changes things.
He pulled her into his arms as they made their way to where Jax was laying on a gurney.

*****