Paxton's Promise (28 page)

Squeezing my eyes shut, I shivered and broke into tears. A warm hand gently pulled the tape away from my mouth and tried to sooth me in a hushed voice. “Gabby, it’s over. I’m getting you out of here.”

The voice sounded so familiar and I thought I would never hear it again. Opening my eyes, I gasped as my savior’s face came into view. “Oh my God . . . you’re alive?”

I WAS HURTING and I was in pain, but I wasn’t going to let anyone take me down. As I was lying on the mat waiting for the right time to strike, the sound of shouting and gunfire filled the underground dungeon.

Mason had finally come.

Scar opened the gate and shouted for his fighters to get out, but before they could escape, I jumped to my feet and tackled one of them to the ground. Scar glared at me with a murderous gleam and all I could do was smile when he turned around and landed face first into Camden’s fist.

Ripping the chain from the fighter’s hand, I wrapped it around his neck and pulled. He choked and gurgled, but I didn’t care. I kept pulling. The room swarmed with officers and even Mason came into view and rushed over to Camden who grappled with Scar.

Bending over, I hissed in the fighter’s ear and tightened the chain. “I would give anything to hear your bones crack right now, to watch your life slip away in a matter of seconds. You don’t deserve any mercy.”

“Paxton, let him go,” Mason called. Out of the corner of my eye, he slowly walked up the steps and into the cage with his arms spread out wide. My hands shook with the need to pull tighter, but thinking about Gabriella made me release him.

“You got lucky, shithead.” Roughly, I let him go and got to my feet, kicking him in the face when I passed. Now he was out cold.

Rushing out, I found Scar on the ground with Camden holding his arms behind his back. “You’re going to pay for this Striker. I don’t like traitors,” Scar warned.

Camden pulled Scar to his feet and roughly pushed him toward one of the officers. “You can pay me back all you want. I don’t have anything to lose.”

Once he was taken away, Mason holstered his gun and looked down at his watch. “Some people got away, but there’s nothing we can do about that now. All we really need is this fucker,” he said, glaring at Scar, “and Rage. But we have to go. Gabriella is in a house down the street and I just got word she’s not alone anymore. My guys are surrounding the house.”

I was already heading for the exit. “Then let’s get the fuck out of here.” I was covered in blood and my body ached, but nothing was going to stop me from killing that motherfucker if he’d so much as laid a finger on her.

CLIFF WAS ALIVE. But now I needed to make sure Paxton was okay. “Cliff, I need you to open the laptop,” I demanded. “I have to make sure Paxton’s okay.”

Looking at the computer, he sighed and opened it. When the live feed came to life, there was a body in the ring and I gasped. It was all blurry and I couldn’t tell who it was. “Please tell me that doesn’t look like Paxton,” I pleaded. The guy had tattoos on his arms, but they didn’t exactly look like Paxton’s. Or did they? I couldn’t rub my eyes to clear the tears away.

Cliff narrowed his gaze and focused on the screen. “I’m sorry, Gabby, but it doesn’t look good.” As soon as he said it, he shut the lid and I sobbed. How could it be possible? There was no way Mason would let that happen. I needed a better look. Putting his arms around my shoulders, Cliff held me tight. “Shh . . . stop crying. We need to get away from here. If Scar finds us, we’re both dead. We have to leave town.”

I was in a daze, no longer here or there. If Scar wanted to find me, I wasn’t going down without a fight. I refused to believe Paxton was gone. As soon as Cliff undid my hands, I rubbed my eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. Turn the video back on. I need to see if that was really Paxton.”

Cliff shook his head and his gaze hardened. “You’re coming with me, Gabby, end of story. And Paxton’s dead. It’s time to move on.”

The way he looked and sounded, chilled me to the bone. It was cold, angry. I’d never seen him like that before. My instincts went on hyper alert, in fact they were screaming. Danger was nearby. “I thought you were dead,” I whispered. “Where have you been?”

“Here,” he answered. “Scar kept me here and made me fight for him. It was either that or die. I chose to live.”

“Did you kill Red?” I asked.

“Red?”

“Malice. I never knew his name, so I called him Red.”

Cliff cleared his throat and averted his gaze. His fingers lightly grazed my calves before slipping the knife against the tie, cutting it off. “I didn’t know what else to do, Gabby. He left his gun on the counter, so I picked it up and shot him.” His knuckles were torn open and raw, and it made me wonder . . .

“Did you have to kill other people too?”

He sighed, but then a small smile appeared before he continued. He didn’t think I saw it, but I did; chills ran down my skin. “I had no choice, Gabby. I did it to stay alive. But right now, I need to get you out of here before someone shows up.”

My hands and feet were numb and tingly, but I could feel the blood rushing back into my appendages. However, something wasn’t right. I could feel it in my bones. When I stood and stretched my legs, I saw something that made me freeze in terror.

On Cliff’s back, right below his shirt line, was the Dark Side skull tattoo. All too quickly, Cliff got to his feet and slipped the knife back into his pocket, his shirt covering the mark. He reached for my hand, but I jerked back. Narrowing his gaze, the muscles in his jaw clenched when he held out his hand.

“We have to go, Gabby. There’s no time to waste.”

Swallowing hard, I took another step back. The door to the kitchen came into view and on the dirty tile floor I saw a puddle of blood. My attention was drawn up to a black hood sitting on the counter. I gasped and put a hand over my mouth. Cliff kept moving closer like a lion stalking its prey, his gaze hungry.

“Why?” I whispered.

“Why what?”

“Why me?”

A sinister smile splayed across his lips. “Why not you? You’re a fighter and super hot. It’ll be fun to break you. Besides, all I’ve wanted to do since Vegas is feel that tight pussy wrapped around my cock.”

My heart sped rapidly and my breaths came out in pants. He wasn’t going to break me and he sure as hell wasn’t going to get his cock anywhere near my orifices. “I hate to disappoint you,
Rage,
but I don’t break so easily.”

In a lightning fast move, he lunged at me, but I jumped out of the way and rushed toward the kitchen. I didn’t get far before he grabbed hold of my ankle and I face planted on the floor. However, I did get far enough into the kitchen to see Red, broken like a rag doll with a hole in his head.

Kicking my legs, I jammed my foot into Rage’s nose and it started gushing. His fingers dug into my legs and with bruising force he pulled me under his body and secured my wrists with his hands. The air whooshed out of my lungs and I gasped, struggling to breathe as he kept his full weight on me.

“If we didn’t have to leave, I’d fuck you right now.” He was hard between his legs, pressing it into my thigh. That wasn’t my only concern, because now he had his knife out and was caressing it against my skin. Starting at my cheek, he slid it down my neck, to the top of my shirt where he nicked my skin with the tip. Ever so carefully, he sliced my shirt down the center, exposing my bra and the blood welling on my chest.

“Just one taste and we’ll go,” he murmured, his gaze hungry for my blood. “That’s all I want.” His lips touched the mound of my breast and I wanted to fight him off, but I couldn’t. He still had the knife out and if he’d killed people before, I knew I wasn’t any different. I had to tread carefully. Moaning, he sucked the wound on my chest, humping my leg like a dog in heat. I had a feeling he wasn’t going to stop with just one taste.

“Don’t we need to go?” I asked through gritted teeth, hoping it would get his mind back on track.

He narrowed his gaze and looked down at me, licking my blood off of his lips. “You’re not going to fight me on this?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement at the kitchen window. Someone was there. I had to hope and pray it was the police. “No, I’m not going to fight. I prefer to keep my skin away from your knife.”

His eyes twinkled when he looked down at my bare flesh. “I agree.” He bent down and ran his tongue across my chest. “I look forward to seeing more of it.”

Thankfully, he put his knife away and grabbed my wrists, hauling me up to my feet. I hissed when he gripped my arm and dragged me through the house after him. There was a set of stairs that led down into complete darkness and I had no choice but to follow. I couldn’t see a thing.

“Where are we going?” I tried to keep my voice from shaking, but I failed.

His evil chuckle made me shiver. “No need to be afraid. My car’s down in the basement. As soon as we’re safely out of the states, we’ll take a break.”

Switching on the light, he let me go and tore the cover off of a brand new black Mercedes Roadster. Now that the light was on, I looked down at my torn shirt and crossed my arms. “I can’t go out like this. My bag is in Red’s truck.”

He scoffed. “I’m not stupid. I bet your phone’s in there too. I can’t have you calling for help. As far as clothes, I have some from your apartment.”

Psycho bastard.
Did he honestly think his behavior was normal? “How are we going to get out of the states? Don’t you need my passport?”

Grinning, he pressed the button on the wall and the garage door lifted. “I had that taken care of a long time ago. One way or another, I was going to make sure you were with me.”

Someone spoke from behind, “Isn’t it a shame she won’t be going with you.”

Gasping, I turned around and locked eyes with Mason. Cliff instantly grabbed me around the neck with his knife held dangerously close to my artery. I swallowed and felt the stab of the blade in my skin.

Thankfully, it wasn’t just Mason pointing a gun at Cliff’s head. There were others, at least five of them. “Well, well, if it isn’t Mason ‘The Eagle’ Bradley. I thought you retired from police work?” Cliff taunted.

“Not when it involves my family, dickhead. Or should I say, Josh Davenport. Let her go and back away slowly.”