If You Only Knew (Harper Falls Book 3) (37 page)

She bounced again. Where was she? When the panic started to
rise again, Tyler reminded herself. Think of Drew. Think of how… he loves you.

That did the trick. Her nerves weren’t glass-smooth, but she
was calm enough to climb over the fear. Drew was with her, she could get
through this.

Tyler opened her eyes. Think, she told herself.

M.J. had knocked her out. Tyler listened, hearing a motor
and the sounds of tires rolling over an unpaved road. She was in the trunk of
her car. Feeling around, she realized her hands were no longer tied. Instead of
cutting the rope securing her to the pipe, he got rid of the ones around her
wrists. Good. One less thing to worry about.

Tyler braced herself as the car made a sharp turn. They
couldn’t be in town anymore. M.J. was driving too fast. The road wasn’t paved.
That eliminated the main highway. She didn’t think that too much time had
passed. Still, they could be in Canada for all she knew. The chances of Drew or
anyone else finding her seemed depressingly remote. She was on her own. If she
was going to survive, she needed a plan.

JACK PULLED UP fifteen minutes later. Alex was right behind
him.

Drew didn’t question the men bringing Rose and Dani with
them. Knowing Tyler was missing, there would be no keeping them away.

They gathered in the parking lot. Drew didn’t want the women
to see the mess inside. Tyler’s friends were worried enough without adding that
image.

Drew gave them a brief rundown. There wasn’t that much to
tell. She was missing and so was her car.

“Her car is gone?” Jack asked, pulling out his
phone. “Hell, Drew. Why didn’t you say so?”

“You have a tracking device on Tyler’s car?” Rose
demanded.

“Hers. Yours, Dani’s.” Jack typed furiously.
“You can get pissed at me later. Right now, we have to find Tyler.”

“Pissed. Jack, I could kiss you.”

Not looking up, Jack smiled slightly.

“Later. There,” he exclaimed with satisfaction.

Drew grabbed the phone. The signal was clear and strong.

“Not too far. Fuck, I must have just missed the son of
a bitch.” He looked up at Jack. “Your SUV. We’re headed up the
mountain.”

TYLER’S MIND RACED.

Lug wrench. It wasn’t something she ever used, but she knew
there had to be one back here. Turning over, she felt around when out of the
corner of her eye, she saw a glowing object. Light, any kind, no matter how
small was a welcome surprise. She scooted closer. The tab hung from the lid of
the trunk, flopping up and down with every bump the car hit.

Tyler reached out. Plastic. She almost pulled before she
remembered something Jack once said about every newer car having an escape
latch of some kind in the trunk. That must be it.

Feeling a surge of hope, Tyler renewed her search for the
wrench. The second the car stopped, she would pull the latch. She wanted to
have a weapon with her in case M.J. was faster than he used to be. If luck were
with her, there would be someplace nearby to hide. Trees, bushes. Anything.

When her hand finally came in contact with a long metal rod,
Tyler almost wept with relief. She gripped the wrench in her hands, kept her
eyes on that little glowing lifeline, and waited.

“WHY THE FUCK did he come up here?”

Dani patted Rose’s hand. No time for cute little euphemisms.
Their best friend was in danger. Rose turned her palm up finding comfort. She
rested her head on Dani’s shoulder, trying not to cry — willing Jack to drive
faster.

“Who has her? And why?” Alex wanted to know.
“Ransom?”

They were all piled into Jack’s SUV headed up Crossfire
Hill. Not towards the H&W complex. No one got in there without clearance.
Following the tracker on Tyler’s car brought them to the base of the mountain.
About half a mile up, they turned onto an unpaved road. If you could call it
that. More of a trail barely wide enough for the large vehicle. Branches
scraped noisily, catching on the side view mirror. A particularly low-hanging
one hit the windshield with such force it was a wonder the glass didn’t
shatter.

No one commented. Jack handled the vehicle with ease, only
cursing when it was necessary to slow down for a sharp turn.

“Not ransom. Though if he had half a brain, that’s what
he would do. I’d pay any price to get Tyler back.”

“Who?”

“M.J.”

“Tyler’s brother?” Dani cried out. She and Rose
exchanged worried looks. “Are you certain?”

Drew took his phone, scrolling to the picture he snapped
before leaving Tyler’s place. On the inside of the cabinet, next to the ropes
he tried to block out of his mind, carved into the wood was one word. M.J.

“Using her brain,” Jack said after a quick glance.
He couldn’t afford to take his eyes off the road for longer than that.
Especially now that flecks of white were hitting the windshield.

“He’s snapped,” Rose whispered, shaking her head
in disbelief. “All the petty things he’s done to her. Even locking her in
that closet. It was cruel, nasty. He never had the balls to go after her
face-to-face. Deep down, he’s scared of Tyler.”

“I don’t know his motivation. I don’t fucking care. The
asshole can spend the rest of his life letting some shrink decipher his twisted
brain.” Drew’s hand fisted in his lap. “If he’s hurt Tyler, there
won’t be enough of him left to worry about.”

THEY WERE GOING too fast.

Her car wasn’t made for this kind of abuse. Tyler knew by
the bumps and swerves, they had to be on a rural road. One that didn’t get used
enough to warrant upkeep. If she made it out of this… Tyler stopped herself.
Not
if
,
when
. There was no other option.
When
she got out
of this, she would be bruised from top to bottom.

Another sharp turn sent her shooting to the side, her head
connecting with a hard thump. Tyler rubbed the spot. Add a possible concussion
to her growing list of injuries.

“Slow down before you kill us both.”

The car braked slightly, then accelerated, going even faster
than before.

“Shut up. I’m not dying. You are.”

Before Tyler could open her mouth to yell back, she heard a curse
followed by a sickening thud. The car started to fishtail. M.J. was no longer
cursing, he was screaming. The car was out of his control.

Tyler closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and braced for
impact. She didn’t have long to wait. She felt the car rolling down some kind
of incline.
Please, let it
be a hill, not a cliff.

She waited for the feeling of weightlessness as the car fell
through the air. Instead, she shot forward, one last insult to her already
battered body. Then nothing. The sound of the crash was still ringing in her
ears as she inched back to the front of the trunk. She was shaken. It didn’t
feel like anything serious. She didn’t have time to find out.

Somehow, Tyler still held the lug wrench. It would be her
luck if M.J. walked away from the crash unhurt. She still needed a weapon —
just in case. Reaching up, she grasped the glowing tab and pulled. The whoosh
of the opening trunk was the sweetest sound she’d ever heard.

Stiff yet determined, Tyler crawled out. Still light out,
she observed, not knowing if that was good or bad. It would be harder to hide
from M.J. That meant staying off the road. In the dark, she might have tripped
and broken her neck. After everything else, that would be a tragically ironic
ending.

Light was good, she decided. Lucky. Now if only that luck
held. Hopefully, M.J. was out of commission. Not dead. For her mother’s sake,
she couldn’t wish for that. Unconscious? That she could live with.

Tyler’s legs weren’t as steady as she might have liked. When
she looked out, she found solid ground to be a bit of a hop away. Holding on to
the wrench, she jumped, thinking straight ahead had to be better than straight
down. Her feet hit the embankment, slipping on the wet surface. If she’d known
her brother was going to stuff her in the trunk of her car, drive into hills,
then get into a wreck, she would have thought ahead. Hiking boots were much
more practical than socks in a situation like this.

When did it start to snow? Not much. A light skiff that made
climbing difficult under the best of circumstances. With her beat-up body, the
twenty feet to the top looked like a mile.

Tyler wasn’t giving up now. Gritting her teeth, she started
up, one inch at a time. She slid back, then started again. Two feet, then
three. Only to slip back a foot. Climbing wasn’t made any easier with a metal
bar in one hand. If she dropped it, she might make better progress.

Resting her head on the wet ground, she thought about it.
The faster she got to the top, the better. Rocks could be used as weapons. Big
sticks. A well-aimed foot to the balls. Right now, she needed both hands. With
regret, she tossed the wrench as far away as possible. If she couldn’t use it,
neither could anyone else.

Taking a deep breath, Tyler commenced climbing again.
Don’t
think about how icy your fingers feel or how at any moment your toes might
break off like frozen shards. Getting to the top is the goal.
Think about
that, about finding help. Hot coffee, a steaming shower. Drew. Drew would make
her warm again.

She was finally making progress.
Nothing could stop me
now,
she thought with satisfaction. Then, all of a sudden, she slid back
down, her fingers leaving ten distinct trails in the thickening snow. Feeling
something on her ankle, Tyler realized,
I’m not slipping. I’m being pulled.

“You made me crash, you fucking cunt.”

Tyler felt despair crash around her. M.J., his bloody face
looming over her, was finally going to get his wish. He was going to kill her.

“Yelling at me. Making me look away from the
road.” M.J. grabbed her by the shirt, pulling her up then slamming her
back to the ground. “I would have missed that deer if it weren’t for
you.”

Tyler felt the air rush from her lungs, the hard ground
knocking it out of her. For a second, she let the idea of defeat take root in
her brain.
Give up. You’re exhausted. You’ve been fighting all your life.
What has it
gotten you
?

Tyler’s eyes popped open. What has fighting gotten her?
Friends, a career, a man to love. Everything. Tyler Jones was a fighter. That
wasn’t going to change now.

Using her last reserve of energy, Tyler punched and kicked
at the same time. Her fist connected with M.J.‘s already bloody nose, her foot
going for his balls. Neither had much heft behind them. Luckily, it didn’t take
much. M.J. fell back, clutching his face. It gave Tyler enough time to scoot
away. This time she wasn’t going up; she was going sideways.

The bushes to her right would give her some cover. If M.J.
were determined to pursue her, maybe they would slow him down enough to give
her time to put some space between them. She started to crawl away when her
hand landed on something hard and cold. Her fingers curled around the metal
bar.
Hello, old
friend
. If she’d had the energy, she would have
cried.

“Die, bitch.”

Tyler rolled over, gripping the lug wrench in her hand, to
see M.J. coming at her. He was only a few feet away, in his hand a rock. As he
raised it, Tyler prepared herself. One more fight. She was ready. He took
another limping step, raised his weapon. But before he could strike, a shot rang
out. M.J.‘s body jerked back, falling to the ground.

Tyler stared disbelieving. A red patch spread across his
chest. Blood, she realized. M.J. had been shot.

“Tyler.”

She heard her name seconds before she was pulled into Drew’s
arms. She didn’t hug him back. She couldn’t. She was too dazed by the sudden
turn of events. And she was still holding on to the lug wrench.

“Are you hurt?”

Drew gently smoothed the tangled hair back from her face.
Not a pretty picture, she imagined. His vivid curses. Confirmed the fact.

“That mother fucking bastard.”

“Cold,” Tyler whispered.

Letting out another stream of obscenities, this time aimed
at himself, Drew shrugged out of his coat. He carefully wrapped it around her,
the lug wrench getting in his way.

“No,” she cried when he tried to take the bar from
her hand.

“It’s okay, honey.” Drew gently pried the piece of
metal from her fingers. “You’re safe. You don’t need that anymore.”

He gathered Tyler into his arms, starting up the hill
without a backward glance at the man who lay bleeding in the snow.

“Need you.”

Tyler sighed the words as she finally began to relax. The
strong arms that held her so securely tightened.

“You have me, Ty. Always.”

TYLER REMEMBERED VERY little after that.

There were a lot of people. Dani, Rose. She knew they were
there, holding her hand, fussing. Voices hushed. She was in a car again. This
time in the back seat, not the trunk. And Drew. She not so much remembered him
holding her, talking, soothing. It was a feeling. Warm. Comforting. Safe.

The next thing she knew, she woke up in a hospital bed. An
IV stuck in her arm, a heart monitor beeped somewhere out of sight.

She was achy more than in pain. A pleasant floaty feeling
encompassed her body. Drugs. The good ones. Tyler smiled. They didn’t make
getting slapped around, kidnapped, bruised from head to toe, and almost killed
acceptable. They did make the aftermath a whole lot more pleasant.

“A smile. Must be the drugs.”

Tyler turned her head. Her smile got bigger when she saw
Drew sitting next to her bed. He looked tired. His hair stood in several
different directions, a scruffy beard covered his face. He took her hand,
raising it to his lips.

“Hey, handsome.”