Nash: A Rough Romance by Piper Stone (book series for 12 year olds txt) 📕

hand on the steering wheel, stars floating in front of my eyes. The rage boiling within me was almost overwhelming, my blood ready to burst into flames. We were only five miles out, yet it was too damn far.

“Take it easy, dude. We’ll get to her.”

While Scorpion was trying to calm my fury, I knew nothing would at this point.

Nothing but wrapping my hand around Giordani’s throat and snapping it.

That would occur on my terms.

By the time I drove down the road leading to Bryce’s house, my ears were ringing from the anger. I had difficulty focusing, the entire road one big blur. However, nothing was going to stop me from getting to her. I swung into the driveway at almost fifty miles per hour, the truck careening from one side of the gravel driveway to the other. When I slammed on the brakes, dust flew everywhere.

I barely had the gear in park and cut the engine before I jumped out of the truck and onto the porch. The damn door was unlocked even though I explicitly told her to make certain she locked it behind me. As I rushed inside, my heart palpitating, I yanked my weapon from my jacket, moving quickly into the kitchen. There was no sign of her. Neither was there in the bedroom or bathroom and the fire was slowly dying out.

“Any sign of her?” Scorpion asked, pulling his weapon into his hand as well.

“None.”

“No sign of forced entry either.”

“That doesn’t mean shit.” I stormed toward the back door. The damn thing was also unlocked. What the fuck was going on? After racing outside, I was able to see footsteps in the snow. “Footprints.”

Scorpion noticed them too, immediately jumping off the deck and crouching down. “Just a single set and they’re walking away from the house, into the woods.”

“Damn it. What the hell does she think she’s doing?” I raced into the woods in the direction of where she’d gone. “Mitch. Where are you?” There was nothing but the cawing of several birds.

“Mitch!” Scorpion yelled.

When the footprints continued in one direction, backtracking and heading in the other, another bad feeling settled over me. “Mitch!”

“You go that way,” he huffed as he took off trudging through the snow.

A combination of anger as well as gutting fear continued to roll through me as I moved forward, my heart aching.

“Reaper.”

Her voice came out of nowhere, cutting through the quietness of the snowy afternoon. Jerking in the other direction, I was forced to take several deep breaths as I stared at her. For a few seconds that seemed frozen in time, the woman standing in front of me was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.

Mitch twisted her mouth as she remained where she was, her eyes darting back and forth. Finally, a smile crossed her face as she tried to run through the snow.

Exasperated, I heard a slight whimper coming from her mouth as I rushed forward. While the sound yanked at my heart, my anger remained. But when she jumped into my arms, wrapping hers around my neck and burying her face against the side, all I could think about was the fact she was safe.

“Reaper,” she repeated.

“Jesus Christ,” Scorpion said from behind me.

I swiveled around to face him as he lowered his weapon, shaking his head. That’s the moment when another round of anger and frustration with her behavior rushed in. “What were you doing?”

She pushed away, her eyes imploring. “I heard something.”

“You heard something? So you freaking left the protection of the house?” As I eased her down, I kept my grip on her arms, shaking her slightly. “Answer me.”

“I…” Her jaw clenched and she darted her gaze around toward Scorpion. “I was careful. I’m not a fool.”

“Uh-huh. Careful? What you did was reckless as fuck. That’s not going to happen again.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you cared about me.”

Scorpion coughed, but I knew he was hiding a chuckle.

“This isn’t funny, Mitch. You don’t listen or maybe you choose not to hear me. We’re not fucking around any longer. There are some very bad men out to get you and they have damn good reason.”

“Does that mean you found the jump drives?” she asked with hope in her tone of voice.

“We found them,” Scorpion answered.

“Along with your truck, which was trashed and my house turned upside down.” I studied her face as she paled, her entire body starting to shake.

Grimacing, I yanked her against me as I scanned the woods, looking for any sign that our location had been compromised again. While there was no indication, her reckless behavior could have cost Mitch her life.

“I’ll check the grounds, but I think you’re safe,” Scorpion said quietly, the damn asshole keeping a wide grin on his face. Even his freaking eyes shimmered as if this entire situation was amusing.

“Yeah, maybe for now. I appreciate it. I need to get her back inside.” I didn’t bother wasting time, lifting and tossing her over my shoulder.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Locking you down. It’s obvious I have to.” As I took long strides through the snow, my jaws ached from the fact that I was clenching them. When I had her inside, I smacked her bottom several times before easing her onto her feet.

She backed away, a look of fury crossing her face. “I told you that I was careful.”

“Careful is not going against my rules. Careful would be to call the police. Careful would be to stay inside.” I huffed as I paced the floor, glaring at her every few seconds. “What the hell did you think you heard?”

“I don’t know. Just a sound, like there was someone outside walking around the house. That’s when I called you. Didn’t you get the message?”

“What freaking message? Five seconds.”

She pulled the phone out of her pocket and grimaced as she searched her call history. “Shit. I didn’t realize. I didn’t plan on leaving the deck. Okay? When I didn’t see anything else, I thought I’d just check