Twist My Heart by Brooke Taylor (ebook audio reader .txt) 📕

winding mountain roads. But my cough hadn’t gone unnoticed. “You’ve really fucked yourself good, Thea,” he muttered.

It seemed too soon for the drugs to wear off, so I didn’t verbally respond. But I desperately wanted to get the man talking, giving some indication of where he was taking me, so Nik could follow. I groaned as if barely coming around.

“I can’t believe you squealed to Todd Coleman. Fucking ungrateful. I should put a bullet in you and be done. But you’re so nosy. So freaking nosy, I’m going to let you see exactly what you’ve been snooping around for weeks trying to find out. I’m going to show you exactly what kind of a monster I am. I can’t decide which would be better, for me to sell your untouchable virgin ass to the highest bidder or put you where it’ll get the most use. Quality versus quantity—the age-old debate. Which do you think I’ll choose?”

He glanced up into the rearview, his ice-blue eyes catching mine. Shit.

I swallowed hard. Swallowed again to keep from telling the asshole there wasn’t an untouched place left on my body anymore.

I forced my voice to sound groggy and subdued, when I wanted to thrash and scream and yell at him…rip those clear blue eyes from his stupid, oversized skull. “Both. First, you’ll make as much money off me as you can, and then you’ll torture me until I’m dead.”

“You’ve always been so smart. Too smart for your own good. But you give me far too much credit—I’m a selfish, selfish prick, Thea. More selfish than I am greedy. You’re mine and I’ve been patient. You think keeping my hands off you was easy? Letting you live all these years? No. It wasn’t. And now that I’ve had you thrashing in my arms, fighting for your life…” He drew in a long breath, his nostrils flaring wide. As he exhaled, a low, aroused groan escaped. “You got me so excited, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep you alive for all of the things I want to do to you.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you from back here—my ears are sensitive to the mountain pressure and I can’t pop them with my hands bound. Where did you say you were taking me? Back to Estes?” I said more to the phone than to the madman driving. When Clay didn’t respond, I asked, “Where’d you get this red Subaru? I thought you had a black Tahoe.”

“If you don’t shut up, I’ll cut your tongue out first.”

I probably should’ve left it alone, but I wanted to be sure Nik knew exactly who had me, and besides, holding my tongue wasn’t in my skill sets. “What’s wrong, Clay? Can’t drive and talk at the same time?”

“The only thing you should care about is that I can fuck and kill you at the same time.”

The winding mountain road kept the asshole from flicking his cold eyes to the rearview, giving me a chance to roll to my side. I dangled my legs over the seat edge, so I’d still appear to be laying down if he checked, but could also sit up at a moment’s notice.

From this position, my fingertips were able to grip Nik’s knife in my pocket. But with my hands bound I wasn’t sure how steady I could hold it. Angling it enough to cut through the heavy plastic of the zip ties would be impossible without slitting my own wrists. Besides, Clay would hear my movements and have time to pull over and knock me out for real this time. About the only thing I had going for me was the element of surprise.

The car rocked into each turn, climbing steadily along the mountain highway for miles. His eyes remained calm, focused as he drove through the curves. He wasn’t being followed, or if he was, he didn’t realize it. He was going somewhere specific, not merely driving to get as far away as possible.

Noting a shift in his eyes, I knew he’d be making a turn soon. From the quickening to his breath, he was getting close to wherever his final destination was. He was too excited not to be.

We slowed as he angled hard through a turn. Sensing it was my last chance. I went for broke—lunging my arms up over the headrest. I dragged them back, forcefully hauling my bound wrists hard into his throat.

The car careened sharply, thrashing me from side to side. I braced for impact, ducking my head behind the driver’s seat. The little SUV bucked and pitched down the steep slope as I strangle held Clay even tighter. Every impact jarred my body hard. Then came the collision, so final it punched the air from my lungs as it sent the rear of the car skyward, before abruptly slamming back down with a jolting bounce.

Choking on my tongue, I fought for air. I closed my eyes, replacing the deafening sound piercing my eardrums with Nik’s whispered voice, Stay with me. Breathe.

Chapter Forty

I opened my eyes to a spiderweb of broken glass. Loud ringing noises whirled through my brain. The airbag bulged out, holding Clay’s slumped and bloody body upright. My arms still encircled his neck, but my hands had lost circulation. I couldn’t tell if the pulse throbbing against my forearm belonged to him or me, but something told me he wasn’t dead.

I couldn’t make any assumptions, but there was no way in hell I’d ever be his prey again.

I yanked back to choke out his oxygen. The sudden motion woke him. Sputtering, he grappled at my wrists. Clawing fingers kept mine from finishing the job. His gasped pleas—don’t kill me…you need me…I can help you—blended with something else he was trying to say—only one…where to find her.

I stopped cold. “Find who?”

His fingers slid from my wrists, his hands fluttering to his sides in surrender. I loosened my grip enough for him to gather his voice back. “Who, Clay?”

After several minutes of coughing and sputtering, he croaked