Free Stepbrother Bear - Complete by Rosette Bolter Page A

over my ears, the sound of the car slamming into the oncoming trees split
through my brain like a falling axe. The impact caused the car to violently
rebound, sending us off on an angle, the adjacent trees crashing into Aiden’s
side of the car. He dived on me just as it did so, acting as a shield between
me and the glass.
    After a
moment we were stationary, but I could still feel the hum of the car’s engine.
Opening my eyes, Aiden crawled across me to unlock my door and push it open. 
My face was contorted in a permanent wince. The shock of the collision was
railing inside of me. A feeling I couldn’t feel. A thought I couldn’t think.
    I felt his
hands at my waist, unbuckling the seatbelt. He then put his hands underneath my
arms and guided me a little to the open door.
    I smelt
gasoline. Motor oil.
    Smoke.
    Finding some
strength, I crawled over onto my belly and began to slide myself further out
the door. My hands were reaching through the open air. Almost touching the
grass on the ground below. I closed my eyes again. Struggled with my left knee
to get it elevated. Then my right. I reached out a bit further, but just before
my fingers found the earth, I pair of giant hands ripped me from the seat and
hoisted me over a shoulder.
    Not someone I
knew. Not a friend.
    My eyes swung
round as the man carried me back to where he’d come from, and all I could see
was the car with Aiden climbing out of it. He fell to his knees once he was
free, exhausted and out of breath. His eyes met mine. He opened his mouth as
though he was about to say something, but no sound came out. No sound that I
could hear.
    As the man
carried me away further, shadows began to hit the ground surrounding Aiden. I
watched them approach from all sides. Tall, towering, shadows. Aiden wasn’t
given the same immediate treatment as I was. I watched as he was kneed in the
chest and kicked a couple of times. He then took a fist to his forehead and a
foot was placed over his fallen neck.
    I watched it
all.
    So quickly.
So fast.
    Gloved
fingers unbuttoned a dark jacket to produce a silver object, its shine
reflecting briefly in the moonlight. The gun was then pointed at Aiden.
    And I knew he
was about to die.

 
    CHAPTER TWO
     
     
    My assailant set me down on the back
of one of the motorcycles stalled in the area behind the crash.
    Before he
turned, I managed, “Don’t kill him.”
    The man
looked back to me briefly. His beard and sunglasses hid any emotional response.
“Stay there,” he said. Then he went to confide in a couple of his fellow
bikers.
    I looked back
to where Aiden was. The gun was still there being held over him, while its
owner barked his questions at him. I could hear Aiden was answering him, albeit
in a quieter voice, but I couldn’t make out what either of them were saying.
Any second it seemed Aiden could get a bullet in the head. And there was
nothing I could do about it.
     The man who
grabbed me was now returning. His face was pointed right at me.
    “What’s your
name?” he asked gruffly.
    “I’m … I’m
Bianca.”
    “And the
fellows you’re with?”
    “That’s
Aiden. Who you’re talking to.”
    The man
looked over his shoulder. “Your boyfriend?”
    “No,” I
mumbled. “I mean. Well. No. He’s my brother.”
    He looked
back to me, “Not so confusing, is it?”
    I just
stared.
    “What about
the other one? Did you know him?”
    “Not really,”
I replied. “His name’s Jared. I think … you killed him.”
    The man
nodded. “And what are you doing out here?”
    “You … were
shooting at us. We crashed.”
    The man
laughed. He moved closer to me.
    “What kind of
answer is that?”
    “I don’t
know,” I mumbled.
    “What were
you doing outside Fort Pacific?”
    “I … we…”
    I didn’t have
anything else. How could I explain it to him? I didn’t know anything about him.
It was too long of a story.
    The man knelt
down beside me, and took off his sunglasses.
    His gaze was
so wooden I still