Free Wicked Games by A. D. Justice Page B

raced down a side street away from them. Rebel called one of the other men in the second SUV to pursue the shooter.  Brianna was shaken to the core, as she realized that man was probably the one who found her in Colorado.
    Looking to Noah, her voice watery and quivering, and unable to stop her body from shaking, she pleaded, “Please, Noah. Just stop and let me out here. I’ll find my way back on my own.”
    He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “A man just shot at us, and you want me to stop and let you out ? You want him to come back and shoot you point blank?”
    She shot back, “What do you care? One less thing for y’all to be angry about.” 
    Richard and Brianna both show up alive within hours of each other? Noah knew better than to think that was a coincidence, but he hadn’t yet figured out the connection. 
    No time like the present to find out.
    Noah leaned forward, closer to her. “No, I don’t think I will let you out here. Maybe I’ll just take you to Richard .” 
    Her head jerked to meet his eyes , and he saw complete terror in her eyes. That terror wasn’t there, even after the guy shot at her. This was definitely not the reaction he had expected from her. At one point, he had suspected something was up between the two of them. He never really believed she was cheating on him with Richard, but he wasn’t really sure what exactly was going on. 
    Noah remembered Brianna brought Richard up frequently in conversation, always asking questions about him. She asked about how they met and about their business dealings. She was always careful about the way she questioned him, but Noah was suspicious, nonetheless.
    Brianna turned her head to look straight ahead, but he saw her eyes darting in all directions. He could see every muscle tense in her body, and her breathing and pulse rate had drastically increased. He knew she hit the flight-or-fight mode in an adrenalin dump, and she was definitely terrified of something.
    She looked back at him and the pain in her voice was palpable, “You would really do that to me?”   He let out a disgusted “humph” as his response.
    The SUV slowed for a red light , as she looked back out the side window. Lightning fast, she grabbed the door lock and the handle, jumped from the vehicle, slamming the door behind her, as she ran as hard as she could. Bull had also been watching her, but he was a split second too late on hitting the automatic door locks. Just as she slammed the door shut, Noah slid across the back seat, but was locked in, giving her a good head start on him.
    Noah chased her down the side street, as Bull honked the horn and finally got around the cars waiting at the red light. Brianna scanned the area ahead, looking for an escape route. She saw an abandoned house with a fenced back yard. Behind it were a few more houses and what looked like an apartment complex. 
    She jumped the chain link fence and kept going until she reached the apartment complex. Hiding in the shadows, staying close to the buildings, she spotted another main road a couple of blocks down. Fear was propelling her. Fear that Noah would really take her to Richard. Fear that she had misjudged him, and he was really part of everything she had uncovered.
    Why else would he have said that?
    Pushing off like an Olympic runner, she headed in the direction of the cars and witnesses when she was suddenly engulfed from behind. Big, muscular arms circled her, pinning her arms in front, and a long, muscular leg circled one of hers, making it impossible to move. 
    Noah’s deep voice growled in her ear, “You’re not going anywhere.” The SUV slid into the parking lot in front of them. Bull and Rebel got out of the car and approached them, as Noah released his hold on her. 
    She was boxed in and there was no way out. She was close to hysterical by this time, shaking her head, and holding her hands out to keep them at bay.  Through her tears, she kept repeating, “Just let me