Page 56 of Madness & Mayhem

“Were you shot?” Lakyn screams, glancing at me. “Oh, fuck! You’re bleeding!” she cries out, her pace slowing slightly.

I shake my head, leaping off the last curb and crossing the street. The sirens are behind us, the speeding cars, the constant megaphone telling us to stop. And the gunshots, growing closer, and closer.

I cut left into the edge of the woods, away from the small cabin in the woods.

“Where are we going?” Lakyn asks.

“Follow me,” I growl. The sky lights up behind us.

They’re close. Too close.

I rush into the woods, instantly encased in darkness, though the sound of car doors slamming alerts me they are going to follow us into the woods.

I grind my teeth together, my body turning numb while aching wildly at the same time.

“Where are we going? The cabin is the other way,” she whines, her breaths coming out in small pants. “I’m getting tired, Reign. I’m not going to make it.”

I turn my gaze toward hers, keeping our pace quick as we race through the woods. “You will not give up on me, Lakyn. Not now. You hear me?”

She nods her head, unable to say a single word.

“Put your hands in the air! We’ve got you surrounded!” an officer shouts, and I turn to Lakyn with a pain in my shoulder and pain in my heart.

“Lakyn,” I murmur.

She turns to me, and it’s almost in slow motion as she looks purely frightened. “Reign,” she breathes.

“I love you,” I say moments before my hand shoots out, and I shove her as hard as I can. She stumbles to the side, letting out a yelp as she falls down the small hill.

And right off the cliff. Into the water below.

Chapter NINE

LAKYN

“Ilove you.”

Those are the last words I hear before he shoves me so roughly I am whiplashed to the side. My body jolts as I stumble down the small hill.

And right off the cliff.

My scream gets lodged in my throat, and I can’t say or speak a word as I tumble through the night air and toward the water below.

The moment my body hits the surface, it’s like glass shards spread across my body. The cold water is like knives against my skin, and I gasp in a painful breath as quick as I can before I’m submerged beneath the surface.

I suck in a breath moments before I’m plummeted toward the floor of the water, attempting to swim against gravity. My arms windmill around me as my butt hits the ground. My shoes shove against the ground as I push myself back to the surface. The cold water nearly paralyzes me, the cold so vicious it feels like lead seeps into my skin.

I shove off as hard as I can, kicking my way to the surface. The moment my head breaks free, I arch my back, allowing in as much air as I possibly can. I glance up toward the top of the cliff, hearing voices in the distance. A flashlight shines down at the water, and I quickly go back under the surface, swimming toward the edge of the cliff.

My back presses against it as I break through the water, intaking sharp, shallow breaths as I wait for the sounds of shouting to pass.

He pushed me over the edge.

He’s trying to save me.

My heart sinks into my feet, and fear clutches me tightly as I fear the worst.

Did he allow himself to get caught?