I jumped in our car, pulling around in a circle and seeing Anderson trying to start the car as we blew past.
I didn’t care if there were cops or if someone on the street was calling them in right now. I wasn’t stopping until we were safe.
I looked over at Winter, sitting in Will’s lap as he cut off her zip ties, and I quickly scanned her face and clothes. She still wore the same bloody jeans from yesterday when I’d been bleeding all over her and Will’s hoodie. She didn’t look hurt, except for some blood trickling from her lip, and nothing appeared ripped like there had been a struggle. Her angelic face and white-blonde hair looked like they’d been through the ringer tonight, though. Eyes red while worry and upset creased her face. I could tell she’d been terrified.
How the fuck did this happen? I wasn’t asleep long at the hospital. They didn’t have her long, right? God, if they touched her…
I quickly called Crane on Will’s cell.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Take any guys left and go set up shop at St. Killian’s,” I ordered him. “We’ll be there soon.”
“Yes, sir.”
I wasn’t sure if my father was paying him anymore, but if he wasn’t going to go, I knew he wouldn’t tell him where we were going.
“You think Gabriel will go there?” Will asked me after I hung up. He still held Winter in his lap.
I shook my head. “No. He’ll take time to regroup. He’ll come eventually, though. We need to be ready.”
“Is there someone behind us?” Winter asked, breathing hard again.
I checked the rearview mirror, while Will glanced over his shoulder.
Bright headlights pierced the darkness as we left the village, climbing our tail.
“And coming up fast,” Will said.
How did she know that?
I punched the gas, charging up into the hills, the dark trees looming on both sides.
“Did they hurt you?” I asked, looking at Winter.
She shook her head. “Just scared me.”
Will took her chin, inspecting the cut on her lip. “Anderson do that?”
“I think so.”
I raced past security, not even bothering to stop as the guard popped his head up, startled. He worked for the families in this community, not the police. He’d call the association to report trouble before he’d call the cops.
I turned the wheel, taking us around the curve, but as I straightened out, the car behind us shot up right on our ass, ramming into our car.
Winter gasped, and we lurched forward, Will holding her tight as he planted his hand on the dash. I sped around another curve, but then Will shouted at me.
“No, take the shortcut!” he yelled.
I jerked the steering wheel right, remembering St. Killian’s sat across from a small river buried in the forest. There was a bridge that cut through the space between here and Michael and Rika’s, avoiding all the winding roads.
We could go faster without all the turns.
Anderson shot past, but I heard his tires screech to a halt on the other road above as we hurried toward the bridge as fast as we could.
I pressed my back into the seat, my arm locked straight on the steering wheel, and my eyes zoned in on the road and checking my mirror.
My blood raced, and if I weren’t so worried about her, I might’ve been having a little fun. Of course, I wouldn’t have run. I would’ve killed that motherfucker right there in the town square. I’d just been caught up in getting her out.
Headlights flashed through my rearview mirror and the car caught up to us again, charging behind.
It rushed up, and I tightened every muscle.
“Hold on,” I shouted.
It slammed into our ass, and liquid heat coursed down every one of my limbs as I tried to outrun them.
I looked to Winter. “We’re almost there.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but the car rammed us again, and we all lurched in our seats.
“Motherfucker!” I growled.
They slammed into us again. I took the wheel with both hands trying to keep it steady.
And again.
Winter started panting in short, shallow breaths, scared with an arm around Will’s neck and one on the dash.
They hit us again.
“Hold on,” I told them.
The bridge appeared ahead, and I charged dead ahead, racing onto it and seeing Anderson’s headlights chase us again.
The dark river loomed still and black underneath us, spreading far to the left and right as my tires bumped over the slabs of concrete underneath.
Anderson sped up, hit us again, but before I had a chance to recover, he shot around and slammed into my side.
“Goddammit!” I bellowed.
I lost the wheel, the car went spinning, and I slammed on the brakes, and then… He was there—his headlights charging right for us.
Will yelled, wrapping his arms around Winter’s head, and we crashed through the railing, the back tires falling over the side of the bridge as Anderson’s SUV tipped both right tires over the side, as well. Winter screamed as the car wobbled.
There was only a moment, my eyes locked on Winter’s face, and then both cars started to slide. I reached for her, took her hand, and pulled her into my arms, locking her in as we both went over the side, free falling into the river.
Holy fuck!
The car crashed down, my neck snapped back, and the whole world tilted on its side as my head swam.
What the hell?
I heard Winter calling me.
“Damon?” she cried, touching my face. “D…Damon, wake up. Wake up!”
I squeezed my eyes shut, lifting up my head and rotating the ache out of my neck before opening them again.
Did I get knocked out? Shit.
Winter sat on my lap, nearly nose to nose, crying but kissing me as soon as she felt me move.
I grunted, rubbing my neck as I looked over to see Will yanking on his handle and throwing his body into the door.
It took a moment to register what had just happened, but then I looked up, out the front windshield and saw what was all around us.
The fucking river. Jesus.
“You okay?” I asked Winter.
“Yeah.”
I looked around, seeing the car flooding as water poured in from the vents and under the dash, the car already half deep.
Fuck.
The river rushed over the hood as the car sank nose first, and I looked out the window, seeing no signs of life from Anderson’s car. It floated upside down, slowly sinking, as well.
Winter jumped off me, and I pulled my handle, following Will and slamming all my weight into the door. The cloudy water rushed, starting to cover the windows and pour in, and I yanked again and again and again, but the fucking door wouldn’t open.
I climbed out of my seat, trying the back doors and kicking the windows. Winter moved from door to door, feeling her way and trying the windows, pushing the buttons, while Will took the baseball bat and threw it into the glass.
“Just calm down a sec!” I yelled at him.
We were under water now. If he broke the glass, water would rush in fast, and we needed a minute.
I pushed against the back door so hard my muscles burned.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck… Think.
Goddammit.
My knees shook as I made my way back up front, sloshing through the icy water and picking up Winter who was chest deep and shivering.
I breathed over her lips, trying to warm her any way I could. “There’s like six hundred pounds of pressure on the windows and doors, right now,” I told her. “Once the pressure equalizes, we’ll open the doors.”
“When…when…” she stammered, shaking. “When does it equalize?”
The water chilled my bones. “When the car…fills up…with water.”
“If it fills up with water, we can’t breathe!” Will yelled, climbing out of his seat, his clothes and hair drenched. “We don’t want it to fill up!”
He stumbled, catching himself as his head turned right and left, manically searching for a way out.
“Damon, man…” He stood, almost hyperventilating as the water rose to our chests, slowly consuming the car. “We gotta…we gotta get out of here. I can’t… I can’t…”
He started feeling the roof and searching, looking everywhere for anything he could find, gasping in short breaths.