Domino by Ivy Black
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ashley
My hands bound with a pair of plastic cuffs, I huddle in the back of the car with Cole, holding him tightly to me as best as I can, as we rocket down the highway. He’s gone completely still and silent. He’s not crying, not fussing, and not doing anything other than sitting there, staring straight ahead like he’s gone catatonic. It terrifies me more than if he were melting down.
“Let us go, Ryan. Do you see what you’re doing to Cole?”
“This is all your fault, Ash. Don’t even try to turn this shit around on me. If you’d done what I told you and come home, none of this shit would be happenin’ right now,” he spits.
“Stop the car, Ryan. Let us out.”
“What was it you told me? Not. Gonna. Happen. That was it, wasn’t it, you ungrateful bitch?”
There’s a manic energy in him that’s frightening. His voice is high pitched and cracking, and he sounds like he’s gone completely insane.
“Where are you taking us?” I demand.
“We’re goin’ home. Where you belong. And believe me, you’re in a shitload of trouble, girl. I’m going to punish you for this.”
I have no doubt he’s going to punish me if he gets me home. The mere thought of it sends a cold chill racing up my spine. The relief I felt when I heard his voice on the phone was immediate, but it was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer terror of the moment. Ryan had kicked in the door before I could do anything else and slapped the phone out of my hand… and then slapped me for good measure.
I say a silent word, praying that Max can find us and put a stop to this. I have no idea how he’s going to accomplish it, but I’m praying for a miracle right now.
“It’s going to be okay, baby. Don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine.”
“Don’t lie to my son, bitch.”
“Ryan—”
“Cole, your mommy’s in big, fat trouble. She did a very bad thing and she’s going to be punished for it. And you’re going to watch as I punish her. You’re going to learn what happens when mommy disobeys daddy. When she tries to keep you from me. You’re going to learn there’s a price to be paid for making daddy mad. You got it, buddy?”
“Ryan, stop it. You’re scaring him.”
“The kid needs to be toughened up. You’ve turned him into a sniveling pussy. And no son of mine is going to be a sniveling pussy. He’s going to learn to be a man.”
“If you’re the measure of a man, I hope he never becomes one.”
“Careful with what you say, Ash. You don’t want me to take that personally, do you?”
The implied threat turns my stomach and I hold Cole to me tighter. I see Ryan looking at me in the rearview mirror, his eyes filled with a crazed light.
“Stop this, Ryan. Don’t do this.”
“I’m not doing anything other than taking back what’s mine. I told you that you and Cole belong to me and I’m not giving you up. Especially not to that piece of shit biker. I can’t believe you’re fucking that guy. I mean, a biker, Ash? Have your standards really sunk so low?”
“Believe me, Max is a million steps up from you, and he’s more of a man than you can ever hope to be.”
“So, the greasy, filthy loser type is what gets you wet, huh? You like gettin’ it put to you by drug-dealing lowlifes? Is that it? Tell me, how long did you wait to fuck him? A day? A week?”
“Shut up. Stop talking like that in front of Cole.”
“I’ll talk however I want. I own both of you and can do whatever the fuck I want to either one of you.”
I look around, trying to find some visual landmark. In the unlikely event, I get the chance to get his phone from him and call Max, I want to be able to tell him where I am. As we blast past what looks like a deep turnoff between some trees, I see a police car sitting there and feel the sparks of hope within me flare to life. But when I turn my head and look at the road behind us, the car doesn’t pull out. My heart sinks and a riptide of despair pulls down on me, threatening to drag me down into the darkness.
“Nobody’s comin’ to help you, Ash. It’s just you, me, and the kid. Just the way it’s supposed to be. The way it’s going to be from now on.”
“Please, Ryan. I’m sorry. Don’t do this. Just let us out and I won’t tell anybody. I won’t go to the police.”
“You’re not going to the police anyway. Nah. When we get home, I’ve already put together a special time out room for you. And whenever you displease me, you’ll be spending time in there. Believe me, when we get home, you’re going to be in the time-out room for a long, long while. You’ve got some serious making up to do.”
I look down at Cole and he hasn’t moved a muscle. He just sits there not moving, not speaking, not doing… anything. The hitch in my chest is painful and my eyes well with tears.
“What the fuck?” Ryan mutters.
I look behind us and see two motorcycles closing the distance quickly. My heart races and I have to physically keep myself from screaming with joy when I recognize Max in the lead. As Max draws even with Ryan’s truck, he swerves at him, nearly running him off the road. I stifle the scream that’s on the tip of my tongue. Max rights himself but falls behind again, trailing us closely.
I see him making a series of hand gestures to the guy riding with him, communicating his idea to them. My heart is beating wildly, and the flames of hope are burning brightly within me. The fact that he’s come to rescue me fills me with a joy that wipes out the despair that threatened to overwhelm me just a few moments ago. I grip Cole’s hand tightly, feeling the fear-tinged excitement building within me.
I watch as the two bikes move into position to pass Ryan on the right. He’s muttering to himself in the front seat, glancing at them in the side mirror as he tries to also keep his eyes on the road. I can tell he’s waiting for them to make a move. And then, they do, gunning their engines, and start to pull alongside on the right. Ryan swerves, and they fall back immediately. Max, though, cuts to the left and guns his engine, the deep rumble of his bike filling my ears.
“Goddammit,” Ryan growls as he swerves back to the left.
It’s too late, though, Max has already pulled ahead of him. I watch as he pulls a gun from the waistband of his pants and levels it at Ryan’s truck.
“Shit,” Ryan calls and suddenly hits the brakes.
There are three quick thundering booms as Max fires, and I hear the slugs slamming into the truck. Through the windshield, I see steam billowing out of the hole Max put in the hood. And then, all of a sudden, I feel the truck start to slow. Ryan howls in frustration and beats the steering wheel, letting out a long string of expletives.
The truck comes to a slow, shuddering halt and Ryan jumps out. He rushes to the back door and rips it open, reaching in for me. I slap at his hands, but given that they’re bound, it’s not very effective. But when he gets a finger too close to my mouth, I bite down hard on it. He yanks it out of my mouth and screams in frustration and pain, then slaps me so hard across the face, I literally see stars for a moment as my head is rocked to the side.
He pulls me out, but I let go of Cole, leaving him on the seat. The sound of the motorcycles is so loud, I can feel it vibrating along my skin. Apparently deciding he doesn’t have time for Cole, he grabs hold of the plastic cuffs around my wrists and pulls me along with him. I stumble and he jerks me upright, the cuffs cutting into my flesh painfully.
On the road behind us, I see Max and his friend leaping off their bikes and start to rush them. But Ryan pulls a gun from under his coat. The sound of the shot is deafening, and when I see blood fly from Max’s leg, I scream and struggle against Ryan. Max goes down on the ground, gripping his leg and cursing loudly. I hear the sound of bullets slamming into a tree trunk nearby and catch sight of Max’s friend coming around the other side of the truck, his weapon up and at the ready.
Max gets back to his feet and I let out a breath of relief. Ryan, though, seeing that he’s outnumbered and outgunned, puts the barrel of his pistol to my head. Max and his friend stop immediately, both of them looking furious and frustrated.
“You’d better stop followin’ me or she’s gonna get it. I swear to God, she’ll pay the price.”
Ryan turns suddenly and drags me into the forest that lines both sides of the road. I stumble, trying to keep from falling since I’m pretty sure he would break my wrists and drag me along with him. We plunge through the undergrowth heedlessly, stumbling over roots and rocks, nearly tripping in holes. It’s a struggle to keep myself upright with him dragging me along as he sets a fast pace through the trees, trying to lose Max.
I can hear Max behind us, crashing through the bushes as he tries to catch up with us, and every now and then, I’ll catch a glimpse of him. What he needs is time to catch up to us. And as Ryan drags me along a trail that runs along a small ravine that leads down to a stream, an idea occurs to me. Mustering up all of my strength, I throw myself to the right. It’s a move that takes Ryan by surprise and tips him off balance. He lets go of my cuffs as he tries to catch his balance, but he quickly realizes he won’t be able to and grabs hold of my arm, pulling me down with him.
I scream as we tumble and roll down the embankment, my body bouncing off all of the rocks that are half buried in the damp earth. Ryan is cursing loudly as he continues bouncing down the slope. But we both let out a pained yelp when we land on the rocky shore that runs along the stream. A sharp, pointed rock is sticking me in the small of the back, so I quickly roll off of it, only to find there are no comfortable places to lie. And I need to lie still for a moment, partly to catch my breath and slow my heart, but to also to take stock of my injuries.
A groan passes my lips as I feel the myriad of bumps and bruises that cover my body. Thankfully, though, it doesn’t seem like anything is broken or hurt too badly. I seem to be intact. I was just about to say a quiet word of thanks when Ryan’s snarling face fills my field of vision as he leans over me. Looming. His face threatening. He reaches down and picks up a rock and looks at me through eyes filled with hatred.
“If I can’t have you, that greasy piece of shit sure as hell isn’t going to have you either,” he hisses.
“Ryan, no. Please don’t. Don’t leave Cole without a mother,” I plead.
“Like I give a shit. I’ll find some other bitch to take your place. Maybe I’ll find one who’s better in bed than you. Shouldn’t be too hard to find somebody who does more than just lies there staring at the ceiling.”
“Maybe if you were actually interesting or good in bed, I wouldn’t look so bored.”
I know I shouldn’t antagonize him. But if I’m going to die out here anyway, then I’m going to speak my mind and make him feel like an asshole.
“You dumb bitch,” he spits.
Ryan raises the rock above his head, and I grit my teeth, waiting for him to bring it down on my head. But a pair of shots ring out and I watch as Ryan’s body twitches and jerks. A moment later, a pair of scarlet spots blossom on his chest. He looks down at them in disbelief, the rock above his head falling harmlessly behind him and hitting the ground with a hollow thud.
Though my body protests and I bite back a scream of agony, I scramble to my feet to find Max stepping out from behind a tree, his gun raised as he walks toward me. Or rather, as he limps toward me. I see the bullet wound in his leg, the fabric of his already-dark jeans is wet with his blood, and there’s a ragged gash in the thigh.
Ryan slumps to the ground, then falls onto his back, his wide eyes open and staring up at the sky above him. I want to think in those last few minutes he had in this world, he was using them to reflect on himself and his life. On the decisions he’s made and sees the error of his ways.
More than likely, though, he’s simply ruminating on what an evil bitch I am and how I ruined his life. But what he refuses to acknowledge is his role in… well… anything. There was not a responsibility that Ryan could not dodge. Especially when it came to examining himself.
Max pulls me over to him, and after slipping his gun back into his belt, he produces a knife, quickly cutting through my bonds. I flex my hands and roll my wrists, trying to restore them to something close to fully functional. Though given the bumps and bruises that cover my body, I wonder when I’ll be anywhere close to fully functional as a whole again, too.
“Where’s Cole?” I ask, a sliver of panic in my voice.
“Derek’s got him,” he tells me. “He’s in good hands.”
I nod. Even though I don’t know Derek, the fact that Max is vouching for him makes me feel better. I fear for my son and for what’s happening to him. His nearly catatonic state in Ryan’s car terrifies me, and I’m desperate to get him to a hospital and checked out.
But then, I glance at the body on the ground beside the stream. Ryan is looking up to the heavens through wide, unseeing eyes, no doubt looking into the great beyond. I know I should feel a pang of pity for him. Maybe even a twinge of sadness given how long we were together. But when I look at the lifeless body on the ground before me, all I feel is… nothing. I feel not one trace of emotion for the man who fathered my son, the greatest gift I could have ever received.
“What should we do with him?” I ask.
Max waves him off. “We’ll call Singer. Let him know what happened and where to find the garbage if he feels like picking it up.”
My laugh is grim, but at least it’s a laugh. The sound of Max’s cellphone ringing is impossibly loud in the otherwise silent vacuum of the forest. He quickly digs it out and answers the call.
“Yeah,” he says.
I watch as he pales and an expression that’s part grief and part fury crosses his face. He’s troubled and is having difficulty processing whatever it was he just heard on the other end of the line.
“Yeah. On my way.”
He disconnects the call and puts the phone back into his pocket. He looks down at Ryan, then stares off into the distance for a moment, his face clouding over.
“What is it?” I finally ask.
He pulls himself back to the present and looks at me for a long moment. The emotions scrolling across his face are thick as is his voice when he speaks.
“That was Monk. We have to go. Prophet’s been shot.”
