Chapter 28

Tori Townsend

"Real smooth, Tori," I grumble to myself in the parking lot of my shop. Tegan hasn't arrived yet, nor has she answered my text messages asking where she's at. She's probably driving. I know she doesn't like to text and drive, her parents having drilled that into her, and even though they're gone, the habit remains.

As I sit here, I berate myself. I cannot believe that I told Killian I loved him. I told myself I'd never let that happen again – never be vulnerable again – but he managed to make me fall for him without even trying. And the worst part? He didn't say anything back. If he did, I wasn't awake for it, which means it doesn't count, but I doubt he did. He's not going to confess any sort of feelings for me if he hasn't yet.

I raise my hand and press it to my forehead as the rain beats against my windows. Oh god, what if he doesn't even feel something for me aside from attraction? What if I'm just a wanted distraction? The thought hadn't occurred to me until now when I'm feeling all these feelings I told myself I'd never have again.

"You're a fucking idiot," I tell myself through gritted teeth. I release my forehead and shut off my borrowed car with more force than necessary. What the hell am I going to do now?

But he didn't disappear when you confessed, a little voice says in the back of my mind. He was still there when I woke up, and I was still wrapped in his arms. He was sleeping when I tiptoed out in shame to head to work, but the point is, he never left.

Why does he feel the need to protect me otherwise? It can't be because he feels guilty that this Lillian guy is after me. Can it? I have to believe it's more than that. I have to believe that he isn't just fucking me to pass the time until he can get his hands on him. It has to be more, but even if that's the case, will he ever confess how he feels for me before he up and disappears from my life?

I groan. I have it bad, and I know it.

Grabbing my phone from the cupholder, I check for messages from Tegan. There are no notifications, and it's well past opening hour, so, with a deep sigh, I decide to just open the damn shop myself. It breaks my promise to Killian, but at this point, I'm not even sure that Tegan is awake.

I pluck my purse from the passenger seat, drop the car keys and my phone inside, and exit the car. It's not like I need my phone anyway. Tegan will show when she shows. Hopefully, she brings coffee and breakfast to make up for being so late. Maybe then I'll forgive her for this walk I'm making alone.

My strides are small and distracted as I dig around inside the depths of my purse for the store keys, moving around my wallet. Frustrated for more than one reason, I shove aside all the other things that I never use but think I have to have with me at all times anyway.

A car pulls up into the parking lot, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I continue my search for the damn keys. "You better have breakfast," I murmur to Tegan even though she can't hear me inside the car.

I growl a little when my hand swipes against an open tube of chapstick. Honestly, why do I have all this stuff in here? Their combined weight only serves to give me shoulder pain.

The car door opens, but the car remains idling. When my fingers fumble against the store keys, I grasp them with excitement and take them out. I'm just about to hold them up in victory for Tegan to see, but a body presses against my back, and I'm shoved against the window of my store. My purse and keys drop and an arm clad in a slick, orange sleeve comes into view before a black sack is slid over my head.

I start screaming, my heart pounding, and when I'm picked up from behind, I begin to kick wildly. But it's no use because whoever has me is much stronger than I am.

"Kent!" I shout as he stomps his way back to the running car with me tight in his arms. "Let me go!" I kick wildly again and receive an ‘oof' when I connect with a shin. "Let me go!"

I hear no answer from him. None whatsoever, but I should have expected that. I should have expected him not to listen, not even to the restraining order that his grandson should have delivered by now, but even as we get nearer to the running car, a part of me hopes he just drops me and leaves me.

My next scream rings in my ears when I'm tossed into the car, landing roughly on nothing but a hard metal floor. It's then I realize that this isn't a normal car. This . . . this is a van. A van with no seats in the back.

Kent crawls in after me, and I start throwing my hands around, hoping to connect with his head and knock him out. He grabs hold of both wrists with one hand of his own, and in the next second, they're tied together with the zip of zip ties. Despite my best efforts to keep my legs from being tied next, it still happens. I'm out-matched, out-strengthed, and when the van's door shuts, I start to sob because I know nothing will stop him from taking me to the Lillian now.