22. Jessica

22

JESSICA

R yan threw me ahead of him. I stumbled but managed to keep walking. What the hell was I thinking? What was I doing? If I had been stupid for falling for him and doing his dirty work before, what was I now? I had put myself in danger because I didn't want him to hurt Dylan. Because I wanted them to stop fighting.

I put myself into Ryan's control because I wanted him to leave me alone, and for some reason, this was all I could think of. Dumb, dumb, dumb. More than dumb. I had to be the biggest idiot on the planet.

Ryan grabbed my wrist again and dragged me over to his car. It unlocked with a quick beep-beep. He yanked the door open and tossed me inside before slamming it on me. The door locked before I could even think about opening it and running away.

Ryan slid into the driver's side and looked at me. His expression was dark and frightening one second, and then the next, he burst out laughing. I had no idea what was so funny.

"Oh, man, did you see the look on his face? That was epic!" He continued to laugh loudly as he turned the car on and began driving.

"What's so funny?" I demanded.

"Seriously, you didn't see that look of shocked terror on Dylan's face? Dealing with his ass over this project has been a major pain. That expression made up for all the bullshit he's put me through."

As Ryan talked, he looked over at me more than he did the road.

I pointed out the windshield, trying to get him to watch where he was going. I gasped and grabbed for the handle over the window and braced against the dashboard.

"Stop being so dramatic, Jessica."

I was speechless. He was telling me to stop being dramatic, yet the wheels on the passenger side of the car went off the pavement at every curve. There seemed to be a very good reason to be worried. I fumbled to get my seatbelt on.

When he didn't stop but swerved out onto the main road, I decided to close my eyes and try to relax my muscles. Panicking over his driving wasn't helping my overall sense of wellbeing, or specifically, the lack of it. I was scared because I had been an idiot and agreed to leave with him. I was terrified because he was driving recklessly.

I don't know how long I sat there in petrified silence. Maybe not as long as I would have thought. I opened my eyes and looked out the window. Nothing was recognizable, and in reality, most sections of the valley looked exactly like other parts.

But the way Ryan swerved back and forth made me wonder if he kept turning onto side streets just to confuse me. As we approached the village, I expected him to turn and take the mountain road over to the highway. Only he didn't. He kept going.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked.

He just shrugged.

"Come on, Ryan, you've got me here, and we both know this wasn't some kind of jealous rage. What is all of this about?"

"You really are dumb," he said.

I glared at him. Unfortunately, he glared back, meaning his eyes were on me and not the road.

I looked out the front window and braced against the ceiling. "Oh, my God, Ryan, slow down!"

He blasted through a stop sign and into the valley village. Traffic slowed dramatically as the surroundings changed from nothing along the roadside to businesses and parked cars.

He didn't stop. He swerved around slower cars and honked back when disgruntled drivers honked at him.

Where was the highway patrol or a cop when you needed one? Someone needed to pull this man over, and maybe rescue me from my misplaced bravado idiocy that landed me here. I was certain he was going to hit someone, either a car or a pedestrian. It was not going to be good.

I don't think I breathed again until we were well and good past the shops. The road got a lot curvier. Ryan drove like he was some kind of racecar driver. I felt like I was going to be sick.

Swallowing down bile, I closed my eyes and held on.

Ryan laughed. "When did you get to be such a fucking wimp? You used to be a real thrill seeker."

I groaned, trying not to throw up.

"I don't know. A lot of things have changed about me. But you're still the same old Ryan."

He seemed to take it as a complement. "Yeah, I am."

"Are you going to let me go?" I asked. If I focused on his face and not the side of the hill that rushed past us at breakneck speed, I didn't feel so ill.

"Eventually. I want to make that asshole sweat."

"But…" Ryan had acted like he was old friends with Dylan and that he knew the man, knew he would be upset when he found out about my past. But none of that was true. Dylan didn't care that I had messed up in my past. He was only concerned about my present.

Oh, no, that was it… Ryan acted. Ryan was always working some angle. He never approached any business deal, any relationship of any kind—especially not ours—with forthright honesty. He was always acting.

"But what?" he asked.

"Nothing." I shook my head.

My phone rang. I pulled it out and hoped he would let me answer it.

"Eh, eh, eh, no phone for you." He plucked it out of my hand and tucked it into his shirt pocket. "No texting the boyfriend telling him where you are."

The phone rang again. "What is with this guy?" Ryan jerked the phone out of his pocket and answered it. "If you try to call her again, I swear I'll throw this thing out the window." He ended the call and smirked at me.

"That should keep him on his toes for a while. Your little boyfriend, he's kind of old for you, wouldn't you say?"

"You were kind of old for me. You're about the same age. You tell me," I countered. I hated being stuck in this car with him. He drove like a maniac. And if this was all to teach Dylan some kind of lesson, well, I was done.

"I was your mentor. We had something special, a bond," he said.

More like bondage. Our sex life had been pretty intense, but at the time, I had been too stupid to see what our relationship really was. One giant power and ego trip for Ryan.

I didn't respond.

"Wouldn't you agree?" Ryan shouted, and he swerved the car as he glared at me.

I did not agree, but right then, Ryan was right about everything. I couldn't risk him getting mad and losing his temper any worse than he already had.

"Yeah, I agree. What we had was a bond."

"You can't possibly have that with Dylan." He said Dylan's name like it was something slimy.

"No, I don't." Whatever there had been between Ryan and me, it was not what Dylan and I had.

The connection between Dylan and me was like nothing I had ever experienced. And I knew he was worried about me. "Are you planning on taking me back?"

Ryan shook his head. "No. I think I'll make him come get you. He hasn't earned you back yet."

"Earned back? You still haven't told me what this is all about. Okay, you want to make Dylan sweat. But why?"

"Business, something you wouldn't understand."

I scoffed. I understood Ryan's idea of business just fine. After all, I had manipulated and cheated others to help him with his particular way of conducting business. For Ryan, that meant he was trying to leverage something to get a bigger piece of the financial action.

I looked out the window. We were in the middle of nowhere. How would Dylan know where I was? How would he find me? Even if Ryan gave me back the phone, I doubt I'd get a signal.

The adrenaline rush that had gotten me this far in this mess was beginning to wear off. I was shaky and suddenly cold. I didn't feel well.

I reached out to adjust the air conditioning on the dash. Ryan smacked my hand like I was some kind of wayward child sneaking into a candy jar.

"Hands off."

"I'm cold," I said.

He gave me one of those raking glances, taking in what I was, or in this case wasn't, wearing. All I had on was a tankini style bathing suit, the kind with boy shorts, a cotton lace crochet coverup, and some cheap plastic knock-off Crocs.

"Maybe you should have thought about that and put more clothes on." He chuckled. It was like he thought this whole thing was one big joke.

I crossed my arms and leaned my head against the window. Eventually, the winding of the road, the monotony of the scenery, and with the constant threat of being car sick, I just kept my eyes closed. At some point, I fell asleep.

I woke up with Ryan shaking me. "For someone who spent enough time bitching about wanting to be let go, you aren't being very convincing of wanting to leave." My door was open and he was pulling on me.

"What?" It was dark out, and the car wasn't moving.

"Get out. I'm done with you." He took my phone out of his pocket and tossed it off the side of the road.

As I scrambled after my phone, he drove off.

"Asshole!" I yelled. Not that he heard me.

"Please work, please work, please work," I repeated as I picked up my phone and looked at the screen. I had one bar. One.

It said I had messages, but all it gave me were those three little dots like a message was incoming.

I hit Dial on Dylan's number. It wouldn't go through. No ringing, nothing. But the phone said I had one bar. My stomach twisted and I felt the burn of tears in the back of my throat before my eyes started to sting.

"Damn it."

Brushing the tears from my eyes, I tried to look around. Everything was flat. We were out of the valley. The air had that vegetable smell. It smelled of farmland. Had that man driven all the way to the end of the valley and back around? What had I missed while I was asleep?

What the hell was I supposed to do? I kept spinning, trying to figure out which way I should go.