Pursue (Portland Street Kings Book 3) Read Free

starting to hurt, and I’m due for my pain-relief meds.” Her face is no longer soft; it's blank with wide, expectant eyes, as if to order the driver to get back in his place and leave her be.  
    It takes me a second to move my body and process her quick personality change. I hop back into the front seat and start the car, all the while gritting my teeth. I clench the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white. Spying on Della with the rearview mirror, I see her head turned toward the outside world while biting her bottom lip as she stares down. Her forehead creases as if a million thoughts are running through that beautiful head of hers. The Della I know was there one moment and gone the next. She’s buried deep, bursting to get out, but too scared and hurt to try. I wish we could go back to the way we were before. I’d give anything for this nightmare to be over. Della thinks she’s pushing me away. However, she's only showing me I need to work harder. I will regain her trust and one day, her love as well.  

    ***  

    Della  
    Dom pulls into a gas station and stops at a pump. Desperate to keep our conversations to a minimum, I quickly jump out and round the car to the trunk. I tap on it twice so Dom knows I want it opened. It pops, and I find the plastic bag that holds all my belongings that the police and hospital staff returned to me. As I sift through my bloody clothes to find my black handbag, memories of Rex and the terror I felt on the train tracks returns full force, and a stabbing pain in my stomach begins. My heart speeds up, and I’m left breathless. Instinctively, I place my hand over my scar on my stomach, but I know that’s not what’s hurting me. It’s the grief trying to surface, but I refuse to let it. I ignore any feelings that try to break free, and I push them back down to where they belong: to the black pit where all my other horrors live.  
    Sensing Dom coming around, I grab my bag quickly, fling it over my shoulder, and close the trunk. I walk straight past him, but he doesn’t let me walk off. He grasps my elbow, and that’s all it takes for a blaze to build inside me. He doesn’t get it, the fury I have for him, the hate I’m holding back to get through this trip with him. He’s just another long line of people in my life who have let me down, and he will be the last person outside my family who I would ever trust or care for again. This world has made a fool of me for the last time. From now on, I’m not letting anyone near enough to hurt me. I’m going to be a nasty bitch, and I’m going to push as hard as I can, so they give up and write me off. No one will ever have the chance to worm their way into my life again and cause me pain.  
    I yank my arm out of Dom's grip and swing my gaze to his. I push every ounce of rage and betrayal swirling inside me to the surface, and hope he can see it all there in my cold, hard stare. I hope it conveys how much his touch repulses me. It’s a lie but a convincing one I know I can pull off. The anger fuels my hate, but I can’t conceal the truth from myself. Even though I crave him, I’ll never allow myself to have him again. Lessons: Phillip, Jae, and Rex, all of them lessons which only now can I see clearly where I’ve gone wrong… trust, admiration, and love, all of them weaknesses. I’ll never again trust anyone with my safety or my innocence, and definitely not my heart. That beating organ within my chest gave up a long time ago, all that powered it was my hope, and that died the day Brett did.  
    Dom’s face falls, but he recovers and says, “I’ll fill up and come in with you, just to be safe.”  
    My eyes roll skyward. "Geez, stop acting like the hero when you’re the villain and even then, you’re fucking bad at it. We left to get a head start, and I’m pretty sure they didn’t pass us on the highway simply to stop at a petrol station hoping we’d stop here too and then they’d catch us.” My sarcastic and