Lorie O - Strong, Sleek and Sinful

“What?” She looked at him, confused.

“Drive!” he yelled. “Go get her now!”

He barely brought the truck to a stop and at the same time dragged Kylie across the seat toward him. She didn’t have time to question the madness of his actions before he jumped out of the truck and ran around the back side. The Jeep kept rolling forward and she quickly adjusted herself in the driver’s seat, which was set back way too far for her to sit comfortably.

There wasn’t time to adjust it. “What the hell are you doing?” she howled, shifting it back into drive and pressing her toes against the accelerator pedal while gripping the large steering wheel.

Perry raced faster than a man his size looked like he could run. And another time she might have admired the view, and easily gotten hot as hell doing so. Even in the dark she could tell how muscular he was, and in shape, as he sprinted toward the Suburban. When she noticed his gun in his hand and that he pointed it at the Suburban, she cursed out loud and gunned the engine similarly to how Perry had a minute ago. It took no time at all to catch up with Dani.

The teenager looked terrified and makeup streaked down her face when she looked at the Jeep and took a minute to register that Kylie was driving her uncle’s vehicle.

“Get in,” Kylie ordered, easily finding the right button to roll down the driver’s-side door window. “Dani, hurry. In, now!”

Dani didn’t argue and raced around the front, then climbed in. Kylie grabbed her before Dani could react and used one hand on the side of her head to force her down into the seat.

“Stay low and don’t move,” Kylie demanded, turning the large steering wheel and making the tires squeal just as a gun went off.

Perry aimed for the back tire. He pulled the trigger.

“Fucking son of a bitch,” he growled when the Suburban made a sharp turn and started coming toward Perry.

Mess with his goddamn family. He didn’t give a fucking rat’s ass about rules or regulations. He would take the asshole out right here and now.

“Sick bastard,” Perry yelled, aiming when the black SUV started at him. “Take me on. You’ll die slow and tortuously. I’ll fucking see to it.”

There was a rumbling behind him as well. Kylie had Dani and was heading toward him and the black Suburban. He didn’t budge, though. All he wanted was that fucking SUV to get close enough so he could dive to the side. He needed to see the driver, confirm for himself his suspicions. Then he would nail the fucking bastard to the wall.

Kylie stood on the damn horn behind him and the SUV swerved, squealing its tires and burning rubber when it took off around the side of the building. He noted the license plate numbers as being the same ones they’d taken down before. It was Peter!

“Scoot over,” Perry yelled, grabbing the driver’s-side door and yanking it open when Kylie slowed.

He was impressed that she had Dani lying on the seat, and didn’t bother waiting for either of them to adjust themselves next to him when he gunned the motor and took off after the Suburban.

“It’s the same truck,” Kylie told him.

“Yup. This time we’re going to find out where he’s going.”

“Watch out,” Kylie yelled, her hand going protectively in front of Dani when a car came at them from the front of the building.

“Son of a bitch.” He was going too fast and slammed on his brakes, barely missing the other car. “Fucking idiot,” he hissed.

Kylie and Dani didn’t say a word, which was in their best interest. Neither one of them dared cross him right now. He needed blood, needed to see the asshole suffer who had tried stealing Perry’s niece from her family.

“Where did he go?” Kylie asked. She’d taken his gun from his lap when he’d gotten in the car and had secured the safety on it, and now had it pressed in her lap.

Perry’s heart beat furiously in his chest when he blew out an exasperated breath, searching the dark lot and the exits. “He couldn’t be that far ahead of us.”

Kylie leaned against him, but when he glanced in her direction focusing on the exit at that end of the parking lot he noticed she shifted her body to put her arm around Dani. Kylie could cuddle his niece all she wanted. When they got home, the kid would be in more trouble than she’d ever known in her life. He shook from the terror of how close they came to losing her tonight. And he’d be damn sure she understood that before he left her with her mother.

“Over there!” Kylie almost yelled, her entire body stiffening when she pointed in front of them.

Dani yelped but didn’t make any further noise when Kylie quickly sunk into the seat and wrapped her arms around the teenager.

“Do you see?” she added, more quietly.

“Where?” He frantically searched the dark, way-too-still parking lot.

“At the edge of the strip mall. There is a car not moving, as if it’s hiding.”

“Not anymore,” Perry growled, cutting across the lot although this time he watched for inattentive drivers. He didn’t have lights in this truck that he could slap on the hood to keep civilians out of his way. They were on a silent run, which meant he needed to be as alert for their perp as he was for everyone else around them. “I’ve got you now, motherfucker.”

Perry drove the truck straight across the parking lot, ignoring the arrows indicating the flow of traffic and cutting across empty stalls until he reached the end of the building. His heart sunk when they pulled up alongside a parked black Ford van.

“I don’t understand how he can keep disappearing so easily when he’s in such a large vehicle.” Kylie voiced Perry’s frustration, her own voice tight with emotions he was sure matched his own. “Let’s take Dani home. I need to make some phone calls.”

“Can I stay at your house?” Dani asked, whispering.

Perry was pretty sure she wasn’t presenting that question to him and opened his mouth to give her a piece of what he had to dish out to her but didn’t get the chance to speak.

“You’re going home.” Kylie sounded stricter than he’d ever heard her sound before. Her soft, sultry tone was gone. “Your mother is worried sick.”

“None of this would have happened if-”

“Don’t even go there.” Now Kylie was pissed. She shifted more in the seat, completely facing Dani, with her ass brushing against Perry’s thigh. “None of this would have happened if you’d thought like an adult, which you obviously aren’t. And until you are, don’t you ever storm out on your mother again like that. Do you understand at all?”

“I can’t believe you’re yelling at me,” Dani said, breaking down into a serious sob session.

Perry knew his niece well enough to know when she started crying that hard there wasn’t any point in continuing the lecture. Dani wouldn’t hear a word of it. Obviously Kylie didn’t know this about her.

“I can’t believe you left every ounce of your intelligence at home when you ran away.”

Dani sniffed and then sucked in a hard, staggered breath. It was quiet for a moment and Perry chanced glancing over at the women after turning out of the parking lot. Let the two of them battle it out. He was getting some new insight into Kylie, one being that she had no problem speaking her mind when she was pissed. The other being that she obviously cared about his niece.

Kylie straightened, facing forward as Perry picked up speed, keeping his eye open for the black Suburban. He relaxed his arm on the back side of the bench seat, which he often did when he drove in the car, especially when he had more than one passenger. Dani looked at him for the first time; her black eyeliner streamed down her face, staining her cheeks clear to her cheekbones. He met her gaze, daring her without saying a word to even try to comment about his arm being around Kylie. Dani looked away first, pressing her hands together in her lap, and stared at them.