Page 69 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Bodyguard

I gave them a cold stare, but that did nothing to deter their huge smiles.

I shook my head and gave Reynolds a not-so-gentle push to get him to keep going so we could rescue my girlfriend. There’d be plenty of time to laugh when she wasn’t being held hostage by a murderous giant biker.

All of us picked up the pace when Skeeter said he and Jess wouldn’t be here long enough to use any gold if they found some.

And then I pushed Reynolds into a dead sprint when we heard yelling, a crash, more yelling, a much louder thudding sound… and then nothing.

My heart started pounding. Had he killed her? Had I just heard someone murder the woman I loved?

I picked up the pace, almost mowing Reynolds down in the process. I pushed him to the side as gently as possible and all out sprinted. There were only a couple of directions the path could lead, and I figured Reynolds would find a way to let me know if I went the wrong way.

Nadine had the presence of mind to turn her phone flashlight on and hold it up high so that it lit the path ahead of us.

And then I slowed down. I could see light from what had to be the cave area Skeeter had described. I turned and motioned for Nadine to turn off the light and for them to be as quiet as possible. I pulled my Glock out and approached slowly, listening for any all sounds.

“No, no, no!” a distant voice came. It echoed slightly off the walls. “Not like this. This isn’t what I wanted. Come on, Jess, wake up, baby.” I turned to Reynolds and motioned for him to end the call. I didn’t want Skeeter to hear anything as we got closer.

At least it sounded like he didn’t want her to die.

And then he said something that made my blood run cold.

“We’re going to die together. And I want you awake to know it. I need you to see how much you fucking hurt me when you left me. It’ll be epic—like fuckingRomeo and Julietexcept you don’t love me.” There was a pause. “Wakeup, Jess! Dammit!”

He was getting frustrated. I had to get in there before he did something awful.

“Skeeter?”

Jess’ voice. I breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t dead.

“Yeah, it’s me. Come on. Stand up. Let me get you some water.”

“I don’t feel so good.”

“No shit. Your head hit the wall pretty fucking hard. You shouldn’t have pissed me off.”

She sucked in a breath, and I could tell she was remembering everything that had happened so far. “Oh God. Where’s…”

She stopped herself, but I closed my eyes. She was going to ask where I was. And if I knew it, he did, too.

“Where’s who? Your pirate? That guy? He’s probably with some other woman. Guy that looks like that can get anyone.” I heard him starting to pace the floor. “Is that why you left me? He was better-looking, so you ditched me?”

“Skeeter! What is wrong with you? I left you because you treated me like crap. I was constantly afraid that if I pissed you off, you’d sell me to human traffickers!”

He sighed loudly. “I told you I wouldn’t.”

“It’s not easy to believe that when I saw girls sold off almost every single week.”

He was quiet. “None of this matters,” he said quietly.

“Why?” her voice was nervous.

I scooted forward and peeked around the wall. I could see them. Jess had blood on the side of her head, and pure rage flowed through me. I wanted to kill Skeeter. I wanted to make him suffer like he’d made her suffer all those years.

“Because we’re going to do one of those murder-suicides. It’ll be romantic. Someday, people will find our skeletons holding hands and laying here. They’ll think we had the greatest love story of all time.”

“I think the gun they find next to your dead body might give things away, don’t you?”

“Shut up, Jess.” His voice was cold. “Don’t make this ugly.” He walked towards her. “I’ll take one more kiss, then I’ll shoot you and then myself.” He put his hands on either side of her face, making her wince with pain. He didn’t seem to care that she’d just gotten over being thrown at a wall.