Title:
Gaining Ground (Full Throttle
#2)
Author:
Jenny A.
Hayut
Release Date: Jan
20, 2015
Find on Goodreads
As the story of Holt
and Niki continues, the two are once again torn apart. Secrets shall be
revealed as to what lies beneath the words Holt has never spoken, taking Niki
on a journey she never thought she’d be traveling. One where she will
soon discover the inner strength she possesses and will be forced to use. But
will it end with Holt by her
side?
Truths will be
revealed.
Hearts will be
shattered.
Lives will
change.
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I open my eyes, but
to darkness. I struggle to raise a hand to my neck, but it’s jolted
back with a loud clack.
That
clack.
That
drip.
I
remember.
I sob, slouched up
against the frigid tile wall that smells of mildew.
How long has it
been now? One day? Two, maybe? God, a week? I can’t remember. My mind
is numb. The thought of never escaping overpowers me. Handcuffed to a sink,
unable to move really, I kick my feet around to try to get the circulation
going in my heavy legs. The floor is like ice, with shards of broken tile
digging into my skin.
I remember.
They’d left Jason bleeding or…or dead on the floor of the
clinic. They’d kidnapped me. Vinnie Calhoun and his goon. The image
of Vinnie’s tattooed arm flashes across my mind. The same tattoo worn
by the man who’d nearly raped me after Holt left me with no
explanation.
I
shiver. Each passing hour increases the chance that he’ll remember
me. That he’ll see the scar his blade left across my lower back as I
escaped. A reminder of my stupidity, my misery, my weakness. One I’ll
carry with me forever.
He can’t
have forgotten how I kicked him in the balls—so viciously that I
likely left him incapable of fathering children. Or so I’ve always
liked to imagine. After what he did to me, he doesn’t deserve
kids.
I jump as the door
handle rattles. I stiffen, and the nausea returns as I curl up, utterly
defenseless. The door swings open quickly, and the light flips on, searing my
eyes. I squeeze them shut.
“Wake up,
sweetheart. Somebody wants to talk to you.” Vinnie’s
voice.
I try to lift my
head, but it’s too heavy. And the pain…the pain owns
me.
“Wake
up, girl. Got your boyfriend on the phone. Ain’t gonna come running
till he knows you’re really here. So wake your ass up. And
don’t even think about telling him shit. You say hello. Tell him how
scared you are. Beg him to rescue you. Whatever it takes for him to understand
you’re mine until he gives me what I
want.”
Did
he say Holt?
Holt is on the
phone?
Dig. Dig
deep.
I have to get on
that phone. It’s my only
chance.
Painfully, I raise
my head in the direction of his voice. I squint until I see Vinnie silhouetted
in front of me, bending down with his hand held
out.
Before I can reach
for his phone, Vinnie yanks at my free arm and shoves it into my hand. My
breath is short as I try to form the words I know I need to
say.
Think
fast, Niki.
“Hello?”
The guttural sound
of Holt’s voice fills my
ears.
“Baby,
I’m coming. Gonna look under every fucking rock until I find you.
That piece of shit is dead. Has he hurt you? If that fucker has laid one hand
on you... Fuck. Are you okay? Baby, talk to me. I need to hear your voice.
It’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay. I
promise you. Nicolette? Baby, talk to
me.”
I try my best to
take in the questions coming at me so quickly. My head is spinning. I have to
tilt it to rest on my shoulder but manage to keep the phone to my ear.
Vinnie’s scuffed brown oxfords in front of me give me the determination
I need.
Do it, Niki.
Now.
From the pit of my
stomach, I find the voice to say, “Campbell’s.”
As much effort as it took for me to get it out, it ends up barely a whisper. I
pray he heard me as it’s all I get the chance to say. Vinnie snatches
the phone from me and backhands me across the cheek with it. I wince as my head
jerks in the other direction.
His
blow has me near unconsciousness again, and his lumbering footsteps grow
distant as the darkness returns and the door slams
shut.
His voice is
muffled by the door, and I struggle to make out what he’s
saying.
“You
see? I got your girl, tied up and waiting for you. Gotta say she was worth the
wait. Best get her quick. She might decide she likes this dick better than
yours.”
I shiver at the
thought of Vinnie forcing himself on
me.
Please,
Holt. Please hurry.
I hope like hell he
understood what I meant. If he even heard me. If he meant what he said about
coming for me… And that’s another problem. Can I still
trust him?
What
Vinnie said about Holt has been festering in my mind. That he was using me.
That I was his pawn to get to Doc C. That the two of them were competing to get
Doc C first.
The man
I’ve known and loved since I was a child. The man who inspired me to
become a vet. The man whose position I’d filled at the hospital when
he made the sudden decision to retire and leave town. The man no one had been
able to find until Holt woke me in the middle of the night to tell me he was
safe and out of Vinnie’s
reach.
I haven’t
forgotten any of that. Nor have I forgotten that Vinnie said it was all just a
game. Like it’s always been between him and Holt. A sick, twisted
game, manipulating people. Playing on their
emotions.
Vinnie
couldn’t have known just how potent his words were. How they shattered
me. Killed me inside. The knife in my heart. Twisting. Over and over
again.
I don’t
know what to believe. Who to trust.
But none of that is
important right now. I can’t think about it. Can’t let it
control me. I gotta think about me. And Doc C. I gotta think about getting the
hell away from Vinnie before he figures out who I am. Can’t let him
get Doc C either. Can’t let that
happen.
So Holt is my only
hope. My only chance of escaping. He’s the only one who knows where I
am. And I have to believe that he’ll find me. I just hope like hell
he doesn’t give Vinnie what he wants: Doc
C.
* *
*
Minutes feel like
hours. Hours feel like days. I wake again to the faucet dripping. The smell of
mildew hangs in the air, and I’m certain it’s coming from
the crumpled up, sagging shower curtain dangling from the bathtub. This
bathroom, and the room on the other side of it, is somewhere to get high.
Somewhere to fuck. Clearly not a good choice to lay your head to rest after a
long drive. Not a place to take your family on their way to Disneyworld.
My body is growing
numb. All I can feel now is the iciness of the floor again my skin. The damp in
the air. The sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. I know why
I’m so cold. I can’t escape it. I’ve lost too
much blood.
Holt
needs to hurry.
I was born and
raised in Virginia, in a military town. I know you're thinking
it....yes...lots of hot men...in uniform...sweet...I know.
I am married and
have two beautiful children. They along with our extremely spoiled beagle mix
Georgia that we rescued from a local shelter, keep me busy. It's really
like four kids and me. Ya'll know what I'm
saying.
When I'm
not working, or writing, or eating or sleeping (wait what's that) I
love to be outdoors. I'm on the coast so I love the beach. The Outer
Banks is the shiz. Hiking and getting my hands dirty in my flower beds is
another favorite.
Any given time you
might find me reading a book, watching a race, signing up for a ghost tour,
watching a vampire or a motorcycle gang on TV (yeah that one) or making plans
to travel further south (it's where my heart is). Oh and if you have
heard...it's true I don't share my baklava...that stuff is
sacred.
http://www.rafflecopter.
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