He roared, and backhanded Hilly so hard, her body staggered across the room and collapsed in a heap in the far corner.
“Hilly!” Cisco howled, beyond furious, but his girl remained stunned for only a second before sitting up to give him a short nod. She was clearly hurting, which angered Cisco no end, but so far, Cottins hadn’t taken all the fight out of her. Anger practically radiated off Cisco’s tough lady, and he could see her bunching her feet underneath her to launch another attack.
An oblivious Cottins, bleeding from the grooves Hilly had dug into his face, and the bite Nel had inflicted, sneered down at Cisco, still gloating.
“You’ve given me a setback, I’ll admit. But it only means I’ll have to take care of both of you instead of just one. And now that I think of it,” his face took on an even more evil cast, “this new situation might work out to my advantage.”
“Give it up, Cottins,” Cisco growled. “Before Hilly got here, she called in SWAT. My entire team will be here, momentarily.”
He saw Cottins blanch, then out of the corner of his eye, he watched Hilly hurl herself forward, tackling Cottins around the knees.
The man went down like a load of slag, but he was tougher than he appeared, recovering fast, kicking Hilly and striking a devastating blow to her shoulder.
She cried out, bent, and clutched her arm. It was clear to Cisco that she was done.
Frustration ate at him as he struggled with his restraints. Hilly was taking the brunt of Cottins’ anger, and he wanted it directed at him.
“Fight someone your own size, Cottins,” he taunted irately. “You’re such a big man you can only take on someone half your weight? What a tough asshole you must be,” Cisco mocked desperately.
While he ranted, one knot came undone. Hilly had loosened it up, but it still wasn’t enough. There were more to go.
Cisco thundered at Cottins as the man managed to regain his feet. “Touch her again, and you’re a dead man.”
Cottins ignored him, sneering at Hilly, instead.
“Fucking cunt. I’ve had enough of you,” their aggressor snapped. “You’re coming with me.” He grabbed her by the back of her shirt, and roughly dragged her from the shack.
“Nooo!” Cisco worked frantically at his restraints. What was Cottins going to do to her? Cisco needed to free himself before whatever plans the man was making, came to fruition.
From outside he heard Cottins give a stark order…
“Touch it, bitch.”
“I won’t,” Hilly’s voice, although weak, still held defiance.
“You will.” Another smack to flesh rang out.
Cisco couldn’t fathom what he was hearing. His blood boiled. What new damage had the asshole done to Hilly, and what was she supposed to touch? If Cottins so much as dared assault her in another way, he’d kill the prick, twice.
Cisco wrestled even harder with the ropes.
He was almost there.
Another minute…
“Cottins has a gas can, Cisco,” Hilly’s called out, her tone feeble yet determined. “He put my fingerprints on it. He’s going to set the shack on fire!”
“Shut up, bitch,” Cottins yelled, and Hilly grunted. Cisco could only imagine that the dead-man-walking had pummeled her again.
Cisco howled, smelling gasoline as he fought with the last of his wrist bindings. His feet remained tied, but that would only take him seconds…
A whoosh sounded from just outside, and a burst of fire immediately leapt high, visible though the open door.
Fuck. It was spreading, fast.
Cisco needed to get out. He needed to get to Hilly.
“Ciscooo!”
His woman’s voice echoed in the night, fading off into the distance as the last of his ropes fell away.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Hilly dragged her feet as much as possible. She knew the SWAT team was on its way, and they’d eventually find her. But would they make it to Cisco in time to get him out of the burning building? She glanced back, seeing the fire-brightened sky, clouded with plumes of smoke.
A painful sob escaped from between her lips as Cottins kept up a relentless pace.
Hilly was hurting all over because of the repeated times Cottins had slammed into her, but her greater agony was not knowing Cisco’s fate. Had she loosened his bonds enough for him to wiggle out of the rest on his own? Had he been able to get out of the shack before it was engulfed?
Not knowing Cisco’s fate, Hilly’s anger over Cottins’ cruelness had her fighting even harder in his grasp. She wasn’t going to make it easy for the other man. Even though he had a hundred pounds and seven inches on her, whatever he had planned, she wouldn’t go down without a fight.
She turned and bit his shoulder.
“Fucking bitch,” he snarled, and punched her again, this time in the ribcage with the flashlight he held. She doubled over and would have fallen, but the evil man maintained his bruising grip, intent on dragging her relentlessly to some unknown destination.
Hilly fought against the black dots that floated before her eyes, and won the battle to stay conscious. “You are a dead man, Cottins,” Hilly heaved, trying to catch her breath after the near-debilitating blow. Somehow, she also managed to keep her feet underneath her as they sped along an old, rough path Cottins had found. “Mason and his SWAT team are going to get you. You’re an idiot, and you’re done.”
Cottins shook her again as he continued to drag her bodily along. “Shut up, cunt. They’re not going to find me,” he snarled. “They’re going to find that asshole cop’s charred body, then they’ll find you, mangled at the bottom of a ravine. And when they do, I’ll be long gone.”
