Read Online Exit Strategy by Lena Diaz - Free Book Online

his every step. By the time he reached the cabin, she was a twisted bundle of raw nerves ready to beg him to put her down. But he didn’t take her inside. He ran past the front door to the far side, only stopping when he reached a small, black Jeep—­the kind with chunky steel roll bars and a canvas top. Except that the top was nowhere to be seen and the doors had been removed.
    With far more gentleness than she would have expected, he leaned over the side and settled her into the passenger seat. She slowly let out a pent-­up breath as he fastened her seat belt. Their eyes met and she almost blurted out, Thank you before she caught herself and averted her gaze. She’d be damned before she’d thank the man who’d kidnapped her. If he really had just saved her life, it was only because he’d put her in danger in the first place.
    He ran around the hood and tossed two large bags into the back, then grabbed the roll bar and hopped into the driver’s seat. The springs squeaked in protest as he started the engine.
    “Brace yourself,” he said.
    Without an armrest to cling to, she was forced to grab the edge of her seat. He floored the accelerator and they took off like a racehorse bolting from a starting gate.
    Sabrina grimaced and changed tactics as the Jeep bumped across the uneven ground. She pressed both hands against the dash and marveled that Mason managed to stay in his seat without falling out even though he wasn’t wearing a seat belt. She didn’t even see a seat belt on his side. It was as if he’d removed it from the vehicle.
    “Just a little farther,” he said, checking his rearview mirror.
    “A little farther until what?” she asked, dreading the answer.
    “Until we can stop. I want to make sure Ace isn’t following us first.”
    At his reminder about Ace, she looked in the side mirror. Even though the moon was full it was still fairly dark. Still, she didn’t see any headlights behind them. Hopefully that meant no one was following them.
    A few minutes later, Mason pulled the Jeep to a stop, seemingly in the middle of nowhere with trees closing in on all sides. He cut the engine and the headlights and hopped out of the car.
    Sabrina wasn’t sure if she was supposed to get out or not, but the decision was made for her when Mason unclipped her seat belt and then lifted her in his arms.
    She automatically started to put her arms around his neck to hold on but she stopped herself and clasped her hands together instead. Mason was a bad guy . She had to keep reminding herself of that. Even though he looked like heaven and smelled even better, if it weren’t for him she’d be lying comfortably in her bed at home instead of being carried.
    Or would she? He’d implied something else a few minutes ago, but his confusing explanations were all scrambled up in her pain-­clouded mind and she couldn’t make sense of any of it.
    He gently set her down on a fallen log then returned to the Jeep. Before she could even dredge up the desire to try to stand and run, he was back. He dropped a black bag at her feet and knelt in front of her. He pulled a shirt from the bag, along with some water, and a bottle of pills.
    She eyed the pills with suspicion and mentally weighed the odds of grabbing his gun from his holster before he could stop her. Based on how stiff and sore she was and how he’d just sprinted through the woods carrying her without even getting winded, she figured her odds were pretty much nonexistent. But she wasn’t going down without a fight.
    He lifted the bottle of pills.
    She held out her hands to stop him. “I’m not going to down some pills to make it easy on you. If you want me dead, you’ll have to shoot me—­for real this time.”
    He arched a brow. “You still think I’m trying to kill you? We’re back to that?”
    She tried arching one brow too but was pretty sure she’d failed when he coughed behind his hand as if to hide his laughter.
    “Yeah, we’re back to that,” she