I held my stomach and groaned as another cramp ripped through me. Hannah, seated to my right, turned toward me with wide eyes. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
I gritted my teeth and winced as the truck bounced through another snow drift and almost launched me into the roof. “Cramps. I don’t…don’t think they’re contractions.”
“But they might be,” Jen said. She leaned forward and tried to get Jed’s attention as he drove. “Hey asshole. If anything happens to that baby, there’s nowhere you can hide from Max. Just stop the truck and let us out. I’ll make sure they don’t look for you.”
“Don’t listen to them, Caroline,” Jed said over his shoulder. He ignored Jen but the guy next to him glared and gestured with the shotgun for her to stay back. Jed glanced at me. “I’m trying to save your life. You don’t know anything about these people—they’re dangerous and they’ve been lying to you. I know they look like a perfect, happy family, but they’re really crazy. It’s better for you to get out of here before things get worse. Just trust me.”
I whacked my head on the door as the broken shocks reacted to a massive pothole, and tried to hold on to the seat in front of me and my stomach. “Just let me out. I won’t go with anyone. I promise. I won’t even talk to Max. Just take me to the airport. I’ll forget all about this.”
“Not yet,” Jed said. He gunned the engine as the back tires slid and skidded, and for a moment I feared we’d end up in the ditch, turned over and maybe even burning. Dead.
The passenger gestured with the shotgun as Jen kept trying to beat him, and snapped, “You two settle the fuck down or I’m going to blast the baby. Get it?”
Jen and Hannah silenced immediately, and Hannah reached to squeeze my hand. It wasn’t as reassuring as she probably hoped, because another pain rippled through my belly and bent me over in agony. And I hadn’t felt the baby move in far too long.