Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains novel Chapter 44

Victoria’s POV

Outside, the first man grew frustrated with the lock. He stepped back, scanning the ground until his eyes landed on a piece of broken concrete near the edge of the curb. He bent down to pick it up.

“Move back,” he told his buddy, raising the concrete chunk to shoulder height. “I’m jus going to smash the window.”

My hands were shaking violently as I fumbled around the floorboard, my fingers desperately searching for my phone.

I finally grabbed it, my thumb still trembling as I swiped across the screen. I tapped the first name in my recent calls.

Caleb.

The phone rang. Each second felt like an eternity.

‘Come on, Caleb, please answer. Please pick up.‘

It went straight to voicemail.

I choked back a sob, my thumb smashing the red button to redial. I tried again. And again.

Three more times the phone rang out into nothingness, leaving me completely stranded in the dark while the man outside lined up his shot with the concrete block.

Caleb wasn’t answering. He was probably asleep, or his phone was on silent, or he was just out of reach.

With seconds ticking away, my thumb moved on pure survival instinct. I swiped back to my contacts and hit the name I had been trying so hard to avoid all night.

Elijah.

It didn’t even complete a full ring. The line connected immediately, the call answering on the first breath.

“Lowe?” his voice came through, alert, deep, and instantly cutting through the static of my panic.

““Eli… Elijah…” I sobbed into the receiver, my voice breaking completely as I tucked

myself deeper into the footwell. “There are… there are bad men here. They’re trying to break in.”

The casual distance in his demeanor vanished in an instant.

On his end of the line, the sudden, rough whipping of the night wind cut through his microphone, followed by the heavy, fast scuff of his boots striking gravel.

d On Lowe

“Where the fuck are you right now, Victoria?”

“The… the campus library lot,” I cried, my eyes locked on the man outside as he took a step toward the driver’s side glass.

“The very back corner, by the trees. My car won’t start, Elijah. They’re going to break the glass.”

“What the fuck are you even doing out there so late-” Elijah started, his voice sharp with sudden anger, before he abruptly cut himself off.

I heard him draw in a deep, heavy breath, the line going tense as he realized it wasn’t the right time to ask questions.

“Listen to me very carefully, Lowe,” he ordered, his voice low and firm, keeping me from spiraling completely.

“I’m coming right now. It will take me less than seven minutes to get to there. Do you hear me?”

“Yes,” I choked out, a fresh wave of tears spilling over my eyes.

“Keep trying to start the car, just in case the system clears,” Elijah instructed, the background noise on his end translating into the loud, aggressive roar of his car engine turning over.

“If they break that glass before I get there, you fight back,” Elijah ordered, his voice sharpening.

“Grab whatever you can reach: your keys, a water bottle, your phone, anything. The second they get inside, I need you to aim at their eyes, their throat, their nose. Keep your back pressed against the opposite door so they can’t grab you from behind. Don’t worry about winning. Your job is just to make it hurt enough to buy me time. Do you hear me?”

I nodded frantically, my throat too tight to form words as I kept my eyes locked on the figures outside.

When the man with the concrete took a definitive step forward, the terror finally broke through my paralysis.

“Elijah, please hurry,” I begged, my voice dropping to a terrified whisper as the man outside raised the heavy piece of concrete, aiming it directly at the glass.

“I’ll be there, Lowe. Hold on.”

The line remained open, but the distance between us felt immense until a violent, explosive crash shattered the quiet of the lot.

The rear windshield shattered. A shower of glass rained into the back seat, scattering across the worn leather.

214

Hold On Lowe

A scream tore from my throat before I could stop it.

I scrambled deeper into the footwell, tucking my head down and pressing my forehead against my knees, trying to make myself invisible.

“Victoria! Victoria, what was that?” Elijah’s voice boomed through the phone, thick with absolute panic.

Before I could answer, a rough, calloused hand thrust through the gap where the window used to be.

The fabric of my jacket yanked violently as fingers clamped down on my shoulder, pulling me upward.

The smell of cheap alcohol and stale sweat flooded the cramped space.

“Gotcha,” a muffled voice rasped, entirely too close.

The man laughed, a wet, guttural sound that made my stomach turn.

“Look at her shake. Come on out, sweetheart. We’re going to have a good time with you tonight.”

Hot tears poured heavily down my face. I clawed at the console, trying to break his

grip.

“No! Get off me! Elijah!”

“I’m right here! I’m on the turn-”

Suddenly, the blinding glare of high beams cut through the side windows, illuminating the interior of my car in a stark, white glow.

The screech of tires tearing across the asphalt echoed through the lot, followed by the loud, heavy slam of a door.

“Get the fuck away from her!”

I almost didn’t recognize his voice. There was so much anger in it that it made my breath catch.

The grip on my shoulder vanished instantly as the man was violently yanked backward, crashing against the exterior paneling of my car.

Through the shattered rear window, I watched in a breathless daze as Elijah

descended upon them.

He caught the first man with a brutal, swinging blow to the jaw that dropped him straight to the pavement.

The other two went for him at once, but Elijah reacted instantly.

He sidestepped a clumsy swing from the second man, grabbing him by the collar of

his hoodie and driving his knee hard into his midsection.

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