“You little bitch. I will be what you want. All I need to do is take care of the one person standing between us.”
My heart drops as he takes out his phone and pushes a few buttons. Knowing he is texting the person outside to take care of Hunter when he gets here. I can’t picture a life without Hunter. I need to do whatever I can to keep him alive. If he is alive, he will save me.
I race over to him and place my hands on his to stop him. His head snaps up just as he presses send. “Too late Pay, he will be dead as soon as he pulls in.” He grabs my arm fast before I can pull away from him and drags me to the kitchen table, forcing me to sit in a chair.
He walks over to the counter and grabs something off of it. The way his body was angled making it so I can’t see what it is. I have a feeling I am not going to like it.
“This might take a while for you to warm back up to me. I won’t fall for your all of a sudden change of heart Payton. This is the only way I see this working.”
I eye the kitchen door, determining if I should just make a run for it. If I can make it out of here and warn Hunter, then he won’t be in danger. I go to get up as he is talking. Not taking in that he is closer to me than before. I was more worried about the door and didn’t see him walk over to me. I don’t make it far before he pushes me back down into the chair, slapping a pair of handcuffs on my left wrist.
“Keegan what are you doing?” I scream, standing up quickly again and throwing him off balance. I take advantage of it and bolt for the door.
I make it to where I placed the stocker before. I reach for it and grab it. I can hear Keegan behind me so without thinking I turn around and swing the stocker at him, hitting him in the ribs. It felt like I was hitting a brick wall. I could feel the hit in my arms, stunning me for a second. The hit did nothing to Keegan, all he did was flinch.
With my adrenaline pumping, I go to swing again but Keegan grabs hold of the stocker, ripping it out of my hands. “You want it rough?” He screams. The same sadistic look he gets, right before he flips, appears on his face. He swings and nails me in the upper thigh with the handle end of the stocker, causing me to fall to the ground, holding my leg in pain. I bite back the scream that wants to escape. I can’t help the tears that run down my face. The pain radiates down my leg, causing me to whimper. I don't know how he is not on the ground after I hit him with it. It feels like my leg is being torn off.
He takes advantage of the pain he inflicted and grabs the cuff. Dragging me by it, heading over to the oven. He takes the free part of the cuff and clips it to the oven handle. Effectively securing me in place making sure I cannot get away.
He squats down and grabs my face, pinching it hard between his fingers. “Do something like that again and I will cut off one of your hands. Now let’s wait for lover boy to get here.” He pushes my head away and stands back up.
All I can do is sit there and wait for death. It will either be my death or Hunter’s death. I’d rather die than let Keegan get away with this. I will fight him until the end. I just don't know how I can stop him; now that I am stuck to the fucking oven.
An hour goes by as I watch him pace the kitchen back and forth. I don't say anything to him, trying to concentrate on my leg. The pain is still there, but it’s dulling to the point I can move it without flinching from the charlie horse the stoker caused.
I pull my legs up to my chest, resting my head on my knees. My arm that is cuffed to the oven is starting to tingle and fall asleep. My movement causes Keegan to stop and just stare at me. I look away from him and stare at the tile on the floor.
“This isn't comfortable Keegan,” I mumble, still looking at the floor. Not wanting to make eye contact with him.
“Are you talking to me or the fucking floor Payton?” He walks over and nudges me with his foot, causing me to look up at him. “How many times do I have to tell you that I hate when you mumble.” He reaches back and backhands me across the face. My head swings to the left. Without thinking I automatically reach up and touch the cheek that was hit.
“Now tell me what you said without the fucking mumble.”
I look at him again, “I said, this is not comfortable. My arm is falling asleep and my butt hurts from sitting on the tile. Please can you uncuff me? I won’t try to run.”
“No, I am not stupid.” He walks over to the kitchen chair and sits down, looking at the clock. I watch him for a few minutes. I watch him bend forward and reach down grabbing a knife that was in his boot. He sits back up, putting the tip of the knife to the table spinning and drawing patterns over the top of the table.
Another few minutes go by of this behavior and I can tell something changed in him. He looks over at me with a blank look. I look at him, wide-eyed, feeling my pulse pick up again when he gets off his chair and walks over to me with the knife still in hand.
“We are going to play a game. You answer my question wrong I cut you.” He snaps.
I gasp, trying to scoot away from him more, but failing as I hit the oven. My back pressed up flush against it. “Keegan please stop. I don't want to play games.”
“Wrong thing to say Payton.” He gets down to his knees and grabs my foot, pulling it out from under me, causing my whole body to go with it. He pulls me hard, causing the oven door to fall open, jarring my wrist.
You could hear the sickening sound coming from my wrist. Pain shoots down my arm as I scream. I am now laying on my back with the oven open above me. I am not able to move my arm or hand. “I think you broke it,” I sob out and scream as he pulls me again so my arm is stuck up above my head. If I move just a little, I know I will be in extreme pain.
He reaches over and brushes his hand down my wet cheeks. His mood changes again, back to the Keegan I was happy with. He strokes the tears away. “It’s okay Payton. I will take care of you.”
I turn my face away from his touch, not able to keep up with his mood swings. The little movement I made makes my arm throb. I let out another whimper, hating that I am letting him see my emotions.
“You will look at me.” He pulls my face so I am looking back at him. Lowering his face down towards mine giving me a sweet smile as he leans down and kisses me, not giving me the chance to pull away. He moves his hand up to the arm that is hurt and cuffed, holding it in a threatening way. Giving in, I kiss him back. I just need the pain to stop. I need him to stop.
He kisses me a little longer, running his hand up my body. “I have missed you Payton.” He grabs onto one of my breasts, kneading it hard.
“Keegan please don't do this.” I whimper out. My heart rate is all over the place. The fear is so great it’s causing me to shake.
He kisses down my neck. “We won’t do anything now Payton. I just want to taste you.” He says as he licks my neck. I can feel my body tense as his tongue touches me. “Later tonight in celebration we will. We will celebrate Hunter’s death. We will also celebrate us. I no longer have to worry about Hunter stealing you again.” I close my eyes in sadness and sickness. Bile in my stomach threatens to rise up in my throat just thinking about it. I can’t do anything to stop this. Who the hell is outside helping this sick fuck? I want to ask him, but I don’t.
Keegan's phone goes off, causing him to release his hold on me. He gets up and walks to the table, picking it up not saying anything as he reads whatever was sent. He looks over at me and smiles.
“The game just started Payton.” He places the phone back on the table. As soon as the phone hits the table I hear a car door slam shut and Hunter calls out my name. Before he can finish yelling my name, I hear the deafening sound of a gun go off. My heart stops and I know my world just ended.
Chapter 15
Hunter
Getting to the cabin took longer than I wanted. Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. Not even thirty minutes after I left my house I ran over a nail, causing my right tire to go flat. I had to pull over to fix it, which took longer than I wanted. After that, I was making great time. Up until I got stuck behind a car accident. Not able to go
around the accident, I put my car into park and got out, helping out where I was needed until help arrived. That ended up delaying me another hour. Not that I could help it, time was against me getting to Payton. I should have taken it as an omen that something bad was going to happen. I called Don on my way and told him what was going on, telling him everything that happened with Kelly and what I think Keegan and Kelly are up to.
Don told me that he will look into it and see if they can find Kelly and question her about last night and about Keegan. I know Don will do what he can to have my back. I trust him with this. Now my focus is getting to Payton before it’s too late.
Once I get past the accident, I drive as fast as I can to get to the cabin. I know where it is because I used to come up here with Matt all the time growing up. It was a place we went to, to escape and to forget about the bad shit that was going on in our lives. Payton would always come up here and read. She would sit out by the big oak tree in the front yard and read. Becoming so absorbed in her books that she would not know what was going on in front of her.
The last time I went up to the cabin with their family Payton was outside reading under the tree. Matt thought it would be funny to mess around with her. So we went outside and filled a bucket with dirt and put water in it making it a soupy mess. I didn’t think he would really do it, but he did. He ran up behind her and dumped the muddy mixture all over her, covering her and her book.
She was so pissed at us that she didn’t talk to us for days. Matt not only ruined her clothes but he ruined the one book she loved dearly. That book was one her mom loved and used to read to Payton all the time. I felt so bad that I looked everywhere to find the first edition of The Hobbit. Even though the one that was ruined was not the first edition, I wanted her to have the best. I paid a lot for that book, all of my savings went into it. I even scored big to find it signed.
I wrapped the book up in her favorite color wrapping paper and put Matt’s name on it. I snuck into her room one day, when she was at the library and put it on her bed for her to find. I worked hard so she didn’t know I got it for her. The goal was for her to forgive Matt. I was kicking myself in the ass when she saw the gift laying on her bed. Her eyes became wide as she opened it up. She screamed so loud, I swear the whole neighborhood heard her and then ran, tackling Matt to the ground and gave him the biggest hug ever. Just knowing I was the one to put the happiness back on her face brought on such strong feelings. I quickly shook those feeling off and was happy that Matt got the credit for it. Later that night Matt pulled me aside, yelled at me for giving him the credit and for not telling Payton the truth. I explained why I did it, then told him to drop it. To this day, she still thinks it was Matt who gave her the book.
Thinking about that makes me panic. The thought of Keegan with her makes me sick to my stomach. I need to get to her before she is taken from me. If I were religious, I would pray for her to be safe right now, asking God to be on my side for once. I would give God anything he wanted to keep her safe until I got there. But the way things are looking I don't think that is what will happen.
I arrive at the cabin about eleven at night. I notice Payton's car is the only car in the driveway. That makes me feel better and gain a little hope. I sit in the car for a few minutes, going over what I want to say to her once I get to the door. I want to pour my heart out and tell her I love her and just hold her close to me. Getting a weird feeling I grab my gun and put it in my jacket pocket, swinging the car door open. I get out of the car and slam the door shut and yell Payton's name.
As soon as I call out to her I see a figure move by the house. Before I can say or do anything, I see the flash and a loud bang. I feel a bullet tear into my shoulder, causing me to drop to the ground. The pain is so intense I have to grind my teeth together to stop from screaming out in pain.
I lay there trying to put pressure on the bullet hole. When the figure walks over to me slowly and quietly, I can hear screaming come from in the house. I watch the figure come closer making out that the person is female. The darkness of the night is making it hard to see who it is until they get within a few feet of me.
It finally clicks who the person is as Kelly comes into view, smiling down at me. “Hey, lover boy, sorry I had to do that.”
I look at her and try to sit up. It takes all my effort and before I can push all the way up she kicks her foot out, hitting me right in the gunshot wound. “Fucking bitch,” I yell out at her as I hit the ground. The pain slices through me causing me to gasp in pain. I know I have to ignore the pain to get to Payton, knowing that if Kelly is here Keegan is here as well. I kick my legs out, swiping them to the side, hitting Kelly’s legs, effectively causing her to fall to the ground dropping the gun as she does.
She hits the ground with a thud on her back. I don't waste any time as I grab the gun from my coat pocket and point it at Kelly. She freezes on the ground, looking at me like a deer in headlights, with her hands held up. I struggle to get to a standing position. As I get up, I point the gun back at her, having to use my left hand. I pull my right arm into my chest, flinching as I do.
“Where are they Kelly?” I say, clinching my teeth in pain.
Panic flashes in her eyes as she takes in the gun and the tone of my voice.” Please, you don't need the gun Hunter. This was all Keegan's idea. After he found out you and Payton were seeing each other, he snapped. He threatened me to go along with this. I didn’t want to. Please Hunter, you have to believe me. Keegan is crazy.”
I watch her for a few seconds, trying to decide what to do. Kelly and I have a history. I didn’t want this for her. Until I hear Payton scream again. All thoughts leave my mind as I go into auto-pilot. All my cop training coming into play and the focus to get to Payton as fast as I can. Forgetting about Kelly I start to jog for the house. My adrenaline is pumping through me, causing me to forget about the pain spreading through my arm. The adrenaline keeps me going.
Finally making it the front door, I pull it open, hearing the old springs creak. I still have my gun in my hand, pointing it out in front of me as I slowly go through the living room. I make my way to the kitchen and see Payton's feet peeking from behind the counter. I can hear her sobs. I peek my head around the corner to check to see if Keegan is in the kitchen, but I don't see him. Keeping my gun up, I make my way over to Payton.
She has her head turned away from me. Her beautiful hair is spread out on the floor. Payton’s arm is cuffed to the oven door that is now open. I kneel down by her, running my hand down the side of her face. She flinches away from me, sobbing more as she does. “Payton,” I say quietly to get her attention. I don't want Keegan to hear me, so I hold my finger to my lips telling her to be quiet as she turns her face to look at me. The look of relief shows bright on her face.
“I am here babe.” She gasps and tries to say something. “Shh,” I say before she can make a sound. “I will get you out of here. Do you know where the key is for the cuffs?”
She wets her lips and shakes her head no. “I think he has them on him. He went outside right after we heard the gun went off.” She says as she looks at me in horror. “Oh my God, Hunter you’re hurt.” She goes to sit up, but yelps in pain.
“Shit, is your arm hurt?” I did not realize the discoloring in her arm when I first walked in and saw her. Now that I am focusing on her I can see the bruise that is starting to form.
“I think he broke it.” She tries to steady her breathing, bringing her eyes to my shoulder. “A gunshot wound is way worse I think.” She tries to crack a smile, but it fails.
“Payton I need to find something to cut the cuffs. We need to get out of here.” I lay the gun down on the floor by her right arm and take out my cell phone, handing it to her.
“Call 911 now. I will leave my gun here with you.” I say as I go to stand up. She grabs onto my leg before I can get all the way up.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“I told you, I need to find something to cut the cuffs. Chances are Ke
egan will be back any minute. Please listen to me and call the police. Tell them you need help.” I look at her, trying to remain calm. “Once you tell them what’s going on set the phone on the floor out of sight. They will be able to trace the call to here. Keep the gun out of sight and use it if you need it.” I look her in the eyes, trying to tell her it will all be okay. I lean in and lightly kiss her lips, brushing my fingers over the bruise that is starting form on her face.
“I promise, we will get you out of this.” I give her a smile and struggle to get back up. I can feel the dizziness from the blood loss start to set in. The adrenaline is wearing off and the effects of being shot are starting to take over. I can’t focus on my pain and lightheadedness. I need to get Payton home to Matt and James. I don't care if it’s the last thing I do.
I make my way out of the kitchen and stagger a little, but remain standing. I use the wall as support, leaving blood smears wherever I touch. I hear someone to my right and I turn to look and see Kelly. She looks at me with a sad look and mouths ‘sorry’ to me. I feel a blow to the back of my head, the sharp, blinding pain that follows causes me to fall forward. I can taste blood in my mouth and my last thought before the darkness comes is how I failed Payton.
***
Payton
The joy I felt when I saw Hunter is something I cannot explain. When I saw the blood that covered his chest is something else that I cannot explain. I felt anger at whoever shot him and then terrified because the closer I looked the more I saw that the gunshot wound was something to worry about.
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