Hearing a door open, I still, then feel something thud against the floor at my feet. Oh, God, wake up, I beg, digging my nails into the palms of my hands, feeling the crescent moon shape of my nails imprint into my skin.
“Please.”
I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to open my eyes and have reality crash down around me, but that plea was full of fear and desperation. Opening my eyes again, I blink, trying to clear the haze, then feel bile crawl up the back of my throat as I look into Kim’s pain-filled eyes staring back at me. Please, she mouths, and I notice blood at the corner of her lips then move my gaze down her naked body. Fear like I have never felt in my life rips through me as I take in the bruises, welts and stab wounds covering her torso.
“Oh, God, please no,” I choke, closing my eyes, wishing I’d wake up but knowing that will never happen because this isn’t a dream. I’m awake in a living nightmare. “I’ll get help,” I promise as she reaches out toward me, and her eyes slide shut. Watching her chest heave unnaturally, my hands start to shake and my mouth dries up. “Stay awake,” I beg, moving my hands back and forth, trying to get the rope around my wrist to loosen enough for me to slide free. “Please stay awake,” I sob.
“Nuh-uh-uh.”
Jumping, my head flies up and a new wave of fear washes over me as I watch the guy from the coffee shop step into the room and close the door behind himself.
“I can tell you recognize me.” He grins, shoving his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “Do you know how badly I wanted to take you the day we met face to face? Do you know how hard it was to let you go?” he asks as I lean back, trying to avoid his touch as his blood-covered fingers slide down my cheek.
“Please don’t do this, please, just let me go.”
“Now why would I do that?”
“You don’t want to do this,” I plea, trying to get my hands free.
“You’re wrong. I very much want to do this.” He smiles, grabbing a fistful of my hair and jerking my head back so hard I cry out. “I thought you wanted to be dominated? I thought you wanted someone to stalk and rape you.”
“That wasn’t me, I swear it wasn’t me,” I cry as his fist in my hair tightens and pulls harder, forcing my head over the back of the chair, and pain from my recently removed stitches to shoot through my scalp.
“Do you know what I did to my fiancée when I found out she was asking men to beat her? When I found out she was letting men take her like a whore?” he shouts, and I flinch, shaking my head again while tears fall silently down my cheeks. “I gave her what she wanted. She wanted to be beaten, so I beat her until she couldn’t open her eyes. She wanted to be fucked like a slut, so I fucked her like the slut she was, until she was bleeding from every hole in her body.” He pets my hair, almost gently, and softens his voice. “You were the first profile I saw after her, the first one I responded to. At first, I wasn’t going to hurt you. At first, I was going to save you like I couldn’t save her. But then I saw you with him, saw what you were doing to him without him knowing. I saw that you were just like her,” he roars, and I squeeze my eyes as tight as they will go.
“Oh, God.” Dillon, where are you? Please be okay.
“God isn’t on your side.” He grins an evil grin, and then bites my neck so hard I feel my flesh tear while his hand circles my throat.
“Please! Stop,” I rasp, and he squeezes harder. Struggling for breath, my body shakes and stars dance before my eyes, then everything goes black.
Coming awake suddenly, my hands fly to my throat and I gasp for air. “Oh, God.” I look around, feeling fear consume me once more as tears fill my eyes. I’m still in my nightmare. I cover my mouth then realize my hands are free, and I sob.
I don’t give myself time to think. I quickly untie my ankles and move to Kim, seeing the rope that was around my wrists is in her hand. “Kim.” I roll her to her back, press my hand to her chest, and shake her. “Kim,” I repeat, but she doesn’t move; she doesn’t even take a breath. Swallowing through the realization that she’s dead, I drop my head to her chest and fight the urge to gather her against me.
I know this may be my only chance to get out of here alive. Moving to the door, I press my ear to it. Hearing nothing on the other side, I put my hand on the knob, turn it, and say a silent prayer when the door clicks open. Peeking out the small crack, I find nothing but hallway and dim light. Ducking low, I scoot into the hall, close the door, and look both ways, debating what way to head. I don’t know where I am, but if I had to guess it’s an old warehouse.
Tugging my T-shirt down, I creep silently on my bare feet along the hall, then feel a surge of adrenalin and hope course through my veins when I spot another door. As soon as I can reach the knob, I place my hand on the metal, turn it, and push, breathing in a deep breath of cold night air as it skims across my face. Opening the door another inch, I want to scream as it clanks and I see a large chain on the outside. Looking back down the hall to where I came from, I feel my eyes widen as I see the guy head into the room I just left. Knowing I don’t have a choice, I push the door as far as it will go, get my head out through the space, and scream as I hear him running toward me, roaring, “What the fuck?” Getting my shoulders and arms out, I use the doorjamb to push myself the rest of the way through, and scream in pain as my chest is crushed as he pulls on the door. “You fucking cunt!” he snarls, tugging me toward him as I kick as hard as I can, refusing to give up now.
“Fuck you!” I kick and twist wildly, and finally, by some miracle, get free from his hold, falling hard to the ground just outside the door. I don’t pause. I don’t take a chance to look behind me. I run as fast as I can toward the woods, letting the darkness engulf me and keep me safe.
Dillon
Hearing the name Trent Denton, I turn and watch the small television on the wall across the room. A clip of Trent being escorted into a police station with his hands cuffed behind his back appears on the screen before the newscaster reappears, shuffling the papers in her hands, speaking. “Trent Denton, an upstanding citizen, a doctor, and a man many people in the community looked up to, is also the man police arrested today for six murders in the Nashville area over the last three months, along with the attempted murder and kidnapping of a Murfreesboro woman. The FBI was called in to assist the police with the case after four of his victims were found to be linked together through the website Dominate Me, a fetish website the accused used to find his victims. Tonight at eleven we will have more on this story, along with the interview of Trent Denton’s still missing fiancée’s mother.” Finding the remote I turn off the TV, not wanting to hear more. Resting my head on Ashlyn’s stomach and my hand over her chest, I let the feel of her heartbeat remind me she’s here with me and safe.
“Dillon.” I lift my head and watch Lilly walk toward me. “Why don’t you go on home and shower, I’ll sit with her while you’re gone.”
“I’m good,” I mutter, pulling my eyes from hers when Ashlyn’s hand resting under mine tenses. Sliding my hand up her chest to her cheek, her body relaxes and I study her beautiful face, making sure she isn’t having another bad dream. For the past four days, sleep for her has been a struggle and I finally convinced her a few hours ago, after getting word that Trent was arrested, to take a sleeping pill. Thankfully, it seems to be helping.
“Honey, you need to shower and you need to eat something,” she says gently, almost pleadingly, and my jaw clenches.
“I’m not leaving her side.” I try to keep the bite out of my tone, but it can’t be helped. The woman I love is lying in the hospital, having suffered from a fractured larynx, two broken ribs, and hypothermia, after being kidnapped by a serial killer and hiding in the cold over night, wearing nothing but the T-shirt she went to bed in.
“Honey.” Lilly’s hand rests lightly on my back.
“He took her from our bed and I couldn’t do one goddamn thing to stop him.”
“He drugged you,” she reminds me quietly. “He drugged both of yo
u.”
“I watched him take her, I watched him take her right from my arms and I couldn’t even move.” My throat burns as I think about the moment I saw him lifting her limp body from our bed. I thought it was a bad dream. I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. I could only watch him carry her out of the room while I lay there completely helpless to do anything to save her.
“Stop,” I hear whispered hoarsely, and my head flies up. “Pl—ase.” Ashlyn’s voice cracks and I reach over, grabbing her cup of water then holding the straw up to her mouth. Watching her take a few sips, I pull the cup away when she’s done and set it down.
“You’re not supposed to be talking,” I remind her gently, running my hand over the top of her head, pressing my lips to hers softly.
“Some—one h-as to stop yo-u from be—ating yourself up,” she croaks, patting my cheek. Turning my head, I kiss her palm then link our fingers together.
“She’s right you know,” Lilly says quietly, walking around to Ashlyn’s other side, taking her opposite hand. “It’s absolutely horrible what happened, but there is nothing you could have done.” Even knowing she’s right, my mind won’t allow me to accept the fact that she is. I should have left town with Ashlyn the moment the FBI approached us. I should have taken her away where she would have been safe. “You heard Agent Torres yesterday, Trent Denton knew what he was doing. He knew the alarm codes for both your houses, he knew the lay outs and your schedules. I hate to say it because he took my baby and hurt her, but it was just a matter of time before he did what he did,” Lilly says, and I watch her eyes fill with tears then watch as she struggles to breathe. “If Kim’s sister…”
“Don’t.” Ashlyn shakes her head at her mom. “Pl—ease don’t.” Tears fill her eyes, and I carefully gather her against me. The moment she got away and was finally able to find help, she told the police about who she thought was Kim still being there. When the police finally found the abandoned building where Trent had taken her, the body was missing. She didn’t know at the time, none of us knew at the time, that it was actually Kim’s identical twin sister, Kelly, who was there with her. “S…she sav…ed me,” her voice cracks as her tears wet my neck.
“I know baby,” I say, gently stroking my hand down her back, then hear her inhale sharply as she moves to hold me tighter. “You need to lay down. This isn’t good for your ribs,” I whisper, placing a kiss to her ear and she nods. Adjusting her back onto the bed I take a seat in the chair and watch as Cash comes back into the room, followed this time by Sage and Jax. I swear, every time he leaves he comes back with someone who wants to check on her for themselves, since the hospital won’t allow more than a few visitors at a time.
“H… how’s Kim?” she asks, looking at Sage as Cash comes over to kiss her cheek, and Jax waits to do the same.
“She’s okay, she wanted to come see you but…”
“It… It’s okay.” Ashlyn tears up once more and his face softens. “Tell her I lo… love her.”
“I will.” He comes around the side of the bed and bends to kiss her forehead. “I can’t stay, I need to get back to her,” he says softly, and her eyes close as she whispers,
“Take care of her.”
“Always.” He states with determination as he stands, then reaches over to pat my shoulder before saying a quiet goodbye to everyone and leaving the room.
“Did they find Kelly’s body yet?” Lilly asks Jax as he takes a seat next to me, and he shakes his head.
“They’re still searching, hopefully the police can convince him to tell them where he dumped her,” he says quietly while Ashlyn’s hand around mine tightens almost painfully. “Sorry.” He looks away, and I watch his eyes get wet. I know he’s thinking exactly what I’m thinking. I know he realizes that we could be out searching for Ashlyn’s body right now instead of sitting in a hospital room waiting for her to recover enough to go home.
“I love you all,” Ashlyn whispers, and I run my fingers down her cheek then look at her mom and dad and Jax. We may have had a rough start, but like family does, we worked through our shit and we will be stronger because of it.
Ashlyn
Looking into the fire in front of me, I watch the flames dance in the fireplace, feeling the warmth seep into the skin on my face. It feels like it takes forever for me to get warm. No matter what I do, it feels like a constant chill has burrowed its way through my skin, muscle, and bone, straight to the marrow inside. Making me wonder If I will ever be warm again.
Studying the flames, I think about my phone call with Agent Torres this morning. He said they finally got the confession they had been hoping for from Trent.
He told me Trent cried when he explained to them how it all started, how he found out his fiancée was on the website Dominate Me looking for kinky sex while in a relationship with him. He said he came across my profile after her death and was planning on scaring me off the site. But then saw me with Dillon and thought I was just like her, so he tried to kill me then by running me over. Agent Torres said it was that moment that sent him over the edge completely, the moment he started using the site as a way to hunt for victims. The really sad part is, Trent’s fiancée’s mother told the police when she went missing that she suspected him of killing her daughter, but they never had any evidence to prove he was responsible for her disappearance, let alone her murder. So they were forced to let him go, even after believing he was guilty themselves.
Rubbing my wrists, I close my eyes. I still have no idea why he didn’t kill me when he had the chance. The what ifs are enough to make me crazy. I know how close I came to death, and I know that if Kelly hadn’t found the strength to untie me before she died, I wouldn’t be here today. She saved my life; whatever she had done before that did not matter. Her last moments were spent helping someone she didn’t know, and I will forever be grateful to her for saving me.
“Baby.”
Jumping, I turn my head on the pillow and watch Dillon walk toward me.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay. What’s up?” I ask, pulling my feet back to make room for him on the couch, but instead of taking a seat, he holds out his hand for me to take.
“I got something for you.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, come on.” He pulls me up, then leads me by the hand out of the library toward the front door then outside. As soon as we’re down the steps, he leads me over to the fountain.
“You didn’t.” I smile, and his face softens.
“You said you wanted to put fish in it, so I had your dad and brother help me put in the filtration system, and Jax just dropped off the fish a few minutes ago.”
“I was joking.” I grin, leaning over the side, watching the goldfish swim around, and then see a wooden stick on the ledge. Picking it up, I notice a line tied to the end. Pulling it out of the water, I gasp when I see my rings.
“You…” My eyes fill with tears as he unties the rings from the line and takes my hand in his. Feeling my hands shake, I watch him slide both rings back onto my finger. The day the police came to the hospital to tell me they got Trent, Dillon asked them if he had my wedding rings on him. It wasn’t until that moment I noticed they were missing and realized that at some point he had taken them from me. “How?” I swallow, studying the rings that represent more than just me being his wife.
“I had this one sent from the chapel we got married at in Vegas. It’s not the same ring. And this one is from the jeweler I purchased your other one from,” he says, moving his fingers from one ring to the other.
“Thank you.” I lean into him, pressing my face into his chest. “I love you,” I breathe, feeling his breath at the top of my head then his lips there.
“Thank you for coming back to me,” he whispers, and I squeeze my eyes tight.
“I will always find my way back to you,” I promise.
*
Walking out of the bathroom, rubbing lotion into my hands, I climb into bed, and then watch Dillon
walk out of the closet a minute later, wearing nothing but a pair of dark blue boxers that are molded to his thighs like a second skin.
“I’m not going to my appointment tomorrow,” I inform him and he frowns.
“Pardon?” He gets into bed next to me then pulls the covers up over us.
“My appointment for my birth control. I’m not going.”
“Baby,” he whispers, sounding conflicted. I climb onto him, straddling his waist, placing my hand against his solid chest.
“I want to start a family with you.”
“I thought you wanted to wait,” he murmurs, resting his hands on my hips, and I shake my head.
“I don’t want to wait anymore.” I run my hands up his chest to rest on the underside of his jaw and his eyes harden.
“He is not going to change the course of your life anymore than he already has,” he growls. I know he’s talking about Trent, and that he believes this is because of what happened, but it isn’t.
“He’s not. You did. You make me want more,” I say, and the hardness seeps out of his eyes as his face softens. “I want to be a mom. I want to fill this monster of a house with screaming kids, and I want to see you tucking our babies into bed at night. I can still have a career, but that isn’t what I know will make me happy anymore.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“Down to my bones, I know it is,” I mutter, then squeak as he flips me to my back and looms over me.
“Maybe we should start practicing, just so we know we’re good at it before it’s time to start trying.” He grins, and I laugh, tugging him down to me.
“That sounds good,” I agree against his mouth, smiling.
Epilogue
One year later
“Baby, I’m home,” I call, walking through the front door and dropping my suitcase to the ground next to the stairs, placing my coat on top of it. Gaining no reply, I fight back the ever-present fear that lives inside of me and head toward the kitchen to look there.
Until Ashlyn Page 22