“Heath, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…”
He slammed his fist down on the countertop. “I’ll forgive you. Just like all the other times I forgave you for not wanting me. But just promise me you won’t go back to him. I couldn’t stand to see you with him. So I won’t.”
Julie felt frozen as he came towards her. He was in a dangerous mood. She could feel it all through her. Even the hairs on her arms stood on end as he got closer. How had she not seen this in him before now? “I’m not going back to him, Heath. You don’t need to worry about me.”
She talked on, saying anything to appease him, trying desperately to get him to relax and leave so she could get away from him. She’d have to move, she realized. Or get a restraining order. Or both.
Heath did relax, but only slightly. “I’ll make you happy, Julie. Just wait and see.”
“I’m sure you will.”
Somehow, she needed to get over to her phone across the kitchen. Her first thought was to call Ryland. But before she could move, her phone vibrated on the countertop. Without hesitating, Heath picked it up and looked at the message on the screen.
“It’s from Gracie.”
“Oh?” Julie said, trying to sound natural so he’d keep calming down.
“Yeah.” He looked up, and his eyes bored into hers. Cold chills raced up her spine. “She says Ryland is on a plane, coming this way.”
Julie stared at him, unable to break her eyes away from the angry man in front of her. She’d always considered Heath to be a gentle giant. But now with every inch of him tense with antagonistic emotions, she realized how easy it would be for a man his size to hurt her.
“You’re not going back to him, Julie?”
“No, I’m not.” She hated the quiver of fear in her voice. She needed to steel herself to act naturally.
“You know why?” Heath asked.
“Because I don’t want to,” she said, as firmly as she could.
Heath shook his head. “Because he’s not going to find you.”
Chapter Sixteen
As soon as Ryland’s plane touched down, he called Gracie. “I’m here. Have you talked to her again? Will she agree to see me?”
“She isn’t answering any of my calls now either,” Gracie said. “I think I pushed her too hard.”
“Can you send me her address?”
“Yes, but I’d only do this for you. If I’m reading her right, she’s crazy about you, but really determined not to ruin your life—as she sees it.”
“Yeah. She told me as much in her note. I just hope I can convince her that breaking up is what will ruin it.”
When Ryland got to Julie’s house, he rang the doorbell multiple times, but she wouldn’t answer. Even though it was early in the evening, he couldn’t see any lights on in the house.”
“Julie! It’s me—Ryland! Answer the door.”
He waited a minute and then knocked again. When there was still no answer, he called Gracie again. “This is starting to really freak me out,” he said. “I just need to see her and make sure she’s okay. Is there anyone who might be able reach her? She mentioned a guy friend once.”
“Oh, that’s Heath. Yeah, he might know. Want his number?”
“Yes—” But something made him pause. He remembered that Julie had argued with this guy about her coming to visit him. All the signs of a jealous man were there. That made him uneasy. “Wait, no. I want his address.”
“Give me a minute. I’ll figure it out.”
Ryland paced up and down on the sidewalk in front of Julie’s house until he got the email back from Gracie. He opened up a navigation app on his phone and jumped in his car. Heath only lived fifteen minutes away from her. He parked in front of the house, eyeing the unkempt yard and sagging shutters. Weeds grew in cracks on the driveway, and the porch was piled with bags of trash and old computers.
Ryland rang the doorbell and tried to calm his racing pulse. He was jumping to conclusions. The sharp, nauseating knot of apprehension in his gut didn’t mean anything was actually wrong.
The door opened and Ryland caught a glimpse of a tall, overweight guy with droopy shoulders, but Heath immediately moved to slam the door. Ryland was quicker and got his foot in the door before it shut. Heath yanked the door back open and glared at him, his body hunched in an aggressive posture. Ryland’s fists curled and he widened his stance in case the guy attacked him.
“What do you want?”
“I want to know where Julie is.”
“How should I know?”
“You’re her friend right?”
Ryland was trying to stir him up to get him to talk, but the flash of anger in Heath’s eyes was all it took for Ryland to know this guy was a threat to Julie. But a second later, Heath drew back, lifted his chin, and smirked at Ryland.
“She’s hiding from you. When she heard you were coming, she took off. So, why don’t you just give up and go back to your mansions and sports cars and whores?”
Ryland nearly punched him then, but managed to hang onto his temper by a thread. “Why don’t you tell me where Julie is?”
“I told you, she doesn’t want you!” Heath was yelling now. His whole face was red and a line of spittle stretched between his lips.
“Maybe. But she doesn’t want you either, does she?” Maybe by provoking him, he could get Heath to say things he didn’t mean. Because Ryland’s gut told him with sickening, cold instinct, that Heath had done something to her. “And you wanted her, don’t you? So you couldn’t stand for anyone else to have her either.”
Heath charged him then, like a bulky, mindless bull. Ryland was ready, and sidestepped him. Heath crashed onto the porch so Ryland ran inside. He rushed through the small house, checking every room, every corner and closet for some sign of Julie.
“Get out of my house,” Heath roared behind him.
Ryland spun, preparing to defend himself. He was in the bedroom, and when he turned around, he saw something that made him sick. The whole wall in front of the bed was covered in pictures of Julie. Some were selfies they’d taken together, but most were pictures he was sure Julie had no idea had been taken. One was of her legs under a table. Another was of her sleeping on her couch, and there was one of her in her bra, obviously changing clothes, unaware that Heath had opened her door a crack to watch. And then, on the dresser beneath the pictures, he saw a crumpled-up t-shirt that struck him as oddly familiar.
“You shouldn’t have come in here,” Heath said from the doorway.
Ryland kept his eyes locked on Heath’s as he stepped to the dresser and unfolded the t-shirt. It was the one her internet troll had worn—the one that said, “I want Julie in MY chamber.”
Dropping the shirt like the filth it was, he clenched his teeth against the wave of fury and terror that washed over him. “Where is she?”
Heath lunged at him, swinging his beefy fist. But thanks to his daily training, Ryland was pure, lethal muscle where Heath was merely big. Ryland blocked Heath’s punch with his forearm and landed one of his own to Heath’s kidney. There was no room to kick in the small bedroom, but Ryland hooked his foot behind Heath’s knee and took him down. Jumping on top of him, Ryland hammered him with punches to both sides of his face.
With his breath knocked out of him, Heath couldn’t mount more of a defense then to hold his arms over his face. Ryland grabbed his arms and pinned them under his knees as he straddled the guy’s chest. “For the last time, tell me where she is before I kill you.”
Heath swung his head from side to side. Tears and snot streaked with blood ran down his face. “She’s in the shed.”
“What shed?”
“The one in her yard.”
Ryland nearly strangled him. “Is she alive?”
“Yes! Yes! I wouldn’t hurt her. I just wanted to hide her till you went away.”
Ryland couldn’t believe how stupid this guy was. And how demented.
As much as he wanted to get to Julie, he couldn’t let Heath esc
ape. And certainly not when he couldn’t be sure if the guy had even told him the truth. Looking around, he saw a very large belt hanging over the footboard of the bed. “Turn over.”
Heath was resistant, but Ryland got him turned over despite the narrow space between the bed and the dresser. He wrapped the belt around Heath’s ankles three times, buckled it, and lifted the corner of his bed to run the narrow foot of the bed through one of the loops. Then he used a long sock to tie his hands together temporarily. As big as Heath was, this would slow him down while Ryland found something else to tie him up with. It took him three minutes of frenzied searching to find duct tape in a drawer in the kitchen.
By that point, he had Gracie on the phone. “Gracie, Heath locked her in the shed in her backyard. I need you to call the police and then get over there and get her out. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Oh my gosh. I can’t believe it. I’m doing it now.”
He went back into the bedroom with the duct tape in hand and saw Heath straining to reach the belt around his ankles. He’d managed to jerk the bed a foot away from the wall but hadn’t made further progress other than getting up on his hands and knees. Not feeling any compunction about hurting this lunatic, Ryland kicked him hard in the tailbone, making him collapse onto his stomach again. He dropped down onto Heath’s back and yanked his arms behind him. He wrapped the duct tape around both of his wrists a dozen times and stood up.
“That should hold you till the police get here, but on the off chance you manage to get away, just know that if you do, I will put every resource I have into hunting you down. You will pay for what you did to her.”
Ryland broke more than one traffic law getting back to Julie’s house. Gracie’s car was parked out front, and he found the front door open. He ran in without hesitation and found his way through the house into the back yard.
“Gracie?” he called when he was outside. The yard was big and full of trees. He couldn’t see the shed anywhere.
“Back here!”
He followed Gracie’s voice to the back corner of the yard. Unfortunately, the shed was still locked.
“I couldn’t get it off,” Gracie said. Her face was tear streaked, her arms crossed tightly against her chest.
Ryland went to the door and pressed his palms to it. “Julie, I’m here. Can you talk to me?”
Chapter Seventeen
When Julie heard Ryland’s voice through the door, she almost fainted with relief. She couldn’t answer with the gag in her mouth, so just like when Gracie had come, she kicked her legs against the wall of the shed to let him know she’d heard him.
She heard Ryland and Gracie talking but couldn’t understand them. Focusing on breathing, she forced herself to calm down. They would get her out of here as soon as they could. Before she peed herself or got bitten by a spider. No! She would not think about spiders again. The wispy crawling she’d felt across her legs a few times had not been spiders.
From what she could tell by the dimming light through the one dust-covered window, she thought she’d been in here for about six hours. Her muscles were stiff, and the rope Heath had used to tie her up tore at the tender skin of her wrists. He’d been surprisingly gentle with her as he’d tied her up and carried her out here over his shoulder. After the first shock had worn off, she’d spent hours trying to figure out what had happened. How could she have been friends with him for so long and not realized he was obsessed with her? How had she not realized he was capable of this?
She’d had two panic attacks while in here, the second of them when she realized that because she’d been ignoring phone calls, it might be days before anyone looked for her. With the gag in her mouth and her nose running from crying so much, breathing was difficult anyway before her lungs grew paralyzed from the attack. Her chest had burned as her heart had raced feeling as if it might burst. She’d never been more sure that this time, she was having a heart attack.
But after an agonizing eternity, it had eased away. It had been the worst and most justifiable panic attack of her life, and she’d survived it.
“Julie,” Ryland called. “I’m going to break the door down. Get back as far as you can.”
Julie winced, because there was nothing in the shed but old tools covered in cobwebs. Which was why she was squarely in the center of the shed. But when the door shook with a tremendous impact, she scooted backwards just before the door slammed open in an explosion of splitting wood . And then Ryland was there, lifting her up and carrying her outside.
With gentle, shaking hands, he removed the gag—a sock stuffed in her mouth and a scarf wrapped multiple times around her head and tied in the back to hold it in place. She tried to speak but her mouth was too dry. It was all she could do just to breath.
“Oh, Julie,” Gracie said, her voice rough with emotion. “You’re okay.”
Julie looked up at Gracie and wished she could say something to reassure her.
Ryland had set her down on the ground, and now he knelt in front of her trying to untie the ropes around her wrist. “The knots are too tight. Let’s get you into the house so I can cut them off.”
He picked her up and cradled her against his chest as he carried her across the hard. Since her wrists were still bound, she couldn’t move her arms to a less awkward position, but Ryland managed to carry her without any difficulty. Her back door hung open so he carried her in while Gracie followed behind. He sat her on the kitchen counter and grabbed a knife from the block on the counter. When the ropes fell away, she rubbed at her skin, shocked at this painful reminder that this nightmare had been real.
Ryland muttered a curse when he saw it, and gathered her into his arms. She was so happy to be there, in the safest, warmest paradise she’d ever known. But her mouth still felt like a desert canyon, and her bladder felt like a dam about to break.
Pulling back, she managed to croak out one word. “Water.”
“Oh!” Gracie squeaked. “Sorry, I should have thought.”
A moment later, a glass of cool water was in her hand. Julie drank, closing her eyes in relief as the moisture swept through her mouth. It didn’t completely eradicate the dryness, however, so she drank again. When the cup was empty, she was able to talk. “You have no idea how much I needed that. But now, I need the bathroom.”
Ryland helped her down onto the floor and held her steady until she found her balance. “I’m okay,” she said. “Just stiff.”
“I’ll go with you,” Gracie said.
“That’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
Gracie chuckled. “You’d better let me or you’ll have Ryland wanting to take care of you.”
Julie looked over at him and took in the concern and tension and anxiety in every line of his face and body. As much as she was thrilled to see him, she hated that she was, once again, causing him so much trouble and worry. As she walked away from him, she heard sirens in the background. She sighed. There would be a long night ahead of her and she was already at the limit of her energy. And somehow, she had to find the strength for the conversation with Ryland that she knew was coming.
***
It was ten o’clock before the police were done taking photos and statements, and later than that before Gracie went home. For the last couple of hours, Julie had been lying on the couch in her living room, drifting in and out of sleep while Ryland had talked with the police. It was a strange state, her eyes so heavy but her mind so awake. She heard footsteps approach her and forced her eyes open.
Ryland squatted down next to her. “Would you be more comfortable in your bed for the night, or do you want to stay here?”
Julie sighed. “My bed. It’s just so far away.”
Without another word, Ryland scooped her up, blanket and all, and carried her to her room. This time her arms were free, so she put them around his neck and rested her head on his broad, flexed shoulder. So much love and gratitude swept through her that she couldn’t resist leaning forward and kissing the strong column of his neck.
&n
bsp; Ryland’s chest heaved as he took a deep breath and pulled her tighter against him. Instead of laying her down on her bed, he sat with her on his lap and held her as he scattered kisses across her face. Reveling in his touch, Julie turned her face up to his. His lips found hers, slow and sweet and gentle. This was no apple-pie kiss or a store-room kiss. This kiss was a promise and a confession.
“I love you so much,” he murmured, his lips so close to hers that his breath tickled across her lips. “I don’t know what I would have done if anything had happened to you.”
Julie longed to tell him she loved him too, but she closed her eyes and pressed her lips together a moment before saying. “Thank you for saving me.”
His arms tightened around her. “Stop, Julie. I know what you’re thinking. I would save you every day for the rest of our lives and just be glad to be there for you. I will never resent any effort or any challenge. I just want to be with you.”
“But why?” Hot tears slipped from her eyes. “I’m so broken and weak. Nothing but problems.”
“That’s not true. You’re bright and friendly and confident in so many ways. And tonight you proved how courageous you are—how strong. You know what I think?”
Julie shook her head. “What?”
“I think Heath has been undermining your confidence, setting obstacle after obstacle in the way of you getting better. I found the t-shirt your internet troll wore in his room.”
“No,” she gasped. Her mind spun with memories she now saw in a different light. “You’re right. He always seemed to stop me from pushing myself. Except for that time with the Ferris wheel when he pushed me too hard. And lately he’s made me feel worse about myself rather than better.”
“A lot of things.
I’ll tell you all about it when you’ve recovered. But I want you to know that you are amazing. And from now on, I am going to be helping you. Because unless you tell me right now that you don’t want me, I’m going to be here the rest of your life.”
Saved by the Rockstar (Rich and Famous Romance Book 1) Page 10