“How, Lucy? He’s acting a little crazy but he’s as dangerous as a rattlesnake. I don’t want you to die. I’m scared.” She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.
Lucy got right in her face, taking the chance Baxter would see her moving around. “Emily Anne Bancroft, you listen to me. You don’t get to be scared right now. Scared will get you killed. Get pissed. Haven’t you ever been so pissed you could hurt someone?”
“No, but I—” Emily Anne hesitated and her angst seemed to decrease somewhat.
“But what?”
“But I understand what you mean. I have this coworker—she’s a friend, actually. A waitress, just like me. She’s so mild-mannered you’d never know she has a temper. Someone hurt her and hurt her bad and scared her and she said one day, when she saw him, she just got…so mad…”
“There you go,” Lucy said hurriedly, glad to see her bucking up a little. “What did she do?”
“I heard she kicked his ever-lovin’ ass. She got in lots of trouble with her men for doing that, too, but she said it needed doing.”
“Well see? You just think about your friend—”
“Ginny. Ginny Kendall. Adam’s wife.”
“Okay. You kick ass like Ginny Kendall when the time comes. In trouble with your men for taking action is better than your men losing you, and mourning you, because you didn’t act when you had the chance. You just follow my lead—”
“Oh! Hey!” a friendly voice said from outside the back door that he’d brought them in through earlier. “Hi there! I’m looking for my friend, Emily Anne. I saw her just a bit ago turning in here and I haven’t seen her in ages. Is she here?”
The innocent voice was very convincing, Lucy thought. Not that she was all that jazzed about this particular woman helping them. She didn’t want Chloe’s help. Not really. But hell, beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“That’s my friend, Chloe. I knew it!” Emily Anne said excitedly while trying to keep her voice down. “Maybe she can buy us some time until help comes.” Emily Anne sighed, sounding relieved. “Chloe wouldn’t be at the door unless she’d already called in the cavalry.”
Moments later they heard footsteps in the kitchen and a beautiful curvaceous blonde was pushed into the entry way leading into the living room. Baxter had her by her arm and had the gun pointed to her head. She looked at Emily Anne and gave her a weak smile. “Hey, there.”
Baxter jerked her roughly to the table by the couch and tied her wrists with another piece of rope, tight enough to make her gasp in pain. She turned back to look at them. “You okay, Emily Anne?”
To himself, Baxter muttered, “Hookers. Hookers. And now more damn hookers.”
Emily Anne nodded at Chloe and didn’t say anything else. Baxter jerked Chloe around again and pushed her down so she sat on Lucy’s other side then tied her ankles tight, too.
Lucy tried to hide her smile. I can work with this. His mistake was putting us together.
Baxter pointed the gun at them. “Stay your asses there. I’m nearly ready to go.”
Lucy turned to Emily Anne. “We’re running out of time. You remember what you told me about Ginny Kendall and you get pissed, Emily Anne, you hear me? Pissed as hell.”
“Okay. I can help. I know I can. What are we gonna do?”
“We’re gonna have us an old-fashioned catfight.”
Emily Anne’s eyes went wide “Um, Lucy, I swear Chloe didn’t mean to hurt Beck. She’s so sweet. Please don’t—”
Lucy smiled at Emily Anne and said, “I may be a bit bitchy but I’m not that bitchy. We have to work together.” She turned to Chloe and couldn’t help but notice her pretty doe eyes. “Chloe, I’m Lucy Carter. I’m sorry to say that up until a few minutes ago I might have enjoyed this, but I’m about to kick your ass and say mean things. Can you follow my lead?”
Chloe bit her lip and fought her smile as understanding came into her eyes. “Pleased to meet you, Lucy. Beck is totally in love with you and I’m about to kick your ass, too. How do you want to do this?”
They whispered their plan back and forth until all were in agreement.
* * * *
Beck could see Hank Stinson’s frustration as he stood looking at them, from their position out of view of Baxter’s house. “One question before we go any further. Why the hell wasn’t I informed that there was a murdering lunatic living in my jurisdiction?”
Mel replied, “We didn’t know he was a murdering lunatic. We had suspicions that aside from robbing two young orphans of their inheritance, he’d also committed murder about fifteen years ago. But we only had suspicions. We were working on finding evidence sufficient for a warrant to search the place, and once we had that evidence, you were going to be our next stop, Sheriff. Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to any of us, Bruce Smith—aka Ralph Baxter—overheard our planning session this morning.” Then he looked at Connor for a moment, before he met the sheriff’s gaze again. “One of the women he’s taken belongs to us, Sheriff.”
Hank let out a slow breath. “Right now, Mister Richardson, those women—all three of them—belong to me.”
Whoa. “All three of them?” Beck asked as he moved closer to the group.
Hank nodded as he pulled off his sunglasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Apparently Miss Rhodes is also in that house. Her vehicle is that Lincoln parked over there. Her cell phone and purse are still on the seat.” He shook his head. “She locked her car, and then headed right into harm’s way. I just spoke to Adam Kendall, and he told me that it’d make perfect sense to her to try and rescue her friend. Then he mentioned something about wanting to go back in time and have a talk with one of his ancestors about Town Trust rules, whatever that means.”
Chloe is in there, too! What a cluster fuck!
The men worked together to get a grasp of the layout of the house, aided by Connor who drew out a rough blueprint. Beck hated it that Hank told him and Patrick to stay back by the vehicles during the rescue but he agreed. The house wasn’t that big and too many bodies might only create more chaos. The very last thing he wanted was to put Lucy, or any of the women, in greater danger. He raked his fingers through his hair as he made eye contact with Patrick. His best friend nodded.
“We’re going to get her back.”
* * * *
They watched as Baxter rushed back and forth stuffing clothes and household items in the duffle bags. They whispered when he left the room after waving his revolver at them, which made Lucy’s heart drop every time he did because the safety was off.
Lucy nodded at Emily Anne and then turned and grabbed hold of Chloe’s pretty blonde hair and screamed at her. “You can’t have Beck back, you bitch! He’s mine. I can’t stand sitting next to you one more second. Get your ass away from me before I scratch your eyes out!”
Chloe went big-eyed but she didn’t miss a beat as she grabbed hold of Lucy’s hair and said, “He was never yours, bitch! I’m taking him back and I’m taking Patrick, too! You couldn’t handle them anyway! Watch me and see if I don’t, bitch!” She bit her lip to keep from laughing and Lucy covered the sound with a scream as she rolled her eyes.
Emily Anne started wailing and watched for Baxter to come back in the room. “Help me! These two are going to kill each other and me in the process. Why did you put them next to each other? They’re rival—hookers! Yeah, rival hookers! Help me! I don’t have anything to do with this!” Her screeching was very convincing.
They were screaming and carrying on and making enough noise to wake the dead when Baxter came into the room, looking wild-eyed and very angry.
He waded into the melee as Lucy and Chloe wrestled each other on the floor, screamed, slapped, and kicked, or at least as much as they were able to with bound hands and feet.
“What the hell is going on here? You two bitches cut this shit out or I’m shooting both of you! I only need one hostage and she’s less trouble. Cut it oooout!” he shouted and then howled as Lucy and Chloe suddenly released each other and tangled
themselves around his legs, taking him down into the pile with them. He landed on the floor with a great crash, in the process elbowing Lucy in the head so hard she saw stars.
The gun fell from his hand, slid across the floor, and Emily Anne hobbled after it. While he was temporarily stunned, Chloe crawled over his legs and held them down, straddling his knees and sitting on them so he was trapped on his back.
Lucy straddled his chest, which hurt like hell with her ankles bound but she was determined. She used her elbows to bash him in the head and howled when she accidentally hit her funny bone on his chin, but she didn’t give up pummeling him.
Baxter cursed and fought until she landed her bound, booted feet against his crotch. He was temporarily immobilized and she took that chance to pinion his arms with her knees. She brought her balled-up fists down on his nose, breaking it and causing blood to spurt everywhere. He screamed like a woman, and then it rose in pitch and kept rising until Lucy looked behind her and understood why.
Recalling that the whole point of this misadventure had been to get Chloe and her sister a measure of justice, she rolled over and taking advantage of Baxter’s temporarily dazed state, she wrapped her still bound forearm around his neck and put him in a headlock, making it possible for Chloe to see his ugly, bloodied face.
Chloe looked like a vengeful blonde Valkyrie as she grimaced at Baxter, with his balls trapped in her tied hands, squeezing them hard.
“Please stop! Oh God help me! Please stop her! Mama!”
Lucy jerked him tight. “You thought you had us didn’t you, you stupid dickhead. Never leave three women alone to make plans. That was your mistake.”
“I just want to go. I just want to go.” He screamed again and turned green in the face as Chloe squeezed harder.
Chloe sniffled and Lucy saw the tears she was fighting pooling in her eyes. Off to the side, Emily Anne was still fumbling for the gun under the couch. “Hold him! I don’t have the gun yet!”
“Say your peace, Chloe,” Lucy grunted as she tightened her hold on Baxter, which tightened the ropes on her wrists until she saw stars.
Chloe sniffled and fought the tears back and Lucy mentally cheered her on because this bastard didn’t deserve to see Chloe’s tears. “You bastard. You don’t even recognize me, do you? I’m Chloe Rhodes. I’m Donald and Alice Rhodes’ daughter, and I am your karma! You abandoned me and Carrie to be abused in the foster care system. Your greediness hurt two innocent children, you thief. Murderer. We looked up to you as an uncle but you’re nothing but a piece of shit. I hope you enjoy your time in prison, because you’re never getting free!”
“I got it! I got it!” Emily cried as she fumbled with the gun in her bound hands and it went off, scaring them all into screaming again as plaster from the ceiling rained down on them.
The front and back doors exploded open and the room was suddenly filled with men.
Emily Anne smiled up at one of the big hulking men Lucy didn’t recognize, and said, “Hi, honey. Here ya go,” as she handed him the revolver with hands so shaky she nearly dropped it.
The man looked ready to weep with relief and all Lucy wanted was her men. She finally laid back and wilted, her arms still hooked around the crazy man’s neck. He gurgled a little and someone came and released her poor aching wrists from that bastard’s neck and the rough ropes he’d used.
Kemp Whittier smiled as he looked down at her, the expression making his craggy face downright handsome. In a comforting, raspy voice, he said, “Hang on just a minute, Lucy. We’re getting your men for you.”
Kemp took Baxter by his shirt collar and lifted him with one hand, freeing her from his dead weight. He pulled Baxter up so he was hanging nose to nose with him and in a rough growl, he said, “Come on, you piece of shit. I have some friends who want to talk to you. You’re damned lucky it’s not just you, me, and a roll of duct tape.” He gave him a single, hard shake and then dragged him from the house.
Just the week before, Lucy had seen Kemp and his wife Summer at the Dancing Pony, with her sitting in his lap. He’d kissed her and cuddled her like she was more precious to him than anything in the world. He’d whispered in her ear until she laughed and blushed, and looked so happy. Somehow seeing this rough, ruthless side of him made Lucy like Kemp even more.
Patrick and Beck descended on either side of her just then and she was blanketed in their own brand of masculine, caring attention. Patrick lifted her in his arms and she held on to both of them. Her wrists throbbed but she didn’t care.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Beck couldn’t stop squeezing her, once Patrick had mercy on him after a few minutes and handed her over for him. Every one of his senses reveled in her warm, solid weight. Her scent and the warmth of her skin seeped into his senses and after a while, his heart rate returned to normal.
She’s safe. My Lucy is safe.
Lucy’s strained whispering pleas finally broke through his thankful inner mantra. “Beck. Beck, I’m okay. Squeezing the breath out of me.”
He realized that in his relief, he’d squeezed her in a tight bundle to him, not knowing if she was injured or not.
“Hell. I’m sorry, Lucy. Here,” he said as he set her down and walked her over to her vehicle and opened the rear hatch so she could get off her feet. He frowned when she groaned and held a hand against her side.
“Lucy, what the hell happened to you, baby?” Patrick asked as he lifted the hem of her top and revealed the purplish markings on her ribs.
Further inspection revealed that her wrists had been bloodied by the rough ropes during her little beat-down with Baxter, which set his teeth on edge to contemplate.
“Baxter kept jabbing me with his gun. I’m just lucky he didn’t accidentally shoot me. The safety was off the whole time.” Lucy grimaced as her fingertips brushed the tender, inflamed skin over her ribs. “Crazy bastard.”
“I’ll say,” a familiar, sympathetic voice said from behind him. Beck turned and looked into Chloe’s pretty eyes. He braced himself for the painful memories seeing her might dredge up but they never came. He was just happy she was okay, too. Chloe smiled at him but her body language was hesitant as she said, “Hey, Beck.”
He gave her a gentle smile and she seemed to lose a little of her uncertainty as she stood there with her hands stuck in her back pockets.
Lucy reached between him and Patrick and pulled Chloe over to sit beside her. “You were fantastic. If you hadn’t showed up, we’d probably still be in there.”
“I couldn’t sit there in my car for two hours waiting for the cavalry,” Chloe replied. “He called us hookers. Did he really think we were hookers?”
Beck rolled his eyes. “He was still going on about that?”
Patrick chuckled and stroked Lucy’s hair as he said, “You didn’t hear him when they were reading him his rights? ‘Now it’s hookers and their damn pimps,’ he kept saying. I think the confrontation sent him over the edge.”
Beck smiled, knowing that all he’d registered at that moment had been the feel of Lucy, alive and well in his arms. All he’d been able to hear was her breathing and the sound of her heart. “No, I guess I was distracted.” Looking at Lucy, he added, “So…the two of you have met now.”
Lucy and Chloe shared a look and then chuckled.
“Of all the ways I’d ever imagined introducing an old girlfriend to the woman I love, this was not it.” Then all four of them laughed.
Chloe hugged Lucy and they both cringed as they butted their injuries together.
“Oh, my head,” Lucy groaned. “I think he landed on it when we took him down.”
Chloe rubbed her cheek. “I got his knee to my face. I may have a black eye later. Oh, damn,” she said, looking at her left hand. “I cracked a nail.”
Lucy jeered. “You had quite a grip there, girl.”
Chloe snickered and nodded happily. “I never thought I’d literally have him by the balls.”
He and Patrick groaned and felt a little sick
at the thought.
Beck put his hand on Chloe’s shoulder and said, “I can never thank you enough, Chloe. You were pretty fearless, and a little stupid, to go into a situation that dangerous.”
Chloe swallowed as she glanced back at the house and then pointed out at the farm to market road. “I got the weirdest feeling going down the road here. I just happened to see Emily Anne behind the wheel of this vehicle. I could see two other people but I couldn’t make them out. But as clear as day, I saw her mouth the word ‘help.’ If my intuition hadn’t sharpened my senses, I might not have seen her at all.”
Beck nodded, recalling times long since past, when her intuition had guided her. It made sense to him.
“And okay, it was a little stupid, too,” Chloe added with a grin. “But I have a feeling your woman would’ve done the same thing for her best friend.”
Beck and Patrick both nodded and Beck said, “Hell yeah. She’d have done the same for Jayne or any of the girls.”
“The girls? Oh, I’m sorry,” Chloe said with a red face as she held her hand out to Patrick. “I’m assuming you’re Patrick. I’m Chloe Rhodes.”
Patrick bypassed her outstretched hand and gave her a solid hug instead. “I’m damned pleased to meet you, Chloe Rhodes.” They all chuckled over the late and rather unnecessary introduction. “The girls Beck mentioned are the wives and girlfriends of our friends in Divine. Grace Warner, Rachel Wolf, Summer Webster…”
Chloe nodded. “I definitely remember Grace. I used to do her nails at Madeleine’s…before I…left.” She glanced at Beck but he smiled to reassure her. “And I may have met Summer, too. I’m not sure.”
The sound of a vehicle screeching to a dramatic halt out on the road drew their attention.
“What the hell?” Lucy asked. “Do they have traffic blocked off on the road?”
Chloe gave them a lame chuckle and a blush colored her cheeks as she rose from her seat beside Lucy. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and stuck her hands in the back pockets of her jeans again. “Uh-oh. I bet I know who that—”
Lucy's Revenge [Divine Creek Ranch 15] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 36