Slim To None (Cedar Tree #1)

by Freya Barker

  *****

  A pounding headache kept her from opening her eyes. Even breathing friggin’ hurt. But she could hear Kara softly crying.

  "Shhhh." She tried, sending a dagger through her own head. Jesus F. Christ! He'd done a number on her. Breathing in deeply she tried again. "Kara, come here."

  "I can't."

  "Why not."

  "I'm chained to the backseat and you're in front of me, handcuffed to the steering column."

  Well damn. She hadn't even noticed that. Couldn't sense anything but the intense hammering in her head. Carefully pulling open one eyelid, the fading sunlight told her it was probably late afternoon or early evening.

  "Christ, how long have I been out of it?"

  "Most of the day. He held me at gunpoint after knocking you out, and had me sit here behind you and shackled me down. Hooked us up in the truck on the tow and pulled us to some kind of junk yard and onto this massive contraption. He hasn't said a word, simply unhooked us from the tow truck and left us here. That was hours ago. I think." She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "This is gonna sound crazy, but Arlene, he looked just like Gus. Same build, same coloring same eyes, except this guy's eyes are hard and angry, and the lines in his face aren't kind-looking but mean. He also looks quite a bit older. It was creepy."

  With her brain not functioning too well, Arlene wasn't able to process that information to satisfaction. Looking like Gus? Father? Brother? For all she knew he had no family, but then again, what did she really know about him? Not one to sit back and wait for things to happen, this time Arlene really had not much of a choice. She was seriously incapacitated by the knock on her head and immobilized with handcuffs. So she simply closed her eyes again and waited.

  *****

  "Arlene, are you awake? Wake up!" The whispering hadn't really registered until after the kicking of her chair had woken her up.

  "Awake now." Was her curt reply.

  "Hush, I hear something, I think he's coming back."

  Sure enough, the sound of boots hitting dirt and gravel was coming closer.

  "Okay, let me do the talking." She said over her shoulder, which made Kara snort. "What's so funny?"

  "Like I could stop you - besides I'm about scared dumb. Just please don't piss him off, Arlene. Okay?"

  "Smartass. Not gonna piss him off, I'll be as sweet as one of your momma's pies." Earning her another incredulous snort from the back seat. Well! All her outward brawn didn't take away the creepy fear that swirled in the pit of her stomach, when she finally saw the man approaching. It was dark outside now and only the watery light from a few light posts over by the gate reached this far. The rest of what she could see was pitch black. No moon in her field of vision, but it was hard to tell with the high peak of Mesa Verde right there.

  "You need to make a phone call," he said as he climbed up the machine on which her truck was sitting to door level. "Not sure which one of you should make it for maximum effect." He seemed to ponder the question for a bit, not able to make up his mind.

  "You leave her alone and pick someone your own age, you miserable piece of shit." Arlene spit out, not able to hold her tongue. "Just leave her out of your little games."

  She was hoping to get him riled up so his focus would be on her and not on Kara, who had started to sniffle again in the backseat. But with a knowing smirk on his face, he turned to the cowering girl, pulled open the cab door and tossed her a key while holding the gun trained on her head.

  "Here, unlock yourself and hand me back the key."

  Fuck. It would've been easier for Arlene to try and fight him for the gun if Kara was left in the truck. Now it looked like she would be left behind. But he surprised her when handing Kara another key as soon as she had herself unlocked and out of the cab.

  "Now you can unlock her hands, but no funny stuff, I'm keeping the gun to your head at all times. So one wrong move from either of you and you, little one, will bear the consequences."

  Swallowing down her rage, Arlene sat perfectly still, while Kara fumbled with shaking hands, trying to get the much smaller key to fit the handcuffs. Finally free, she rubbed her wrists, scraped raw by the hard metal and started to climb out of the cab after Kara.

  "You wait." The man instructed her. "Wait until the two of us are down, I'll tell you when you can get out. Don't forget who's gonna suffer if you fuck up." His voice was almost without emotion, just a hard biting edge intended to instil fear. And dammit, she hated to admit it did.

  After a minute or two she was told to come down. Saw him standing with one arm wrapped around Kara's throat, and the other holding his gun against her head, a knowing smirk on his face. The girl despite her decent height was still a good head shorter. But Arlene had a few inches on Kara yet. And a decent number of pounds too. Although nothing near to matching the behemoth of a man they were facing, she figured she had better odds than most, given her size. But first she had to make sure Kara was out of the line of fire.

  On the way across the yard she tried to get some answers.

  "What is it you want from us?" Which didn't get a response. Then as they got the dirty little house, she tried again. "Why don't you let her go - you don't need both of us."

  And again. Nothing. Getting frustrated, she pushed a little harder.

  "Look, I don't know what sick depraved plan you have, but I can promise I won't make it easy on you unless you set her free."

  "Bitch, shut the fuck up."

  Okay. That was a response. Of sorts. Not a helpful one, but a reaction. And he seemed to have loosened his grip on Kara's neck a little. Maybe if she could piss him off enough, he would point that thing at her instead of Kara. But that was too risky.

  "I'll shut up if I can use the bathroom. Been shut in that truck all day, I've gotta pee like a race horse."

  "No."

  "Fine, I'll pee right here then, in the house, and stink up the place for ya. Jesus, let me use the bathroom, will ya. What am I gonna do? You really think I'm going to risk you harming a hair on her head? Besides, I'm sure she needs to go too."

  "You need to shut your mouth or I'll do it for you"

  Enraged, he let go of Kara and stalked toward her pointing the gun at her now. Just one more little push and hopefully Kara could get away.

  "Better men than you have tried, without success I might add." Watching his approach she focused on his gun hand and when he was almost close enough to put his hands on her, she ducked low and charged into his midsection, surprising him. But not enough for him to drop the gun. A shot goes off luckily missing her by a hair. She kept trying to muscle him backward trying to force him to the ground, but it was no use, the man was fucking rooted like one of those big giant sequoia trees. So she yelled at Kara to run, to get out and run as fast as she could. All the while trying to fight with hands and feet, even biting wherever she could. Anything to distract him long enough for Kara to get away. Last thing she remembered was one of his big hands around her throat, slamming her head repeatedly into the floor.

  *****

  Someone was pulling at her, mumbling swear words. She couldn't make out much that made sense, just snippets.

  "Leave me alone ..." She managed to croak out. "Just don't touch me anymore..."

  "Jesus woman, I'm gonna spank your hide if you live through this, I swear to god."

  Wait. What was Seb doing here? So confused.

  "Grab her feet, Kara, we've got get her down before the whole roof caves in."

  Kara was still here? She didn't understand any of it. So tired ...

  Chapter 28

  Gus had tried keeping half an eye on the car crusher as he was taunting Will. He knew they didn't have much time to get the women out of their precarious situation. But he also couldn't lose sight of the fact that Emma was squarely in the sight of his brother's gun. And with the hatred gleaming in his eyes, he had no doubt Will wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger, just to hurt him where he must have realized it would have the most impact. What he ha
dn't counted on was Emma throwing herself in the fray, trying to get a hold of the controls. Stupid. He should've know that she would not be contend to sit by the sidelines. She got knocked out good. Again. Jesus. Her poor body didn't deserve all the abuse.

  Struggling to avoid the worst of his brothers raging punches, he focused his hold on the gun hand, making sure the barrel stayed far away from his body. Wishing with all that was holy that Caleb wouldn't wait too long to show his mug, or he might not be able to hold on much longer. All the noise was starting to blur together, the grinding of the cruncher, Will's swearing and growling as his fist was pounding Gus' face to pulp. Even Gus' own grunts with every hit that found its mark. He tried to twist and turn his body underneath to shield his face as best he could - holding on to the gun with both hands. But despite that more than just a few made it through and his eyes started swelling shut.

  Suddenly the weight was lifted off him, and with his one half open eye he saw Caleb with a handful of sheriff's deputies wrestling Will to the ground and cuffing him. In the next moment he was scrambling around on hands and knees, trying to find the controls.

  "Caleb!" He tried yelling out. "The girls - they're in the cruncher ..."

  "We've got them, Boss. Medics are en route. Lay back, we'll take it from here."

  He rolled over and dragged himself to Emma, who seemed to be coming to, a red welt on her jaw where she got hit in the struggle.

  "Hey baby." Stroking her cheek, he waited for her to open her eyes. "We're quite the pair." Blinking a few times, her eyes finally focused on his face and widened in shock.

  "Oh my god, Gus, your poor face." Only to be followed with; "The girls, where are they? Are they okay? Please tell me they're okay." Emma struggled to sit up, but he held her down, wanting her to take it easy.

  "They're fine, they got out. I haven't seen them yet, but Caleb said they got out. Medics are on the way."

  "Is it over?" Her big blue eyes are looking at him.

  "Yeah, Peach. I think it's over."

  *****

  The voice of her daughter had her struggling up from the stretcher where the EMT had insisted she remain while they examined her properly.

  "Mom! I just need to see my mother, please? Mom are you in here?"

  "Yes baby, let me see you. Come here." Pulling Kara in a tight hug, she couldn't care less what the damn EMT told her, or what anyone wanted her to do for that matter. She needed to hug her daughter good and then she needed to go home. No damn hospital stay again.

  Kissing her hair, she asked her girl how she was holding up.

  "I was pretty much a mess, Mom, but Arlene - she rocked. She has no fear, I swear to God. She did everything she could to protect me, even got herself beaten so bad." At Emma's sharp intake of breath, Kara burst into tears. "Oh no, you didn't know?"

  All moisture suddenly dried from her mouth and throat, as fear grabbed hold of her. "Know what? Tell me what happened to Arlene? Is she okay?" She couldn't help the trembling in her voice.

  "She fought for me mom, wanted me to run, but I couldn't leave her, I ... I just couldn't. He just kept slamming her head into the floor and I started screaming at him to stop because she wasn't moving. The whole night he had me back chained into that truck and I didn't know what happened to her. This morning he carried her out and just threw her in the front seat. She looked so bad, but I could see her chest moving." When she took a deep shuddering breath, Emma interrupted.

  "Honey, you are killing me here. Is she okay? Where is she? Please..."

  "Sorry. She's on her way to Cortez, she was saying some stuff when Seb pulled us out, it was all a bit jumbled and she looks a mess. They took her right away in the ambulance with flashing lights and all."

  "Seb pulled you out? I'm so out of the loop. Okay, here is the deal. Can you find Gus for me, he needs to get looked at and then I want us to go to the hospital."

  The EMT perked up at that and tried to get her to lie back down to strap her in for the ride, but she set him straight.

  "No. Not riding in the back of an ambulance. I got knocked out in a scuffle, plain and simple. My reflexes are good. I know the date, month and year and who the president currently is. I am not a bloody invalid! Now get me out of this damn truck."

  She wrestled herself off the stretcher and out of the ambulance and found herself face to face with a grinning Gus.

  "I need my walker," she said at no one in particular, and then directly at Gus, "What are you laughing about?" When the grin turned into a chuckle.

  "Not an invalid, darlin'? Here, let me find you your walker."

  "Oh. Shut up." But she couldn't hold back a smile at her own ridiculous outburst. Blame it on stress, or whatever. "Wait, don't you need to get checked out?"

  "Aren't we heading for the hospital in Cortez?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

  "Smartass." Was the only reasonable response she had.

  Chapter 29

  Sitting on her own shower stool, with the hot water pounding down on her, for the first time in weeks, not feeling rushed, or anxious or unsure, was blissful. The stress from the past few weeks was being pounded out of her tight muscles. The strong pulses from her deluxe shower head, made her skin tingle and had her moan out loud.

  "Sounds like I'm missing something good." Gus' deep voice came from the door opening where he was leaning, quietly observing.

  "You snuck up on me." She smiled at him. "Gonna stand there and watch?"

  "That an invitation?" His hands were already reaching for the hem of his shirt.

  "Open invitation for you, big guy."

  "Hmmmm, sounds good. Get ready cause I'm coming in hungry."

  In no time flat stripped naked, he sank on his knees in front of her and grabbed the loofah and soap. "Lean back against the wall, baby. I want to wash you."

  Doing as he asked, she settled back against the tile and closed her eyes. The water was soothing and Gus lifting first one arm and then the other, using the loofah to rub soap into her skin with a firm circular motion. Neck and shoulders, then down to her chest and breasts, where he spent some time teasing. Kissing and nibbling on her by now very erect nipples. Sucking them between the roof of his mouth and tongue before letting them go with a plop and moving to the other side. She was in turn languid with relaxation and squirming in need. Leaving her breasts after that little appetizer, he took his loofah over the soft rolls of her belly. She had long given up trying to hide herself from him. It only seemed to aggravate him and he really did seem to find pleasure in all aspects of her, hard and soft ... so she just let herself be as she was. And he appreciated all of it, and showed her by gently cleaning her bellybutton. He then used the fingers of his hands to slip and slide between every fold her body had shaped. His fingers simply tracing every contour of her almost reverently. From her waist he moved right down to her legs that received the same treatment, ending with a delicious foot massage on either side. Back to languid. Very much so.

  "Not done with you yet, Peach. I save the best for last." His already deep voice even lower with the contained arousal that was evident in his eyes. Well, and his almost purple straining erection.

  "Changing position for this one." And with that, he pulled her up, sat down in her place and turned her around to have her straddle his thighs.

  "Perfect. My face in your luscious tits and my hands and cock within reach of your ass and your pussy. Just the way I like it."

  Seeing his face up close had her flinch.

  "Your face sore, babe?"

  "Not too bad, and not bad enough to keep me from doing this." Planting his face right in between her breasts and licking at the moisture collecting there. His hands were busy soaping up between her butt cheeks very thoroughly. So thoroughly in fact, she was sure once or twice a finger slipped inside her anus, causing her to hiss air between her teeth at the slight burning, but oh so good sensation.

  "I love having all this access from all sides. Being able to put my hands anywhere on you, opening you up fu
rther just by moving my own legs wider. Kiss me. Let me taste you."

  Wrapping her arms tighter around his neck she sealed her lips on his and slid her tongue along the seam of his mouth gaining entrance. All the while he continued playing with her sex, sliding his fingers through her wetness and dragging it to her clit to tease and her puckered hole behind, to finger her ass. Something she found she surprisingly enjoyed. Pulling his hands clear for a moment, she almost whimpered.

  "Would you lean over and grab what's in the front pocket of my jeans?"

  "But I'll get them all wet."

  "Don't care. Just grab it."

  Reaching over and sneaking her hand into his pocket, realization caused a snicker to burst free as she pulled out one of her little pink toys. This one a long silicone bullet, good for clit stimulation and shallow penetration. She had no idea what he had in mind, but remembered the promise he made on the first night they met.

  Taking the vibrator from her, he played with it through her wet folds for a bit, before sliding it in and out of her pussy a few times making it nice and wet with her juices.

  "Slide down on my cock, baby. I want you to ride me if you can. You can use the grab bar above my head for extra leverage and I'll help."

  Grabbing on to the bar above his head, she pulled herself up and slowly sank down on him until he was buried and she felt completely filled. That is, until one of his hands pulled her cheeks apart and the other slowly pushed the vibrator into her butt. She felt a brief stretching sensation before a slow buzz from the bullet pushed her in sensory overload. It immediately had her grinding her pelvis down on his dick, trying to reach a massive orgasm that she could feel building.

  Incoherent and pleading, she was wild for release. And when the vibrations were turned up a notch, almost making her scream.