by Ginny Lynn
“I don’t sell rain boots.”
Thankfully, Jason hadn’t heard her.
“Tell her you need privacy this weekend,” Jason whispered.
“I know. Well, I have a crisis here so I’ll let you go. Tell the girls that I want some downtime this weekend.”
“Crisis? Sam, I have a bad feeling.”
Jason reached for the phone.
“Yes, you do. Love ya, bye.” I hung up before he could pick up what I’d said.
“Good girl.”
He took it away, put it in his pocket and sat on the sofa.
I prayed that she understood my clues. She was smart and should be able to decipher them.
Sighing, I turned toward the stove to boil the water. I went for the butter and saw a small brown envelope tucked in the corner of the bottom door shelf. I slid it under the butter and kept my back toward Jason as I peeked into the envelope. It was a hypodermic needle full of clear liquid and some sample sleeping pills. It must be what he injected into me. Well, turn about was far play.
I grabbed a couple of bowls that didn’t match and squirted the medicine into the blue one. I filled the needle with tap water, so it looked normal. I slid one sleeping pill packet into the front pocket of my jeans.
I set the fridge back to how it had looked and set the oatmeal on the bar. I had already added loads of cinnamon and sugar to hide any medicine taste. I stayed in the kitchen with my bright red bowl and slapped the counter to get his attention. He strolled up to the bar and sat on the middle barstool. I kept a neutral expression.
“What’s this?”
“Gruel. Prison food.”
He laughed at my joke.
“Good one, I like it.”
I ate in silence and washed my bowl out before he finished. How long before it took effect? Had I guessed wrong? I waited. I grabbed up his empty bowl and washed it as he went back to the sofa. He yawned after I put up the clean pot. I drank some water and waited. It felt like forever, but he finally started snoring.
I softly slipped upstairs. He’d wake up if I took down the barricade. I tried tying the sheets together and connected one end to the banister. I prayed they’d hold me as I shut the balcony door and started my way down. Thankfully, my vehicle was parked below the balcony.
The drizzle made me slip down the fabric and I lost my grip. Pain shot up my right ankle as I hit the sharp cold gravel. I sat still and heard no noise from the house, so I tried my weight on my throbbing ankle.
I could put my weight on it, except it was painful. I stumbled toward the fenced corral. I wasn’t sure if I could get anyone next door. I didn’t see the root that I tripped over. I was face down in the slippery grass. The pain was so intense that I couldn’t bear any weight on it. I heard a horse off in the distance and it gave me strength to go further.
I heard something behind me and was tackled. Shit, he’d found me. You could tell that he was battling the meds and his own brand of madness. He roughly pulled me up, but my ankle caused me to fall against him. He cursed and yanked me over his shoulder, fireman style, and headed back to Conrad’s cabin.
I was silent and didn’t struggle. My vantage point showed me a fresh set of tire tracks next to my Jeep. I remained silent as he carried me up to the bedroom.
He roughly set me on the bed, and grabbed up a discarded towel. I yanked my shoes off and bit back the pain. He quietly and slowly gathered the drenched sheets and headed downstairs with them.
His silence was eerie. I towel dried my stringy hair and noticed the water soaking into the bed. I limped to my forgotten backpack on the closet door. I pulled out my nightclothes just as Jason came back.
“Get changed. I‘ll throw those in the washer.”
I just stared at him. I was not about to strip for him, ever.
“I’m not going to rape you, idiot.”
He stood in the doorway with his back to me, not moving, and I had no choice but to quickly yank my clothes on. I handed him the wet clothing before hopping back to the bed.
He came back in after I heard his motions with the washer, minus his drenched shirt. Thankfully, his jeans were still on.
“Give me your ankle,” he said as he got on his knees by the edge of the bed.
It wasn’t pretty. It had swollen up, with a blue tint to the skin. I was in trouble.
He sighed heavily. “Females.”
He went downstairs, slammed the utility door and came back in as he was shredding a shirt into thin strips. For a second I pictured him strangling me. I was quite surprised when he used it to make a compression bandage around my swollen joint.
“You shouldn’t have done this,” he said in a low voice.
I don’t care how tender he acted. He didn’t deserve an apology.
He pulled a bottle from his back pocket and tapped out three pills. He put them in my hand and pointed at the glass of water on the nightstand.
I eyed them carefully.
“Take them. It’s ibuprofen.”
I saw the markings on the pills and quickly swallowed the pills. He stuffed the extra pillow under my ankle before mumbling to himself all the way back downstairs.
* * * *
I woke to a throbbing pain and a late night sky. My stomach growled, except I didn’t want to eat anything. He might want to get even with me by poisoning me right back. However, I needed more ibuprofen. Jason must have heard my movements because he came in moments later with a sandwich and tea.
“I made you a peanut butter and honey sandwich. I even put food out for your prissy cat, but she’s hiding”
I took the items wordlessly. I would force myself to eat them and pray they weren’t tainted. He fished three ibuprofens from his pocket and handed them to me. I gladly swallowed them.
“It won’t be much longer. Conrad will be home soon.”
“How do you know?”
“Someone was here while I went out to look for you. You noticed the tracks, didn’t you?”
I ignored that. “What do you have planned?”
He sighed. I waited
“It’s very simple. We’ll wait for him to show up and I remove him from our lives, for good. Then we can be together, like before. No worries and no stress.”
He made it sound so simple—simple for a crazy man.
“How are you going to do that?”
He smiled and then reached down to his ankle. He had a gun.
It was a small revolver with six shots. He could’ve already shot me. Double Damn.
He put it back in his ankle holster.
My stomach changed its mind about the food.
“Eat your sandwich. You need your strength.”
I took a small bite and chewed as he watched me. I swallowed the vile mouthful. His hand reached up to trace my cheek and I forced myself not to flinch.
“Stop frowning, everything will work out in the end.”
Please, God.
He finally left me alone, after watching me eat half of the sandwich. I digested what he said. He planned to shoot Conrad. How else was he going to make him go away? This was much worse than some trip into insanity. This was a one way ticket to hell.
An hour later, I heard movement outside. Was Jason booby trapping the balcony? I heard a scratching noise and then the door slowly open.
“You okay up there?” Jason yelled up to me.
“Just trying to get comfortable. I’m fine.” It wasn’t him outside?
My eyes strained. It was Conrad sneaking in. God, I loved him.
He motioned for me to stay quiet. He saw my backpack by my propped up foot.
I mouthed, “Fell”, to him.
He nodded. He was an imposing dark form. He stepped toward me and I saw that the rain had stopped.
I opened my arms to him. He leaned over the bed to quickly kiss me. I stared into his eyes as I saw him reassessing his plan. It’d be hard to sneak me out when I could barely walk.
I made a gun out of my hands and pointed downstairs. I saw the whi
te of his eyes get bigger. I patted my ankle when I heard something else.
“Samantha, when were you going to tell me that our guest had arrived?”
Conrad and I stiffened.
“I believe she was trying to tell you about this.”
He turned the light on and the gun was pointed at us. Triple Damn.
“I am neither deaf nor stupid. I heard you climb up the balcony. Now, what to do with you.” He sighed and stood there for a moment.
“Are you going to shoot me while she’s watching?” Conrad asked.
Jason shook his head and said, “I think Samantha has been through enough, so I’ll save her that amount of sorrow. I have to handle this with some sensitivity.”
“Sensitivity? You kidnapped her twice and have us at gunpoint, and yet you care how she feels? She’s affected either way, don’t you think?”
“Yes, she’ll have some baggage, but she’ll be fine in a month or two.”
“What?” Conrad and I asked in unison.
“I know you guys don’t understand and that’s okay. I’m used to being misunderstood. Now, Conrad, let’s go downstairs and have a drink. We have some things to discuss.”
When Conrad didn’t move Jason waved the gun at his chest.
“You guys can talk up here. I’ll be quiet,” I said as I fought my fear that Conrad would never come back.
“No, this needs to be man to man. I’ll come get you in a little while. Stay here and rest your ankle. I’d hate for you to experience more pain. Come on, Conrad.”
Conrad stroked my fingers before stalking toward the door. Jason motioned for him to go first and then he followed as he kept the gun pointed at Conrad’s back.
I prayed this would not be the last time I saw Conrad alive.
I was not about to sit here and just wait for something to happen. I was going to get downstairs and somehow stop Jason from blowing a hole in Conrad.
I moved inch by inch until I was leaning off of the mattress. I worked between squeaky floor boards and the men’s shuffling downstairs. I could make out small phrases from the guys.
“You can’t keep acting this way, Strickland.”
I couldn’t make out Jason’s response.
I got myself to the floor and scooted to the stairs on all fours to see what was happening.
“She is mine. You’ve dirtied her long enough.”
“Dirtied her?”
“Yes, I’ve been listening in on your calls the last few days. I know what you want to do with her. If you had screwed her then I would’ve killed you way before now.”
“Something stopped you.”
Finally at the top of the stairs, I looked down. Jason was by the couch, with a drink in his hand. Conrad was standing by the bar with a drink at his fingertips. Jason took a big gulp of his and Conrad’s eyes floated to me for an instant. He knew I was there and just didn’t want to give it away to Jason.
“Let’s get down to business. I want you to evaporate from her life.”
“How do you mean for me to evaporate?”
“You’re an Indian who snuck in here like you snuck into our lives. Sneak your way back out or I will have to dispose of you myself.”
“What if I don’t want to sneak away? What are you prepared to do?”
“Simple. I’ll shoot you.”
How could he be so matter of fact about this? It was murder.
“Things are never that simple. Do you honestly expect her to stay with you after all of this? Be realistic.”
Jason’s face turned scarlet, but he took a moment to contain himself. I slid down the first flight, while Jason was distracted. He walked closer to Conrad, drink in hand. I saw the glint of the gun in Jason’s waistband.
“You have two simple choices. Leave by choice or by force.”
“Let me think about this for a minute.”
Jason laughed. “I’m feeling generous, so you can have that moment.”
I slipped down the rest of the steps and hugged the side of the wall while Conrad kept Jason’s eyes focused on him.
Conrad raised his glass to Jason.
“A toast. To the well loved, Samantha Malone.”
Jason raised his glass and said, “Yes, to Samantha and to the one who loves her best.”
They both downed their drinks. Then Conrad threw his empty glass at Jason’s head. Jason ducked. Conrad punched Jason is the jaw before Jason had a chance to recover. Jason went for the gun. Conrad drove himself into Jason abdomen. I jumped up and looked for something to smash over Jason’s head. There was a one foot tall marble statue on the bookcase. I grabbed it and waited as the guys grappled each other in front of me.
Conrad punched Jason in the face again. Jason was slammed against the corner by the bookcase. I took my chance and clobbered the statue on his head. He fell to my feet in a tangled heap.
I dropped the statue and jumped over Jason, right into Conrad’s arms. I didn’t care how bad I hurt, as long as I was in Conrad’s arms.
He was breathing heavily. Then he stiffened. There was a scuffle behind me. I turned my head to see Jason getting up. Blood streamed down the right side of his head where I’d conked him.
His hand went to his waistband, except the gun wasn’t there. Quickly scanning the floor I saw it beside the stairs, where I’d been standing earlier. I dove for it. Jason grabbed my injured ankle and I hit the bottom stair. Fireworks shot off in my head. I heard Conrad shout my name. I tried to move but nausea threatened me.
“Look what you made me do?” Jason howled.
I felt arms wrap around me. Conrad whispered into my ear as he pulled my head up. I was going to vomit. I swallowed it down, barely.
“Baby, are you okay?”
I heard Jason yell in rage, “Get your fucking hands off of her.”
Jason jumped on top of Conrad. I had to stop the spinning room so I could get the gun before Jason did. I focused my eyes on it. It was mere inches from my head. I stretched over and hoped one of the two images I saw was the correct one.
I felt the cold steel. I had gotten it.
I swallowed more hot bile as I lifted my head up. They were rolling around on top of each other by the bar, keeping each other away from me. I had to do something.
Jason slammed Conrad’s head into the corner of the bar molding. Conrad fell to the ground and didn’t move. Jason crawled over to me, putting his hand on my face.
Conrad slowly got up on his knees. Jason looked into my dazed eyes. Conrad smashed the bar stool onto Jason’s unsuspecting head.
Conrad pulled Jason off of me, before dumping him to the side and then leaned over me. He held me for a minute, tenderly. I heard sirens in the distance and tried to talk.
“Shhh. That’ll be your cavalry. Chastity called me after the phone calls she had with you two. I gave her my address and she came by here earlier to check on you. She saw Jason’s S.U.V. hidden by the shed and called me back. I told her to head next door before calling Montrose and wait for the police to arrive. Parker was headed here when he found out that I was already on my way here.”
I heard the barricade come down. Chastity yelled for me. I glanced over and saw that Jason still wasn’t moving. Had we killed him?
Conrad gently lifted me up into his arms and headed toward the couch where the paramedics could check me out, further away from Jason. I heard someone come in behind him, but was keeping my eyes closed. I couldn’t keep up with the movement in the room.
“Identify yourselves,” came an authoritative voice.
“Conrad Forsyth and Samantha Malone. Jason Strickland is the unconscious man. His victim, Samantha, needs medical attention.”
“We’ll take care of that. Medic, in here.”
Chastity ran past the officer at the door and crouched on the floor beside me.
“On my God, what did he do to you?”
“I’m okay, just please tell the room to quit spinning.”
She laughed as the tears poured down her pixie face. She hel
d my hand as the medic checked me out. Conrad and I were asked a stream of questions. I lost track of them all. I had a concussion and a badly sprained ankle. Conrad was bruised up a bit and possibly had a cracked rib.
An ambulance was taking me in for observation. Chastity was calling my parents and the rest of the girls. I saw Blake and Parker waiting outside when I was rolled out on the gurney. We all got silent as Jason was pulled out on one behind me.
He had severe head trauma and a broken eye socket. He was mumbling as they wheeled him past me and into his own ambulance. Montrose was standing by the back door of the vehicle as they slid him in.
“This one needs psychological testing. Don’t let him out of your sight. I’ll see if he can be committed.”
Montrose slammed the ambulance door shut. I jumped at the sound. The lights and noise were too much for me. I dry heaved. The medic gave me a shot as Chastity ran over to hold my hand. Where was Conrad? Then I closed my eyes and surrendered to the pain.
* * * *
I woke up in the hospital and felt something on my uninjured leg. I looked down. It was Conrad, asleep. He had pulled a chair to the bedside and fallen asleep while watching over me. My heart tightened.
I ran my hand over his dark hair. He stirred.
“Hello, you,” I whispered.
“Hi, gorgeous. How is your head? Do I need to call in a nurse?”
“I’m okay, dazed and numb. How are you?”
“I’m fine now that you’re awake.”
“What happened after I passed out?” I inquired.
“Well, they carted Nutso off and Montrose had him temporarily committed, pending the test results. He’s considered to be a danger to himself and others. He’s stitched up and heavily medicated down in the mental ward. I won’t leave you alone while he’s in the same building as you. Montrose bribed the nurse with a date if I could stay with you.”
I smirked and asked, “Has the doctor been in yet?”
“Yes, they've had you under observation for the concussion and your ankle will be fine in a week or two. You can use crutches at work, but driving might be an issue.”
“I can drive with the other foot.”
“Why don’t you let your white knight drive you around?” asked a voice by the open door.