by S Doyle
One of the waiters nodded and I rushed to him. “What did you see?”
“Just that this guy was leading this hot chick out the back door. She looked wasted and she was kind of draped on him. He said she needed some air. I thought ,man, that guy is seriously lucky to have scored her…”
I didn’t wait for any further information. I took off out the back door and looked around. I knew there was an access road that ran along the back of the property. A small narrow road, but wide enough to fit a car because, as Hank got older, he hadn’t liked to check out his cattle operation on horseback.
My problem was how the hell would I know which direction he would take her?
“Did you find her?”
I whirled around. It was Clayton.
“He’s got her. He would have taken off on the access road, but what direction?”
“North,” Clayton said. “That access road leads by my old home. Then it reconnects with Route 10 at a crossroads. If he was trying to get to the highway to get out of town, that’s the direction he would go.”
I didn’t hesitate. I made my way back through the house. Bea and Ronnie were both chasing me, asking me for answers, but I didn’t have any time to waste. “I’ll bring her back, I promise,” I shouted over my shoulder.
Then I was out front and heading to my truck. I might have frightened the guy directing the parking because I put the truck in Drive and veered off around the property, bouncing among the ruts and rocks until finally I hit the access road.
I was driving so fast I might have missed it, but my headlights lit up a sparkling shoe lying the middle of the road. I didn’t stop to pick it up, but at least now I knew I was headed in the right direction.
“Hold on, Brin. I’m coming.”
SABRINA
I was woozy, but even as I woke up I knew I was in trouble. I couldn’t see anything but I could hear the engine and feel the movement of the car. Trunk. I was in the trunk. Okay, that made sense. He would want me contained and out of sight. I had this hysterical thought—was that anyway to treat someone who had been prom queen?
Danny. I’d seen him at the party. He told me he was filling in for the drummer. Asked if I remembered him from high school. He handed me a glass of champagne and said I looked as if I needed it.
Which had probably been true, as the last thing I had been in the mood for was the party I’d planned. Summoning the strength and energy to smile all night just hadn’t been something I was up for. My goal was to do the rounds and then make an early exit. It was Ronnie and Clayton’s party, after all.
And they were so happy. So obviously in love. That, too, had been painful to watch, which made me an awful person, knowing how long it had taken both of them to get to that place.
I moved around in the trunk, realizing he’d probably spiked the champagne. I had only taken a few sips, but my head felt like it was filled with cotton balls.
Think, Brin. Clear your head and think. You’re in the trunk of car being taken to some place by Danny.
Danny, who had written all those horrible emails. Danny, who had killed that cat. Danny, who had been in Dallas. This whole time it had been him.
He’d said he loved me. I remembered that. Right before I got so dizzy. But this wasn’t love; this was a sickness.
I figured I had two choices. I could wait it out. See where he took me. Eventually he would have to stop for gas. Maybe if I continued to act like I was passed out I could take him by surprise.
Or I could get the hell away from him now. Eventually someone was going to realize I was missing. When that happened they would call Garrett.
God, just thinking his name hurt. But he would have to know what had happened. That if I was missing it was because I had finally been caught by my stalker. Or he would think I had run off as part of another stunt. That I was back in Hollywood, living it up.
I groaned. No one was coming to save me. I needed to do this myself. I could feel a draft on my feet. My one foot was actually bare. And I could see a patch of rust where there was a hole in the trunk. I could do that. Push my foot or hand out through that hole so anybody driving by would know someone was trapped in the trunk.
But I had no idea where we were. And it’s not like this was Dallas. Out here you could drive for hours without seeing another car.
Think, Sabrina! Think.
What about the trunk latch? If the car was so old there was actually a hole, maybe it would be easy to pop. If the trunk was open Danny would have to stop the car. Then, at least, I would have a chance to run from him.
I was fast. But without shoes? I didn’t know.
But maybe once I escaped he would freak out and just leave me. Or, if we were somewhere with other cars around, I could flag one down for help. Deciding it was my best option, I reached out, feeling the felt material of the trunk. I twisted around and kept searching until…there. That was the latch. With the only light coming from the hole in the trunk I couldn’t really see what I was doing so just played with it with my fingers. Seeing if I could find some trigger or something that would open it.
There was a flat piece of metal tucked behind another. If I could just turn that. I could feel it give under my fingers and…POP.
The trunk flew open, and just as expected, Danny had to come to a stop. As soon as the car slowed I didn’t hesitate. I hopped out of the trunk, took off my other shoe and started running as fast as I could.
“Help me!” I screamed, not having any sense of where we were. But as I was running I could see there was nothing around us. Just this narrow road and the flat Texas earth. I pushed myself harder and resisted every urge to turn around and see if he was following me, knowing that it would cost me time.
Only without shoes and running in this stupid dress, I could hear him catching up to me and then his arms were reaching for me. At least this time I could fight. I used the shoe I hadn’t realized I still had clutched in my hand and tried to stab at his face with the heel.
“Fuck, Sabrina, stop. Don’t do this! I love you! Aren’t you listening to me? I LOVE YOU!”
I didn’t listen to him. I wouldn’t listen to him. I broke away and started running again, but this time he tackled me to the ground. He was trying to get on top of me and somehow I knew that if I let him, it would be over. He would rape me and I didn’t think I could survive that.
I pushed at his face, and there was spit coming out of his mouth as he shouted at me to stop fighting him. But I didn’t and I wouldn’t. He was pushing his legs between mine. I heard the dress rip up the seam. I tried to scream again, but he covered my mouth and nose with his hand.
“Stop fighting me!”
I would soon if he didn’t take his hand away because I couldn’t breath now. I could see dark spots in front of my eyes.
And then, suddenly, his weight was being lifted from me. I didn’t know if he was getting up to undo his pants. I only knew I could breath again. Immediately I scrambled away from him, thinking I could run again. And that’s when I saw him.
Garrett.
He had grabbed Danny by his shirt. He turned him and I watched as Garrett raised his fist and brought it smashing down into Danny’s face. Once, twice and again until Danny collapsed at his feet.
I don’t know why. It was like I couldn’t think straight about anything. But seeing Garrett there, knowing what almost happened, I started to run again. I ran hard and fast. I didn’t even know what I was running from or where I was running to, I only knew I needed to run. Because that was the only way I could stop thinking and I didn’t want to think about any of this.
But just like last time, I wasn’t fast enough. Garrett had his arms around me and was picking me up. I struggled and fought him, too, but he was too damn strong.
“Sabrina, listen to me.”
“No! I will never listen to you again. Put me down! I hate you! I hate you!”
“Sabrina! Stop it. Stop it now!”
It kind of sucked that I was such a pushover for this
man, because when he raised his voice at me I was helpless to resist him. I stopped struggling, but he wouldn’t put me down. Just held me against his chest with his arms. Like I was some toy doll of his.
“Now listen to me. I have to take Danny into town so I can book him properly. You are going to sit quietly in my truck while I do that. Then I will take you back to The King’s Land and we will talk. Do you understand me?”
I understood he needed to arrest Danny. I understood I needed a ride back to the ranch.
“Where are we?” I asked. My voice was hoarse from shouting.
“We’re on the access road behind your property.”
“You can take me to the ranch, then. Drop me off first and then do whatever you need to do.”
He hesitated and I knew it was because I’d made sense. “I need you to make a statement.”
“That doesn’t have to be tonight. I’m the victim of a crime. I assume there would be some consideration for that. Sheriff?”
I was right again. And that meant I would only have to spend the time it took for him to drive me back to the ranch with him. Which was already too long.
He set me on the ground, but only so he could pick me up again in his arms.
“Put me down,” I said tightly.
“Not until I see what you did to your feet,” he said back, just as tightly. He eased me into the passenger seat of his truck and lifted my foot. He sucked in some air through his teeth and I could feel from the wetness coating them that my soles must be bleeding.
He pulled off his T-shirt and I forced myself to look away. I didn’t want to see his chest. I didn’t want to be reminded of the week when I had been able to touch it and kiss it and snuggle up against it.
Gently he used it to clean the bottom of my feet, then he wrapped the shirt around my right foot, which must have been in the worst shape. Then he tucked me into the car, pulled the seatbelt across me, and buckled me in like I was some kind of child. Once the buckle was in place he lowered his head and took in a deep breath. I had this instinctive urge to run my fingers through his hair and tell him that it was going to be okay.
That I was okay.
But he wasn’t mine to touch, so I didn’t.
Then he picked his head up, as if he’d remembered a particular nasty task he had to do. Which I supposed he had. He put Danny, who was still groggy, into the bed of his truck. He must have had some rope or something in the bed of the truck because I watched through the rearview mirror as Garrett appeared to tie Danny’s hands behind his back.
Then Garrett got into the truck, turned it around, and took me back home.
It was so freaking ironic that I let out this weird burst of laughter.
“What?”
I shook my head. “It’s just so funny that Danny is the only man who ever said he loved me.” I laughed again, but I could feel the tears behind them. I didn’t want to cry in front of Garrett, so I bit the bottom of my palm instead.
After a while I could see he was working out what he wanted to say to me.
“Brin…”
“Stop.” I cut him off. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. And tonight, of all nights, you have to do as I ask. I thought I was going to be raped. You stopped that, so thank you. But that’s all I have to say.”
“Brin,” he sighed. “I don’t want you to thank me.”
I didn’t say anything because there was nothing to say. We finished the ride in silence. By the time we got to the ranch most of the cars were gone. The party was apparently over.
“I hope I didn’t ruin the whole party,” I said to myself.
Garrett glared at me then, as he pulled the truck to a stop. “Stay there,” he snapped.
I knew he wanted to carry me into the house. My feet were throbbing enough that I also knew I had to let him. He opened my door and shifted his arms underneath me. Like I weighed nothing, he scooped me up against his naked chest.
It really wasn’t fair that he did that. That I could feel him again. Smell him again.
The front door opened and Ronnie came running out of the house. “I thought I heard a truck. Sabrina, oh, my God, are you okay? What did he do to you?”
“I’m fine. My feet got messed up from running.” I looked over and saw Clayton, Bea, and Madison waiting for Garrett to carry me inside.
Big, strong Clayton. “Clayton, can you carry me inside, please?”
I felt Garrett’s arms tighten around me. “I can carry you.”
“I would rather he did it,” I said without looking at him.
“Brin, this isn’t over.”
“Yes, it is. You’ll arrest Danny and it’s all over.”
Clayton walked up to us and reluctantly Garrett turned me over to him. “I mean it, Brin. This isn’t over. I’m dropping Danny off at the station and then I’ll be back.”
“You said I didn’t have to give a statement tonight.”
“I don’t mean for your damn statement. We need to talk. About us.”
“Okay, sure,” I said.
He looked startled. As if he hadn’t expected I would give in so quickly. But then he knew I was a sucker for him. Always had been.
He nodded. “Good. I’ll be back.”
Ronnie, Bea, and Madison flocked to me. Ronnie looked like she was torn between crying and yelling at me for getting into this mess in the first place. Clayton carried me to the couch and set me down.
“I’ll go get you some tea,” he said.
I nodded. My throat was parched.
“What can we do? What do you need?” Ronnie asked, kneeling down in front of me.
I thought about what Garrett had said. Thought about whatever it was he might want to say to me. He would be feeling guilty now that he knew the truth. That I hadn’t been lying and that the threat from Danny had been real.
He would need all the evidence. I would have to send him the emails and then he would get mad all over again because he would realize that I would never write that kind of filth as part of some dramatic event. He would be mad at me for not showing them to him, but I hadn’t wanted him to read all that stuff about me in that context.
Yes, he would feel guilty, and he would try to apologize, and it would hurt more than anything. Because the one thing he couldn’t apologize for was not loving me.
That was just a fact.
I looked at Madison. “If you were to represent me, could I give you my statement? Then you could give it to Garrett, couldn’t you?”
“It doesn’t really work that way. If it were to go trial you would still have to be a witness…”
“That’s fine. I just…I need to leave. Now. Before he comes back. If I tell you everything, will that be enough to press charges?”
“You don’t have to press charges,” Madison said. “He committed the crime of kidnapping. The county is going to press charges. So, yes, I guess as a witness you could give me your statement and I could present that to the sheriff’s department.”
I nodded and turned to Ronnie. “Then that’s what I want. I want to leave. Now.”
She sighed. “Honey, you’ve been through a terrible ordeal. We can make sure Garrett doesn’t see you tonight...”
“No. Ever. I can’t let him see me ever again. He’ll feel guilty. And I don’t want that and I’m not strong enough… You know that about me. You know I can’t be strong enough to do the right thing when it comes to him. I have to go now!”
“I’ll take her,” Bea said. “Besides it’s not the worst idea in the world. News got out fast when people realized what was happening. That you had been kidnapped. It’s already made the evening news. Which means more reporters are probably on their way now. You spill your beans to Madison. I’ll go pack you a bag. When that’s done, we’ll get in my car and I’ll take you to Dallas. Ronnie and Clayton can deal with Garrett and any reporters who show up.”
“You can stay in our penthouse,” Clayton said as he walked back into the living room carrying a mug of tea. He pushed
it into my hands and it was only then that I realized they were shaking.
I nodded and took a sip of tea. Then Madison went in search of a notepad and pencil. When she came back, she sat next to me on the couch and I told her everything.
19
GARRETT
The King’s Land
I looked at the clock on my dashboard and cursed. It was a little after one in the morning. I felt like a schmuck because I knew by now she was probably sleeping, but this was too big to let sit overnight. Brin needed to know how I felt about her. Now. Before another minute went by. I hit the button on the security intercom and was surprised when someone immediately opened the gate. I drove my truck up the driveway and hopped out.
Clayton and Ronnie were waiting for me at the front door. I was prepared for this. Prepared to battle my way through, if I had to, but I figured I would try reason and logic first.
“I know she’s had a rough night. I know you’ve probably got her tucked into bed. But I have to talk to her. I have to explain what I said. Why I said it. I was so…I was so freaking scared of what was happening that I…”
Ronnie held up her hand. “She’s gone, Garrett.”
I shook my head. “She said okay. When I said I would come back and we would talk, she said that was okay.”
Ronnie shrugged. “I guess she lied. Look, Garrett, I see that you’re upset but maybe this is for the best. You know Sabrina. She’s worn her heart on her sleeve for years when it comes to you, and you’ve never really felt the same way. I don’t know what happened between you that week she stayed with you, but if this is just about sex…”
I squatted down and grabbed my hair because I couldn’t believe she was saying these things.
“Just about sex,” I whispered. “You have no idea what she gave me. She gave me hope back.”
Slowly I stood back up again. “You have to tell me where she is.”
“I…geezus, Garrett. She told me what you said. You said you were never going to be the man to love her. What else does she need to know? That you feel bad for thinking she’s been lying to you this entire time?”