Pushing his foot down harder on the gas pedal, he raced to head off Jamie on her way back from town.
Chapter Fourteen
It couldn’t be true, could it? The tears streamed down her face, blurring her vision, as she tried to keep the car on the road. Could all her pain be based on lies?
No, it couldn’t be true. Carrie was obviously just a woman with an axe to grind and she was her chosen target, though she had no idea why. One thing she did know, there was no way she could let her brother marry that evil bitch. She would tear their family apart.
Her tears were slowing now, their tracks cooling on her skin and, gradually, her breathing was returning to normal. She refused to believe the lies that woman told. One thing was for sure, though. She was going to make it her mission to get her out of their lives.
She’d gotten about halfway home when her car suddenly started making sputtering sounds. Looking down at the dash, she realized she was out of gas. In all the excitement she’d forgotten to fill up and it was now drawing the last drops from the bottom of her tank.
Dammit! Pulling over to the side of the road, she got out of the car and slammed the door shut. She was several miles from home still and, looking around, miles from anywhere else, it seemed. All around her were empty fields and nothing else. Looking up and down the road, she saw nothing but emptiness.
Checking her pockets, she realized with a sinking feeling that she didn’t have her cell phone. She’d left it charging in her room back at the house. What a horrible day! Realizing there was nothing she could do except wait, she sat on the trunk of her car so she could flag down anyone coming.
She didn’t have long to wait, and after a few minutes she saw a car approaching in the distance, a car she recognized. Waiting until it pulled up alongside, she explained that she was out of fuel and gratefully opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat.
There was no reason to think that she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life. Not yet anyway.
Chapter Fifteen
It was the first raindrop that woke her. It landed on her cheek before sliding sideways toward her ear. It was quickly followed by many more, splashing onto her face and closed eyelids, bringing her back to consciousness.
Bringing a hand to her face to wipe away the dampness she groaned. Oh, that hurt! Rolling onto her side, she opened her eyes and looked around. What the hell? The bed of leaves she had been lying on rustled as she brought herself to a sitting position, every part of her body crying out in pain. Looking down at herself, she saw her shirt was torn and covered in her own blood. Pushing herself to her knees, she looked around, panicked. Where was she?
The rain was coming down faster now, the sound of the drops hitting the trees all around her sounding like the dull roar of a train. Leaning on a nearby tree trunk for support, she eased herself to her feet. Her feet were bare and the debris on the forest floor dug into their soles. Looking down she saw that her legs were scraped and bloodied, though the blood had dried. Confused, she tentatively checked the rest of herself and saw that the damage wasn’t limited to her legs. Her arms and hands were in a similar state and, raising a hand to her face, it felt oddly swollen.
Despite this, it wasn’t her injuries that scared her. Or the fact that she seemed to be in the middle of nowhere with no idea where she was. No. What scared her was that she had no idea how she had got here or, in fact, any memory at all.
***
She lost track of time as she stumbled through the forest. The rain had soaked her clothing and it clung to her skin as she walked, her feet bleeding now, trying to find a road, a house, anything. She’d reached the point of exhaustion, close to giving up, when she felt a change in the surface below her feet. She was so tired she’d been walking with her eyes almost closed and hadn’t noticed the trees thinning until the only thing before her was road. Falling to her knees, she didn’t even have the strength to cry and she welcomed the darkness that came then.
***
The adventure continues in Naked Truth – coming soon!
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This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.
Best Dressed Lie (The Lies Series) Page 7