by Julia Goda
“So if I answer you’re questions you won’t arrest me?”
“Jesus fucking Christ, Gina. Just agree to answer his fucking questions!” Rick shouted.
“Bill,” Cal growled at the same time. Stevens held up his hand without taking his eyes off Gina and they both shut up.
“I can’t guarantee I won’t arrest you, Miss Summers. If your answers tell me that you are in any way involved I won’t have any other choice but to take you in.” Gina’s eyes widened with worry and tension, giving away her involvement.
Cal started to see red. If the police weren’t here he would grab that bitch and shake her until she gave him the answers he needed to get to his woman. Bane grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the temptation.
“Fuck, Gina. What have you done?” Rick saw it, too. He knew his sister was involved. His voice was filled with shock and disbelief and fear.
“Miss Summers,” Stevens prompted.
“I…I…she…” Gina stuttered.
“Do you know a man named Kyle Parker?” Stevens asked. Gina looked at him.
“Yes,” she said. She had collected herself and looked at Stevens arrogantly. “He is my boyfriend.”
“Are you aware that he is an ex-convict who spent years in jail for assault and battery and involuntary man-slaughter?”
“That’s not true. That bitch set him up. He didn’t do it,” Gina snapped.
“Fucking hell,” Bane muttered angrily.
“Have you talked to him today, seen him?” Stevens continued.
“Yes, of course I have. We talk every day.”
“Do you know if he is in any way involved in the kidnapping of Ivey Jones?”
She hesitated, then gave a quick, courtly nod. “Fuck!” Rick exploded. Gina’s eyes went back to her brother, her arrogance cracking.
“How do you know he is involved?”
“He…he told me.”
“What did he tell you?” She looked back at the lieutenant.
“He told me that she lied to the police and set him up. He said she led him on and then used him and lied to him to get his money. That he was innocent and never touched her. That she needed to be taught a lesson before she ruined someone else’s life.” Her eyes came to Cal and she said, “I did it to protect you. She lied to you and manipulated you into dating her. She would have taken all your money and sent you to jail with her lies. I couldn’t let her do that to you.”
“Fucking hell,” Bane again growled.
“How can you be so fucking stupid,” Rick muttered in shock.
“Where is she?” Cal hissed. Gina stayed silent. “WHERE THE FUCK DID HE TAKE HER?” He shouted.
Gina flinched, but said nothing.
“Gina, I have seen Ivey’s medical file. There are pictures of her injuries after Parker beat the shit out of her; x-rays of her broken bones; tests; EMT reports; he beat her so bad that she lost the baby she was carrying and had to stay in the hospital for a week. If you know where he took her you need to tell us now. If you don’t and she is hurt in any way or, heaven forbid, dead you’ll go to jail for conspiracy to commit murder, no matter you knew that was his plan or not,” Bane ground out angrily.
Gina’s eyes had widened as she kept shaking her head.
“Gina, for Christ’s sake! Tell them!” Rick yelled.
“The Miller’s hunting cabin,” she whispered.
“Officer Malone, officer Samuels, take Miss Summers into custody. Everyone else, let’s go get Miss Jones,” Stevens barked, then jogged to the squad car. Cal and Bane were already in Bane’s truck.
*****
Fifteen minutes later they were driving through the woods to Bob Miller’s hunting cabin. Every local knew about the cabin. Its location of being close to town but far enough out to hunt the big game attracted a lot of hunters and tourists, who wanted to experience the Rocky Mountains like locals. Bob was making a whack renting it out almost year-round.
They were halfway there. Fifteen more minutes and he would be with his woman. By now, that asshole had had Ivey for two hours. A lot can happen in two hours in the hands of a violent piece of shit like Kyle Parker. Cal couldn’t think about what he was doing to his woman right this second. If he did he would lose control. And once he lost hold on his control he couldn’t promise not to kill anyone.
Fifteen more minutes.
All Cal could do was keep hoping that they wouldn’t be too late.
Ivey
I was fighting like I had never before fought in my life.
I was using everything I had.
My fists.
My nails.
My teeth.
My knees.
Everything.
And I was getting somewhere.
Kyle had me pinned against the wall with his full body weight against mine. My arms were trapped at my sides, so that I had no chance of moving. I could feel his excitement against my butt and bile rose in my throat.
The panic was threatening to consume me.
He would kill me.
Rape me and kill me.
And there was nothing I could do.
He had me pinned.
I knew it was over.
He was winning.
No! No! No! No! No!
Then my body took over and the self-defense lessons I had taken after Kyle attacked me ten years ago kicked in. I smashed the back of my head into his nose. Pain so strong I was seeing stars exploding behind my eyelids seared through the back of my head. But I had to hold on. I would not pass out. Kyle stumbled back, holding his nose, effectively releasing his hold on me. I turned around and faced him. Blood was running through his fingers down his chin and neck. He looked stunned. That was my opening.
I didn’t think.
Instinct was taking over.
Just like my trainer had said it would.
Before Kyle could recover, I shoved my shoulder into his stomach and pushed. Pushed hard, using my whole body until he hit the kitchen counter. He cried out I pain.
I raised my knee and rammed it into his balls over and over again until his legs gave out and he landed on his knees.
I heard nothing.
Thought nothing.
Saw nothing.
All I did was act.
I kept at his balls. Kicked them again and again and again until he curled up into a ball to protect himself.
I switched to his ribs. Kicked them again and again and again until my legs hurt from the exhaustion.
Then I was on him. I took his head and slammed it against the floor over and over and over again.
There was blood everywhere.
On the floor.
On my clothes.
Covering my hands.
Splattering my face.
I didn’t care.
I was breathing so hard my lungs were hurting, but I just kept going. Kyle had stopped moving, but there was no rational thought left in me. I was fighting the devil that had threatened to destroy my life yet again.
But not this time.
This time he would go back to hell where he belonged without taking a piece of me with him.
I held his head in my hand, ready to smash it into the floor again when something pulled off of Kyle’s body.
I felt arms around me, a hard chest pressing into my back.
My father.
He had heard Kyle’s pained moans and had come in to check.
I kept on fighting.
Kicking, hitting, scratching, screaming.
They would not win.
They would not! They would not! They would not!
I kicked and hit and scratched and screamed until the voice at my ear penetrated.
It wasn’t my father’s voice.
It was Cal’s.
“It’s me, baby. You’re safe. Shh, calm down. It’s me. You’re safe.”
I collapsed into his arms.
The fight left me and I started sobbing.
Cal turned me in his arms, and I grabbed onto him with
all four limbs, holding on desperately as I shoved my face into his neck. Big violent sobs kept racking my body as he carried me out of the cabin and away from Kyle.
*****
I was still in Cal’s arms half an hour later. He was sitting in the back of an SUV that I didn’t recognize, me sideways in his lap, shaking, holding on for dear life. My face was still buried in his neck, though my sobs had almost completely stopped and my tears had slowed down. Cal was running one of his hands up and down my back soothingly, his other hand on my cheek wiping away the tears.
“You’re here,” I whispered.
“Yeah, baby. I’m here.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” I kept whispering.
“Hey, now. There’s nothing for you to be sorry about, baby,” Cal murmured calmly. We sat in silence again for a few minutes. Then Cal tentatively leaned back and pulled my face out of his neck. He roamed his eyes over my face and his jaw got hard at what he saw. I could only imagine what I looked like. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, every inch of my face hurt.
There was blood dried on my lip from Kyle backhanding and punching me back at my house. I could feel a bruise form on my temple and other places on my face and my ribs were hurting from all the sobbing.
“We need to get you seen to, baby.” Cal said softly.
He was probably right, but I didn’t want to leave the safety of his arms to do that just yet. There was an ambulance parked only a few feet away that had arrived a few minutes ago. The EMT had approached us when they first got here, but Cal had sent them away. Now I could see that they were standing by the side of the police car, talking to the cops, their concerned eyes flicking my way every few seconds, their expressions hard.
I knew all of them of course. Living in a small town like Cedar Creek, that was unavoidable. Which meant they would all soon know everything about me. If they didn’t already. Though right now I couldn’t care less.
I guess finding yourself in a position where you have to fight for your life changes your priorities.
Thinking of fighting Kyle and all that had happened in the last hour, I looked down at myself and saw that I was covered in blood. It was on my hands, my neck, my arms, my shirt, and my jeans. Some of it was beginning to dry and stuck to my skin. It felt claustrophobic.
“Cal,” I whispered again, in horror this time.
He pulled me back against his chest. “Shh, baby, it’s okay. We’ll get you cleaned up.”
“It’s not my blood,” I kept whispering.
Cal’s arms around me tightened when he said, “I know, baby.”
“Is he…did I… is he…dead?” I stuttered, not sure I wanted to know the answer, but knowing I had to find out. Cal kept holding me tight.
“No, baby. He isn’t dead. You got him good, but he isn’t dead.” Okay, that was at least something. I wasn’t sure if I was able to handle killing someone with my bare hands. Even if it had been self-defense and that someone had tried to rape and if not kill me after, had at least planned and threatened to beat the shit out of me. I took a deep shuddering breath as I pressed my body closer into Cal’s and his arms around me tightened even more, cocooning me in his warmth and making me feel safe again.
Safe enough that I started talking in a quiet voice.
“He was going to rape me. Said that I was his and he needed to remind me of that fact. Needed to reclaim me. My dad…” I swallowed, then continued on a whisper, “my dad didn’t care. He just told him to let him know when he was done, I guess so he could beat me after, I don’t know.” I stopped and realized that Cal’s body was rock solid under mine, and the air in the SUV had turned heavy, which made my body tense as well. It took him a few moments, but Cal relaxed slowly, making me relax with him.
“I’m so proud of you, baby,” he whispered against the top of my head. “So fucking proud of you. You fought him. You didn’t give up. You didn’t let him win. Thank you, baby, for not giving up. Thank you for keeping yourself alive.” I lifted my eyes to Cal’s.
“I couldn’t. If he had touched me—” I let that sentence hang as an involuntary shudder ran through me. I couldn’t even think about everything that could have happened. Anguish flashed through Cal’s eyes, then disappeared and was replaced by gentleness.
“I know, baby. I know.” He kissed my forehead once and looked back into my eyes.
“You ready to let them see to you and talk to the cops?” I wasn’t. But I knew I had to be.
“You’ll stay with me?” I asked hopefully.
“Always, baby,” Cal replied instantly and firmly.
“Then I’m ready,” I said on a small, shaky smile that I didn’t really mean, but earned me a proud smile in return.
Epilogue
I was rounding the corner into the living room and stopped to watch. No matter how many times I had the pleasure to watch my step-son who was like a son to me with my baby daughter without him knowing I was watching—though he was never embarrassed to be sweet with her, no matter if people were around to see it—I had to stop and drink in the sheer beauty of it.
They were sprawled out on the carpet in front of the fireplace. Our living room was much bigger now than it used to be. Shortly after Cal and Tommy had moved in with me, we had decided to build an addition to the house, so that Tommy could again have his own bedroom/bathroom suite on the main floor. We also added a game room and bought a new pool table and made the living room twice its former size. It was gorgeous. I had been in love with my house before, but now it was simply breathtaking. With the bigger living room came a new fireplace, and Cal had given me what he knew I missed about being in his house, which was the stone front all the way up to the ceiling as well as floor to ceiling windows to enjoy the view. The addition downstairs also meant an addition upstairs that added a new fabulous en-suite bathroom to the master—I didn’t have one before, since my old beauty was really old from before people had en-suite bathrooms—which had made me really happy, since running across the hall to use the facilities was getting old, as well as two more bedrooms that Cal said we would be filling with our sons and daughters. So now the big old farmhouse I had fallen in love with at first sight, was our massive old farmhouse that I knew I would grow old in with the man I loved and that we would do our damned best to fill with beauty and laughter.
Or more beauty and laughter.
And that’s exactly the beauty I was watching lying on the carpet right now. My beautiful eleven-month-old daughter Sophie was sitting on her fat diaper bum between Tommy, who was on his back, and Stella, who was on her stomach. One of her tiny hands was fisted in Stella’s fur at the gruff of her neck, her other tiny hand was resting on Tommy’s thigh. Her eyes were big and round and on her big brother as she was concentrating and listening to him reading her a story. Tommy’s hand that was not holding the book was playing with Sophie’s little toes on one foot.
This happened a lot.
Both Tommy and Stella had claimed Sophie as theirs almost the second she had left my womb. I didn’t mind this, since it meant that my daughter was surrounded by people—and animals—who loved her and doted on her. And yes, a dog can definitely dote on a baby. No joke. Stella was Sophie’s shadow. Wherever Sophie was, Stella was—and vice versa. When Tommy was home, it was the same. Wherever Sophie was, Tommy was—and vice versa. It was rare to not see the three of them sitting or lying down together somewhere in the house, enjoying each other’s company in a quiet way. Cal grumbled about this a lot, especially when he wanted to spend a few quiet moments alone with his daughter, these moments turning out to be only a few seconds before either Tommy or Stella or both interrupted them. This always made me giggle, and since it happened a lot, I giggled a lot. In fact, my life was filled with so much beauty and I was so happy that I laughed and giggled a lot in general.
During the early days and weeks and months after the kidnapping, both Bennett males had stayed close, keeping an eye on me, a finger on my pulse. They were reassuring me that I wasn’t
alone and could always count on them to be there for me, just as much as they were reassuring themselves that I was still there, alive and safe and well. It was sweet to say the least and made me feel loved and cherished and protected.
After I had talked to the police and the EMT had checked me that day at the cabin, Cal had taken me to the hospital to have x-rays done.
“As a precaution,” John, one of the EMTs, had said, since they were concerned about that blow to my temple. It turned out to be a mild concussion, and Cal had to wake me up several times throughout that first night to make sure that it wasn’t turning into something worse. Other than that I had three bruised ribs, a cut lip and a black eye. No broken bones.
Betty had picked up Tommy from school while Cal and I had been at the hospital and had taken him to Lola’s where we were going to pick him up. After we went back to Cal’s house, where I could shower and put on a new change of clothes. The nurse at the hospital had given me scrubs to change into after I had frantically tried to rip off all my clothes. But I had needed a shower to get rid of all the blood that covered my skin.
When he first saw me Tommy’s jaw tightened and his face got hard. Tears had pooled in his eyes. Then he walked up to me, took my hand, gave it a tight squeeze before he let it go, and went straight behind the counter to make sure I got my coffee and a big chocolate chip cookie. Watching him take care of me in his own way brought tears to my own eyes, and I had to take a deep breath to keep them from spilling over.
That effort was wasted when I heard Betty murmur, “My boy. Recognizes the light when he sees it and moves to take care of it.” Her eyes slid from her grandson to me and she winked, hence me loosing the battle with my tears and ending up in another crying fit.
We didn’t go back to my house for almost two weeks. First, it was Thanksgiving and Cal’s family descended on us, which kept my mind busy for a few days. When Cal had brought up the move that weekend, though, I had balked at going back, afraid I would see Kyle in every corner of my house.
“No, Cal. I can’t,” I whispered in fear, my eyes wide.