by SJD Peterson
It had been his fear of becoming like his daddy that had made him leave her, and his damn pride and self-loathing that had kept him away. Eight long years without her, and now she was with him again. He was finally getting a chance to live his life with the two people he loved the most, and he’d be damned if he’d let that bastard steal one more minute of his happiness away from him.
“Let’s go, Trev, time to bring Charlie home where she belongs.”
Kegan turned and walked back out of the door with renewed determination. Nothing would keep Charlie from him ever again.
Chapter Twenty-One
The way the sun shone through the exposed areas in the ceiling told Charlie it had to be around noon. How long had she been here—a day, two, more?
Where the hell were Trevor and Kegan? Why hadn’t they found her yet? She refused to let panic take over her again. She needed to keep a sharp head if she was going to figure out how to get out of here or at least how to stay alive until someone found her.
Drake had mentioned that he wasn’t going to hurt her unless Kegan didn’t pay, and knowing Kegan as well as she did, she had no doubt that he would do whatever it took to save her.
Charlie strained to hear any sounds of Drake nearby, but the room was eerily silent. She pulled at her restraints, hoped like hell that one of the bonds would break free, but they held strong.
A prickling sensation at Charlie’s wrist made her flinch. The tingle moved from her wrist toward her elbow, and her breath caught. Something was crawling on her, moving up her arm. She shifted her gaze to the side and caught sight of something large and black moving slowly toward her shoulder. Before she could think better of it, a scream from deep in her chest filled the air. The feelings of tiny legs across her flesh made her skin crawl.
A flash of pain in her mouth cut off her scream as shock and agony overwhelmed her. She blinked, focusing on a movement over her as another blow to her face made her eyes water and her vision blur. Charlie bit her tongue and held tight to whimpers as the blows continued to storm down on her.
“You fuckin’ bitch, I told you not to make a sound. Why the hell can’t you follow one simple command? You’re just like her, never could keep her fuckin’ mouth shut.”
Her? Slaps continued to rain down across Charlie’s face, neck and chest in a frenzy as he screamed obscenities.
The coppery tang of blood filled her mouth and warm wetness oozed from her nose and trickled down her cheek but she refused to give into the fear and pain. She kept her mouth clamped shut and her eyes squeezed tight. The pain was excruciating, and just when she thought she couldn’t bear another minute and she silently began to beg, the blows stopped as quickly as they had begun.
She didn’t dare open her eyes or unclench her jaw for fear that she wouldn’t be able to stop the scream lodged in her throat. She held her breath, willed the tears streaming down her face to stop and focused on the pain. It simmered deep inside her.
The hate she felt for Drake consumed her until her tears dried up. She’d be damned if this man would have the satisfaction of seeing her pain or her tears. She heard his footsteps pound across the floor as he left the room, muttering unidentifiable curses, and slammed the door.
Charlie let out the breath she’d been holding and parted her broken and battered lips to spit out the blood that had collected in her mouth and threatened to choke her.
She tried to open her eyes but the swelling made it impossible. She let the hate for Drake consume her mind. She focused on it, pushed back the pain.
How many times had Drake beaten Kegan? He’d always had bruises, a fat lip or a blackened eye. He wouldn’t ever admit that Drake had done it, but she had known the truth, known he was lying when he kept repeating that he’d fallen, a horse had kicked him, or that he’d been in a fight with one of the other boys in town. She had seen the shame and anger in his beautiful eyes when she’d forced him to look at her. How the hell had he survived this kind of treatment? How in the hell had he kept his big, soft, loving heart that he always showed her when he’d lived such a nightmare?
She let the sweet images of Kegan and Trevor wash over her. She could survive this—she wouldn’t let Drake take Kegan from her again. If…
No!
Not if, but when she got home, she would do everything in her power to make sure that the three of them would never have to endure the pain of their pasts ever again.
* * * *
“So you gonna tell me where we’re headed?” Trevor asked.
“Did you notice anything weird about that map?”
“Other than the fact there is a shitload of places we still have to check out? Not really, why? What did you see?”
Lord, let me be right about this. “I noticed that all the places we’ve checked out made big circles, most of the places were at least five to ten miles from our place.”
Trevor stared at him, confused. “What are you getting at?”
“Hold on.” Kegan swerved off the road onto an old service road rarely used anymore. It was hidden with overgrown weeds. “It hit me as I was staring at that map. I was so out of my head when we realized Charlie was gone that I hadn’t even given it any thought until this morning. There were no tracks in our driveway and since it had rained the night before…”
“Shit, he walked away!”
“That’s what I’m bettin’ on and I doubt anyone picked it up since he was taking Charlie against her will. If he drugged her like he did Cade, then he couldn’t very well hitch a ride with an unconscious woman over his shoulder.”
Trevor stared out of the window as they bumped along the deeply rutted road. He ran his hands through his hair and his knee started its irritating shaking thing.
“Trev, spit it out, what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking just because it wasn’t on the map, and most don’t know about it. I do. I’ve known about the old Conners’ shack for years and not once did I think about checking it out. Hell, it’s on our fucking property and Charlie could have been practically outside our front door all night!”
“Hey, stop that shit. I’m the one who flew out of the house half-cocked without a thought of what I was doing and didn’t pay attention to the help anyone was offering. I forced you to follow me around without any kind of plan.”
If anything had happened to Charlie, he knew that neither he nor Trevor would forgive themselves for running around like chickens with their heads cut off. She needed better than that. She deserved someone who was going to protect her, keep her safe, and he had failed to do that. He hadn’t given Trevor time to think before he’d forced the man to follow him. Now, just like when he’d left Charlie that day by the riverbed, he knew he would never be good enough for her.
Trevor reached in the glove box and grabbed the pistol they kept there that they used for coyotes and other vermin. He checked the clip before dropping one in the chamber.
“Stop up here before the next turn in the road. We’re almost to the Conners’ place, and if your old man is there, I don’t want him to hear us coming.”
Kegan pulled off the road as far as he could before cutting the engine. He reached behind the seat and grabbed his old shotgun, silent as he loaded it and put extra shells in his pockets. His gut told him this was the place Charlie had been taken to, but he was scared as shit of what he might find. He had seen the aftermath of what his old man could do to women, and his gut clenched when he thought of Charlie subjected to the man’s perversions.
He no longer trusted himself to do the right thing, especially not with every instinct within him screaming to storm the place. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice and looked to Trevor for guidance. “So how we gonna do this, Trev?”
“Give me a second to think. If we go in guns blazin’, we could end up hurting Charlie. If he sees us coming from too far off, he’ll use her as a shield against us.”
“Think we should call for backup?”
“Nah, not yet, we don’t even know if she’s h
ere. If not, then we’ve pulled a bunch of people from searching for no reason. Those trees there”—he pointed out of the window in the direction of a small grove of pines—“after those, the place is pretty wide open. If we move from the trees, he’ll spot us with no problem in the daylight.”
“Well I ain’t waiting until dark to check out this place, so I suggest you come up with a Plan B.”
It took all of his control to sit in the truck when he thought Charlie could be just over the hill from him. He forced himself to sit tight, his body shaking in protest with the surge of adrenaline that ran through him. It made him crazy wild when he thought his actions might have already caused her to suffer more than she should ever have to. Above all, it made him determined not to take any more chances no matter how bad his body fought him. The thought of Charlie suffering filled him with a violent rage that he kept at a simmer just below the surface.
“I ain’t suggesting we wait till dark. There’s a creek that’s south of the place. It runs pretty close to the back of the shack. The banks are fairly steep so it should hide me well enough, and you can cover me from the tree line there.”
“Fuck that! Oh hell no. There’s no way I’m letting you go in while I sit up here with my thumbs up my ass!”
Trevor turned to Kegan and looked him square in the eyes. “Listen, this makes the best sense. You’re a great shot. I can barely hit the broad side of a barn with that damn shotgun. I wouldn’t be able to protect you and Charlie if something went wrong, and how in the hell do you think I would be able to live with myself after that?”
Kegan leaned back, mulled over Trevor’s proposal. He was right, but dammit, Kegan didn’t have to like it. What he did have to do, though, was use his head for once and do the right thing for Charlie.
“All right, let’s do this. But I’m telling you right now, if I hear or see one thing that looks off, I’ll storm the damned place with or without your signal.”
Trevor nodded, and they opened their doors, stepped out, then walked to the front of the truck. They stared off toward the tree line. Trevor was probably thinking the same thing he was right then and more than likely saying a little prayer.
Kegan wasn’t much on prayers, but today he prayed that Charlie was okay and that they would get to her in time. His last prayer was for the three of them to finally live together without their pasts trying to destroy what they could have.
“Okay, Trev, let’s do this.”
Trevor hadn’t lied to Kegan about not being able to hit shit with the shotgun, but it hadn’t been his only reason for not wanting Kegan to be the one to go in. He could handle sacrificing himself to save Charlie, but he’d be damned if he would ever sacrifice Kegan.
The man had become everything to him since the day they had met, and Trevor owed him his life. For the first time, he felt complete and he owed his happiness to Kegan. They’d had a great life together, but there had always been something missing and he knew it was Charlie.
If he lost either of them, he would never be complete again and couldn’t bear the thought of living a single minute without them. He pushed that thought from his mind. Just the idea of it was enough to make him crumble, and right now, he needed to stay focused on freeing Charlie.
“You hunker down under those trees over there and set yourself up with a good shot at the cabin. Give me fifteen minutes to make my way around the back to get in position. If you hear my whistle or a gunshot, I want your ass down there pronto.” Trevor looked over at Kegan who stood rigid, staring off toward the trees.
Though Trevor knew his answer, he still needed to hear it. “Kegan, if I get a clean shot, I’m taking it, and it won’t be a warning shot. I won’t hesitate to take down your old man. He may be a sick fuck, but he is still your father. You gonna be okay with this?”
Kegan turned to him and the look in his eyes chilled Trevor to the bone. His lips turned up in a snarl. “I just hope I’m the one with the clean shot.”
* * * *
Charlie was still trying to get her breathing and heartbeat to slow down after the vicious attack when she heard Drake’s footsteps coming close again. She hadn’t made even the slightest whimper during the attack or after, so why the hell was he coming back? When the footsteps stopped, she knew he was close but her swollen eyes and the unshed tears blurred her vision. She couldn’t see him, only heard his harsh breathing.
“You’re damaged goods now,” Drake spat from beside her. “You ruined my chances of getting top dollar for you because you couldn’t keep your fuckin’ mouth shut.”
The impatient tap of Drake’s shoe against the floor and his harsh breathing were the only sounds in the room.
“How do you suppose I should be compensated for my loss?”
His footsteps moved closer. She felt his breath against her face, and the rancid scent of him made her sick to her stomach.
“Since you couldn’t do as you were told, don’t you think you owe me a little compensation for the money you just cost me?”
Charlie refused to acknowledge Drake, wouldn’t be baited to scream or beg. She held perfectly still, hardly breathing. The cold steel of a blade ran from her chin to her collarbone, but Charlie refused to flinch at the touch.
“Seein’ as you like to scream and I’m feelin’ in a generous mood today, I think I’ll give you what you want.”
He continued to move the blade back and forth across her neck. Drake’s breathing was harsher, but her nose had swelled and clogged with blood so his stench was more of a taste in the back of her painfully dry throat.
This isn’t happening. It’s not happening. Nothing more than a bad dream. Charlie chanted over and over in her head, desperate to block out reality. She kept up the mantra, willed it to be true as the straps of her halter dress were cut away and the material pushed down to expose her breasts.
This isn’t happening. It’s not happening. Nothing more than a bad dream. Cold steel brushed across one of her nipples. This isn’t real.
When teeth latched hard onto her nipple and a rough hand pinched painfully at the other, Charlie bit into her battered lip and tried to stop the sob that escaped her lips. This isn’t real.
She forced herself to focus on Kegan and Trevor. They would come for her. She couldn’t give into the fear or the pain—she just needed to hold on a bit longer. She refused to let her mind think about what was happening to her body or what would happen to it if they didn’t come.
No dammit, they’re coming. Kegan was her hero, she knew it in the depths of her soul. He always had been and she wouldn’t doubt him now.
“Let’s just see what I’m gettin’ for my generosity.”
The fabric of her dress was cut and her thong violently ripped away. Agony and despair simmering in her gut worked its way up her throat, adrenaline kicking in, demanding she fight, but she gave in to neither. She swallowed it down and continued her mantra, rising above her body. This isn’t happening. It’s not happening. Nothing more than a bad dream.
A stab of pain caught Charlie so off guard, she couldn’t stop the scream that rushed past her lips and continued once it was set free.
But her screams couldn’t drown out Drake’s hideous laughter.
* * * *
Keeping cover at the base of a large low-lying pine tree, eyes glued to the landscape before him, Kegan kept the shotgun aimed at the front door. It had only been a few minutes since he and Trevor had parted, but it felt as if it had been ages.
The waiting was going to kill him, sure as shit. He could see no movement from within the shack, yet somehow he knew Charlie was there, could feel her reaching out to him.
How in the hell could he just sit here and wait for Trevor’s signal when his body screamed at him to move. What if Trevor was wrong? What if while he was lying here like a fucking lump of coal, Charlie needed him? Even if his mind could assimilate that she was with his old man right now, he couldn’t accept that she was being subjected to his cruel abuse.
Trevor had to
be right. Kegan had to hold onto that. It was the only thing that kept him from storming the shack.
Kegan’s heart stopped dead in his chest as a blood-curdling scream filled the air.
Charlie.
Without a thought other than getting to her, he was on his feet and sprinting down the hill, legs and arms pumping, his mind begging his body to move faster. The scream continued and wrapped around him as he ran, giving him the strength to push his muscles harder, faster. Without slowing, Kegan crashed through the rotting door and stepped into a hellish nightmare.
In a split second, he took in his surroundings. There on the floor lay Charlie, naked and bound, her face bloody and swollen. Her mouth opened wide as she continued to scream. Drake was hunched over, one hand shoved between Charlie’s legs while the other held a knife against her throat.
Instantly, he crashed into Drake and the two of them flew against the wall. Kegan used his body to hold Drake against the floor, then grabbed his long graying hair in both hands and slammed the man’s face into the wooden floor beneath them.
Over and over, he banged Drake’s head. A red haze had taken over his thoughts and his body. The image of Charlie’s broken and bloody face fueled his rage into a burning inferno. The man beneath him went still, muscles relaxed and still Kegan continued to pound Drake against the floor. Seconds or minutes later—he wasn’t sure how long he continued to let his rage and pain consume him—Charlie’s whisper penetrated the haze.