“Well, I ain’t into them golden showers, so I suppose I might let you go, for a price!” Colin leered at her, rubbing his hands on her breasts.
Summer immediately felt her stomach churn, and this time she couldn’t control it. Colin finally got some comeuppance, courtesy of Nathan’s delicious food.
“Stop this damn thing. I need to get out!” Colin cursed as Mickey drew to a halt on the back road.
Mickey jumped back into his door. Colin was already out, and Summer went to follow him.
“No you don’t!” Mickey grabbed her by the arm and got caught in the crossfire of her upset stomach.
“You fucking cow!” Mickey opened his door and leaped out, yelling for Harrison.
Summer scooted over to the driver’s seat and grabbed for the keys still in the ignition.
“Forget it!” Harrison’s big, hairy hand shot through the doorway and covered hers, squeezing her fingers tight.
Summer screamed. He hauled her out of the truck, and as he swung her around she grabbed the cell from his hip pocket and thrust it into her own, retching as she did so as to distract his attention.
“Don’t you fucking dare barf over me, bitch!” Harrison growled, grabbing her good arm.
“I can’t help it,” she protested as unwelcome tears streamed down her face. She was standing squarely in front of him on the grass verge, while the other two removed their shirts and used them to wipe their bodies clean.
Knowing she didn’t have much time she forced a gag and Harrison instinctively jumped backward, momentarily freeing her. She only needed that moment to run into the woodland at the side of the road.
“Get back here!” Harrison’s voice rang in her ears as she clutched the cell from her pocket and ran as fast as she could into the trees. She could hear them coming after her, but none of them seemed to have torches or weapons.
She hid amid some bushes when she was far enough away. Her heart pounded painfully against her ribs, and she thought she was about to be sick again. She took the cell and dialed 911.
“Police. I’m in some woods by the road. About half an hour from Medley. Off the main road. There’s three men coming. A white cottage was down the road, I think.” Her mind raced as she heard hefty footsteps coming her way. She stuffed the cell back in her pocket without switching it off and crouched into a tight ball between the bushes. She desperately wanted to get back to the road where she would have half a chance of a passing motorist seeing her, but she knew that these bastards would also see her.
“Which way?” Harrison’s gruff voice could be heard through his wheezing.
“She can’t have gone far. You better not tell Ross yet. He’ll skin us alive for this.” Colin panted as he barked his orders. He was good at that, at least.
“We haven’t got long.” Mickey caught up with them just a few feet from the bush where she was hiding.
Her heart was in her mouth, and she held her breath to try to keep quiet.
“Hello? Hello? Ma’am, are you there?” The operator’s muffled voice rose from her pocket, and she grabbed the phone to silence the call. Unfortunately her sudden movement caused a rustle of the nearby leaves.
“Did you hear something?” It was Mickey.
“Over there!” Colin’s menacing snarl told her he was well and truly onto her, and she froze with fear.
Summer’s eyes darted around for inspiration, and she found it in the form of a branch not far from where she hid.
“There!” Colin pointed to her just as she reached out, grabbed the wood, and sprang to her feet, tossing the cell deep into the bushes.
“Don’t you come near me!” Her voice was shrill as she waved the branch to and fro in front of her.
The three men leaped back, gawping at her. Then Colin took a step closer, and she swung the branch, walloping him across his outstretched arm.
“Bitch!” He grabbed his injured arm and rubbed it, scowling at her.
“You just keep away and no one gets hurt!” she yelled.
“The hell we will. Get her!” Colin sneered as he waved his good arm at the other two, and suddenly she felt strong hands grab her from behind while someone yanked the branch from her grasp.
“Get your filthy hands off me, motherfucker!” she screamed as Harrison held her tight then lifted her off the ground and brutally carried her back toward the truck.
“You’ll fucking pay for this, slut!” Colin promised her.
“Don’t you dare threaten me!” Summer didn’t know whether she was more angry or scared, but she yelled at him anyhow.
Colin jumped in next to her while Mickey got back in the driver’s seat and gunned the engine. This time Colin clamped her with his unforgiving grip as they set off back down the road, the men complaining about the stench of sick in the cab.
“He should be there by now,” Harrison moaned from the back of the truck. “Hey, where the fuck’s my phone?”
“She must have swiped it!” Colin held both her wrists in one of his hands while he checked her pockets. “What the hell have you done with it, slut?”
She shrugged. “Guess I dropped it.”
“Fucking hell! Do you have any idea what you’ve just done? Ross’ll be trying to contact us. He’ll be livid when he gets there and we’re not there.” Harrison hollered through the window.
“You’re dead. You do realize that, tramp?” Colin’s smarmy voice was like a coating of black oil, suffocatingly thick and cloaked in darkness.
Summer swallowed hard. She hoped she had stalled them long enough not to give them time for any of their “fun” if nothing else. She still had a little while before they reached Ross. Maybe it would be enough? She had to hope. This bastard had taken almost everything but not her will to live.
Colin gripped her tightly by both wrists now.
“You’re the one who’ll be dead when the cops catch up with you!” she snapped.
Colin sneered. “You honestly think they’ll find you out here? Forget it. It’s so not happening.”
An uneasy silence settled around them for the rest of the trip.
“We’re here.” Mickey shouted triumphantly about ten minutes later as he pulled off the track and parked behind a large black SUV.
“What the fuck time do you call this?” Ross’s voice was as coarse as sandpaper as he hollered at the men.
He was a tall guy and wore a dark suit. His pitted skin meant he wasn’t particularly good-looking, and he had short, sandy-colored hair and pale, mean eyes. He gave the impression of a smart businessman, but Summer knew the only business he was in was that of ruining lives.
Colin got out and yanked her from the cab of the truck.
“Fuck! What the hell’s that stink?” Ross jerked back as they stood before him. Mickey and Harrison joined them. “Fucking bitch barfed all over us,” Mickey grumbled.
“Must have been excited at seeing you again, boss,” Colin jeered.
Ross’s look of disgust vanished as he guffawed. “Well, is that a fact? And have you got what I want, whore?”
“Oh, she’s got it all right. Just not in money!” Colin snarled.
“No fucking money? What in hell do you think you’re doing, bitch? We’ve been counting on you to bring home the fucking bacon!”
“Think you’ll have to take it some other way,” Harrison sneered, leering at Summer.
“I guess I know a few people who might pay me for her time, but I’ll have to test her out myself first.” Ross’s laugh was evil, and Summer’s stomach churned again.
He put out his hand to her, and Colin briefly let her go. She instinctively went to run, but Ross grabbed her by her bad arm. She shrieked with agony as he hauled her like a sack of potatoes toward his car.
“Get off me, you bastard!” she howled at him while tears flooded her face.
A siren wailed from the main road, and her heart leaped. The car in front of the squad car was the one that really gave her hope. It was silver and glinted in the dim light of the moon.
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Nathan jumped out of the driver’s side, a gun in his hand. “Drop your damn weapons,” he yelled, inching toward them. Dominic was by his side, his gun aimed at the fuckers by the truck.
“What the…?” Ross immediately went to pull his gun from the holster under his arm. Summer felt him reach for it and knocked it clean out of his hand as he went to draw.
“Fuck!” the bastard cursed as it flew into the grass. He held her in front of him as he stretched to get it.
A shot was fired, and he slumped down to the ground, howling in agony. Blood poured from his hand where Nathan had shot him. Adrenaline flooded Summer’s veins, and she took one step closer and grabbed the gun before he had a chance to try again. She pointed it at Ross who lay on the ground staring up at her in disbelief.
“What the fuck?” Colin hollered, and she turned and pointed the gun at him instead. His glazed eyes were staring at her through the darkness, and she could see that his jaw had almost hit the ground. His hands were already behind his head, as Dominic had them all pinned helplessly against the truck.
Suddenly she now had a power over Colin that she’d only ever dreamed of. His life was in her hands—in her one finger. All the filthy, humiliating crap he’d put her through flashed in front of her eyes, like life to a dying man. Every time he had hurt her, frightened her, abused her. It was all there. It was all at the mercy of her finger. That man—that animal—would be gone forever. The relief swept through her at the very thought, and she narrowed her eyes, savoring the sensation. Her finger teased the trigger, her adrenaline running high.
“It’s all right, sugar.” A soft voice was in her ear, and a warm hand smothered hers. “Not like this.”
As if in a daze, she looked up into Nathan’s big, brown eyes. She was aware of him murmuring to her, and she slowly let him take the gun from her hand and give it to a nearby police officer. Then his warm arms enveloped her, and she sighed as his scent and his body wrapped her in a cloak of safety.
“You do know she’s a whore, don’t you?” Colin’s gravelly voice scraped through her hazy thoughts.
“Shut it, scumbag!”
Summer quickly turned her head in shock. She had never heard Dominic use foul language before, although he had accused someone of talking bullshit in the MD's office that time. A cop was cuffing Colin as he tried to taunt them, and Dominic thumped him in the mouth. Colin howled. Summer looked back up at Nathan, who was smiling. She was vaguely aware of the cops removing Ross from the ground nearby as a police van arrived to cart them all away.
“They traced you by the cell phone,” Nathan murmured in her ear. “They were already partway here after your bank card was used at the ATM.”
Summer smiled. She felt as though everything was going on around her in slow motion, and she had a hard job understanding what was happening, but the important thing was that Nathan was here and she was safe.
“Miss Marsden, do you think you could show us where the cell phone is now? We think it might hold some interesting information,” a cop was asking her.
She turned around to face him and had to grab Nathan as her head spun. “Umm, yeah,” she mumbled.
Nathan was holding her tight, and she took a second to steady herself. Her head swam, and she still felt a little sick. Sick? Damn! She suddenly remembered that she had vomited on herself as well as those bastards, and here she was hugging Nathan! She tried to pull away from him, but he held her firmly.
“It’s all right,” he assured her calmly.
“But, I was sick. I stink!” she whispered.
Nathan chuckled and held her even tighter. “It doesn’t matter. You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”
Summer felt her heart melt, and her body sank into him.
“I’ll come with you,” Nathan told the police officer and tossed his keys over to Dominic.
She was curled up safely in Nathan’s arms as the policeman drove back down the road. She could just make out the area where the truck had pulled over for the men to get cleaned up.
“It’s through there,” she pointed as they parked.
“Can you show us exactly where, baby?” Nathan kissed her head.
“Yeah. I know where it was. There’s a small clump of bushes. I was hiding there and…”
“Shh, it’s all right.”
Nathan had obviously noticed the tears that ran down her cheeks at the memory. Summer cleared her throat and climbed out of the car. She led them over to where she had thrown the cell. A shiver ran down her spine as she recalled the terror she had felt while crouched here just a short while earlier. “I threw it as hard as I could into the middle, so they wouldn’t find it,” she explained.
One of the officers retrieved the phone, still switched on. “I’m sure this will hold enough evidence not only to convict them but a few more of the gang as well. This will give us what we need to detain them all for quite a while.” The officer grinned as he held the car door open for her to climb in.
“We’ll stop by the emergency room and get you checked out before you go home,” he told her as she snuggled into Nathan’s side with a yawn.
CHAPTER NINE
Nathan waited anxiously for Summer to wake up. They had taken her to trauma to remove all the glass still left in her arm. The poor girl must have been in agony. She had a thick bandage on her arm. He’d managed to doze for a while, but the hospital chair wasn’t very comfy and he longed to be back in his own bed, but only with Summer.
“Hey, sleepyhead. How’re you feeling?” He smiled as he watched those massive green eyes slowly open, and she stared around the room.
“OK, I think.” Her voice was small, and she looked bewildered.
“You’re at the hospital. Some glass was still stuck in your arm, and they had to put you under to get it out. They’ll check on you in a while and let you come home if you’re up to it.” He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the cheek, noticing how her face fell at the mention of going home. He guessed what she was worried about.
“Dominic’s arranging to have all your stuff brought over to my place. You’ll stay with me for a while. You can decide what to do about your place later, but I’m not having you living there while it’s not secure.” He studied her face for a reaction, knowing this could go one of two ways. She’d either be grateful or pissed.
She smiled, and he sighed with relief.
“OK, sir,” she said with a cheeky grin.
She was learning.
The doctor came in just then, so Nathan left the room while he checked her over.
“She might need this.” The nurse came over and handed him a leaflet while he waited in the corridor.
It was information about counseling. Nathan thanked her, feeling a little uneasy. She’d been through a heck of a lot and having a professional to talk to might help, but he knew Summer would be reluctant. Hell, she hadn’t told him or Dominic about her past, and he still had to find out what that asshole was inferring when he shouted all that shit about her being a whore. There was no way that was true. And was that what he was referring to in that note when he threatened to tell her boss about her?
“Mr. Faulkner? You can take her home now. The nurse will give you some painkillers for her, but other than that she just needs to take things easy for a while.”
Nathan felt himself relax as he opened the door. Summer was sitting up in the bed with a worried expression. She wore a hospital gown, and he guessed right away what she was thinking. He took off his shirt and handed it to her.
“You’d best wear this for a while.” He couldn’t help grinning as he watched her take in his naked chest. He felt a warm glow inside and automatically cocked an eyebrow at her, questioningly. “Your clothes are covered in vomit.”
Poor Summer looked mortified. Her big eyes darted away from him, and a deep chuckle escaped his throat.
“Um, I’m sorry,” she mumbled, taking the shirt from him.
“Hey, I believe it’s what got you out of this mess.”
She nodded, still diverting her eyes from his face.
“Want some help getting changed?”
She shook her head. “I can manage.”
Nathan couldn’t help noticing that she looked sad. She was probably recalling all that shit.
“Mr. Faulkner, here’s the meds she needs and her things.” A nurse handed him a couple of bags.
“Here, let me help you, dear.” She immediately went over to Summer and helped her out of her gown.
Damn, he’d wanted to do that. Nathan decided to do the gentlemanly thing and wait out in the corridor.
“Everything OK?” Dominic arrived while he was staring out the window.
“Hey, buddy. Yeah, I’m taking her home now.”
“Great. I’ve brought your car. Heaven’s on her way over with mine.” Dominic looked cheerful and very casual in his jeans and T-shirt. He tossed him the keys.
“Heaven?” Nathan smirked.
“Yeah. I thought it would be good to get help from a woman when I went to pack up Summer’s stuff. Heaven was glad to help.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Nathan grinned, admiring his friend’s ability to keep his expressionless demeanor.
Dominic’s cell beeped, and he went to answer it. “Heaven’s here. She’s bringing some clothes for Summer.”
“That’s real thoughtful,” Nathan managed. He’d kinda liked the idea of her wearing his shirt.
“Hey guys.” Heaven smiled as she rushed over to them. “How is she?” Nathan grinned, noticing her eyes go a little wider when she saw he wasn’t wearing a shirt.
“Good timing. She’s going home.” Dominic smiled at her. Huh, that was strange. When this was all settled down, he’d have to rib his buddy a little about that.
“Shall I take these in?” Heaven had a bright smile as she held up a bag.
Nathan nodded, a little reluctantly. He had been looking forward to seeing Summer in nothing but a shirt—his shirt.
He could hear excited chatter as Heaven entered the little side room and smiled to himself. Heaven would be a good friend for Summer. The redhead was a little older than her and was a real good sub. Summer could learn a lot from her. His mind wandered a little at the thought of Summer’s submissive nature; she had been wonderful in the bedroom, but keeping secrets and getting caught up in all this bullshit was certainly not submissive behavior. He’d have to have words with her about that.
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