Hunter: A Reed Security Romance

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  When he pulled out my chair for me, I took it and smiled up at him. He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the lips that felt more like kissing an eel and not because it was electric. He sat across from me and poured some white wine in the wine glasses, grinning as if this was the most special night of our lives. I quickly picked up my glass and guzzled half of it, needing some liquid courage. It went right to my head and made me feel dizzy. I wasn’t a lightweight, but I had no idea how long it had been since my last meal. I needed some food in my stomach now.

  “This all looks so delicious. How long did it take you to prepare it?”

  “Oh, a few hours. The chicken has been in since we arrived, but the rest I did in just the last hour or so.”

  “Well, it smells wonderful.”

  “Let me dish out a plate for you.”

  “Thank you,” I smiled. This was by far the weirdest moment of my life. I was pretending to be on some kind of date with a man who had kidnapped me, all so I could somehow gain the upper hand and get away from him.

  He set my plate down in front of me and I waited as he dished out his own. It made me feel better when he took the first bite. I hesitantly took my own and sighed at how good it tasted. The man may be insane, but he was a hell of a cook. “Hmmm. This is delicious.”

  “I’ve been practicing since our date.”

  I looked up at him, a little nervous that I was the one being played. “You have?”

  “Yes. When I sobered up and realized that the reason you were so upset was because I had fed you food you didn’t like, I went home and started learning to cook. I wanted our next date to be perfect and so far it is.”

  Gag me now. This guy was saying all the right things and doing all the right things, but he was off his fucking rocker.

  “And it’s all the more special because you did that for me,” I said sweetly.

  “Darling, I’m learning that there’s not a lot I wouldn’t do for you. I would move heaven and earth to make you happy.”

  I tried my best to keep a smile on my face as I shoved more food into my mouth. I didn’t know what to say to that and frankly, if I had to hear too much more of his bullshit, I might throw up my food.

  “So, where are we?” I asked.

  “In the mountains.”

  “Yes, I realized that when I woke up and saw the mountains outside. I was hoping you could give me some more insight. Maybe we could put it on our list of places to come back to someday.”

  His face lit up and he took a sip of wine. “I like the sound of that.”

  “Do we have any neighbors out here?”

  “Not at this time of year. I thought it would be best to come out now when we wouldn’t be disturbed.”

  An evil grin split my lips. “I like the way you think.”

  What I had in store for him, I didn’t want anyone coming and ruining my fun. And I would have fun. I would take great pleasure in what I wanted to do to this man. The only thing I had to do was block Hunter from my mind because if I thought of him, it would feel like a betrayal.

  “How long will we be staying out here?”

  “That depends on you. If you’d like to stay for a few weeks, we can, but I know that you have a job to get back to.”

  “Yes, the students do depend on me.”

  At least I knew that he was planning to take me home, as long as he felt I was amenable to his plan. But I had no intention of sticking around and sleeping with him. I would be long gone before he had the opportunity to take things that far.

  “Well, then we’ll spend the weekend and head back home on Sunday.”

  “Perfect,” I smiled as I took another sip of wine.

  We finished our dinners in relative silence and then I let out a yawn, trying to signal that I was ready for bed. It was time to put my plan in place.

  “Ready for bed, darling?”

  “Definitely,” I smiled. He took my hand as I stood from my chair and led me up the stairs. My heart pounded in my chest and I swallowed back the fear of what would happen if I couldn’t convince him to do as I wanted. I had to go through with this. It was my only chance at escape. I would think about the rest later.

  He led me into the bedroom and I pulled at his hand with a small smile. “I was thinking that maybe we could do something that I’ve been fantasizing about.”

  His lips turned up in an excited grin. “Why don’t you tell me what you had in mind.”

  I put my lips near his ear, my hand brushing down the front of his chest as I let my breath huff out against his skin. “I want to tie you down and lick every inch of your body.” I could feel him shudder against me, so I continued. “I want to know what it’s like to ride you, knowing that you want to touch me but you can’t.”

  I pulled back and looked into his eyes. I saw desire and need and I hoped that I hadn’t just pushed too far. “I have just the thing,” he said as he walked over to his suitcase. He dug through an outer pocket and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “Will these do?”

  “That’s perfect,” I said, walking over to him and slipping them out of his grasp. “Why don’t you make yourself comfortable?”

  I thought briefly of all the ways I could leave him handcuffed to the bed, but I decided that instead of humiliating him, I just wanted to get out of here. I didn’t want to see him naked or let him think that I was actually going to go through with it. I just wanted to be back in Hunter’s arms.

  He sat back on the bed and I straddled his lap, letting my breasts hang in his face. The silky material did very little to cover me and I could see that he wanted more. I gently took his wrist and put one handcuff around it, locking it in place. I was almost there, almost free. I just had to get the other handcuff around him and the slat in the headboard. I swallowed hard as I threaded the handcuffs through the slat and then locked it around his other wrist. I was free. A smile split my face as I sat back and looked at his face. This would be the last time I would ever see him again.

  “What are you going to do now?” he asked.

  I stood from the bed and walked to the foot of the bed. “Now, I’m going to leave your ass here and I’m going home. Did you really think I would sleep with you after you drugged and kidnapped me?”

  His face turned hard and red. He was furious, but I didn’t care. He couldn’t touch me now. His hands jerked in the cuffs and he growled at me. “Do you really think I’m going to just let you walk out of here?”

  “You don’t really have a choice,” I smirked.

  The look that crossed over his face told me that I was the one that was wrong. I didn’t know how, but I knew that I was screwed. This wasn’t going to go my way. I saw his fingers move to the center of the cuffs and then he flicked something and the handcuffs opened.

  “Aww, you thought I would just hand over control to you. You really are stupid.”

  Two things crossed my mind at that moment. One, that if I was in a book and Claire were reading it, she would be yelling at me right now for having given away my plan instead of just taking my chance and running. The second thing I thought was that I was the typical cliche heroine that was going to be running from my stalker in a silk nightgown. In the cold.

  I didn’t waste a second waiting to see what he would do. I turned and ran from the room, ignoring the pain in my foot. I wasn’t as fast as I hoped and he tackled me just as I reached the top of the stairs. I fell forward, smacking my head against the wall before we started tumbling down the stairs. I felt each stair dig into my hip as we rolled and bounced on the hard steps. When we hit the bottom, I was disoriented and couldn’t get my bearings. I could feel Noah laying on top of me, but he wasn’t moving. Shoving him off, I stumbled as I stood and felt him grab onto the bottom of my nightgown. I sent a kick back, hitting him in the face.

  “You bitch!” he roared as he jumped to his feet and tackled me again. We flew back into a table, knocking the lamp to the ground. I heard it shatter against the floor and scrambled for something to grab onto. The sha
ttered pieces weren’t in reach. He grabbed my wrist, securing it in his, but I fought him off with the other, shifting my legs and trying to kick out at him. I was hindered by the length of the dress, but as long as I kept moving, I could keep him distracted.

  His free hand grabbed onto my right strap, pulling at it until it ripped. I let out a scream, knowing he was just seconds from tearing the nightgown from my body and leaving me exposed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a candle on the edge of the table. I grasped at it with my free hand, feeling it slip further away as my fingers brushed against it. I heaved my body as hard as I could until the candle was in my hands. I threw the melted wax in his face, causing him to leap back and scream. I slammed my elbow into his face and scrambled to my knees, but he grabbed me from behind, flinging me over the back of the couch with him. I used our momentum to throw him into the glass coffee table. He held onto me, and together we crashed through the glass to the floor.

  I felt glass slicing through my skin in several places, but it was his gasps that cut through the quiet. I glanced down at him, seeing red spreading across his side. I didn’t know how badly he was injured, but this was my chance and I wasn’t wasting it. I leapt to my feet and wracked my brain to figure out my next step. I was shaking so bad that I couldn’t think straight. All I could think about was how close I had come to being assaulted by him.

  With shaky hands, I knelt down next to him and felt in his pockets for his car keys or a phone. There was nothing. I glanced around the room quickly, hoping to find something, but I couldn’t find a thing. I looked back and saw him lying still on the ground, covered in glass. He hadn’t moved. I continued my search, opening drawers and digging through his luggage, checking him every few seconds when I heard him move. But every time I looked, he was in the same position. The roaring in my ears was making me crazy. I couldn’t distinguish what was real and what I was imagining. I kept hearing glass shifting. I heard ragged breathing. I felt the air move behind me, but every time I looked, he was still lying as still as the time before.

  I couldn’t stay in here anymore. The longer I stayed, the more insane I felt with every second that passed. I ran out the front door, barely feeling the cold or the pain in my foot. My only goal was to get away before he woke up. I didn’t know if he was dead or alive and I wasn’t about to go back and find out. I ran through the trees, not wanting to take the road in case he woke up and went driving around looking for me. I stumbled through the woods until the adrenaline had left my body and I could barely walk anymore. I found a tree to lean against and slumped down on the ground, staring off into the night. I couldn’t think anymore. I couldn’t do anything. I was done.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Hunter

  WE HAD CLEARED three cabins with still no sign of her. “Chance, any sign of her?” I asked over through my mic as we headed to the fourth cabin.

  “Nothing yet. Everything’s quiet.”

  “Cazzo?”

  “All clear. We have two more to check.”

  I sighed and followed Derek along the trail to the next cabin. I was getting anxious, needing to see her. If this didn’t pan out and she wasn’t here, we had nothing else to go on. No place else to look.

  “Up ahead,” Derek said ahead of me. My head whipped up and I saw the faint light in the cabin. It was dim, but it was definitely some kind of light coming from inside. We hustled to the cabin, peering in through the windows. There were candles lit all around the living room, but we couldn’t see much else. Derek signaled for Knight to go around back and he and I took the front door.

  “I’m in position,” Knight’s voice came over the mic.

  “On my mark. Three, two, one, mark.”

  I kicked in the door, gun raised and ready to shoot. I went low and Derek went high, searching for any sign of her, but she wasn’t here.

  “What the fuck?” Derek whispered behind me. The living room was torn up. The coffee table was shattered and there was blood all over the living room. Knight motioned upstairs and we headed silently for the stairs, guns trained on the doors that were open. All three rooms were clear, but one had women’s clothing in it.

  “She’s not here,” Knight said.

  “Let’s see if there’s a blood trail,” Derek said as we headed downstairs. “Chance and Cazzo, come in.”

  “Yeah,” they said.

  “We’ve found the cabin, but there’s nobody here. We’ve got a hell of a mess. They obviously struggled and there’s quite a bit of blood. We’re looking for a trail now. Head on over to us. We’re in cabin twenty-four. Keep your eyes open for anyone outside.”

  I followed the blood back over to the door and flipped on my flashlight so I could see where it went. The trail led out toward the woods. She was running. I prayed to God that she had made it far enough away from him and that it wasn’t her blood. Derek, Knight, and I silently moved through the woods, tracking their movements. It wasn’t hard. One or both of them had been moving quickly and without any care for the trail they were leaving behind.

  We followed them for close to a mile before I finally caught sight of a feminine figure crouched down by a tree up ahead.

  “Lucy,” I called. Her head whipped around to mine and she stumbled to her feet, dressed only in a torn nightgown. It had once been white, but now it was covered in dirt and blood. “Are you okay?” I asked softly.

  She took a step forward, gripping onto the tree. I started to run for her, but slammed to a stop when a figure stepped up from the shadows of my flashlight and grabbed her around the chest and thrusting a knife against her throat.

  “Put the knife down,” I shouted as I held a firm grip on my gun. I could see Knight and Derek positioning themselves further from me so that all of us could try to find a shot.

  “She’s mine. I’m not letting her go back to you. You’re not good enough.”

  “That’s fine.” I said calmly. “Just move the knife away from her throat and we’ll back off.”

  He was unsteady on his feet, barely able to hold himself up and I was worried he was going to slice her neck open if he stumbled. Lucy just stared ahead, no emotion on her face. It was like she wasn’t there, but I couldn’t worry about that right now. I had to focus on getting her away from this monster.

  “Coming up on the other side,” Chance spoke in my ear. “Getting into position.”

  “Alright. I’m setting down my gun,” I said, holding my hands out in surrender. I bent down slowly, hoping that he would take it as a sign of good faith.

  “Knight, do me a favor and take a step to the right so I don’t put a bullet in your head,” Chance said over the mic. I saw Knight shift and then I saw Noah glance around suspiciously. His hand tightened on the knife and I saw blood start to trickle down Lucy’s neck.

  “Chance, now would be a good fucking time,” I said quietly and then heard the crack of the gun as Chance took out Noah from behind. His brain matter splattered out the front of his head, some of it flying at Lucy, but she still stood there completely still. I raced forward as Noah fell to the ground and pulled Lucy against me, holding her tight to me. She wasn’t making a sound and that worried me more than anything. I pulled back and looked into her eyes, seeing a vacant expression. She was in shock.

  Her skin was freezing and I quickly pulled off my vest and then my henley, pulling it down over her head. I didn’t miss the broken strap of the nightgown or the blood splatter that covered her body. I didn’t know how much was hers, but right now I just needed to warm her up. As I pulled the henley down, my fingers caught on something and I peered around her back. She had a piece of wood sticking out of her back. It wasn’t large, but it was shoved in deep. How the hell was she still standing? How had she made it out here?

  “Lucy? Can you hear me?”

  Nothing. She didn’t even blink. Her stare was blank.

  “I’m going to get you out of here and someplace safe, okay?”

  Again, nothing. I scooped her up in my arms and cradled her body in
mine. I needed to get her back to the SUV where my medical kit was and then to the hospital. I didn’t give a shit about Noah. He could be left to the wolves for all I cared. My only concern was Lucy and making sure she was okay.

  I started jogging back to the SUV with Lucy in my arms, being as careful as possible not to jostle her too much. I could hear footsteps behind me, but I didn’t bother to see who was with me. I was the only one here that could properly care for Lucy right now. It took ten minutes to get back to the SUV at the pace I set. Knight ran ahead of me and popped open the trunk. I set her inside as Knight pulled out the med kit for me. I quickly looked her over, seeing that most of the cuts on her were shallow and didn’t need immediate attention. The wood in her back however, I didn’t dare take that out. There was no reason that I couldn’t take her to the hospital and they would be able to assess if she had any other injuries that we needed to be concerned about. They could also do a rape kit if needed.

  I picked her up and placed her in the back seat, resting her head against my chest. Knight was in the driver’s seat in seconds, with Derek in the passenger seat.

  “Cazzo’s covering clean up. He already called the police and asked them to coordinate with the department back home,” Derek said.

  He punched in coordinates for the nearest hospital and soon we were flying down the road to the hospital. It took a little over twenty minutes to reach the hospital and Knight pulled right up to the emergency room. I was out of the car and carrying her in before anyone else could even step out of the car. Everything happened so fast. Doctors rushed to us, a gurney was pushed up next to me, and I set her down, quickly giving the doctor a rundown on what had happened. She was wheeled away before I could even tell her I loved her.