by K. M. Scott
“Time to get to work, Abigail.”
“Kane found out and he’s coming here. I told him I was okay, but he’s still coming,” I explained in a shaky voice. “I know when he sees everything’s on the up and up, he’ll be fine. Just give him a chance.”
Mason smiled that vicious smile I saw when I was leaving last time and shook his head. “I’ve got something else in mind. Time to go.”
He pulled me toward the back room as I struggled to get free of his hold. Nearly frozen in fear, I tried to think of some way to escape, but it was so dark and I couldn’t see anything in front of me.
“Mason, let me go! You’re hurting me! What are you doing?”
My arm burned where his fingers dug into my skin, but he refused to answer me. Instead, he walked faster toward the back room, but why? We quickly reached it, but no one waited for us and we passed through and out a door that led to a parking lot behind the building.
Mason yanked hard on my arm to pull me toward a car, and I cried out from the pain. “Let me go! Where are you taking me?”
“Get in and shut your mouth or this will hurt for much longer,” he snapped.
“No!”
The back of his hand skidded across my cheek, and for a moment my skin felt like it was on fire. My vision blurred, and he took advantage of my confusion to stuff me into the backseat of the car. As I tried to shake off the pain jutting up into my temple, he tied my hands together with a cord and covered my mouth with duct tape.
“One more sound out of you and that shot you just took will be nothing compared to what I do to you. Keep quiet!”
He jumped in the driver’s seat and started the car, flooring it out of the parking lot. I rolled around on the leather seat and worked to pull myself up to look out the window, praying that I’d see Kane’s car and somehow make him know Mason was taking me away somewhere. No streetlights lit up the road from the bar, so hopefully it would be easy to see a car coming at us, but Mason was driving so fast I was afraid I’d miss him.
Suddenly, I saw a pair of lights coming at us and began to flail my arms in the hope that whoever was driving would see me and come after us. As the car got closer, I recognized it as Kane’s and banged on the window, knowing that he couldn’t hear me but desperate to have any chance to get his attention.
Driving even faster than Mason, Kane passed us without ever looking at the car. Devastated, I slumped against the seat and screamed his name. All it did was anger Mason, and as he raced down the road, he reached his arm around to punch me across the face. Everything blurred and then it went dark as I fell down onto the floor.
I opened my eyes and the pain in my cheek came raging back, making me wince in agony. My mouth hurt, I guessed from when he tore the duct tape off, but my hands were still bound together. Bright lights shined above me, and I couldn’t see anything past them. I had no idea where I was or even if there were any people around me.
Mason’s voice next to my head told me at least he was there, and I turned to look at him. “Where am I?”
“Where I want you. I told you not to talk, Abigail. You should have listened. You ask too many questions.”
Just like every other man who’d hit me, Mason had his excuses ready. I hung my head and closed my eyes as the memory of Kane passing us on the road and never seeing me flooded back into my mind.
Whatever was about to happen to me, he wouldn’t be able to protect me.
Tears began to roll down my swollen cheeks. I’d done this to myself, as usual. God, I was so stupid! Like with every man who ever beat me, I thought everything would work out and I could handle things and Mason would let me work at The Greyhound in exchange for Kane’s freedom.
I had to wonder if I didn’t deserve the pain for being so naïve.
“I want you to feel what my brother felt because of you, a common whore. You think you should be able to look like you do and dance for men and they shouldn’t be able to touch you without getting a beating from your boyfriend there? What makes you so special?”
“Kane was only trying to protect me,” I said quietly, sure he’d knock my teeth down my throat if I said much more.
“That boyfriend of yours should have remembered what he was. Ex-cons don’t get to protect their sluts.”
I looked away from Mason’s angry gaze so I didn’t defend myself. I wasn’t a whore or a slut. I never sold my body for any money or gift. But he grabbed my face and jerked it back to make me look at him, and I saw the disgust in his eyes.
“Why do you hate me so much?”
“You make me sick. That club you work at makes me sick. Women should be chaste and innocent. You look like you’re innocent, but it’s all an act. Beneath the big blue eyes and blond hair is a cheap whore. You’re the worst kind of female. You make men think they’re getting one thing, but it’s all a façade.”
I knew I shouldn’t, but I pressed him for more details, hoping that if I kept him talking he might not do whatever he planned to do to me. “But you’re a member of Club X. If you hate us so much, why did you join?”
“You ask too many fucking questions, Abigail.”
He glowered down at me and cocked his arm back to hit me. Squeezing my eyes tight, I braced for the pain of his thick knuckles smashing into my face but nothing happened. I waited for what seemed like forever, listening to him breathe just above me, but he didn’t move. Finally, I slowly opened my eyes to see him staring at me like he was studying something about my face.
“You remind me of someone, Abigail. Do you want to know who that someone is?”
His voice sounded distant, frightening me more than his fist ever could. Nodding, I whispered, “Yes?”
Mason smoothed the hair from my face and ran the tip of his forefinger from my temple to my chin. His eyes had a crazy look in them. “You remind me of my wife.”
As the words came out of his mouth, I wondered why he’d want to beat me if I reminded him of someone he loved, but then he continued and I began to understand why I was there.
“My wife was beautiful, like you Abigail, and innocent. So pure that I could look into her eyes and know I was the luckiest man in the world. I bet Kane thinks that when he looks into those big blue eyes of yours, doesn’t he? The eyes are supposed to be the windows to the soul. At least that’s what they say. Did you know that?”
“Yes.”
“But that’s not true. The eyes aren’t the windows to the soul. They lie,” he hissed. “My wife’s eyes lied. She wasn’t pure and innocent like she made me believe. She was tainted and corrupted. Like you are. I see in your eyes the foulness in your soul. You’re foul, Abigail. It’s clear as day right there in those eyes of yours.”
As he spoke, his face twisted in a horrifying expression full of hatred and disgust. I moved my head to look away, but he forced me to turn back toward him.
“Don’t you fucking look away, you whore! Don’t you look away from me like you’re better than I am! I’m a goddamned councilman! People respect me. They believe me. People don’t respect you. You’re garbage. You’re a dancer who tempts men with your body and the promise of innocence long thrown away!”
I couldn’t stop myself from crying at his words. I’d heard every one of them before from every man who’d told me he’d loved me and then used his fists to show me just how much I meant to him. Mason was going to beat me like Kane did to his brother, but he wasn’t going to stop until he’d gotten his vengeance for not only Jethro but whatever his wife had done to hurt him so much.
With his thumb, he wiped my tears away, and I dragged my gaze up to see sadness in his eyes. “Please don’t do this, Mason. Please. I’m begging you. I’ll do whatever you want, but please don’t kill me.”
He began to pace back and forth, looking up to the ceiling as he walked. “I gave my wife her birthday present the night she left me. A beautiful diamond necklace I’d had specially made to show her how much I loved her. I gave it to her and three hours and fifteen minutes later she told me she
was leaving me for someone she’d met online. We’d been married for ten years and she left me for some guy with a house in Jacksonville and a boat.”
I wasn’t even sure Mason was talking to me anymore. He didn’t seem to notice I was even in the room with him as he recounted his wife’s cheating and then leaving him. Silently, I prayed to God to help Kane find me before Mason remembered why he’d brought me there and killed me.
“I gave her everything, and she left me for a fucking carpenter!” he bellowed into the room, still looking up at the ceiling.
Closing my eyes, I prayed to God to rescue me from this nightmare. God, please save me. Please help Kane find me here and save me.
“I bet you wouldn’t do that to me, would you, Abigail?” Mason asked.
My eyes flew open to see him standing in front of me. Trembling in fear, I said quietly, “No. I would never do that to anyone.”
“See? I knew that,” he said as he nodded his head, his demeanor back to the kind way he’d been when I’d met with him in his office. “I can see that in you. You’re not like her, Abigail.”
“Why do you call me Abigail?” I asked without thinking, immediately regretting my question. Asking questions was what always got me in trouble. I waited for his face to grow dark with anger and for him to pull his fist back to hit me, but he just smiled like I’d said something that made him happy.
“Her name was Abigail. Do you know the moment you entered my office that day you reminded me of her. My Abigail. Sweet and innocent, you wanted to protect the man you loved, but I see you for who you really are. You’re just like her.”
In a flash, his expression morphed into one full of rage. I shook my head over and over as I tried to convince him I wasn’t like the woman who’d broken his heart. “No! No! I’m not like her. I would never do that to you. I would never hurt someone like that!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move, but instantly my attention was on Mason’s fist crashing into my face. His knuckles smashed right into my eye, sending my head flying back into the wall behind me. Pain shot through my skull from all sides, and in seconds another punch landed just lower on my cheek, sending my head rolling on my shoulders.
I struggled to keep my eyes open. He cocked his arm back and then from the left side of the room someone launched at Mason and slammed him to the ground. Through my blurry vision I saw the man begin to beat him, repeatedly smashing his head on the floor. As I tried to make out who the man was, I felt hands untie the cord on my wrists.
Turning my head, I saw Gemma standing beside me. “Honey, we need to get out of here. Follow me.”
Suddenly, the scene in front of me made sense. I looked again and saw Kane pummeling Mason’s face, his fists smashing his nose as blood sprayed everywhere. My hands freed, I tried to stand, but my legs buckled. Gemma grabbed me from behind to pull me out of harm’s way, but I fought her, not wanting to leave without Kane.
“No! I won’t leave him here!” I screamed when she wrapped her arms around me and tried to move me toward the door.
“Abbi, we need to get out of here. Kane can handle himself. At least let me get you to the car.”
“No, I don’t want to go,” I sobbed as Mason gained the upper hand on top of Kane and began to land punches to his face.
Gemma shook her head. “No. I won’t leave you here! Come on. He’ll be okay.”
Much stronger, she forced me out of the room, even as I screamed for Kane. By the time we reached the car, I was crying uncontrollably, sure he was hurt and needing me while I was outside saving my own skin.
“Abbi, let me look at your face.” She touched my cheek with her sleeve, making me recoil back in pain. “Oh honey, I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to hurt you. He hit you bad. You’re all bloody, sweetie. I need to clean you off.”
I sagged against Kane’s Mustang and watched for him to come out. “Gemma, I need to go back in there. I can’t let him get hurt. You have to let me go.”
She shook her head violently. “No way. He made me promise I’d get you out of there as soon as I could. You have to trust him. He can handle himself.”
The tears flowed down my face and I tried to push my way past her, but it was no use. She was just too strong for me. Defeated and sure something terrible was happening inside the house, I buried my face in my hands and sobbed. If Kane got hurt because of me, I would never forgive myself.
Gemma hugged me and rubbed my back to soothe me, but nothing would make me happy until I saw Kane come out of that house safe and sound. Burying my face in her shoulder, I cried, “What if something happens to him? We can’t leave him in there. We have to do something.”
“Don’t worry, honey. Everything’s going to be fine. I know it will.”
I pulled away from her and looked into her eyes to see she was as worried as I was. “How can you say that? No matter what happens, it won’t be fine. Kane is going to get in trouble again, and there’s nothing that can be done to stop that. And that’s if he doesn’t get himself killed in there. Mason is crazy, Gemma. He thought I was his ex-wife who left him and he wanted to punish me for that.”
“I thought he did this because of what Kane did to his brother.”
“I thought so too. He said he wanted me to feel the pain Jethro felt when Kane beat him, but then he started talking about how I reminded him of his wife whose name was Abigail too. He’s crazy! Kane can’t fight that.”
“It’s going to be okay, Abbi. I don’t know how, but it will be. All we have to do is wait for Kane like he made me promise and it will all be okay.”
I closed my eyes to pray to God again. He’d saved me. Now I needed him to save the man I loved. Please don’t let him get hurt. Please. I love him. Please, God.
Just then, I heard a noise that sounded like a gunshot go off somewhere inside the house. Had someone else come to help Mason and shot Kane? My blood ran cold at the idea of him on the floor bleeding to death alone. I pushed past Gemma, who stood trying to figure out where the gunshot had come from, and ran back toward the house.
I needed to see Kane, no matter what happened.
My legs buckled under me at the sound of a second gunshot and then everything went black as I fell to the ground, my mind filled with one terrible thought.
Kane was dead.
* * *
KANE’S LIPS pressed gently against my forehead, and he whispered, “Everything will be okay, angel. I’m here. You’re safe now, Abbi.”
He lifted me into his arms and carried me, but I didn’t know where we were going. He yelled something about a car—the words seemed to get lost in my head, rattling around and crashing into one another as I tried to understand what was happening.
I felt hands touch my face and looked up to see Gemma crying as she stroked my forehead. I opened my mouth to tell her it was okay and she shouldn’t cry, but the words didn’t come out, instead trapped with all of Kane’s words in my mind.
I had the sensation of going fast one minute and then being still the next. I thought I was in Kane’s Mustang, but I couldn’t be sure. From somewhere far away, I heard voices and turned to see a woman and a man looking down at me. I recognized Cash, but I didn’t know the woman. She reminded me of my mother, her dark eyes staring down at me with sadness.
Slowly, the words around me became clearer. Someone was dead. Who? I frantically searched the faces around me for Kane’s, but I couldn’t find him. He’d just told me everything would be okay. Had I dreamed that? Or was I dreaming this?
Struggling to speak, I croaked out the only word I knew to say. “Kane?”
I watched the looks on the faces around me for any sign he’d been hurt. They didn’t seem to react to his name. Did that mean he was okay?
Gemma kissed my cheek. “Kane’s right here, honey.”
And then he appeared, smiling down at me with one of those genuine smiles that went all the way to his eyes. Everything would be okay if he was happy. He cradled my face in his hands and brushed the pads
of his thumbs over the tender skin of my cheeks. I winced and saw the happiness leave his eyes as he moved his hands away.
“No,” I pleaded as I raised my hands to cover his. “Don’t move them. I don’t care if it hurts. As long as you’re holding me, I’m okay.”
“I have to go now, Abbi. It’s too risky for me to stay here with you. Gemma and Alexandria will make sure you’re safe and taken care of for a while.”
Terror raced through me as the memory of Kane being taken away in handcuffs flooded my mind. “No! Don’t go, Kane. Please don’t go.”
He kissed me softly on the lips and then placed a kiss on the tip of my nose, finally looking down into my eyes with a look so full of pain my heart felt like it was being broken in two. “I have to, angel. Just for a little while. As soon as everything’s cleared up, I’ll come get you. Until then, don’t forget how much I love you.”
Tears filled my eyes. “How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know, but as soon as I can get back to you, I’ll be here. I promise.”
“Promise me you’ll come back? You won’t forget me because of all the trouble I’ve been?”
“Oh, baby, you’ve never been trouble. As soon as I can, I’ll come get you and we can go back to living in that little house of ours. You, me, and Angel.”
Somebody warned him that he needed to leave and he kissed me one last time. Pulling away, he tried to smile, to put on a good face for me, but I saw the sadness in those dark blue eyes.
“I love you, Kane.”
“I love you, my angel.”
He stood and hurried away, leaving me feeling lost and alone. I closed my eyes, wishing I could shut out the rest of the world until he came back to me.
The sound of purring next to my ear woke me up, and I slowly opened my eyes to see Angel sitting on my chest and nuzzling my neck. Her adorable little face made me smile, and as soon as I did I felt the all too familiar pain of a beating shoot up through my cheek. Rubbing my nose on hers, I felt the cold wetness on my skin.