“Or maybe I’ll just climb down there and slit your pretty throat, should have done that before I kicked your ass into this rotten hole anyway, should of made certain you were dead.”
Lacey mouthed a silent prayer. “Please God, make him go away. Please. Let me die in peace. Let me die—”
“You won’t be lonely much longer, Lacey, darling. That bitch, Kaycee, shot me, but I ain’t done with her. No, sir. Got plenty of life left in me. Plenty. I’m gonna get her good, toss her stinking bones down there with yours. Soon, Lacey, darling, very soon. By the time I come back here again, there won’t be any life left in you. You’ll be a pile of bones no one will ever find. Die, bitch. Die slow. Die alone!”
Lacey shivered and closed her eyes. Why was it taking so long for her to die? A faint smile flickered across her lips. “Welcome, Death. I welcome you.”
Smitt slid the boards in place over the well, shutting her in total darkness. Tears slid down her face. She curled into a fetal ball and tried to ignore the chill in her bones, but the memory of what Smitt had done to her came back in full force…
* * * *
Blackstone Ranch
February 6, Friday
12:00 p.m.
Lacey grabbed Danger’s empty coffee cup off the kitchen table and set it in the sink. She stood there over the sink, her tears falling unheeded into the basin. She swore her heart wobbled. No more tears for herself. She refused to feel sorry for herself, but she cried for her son’s loss, because inevitably, Joseph was the one who’d pay for his parents’ decisions and mistakes.
Sniffing, she rubbed away the tears, but it didn’t relieve the desolate pain. So, it was over. Divorce filed, granted, final, all nice and tidy, just the way Danger wanted it. A shaft of pain cut her deep. He hated her. He’d made that very clear. Yes, she was guilty of adultery. She’d slept with Rafe McCord, not only slept with him, but conceived his baby, but she wasn’t guilty of sleeping with Jared Davis, which was the beginning of her failed marriage. Or was it?
What role had Karen Monroe played in breaking up her marriage? Why? Maybe it was all mutual attraction between Danger and Karen. She could hardly fault Karen for wanting Danger. The first time she saw him, she’d been bowled over by his good looks, the pure sex in the way he walked, talked, and looked at her.
What she didn’t understand was why Jared had told Danger such lies.
What did he have to gain by breaking up her marriage?
Lacey heaved a deep sigh. It didn’t matter now. Danger was in love with Karen, and Karen was five months pregnant with his baby.
Oh, God. Lacey’s hands shook. The sob lodged in her throat. She couldn’t breathe. She’d bumped into Karen the day before in Rimrock’s General Store. The woman smirked at her, rubbed her distended belly, and sauntered from the store as if she’d won a major victory.
Lacey winced. She stood there too numb to turn and walk away herself. Seeing the realty of Karen’s pregnancy sucked what emotions she had left right out of her body. She trembled like a leaf in the wind, and everything simply went dark in her soul. She felt like an empty shell, and she didn’t think she’d ever feel normal again.
In a way, she guessed Karen had won a major victory. She’d stolen her husband from right under her nose.
Bewildered, Lacey looked around the kitchen. The present. Now. And the truth she faced—she was now a single woman. A pregnant, single woman who might not be able to turn to the baby’s father for help, a woman who was nearly thirty and should know better than to get herself in such an idiotic mess. She brushed away another tear.
Facing the future was unbearable. How could she wreck things like this in three short years?
Danger had wanted their marriage dissolved. In her opinion, he’d dissolved it in August, maybe sooner than that. She just hadn’t realized what he was doing or how determined he was to cut her out of his life.
Even after she knew, after she learned the extent of his deception, she’d stayed and tried to make things work between them, but it had been too late, and she couldn’t do it by herself.
Lacey squared her shoulders. She had to accept it was over. Too much had happened, too many hurtful words spoken, too many things that couldn’t be forgiven. Ever.
A soft shuffling sound on the front porch snared her attention. She heard the front door open and close and swiped at the last of the tears wetting her face. Danger’s sister, Anna Leigh, had arrived to take Joseph home with her while Lacey packed the last of the belongings she wanted to take with her when she left.
“I’m in the kitchen, Anna. Come on in.” Lord, she hoped Anna wouldn’t be able to tell she’d been crying.
“Oh, I’m in, honey. I’m so in.”
Lacey spun around at the creepy intonation.
Oh, God. Oh, God. She knew that voice. Even after three years, she’d never forgotten the tone. How had she ever thought he sounded anything like Danger?
She jerked open a drawer, closed her fingers around a butcher knife. “You come near me, you sonofabitch, I’ll kill you!”
“I don’t have to come near you, cunt. Not yet.”
Smitt leveled a pistol at her. Lacey froze. The gun, God, he aimed it between her eyes. Her heart hammered. “What do you want?”
Pow!
The punch of the bullet knocked her back against the kitchen cabinets. Her breath exploded in her lungs. The report of the gun wasn’t nearly as loud as the explosive pain that ripped through muscle and bone in her right shoulder.
Pow!
Or the second one that plowed through the upper portion of the right side of her chest. The impact knocked her to the floor.
Lacey lay where she fell. Baffled by the white-hot pain ripping her apart, she groaned. Something was in her mouth, something warm and wet that tasted like rust. Blood? Why did she have so much blood in her mouth? It filled the back of her throat, gagging her. It gurgled inside her chest, hot as boiling water. Drowning. God, she felt like she was drowning in her own blood.
She tried to breathe, but couldn’t get past the pain. Why did she hurt?
Lacey coughed and spewed crimson droplets across her face and the front of her shirt. Oh, God, her lungs felt as if acid had been doused on them. Nausea bubbled like green foam in her stomach. She swallowed back the urge to vomit and slid a protective hand across her belly.
Her baby. Dear God, please, don’t let anything happen to my baby.
A shadow, dark and menacing and obscene, fell across her.
Lacey stared at the man who’d invaded her home. Unable to form words, she coughed and felt the warmth of her blood trickle down her chin. She caught the bright, shiny glint of the knife she’d grabbed from the drawer in his hands. Oh, God. Oh, God. Please!
“Aww, you don’t have to say anything. I can see it in your eyes. You’re not having fun.” His hand went to his zipper, and he tugged it down. Slowly. Slowly. All the while, a smile played on his mouth. “Don’t you worry none, Lacey, darling, don’t you worry ‘bout havin’ fun, cause me and my buddy here, well, we’re going to have all kinds of fun.” He freed his cock and stroked his fingers up and down the hard length of it. “Oh, yeah, me and my buddy, we’re gonna have a party. And guess what, Lacey, darling? We got all afternoon.”
Smitt leaned down with the knife in hand, grabbed the top of her blue T-shirt and cut it down the middle from top to bottom—smiling, he sliced her bra in half and folded back the sides. “Whoo-hoo, would you lookie there? Course, I already knew you had a nice set of tits.”
He squeezed her breasts with both hands, pulled hard on the nipples. Lacey pushed at his hands, struggled to get up.
“Stay down.”
“What?” Her voice sounded distant. She tried to get up again, but for some reason, she didn’t have any strength in her right arm. Lacey held up her hand, puzzled as to why her arm wouldn’t cooperate. Blood streamed off her fingertips and dripped onto her neck.
“Stay down or the next bullet goes between your eyes.”
/> She fell back. Not because he ordered her to, but because she couldn’t do anything else.
“That’s my girl,” he said softly and laid the blade of the knife along her cheek. “Now, we got us a few rules here, Lacey, darling. I like rules. I like obedience.”
The entire time he talked, he finished cutting away her shirt and bra, until there was nothing left.
“I like to suck titties,” he said casually. “Sometimes, I even like to bite and chew on the nipples. What I don’t like is screams. Screaming messes with my concentration. Makes it harder for me to get my load off, you know what I mean? I hear screams, I go a little crazy and do real bad things, like bite off your nipples, or I might do a little carving on your belly. So, rule number one, no screaming.”
He leveled his gaze on her breasts. “You got a pair of beautiful tits there, Lacey. I’m partial to pretty tits.” He squeezed her breasts. “Yeah, nice and firm. Sweet.”
She bit her lip, but couldn’t hold back the groan.
“Uh-uh. No moaning. Remember rule number one.”
Lacey flinched when he pulled on her nipples. They were already tender from her pregnancy. What he did made them ache worse.
She frowned. What was he doing now?
Oh, Jesus. Oh, God. He was sucking her right nipple, but the way he did it, pulling on it with his teeth, gnawing on it, hurt like hell. She chewed on the inside of her cheek to keep from crying aloud. Sharp pain jolted through her nipple and spread through her breast. Then he sucked harder, deeper. He wrapped his tongue around the tender bud and moaned. Slowly, very slowly, he released it and reared back.
“Aww. What’s this shit? Woman, you making milk?”
“No...no.”
“You got a baby in you?” He rubbed his hand across her belly, tightened his fingers on her flesh. Enraged, Smitt snarled and slapped her across her face. “Don’t lie to me! You gotta kid in you? Answer me!”
“No. No baby.” She had to protect her unborn child.
Smitt smashed a fist into the side of her face. “Tell me the truth or I’ll hurt you so bad, you’ll wish you were dead. I’ll cut open your belly and look for myself. Now, is there a kid in you?”
“Yes, yes….baby.”
Smitt punched her in the face again. She felt her cheek bone crack. Lacey blinked. What happened? She couldn’t concentrate for all the pain. “Oh, God. Oh, God.” He was unbuttoning her pants, fumbling with the zipper. He was going to rape her on her kitchen floor?
“Don’t…don’t touch…me!”
Smitt snickered. “Honey, I already touched you in more ways than you can imagine. I want a little feel of your sweet pussy. I might even stick my cock in you for a bit of fun.” He laughed. “My afternoon delight.”
“Please…please. Don’t hurt me. I’m pregnant.”
He laughed. “I know you got a baby in you. I’ve fucked pregnant women before. How far gone are you?”
“What?” Lacey blinked. “What…tal…king ‘bout?” Shock spread through her. Cold. So cold. Why couldn’t she pay attention to his words? Focus? Nothing he said made sense to her. A strange buzzing filled her ears. Boiling black clouds swirled above her, darkening the room. She struggled not to give in to the awful shadows attacking her senses.
“Answer me, bitch! How many months you knocked up?”
“I…uh, two…months.” Her voiced sounded so far away, a distant echo in her mind. “Hell, woman, you ain’t very far gone at all. It can’t be much bigger than a tadpole. Too bad your ole’ man already put his kid in you, but it don’t matter none to me you got a brat in you. I got plans for you. Big plans.”
Smitt yanked off her shoes and socks, then jerked off her jeans and panties. Lacey groaned. Her chest burned. Her shoulder throbbed. Blood covered her breasts and belly. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t think. Why was it so hard to think? “Please! I’m…begging…you! Don’t hurt my baby!”
“Shut the fuck up, bitch! See this knife? You make another sound, I’ll scalp you alive! Don’t fuck with me. Keep your mouth shut and open your legs. Wide.”
Lacey closed her eyes. She ordered herself to pay no heed to his crude touches, to ignore his fingers gliding over her breasts, but she couldn’t. His every caress chilled her to the bone and turned the blood in her veins to slush. He dragged the cold edge of the knife across her vulnerable midriff. The wintry bite of icy steel cut through the tender layers of her skin. Her body jerked in reaction to the slow drag of the knife across her belly. “Please! Oh, God. Stop!”
Lacey felt out of control, like a puppet whose string had been cut so its arms and legs flopped uselessly.
Smitt popped her across the mouth with the back of his hand. “Open your fucking legs or I’ll cut you deeper next time!”
Sobbing, Lacey obeyed. Her body shook with tiny convulsions. He jerked her legs wider apart and stared. “Oooooweee, girl, you got one sweet looking pussy. I can’t wait to stick my buddy in it, give him his share of the fun.”
She retched when she saw the shiny, wet head of his cock. He rubbed the purple knob with his thumb tip. “Will you look at that? See that? See how you done got me all excited here? Girl, I done got me some love juice rising to the top of my dick.”
Lacey bucked and tried to wriggle away from him. The hard punch to her face stunned her. She lay there gasping, too numb to move. Her ears rang. Her vision blurred, and her lips felt as if they’d been stung by bees. She thought he punched her again just for the pleasure it gave him to inflict pain. She felt her lower lip split. Tasted blood.
“I told you no screaming! You best be still, missy, and keep quiet. I ain’t gonna stick it in you right this minute. No, I wanna play first, maybe titty fuck you once or twice. I just wanna good feel of your pussy first, stick my finger in you, get the hot, wet feel of you, so relax.”
He jabbed his finger deep inside her. Lacey screamed. The sound sounded faint and mewling to her ears. He jabbed his finger deeper and laughed. “Oooh, you sweet, sweet angel. That’s the hottest snatch I’ve felt in a long time. Jesus, it makes a man wanna fuck you all right. Open your legs wider, girl. Wider!”
Smitt placed one hand flat on her belly, right at her pubic bone, and pressed hard—he pushed two fingers deep inside her. What was he doing? It felt as if he were scraping her womb raw. It hurt. Oh, how it hurt, and it hurt worse than either gunshot wound or the blows to her face.
Cramps tore through her stomach. She tried to lift her head, but simply couldn’t find the strength. He removed his fingers and slowly inserted something else inside her. She whimpered as he worked it deep inside her, then pulled it out, only to shove it deeper inside her again and again.
Dear God, what was he using on her? Something solid and hard. He kept thrusting it inside her. The more he did it, the more ragged his breaths became. He pressed harder on her belly, shoved the instrument harder and deeper over and over.
Lacey cried out as pain crawled through her belly. She wasn’t sure he could accomplish what he’d set out to do, but the blood in her veins froze as it suddenly dawned on her what he was doing.
This wasn’t a sex game he was playing with her. This was something much, much worse. “Oh, God, don’t! What are you trying to do?”
“I’m not trying, Lacey, darling. I’m doing it. Gotta get this kid outta you. It ain’t my brat,” he said in a merciless tone.
“No,” she protested weakly. “Don’t hurt my baby.”
Smitt wiped a bloody hand across her belly. “It’s done. No more baby, sweet angel. You’re bleeding, girlie. Oooooweee, you’re bloody as a cut pig.”
Tears tracked down the corners of her eyes. Splinters of ice settled deep in her bones. Chills crawled down her spine and around in her gut. She felt herself drifting as wave after wave of cramps seized her.
Nothing stopped him. He defiled her with his touch—wholly destroyed her soul. He grunted and probed inside her, then set a rhythm with whatever it was he was using on her. She wanted to fight him, struggled to get
away, but she knew there was no escape. Lacey felt the bite of the knife across her stomach again and again.
“Mmm. Relax. Relax, Lacey, darling. Those are just little cuts. I ain’t got to the good stuff, yet. I like taking my time, and this is going to take awhile.”
Think of something else. It’s only your body. Only your body.
Lacey sobbed.
He can’t destroy what you have with Rafe.
Hot tears slid down her face and into her mouth.
Yes, he could. And he would. He’d take everything.
Her strength waned. Pain closed around her until there was nothing else.
Don’t let him see you cry. Don’t cry. You’re tough, Lacey. You can bear the pain. Fight. Fight!
Tired. So tired. She tried to focus on other things as he grunted over her. Then the oddest sound penetrated the fog in her head. A squeal? Then several high-pitched grunts, ragged breaths, wheezes, and another high-pitched wail.
He was squealing?
Why would he squeal like a pig? What?
Something warm dripped onto her breasts and slithered across her throat. Dear God, what—he was—she gagged. His semen jetted in several warm bursts onto her breasts. It slid across her nipples and oozed toward her neck. She retched and retched again.
“I’m coming for you, Lacey, feel me coming for you, Lacey?”
Abruptly he fell on top of her, his chest heaving with the harsh breaths he sucked into his lungs. “Ahh, that felt good, Lacey, darling, real good. The head of my cock went off like a fucking geyser. I shot a big load on your belly and tits. Mmmm. Mmmm. It eased the pressure on my balls a little. Now we can relax and take our time.”
Lacey felt the tip of his wet cock straining against her belly. Then higher.
“Ooooweee. I’m still hard, Lacey, darling. There’s something about doing the sheriff’s wife that makes me rock hard.” He mashed her breasts together, slid his cock between them and thrust back and forth. “Gonna give you the titty fucking I promised you. I’ll be coming for you again real soon.”
She didn’t know how many hours he grunted and sweated over her. Time seemed to stand still. Her mind blurred, and she drifted in and out of consciousness.
Too Close To The Fire/Too Hot To Handle (Montana Men 3) Page 26