Chapter 2
Monday, July 7
Three days later, knowing full well, Zane would show up if she didn’t go and see him, Amanda walked into the police station around nine in the morning. There was a young officer sitting at a nearby desk. He looked vaguely familiar to her. She figured he must have been at Mark and Jenny’s wedding or something. Maybe one of the Townsend’s barbecues. She walked over so she could read the name on his uniform. “Officer Campbell, I’m here to speak to Zane Townsend. Is he here?”
“No, but he said to call when you come in. You are Amanda Carter, right?” Jeff asked with a grin. So, this was the mysterious Amanda everyone kept telling him about.
“Yes,” she said, glowing red. The fact that he had discussed her with this guy kind of embarrassed her.
“I’m Jeff Campbell, his partner,” he chuckled. “Don’t worry. He wasn’t spreading it around the station. Normally I’m riding with him. I’m filling in for Jackie this morning. She had some family business to attend to. Being the low man on the totem pole, when no one volunteered, I got elected.”
“Oh,” she whispered, still looking embarrassed. “He’s not too busy, is he?”
“No,” he answered, giving her a reassuring smile. She really was quite beautiful. Despite the number of Townsend family events he had been at, this was the first time he had really seen her up this close. If he wasn’t already so in love with Hannah Townsend he couldn’t see straight, he’d be in danger of falling for this one. She had dark curly brown hair that probably reached her waist when it wasn’t piled on top of her head like it was now, with light green eyes framed by thick eyelashes so long, he would almost swear they were an inch. She was so curvy she would be literally dangerous in a bikini. And from what he had heard of her personality, it was no wonder Zane had fallen in love with her.
Amanda watched as officer Campbell made a call over the radio. This made her embarrassment grow. Despite what he had said, now the other patrol cars would know as well. Feeling at loose ends for what to do while she waited, she signaled to Officer Campbell that she was going to take a seat over by the door.
She hadn’t been sitting there ten minutes, when Zane came strolling in. Her heart skipped a beat, like it did every time she saw him. The man was absolutely gorgeous. He was six feet four inches in his bare feet with hair so dark brown it was almost black. His blue eyes could be warm and welcoming one minute, and so icy you wanted to run the next. Thankfully, he wasn’t in the habit of turning that icy stare on her. Despite the number of times he had been upset at her, she had never been afraid of him, and she’d like to keep it that way.
“How are you enjoying your job as dispatch this morning?” he smirked at the other officer.
Jeff gave him a dirty look, then went back to what he was doing. “Let’s just say, I’ll be glad when Jackie gets here at noon. I don’t know how she can stand sitting here all day.”
“You’ve been here three hours,” he chuckled. “Surely you’re not in that bad a shape yet.”
“You want to trade for the next three?” the other man asked in a dry tone. “I’d be happy to patrol by myself.”
“Oh no,” he smirked back. “Not happening. You’d have to chain me to that desk.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say.”
Zane chuckled, finally turning in Amanda’s direction and did nothing more than motion for her to proceed him out the door.
When they got back outside, he opened the passenger door to a patrol car sitting in front of the police station, and waited for her to crawl in. She didn’t figure arguing with him would get her anywhere, so she climbed in without saying a word, and watched him walk around the front end of the car, struck once again by the size of him. He wasn’t the biggest man she had ever saw. Mark and James both, were bigger. But he certainly wasn’t small. He was thick enough through his shoulders and arms, his uniform shirt strained against the muscles. He was so sexy, she had to swallow when her mouth went dry from watching him.
He crawled in behind the wheel, and she felt the space in the car swell with electricity and become smaller all at the same time. He started the car and pulled back onto the road, staying silent for a little while longer, just driving along. He was quiet long enough, she was starting to wonder if he was going to say anything after all.
When he finally broke the silence, his strong, deep voice made her jump. “I wasn’t sure you were going to show up. I thought I might have to come after you.”
“You can’t do that,” she shot back in a near panic. “He can’t know I’ve been talking to you.”
“Really? Why’s that?” He sounded irritated. “You and I have been friends since we were little. Does he have a problem with all of your friends, or is it just me?”
“I guess it’s just you, really,” she shrugged. “I think he feels threatened by you.” He knows if I believed for a second that you wanted me, I’d be in your arms in a heartbeat and there would be no making me leave.
“Why are you doing this?” he growled, smacking the steering wheel with his fist. “Why do you put up with him controlling you like this?”
“I love him, and I don’t want to fight with him,” she said, shaking to the core. She knew almost before the words were out of her mouth, he wasn’t going to buy it.
“I’m still not convinced,” he said sparing her a glance. “The only part I believe, is that you don’t want to fight with him. You sound terrified to me.”
“Look, Zane,” she mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself tightly, trying to stave off the cold feeling in her bones. She hadn’t been able to feel warm in months. Despite the time of year. “You have to drop it. I have to stay with him.”
“You have to?” he asked with a raised eyebrow that she only saw for a split second before he turned back to look out the windshield.
“He’ll kill me,” she replied, barely above a whisper.
“He threatened you,” he growled. It was a statement, not a question.
“Yes,” she said, knowing she had already said too much. He’d never believe her if she tried to deny it. “He told me, if I tried to leave him again, he’d hunt me down and kill me.”
He glanced at her again, a scowl on his handsome face, his blue eyes snapping fire. “He’s going to kill you one of these days, if you don’t get away from him.”
“I can’t, Zane.” She felt defeated and trapped. She didn’t know how to explain that to him. She didn’t know if she ever would know how.
“You have to, Amanda. I’m not going to let this go. I can’t stand by and let him do this to you.”
“Zane, I know the law. You can’t arrest him, if I don’t press charges. You have to stay away.”
“Why won’t you press charges?” he asked, sounding confused.
“He’ll kill me before the law manages to put him away,” she mumbled, dropping her eyes to her lap.
“I’m not going to let this drop,” he grumbled, gripping the steering wheel tight enough to turn his knuckles white.
“You have to. You have to stay away from him.”
“I may have to stay away as a police officer, but not as a friend.”
“Zane, please, don’t get involved. He could try to hurt you. I couldn’t live with that.”
“Will you please, tell me why you went back to Ruby Falls to start with?” he asked in confusion. “We had you over here, staying with your parents. Your father’s our mayor. You were safe there. If you called from their house, the police would be out there so fast, it would make his head spin.”
“It had been long enough, I figured he had moved on to someone else,” she mumbled, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “I was tired and didn’t want to drive all the way back to Sapphire Springs. I didn’t see how staying in Ruby Falls for the night would hurt. But apparently, he had been checking every night to see if I had come home. He told me if I tried to leave again, he’d kill me.”
He sighed, giving a curt nod of his head. “So, yo
u weren’t trying to go back to him.”
“No, I had no intentions of dating anyone for a while.” She chuckled to herself. “Well, that is, unless the one man I really want decided to ask me out. Boy, wouldn’t that be a laugh?” she added, shaking her head.
“Who are you in love with?” he asked, fighting the urge to snarl. He had to work hard not to let his jealousy show.
“I don’t think I’m ready to tell you that.” She looked over at him, and nearly pleaded. “Zane, please, stay away from him. I don’t want you to get hurt over this mess.”
“Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.” He turned and looked at her. “If you don’t get away from him, I’m coming after you and bringing you back myself. You’ve got two weeks to decide. Then I’ll take matters into my own hands.” Amanda sat in silence knowing she had nothing she could say back to him to make him listen.
They rode all the way back to the station, neither one of them breaking the silence. He let her out and watched her turn and walk toward her car. Before she could open the door, he called after her, “Remember, two weeks.”
Chapter 3
Saturday, July 12
Austin stumbled into the apartment, nearly falling when he went to sit down on the couch. It was now seven o’clock in the morning. He had been at the bar till last call, then spent the rest of the night with Gerald, one of his friends. They had been up the rest of the night, drinking shots.
He lay sprawled for several seconds before finally pulling himself to a sitting position. “Amanda,” he shouted, his anger coming to a boil. He had been stewing for the last several hours. And the more he stewed, the more he drank. “Where’re you at, you little whore?”
She gasped, and he turned to find her standing behind him. He wagged his finger, giving her a vicious look. “You’re in trouble, you little whore.”
“Why are you calling me that?” she whispered, starting to shake. She couldn’t think for the life of her what had obviously set him off this time.
“Gerald told me a little secret, and it concerns you.”
She frowned, wondering if the man had finally drunk so much, he had given himself brain damage. “What could Gerald have possibly told you about me? I haven’t seen him in several weeks.”
“You might not have saw him, but he saw you,” he grumbled before belching and falling back on the couch.
She shook her head, still thinking the man had finally lost his mind. “When was he supposed to have seen me?”
“Supposed to have seen you?” he sneered, jumping to his feet. “Are you accusing him of lying?”
“I’m not accusing anyone, of anything,” she whimpered, taking a step back. “I just don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really?” he sneered again, taking a step closer, eating up the space she had just put between them.
“Austin, would you just tell me what you’re talking about, please?” she said, wishing she had a clear shot to the door, but knowing he’d be on her for sure if she tried to run.
“Okay,” he huffed, pulling himself up straighter, making sure to hitch up his jeans when he did. “I’ll play along with your little game,” he smirked, only having the patience because he knew he was going to soon make her pay for messing around on him. “Gerald saw you riding around with Zane in his patrol car Monday morning. What were you two up to? Had you been on a rendezvous?”
“Rendezvous?” she mumbled, feeling so astonished that he even knew how to use the word, that she temporarily forgot her fear. Sometimes she had to remind herself the man really wasn’t stupid, just a drunk jerk.
“You know what a rendezvous is, don’t you?” he sneered, wanting to slap her, but wanting to draw the pleasure of putting her in her place out. He really was into savoring the moment.
“Yes, I know what a rendezvous is, and no we weren’t having one. He wanted to talk to me about something,” she said, starting to shake.
“You knew you were supposed to stay away from him,” he snarled, taking another step closer, running her into the wall behind her. “You know I’m going to have to punish you for that, don’t you?”
“Punish?” she whispered, looking at him like he had lost his mind.
“Yeah,” he laughed, back-handing her across the face. “Punish. You should have known better than to cheat on me.”
“I’m not cheating on you,” she whimpered, holding her hand to her cheek where he had hit her.
“Don’t lie to me, Whore,” he demanded, nearly screaming in her face.
When he went to draw his arm back like he intended to hit her again, she picked up the lamp on the table beside her and slammed it into the side of his head, just as hard as she could. Luckily, with all the alcohol in his system, she managed to knock him out cold on the first try and he dropped to the floor with a soft thud. If it hadn’t been for how drunk he was, she would have never been able to do it. He was faster than one would think, just looking at him.
“I’m not lying to you, you jerk,” she spat at him where he lay sprawled out at her feet, just resisting the temptation to stomp in the middle of his gut with the heel of her boot. “I can’t cheat on you. You and I aren’t together.”
******
Amanda called Zane, crying. She’d had to walk up the hill to the gas station after packing her clothes in a rush. She wanted to get them packed and on her way before Austin woke up. When she got outside, she found he hadn’t made it home with her car. Not wanting to take the time to try and figure out where it was, she had taken off on foot. “Zane, I don’t need two weeks. Can you come and get me, please?”
He could hear the tears in her voice, and it caused him to grip the phone hard enough, he heard the plastic crunch in his hand. “Mandy, you don’t have to beg.” He didn’t even ask why. He knew what was going on. “Of course, I’ll come and get you. Where are you at?”
“Ruby Falls,” she said, sucking in a deep breath, trying to slow the tears. “At the main gas station. How long will it take you to get here?”
He could hear the fear in her voice, and he had to fight the urge to smash the phone. “Not long. I’m leaving now. If you don’t stay in the building, at least stay close. He’ll be less likely to try something if there’s a chance people will see you.”
“He’s unconscious,” she sniffled, wiping her eyes with the fingers of her free hand. “At least he was when I left the apartment.”
“Okay, just stay in a well populated area to be safer.”
“I will.”
“Good,” he growled, snapping his phone shut and hollering across the yard, “Mom, I’m going after Amanda. You’ll need to get one of the others to help you.”
“Of course,” Jamie said, walking off the deck to meet him at the bottom of the steps where he had stopped. “What happened?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask. It was obvious she had been crying.”
“Okay, but can you take Mark or James with you?” she asked, the concern showing on her face. “Or maybe your brother. Well, he’s probably trying to help your dad.”
“Mom, I’ll take someone with me,” he said, giving her a quick hug before heading toward the side gate. “I’ll ask Mark. He’s went with me before.”
He was halfway to the gate that led back to the front yard when he reached his brother-in-law. “Hey, Mark, I need you to go with me.”
“Okay.” The other man looked over at his wife, pointing back at Zane. She had been near enough, she had heard what her brother had said. She just nodded her head and blew him a kiss. “Where are we going?” he asked, already walking across the yard toward him.
“I just got off the phone with Amanda. She wants me to come and get her. I want you to come with me in case Austin shows up. You may have to keep me from killing him,” he said, still growling. That was something he had been doing a lot of lately. “She said he was unconscious when she left the apartment, but you never know.”
“Sure thing,” he said, foll
owing the other man to his jeep. “But who’s going to keep me from killing him.”
Zane stopped, turning to look back at the other man. “Maybe we should take Jeff along,” he mumbled, sounding a little uncertain of what to do. He was so angry, he wasn’t sure he was thinking really straight.
Mark shook his head. “No, we don’t need to drag him into this.”
“Yeah, I know, but he would be the most objective.”
“Are you sure about that? You know how he feels about men abusing women, no matter what form the abuse takes.”
“You have a point,” Zane grumbled, turning back in the direction of his jeep.
“Don’t worry. I can do it. I just keep thinking, what if it was Jenny or my sister he was doing this to.”
******
Twenty minutes later he pulled his jeep into the gas station. She was standing outside with a duffle bag and a suitcase. She had a black eye that looked like it wasn’t done swelling yet. “Hey, Mark, go buy a cup of ice, and ask for one of their little plastic bags.”
She was shaking when he walked up and wrapped his arms around her. “Where’s your car?”
“I don’t know. I had to walk up here. When I got outside, it wasn’t there. One of his buddies must have brought him back to my apartment. He’s passed out drunk on my floor. Well, he was when I left the apartment.” Her voice sounded shaky, and her eyes were twice the size that they should have been.
“He stayed conscious long enough to hit you, then he passed out,” he growled. “I wish he would have passed out sooner.”
“Well, I actually hit him in the head with a lamp when he went to hit me a second time,” she said, a hitch in her voice.
“Good. Did you kill him?” he asked, sounding almost hopeful.
She shook her head, the tears starting all over again. “No, he was still breathing when I left. I checked. He was just sleeping. I was really terrified if I didn’t do something, he might not stop until he killed me this time.” His only response was to growl with a shake of his head and hold her tighter.
Austin's Revenge (The Townsends Book 4) Page 2