Best Man

  “I can smell your pussy from here,” he said.

  Ew, that was gross. All I could smell was burning plastic.

  His knees hit the floor in front of me, and his hands fumbled wildly with his belt. Frantic fingers slid the leather out of the buckle and unzipped his pants. “I’m going to fuck that pussy raw. Then, I’m going to come all over your face and send that picture to that asshole too.”

  He pulled out his dick with his right hand. It looked angry and discolored, making me gag loudly. His eyes flew up to mine when he heard the sound, and I instantly moaned and smiled. “You’re so big,” I whispered, widening my eyes and acting amazed. If that thing went anywhere near me I would have to douche with bleach and gasoline.

  He leaned closer to me and his breath reeked of mustard and sweat. His fingers grabbed between my legs and hooked into the edge of my panties, trying to drag them down. I watched his face as he yanked the material—his expression hard—primal. I shifted myself toward the pipes and lifted my ass for him to pull my underwear from where I rested on them. It gave me the perfect angle to slip the nail file from the side of them and grasp it in my hand. My stomach cramped and knotted with fear. I had one chance to get it right or he would kill me.

  “Bring that pussy closer to me, you dirty whore,” he growled, grabbing at my thighs and waist.

  I sprang up and with a huge arc of my hands and brought the nail file down into the inside of his thigh where his femoral artery was. All my life I’d wanted to be a nurse. I knew exactly where that artery was and how much time he had if it was severed. I jerked down on the file and Cardarrio screeched out in pain. I jerked the other way and wrenched it out of his flesh. It made an awful sound and blood spurted up from the gash like a fountain. Cardarrio clawed at his thigh, eyes wide and body quaking. I bolted past him and ran, trying to pull up my panties at the same time. I dove into the first open door and looked for a bigger weapon.

  CHAPTER 17

  LUKE

  T ravis tried to climb into the passenger side of the Jeep but tumbled back down. “Stop moving the car,” he mumbled, even though I hadn’t yet put the key in the ignition. He reached his hand out across the front seat. “Here, don’t drive yet. Hold my drink,” he slurred, handing me a half empty bottle of whatever he was drinking.

  “Get that out of my car and get in,” I yelled, smacking his hand away.

  Travis lunged forward and grabbed onto the gearshift to pull himself through the door. He hung there, slack jawed and slumped over, for a few seconds before Ava came up behind him and shoved his feet inside. “Fucking drunk asshole,” she growled, slamming the door closed.

  She opened the back door and pulled herself in. “I’m comin’ too. Thas-my-bes-friend,” she slurred from behind me. “Where we goin’ first?”

  “Back to her cabin,” I said, not knowing at all where she was. All she sent me was a picture of herself, topless somewhere, and she looked terrified like she didn’t want to be there. It looked like whoever was taking the picture was above her. Maybe she was in some club, maybe she was in some bar, or maybe she was home. I had no clue. I called her back but she didn’t answer. Maybe she was so drunk she couldn’t even hear it. The odd thing about the picture was the lighting. It was bright like she was in someone’s house—not dark like a bar. My gut hardened. Why the fuck would she pull a stunt like this? If she didn’t want to start anything with me why didn’t she just say so?

  I pulled out of the parking lot and sped away while Travis flailed around next to me because of the momentum of the Jeep. “Ima get sick soon,” he mumbled.

  I clenched my jaw and opened his window. All I needed was that idiot puking all over the car. “Aim out the window,” I said.

  He hung his head out the window like a dog.

  Ava pulled on the back of my seat and bent her body forward to talk to me, “Sheesh not like that,” she yelled in my ear.

  “Sit back down!” I snapped at her, nudging her back with my elbow. I already had visions of us speeding through town and weaving all over the place, I didn’t want her going through the windshield if I had to stop short.

  She fell back into the seat and yelped, “Well, she isn’t. Sheesh a good person.”

  “Whatever the fuck is going on, I’m finding out now,” I said, pulling off the main road and driving toward her property. My fists gripped the steering wheel tightly as the tires bumped over the little wobbly bridge, which wasn’t a bridge at all, but a bunch of fucking sticks holding up a flat piece of wood to drive over.

  Before I pulled into her driveway, I could see that all the lights in the cabin were on. The brightness spilled out against the long shadows across the grass. Relief loosened my shoulders. She must be home. Whatever she was up to, at least she was safe.

  I killed the engine a little way from the house. I didn’t want to pull the Jeep any closer. I would walk the rest of the way to see if I could peek in at what was really going on.

  That’s about the time the what the fuck set in. She skipped out on a party for her brother’s future wife to be with someone here and send half naked pictures to me. It didn’t make any sense.

  I crossed the distance between the Jeep, and the house quickly. Travis staggered after me. About halfway in between, he dropped to his knees and loudly threw up.

  Ava patted him on the back and laughed.

  I ignored the both of them and scanned the front of the cabin. On the right hand side, a window was fully open and two panels of a lacy curtain waved like ghostly hands up against the outside of the house. Why? Why was the window open, and the curtains pulled out?

  A thick, dark shadow moved in front of the window. I gulped down a breath to try to stay quiet. Something didn’t feel right.

  I crept around to the side of the house, bypassing the front porch. From this angle, I could see a dark car parked in back. Something was familiar about it—and it was way too fancy for anyone in this town.

  I was reaching my arms out and running my fingers along the edge of the window when I heard a man scream out in agony. I pulled myself up to look through the window and terror nearly paralyzed me. My eyes caught the back end of a barely dressed woman running into the hallway. Just below the window where I stood was a bloody Anthony Cardarrio clutching at a wound in his upper thigh.

  I didn’t have time to think.

  No time for questions.

  I pulled out my gun and ran to the other side of the house. I needed Maddie safe. I turned away and collided with Ava, who stumbled back and fell straight down onto her ass and yelped. I hovered over her and smacked a hand over her mouth. “Shut up and call the police. Now!”

  “Wha?” she blinked up at me.

  Travis toppled over Ava and used her head for leverage to stand up again.

  “Ouch, you-stupid-dick,” she hissed, smacking him in the legs.

  “Shut the hell up, both of you!” I yanked out my phone and pressed the emergency button and handed it to Ava. “Get the sheriff here right now. Tell him there’s been a break in and someone is in trouble. Then get back into the Jeep.”

  Travis straightened up and scratched at the vomit that was smashed all over his cheek. “But you’re the cops.”

  I rushed past him. “And I need more of me. Right now! Call them. Maddie’s in trouble.”

  He laughed loudly. “Maddie’s always in trouble.”

  I spun on him wildly. “Not with the men inside her house. They’re going to kill her if I don’t stop them. Call the fucking police.”

  Thank God Ava was already on my phone and telling someone the address. Fear gripped my insides thinking she might be ordering a damned pizza—but there wasn’t time to make sure. I needed to get to Maddie.

  Travis wavered next to her as I ran to the other side of the house. His bottle of liquor slid from his grip and plunked onto the grass in front of him.

  I ran along the side of the house until I got to the back and the first open window I could find. Punching a hole in the screen, I yank
ed at it until it ripped into a big enough hole for me to climb through. I pulled myself up and through and dropped to the floor hard.

  I looked up and saw Maddie holding a lamp in her hands, ready to bean anyone who came in the door. “Get out of here,” she said, waving me away. “They want to kill you!”

  Just outside the door we could hear Cardarrio and someone else trying to stop the bleeding.

  “Do you hear me?” she whispered. “They want to kill you!”

  “So?” I smirked, “I’m here to save you.”

  She ripped the shade off the lamp and threw it at me. “I’ve been holding my own here.”

  I pulled in a deep breath and smiled at her. She was holding her own, wasn’t she? “Yeah, I’ve noticed. Are you hurt?”

  “Nope. Just a little pissed that he got to see my boobs,” she growled. Then, her lips pulled up into a smile. “But I made sure he couldn’t hurt me.”

  “Yeah, now I’m going to kill him,” I said, moving toward the door to open it. Sirens wailed somewhere along the road. For a few seconds, I had worried that Ava would call the wrong place. Thank God, it wasn’t the pizza guy.

  “Trust me, he only has twenty more minutes to live. Who the fuck are they?” she asked, smacking my hand away from the doorknob.

  “Those are the bad guys,” I smirked. “Did you notice if they had guns?”

  “Yeah, both of them did,” she whispered.

  The sirens got closer.

  “I need you out of this house right now,” I said, grabbing onto her waist and dragging her to the window. “My Jeep is at the opening of your driveway. Travis and Ava are outside somewhere, drunk.”

  Tires crunched over gravel and red and blue lights flashed outside. Car doors opened and closed, and I knew the cabin was being surrounded. She dropped the lamp to the floor, leaned against the sill of the window just about to climb out. Then, she stopped.

  “Climb out the window. Now!” I snapped.

  “Are you coming?” she asked.

  “No!”

  “Then I’m staying with you,” she said, picking up the lamp again and standing back up.

  “Are you insane? Get out the window,” I said, shoving her against it. She slipped out of my grasp and scrambled over the bed and next to the door again.

  Quick footsteps thundered down the hallway on the other side of the door. She had no vest on, she had no protective gear, and standing just on the other side of that door was a man with a gun and a fucked up vendetta against me. “Get down flat,” I hissed as I threw myself toward her.

  Before I could reach her, I watched as the door splintered open with one strong kick. It swung inward and slammed against the wall at the same time Maddie swung the lamp directly into Paulie Galutto’s face. Slow motion blood splattered out of his nose, and the sound of crushed cartilage and bone slammed into my ears. He dropped to the floor instantly, and the gun he was holding clunked down next to him.

  “Sheriff’s Department! Open up!”

  Maddie bent down and grabbed the gun before I could. She held it in front of her like she knew how to use it.

  The front door exploded open and deputies piled in, yelling for Cardarrio to freeze. I slumped back against the wall with relief as Maddie looked back over her shoulder at me. She was pretty badass for a bartender.

  MADDIE WAS SWINGING her legs over the back on the ambulance. They wrapped a blanket around her and bandaged her head as I sat on the porch steps and went over all I knew with the sheriff.

  “Looks like they had her tied to the radiator for a while,” the deputy was explaining.

  I nodded my head and zoned in on the fresh gauze wrapped around her wrists. “Think I can go to her now?” I said.

  “You bet, son.”

  As soon as he said it, I crossed the distance between us in three long strides.

  “Hey,” she smiled at me.

  I said nothing. I just grabbed her in my arms and crushed my mouth down on hers. People around us went silent at her gasp, but her arms swung up and around me instantly. Heat spiraled like a tornado through my insides, and all I could think of was taking my complete fill of her right there in front of everybody.

  “How drunk am I? Is he really kissing my sister?” Travis asked somewhere behind us.

  “That looks like way more than kissing,” Ava laughed.

  I pulled my lips off hers and sank my hands in her hair. Her lips glistened in the moonlight and her breathing was hard and erratic. “I don’t know what I would have done if you’d been hurt.”

  One of the deputies sauntered up next to us and laughed. “Yes sir. Usually, it’s her we’re putting in the back of the squad car.”

  “Har, har, har, very funny, Lambert,” she said. “You just remember who got the bad guys, got it? Me. You just got here in time to handcuff them.”

  “That we did,” he laughed.

  “I still can’t believe Luke kissed my sister,” Travis said, shaking his head. “That’s gross.”

  CHAPTER 18

  MADELINE

  “Y our CT scan was great. Just a mild concussion,” the doctor said, shinning a penlight into my eyes. “Look up for me and follow the light with your eyes.” He moved the little flashlight back and forth in front of me, and my eyes obediently followed along.

  I sighed heavily and wrapped the hospital dressing gown tighter around my body. I already missed Luke. I went to the hospital, and he went with the sheriff. I didn’t want to be separated from him any longer. It didn’t feel right in the pit of my belly.

  “For the next twenty-four hours, I want you to be careful. If you sleep, I’m going to need someone to wake you up every two to three hours, just to make sure there are no problems,” the doctor said, then turned to face Travis and Casey, who had stayed with me throughout the night. “Please make sure someone is with her to do this.”

  Casey’s eyes bulged, and her face blanched. “Oh my God,” she said, clasping her hand to her chest. “I’m…I’m supposed to be getting married in less than twenty-four hours.” She looked down at her watch and slapped her palm against it a few times. Her eyes shot back up to me. “Correction, I’m getting married in five freaking hours.”

  The doctor smiled tightly in her direction. “That’s nice,” he said.

  Her eyebrows shot up past her hairline. “I’m getting married in five hours,” she whispered.

  The doctor turned back to me and narrowed his eyes. “If you’re feeling any pain you can take an over the counter pain reliever—ibuprofen or acetaminophen. No strenuous activities, avoid driving, and no alcohol for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”

  “So no sex?” a deep voice asked from behind me, making me whirl my head around and wince. His voice slid over me with little spikes of heat and fire. He stood in the doorway, leaning up against the open door, smiling. His arms were folded over his chest, and his hair was a mess. Splatters of dark blood stained the top of his shirt, but his eyes were all over me, like he couldn’t get enough.

  “No,” the doctor answered him coolly, “no sex, no sports, no strenuous activities.”

  “Ew,” Travis grimaced. “That’s my sister.”

  The doctor cleared his throat. “Okay, then. I’ll get all the paperwork ready so you can be discharged.”

  “Ugh,” Travis mumbled under his breath. “Sex and discharge.”

  Casey smacked him on the shoulder. “Do you realize? Five hours? Five! Hours!”

  He laughed and pulled her into his arms, planting a kiss on the top of her head. “Yes, Casey, five hours. Five more hours and you’ll be Mrs. Me.” He gently tugged her out of the room and looked back over his shoulder at me and then at Luke. “We’ll give you some privacy to change, and I’ll go see about the paperwork with the doctor.”

  The doctor walked out behind them, nodding a curt goodbye in my direction.

  “How are you feeling?” Luke said, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed I was on.

  I nodded my head. “Better now tha
t you’re here. I have approximately fifty-six billion questions.”

  He reached up his hand and tucked a strand of hair off my forehead behind my ear. “I’m sure you do.”

  “I have a feeling,” I said, swallowing hard, “there will be a lot of answers I’m not going to like.”

  His fingers softly touched the bottom of my chin, and his eyes turned soft and sad. “No, some things you won’t like at all.”

  IT TOOK another hour for all the paperwork to be finished and for them to find where my clothes went. Then, I was quickly shuttled to Casey’s mother’s house, briskly cleaned in a shower, and shoved in front of a make-up artist. “How much time before pictures?” I asked Casey as she walked into the room—fresh from her shower.

  “Two hours,” she hissed. “We have two hours for these people to make me look like I didn’t stay up in a hospital all damned night.”

  I felt my shoulders drop, but I offered her my best fake smile. “I’m sorry all this happened on your wedding day.” It was nothing, but a lie. I didn’t care about her wedding day. I mean I did care, before I was wire-tied to a radiator and almost raped, but now...not so much. Casey looked past me and scowled like it was all my fault—as if I’d ruined her wedding on purpose. I pinched my lips together and crossed my arms over my chest. “Stay still please,” the make-up lady mumbled.

  Casey’s chin lowered to her chest, and her hands fell to her sides. “I’m not mad at you, Maddie. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like I didn’t want to be in the hospital with you. I just…”

  “Didn’t want to be in the hospital with me...that late?” I smiled.

  She smiled and nodded. “Gosh. I’m…sorry. I’m being selfish. I’m not even thinking of what you went through, and I’m over here whining about my tired eyes. I didn’t even ask if you felt okay to do this…you still feel up to being my maid-of-honor?”

  “Of course I do.” Of course I didn’t. My head throbbed like a bitch, the Tylenol I took hadn’t kicked in yet, and all I wanted to do was sit down and ask Luke what the hell had happened. And why it happened. What was happening? Where I stood. I tried to in the hospital, but there were too many people around talking over us or at us—and honestly—the pounding of my head made it almost impossible to concentrate on anything but the pounding of my head.