“I wonder how frantic your father is right now? What about that cop boyfriend? I can only imagine they’re rallying the troops to find you. In fact, I know they are; I have spies everywhere.”
“They’ll find you,” I spit. “And when they do, they’ll gut you.”
He throws his head back and laughs. “I’d love to see them try.”
“You think you’re so tough, don’t you? You think your little plans are so fucking foolproof, but they’re not. In fact, you’re going to find out the hard way that you’re nothing but a pathetic, weak loser of a man who needs to steal and kill innocent women to show the world how tough he is. Men like my father, men like Lucas—they don’t need to do those things. They’re strong and tough just because of who they are, and believe me when I say they’ll make you scream, you pig.”
Ricky lunges at me, curling his hands around my throat. I squirm and gasp, trying to take a breath though his tightening fingers.
“How does it feel to know I could kill you at any second?”
“Fuck you,” I spit.
He squeezes harder and pressure builds behind my eyes, causing my entire head to throb. I gasp and gasp, but no air is getting through.
“A few more minutes, and you’re dead.”
I glare at him even though I’m terrified, so damned afraid he will do it.
“Strong girl. Here I thought I broke you last time.”
I spit in his face.
He lets me go and slaps me so hard my head swings to the side.
“Do I need to teach you a fucking lesson?” he roars. “Clearly blood and gore doesn’t do the job, but I can only imagine how you’ll cope if I find other more creative ways.” He grins, reaching down and cupping my breast. I scream and try to kick out, thrashing my body.
“Ahhh.” He chuckles, pinching my nipple through my shirt. “I think I found your weakness.”
“Let me go, you sick fuck!”
He reaches down, grabbing me between my legs. I scream and thrash, trying to kick out, doing anything I can to dislodge his hand.
“How would you feel if I fucked you right now? Put my cock inside you and then slowly killed you?”
“Fuck you!”
He gets to his knees, reaching for his belt. Vomit rises in my throat and I fight harder, trying to slam him with my bound hands. He jerks his belt off and unbuttons his jeans, grabbing my shorts when he’s done in an attempt to pull them down. Fear unlike anything I’ve ever felt rips up my spine and I start to tremble. No.
“I think it’ll feel good,” he growls, reaching into his jeans while his other hand dives down into my shorts.
I screech as loud as I can, launching my body forward and biting his arm—it’s the only thing I can reach. I bite so hard his skin pops in my mouth and blood pours out.
“You fuckin’ bitch! I’ll fuck you so hard you tear for that.”
“Ricky?”
The sound comes from behind us. Ricky spins around, pants down, cock out, to see Jennifer standing at the door, her eyes wide.
“What’re you doing?” she whispers, pain flashing over her features.
“Teaching this little cunt a lesson.”
“By fucking her?”
His face softens slightly. “No, no baby,” he says, letting me go and standing, jerking his jeans up. “By making her think I am.”
“You had your hand in her pants . . .”
“Jenn,” he croons, pushing her out the door. “No. You know I wouldn’t . . .”
I don’t hear any more, because he slams and locks the door.
I slump forward and a tear escapes and runs down my cheek.
That’s the only one I’ll allow.
I have to get out of here.
~*~*~*~
I wake to a hand gently slapping my face.
It takes me a few minutes to focus, and when I do, I see Jennifer leaning over me. It’s dark, and she has a small flashlight in one hand and a phone in her other.
“Jennifer?” I croak. “What are you doing?”
“You’re right,” she says, fumbling with my cuffs. “Lucas doesn’t deserve this; you don’t deserve this. I . . . I didn’t realize what a monster Ricky was.”
“Is this a joke?” I whisper, my heart racing.
She looks at me and I see a kindness in her eyes, the kindness I have no doubt Lucas saw once.
“When she was little, she used to call me Jenna Banana.” She smiles sadly. “She was the cutest kid—just like Luke. So much life and energy. It broke me when she died. She wasn’t my daughter by blood, but she was in every way that counted. He shut down and I couldn’t handle the pain, so I turned to drinking and then the drugs. My life just spiraled after that.”
I can understand that. I was at a point where I nearly turned to drugs, too. Lucas saved me, but when Jenn was hurting, Lucas was equally as broken and couldn’t save anyone - not even himself.
“I never meant to hurt him,” she says, freeing my hands. “I . . . I just lost control. Ricky gave me what I needed. What I still need. I’m a drug addict, Ava. I don’t know that I’ll ever be different. Maybe I’ll always need him but . . . I won’t sit back and watch him do this.”
“So you’re letting me go?”
“Yes. I’m letting you go.”
“If he finds out, he’ll kill you.”
Her eyes meet mine. “He won’t find out, because you’re going to beat me.”
I am shaking my head before she’s even finished her sentence. “No!”
“It’s the only way he’ll believe it. Here. I got this off him earlier; it was in his jeans.” She hands me a pocket knife. “For all he knows, it dropped when he was . . . when he . . .”
“Jennifer,” I say, reaching out and taking her hand. “Come with me. Get the help you need. Lucas . . . me . . . we’ll help you.”
She looks at me sadly. “I’m beyond help.”
“No one is beyond help.”
“If I leave . . . he’ll find me. Just . . . go.”
“I can’t leave you here.”
She smiles weakly. “You don’t get a choice. You leave, or you stay and let him hurt you. I know which I’d pick.”
I study her, really study her. She wants to come with me. She wants it to stop, but she’s scared of Ricky. Worse, she’s as addicted to him as she is her drugs.
“I’ll send him back for you,” I whisper.
“Don’t, Ava. It’s not worth it. I’m not worth it.”
“You really won’t come with me?”
She finishes freeing my legs. “No.”
I stretch my legs out and listen as she gives me exact directions to get out.
“I’ll distract the watch. When you leave this room, go left. You’ll find a big hall; run down it until you reach the end. When you get there, turn right. You’ll come into an open kitchen. Everyone is asleep; no one will be in there. Exit the door you see to the left. We’re about five miles from the road; stick to the trees. No one should figure out you’re gone until morning, but in case they do, you don’t want to be seen. Take this phone; Ricky doesn’t know I have it. Call Luke, tell him this address.”
She gives an address to the place we’re at, and then sits back, handing me the pocket knife.
“I’m not stabbing you,” I cry.
“You don’t have to; just make it look like we had a good fight.”
“Jennifer, I can’t.”
Her eyes meet mine. “Go back, Ava. For me. For Shylie. For him. He needs you.”
A tear runs down my cheek as I get to my feet. She gets to hers too.
Then I raise my hand and bring it down on her cheek.
The loud crack of my fist that echoes through the room is equally as loud as the one echoing through my heart.
CHAPTER 41
NOW – AVA
“Lucas Black.”
I’m running down the dirt road as hard and fast as I can. I got out of the house easily after I left Jenn in the room, bruised and battered.
I made sure I didn’t hit her anywhere that’d cause major problems. I took the pocket knife with me. She told me she’d tell Ricky that when she came to feed me, I had freed myself with the knife he dropped, and then I attacked her, getting out.
I only hope he believes her.
“Luke?” I croak.
“Ava? Fuck, baby, is that you? Please, God, please be you.”
My heart clenches. “It’s me . . . Luke . . . I need help.”
“Where are you?”
I lean down, pressing one hand to my knee and taking a deep breath.
“Ava?”
I pant out the details Jennifer gave me.
“Find somewhere safe and don’t move until I call you. Don’t go on the roads; stay hidden. I’m coming for you, baby.”
“Lucas?” I croak, rushing into the trees.
“Yeah?”
“Will you get Jennifer out? She saved me. She—”
“I’ll get her, honey. Just sit tight.”
“I was so scared,” I croak.
“Fuck, baby, me too. I’m coming; hang strong for me.”
“I . . . I will.”
I hang up and find a fallen log, sitting down on it. I can hear cars in the distance so I’m guessing I’m close to the road. I put my head in my hands and take a deep, shaky breath. I’m okay. I’m free. I’ll be safe as soon as Lucas gets here. I just need to be calm and stay still.
A sound catches my attention, and I jerk my head up.
There is a car coming. It’s travelling really slow and it’s coming from the same direction the house was.
My heart rate picks up and I carefully scramble backwards, deeper into the trees. A flashlight shines through the undergrowth. They’re looking for me. I spin and search quickly for something to hide behind. The only thing I can see is a massive tree. I rush to it and press my back against it, my chest rising and falling with panic.
If they find me again . . .
No.
They won’t. Lucas is coming.
“Where the fuck could she have gone?” I hear a voice bark over the low rumble of the car. “She couldn’t have gotten this far.”
“I don’t know.”
Jennifer.
“You lying to me? ’Cause if you are . . .”
“Ricky, I’m not. She attacked me. I don’t know where she went.”
“She’s close. I can sense it.”
I shiver and stay dead still.
They flash the lights deeper into the bushes, the car moving slowly past. Then I see more lights and my heart rate quickens. Lucas. He could get killed. Ricky would have more men with him, surely. Lucas would have only himself, maybe some back up if I’m lucky. Panic sets in and I try to peer through the trees.
Car doors slam.
Then voices.
“Ah, Lucas. I wondered when you’d show up.”
“Where is she?”
“That’s for me to know . . .”
I hear a loud grunt, and then, “I’m not fucking with you, Ricky. Where the fuck is she?”
“What’re you going to do?” Ricky laughs. “I’ve got men comin in behind me, at least seven of them, and you . . . well . . .”
“You think I won’t fuckin’ end you?” Lucas growls.
“With what?” Ricky chuckles. “Your bare hands? Not even you’re that good, cop.”
“Where is Ava?”
“Dead. It’s more than she deserves. By the way, she has a sweet pussy. I spent a little time inside it before I slit her throat.”
Lucas makes a growling, angry sound and then I hear a gun being cocked. “Step any closer,” Ricky warns, “and I’ll kill you.”
I want to run out and help him, but I can’t. One distraction and he’s dead. But I can’t just sit here and do nothing. I pull out the phone Jennifer gave me and call my dad, praying he answers. He doesn’t. I know Lucas would have gone to him, but is did he get time to call him tonight?
I close the phone and keep listening, knowing the best thing I can do is be quiet and let Lucas deal with this.
He knows what he’s doing . . . right?
“I’d like to see you fuckin’ try,” Lucas barks.
“Is that a dare?”
Silence.
“Yeah,” Lucas growls. “It’s a dare.”
I gasp into my hands and clench my eyes shut. What is he doing?
“You think I won’t do it, pig?” Ricky bellows. “I’ll blow your fuckin’ brains out.”
“Try it,” Lucas says, his voice calm. “You so much as touch that trigger, I’ll have you and your men dead in less than a minute.”
“With what?” Ricky laughs. “You?”
“You think I’d be so stupid as to bring no back-up? You fucked with my girl twice now, you put her through hell, you tortured her, and you killed an innocent woman. You were never going to live for that. So, put the gun down and you won’t die.”
“Back-up?” Ricky says, his voice a little less confident. “I see no one but you.”
“That’s ’cause you ain’t looking hard enough.”
I hear the sounds of boots crunching and then a low, familiar voice. “You didn’t think I’d let you get away with torturing my daughter, did you?”
Dad. I press a hand to my mouth and force back my tears.
“You’re not going to kill me!” Ricky barks. “You won’t get away with killing this many people.”
“Won’t we?” Lucas laughs. “You’re very, very wrong. You’re scum. Nobody will miss you. Nobody will question it. I am an officer of the law; I know all the loopholes.”
“Some officer.” Ricky laughs nervously. “Killing that many men. You’ll go down.”
Lucas laughs again. “Let’s see, shall we?”
Then the guns start firing, quick successions, rapid shots. There is yelling, a woman screaming—Jennifer, I guess—and the guns keep ringing out through the air. I press my hands to my ears and drop to the ground, lying flat, praying with every single piece of my heart that they survive this.
Please, let them survive.
~*~*~*~
The gunfire has stopped, and I can hear the low murmuring of voices. I lift my head, and I can’t see anything but the car headlights. I don’t want to go out there; I don’t know who is standing and who isn’t. The very thought makes my chest clench, and I focus hard on keeping myself together.
“Ava?”
Lucas?
I push to my feet, legs wobbling. Is that him? God, please let me have heard that right.
“Ava, honey, are you there?”
It’s him.
I run forward, trees scratching my arms, gouging into already pained flesh. I clear the thick shrubs and go onto the dirt road and see Lucas standing, staring at the trees. When he sees me, his entire body jerks with relief. I run towards him, my legs pounding hard. The moment I reach him, I launch myself into his arms, tears running down my face.
“Baby,” he croons into my neck, holding me so tight it hurts, but I don’t care. “Fuck, my baby.”
“You came,” I sob.
“Of course I came.”
“Ava?”
I hear my dad’s voice and unhook my legs from Lucas and turn. Dad is standing, his face relieved. I throw myself into his arms and he holds me close, arms even tighter than Lucas’s were. “Never been so scared in my life.”
“I’m okay, Daddy, I’m okay.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No,” I whisper.
“Thank god.”
“Daddy . . . are . . . is anyone hurt?”
“No baby, we’re okay – a couple of minor injuries, but we outranked them by at least ten.”
“And them?”
“Not for you to worry about.”
I pull back, turning to Lucas. “Will he get into trouble for this?”
“Baby,” Lucas says. “Leave it with us; there was only four of them, including Ricky.”
“But he said . . .”
“He was lying, no
w leave it with us.”
“What about the rest of the people underneath him? Will they come for you and—”
“Hey,” Lucas says, stepping forward and cupping my jaw. “People like Ricky get themselves killed all the time. Now, do you trust us?”
I glance at him, then to my dad. “Yes.”
“Then don’t worry about it.”
“Jennifer?” I ask, my eyes wide, suddenly remembering.
“She’s okay. She’s with Muff.”
I exhale. “Thank god.”
“Time to go home, honey,” Lucas says. “It’s over.”
It’s over.
God, it’s really over.
Finally.
EPILOGUE
“And you’re going to be okay?” I ask Jennifer.
She’s been in the hospital for the past week. She wasn’t well and they wanted to monitor her after a bullet hit her in the arm. She’s okay, but because her entire system was rundown from drugs, she got an infection and had to stay in. They’ve got her strapped down, ready to go to a rehab center my dad’s club paid for.
“I’ll survive,” she croaks, looking like hell.
“It’s going to be a long road, you know?”
She forces a weak, trembling smile. “Yeah, it will, but they said . . . they said they’ll get me through.”
I take her bound hand. “They will.”
“When I get out,” she croaks, “we’ll have coffee, okay?”
I smile. “Of course.”
“It’s time to take her.” The nurse smiles, coming into the room.
“I’ll call you,” I promise her.
She squeezes my hand. “Thank you, Ava.”
“No,” I say, as she lets go of my hand. “Thank you.”
I watch her being wheeled out of the room and even after she’s gone I just stand there, staring at nothing. I wrap my arms around myself and rub carefully, trying to soothe the sadness welling in my chest. Jennifer laid her life on the line for me; she took huge risks. Seeing her getting the help she needs makes me feel good, but I also know what a hard time she’s going to have. Lucas promised she’d be taken care of.
“Hey.”
I spin to see Lucas standing in the doorway, smiling at me.
“Hey yourself,” I whisper.
“You okay?”
I nod. “Did you see her?”
“Yeah, stopped her in the hall. She’ll be okay, baby.”