When they reached the tiny bathroom, he shoved her down on the toilet seat, pulled back the plastic shower curtain, and turned on the water. She was sure he’d drag her into the freezing spray, but instead, he turned and sliced through the plastic tie on her wrists.
“Get yourself cleaned up. If you’re thinking of doing something stupid, I still have the stun gun.” Damon stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door, and Lisa nearly wept with relief.
So far her plan was working. She had gone over every detail she remembered of the tiny bathroom, believing this was her best chance to get away. She hadn’t expected him to free her hands, but she was naked and injured from the last beating he had given her. And as he had said, he had the stun gun.
She shivered at the thought. Clenching and unclenching her fists, she rubbed her bruised and injured wrists. She could do this.
She had to.
As silently as possible, praying Damon wouldn’t hear, she slid the old-fashioned lock on the bathroom door into place.
“Hurry up in that shower or I’ll come in and drag you out.”
This was it. Moving quickly, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her hand, dragged in a harsh, steadying breath and punched her fist through the glass in the window over the toilet.
“What the hell?” The doorknob rattled as she cleared as many of the broken shards out of the way as she could, then stepped up on the toilet, pulled herself up over the sill, and dropped down on the other side.
The second she started to run, she heard the door crash open and Damon rush into the bathroom. “You bitch!” he screamed.
Lisa kept running. She had reached the trees by the time the front door slammed open, then the screen door, and Damon rushed outside. Foul words spewed like venom off his tongue as he raced after her, heading for the trees where she had disappeared. Lisa just kept running.
The dirt road leading up to the cabin had turned off a paved road at the bottom of the hill. She remembered that from the time she had spent in the trunk of Damon’s car. If she could make it to the road, maybe she could flag down a vehicle.
Stones and twigs cut into her bare feet. Rough bark scraped her skin as she ducked under branches and tripped over rocks, but she kept running. Nothing was going to stop her. Not as long as her heart beat and she had breath in her lungs.
Careening down the mountain, her pulse pounding wildly, she heard him behind her. Keep going. Keep going. Downhill, downhill, following a dry streambed, slowing now, picking her way more carefully. Spotting an indentation in the bank, she crouched and ducked inside, hiding, listening for his footsteps, her heartbeat roaring in her ears.
She could hear him, battering his way through the forest, not worried about making noise, knowing there was no one around to hear.
She had to keep going. No other choice. Bursting out of her hiding place she ran and ran and ran. Then she saw it, a ribbon of pavement winding its way through the woods below. A little ways off, twin beams of light rolled along at a leisurely clip moving in her direction.
Hope soared and a fresh burst of adrenaline burned through her, giving her shaking legs the strength to move. Stomach churning with fear, she raced down the hill, trying to time her arrival for the moment the car rounded the curve.
She reached the road, saw the car coming, a compact SUV with two people inside. Glancing over her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of Damon behind her and the knot in her stomach tightened.
You can do it. Don’t give up! She burst into the road just as the car rounded the bend. Lisa started waving madly, forcing the car to slow, screaming, forcing the words out of her dry throat.
“Help! Help me!” The SUV rolled to a stop. “Please help me!”
The driver’s door opened, a slender young man stepped out of the car. She heard the echo of a gunshot, saw the horrified look on the young man’s face, felt a burning, tearing pain in her back. Then her body went numb and her vision blurred as her head hit the pavement and she was hurled into darkness.
*
The demolition crew arrived early the following morning, a big yellow Caterpillar backhoe, an old red Mack dump truck, and an extra hired hand to help Josh, Noah, and Cole with the cleanup. Josh had a skip loader parked next to the tool shed.
Not quite ready to face Tory after the hot sex they’d had last night, he left a note for her on the kitchen table, brewed coffee, fixed himself an egg sandwich, and went to work.
Until last night, he had done his best to behave as her employer and keep his distance. But he’d been attracted to Tory Ford since the day she’d driven up in front of the barn, since she had bulled her way into his life, she and her irresistible little girl.
He had tried to keep his distance, but he was a man, not a saint, and he wanted Tory more than he had wanted any woman he could recall. Apparently, she wanted him, too, and that was all the justification he needed, even if his conscience nagged him.
Since thinking about having her again was making him hard, he bent and dug his shovel into a load of heavy black ash, hoisted it up, and dumped it into the wheelbarrow. Noah was busy knocking apart half-burned boards that had once been part of a stall, while Cole walked over to fire up the skip loader.
The sun beat down, shining directly overhead. Josh took off his hat and mopped his forehead with his arm, settled his hat back on.
When he looked up, Tory was walking out of the house carrying a tray piled with sandwiches, a pitcher of lemonade, and a stack of red plastic cups. She smiled and the kick he felt went straight to his groin.
She was so damned pretty. His mind began to imagine ways he would take her the next time they were together, but he shut the thought down. Maybe by now Tory had come to her senses and changed her mind.
“I figured you guys would be hungry by now,” she said. “Where should I put the tray?”
He walked over to the back of his pickup and lowered the tailgate, took the tray from her hands, and set it down.
“Sandwiches look great. Thanks.” The roar of the powerful diesel engines stopped. The guys clustered around the tailgate and the sandwiches began to disappear.
“So how was your morning?” he asked, just to hear the sound of her voice.
“Not as good as I’d hoped. I used the phone you bought me to call my friend in Phoenix. It’s been a while since we talked. I was really looking forward to catching up but the call went straight to voicemail. I called her office but they said she wasn’t there. She didn’t call in this morning and she didn’t show up yesterday, either.”
“Is that unusual for her?”
“Yes,” Tory said. “Lisa’s extremely responsible. I’m worried about her. I phoned a friend of hers and asked her to go by Lisa’s house and check on her. Shelly said she’d stop by on her way home from work. I figured it was okay to give her the number of the disposable since I can always get rid of it.”
He didn’t like that she had to be so careful. No one should have to hide themselves the way Tory did.
“Something probably came up,” he said. “No use worrying till you know what’s going on.”
“You’re right, but still . . .” She glanced toward the house. “I need to get back.”
“I’ll walk you.” They left the men to finish their lunch, and he walked Tory up on the porch. “I’ve been thinking about last night,” he said.
Her head came up and her gaze found his. “I’m not sorry. I hope you aren’t, either.”
Relief slipped through him. “I’m not sorry.”
“So . . . umm . . . maybe you’d like to come over later. After I put Ivy to bed.”
His blood heated, began to hammer through his veins. “Yeah. Okay. Great.”
“I’d better go. I’m fixing spaghetti for supper.”
“Spaghetti sounds good.” His mouth edged up. “I’ll have my dessert later.”
Tory blushed crimson. Turning, she opened the door and disappeared inside the house.
Josh took a couple of deep breaths, imagined himself in an ice-cold shower, and went back to work.