"I"m sorry, Pix. I"m sorry I wasn"t there to protect you. I"m sorry that I was where I was. I"m sorry that you had to go through that alone."
I nod my head, accepting his apology, even though I don"t need it. None of it was his fault.
We walk back to the bed and climb underneath the covers. Mac pulls me close, wrapping every part of his body that he can around me. I feel safe and warm beside him. We lay in silence for a while, both of us knowing that it"s going to be a while before we get to sleep.
It seems like I just closed my eyes when I hear a phone ring. Mac groans and reaches across me for his phone sitting on the nightstand.
"Sheriff Weston," he grumbles into the receiver. It sounds like he just fell asleep as well.
"Where?" He listens for a minute before saying, "Alright. Give me ten minutes." He ends the call, putting the phone back down on the nightstand, and swings his legs over his side of the bed.
"Who was that?" I ask, my voice groggy.
"Dispatch." Mac says, slipping his jeans up his legs. "Someone called saying they heard gun shots down on Hwy 88."
I watch as Mac walks to the dresser and pulls a shirt from a drawer. After slipping it over his head, he walks back to the nightstand and picks up his phone. He sits on the side of the bed with the phone in the crook of his neck as he slips his socks and boots on.
"Nick, I"ve got to go out to Hwy 88. Can you come here and sit with Mia?"
I want to protest as I listen to Mac talk to Nick, but I know it"s useless. No way will he leave me alone while he goes out to do his job.
"Yeah," Mac says to Nick. "I"ll let her know. Thanks man."
He ends the call and walks to my side of the bed. Bending low, he reaches across me to place his hand beside my head and lowers his lips to mine, placing a soft kiss there.
"I"ve got to go, but Nick"s on his way. He said about fifteen minutes. By the time you get up and get dressed, he should be here. I"m locking the door and setting the alarm when I leave. Don"t open that door for anyone, but Nick. Got it?"
"Got it, Sheriff Weston," I say with a salute.
His lips twitch when he lowers them to mine again.
"I love you," he murmurs there.
"Love you, too."
After a short kiss, he stands back up and turns to leave.
"Be careful, Mac."
"Always am, Pix.
And then, he"s gone. I hear the beeping noise of the alarm being set and then the click of the door.
I get up out of bed and make my way to the bathroom. It"s still too early, but I decide to brush my teeth anyway. Nothing"s better than having fresh breath.
After dressing, I look at the clock and see that it"s only been ten minutes since Mac left. I decide to put on a pot of coffee, figuring we"re in for a long night. I"m almost to the kitchen when I hear a knock at the door. I change directions and head that way, knowing that it"s Nick.
I stop at the alarm panel and put in the code. After unlocking the door, I pull it open.
"Hey, you got here faster..." I stop mid-sentence when I see Tessa standing on the other side.
Of f.u.c.king course. My stupid a.s.s plays the typical girl who thinks she knows who"s on the other side of the door because she"s expecting someone and doesn"t check the d.a.m.n peephole.
Before I get a chance to slam the door in her face, she brings her arm up, carrying a weird looking gun. I realize just what type of gun it is when she pulls the trigger, and my body goes into convulsions as electricity shoots through my body. The b.i.t.c.h shot me with a f.u.c.king Taser. Holy mother of G.o.d, that hurts.
My body falls to the floor as I spasm and shake. Right before I feel a kick to my face, I hear Tessa say, "Lights out, b.i.t.c.h."
That"s the last thing I remember.
Chapter Twenty-Nine.
Mac Her quirks...
I pull up to the old abandoned barn on Hwy 88 and switch my engine off. I open the glove compartment and reach inside for my flashlight. Ready to get this done and over with, I slide from the truck and pat my side, ensuring that my gun is still secured at my side. I hate leaving Mia at the house by herself, even if Nick is on his way there.
It"s not unheard of around these parts for random gunfire to be heard. After all, we do live in the country, and the country folk around here like their guns. We have a couple shooting ranges in the area, but many people just put up targets in their backyard. It"s highly unusual for a house to not have at least one gun in it.
What is a little strange is for someone to hear gunfire at three in the morning. It"s happened before, but not so often it doesn"t warrant a look see, just in case. Hunting season isn"t for another few months, so it shouldn"t be an impatient hunter trying to get a head start. It"s probably just a couple of the younger folks out messing around.
Shining the light on the ground to illuminate my way, I walk towards the barn. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. The crickets are chirping just as they should be, and there"s no suspicious noises or movements. I decide to check out the inside of the barn before walking the property, just to be on the safe side.
I creak open the old, worn, wooden door and step inside. Shining the flashlight throughout the structure, all I see is a bunch of rotted wood and older than dirt useless tools. There are stalls off to the sides, but most of the walls have broken and fallen over. I walk down the center of the barn flicking my flashlight from side to side.
Nothing. There"s nothing unusual about the place.
I make my way back to the barn door. Just as I reach it, I hear something off to my left. I turn my head and flashlight in that direction, reaching for my gun at the same time. I"ve learned over my years as a Sheriff to never take unnecessary risks. If there"s something suspicious, then take all precautionary steps. Nothing should be in this barn at night, and with the s.h.i.t that"s been going down with Mia, I"m not taking any chances if I don"t have to.
I have my gun in one hand with the flashlight in my other. The safety is still on, but with one little flip, that"s taken care of.
From out of the blue, I hear a shuffle behind me. I quickly turn to swing my gun and flashlight around, but before I get a chance, something hard and heavy hits me on the back of the head.
I drop like a f.u.c.king sack of potatoes. Son of a b.i.t.c.h, that hurt! Whoever hit me feels like they used a f.u.c.king cast iron skillet on the back of my head. My vision is blurry as s.h.i.t, and my eyes feel heavy. I try reaching up with my hand to feel the back of my head, but my arm doesn"t want to work. I know d.a.m.n good and well that there"s a knot there the size of a f.u.c.king softball. Just as I feel black overtaking my vision, a large shadowed form looms over me.
I wake up with a pounding headache and wonder what the f.u.c.k happened. My head is slumped forward, and when I try to lift it, the hard pitter-patter in my head gets worse. The memory of being hit over the head rushes back to me, and I groan and force my head up through the pain. My neck is stiff from leaning forward for so long, so I move it back and forth trying to loosen the muscles there. I"m in nothing but my boxers, tied to a chair.
When I open my eyes, they clash with Mia"s frightened dark blue ones. She"s sitting across from me tied to a chair, just as I am. However, whereas my mouth is uncovered, hers has a piece of duct tape across it. Her arms are tied behind her back with rope, and her legs are strapped to the front legs of her chair. We mirror each other. However, what has me p.i.s.sed off and straining in my seat, is that Mia is sitting there in nothing but her bra and panties, with a big a.s.s bruise on her cheek.
Rage like nothing I have ever felt before courses through me. "Shady!" I roar to the ceiling. I want to rip Shady and Tessa limb from limb. My blood boils like white-hot lava in my body. I twist and turn in my seat, trying to work loose the ropes. I feel them rubbing deep, wet grooves in my skin, but that doesn"t stop me. Nothing is going to stop me from getting to Mia, and then to Shady and Tessa, where I"ll kill them with a slow and painful death.
"Are you okay?" I ask Mia, desperate to know if they"ve hurt her more than I can see.
I feel a tiny bit of relief when she nods her head, but my anger intensifies. I feel the wetness from the blood coming from my wrists seep down on my fingers. If I can soak my hand enough with my blood, I may be able to slip the rope off my wrists.
I take a quick look around and survey our surroundings. We"re in a small room that has a double bed on one wall and a single dresser to the left of it. There is only one window, and through it, I can see that it"s still dark outside. There are no other furnishings and nothing on the walls. There"s nothing that tells me where we are. We"re sitting smack dab in the middle of the room, right in front of the bed.
"Listen to me, Mia," she sets her eyes me, and I continue. "I"m going to get us out of here. I promise everything is going to be okay."
Mia nods her head again and tries to say something through the tape on her mouth. Of course it comes out as a hum so I can"t understand her.
"I wouldn"t make any promises you can"t keep, Weston." Shady says from behind Mia as he walks into the room, Tessa coming in after him. There"s a smug and satisfied look on Shady"s face, which makes me even more determined to rip him to shreds.
I flick my eyes to Tessa, who bypa.s.ses Mia and comes straight towards me carrying a bottle of water.
"What the f.u.c.k are you doing, Tessa? Let us go, now," I growl at her.
Her lips twist into smile, and she walks behind me. I feel her breath at the back of my neck before the b.i.t.c.h licks her tongue up my neck until she reaches my ear, "I"m doing what I"ve wanted to do for years."
Not really wanting the answer, but I ask anyway. "And what"s that?"
"You," she says simply.
I laugh a humorless laugh and rear my head back, trying to hit her with it and get her the f.u.c.k off me. "You"ll never have me, b.i.t.c.h. You think for one second I"ll let you touch me? You"re more f.u.c.ked in the head than what I thought. And what in the h.e.l.l are you doing threatening our son? He"s eleven years old for Christ"s sake. Do you care about him at all?"
"That little s.h.i.t has been a pain in my a.s.s. He was supposed to be my meal ticket to finally getting you back, but he"s been useless," she says as she dodges my attempts to knock her teeth out with the back of my head.
A growl erupts from my throat at her words. T has been my whole world. I had thought Tessa had felt the same. To know that he"s been with a woman that couldn"t care less about him his entire life fills me with an uncontrollable rage.
I hear a whimper in front of me, and my eyes zero in on Shady, who is running his nasty fingers across Mia"s bare collarbone. I yank on my bindings more at the sight.
The f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d is going to pay for what he"s done to Mia, in the past and right now.
"Don"t f.u.c.king touch her, you son of a b.i.t.c.h. I"ll kill you!" I snarl at him.
He looks to me with a smirk. He doesn"t remove his hand from Mia, but he"s stopped running his fingers on her. "I"d watch who you call a son of a b.i.t.c.h, Weston." Moving his eyes behind me, he speaks to Tessa. "Do it, Tessa."
Tessa moves from behind me and brings the now open water bottle to my lips.
"Drink," Tessa says.
Not f.u.c.king likely!
"f.u.c.k you!" I say back to her.
"Drink, or you"re not going to like what I do to Mia," Shady says, still by Mia"s side.
When I look to Mia, she has tears in her eyes. She"s such a strong woman that it nearly breaks me to see her so scared. However, through the fear, I still see fire in her eyes. She"s scared, but also extremely p.i.s.sed. Shady still has his hand on her, and he"s moving it down towards her breast.
"What"s in it?" I ask Shady, rather than Tessa, trying to distract him from moving his hand down further.
His hand doesn"t stop when he replies, "Oh, just a little something that"ll help you play nicely with Tessa."
f.u.c.k! I should have known!
By now, Shady"s hand has reached Mia"s breast, and he squeezes it hard. I see Mia flinch from the pain, and my blood roars in my ears and my vision turns red. My hands clench behind my back, and I strain trying to free them. My wrists burns like h.e.l.l fire from the strain I"m putting on them.
"Are you going to drink now, baby?" Tessa says from beside me and holds the bottle up to my lips.
Keeping my eyes on Mia, I wrap my lips around the mouth of the bottle. I watch as tears fall from Mia"s eyes, and she shakes her head rapidly, yanking on her ropes. Tessa tips the bottle back, and I take several mouthfuls. When I try to move my mouth away, Shady demands, "All of it."
When the bottle is empty, Tessa takes a step away and places the bottle on the dresser.
This is going to destroy Mia, just as much as it"ll destroy me, but I would do anything to protect her from enduring the pain that I know Shady will cause. I"m not under the illusion that Shady won"t hurt Mia now that I"ve drunk whatever f.u.c.ked up drink I just did, but I"m hoping it bides us enough time to get the f.u.c.k out of here. I need time to think, to formulate a plan.
"Why are you doing this, Tessa?" I ask her. "You"ve got to know that I"ll never have anything to do with you, even before this, you knew it would never happen again."
She runs her nail down my chest, the tip digging in a little harder that necessary. The feel of her claws digging into me grates on my nerves and makes me want to break each of her fingers. I"ve never hit a woman in my life, but for Tessa, I"ll make an exception.
Tessa leans down and gets in my face. "Because I"ve wanted you since I first laid eyes on you in eighth grade, and then little b.i.t.c.h over there had to ruin it for me." She leans in closer, and I smell the strong scent of her perfume. At my ear, she says, "And I"ll let you in on a little secret that you"ll absolutely love. It never happened the first time."
With that, she takes a step back, and I jerk my head in her direction, shocked to s.h.i.t at what she just said. That"s not possible. I don"t remember everything that happened that night, but one thing that"s seared into my head is the touch of her hands on me, and the revulsion I felt once I realized what I had done. A thought quickly occurs to me, and my head reels at the realization if what she says is true.
f.u.c.k, no!
"What the f.u.c.k are you trying to pull, Tessa? You know that s.h.i.t"s not true. T"s my son. You know I got a paternity test done as soon as he was born. No way was I taking your word for it. You know this."
"I was already four weeks pregnant that night." Tessa sighs. "As much as I wish I did have you that night, you just couldn"t keep it up. I worked my a.s.s off trying to keep you hard long enough to get you inside of me, but even with the drugs, nothing worked. Just ask Shady, he was there. He"s the one that took all those souvenir pictures for me," she finishes with a big grin.
I pull my gaze from Tessa and look at Shady. He"s watching our exchange with an evil grin, truly enjoying watching part of my world crashing down. What he has to do with it and why he"s mixed with this is still confusing. Why does he care so much that Tessa just took one of the most important things away from me? He still hasn"t moved back to Mia, so I"ll save that question to ask in a few minutes. There"s still something I don"t understand.
The relief I feel from knowing that Tessa and I never had s.e.x is over shadowed by the fact that T isn"t mine. Or, at least that"s what Tessa is implying. The pain I feel from that revelation rips at my heart. No matter what the outcome is, T will always be my son. He"s been mine for the past ten, years and he"ll continue to be mine until the day I die. Nothing and no one changes that.
"How is that possible, Tessa, when the paternity test came back with a ninety-nine percent positive result of T being my son?"
Instead of answering me, she looks back over to Shady.
"While we wait for our little concoction to take effect, why don"t I tell you both a little story?" Shady says, going back to Mia and stepping behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders.
"Hey, f.u.c.ker, I downed the drink. Take your dirty f.u.c.king hands off her."
Just the thought of his hands on her freezes my blood.
Mia"s gaze is locked on mine, watching me with concern and worry. She heard what Tessa just revealed and knows how much I must be hurting. She"s sitting there tied to a chair half naked with a sick b.a.s.t.a.r.d at her back, and she"s more concerned about how I"m doing. The fear and anger are still there, but overshadowing them is distress.
Shady looks at me with such malicious intent in his eyes before he brutally yanks Mia"s head back by her hair. Her cry of pain has me going wild in my chair. I yank, pull, twist, and turn as hard as I can, but the f.u.c.king rope it too d.a.m.n tight. I can feel my arms straining in their sockets, threatening to pop loose. Even with the blood still seeping down my hands, coating them and making them slippery, I can"t get free.
I roar out with frustration. Beyond enraged that I can"t get to Shady and snap every bone in his body.
"You hurt her again, and I"ll cut off your f.u.c.king d.i.c.k and feed it down your throat, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d," I tell him through a raw throat from screaming so much. I"m panting from all the strain I"ve put on my body, and I try to calm it. I"ve got to stay calm and figure out a way to get Mia out of here.
Shady reaches around Mia with one hand and places it on her throat. "Don"t think for one second that you have the upper hand here." I watch as he applies pressure, Mia"s face turning red. "Now, are you ready to hear my story?"