She issued a little laugh, something she did when her social battery ran low and she still had hours left of dealing with people. “Why would I need guards?” She forced another laugh, hoping it didn’t sound as unhinged to him as it did to her own ears. “Cal, this is crazy. Whatever you think—”
“I saw you at the bar that night,” he broke across her. “The bachelorette party. I was watching the whole fight. Could havetaken you then, you know. But they wouldn’t let you out of their sight. Surrounded you like a goddamn military escort.”
The honey. The book. The rose. The gifts she’d written off as harmless. Now she was tied up in a cabin with a madman.
“I made up my mind then to show you how much I love you.”
Her gut twisted at the word that soundedso wrongfalling from his lips.
“The honey was for you,” he confirmed her worst fears. “And I had Felicity order the book for you. That time I followed you into the bookstore, you told me you love Black Beauty. Did you like it?”
Oh god. He followed her.
Swallowing the bile in her throat, she nodded. “I did.”
The smile he gave her was just as off as every other expression. “And the flower…a red rose to show my love. Every gift, I was trying to show you how I felt.”
Her mind raced, trying to find the right words, the right approach. She’d dealt with volatile situations before—her drunk father had taught her how to read moods, how to de-escalate, how to survive. She could do this.
“Cal, I think there’s been a misunderstanding—”
“No misunderstanding.” His voice was firm, certain. “I knew from the first time we talked on the phone that you wanted us to be together. The way you tried to help me find work. You heard me. Really heard me. Then I saw you for the first time at the feed store and I was blown away.”
Her skin broke out in goose bumps. He’d built an entire relationship in his head based on simple human kindness. Based on her trying to help a struggling veteran find employment and general niceties exchanged after that.
“I fixed it.” He gestured around the cabin. “Fixed it so we can be together. No more brothers, no more guards. Just us, Willow.”
His phone buzzed, and his expression darkened as he looked at the screen.
“No,” he muttered. “No, I told them I couldn’t come in today.”
It rang, and he answered it with barely controlled fury. “What? I’m busy… I don’t care if you’re short-staffed… Fine.Fine.I’ll be there in thirty minutes!”
He launched off his chair. For a heart-pounding moment, she thought he’d turn that anger on her.
Then he hurled the phone across the room. It struck the wall like a gunshot and shattered. He stormed across the room, sweeping papers off the rickety table, kicking over a chair. The violence was sudden and absolute, and Willow forced herself to stay calm, to breathe through the fear even though everything inside her wanted to hide.
She’d seen this before. Her father’s rages, the unpredictability, the way rational thought fled in the face of anger. She knew how to compartmentalize.
How to wait out the storm.
When Cal finally stopped, breathing hard, she wet her dry lips and spoke in a soft tone. “It’s okay, Cal. You have to go to work. I understand.”
He looked at her, suspicion and hope warring in his expression.
“I’ll be here when you get back.” She made herself smile to let him believe he was getting his dream. “We can talk then. Really talk.”
“Four hours,” he said finally. “I’ll be back in four hours. And we’ll have dinner together. Like a real couple.”
“Can you untie me?” she asked carefully. “So I can clean up, maybe start dinner?”
His laugh was bitter. “You think I’m stupid? You have use of your hands. There’s twelve feet of chain around your ankle—enough to reach the bathroom and the fridge. Don’t worry, you can still make dinner.”
She followed the chain from her bound foot to where it was secured to a heavy bolt in the floor. Twelve feet. Just enough freedom to be cruel.
Her eyes caught on the old landline phone mounted on the far wall. The cabin couldn’t be so remote that it was completely off-grid then.
Yet that landline was too far away. Even stretched to the limit of her restraints, it would remain maddeningly out of reach.
