“Hello, sweetheart,” he said. “Did you miss me?”
She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. “I didn’t miss you, Damon. I loathe the sight of you.”
“You loathe me? I would think after the last time, you would know better than to speak to me that way. I doubt you’ve forgotten the punishment I meted out.”
Her ribs still ached; one of her eyes was swollen shut. She fought not to whimper.
“Loathe me all you want,” he said as he descended the stairs, “I’m still going to fuck you.” He paused to flip the light switch, illuminating the single stark bulb in the ceiling overhead. “We’ll enjoy ourselves; then in the morning, you’re going to call your office. You’re going to tell them you have the flu and you’ll be out the rest of the week.”
Oh, God. She should have known he would have it all figured out.
He took another step and paused. “What is that on the mattress?”
She gave him a disgusted smile. “It’s blood, Damon. I started my period.”
He recoiled as if she had slapped him, just as she had known he would.
“Well, your timing is just perfect, isn’t it? I’m not about to touch you in your filthy condition. You need a shower. There are supplies in the bathroom under the sink. Once you’re clean, you can use your mouth on me.”
Her lip curled, making her hatred clear. “I guess you thought of everything.”
“Get up.” Careful not to get too close, he waited for her to stand and make her way toward him. Since it was impossible for her to climb the stairs with her ankles bound, he pulled out a vicious-looking folding knife and cut through the plastic tie.
It was all she could do not to attack him, try to pry the knife from his hands and stab it into his malevolent heart. Instead, she waited, stuck to her plan.
Careful to keep her injured arm out of sight, she climbed the wooden stairs in front of him. Damon stayed a few feet behind.
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.
