Bart slapped her so hard her ears rang, and she crashed back down onto the tunnel floor, out of the circle of lantern light. She landed hard on a rough-edged flat rock and bit back a groan. Grabbing the rock, thinking it might serve as a weapon, she shoved it into the waistband of her jeans and pulled out her flannel shirttail to cover it before she staggered back to her feet.
“Stay away from me, Bart.” The corner of her mouth was bleeding, blood trickling down to her chin.
“How about me, sugar?” Clyde grinned, making his features look distorted in the lantern light. “I could make you feel real good.”
“Shut up, Clyde. She’s mine. I might give you a taste when I’m done.”
Clyde chuckled softly. “I’m a patient man.”
“Go take a look outside. Check real good, make sure nobody’s out there.”
“You think Barrett could figure out where we are that quick?”
“Like Jenny here said, Cain’s no fool. He’ll figure it out sooner or later.” He cupped the front of his jeans and squeezed. “Right now, I’m hoping it’s later.”
As Clyde moved off toward the tunnel entrance, taking his lantern with him, the interior grew darker.
“I’ll be right back,” Clyde called down the tunnel.
“Take your time,” Bart answered.
“You stole Cain’s stallion,” she said, just to keep him talking.
“So I got a little pleasure out of seeing him squirm. He deserved it.” He shoved her, tripped her as she stumbled backward, knocking her feet out from under her. Jenny landed hard in the shadows, the breath rushing out of her lungs.
She steadied herself and pulled the rock out of her jeans. In the darkness, her hands shook as she raised her makeshift weapon over her head and waited.Please . . . just give me one good shot.
“You can make this easy on both of us,” Bart said. “You’re Cain’s bitch, so I mean to have you.” He set the lamp on the floor and moved closer. “Why don’t you take off them jeans and this’ll go a whole lot smoother.”
“Why don’t you fuck the hell off.”
Bart laughed. “I think Cain hit real gold when he found you, sweet thing.”
He knelt on the floor beside her and leaned over her. Jenny tensed. Gripping the rock in both hands in the darkness, she waited until he moved a little closer. When Bart reached for the zipper on her jeans, she crashed the heavy weight down on his skull with all her strength. Bone cracked. She heard Bart’s grunt of pain; then he collapsed on top of her.
Oh my God oh my God oh my God. Blood was soaking into her clothes, blood on the rock she quickly tossed away. She didn’t have time to find out if she had killed him. Clyde could be back any second.
Shoving Bart’s heavy body off her, she surged to her feet, grabbed his lantern from the tunnel floor, and raced for the entrance. She had almost reached the opening when Clyde stepped into the tunnel, blocking her way.
“Where you going, sugar?” He stared past the light cast by her lantern into the darkness behind her, must have caught a glimpse of Bart sprawled on the floor.
“Well, ain’t that sweet? You got rid of ol’ Bart and left your pretty little self all to me.”
She ducked, tried to dart around him. Clyde just laughed. He was twice her size, and the gleam in his eyes said he was determined.
She needed to distract him. “So . . . are you going to take up where Bart left off? Are you going to kill Cain?”
Clyde shook his head. “Nope. I don’t need to kill him. I got somethin’ belongs to him, somethin’ he wants real bad, and I figure he’ll be willing to pay big money to get her back.”
“You’re right. Cain will pay you. Just let me call him, explain what’s going on.”
Clyde laughed, the grating echo booming into the darkness. The moon was rising, and she could see the scar on his face.
“We’ll get around to it,” he said. “In the meantime, if I give you back to him a little the worse for wear, it ain’t gonna matter.”
Fury engulfed her. Jenny put her head down and charged like a wild thing, knocking Clyde backward out through the tunnel entrance. He stumbled and landed on his back a few feet below the opening.
Jenny burst past him, running as fast as she could. Clyde was up and running right behind her. He caught her ankle as she leaped over a rock and jerked her down, then landed hard on top of her.
