They laughed at that. His radio crackled.
“Benally. Jacob Colton is trying to raise you. Got to channel six to speak to him.”
He switched channels.
“Benally here.”
“Is Ava with you?”
“Yeah. She’s at my place. What’s up?”
“That’s a relief. I just found out that Daniel Wayne is out on parole.”
“Since when?”
“Two weeks ago. But you’re with her, so that’s good.”
“She’s at my place. I’m in town helping with the aftermath of the storm,” Chay said. A rising sense of panic filled him. “I’ve got to go.”
Fear and panic drove her to try to get away from him. Her mind was trying to make sense of the fact that he was here. He was coming after her.
Daniel Wayne.
How was that possible?
She struggled to get back into the house, her hands clawing at the door as she heard him behind her. His hand was on her wrist, grabbing her, knocking her off her feet. She hit the patio hard, pain shooting up her tailbone into her neck. She bit her lip to keep from crying out, not wanting to disturb Gracie.
Fear was coursing through her, and all the self-defense training she’d had after Daniel had started stalking her was a distant memory. She couldn’t remember a single thing.
Panicking, she kicked out hard, but her foot bounced off his thigh. He grabbed her ankle and twisted it as he pushed her again. The strength in his push told her physically she was no match for him, but she wasn’t just going to go meekly with him.
“Good to see you remember me,” Daniel said. His voice was still so calm and warmly modulated. He’d never sounded like a monster, which she thought he should have.
“Who are you?” she asked. “I mean, you look familiar.” She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she’d never be able to forget him or the terror he evoked in her.
He kicked her hard in the stomach.
“Keep it up. I’ve been watching you and your…he’s not your husband, but you two have a kid…I thought you were waiting for marriage,” he said, dragging her to her feet by gripping her upper arm.
“When I was eighteen,” she said. “Life was still so new. I didn’t want to take a chance on having a child before I was ready.”
“You are mine. You were always mine,” he said, hitting her hard across the face. Her head flew back, and she hit the side of the house.
Pain exploded in her head; she saw stars. Daniel was in a rage.
“If I was yours, than why did you start seeing that other woman?” she asked. Her mind was frantically trying to come up with anything that would distract him enough that she could get away. Get inside the house and lock the door until Chay got here.
“You went to the cops. And they were making it difficult for me to see you,” he said. “She understood what I was goingthrough at first. I told her what a bitch you were. How you came onto me and then when I got serious, you pushed me away.”
“Then she pushed you away?” Ava asked. “Maybe it’s not her or me who were the problem.”
He grabbed her hair in his hand, yanking her head back as he got in her face. His hot breath brushing her cheek. “Oh, it’s you bitches. All that damned feminism making you think you don’t need a man…but you know the truth. That’s why you’re shacked up with your baby daddy.”
“I’m not shacked up with anyone,” she pointed out. “I don’t need a man.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. “In time you’ll change your mind. You’re going to need me more than ever.”
Fear washed over her and she started struggling in earnest to get away from him, but he wasn’t letting up. She had to talk him down. Distract. Acknowledge his pain and then get him to move around it.
