She’d never be able to outrun Patrick. She glanced at the phone on her desk, wishing she could dial 9-1-1 before he could get to her. But since he was less than eight feet away from her now, there was no way.
She folded her arms across her chest. “Fine. Talk.”
He took a step closer. “You’re cute when you’re being obstinate. Still so beautiful even though you’ve let yourself go. I’m not a fan of the hair. Brown is so boring. And the baggy shirt? Really, it just makes you look like you’ve put on weight.”
Jessie resisted the urge to press her hand to her stomach. She expected him to say something about her being pregnant, but he didn’t. In fact, he didn’t seem to have noticed her rounded belly at all. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to it.
She’d declared her pregnancy in the divorce paperwork, but knowing Patrick, he was probably so furious when he received the paperwork, he’d destroyed it without even reading it.
Compared to how much Emily showed with her shorter, more petite frame, Jessie was barely showing. But she felt the difference in her own body. A difference that necessitated wearing leggings instead of jeans and loose t-shirts.
Jessie still hadn’t gotten around to buying maternity clothes yet, because she still feared she might lose this baby. After seeing her perfectly formed baby in the ultrasound yesterday, though, and finding out she was having a boy, she’d felt so closely connected to her child. She’d be devastated if she lost him.
She recalled something Emily said weeks ago when Jessie admitted she was having a hard time getting Patrick out of her head. “If you understand his motivations for treating you like he did, then you’ll stop falling for his mind games. He’ll no longer have any power over you.”
Jessie had thought long and hard about that. She remembered the cutting, spiteful way Patrick’s father spoke to him every time they were around the domineering man. She’d quickly learned to keep her mouth shut around him. Just like Patrick’s mother did. No matter how hard Patrick tried to please his father, he never seemed to measure up to the bar Parker Pendleton set for his only child.
And no matter how hard Jessie tried, she couldn’t measure up to the bar Patrick set for her. It didn’t help that every time he raised the bar; he cut her down first. Jessie refused to play his mind games. She wouldn’t allow him to hurt her with his words.
“You drove four hours to stand here cutting me down with your passive-aggressive compliments?”
He folded his arms too, mimicking her posture. Except his stance was wider, his shoulders broader, his demeanor hard and unrelenting. “Why don’t we take a drive, so we can find a quiet place to talk?”
No way!If she left with him, she’d never see her mother or Robert again. Her stomach revolted. Of all the times for her sporadic morning sickness to surface, now was the worst. She sucked in a slow, deep breath through her nose.
“It’s quiet here.” Jessie congratulated herself on how calm her voice sounded when she felt anything but.
“Until the janitor comes.” Patrick looked at the clock above the classroom door. “In about twenty minutes, right? Or the rancher’s pretty wife tells you she’s ready to leave.”
How did he know that she usually left with Emily? Or when the janitor came to clean her room?
Unless he’s been here before.
Another icy chill swept over Jessie, and she felt the blood drain from her face.
“You’re mine, Jessica.” The coldness in Patrick’s voice matched the chilling temperature of his gaze. “I told you I’d never let you go, and I meant it.” He unfolded his arms and stepped closer to the desk.
Jessie stepped back.
“I know everything about you, honey. I know you’re still staying at the Double Diamond. I’m know you think you’re protecting your mother by staying away, but between you and me, she looks kind of lonely in the evenings. I also know you go out with that hot-shot sheriff on Wednesdays and Saturday nights.” Patrick’s lips curled in an evil grin. “The two of you looked pretty cozy last Saturday.”
How long had Patrick been following her? Though his words sounded like casual observations, his tone was anything but. They may as well have been outright threats.
Another chill swept over Jessie, and she struggled to take in a deep breath. The warmth that filled her every time she thought about how swing dancing with Robert had led to them slowly swaying to the music, their bodies pressed close together, vanished.
If I don’t go with him, he’ll hurt my mom and Robert, maybe even Emily. But if I go with him, he’ll kill me.
“It’s time for us to go, honey. While Winters and his deputies are busy with the fire.”
“Fire?” Is that where all the sirens she heard a few minutes ago were headed? “What have you done, Patrick?”
“Only what needed to be done. I couldn’t have witnesses... I mean, an audience while I took my wife away from this backwoods town.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Jessie stood her ground, even though she trembled inside and feared she might vomit any second.
“Oh, but you are.” He pulled a gun from the back of his waistband. “I’m sure you understand it’s the only way to keep your mom and your beloved sheriff safe.”
Jessie feared her heart might explode as her inner trembling took over her entire body. “Please don’t do this Patrick. This is not who you are.”
