Despite the pain it evoked, she struggled and wriggled in place. If this wasn’t a nightmare, and someone had drugged her enough to knock her out and keep her down when she came around. Then she wasn’t going to make this easy. She could handle Rain having a hissy fit and refusing to allow her to hose him off; surely, she could figure this out and fight back. Right? Right? As she took stock of her body and realized her hands were tied behind her back with some kind of plastic. She figured her boots must be missing too, as she could feel the pinch of the same material on her ankles.
The jerks didn’t even put whatever they tied me with over my socks.
Enya shifted again and drew a breath through her nose, giving her a lungful of her own sweat, and the scent of stale hay, horse manure, and dried blood. Her nose wrinkled against the stench, but it was rather comforting in a way because horse stalls, barns, and trailers had always been her happy place.
Horse trailer.
Horse.
Oh my God.
Rain.
Did they steal Rain, too?
The stabbing pain behind her eyes worsened as thoughts flipped rapidly through her mind. She locked her jaw tightly to keep the panic at bay.
It’s a prank.
This has to be a prank.
Nobody would be stupid enough to kidnap a person who just won the buckle at the biggest show of the year. Would they?
Girl, stupid assholes are typically in the majority, sooo….
Crap.
The thought galvanized her into action, and she squirmed onto her back so she could see more than the trailer wall. She blinked against the blurriness in her vision and tried to focus on the shape across from her.
Who is that?
It’s another woman.
She didn’t recognize the woman sitting on her butt, her knees drawn to her chest, with her hands bound in front of her. Her jeans were ripped at the cuff, and she had a smear of dried blood across her temple.
God, she’s just a baby.
The girl couldn’t have been much older than twenty. But Enya guessed she was most likely a couple of years under that, eighteen at the most. She didn’t speak or move; instead, she sat staring straight ahead with wide, empty eyes that didn’t blink.
Oh god help us.
Daddy, I need you to come save me.
You promised you’d always come for me if I needed you.
I need you now.
Enya studied the girl for a long moment and bit back the questions she guessed she already knew the answers to. She’d seen enough crap on TV to fuel her nightmares and confirm the possibilities of what this young woman had suffered.
Poor kid.
She was in the same situation as the other woman, but she found she wanted to comfort her, to let her know she wasn’t alone in this hell place they’d found themselves in. “He—hey,” Enya whispered, her voice a croak. “I’m Enya. What’s your name?”
For a second, she thought she wasn’t going to answer her at all. But then those skinny shoulders shuddered, “Ma-Maria,” she recoiled into herself as male voices filtered in from the cab, shook her head, folded over on herself, and rested her temple on the tops of her knees.
In spite of the direness of her own situation, Enya wanted nothing more than to scoop that girl up and give her one of the squishy hugs her momma was famous for on the circuit. She cocked her head to one side and tried to make out the words drifting in from the cab. It sounded like conversational Spanish, but she wasn’t entirely sure. She just knew nothing about their conversation sounded urgent.
Whoever is up there doesn’t think they are being chased.
