“Jill.” He stroked her cheek. “I love you more than I ever thought I’d be capable of loving another person.”
“And the fact that your father has been pressuring my father into passing that bill to let him drill here had nothing to do with the timing of this little trip?” She looked into his eyes, searching for an answer.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He clenched his jaw.
“I don’t live under a rock.” She took a step back. “I know your dad wants to drill here. That environmentalist group is protesting and writing petitions to my father not to let it happen. Us getting engaged would take the media’s focus off of all that, wouldn’t it? This just seems like weird timing.”
“This is so typical of you…” He scoffed. “You pull your head out of your entitled little fairy tale life just long enough to peek out and get all self-righteous about shit you obviously don’t know a goddamn thing about.”
“Okay.” She put up her hands and turned to walk away. “I don’t want to fight.”
Ted grabbed her arm, digging his fingers into her skin.
“Ted.” She twisted her arm in his grasp. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll take your hands off me right now.”
“Or what, princess?” He pulled her close and grabbed a handful of her hair with his other hand. “Or what?”
She brought her knee up as hard as she could, nailing him square in the groin. He let go, doubling over as she bolted down the hiking trail. Pulling her phone out of her back pocket, she struggled to focus on the keypad as she dialed 9-1-1 and hit the green button.
CALL NOT SENT
Crouching behind a tree to catch her breath, she looked at the icon at the top of her screen to find she had no signal.
“Shit!” She held up her phone higher, her chin trembling as the icon blinked. The sound of footsteps crunching through leaves on the path made her snap to action. Ted ran five miles every morning, and she knew there was no chance of her outrunning him on the trail. Grabbing a tree branch, she turned a sharp corner, sliding down the steep hillside toward the river.
“What the fuck are you thinking?” his voice called from only a few yards behind her. “Stop!”
Hell no!
She didn’t even slow down. Reaching the bottom of the hill, she took off again, jumping over a rotten log and dodging a low-hanging branch as she wove between the trees.
Stupid! She cursed herself for coming all the way out here. When Ted said he was taking her on a romantic getaway in the mountains, she was expecting a ski lodge with room service and a concierge, or at the very least, a cabin with running water and electricity. By the time she realized what he actually had in mind, she would have been too embarrassed to back out.
His footsteps were even closer now; no matter how fast or how far she ran, it was only a matter of time before he caught up. She was fast approaching a ledge, and she was going to have to make a split-second decision: jump or face Ted. Her heart thrummed in her ears as she glanced over her shoulder just as he reached out to grab her.
“Don’t touch me!” Her shirt ripped as he yanked her backward.
“What the hell is your problem?” He shoved her to the ground, pinning her wrists with his hands.
“Get off me.” She thrashed around, but he was too strong. Never having been in this position before, she panicked and spat at him.
He froze, and for a second, she thought he might let her up. His fist made a solid impact against her left cheekbone, and her body went limp as pain surged through her eye socket. The burning in her lungs faded to the back of her mind as she cradled her face.
“Fuck!” Ted wiped the spit off his cheek. “You stupid bitch, why did you do that?”
“I’m sorry.” Jillian’s stomach turned as she tried to focus on the cold palm of her hand against her cheek. “Will you get off me, please?”
“You spit in my fucking face, Jillian.” He bared his teeth. “What was I supposed to do?”
“Look,” she opened her eyes, “let’s just hike back to the car and forget about it.”
“Right,” he scoffed, “like a pampered little daddy’s girl like you would pass up the chance to play the victim in front of all the cameras.”
“Ted. I just want to go home.” Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, and her hands trembled as the adrenaline wore off.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Roll in with a shiner and spin it like I’m some kind of woman-beater. You’ll probably go on a bunch of talk shows and tell them about how I chased you through the woods and attacked you. My dad’s company can’t afford publicity like that. I’m so fucked, and it’s all your fault!”
“Ted, you’re overreacting. Just take me home.” She took a deep breath. “I promise this will stay between us, okay?”
“It’s too late.” His eyes darted around the red and yellow leaves covering the ground, settling on a gray rock jutting out from the forest floor. Tightening his hands around her throat, he dragged her a couple of feet, placing the back of her head against the rock.
“What are you doing?” Her heart raced as an unsettling calm came over his face. “Ted?”
“You got lost in the woods…” He licked his chapped lips. “I’ll spend a day or two at the campsite and say I was looking for you. That’ll give the animals time to get rid of everything. By
