His brown eyes were crazed and full of rage. For a fleeting moment I wondered why I never saw how crazy he was before, but I refocused on bucking him off.
My wrists were tied together, but they weren’t tied to anything, like a headboard.
Balling my hands into fists, I swung them in an arc and connected with his cheekbone. I should have aimed at his nose because my hands hitting bone hurt like hell. I raised my hands again, but he got up on his knees and dodged me.
I scrambled to my knees as best I could with my hands bound in front of me, while screaming for all I was worth, praying, hoping someone would hear me, except based on the light outside I didn’t hold much hope. My gut said it wasn’t even five o’clock, so odds were most people were still working.
Before I got to my feet, Asher took me down from the side. We landed with a thud on the floor. The mattress wasn’t on a box spring, which was a small blessing.
I continued screaming, but Asher grabbed me in a vicious headlock and shoved fabric into my mouth.
I bit his fingers.
“You fuckin’ bitch,” he snarled, pulling his hand away and the fabric too.
Dad had insisted that I go through a self-defense course back when I was sixteen. Initially, very little of that course came back to me, but I remembered the instructor telling us that if we were bound with rope, we should try rubbing our wrists back and forth to loosen the ropes. I had enough slack in the rope that I could do that, so I tried. But, doing it while fighting off Asher wasn’t easy, especially since I was in a headlock.
I whimpered and thrashed my torso, but Asher held strong. Bringing my hands up to his forearm, I dug my nails in as hard as I could. He tightened his hold, and I gasped for air until I heard a series of knocks from the front door.
He stilled. “Make a noise, I will break your neck.”
I didn’t want to die, but I damn sure didn’t want to be raped either.
The knocking stopped, and a female voice called out, “Keep it down in there, or I’m calling the cops.”
Was she crazy? Any woman screamed like I had, I would’ve had 911 on the line already! If I got out of this alive, she was getting a piece of my mind on how to help a sister out.
I opened my mouth and Asher gave my head a twist, making me see stars. Dammit!
Luckily I didn’t pass out, and we heard the woman’s voice but there was a man’s voice and it was clear she was talking to someone.
God willing, someone else had called the cops.
Realizing the woman was talking to someone else, Asher let me go to pull his phone from his pocket. From the corner of my eye, I saw he was looking at a video feed of some sort.
I belted out another scream, but Asher lunged for a nightstand, which I didn’t know had a weapon on it. At the last moment, I saw it was a gun. I twisted away as he fired at me. Piercing pain hit my side, and I brought my hands to the wound and felt blood. I clenched my teeth together to keep from whimpering.
“He can’t have you. That bastard gets whatever he fuckin’ wants, but it’s time he learns a hard lesson.”
I knew he was going to shoot again. It took every ounce of energy I had, but I rolled to my side and dodged his second bullet.
My eyes were drooping as I saw three pairs of shoes enter the room. Then it was lights out.
30Lay Me Down
Gabe
BROCK HAD FIFTEEN POUNDS on me, and he used all of it to hold me back from Craddick. A growing circle of blood formed along Cassie’s side, which enraged me. If something happened to her... I couldn’t even finish the thought. Nothing could happen to her. She meant entirely too much to me, and I hated that the last time we spoke I’d let my temper get the better of me.
My brother pushed me up against a wall, and had his face in mine. “Get your shit tight, Gabe. He’s got a fuckin’ gun, and he already shot Cassie. Won’t do her any good if you get killed because of your hot-headed temper.”
“I’ll shoot her again, you don’t lower your weapon,” I heard Craddick tell Clint.
“Cops are on their way, Asher. Drop your weapon.”
“No,” he croaked.
I shoved against Brock, thinking Craddick would shoot Cassie again.
Clint fired his gun first. Craddick stumbled back three steps before he hit the wall. His knees gave out and he slumped to the floor.
Brock’s attention shot to Craddick, and I shoved past my brother to Cassie’s limp body.
“Cassie,” I called, but her eyes were closed.
I found her pulse, and reached for my phone. Clint grabbed my shoulder and I saw he was on the phone already. It felt like it took the EMTs forever to show up, but I was sure it was only a matter of minutes. They moved in and I had to get out of the way. I wanted to stay with Cassie, but with the paramedics came police officers, and I was forced to answer some cursory questions before I could get to my truck.
Brock ran to catch up with me. “Gabriel! Let me drive.”
It was rare that he used my full name, and I turned widened eyes to him. “I’m going to Cassie.”
“Know that, Gabe. But you don’t even know what hospital they took her to, do you?”
It hit me I hadn’t heard that part because a police officer had pulled me aside. I handed Brock my keys. “You better drive like a bat out of hell, Brock.”
WHEN WE ARRIVED AT the hospital, the staff wouldn’t tell us anything about Cassie’s condition. I tried telling them I was her
