The Woods
The kidnapper’s raspy laugh felt like sandpaper grating in Lauren’s ears.
“Now I’ve seen everything. A blind woman standing in a tree.” He snorted and howled his amusement.
Her forehead scraped against the rough bark as she worked to calm her unsteady body. She considered her options, but there were none.
“You are the most amazing disabled person I’ve ever met. Not that I’ve met all too many, mind you.” He laughed so hard he began to cough and wheeze.
Not willing to give up, she dug her nails into the hard surface of the wood, searching her mind for a way out. Her leg throbbed and was basically useless, but still there had to be an escape.
Once he caught his breath, the metal of his gun made a clicking sound. “So you want me to finish this while you’re still up there, or you want to come down first?” His voice was hoarse, much like a seasoned smoker.
Being on solid ground was the only chance she had left. Lauren sat on the branch and stretched her good leg out, feeling for a rung to lower herself on. “Let me come down first.”
“There’s one a couple inches in front of you,” he said, still chuckling.
As slow as humanly possible, she edged her way to the limb he mentioned.
Finally seated on it, she searched for another branch and stalled. “At least tell me why.”
He laughed. “I could, but does it make a difference?”
Lauren kept her voice soft and eyes lowered as she scanned the blurred area. “To me it does. I want to know why I’m being killed.”
“Ahhh. That makes sense. Okay. Three reasons actually. Here, move your left foot a couple inches to the back.”
She did as instructed and shifted to the next branch.
“First of all, there’s the piece of shit Gabriel Briggs you’ve been screwing. He left Autumn alone to raise his child. And when she died, he moved on to the next one. What kind of man does that? Asshole needs to suffer, and killing you will make sure he does. Secondly, I told Autumn right before she died I’d keep an eye on her boy. I’m a man of my word so I came to make good on my promise, until you and your dog started fucking it all up.”
Right before she died?
The realization he killed Autumn sent a wave of tremors ripping through her. There was no doubt he slaughtered Jack. But if he was capable of murdering a woman, a mother he obviously knew well, he was more unstable than she realized. She gripped on to the bark and forced herself to breathe until the spasms subsided.
“Thirdly, you’re a slut. You use men and spit them out and don’t care about what it does to them.”
Lauren eased herself farther down. She processed his explanation while flailing her foot, pretending to search for another branch. Anger. Revenge. Were those his motives?
“Is that what Autumn did to you? Used you and spit you out?”
Large hands grabbed her by the waist, lifting her from the tree. She didn’t fight his touch as his fingers dug into her skin.
Her chest brushed against his when he lowered her to the ground. The mixture of coffee and marijuana assaulted her senses as the stubble of his face scraped against her cheek. She swallowed the fear and stopped breathing.
The wet heat of his breath hit her shoulder when he sighed. Lauren closed her eyes and fought the urge to push him away.
“I loved her,” he said against her cheek. “Did everything I could to make her see how good we were together. But it wasn’t enough.”
The man pushed her up against the tree before releasing his grip.
“She hurt you.” Lauren inched away from the trunk and prayed the terror in her voice wasn’t obvious. Maybe she could turn around and run in the other direction.
As if reading her mind, he crushed his body against hers, wrapping her arms behind the large trunk. In a quick tug and pull, a rope was tied around her wrists.
He patted her shoulder and stepped back. “There, much better. Now, in answer to your question, yes, she hurt me.”
Her heart thumped hard against her chest. Perspiration soaked her clothes. Lauren’s fingers clawed the plastic twine digging into her skin as her mind raced to keep the conversation going.
“Anymore questions?” He sat in front of her and sighed.
All her attention was focused on the one spot behind her. She scraped her nails into the rope as she continued their conversation. “Did you two know each other a long time?”
He started throwing rocks at the trees beside her. “You could say that. We’ve been neighbors for over five years. I’m a security guard at the bank she worked at, actually helped her get the job there.”
She tried to be still while her fingers pulled and twisted. “So you spent a lot of time together.”
“Not as much as I would have liked. It was always fucking on her time. When it was right for her.”
Lauren focused on the bitterness and pain in his voice.
“Did she know how much you loved her?”
He didn’t respond for a while. The sounds of the stones he threw slamming around her grew louder. She worried if she’d pushed too far. “I loved everything about her. She was beautiful, funny, smart. Perfect. But a better question to ask is: Did she fuckin’ care? And the answer is a big fat hell no. Told me if I kept bothering her, she’d call the cops. Said I needed to go get help.”
One of the twines on her wrist began to unravel. Lauren pinched into the weakened fiber and twisted. “That must have been hard for you to hear.”
“After everything I did for the woman, all she cared about was the piece of shit absentee husband of hers. Fucking led me on and then kicked me out. You can’t make love to a man and the next day say it wasn’t consensual. Just ain’t right.”
Her chest tightened. She worked to keep her tone even and words calculated. “Is that what she claimed? You raped her.”
He shot up from his spot on the ground and stormed over to her.
When he wrapped a hand around her throat and squeezed, every organ in her body froze.
“I. Am. Not. A. God. Damn. Rapist. You hear me?”
She nodded.
He released his grip and began to pace. “Bullshit. Said I scared the shit out of her son and hurt her. I loved the woman. I’d never hurt her.”
Lauren dug harder into the rope. “It must have been hard for you when she died.”
The man blew a breath. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it was her fucking choice. I told her I’d take care of her and the boy. She said no.”
He stepped close and rested his head against hers. Lauren slammed her lids shut and stayed rigid. “You’re going to kill her son too?”
After what felt like an eternity, he stepped back and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Naw, he’s just a kid but I do have a promise to make good on. I’ve always wanted a son, someone to take hunting and fishing, and you’re keeping me from him.” Lauren shook her head and sobbed as terror crawled up her spine.
“Please, don’t,” she begged.
She turned away when the back of his hand trailed her cheek. “Not your call to make. As nice as this talk’s been and all, time’s up. I wish I could let you keep working on your rope. It would have made things a lot more fun.”
When the attacker started to walk away, she did the only thing she could. “He’s finally happy. Leave him alone. I’ll make a deal with you.”
A calloused finger scraped over her lip. She jolted her head away before she could stop herself.
He laughed. “What kind of deal?”
“Take me,” she whispered. “No arguments. No escape. I’ll come with you. My life for his.” She didn’t allow herself to think about what she was saying. It didn’t matter anyway. Evan’s safety was all she cared about.
His hand cupped her neck, forcing her to face him. He stepped closer until his hips smashed into hers. The hard stubble of his cheek burned against her skin. She shuddered when he nipped at her earlobe. “Sorry, sweetheart, but you’re not my type. Don’t worry though, I’ll be humane about it.”
Rough lips scraped across her forehead. “One bullet through your brain and you’ll be done. Promise.”
Although drenched with sweat, Lauren shook uncontrollably. Everything around her was spinning. She slammed her eyes shut and fought the queasiness rising from within.
“Can I have a moment first? It’s my last few minutes alive. I want to get my thoughts centered.”
“Sure,” he wiped the bead of perspiration off her lip. “Go ahead and pray, sweetheart. If you’re lucky, you might be meeting Him real soon.” The sarcasm and coldness of his voice inched the nausea higher. She swallowed it down.
He trailed his hand down the length of her arm and walked around to the back of her. Lauren’s muscles tightened when the tips of his fingers grazed her skin as he touched the part of the rope she had been ripping.
Calloused hands grabbed her wrists, slamming her spine against the tree. “You did some damage back here. More than I gave you credit for. Why fight the inevitable?”
She leaned the back of her head against the wooded surface as a tear escaped her eye.
Fighting the inevitable.
How much of her life had she spent doing just that? Rebelling against things beyond her control?
If she had only known…
So many people had come into her life and most of them, she’d pushed away. Images of the ones who refused to let her go, ran through her head and, silently, she said goodbye to each.
A gentle breeze caressed her cheek and with it came the faint smell of cedar and pine. She filled her lungs with the scent and smiled.
Gabe.
Her muscles eased at the memory of him.
It took this moment for her to accept the truth. She loved him. Everything about him. The tears flowed freely as she thought of all the time she wasted pushing him away. He had been good for her. Made her feel for the first time she was beautiful and capable. Gabe was an honest man with a good heart. He deserved to be with Evan just as much as the child deserved to be with Gabe. Lauren prayed he would keep the little boy safe.
A torrential flood of emotions flowed through her, making her body tremble. She worked on her breathing and focused. Scared and alone would not be how she would leave this world. She rolled her shoulders back and held her head up.
Somewhere on the other side, a big hairy dog was waiting for her. The thought of Jack eased her fears. With another deep breath, she pressed her spine against the trunk of the tree and nodded.
In the distance the faint wails of a police siren sounded. He walked around and stood in front of her. The metal of the gun slid. “Time’s up.”
Lauren didn’t want to waste her last seconds staring at the fuzzy image of the man who would take her life. Instead, she closed her eyes and remembered walking along the beach of Maui as a child.
A vivid blue sky was what she saw, and the ocean the most beautiful turquoise ever seen.
A shot exploded into the silence, breaking her concentration.
Funny, she was sure he had a silencer.
The thud of the bullet hitting skin and bone made her cringe but, mercifully, there was no pain.
She tried to stay focused on the beach.
Maybe that’s where Jack would find her.
Seconds later, another explosion invaded her thoughts and with it, yet another thud.
Her body chilled and legs buckled.
Lauren slid to the ground as her world turned black.