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Though Jenna trudged down the main route into town, barely a single car drove past her and none of them were cabs. The hour was late enough for everyone who was going to work to be in already, and the school run had ended an hour ago. She kept her eyes peeled for any sign of a cab office, but in this suburban area, she was lucky to pass so much as a convenience store.
The sun beat down on her head. Her bags grew heavier with every step, and pulled down on her shoulders, the straps digging into her skin. Her stomach ached with a sickening, hollow sensation. She’d not eaten anything yet that day, but what she felt was more than just hunger. She felt as if her insides had been torn out and she was little more than a shell. Ryker lying to her was a betrayal of her trust, and more than anything she’d wanted to trust him. Plus she felt so hurt that he hadn’t believed how serious this thing was with Garrett. It was as if he’d thought she was some hysterical woman who was over exaggerating. Ryker not taking her seriously hurt as much as him lying to her. He’d taken her choices away from her and manipulated her to get what he wanted, yet still her heart ached for him. Was this really it? Was she about to walk away from him forever?
She felt so torn. Going back to him would be like telling him what he did was okay. After the quite literal car crash of her last relationship, she needed for the man in her life to know she wouldn’t be pushed around.
Then there was Garrett. Even if Ryker thought she was exaggerating, she knew her ex-boyfriend was near. Ryker could explain away everything with coincidences, or jealous wanna-be girlfriends, or angry little brothers, but in her heart, she knew Garrett was close.
What else could she do but leave?
Though she’d walked a good mile now, still she saw no sign of any cabs. Jenna gave a sigh and came to the decision that she’d reach the garage herself before she happened upon one, so she gave up and decided to walk the couple of miles.
Her t-shirt clung to her skin with sweat. She did her best to hold back the tears, but the occasional tear escaped her eye and slipped down her cheek. The day was too hot for her to be walking any distance. Her thighs chaffed on the inside of her pants, and the underwire in her bra started to rub. Her throat felt like a huge painful ball had lodged inside it, and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.
Another couple of blocks on, she finally passed a convenience store, and her dry mouth and empty stomach forced her to stop. She pushed open the door and entered the air-conditioned shop, grateful to be out of the heat. She selected a bottle of water from the chiller cabinet and a breakfast sandwich, which she nuked in the microwave. She was tempted to eat and drink while standing in the store, but decided that would look weird, so she took her items back into the sunshine and walked a little farther before finding a bench to sit on. A park was opposite, where a couple of mothers chatted while their small children chased each other around the slides and climbing frames. The scene made Jenna sad. Would she ever have that? A family of her own. It was all she’d ever wanted from life, just a man who loved her and a couple of children. A simple existence. Her life was so complicated.
She cracked open the water and gulped down half the bottle, before unwrapping her sandwich and demolishing it in several bites. She wished she was one of those people who found themselves unable to eat when they were upset, but she went the other way. The food comforted her, made her feel warm and loved, and she considered going back inside for one of the cherry cake donuts with chocolate frosting that had been in the chiller.
No, she didn’t need a donut. It would only delay her getting to the garage, and she’d already been walking for ages. Jenna hauled herself back to her feet, and lifted her bags. At least now she was hydrated and had something in her stomach, physically she felt a little better. She started her walk again.
Why hasn’t he followed me?
She kept hoping Ryker would come after her, and every car that drove by made her heart leap, praying it was him. All the walking left her with plenty of time to think, and she found herself fighting herself in her head.
She imagined him telling her there had been a huge mistake and he’d misunderstood about her car being ready, so it hadn’t been a deliberate lie after all. But as she grew closer and closer to the location of the garage, she had to admit to herself that he wasn’t going to follow her.
How can he not come? He said he loved me, and he knows exactly where I’m going.
She couldn’t quite bring herself to believe he would allow her to collect her car and drive out of his life forever. They’d had the sort of connection that only happened once in a lifetime. Surely he’d want to fight for her?
Maybe he’s had enough of fighting? She hadn’t exactly been the easiest person to get to know. She’d plunged his life into uncertainty, even if he hadn’t bought in on how dangerous Garrett could be. Maybe he’d come to his senses and decided Mikey was more important than she was, which was exactly the right thing he should think, even though Jenna felt horrible and selfish for hoping he’d think of her too. Maybe she didn’t deserve to be loved if that was the type of person she was? Mikey deserved as much stability as possible, and her being in the picture did the exact opposite.
Yet, still, her stupid, hopeful heart clung to the possibility that he’d come after her.
He might already be at the garage. He might be waiting for me there.
She clutched the final strands of her hope as she trudged the final half mile to the garage.
The square, concrete building came into sight up ahead. Jenna sighed with relief, but at the same time her stomach twisted with nerves. There was no sign of Ryker’s truck parked outside, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. He might have parked his vehicle inside the building.
She reached the open front of the garage and dumped her bags to one side of the metal roller door which was rolled up and suspended in brackets overhead. There was no sign of Ryker’s truck parked inside, and her heart sank. She’d been wrong about him. He hadn’t bothered to come after her after all. The only assumption she could make was that he decided he didn’t love her as much as he’d declared he had.
Her car sat on the forecourt, and she gave a small, sad smile at the sight. She walked over and gave the hood a pat like a pet. “Hey, old fella,” she said, softly, despite knowing vehicles were supposed to be female. “Did you miss me?”
She turned her attention from her car to try and find Sam. She needed to settle up for the work he’d done and get the keys back.
“Hello?”
She didn’t get any sense of movement from the back of the garage. Perhaps he was out back making coffee?
“Hello?” she called again, her neck craning to one side to try to see through the door leading into the back. She didn’t want to interrupt him if he was doing something private. “It’s Jenna Armstrong. I’m here to collect my car.” Her voice sounded echoey and hollow in the shell of the garage.
Still no answer came. Jenna frowned. Strange, she was sure he’d said he was working up here this morning. Maybe be got called out on a job? But then she didn’t think he’d leave the whole place unlocked. Anyone could walk in and help themselves to the till, or to the numerous tools lying around.
Yeah, but Ryker said the town had a low crime rate. Maybe people were simply more trusting around here than she was.
Damn it. Now what was she supposed to do? She couldn’t go back to Ryker with her tail between her legs and ask him to bring her back here.
Jenna made a decision. The keys for her car must be here somewhere. She’d leave him a note with her email address asking him to invoice her what she owed, and she’d find the keys and get the hell away from Arlington.
With her mind made up, she approached the counter which held the till, where she’d sat nursing her coffee, watching Ryker work, only a few days earlier. The memory made her heart clench with pain. It was hard to believe that had only been a matter of days ago. She felt as if she’d known Ryker for months not days. He’d settled into her heart as if he’d been there all along.
A board with hooks embedded into the wood and keys hung from them was positioned on the wall behind the counter. She scanned the sets of keys and quickly recognized her own.
Jenna rounded the counter and froze. Her heart clambered into her throat, her eyes widening, all the blood draining from her face.
Sam lay on his back on the floor behind the counter. His eyes were open, but unseeing, staring sightlessly at the roof of the garage. His skin was white and almost waxy-looking. Even in death—and she had no doubt that he was dead—an expression of surprise remained on his face. But it wasn’t his expression that was the worst thing. Behind his head, a dark pool of blood spread down to his shoulders and beyond. A heavy wrench lay abandoned in the pool, clumps of hair and flesh still clinging to the silver metal. Jenna’s eyes flicked back to Sam, and she saw the cause of his death. Above his ear, a large part of his skull had been crushed in, creating a strange crater in his head, as if the inside of his skull had become a vacuum and had sucked in on itself.
Sudden bile rose up from Jenna’s empty stomach, burning its way up her throat. The sensation shocked her into movement, and she staggered back, her hand clutched to her mouth, though she couldn’t take her eyes off Sam’s body. Her cell phone! Where was her cell phone? She needed to call the police. It was in her bag and she left her bags by the entrance.
From out of nowhere, a metal clang and rumble sounded, and she realized the metal shutters were being pulled down over the entrance.
The garage grew dark, the sunlight blocked out, and she blinked, her eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the dimmer lights from the fluorescent strips overhead. Who was working the shutters? The same person responsible for Sam’s death, or someone who could help? She didn’t have time to ponder it any further. All she knew was that she needed to reach her phone before whoever had done this to Sam got there first.
With her eyes still unaccustomed to the gloom, she ran forward, toward where she’d left her bags.
She stopped abruptly and inhaled a gasp of shock, her eyes widening.
“Hello Jenna.”
Garrett stood in front of her, blocking the way. He smiled, but the expression was sly and knowing, not reaching his eyes which were as hard and gray as a piece of flint.
“Oh!”
It was all she could manage, feeling as if they very sight of him had winded her. She wanted to turn and run, but all her muscles seemed to have turned to stone, pinning her to the ground. Garrett standing in front of her made her feel as if the last year hadn’t even happened. She’d been placed in a time machine and whisked back to the same night Garrett forced her into the car and almost killed her.
His sharp, cool gaze traveled down her body and then back up to her face. He lifted his upper lip in a snarl of disdain. “I see you’ve put on a few more pounds.” He gave a cold laugh. “Hell, it’s more than a few isn’t it? At least when I was around you watched what you ate. Looks like you’ve been eating everything in sight.”
She found her voice. “You murdered Sam!”
“He was in my way.”
“He didn’t do anything to you! He didn’t deserve to die.”
Garrett shrugged. “He was an aging nobody. He wasn’t exactly going to let me hang out here until you showed up now, was he?”
“What do you want?”
He took a step toward her and her whole body went rigid. “You seriously need to ask me that? After what you did to me?”
Her fear suddenly morphed into disbelief and she choked on her own crazed laughter. “After what I did to you? Don’t you have that the wrong way around?”
His eyes narrowed. “We were in an accident, that’s all. You’ve been able to keep on living your life while I’ve been locked up in that hell hole. Do you know what they do to good looking guys like me in jail?”
A surge of bitter delight lifted inside her. “Good,” she spat. “I’m glad you suffered.”
He took another step, and this time she was able to step back.
“And now I’m going to make you suffer.”
Garrett lunged for her. Moving more quickly than she knew her large frame was capable of, she spun on her heels and ran for the back of the garage. With all hopes of calling for help on her cell, her mind automatically went for a weapon, and the first one that came to mind was the wrench still lying in a pool of Sam’s blood.
Jenna dived behind the counter, her hands and knees skidding in the still warm puddle. The scent of iron and something she could only think of as death filled her nostrils. She’d never been in such close proximity of blood—at least that didn’t belong to her—but she didn’t allow herself time to feel faint. Her hands scrabbled for the wrench, her fingers touching cold, shiny metal. She grasped the make-shift weapon, and tried to lift it, but hands grabbed her ankles and tried to yank her backward. With her other hand, she caught hold of the edge of the counter, preventing Garrett from pulling her, and with another lunge, she grabbed for the handle of the wrench again.
This time her fingers closed more solidly around the handle, and when Garrett reached higher up her legs, around her calves, to pull her back once again, this time she was ready for him. He yanked her back but she brought the wrench with her, twisted to sit up and swung wildly with the weapon. It almost slipped from her grip, but connected with his shoulder.
Garrett gave a yelp of pain, dropping his hold on her legs to lift his hands to protect himself. But Sam’s blood had made the wrench slippery and as she swung her arm back to hit him again, it flew out of her grasp and clanged to the floor.
Garrett twisted to face her, an expression of absolute hatred and fury on his face. His features contorted, warped in anger. “You hit me, you fucking bitch.”
She started to scrabble backward, only wanting to get away from him. She hadn’t given thought to Sam’s body until she put her hand on his inert leg. She snatched it back with a scream, and Garrett laughed. He got to his feet, towering above her. But she could see he held his shoulder awkwardly, and took the smallest amount of satisfaction from that. She’d hurt him. Not much, but she’d hurt him.
“See that dead guy behind you?” he spat. “You’re going to end up wishing you were him. I’m going to make you pay for every moment I suffered in that prison. I’ll make you pay for every beating I took, for every time...” His face twisted again, “For every time someone touched me.”
Her eyes widened in fear.
Garrett reached down and grabbed her by the front of her t-shirt. He hauled her only part-way up, before drawing back his fist.
Garrett’s fist connected with her cheekbone with an explosion of white light behind her eyeballs. As quickly as the light arrived, it vanished again and was replaced with a tunneling darkness.
And Jenna fell down the tunnel.