“What? What’s happened, Caroline? Where are the twins?” Perching on the edge of the couch, Tina shut the sound off on the TV using the remote control.
“I can’t explain right now. Can I please just come to your place?” Caroline was practically begging, and Tina didn’t hesitate. Caroline had listened to too many of Tina’s own emotional breakdowns for her to ignore her friend when she asked for help.
“Of course, come on over. I’ll get out the ice cream, and we can talk.” Tina rolled her eyes toward the ceiling with a deep sigh, wondering what the heck the two men could have done to upset her friend so much. It was a good thing she had just stocked the freezer with a half-gallon of her favorite chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. It sounded like she and Caroline would need it tonight.
“That sounds great. I should be there in the next half an hour. I’m having a friend drop me off. See you soon.” The phone clicked in Tina’s ear, and she sat staring at it in her hand for a few moments, completely perplexed by Caroline’s unusual behavior. It was so unlike her to lean on anyone, even Tina.
Caroline Trainor was more like her sister than her best friend, and she had been through a hell of a lot in the last few days. First her apartment caught fire while she was still in it, and Caroline had bravely rescued her next door neighbor Molly along with her young son Tyler. The fireman that pulled them all from the burning building had fallen in love at first sight with the pretty, but skittish, young woman. Damon Gray and his twin brother Devin had spent the entire night at the hospital by Caroline’s bedside, and then they had taken her home with them when she was released. Tina was insanely jealous of her friend’s good fortune.
The Gray twins were just about the sexiest men Tina had ever seen in her life. They looked like Native American warriors, and they treated Caroline like she was their princess. Or at least they had been treating her like that for the last few days. Tina couldn’t figure out what would bring on the abrupt change in Caroline’s attitude. Just this morning on the phone Caroline was raving about how in love with them she was. It just didn’t make any sense.
Thinking back over her conversation with Caroline from the morning drew thoughts of Devin and Damon’s cocky fireman friend Liam. She had been desperate to get ahold of Caroline after she left the hospital and hadn’t even tried to call anyone to tell them she was okay. Tina had tried to reach the brothers at the firehouse in a last-ditch effort to locate her best friend. The man who answered, Liam, was arrogant and flirted shamelessly with her. Since that phone call, all Tina could think about was his sexy deep voice. Maybe she should have just agreed to go out for drinks with Liam Gray, just to get him out of her system.
God! What am I doing? she thought to herself.
He could be ugly as sin or married, and I’m sitting home alone drooling over his voice. I need to get laid, bad.
Tina put the phone back on the charger and shut the movie off. Rolling her neck to ease the tension that knotted there, she headed for the kitchen to get out the ice cream and grab some aspirin before Caroline arrived. Whatever had happened between the lovebirds, Tina knew that her role as the shoulder to cry on and the ear to listen was going to be tested tonight. As she passed the hallway to the bedroom, she caught a slight movement out of the corner of her eye, and then a sharp pain blossomed in her head and everything went black.
* * * *
Waking up tied to a chair was surprisingly not the worst moment in Tina’s life, but she couldn’t hold back her yelp of fear when a pale, sour-smelling man jerked her head backward by her hair. Looking into angry black eyes, she racked her brain for clues as to who he might be. She whimpered as his hand pressed against the lump now forming on the back of her skull.
“Keep quiet, girl, or else I’ll give you a reason to scream.”
“Who
are
you?” Tina’s voice cracked, but sounded much stronger than her nerves felt. Her hands were sweating as she twisted against the rope holding her to the dining room chair. The bonds were fairly loose, but she couldn’t pull too hard on them with the man standing over her. He let out a grunt in her face, and her stomach rolled at the stench of his breath.
“It doesn’t matter. Now shut up. I’ve got plans for your pretty little friend.” The evil grin on his face made her blood run ice cold. Caroline would walk through the door any second, and they would both be at the mercy of this disgusting man. She would be walking into an ambush, and Tina was powerless to stop it.
“Why shouldn’t I start screaming right now and warn her away?” she pushed.
He stood glaring at her for a moment before he answered by backhanding her. The slap was so hard that it threw her head sideways, and she saw stars behind her eyelids. The chair she was tied to tipped, wobbling on two legs for a brief second before settling back to four, and she wiggled her bottom jaw to make sure it wasn’t broken.
“Do it, and I will make sure that your last few moments alive are more painful than you’ve ever imagined.” The man let out a sharp bark of laughter before jerking his head back toward the front room. Apparently he heard something she couldn’t, because he slipped behind the front door out of sight and lifted a baseball bat above his shoulder. She must be in shock to have not even noticed he was carrying around a bat. That had to have been what he hit her with, because the back of her head was throbbing now.
Tina’s mind was screaming, but she resisted making noise. She didn’t want to antagonize her attacker before she had her arms free from the ropes. If she could just get herself loose, she could get to the loaded pistol she kept on top of the coat rack. She would make sure this disgusting creature didn’t live long enough to regret attacking her. He would be enjoying a face full of hot lead shortly if she could just get the damn ropes unfastened.
Caroline burst through the door, and Tina caught a glimpse of her tear-stained face and look of confusion before the man hit her over the head with his bat. Caroline’s eyes rolled up into her head, and her petite body slumped to the floor without any resistance.
The stranger chuckled to himself as he looked over Caroline’s prone form on the floor. “Damn, she is perfect.” Tina could have sworn she heard him growling like an animal as he scooped up his new victim and dropped her onto another dining room chair opposite Tina’s.
“Oh my God, what is wrong with you? Why are you doing this? What did she ever do to you?” Tina yelled, hoping to distract him as he began to tie Caroline to the chair.
“Shut up! Just shut your damn mouth or I’ll shut it for you.” The man’s eyes were so cold Tina felt a shiver race up her spine. He was going to kill them both. There was no doubt in her mind.
As he walked back to the front window and pulled the curtains closed, Tina struggled in vain to release her hands from the rope. The bat he was carrying in his loose grip had a streak of Caroline’s blood on it, and the pallor of her skin worried Tina. She may already be dead, Tina thought to herself. Panic hit her gut, and her hands became sweaty. The ropes slid just a little bit further over her wrists, and she knew she was close. A gasp and moan drew her attention back to Caroline.
“Well, well, well, you’re back with us again,” the man taunted. Tina watched Caroline’s face go from pale to bloodless white in a flash. Caroline’s nose wrinkled, and Tina knew she caught the overwhelming scent of unwashed body, too. By the clenching of Caroline’s jaw, Tina figured she was struggling to keep control of her gag reflex, too.
“He will find you, Barton, and when he does he will kill you.” Caroline’s voice was strong and even, but Tina’s stomach clenched with fear. They knew each other. Caroline knew their attacker, and somehow Tina was in the wrong place at the wrong time. How? Who was he? This had to be some crazy-ass nightmare.
The man’s repulsive smile was enough to make Tina heave as he responded. “So, you know who I am, huh? Good, at least you will know my name well enough to scream it when I fuck their smell off of you. Nasty smell of Gray all over you. Wonder how he will feel when he finds the leftover pieces of you with my scent all over them.”
All of the air in Tina’s lungs left her body in a whoosh. Not only was he going to kill them both, he was probably going to rape them, too. Those nasty, grubby hands of his were going to strip her clothes off to touch her. This can’t be happening, she thought to herself.
She forced herself to really evaluate their attacker for a moment. He was middle aged and average height, but a little bit husky. It looked like he had been living rough for a while because his clothing was dirty and wrinkled. He had probably slept in them for more than a day or two. His body was thick but more soft than muscular, and his brown hair was lightly graying. He moved with the grace of someone much leaner and with an animal-like speed that didn’t correlate with his exterior appearance. Looks were deceiving apparently, and she wondered again how Caroline knew him. He moved restlessly back to the front window and peeked out like he was waiting for someone.
“He will be here soon.” Tina listened to Caroline talk to the man with her brain spinning wildly. She wanted to scream at her friend to shut up or explain or something, but she bit her tongue and started wiggling in her ropes again.
“Whatever, I heard you and your human friend talking on the phone. You left him, and he doesn’t know where you are yet. Even if he figures it out quickly, he will just barely arrive in time to hear your screams. Don’t worry, pretty girl, I will let you watch when I kill him, or maybe I will let him watch while I kill you.” He paused, and Tina would have sworn that the look on his face was directly out of a horror film. “Don’t fuck with me, pretty girl. I wonder if I should start with your friend, that way I can show you what I have planned for you. You know what they say, anticipation always makes it better. If your boyfriend doesn’t get here soon, he will miss out on all of the fun!” He was a psychopath, Tina thought. There was no other explanation.
He moved to her side and ran his stubby fingers over her ribs and breasts, moving upward along her jawline. She couldn’t stop the disgusted shudder that hit her, and she shut her eyes to keep from throwing up on him. Wouldn’t that be a fantastic storyline for the morning news:
Rape and murder victim vomited on her attacker before he killed her.
Her parents would be so proud.
Caroline yelled across the room at the man, “
No
! Leave her alone, Barton. Let her go, and I will do anything you want. She doesn’t know anything about this. Devin won’t come for her, but he will come for me. He doesn’t even know where I am right now. Let her go and find him so that he will hurry here to rescue me. Then you can finish this stupid challenge.”
Challenge? What challenge? Barton? Oh my God, Caroline really did know him, and it was because of her new boyfriend. Just freaking fantastic. A tiny little voice inside of Tina smirked that she wasn’t the only woman to attract freaks. She flushed guiltily, chiding herself for her mean thoughts. Caroline was trying to save Tina’s life. The least she could do was save the petty jealousy for a better time and place.
“You will do whatever I want anyways, so what difference does it make? This way I get a two for one deal,” he said calmly, and Tina snorted. His glare silenced her laughter, but she held his gaze defiantly. If he was going to take her down, then it wouldn’t be without a fight. His eyes roved over her body quickly before he decided she wasn’t a threat and turned back to Caroline.
“I’m impressed that you were able to locate me. I didn’t even know I was coming here until thirty minutes ago. How did you know where to find me?” Both Tina and Barton looked at Caroline like she was crazy. She had gone from yelling to almost a whisper, and her tone was calm and relaxed. Tina wasn’t fooled for an instant. Caroline was trying to distract and delay this man so that they could escape somehow. Tina fought harder to stretch the rope over her hands, but it seemed to be stuck on her watch somehow. Stupid watch.
“It was a lucky break for me that I was able to chat with a friend of yours from the hospital. Carter was his name. He was very willing to give up your friend Tina’s name so that your concerned ‘uncle’ could find out where you went and help you. Then it was just a matter of a quick Internet search to locate her home. Her and I were just going to play for a bit until she shared her knowledge of your current location, but right before I hit her, I heard her on the phone telling you to come on over. Imagine my surprise that you were just going to throw yourself into my arms. It was too perfect. So here we are!” He was giddy with how well his plan had worked, and she could see his tense muscles relax as he filled Caroline in. Caroline’s overly calm, mellow expression irritated Tina. How could she be so at ease when they were facing torture and death?
“You have what you wanted, Barton. You have me at your mercy. Let her go.” Tina could see the tension in Caroline’s body as she spoke. It was the only betrayal to her serene facial expression. No matter what image she was giving Barton, inside she was clearly just as terrified as Tina was.
“Maybe. Then again, maybe not. I plan on taking my sweet time and having a good fuck either way, but first I think I will fix myself a nice meal. I haven’t eaten lately as I’ve been searching for you, and I will need my energy to make sure I’m the last thing you remember from this life.” He moved off toward the kitchen and started rooting through Tina’s fridge looking for food. Asshole, she thought, and I just went grocery shopping, too. If you would have been a week earlier you only would have found ketchup and Diet Coke in there. As the microwave started Tina got a whiff of heated meat, and realized that he was eating the pork chops she had planned on eating for her own dinner.
Damn mooch. Had to hit me, tie me up, threaten me, touch me, and then eat my damn dinner.
Her inner female was getting more and more pissed.