Finding Pride (Pride Series) (27 page)

Megan opened her eyes just a little, her tongue felt thick and dry. There was a sharp throbbing in her head and she was having a hard time focusing her eyes; she could only see shapes and colors.

She knew she was lying on a bed, her hands were tied behind her. There was a rag in her mouth stuffed so far in that it was causing her to almost gag.

The back of her head hurt and she felt something sticky sliding down her neck. Her legs were either tied or being held down. She tried to move and realized that Derek was in the process of tying them. Immediately she started kicking until she felt her knee connect to something solid and she heard a grunt.

“
Stupid Bitch. Hold still.” She kicked and struggled harder. Just when she thought he had her pinned down her foot connected with something solid again and she saw him go down, falling backwards off the bed.

She could hear him cussing but didn’t stop to think. Instead she jumped up from the bed and ran over to start kicking him some more. Because her hands were tied behind her, she couldn’t open the door without him getting to her first.

Her foot connected again to the side of his head, this time he stayed down, his eyes closed. She could see blood coming from a cut on his lip and one above his eye.

Jumping over him she ran to the door. Turning backwards to use her tied hands to open the door, it took her a minute to turn the handle. Just as she turned to run out, she was thrown clear of it, back across the bed. She bounced off the mattress, hitting the floor hard and landing on her hip.

The wind was knocked from her lungs, she felt her hands freed, behind her. The duct tape Derek had used, snapped free, and was sticking to her wrists.

Pushing herself up just in time, she saw him lock the door with a jerk.

“You stupid bitch! I’ll teach you.” He started walking towards her. “They let me go; I walked right out of there. They said I had to teach you how to be a good wife.” His lip was bleeding, his right eye was starting to close shut. She knew she had to get out of this room, that her life and the baby’s depending on it.

Looking around, she noticed a large window beside the door. It had thick drapes hanging over it, closing out the light and the world. She knew she had to get to the door or that window.

Megan yanked down her gag, and tossed it across the room at him. “I’m not your wife! They didn’t let you go!”

“Shut up! You don’t know anything! You’re just a stupid slut, you belong to me. I have to teach you. You think you can live, after what you did to me?” He started walking faster across the room.

“Derek, you have to let me go. Don’t come near me. Don’t ever lay a hand on me again!” she said. Scooting away, she stood up and backed towards the wall.

“Oh, big words. You can’t hurt me!” He screamed, and pulled a gun from his back pocket. He started waving it around continuing to scream. “You’ll know I’m in charge. I have always been in charge and you are just a stupid slut who couldn’t keep her damn legs closed. You thought I didn’t know about all the men you fucked. You’re nothing but a whore. You deserve to be treated like a whore. I’ve been thinking about this for months, what I’d do when I got my hands on you. Well, I can tell you, you’re going to enjoy me honey.” He started to move towards her again, with his free hand on his belt.

Megan saw the gun waver between her head and her heart. She put a hand over her stomach and knew that it was over.

Todd raced towards the house; he and Robert had checked all the cabins. Megan was nowhere to be found. “We’ve put an APB out on the sedan he rented. How did you get that information anyway?” Robert asked when they reached the main house.

“I had a PI watching this guy. I’m going to drive around and see if I can find her,” he said heading towards the Jeep.

“Todd, let the police handle this, we’ll find her.”

“No! I will! And when I find him, I’m…”

“Don’t! You stay out of this Todd, you hear. I’ve got my deputies driving around looking for the car.”

“Damn it, they could be half way across Oregon by now.” Todd jumped in the Jeep and pulled out crossing the yard. He drove through town, going about sixty. He knew Derek would stop somewhere, he just didn’t know where. He thought of heading back up towards Portland, but instead of turning left, he headed right. Edgeview, was just ten minutes away, and on an instinct he headed there. He called the house and told Lacey what was going on, both her and Iian were going to start searching.

“Don’t worry Todd, we’ll find her.” Lacey was saying. Todd could hear Iian in the background and knew that they would help.

When he reached Edgeview, five minutes later, he started looking for the sedan. He was passing by the outskirts of town when he spotted the car; it was parked on the side of a small motel.

Phoning Robert he told him he’d check it out. Robert told him to stay put, not to do anything, and he would contact the Edgeview police. He could be there in fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes could be a matter of life or death. Todd parked the Jeep and got out.

Derek was stalking slowly towards her; he had undone his belt, and was struggling with his zipper. The room was dark the only light was coming from the bedside lamp. She noticed that he had changed a lot in the last couple months. The first time he was in jail, he had gained ten pounds, now however; it looked like he had lost a lot of it. He was also almost completely bald now. The remaining hair was cut very short. He was very pale and his eyes were darting around the room as if he was high. He had a blue shirt and pants that were too small for him, his gut showed under the shirt. She could see he was hard against the jeans he was trying to unzip. The thought of this man touching her made her stomach spin.

He started waving the gun again. “Now you be a good wife and lay down on the bed and spread your legs for your husband. It shouldn’t be too hard for a slut like you,” he said reaching for her.

She only had one chance at surviving. Without another glance at the gun, she pushed away from the wall.

Just as Todd reached for the door handle at the front office, he heard a loud crash. He saw movement to his right. Three windows down, lying on the cement was a small body wrapped in thick drapes.

The door to the room flew opened and a short, thick, bald man came running out waiving a gun. Without a thought of his own safety, Todd ran towards the man.

“You stupid Bitch!” The man pointed a gun, drew back his foot to kick the mound lying on the cement.

“No! Megan!” Todd yelled.

Derek’s head and the gun snapped up. Just then, Megan threw off the curtains and kicked the man in the shins with all of her weight. Derek went down hard on his knees, the gun wavered in his hand. Then Todd was on him.

She had been almost in a dream state after jumping out the window. Knowing, her only hope of survival, for her and the baby was to get out of that room. She just prayed that the room was on the ground floor.

When she was lying there on the hard cement, encased in the thick drapes, trying to catch her breath, she heard Todd’s screams. Knowing she needed to get up, she saw when Derek had swung the gun towards Todd.

All of her thoughts left her. All she could imagine was life without Todd. There would be no life for her without him.

Looking at the man who was running towards them with no regard to his own life, she saw murder in his eyes. But, she knew that it wasn’t aimed at her, never aimed at her, only to protect her. In that instant she realized that she loved him. Beyond anything she’d ever felt for anyone else in her entire life, she loved Todd.

Derek’s legs were right next to her feet, kicking as hard as she could, she hit him in the shins. Causing him to fall down almost on top of her.

Then Todd was there, he had Derek in a head lock and was pounding his fists, into his face. The gun flew out of Derek’s hands and landed on the cement with a dull thud.

Several people poked their heads out of their doors, after hearing the commotion, they gathering around staring at the scene.

“Call the Police!” Megan screamed at a middle aged woman who stood there in complete shock.

“Todd, stop!” Todd was pounding his fist so fast and hard. Derek was now unconscious, slumped against the wall. Megan could see that both of his eyes were swollen shut, his mouth was bleeding and it appeared his nose was broken. She jumped up from the ground, her hip screamed at her, and ran over to Todd.

She could see Todd’s eyes were so focused on each blow; she had to get him to stop. “Todd! Stop, I’m okay, please Todd. Stop!” She grabbed his fist as he was throwing another blow. He looked up from the slumped figure, looked deep in her eyes. He took a deep breath and shook his head clear.

“I’m okay, we’re okay.” She wrapped her arms around him.