Escaping the Past

“I just paid a little visit to Mary Lou. Did you send someone to try and take her daughter?” His breath rushed out as his pace quickened at the very thought.

“You weren’t getting anywhere, so I sent Gary,” the voice snapped again.

“Gary? But he’s one hateful son of a bitch, boss.” He took a deep breath. “You told him to steal the girl?”

“We needed a bargaining chip.”

“She’s just a kid, boss,” Wes replied.

“He almost had her. Then Lou’s boyfriend came out of nowhere and broke two of Gary’s teeth and his jaw.”

The man must have been running on pure adrenaline to get one over on Gary. “Then what happened?”

“Someone called the cops, so he had to get out of there.”

“He didn’t hurt her?” Wes asked.

“I don’t give a damn if he hurt her or not,” the boss said gruffly. “Why do you care so much?”

“You just should have told me your plan. That’s all.” Wes stammered, suddenly at a loss for words.

“I want results,” the boss bellowed into the phone. “I don’t care who gets them or how it’s done.”

He heard a click on the other end and the call ended.

Wes ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Shit.”

Chapter Nineteen

Brody walked back to the house with Lou, his arm around her shoulders. He sat down in the long porch swing and patted his lap. “Put your head here and I’ll rub your neck.”

Lou wrung her neck muscles again with her hand, hearing her pulse beat a steady rhythm in her ears. “I’m okay. I’ll just go and lay down.”

She walked past him to the stairs and into the house, heading straight for the stairs. She walked into her room and kicked her shoes off, falling heavily onto the bed and tucking the pillow beneath her head. Brody walked into the room just moments later.

“Hurts that bad, huh?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” she moaned.

He walked to her side and lifted the covers. “Sit up and take this.” He held out two pills in his hand and a glass of water.

“What is it?” she asked cautiously.

“Just some Extra Strength Tylenol. Unless you want something stronger?” he asked.

“No. This will be fine.” She popped the pills into her mouth and washed them down with water.

“Lay on your stomach,” he said, pointing to the bed.

“Brody, I don’t think…” she started.

“Just shut up and do it,” he threw back over his shoulder as he walked into the bathroom. He came back carrying a bottle of lotion from her medicine cabinet. He squirted a good-sized amount into his hands and rubbed them together, warming the lotion. She moaned when he laid his warm hands on the skin of her neck and started to knead the stiff muscles.

“What happened to make you so tense?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” she muttered against her pillow. “Just a combination of last night, today, and the past couple of weeks, I guess.” She gasped as he found a particularly sensitive area by her collarbone. He concentrated on that area until it relaxed and then moved his hands beneath the neck of her T-shirt.

“This isn’t going to work. Sit up for a second.” He patted her bottom and she rose slowly. He grasped the end of her shirt and lifted it slowly over head, exposing her lacy white bra beneath.