Max shook his head, clenched his teeth as he swallowed the slug of beer as if trying to get rid of a bad taste in his mouth. Then he looked away from Eric. That wasn’t like him at all.
“What? What are you not telling me?” Eric asked.
“All that matters is that we keep an eye on her and ask Ron and Marie to do the same. Wyatt and the guys are informed of the situation. If we can get her to come work for us at the ranch, then we can talk her into staying there a few nights, a week at least.”
Eric walked closer to Max. “You’re not keeping me out of the loop here. If someone is threatening Stacy and sending messages to her, I want to know about it.”
Max exhaled then rubbed a hand over his mouth and chin. He looked real upset and as if he had been trying to keep his anger at bay. Eric didn’t want to push him, but he needed to know.
“I really don’t want to talk about it all. Just know that he wants to experiment sexually with her. He described some pretty intense fantasies that involved restraining her and what could only be described as sexually abusing her. It was sick shit. He vowed to punish her for running away from New York and hurting any other men she considered getting involved with.”
“What? Why can’t we go to New York and fuck this guy up? How would he like being hog-tied and dragged behind Lightning for miles across our land?”
“Calm down, Eric. Believe me, I‘d like to put a bullet in the guy’s head, but we can’t. As angry as we are, we need to follow protocol and do what the investigators say. It’s our only choice.”
Eric was quiet a moment as he thought about what Max had shared.
“It was pretty bad, huh?”
Max shook his head.
“I couldn’t even imagine. Did Wyatt or anyone else listen in?”
“Just Wyatt, but he was going to be making copies before sending the phone to the agents. I’m not going to be able to leave her alone. I mean, one of us or even Ron, and maybe sending over Charlie or Ben would be a good idea.”
“If she works for us, then she’ll be safest on the Triple C. Let’s do our best to convince her.”
“You got it.”
They were silent a few moments until they heard some noises coming from Stacy’s bedroom. Immediately they hurried to her room.
* * * *
“You belong to me. I waited a year to have you, Stacy. I left my wife for you, and you have no choice but to come with me.”
“No. I’m not going anywhere with you. I don’t belong to you, Barry, I belong to Eric and Max Cantrell. We’re getting married.”
“You can’t get married.”
“I am and there isn’t anything that you can do about it. So just leave now before they get home.”
Barry chuckled. “They’re not coming home, Stacy. I’ve already killed them.”
Stacy screamed as Barry grabbed her by the arms and shook her. She couldn’t believe that Max and Eric were dead. Barry lost his mind. He was crazy.
“Let go of me! Get off of me,” she screamed as Barry ripped her blouse then the skirt she wore. He turned her around then shoved her onto the bed. She kicked and screamed, trying to fight him off, but she couldn’t. He was way too strong.
“Stop fighting me!” he yelled then stuck his knee into her spine as he kneeled on her. She grabbed for the comforter, trying to gain leverage to get him off of her. He forced her arms upward and tied her wrists to the bed. Her face hit the comforter as she gasped for air, trying to breathe. She tossed her head side to side and kicked her legs when he spread her thighs.
“Please no! Don’t touch me!” she cried as she felt his fingers spread her ass cheeks.
“You’re mine, Stacy. No other man will ever fuck this ass again.”
She felt his heavy body against her as she cried and screamed for him to release her.
“Stacy! Stacy, it’s Max, wake up, baby. Wake up, you’re having a bad dream,” Max stated.
She heard Max’s voice and then Eric’s. She was having a nightmare. She thought that Barry had actually abducted her and killed Eric and Max.