Corralled (Blacktop Cowboys 1)

“Do you rape your wife too?”

Ace dug his fingers into her throat, lifted her head, and smacked it hard enough into the cement that her vision dimmed.

Don’t pass out. Don’t pass out.

“Shut up.” His other hand circled her biceps, pinching the tender skin on the underside of her arm until she whimpered. “You brought this on yourself.”

The door opened and Tanna’s voice drifted in. “Lainie? You in here?”

Ace abruptly released her and stepped back.

Only by sheer will did Lainie stay upright.

“What the f**k is going on here?” Tanna demanded, closing the distance between the door and where Lainie stood.

Ace sidestepped Tanna and booked it from the room.

Lainie closed her eyes. Tears seeped out as she slowly slid down the wall to the floor.

“Oh, my God, Lainie. Are you all right?” Tanna dropped to her knees beside her.

She couldn’t speak around the sobs gathered in her throat that hadn’t yet burst free.

“Was that . . . Did he try . . . ?” Tanna clasped Lainie’s hand between hers. “Did that son of a bitch attack you?”

She nodded slightly.

“Fuck. Fuck that and f**k him. I’m goin’ after that bastard right f**kin’ now.” Tanna scrambled to her feet.

Somehow Lainie found the strength to grip her hand. “Don’t go.”

“I need to catch him before he gets away.”

“I know him.”

“All the more reason to grab him until the cops get here.”

“No cops,” she rasped.

Tanna’s eyes turned sharp. “Did you hit your head? ’Cause, girl, you ain’t making a lick of sense. What do you mean, no cops?”

“Please. Can we just go? I just want to get out of here. I don’t think I can stand to be in this room another minute.” Lainie started to cry.

“It’s okay. Shh, sugar. We’ll go. Lemme help you up.”

Once Lainie was on her feet, she felt more in control. She shouldered her duffel bag and followed Tanna through the winding and dark corridors. Her body returned to panic mode immediately. The urge to run. To constantly look behind her. Every noise made her jump.

“Almost there. You doin’ okay?”

No. “I think so.” She was glad she hadn’t run into anyone she knew. Or anyone she didn’t know. She wanted to curl into a ball and cry until she forgot this ever happened.

Inside Tanna’s truck, Lainie leaned forward, hugging her knees against the shakes she was trying to control. They seemed to be driving a long way, so Lainie lifted her head. “Where are we going?”

“I booked a hotel for tonight. But it’s a ways out, since everything else in town was full.”

In the hotel room, Lainie threw her purse on the bed and escaped to the bathroom. She cranked the water to hot. When the tiny space was filled with so much steam she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face, she climbed in the shower. Water beat on her head and streamed down her body. She stayed enclosed in the heat until she’d calmed down. After slipping on her pajamas, she exited the humid space.

Tanna paced, a bottle of Jack Daniel’s dangling from her fingertips. She stopped. Stared. Swigged. And passed the bottle to Lainie.

“No, thanks.”

“Drink up. It’ll help. Trust me.”

Lainie knocked back a slug. Before the first shudder set in, she gulped another mouthful. “That always tastes like shit.”

“I know. But gentleman Jack is one guy who’s exactly as he appears: cheap, potent, trouble if you don’t keep a lid on him, and mean as a snake the morning after.” Tanna pointed to the bed against the wall. “Sit. Talk. I was fixin’ to bust down that damn door if you hadn’t come out.”

“How long was I in there?”

“Forty-nine minutes. Start talkin’.”

Lainie sighed and dropped on the mattress. “Everything is getting more surreal the more I think about it.”

“I’m sure. It’s called shock.”

Another slug of Jack Daniel’s and Lainie poured it all out. She finished with, “If you hadn’t come in, he would’ve raped me.” There. She’d said the word.

“You’re being way too calm about this, Lainie.”

“No. I’m not making light of this, but it could’ve been much worse than him shoving and grabbing me.”

“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t file charges. Jesus. He attacked you. At the very least it’s attempted sexual assault.”

Lainie signaled for her to pass the bottle over. She drank deeply. Once. Twice. “Maybe. I need some time to think. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

Tanna’s brittle smile relayed her frustration. “God knows I want to get shit-faced, and it didn’t even happen to me.”

She lay flat on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

“So what’s up with you and your guys?”

Another f**ked-up situation Lainie didn’t want to discuss, but Tanna could be a real bulldog. “The truth? I’ve fallen in love with Hank Lawson. Completely. Totally. I want to wake up with him every morning and have his babies—that kind of love.”

“Really? Hank?”

“Why is that such a surprise?”

“If you’d asked me early on, I would’ve guessed Kyle was the front-runner in the ‘win Lainie’s heart’ contest.”