Page 16 of Hide My Heart
Inside, I’m petrified, but I have to hold it together and keep it bottled up.
“I hitchhiked.”
“You’re fucking him. I know it. I can smell it on you.”
“Yeah, right, like anyone fucks in the middle of a snowstorm.” I shrug and throw up my hands. “I told you I was hitchhiking.”
I stare straight ahead at the salt-crusted highway splattered white with falling snow, hoping Hunter didn’t notice Beck.
“Him and his brat,” Hunter grumbled. “I wanted to shoot that crying brat. I hate babies.”
“Yeah, well, so do I. You don’t know how awful it was to sit in the car and listen to that shit,” I say, using the same profanities that spew regularly from Hunter’s filthy mouth.
“Lucky for you I found you,” he said. “How much money you got on you?”
“Oh, shit.” I slap myself on the head. “I left my pack in that guy’s car and my wallet on the counter.”
“You’re useless. Fucking useless. You’re lucky I care about you.”
“Actually, if you care about me, you’d let me go.”
“Go where? Home? You think your parents want you? You think they’d want you to ruin their pretty little lives and that sweet, little church they have?”
His words send terror through my blood. How much does he know about my life in Divine? Sure, he’d picked me up hitchhiking on the road out of Divine, but I never told him about my family or what they did.
By the time I realized Hunter wasn’t the adventure I thought I wanted, it was too late and I was stuck in his cabin of cruelty—barefoot and forced to scrape the flesh from the pelts of his animal victims before salting and tanning their hides.
I have to keep my cool. No trembling. No panicking. But my eyes water, and my insides are a mess as I wonder how Beck is doing. He must be hungry. Does Nate know how to warm up formula and test it on his wrist before feeding him? Can Nate change his diaper? How is Nate faring with Beck?
The miles roll by, and all I can do is stare out the window—too wired to rest. My breasts are engorged and painful, and they leak when I think about Beck.
I need to get away, even if I have to walk through a blizzard.
Hunter can’t possibly watch me all the time. First chance I get, I’m bolting. No more shy, scaredy-cat sitting here. I’m a mother now, and I’d do anything, even kill if it means protecting my baby.
We stop for gas at a small, out of the way place.
“I have to go to the bathroom.” I push the door halfway open, but Hunter yanks me back.
Click. He snaps a handcuff to my wrist and attaches the other end to the steering wheel.
“Hey, I have to pee,” I shout.
He backhands my face. “You’ll pee on the side of the road. You make any sound. Any noise, and I’ll hunt down that nice man you’ve been fucking and shoot him and his brat.”
“He’s long gone by now,” I say. “Bet he wished he never picked up a hitchhiker.”
“I heard your brother has a brand-new baby.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t care about any of them. I’ve never met the baby and don’t care to.”
“Heard your grandmother’s dying.” He chuckles in a dry and raspy way. “Might as well put her out of her misery.”
“Don’t you dare.” My fists clench, and I jerk at the handcuffs.
He slips a handgun from his leg holster and points it at my temple. “You’re mine and don’t you forget it.”
TEN
