LOVE in a Small Town (Ladies of Legend Boxed Set)

by Janet Eaves

  “Prostitutes? You were just a kid! Did he make you…”

  “No, I never did it. The sex, I mean. I refused. He beat me every day for three weeks because I would fight and none of his customers were willing to rape me. Of course I was looking pretty bad by then. My face was swollen black and blue, purple and green. New bruises over old. I couldn’t even see out of my right eye because it was swollen closed. I guess I was lucky he made me so unattractive up to that point anyway.”

  “How? How did you get out of there?”

  “Desperation. He decided to show me what he was going to do to me if I didn’t ‘stop fighting the inevitable,’ as he called it. He had a customer willing to pay 20-Large. That’s twenty thousand dollars, for me. That man didn’t care what I looked like as long as I was a virgin. He liked tearing them apart. Being their first and last, even to the point of killing them, and he had the money to get what he wanted. I overheard the other girls talking about it and was terrified. I’m pretty sure now I was supposed to know what was in store for me. My fear would have fed BD’s pleasure. He’s a sadistic son of a bitch.”

  She nearly smiled at the horror on Suzie’s face. Not from pleasure, but from relief that someone now eased her own burden by listening to the profound horror she’d survived. “When I refused again, BD had a man executed right in front of me. I don’t even know if he was being punished for something he’d done or if BD just had him picked up off the street to teach me a lesson. They peeled the skin off that poor man’s body a strip at a time… It took hours. He screamed and screamed until he passed out from the pain. They’d wake him and start it all over again. I screamed and screamed, too, until I couldn’t make another sound. BD loved it, laughed as I puked, thought it was all hilarious. Finally the man passed out and couldn’t be revived. BD had one of his men shoot that poor man in the head. Blood and brain tissue splattered on me.”

  She touched her cheek where a chunk of brain had landed. “I still sometimes feel the need to wash it away all these years later.”

  “Oh my.”

  “Do you want me to stop?”

  Suzie studied her. “No. If you survived it I can deal with hearing about it. Go on.”

  She nodded. “I was so afraid. I knew that my time had run out. The man who was willing to pay that much money for the mess I was wasn’t going to take my ‘No’ for an answer. There was no way out. BD’s men patrolled the apartment building like solders. Even if I could have gotten to a phone I knew most of the police department had eaten dinner or partied with BD over the years. Going to them, if I managed to escaped, wasn’t an option.

  “That meant I would be completely on my own assuming I actually got out. In the end it wasn’t all that hard.” She walked over to the small red handled device on the wall. “I pulled the fire alarm. Pretty much like this one here. Since the apartment building was seven stories high, and people came out running from all directions, I was able to get lost in all the confusion.

  “It was almost too easy. That scared me because nothing had been easy for weeks. I thought I was being set up but I just kept running until I couldn’t run anymore. When I turned around no one was following me. It took me a week of living on the streets to seek help. I went to a phone booth and called the FBI and told them I had information they would want if they would protect me.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah.” Lilly exhaled. There was certainly more to the story but all that was trivial compared to what she had revealed. “So here I am in Legend, Tennessee. Starting over.”

  Suzie pulled her into her arms again. This time she didn’t let go. “I’m so sorry, Lil. Oh my gosh, honey, I am so sorry.”

  ****

  Jim studied the broken latch on his gate then turned to the Sheriff. “Looks like someone is intent on breaking into my property.”

  Marcus McClain nodded. “Yep. This is the second time in three weeks. You suddenly making enemies, Hood?”

  “Larkstone? They’re pretty pissed we’re going to State tomorrow and not them.”

  The sheriff shrugged. “Don’t know. They’ll just deny any involvement like they always do. Swearing they had nothing to do with that crap on the field. Entire team’s willing to take a lie detector test according to their coach. I believe he believes none of his players had anything to do with it.”

  He shot Marcus a frown. “Bull.”

  “What I figure, too.” He squatted and aimed his flashlight on the lock panel. “Just don’t touch anything. Got Stevie coming over with the finger print case.”

  Jim surveyed Lake Road. “Could have been anyone.” He glanced back through the gates at the house. “Anybody that knows me knows I don’t keep anything of value here. Except the electronics and those would be too heavy to move without being noticed.”

  “Could be a prank. Maybe one of our own.”

  Jim turned his focus on the sheriff. “Would hate to think so.”

  “Yep. Me, too.” Marcus stood as another police car pulled up lights flashing and sirens blaring. “Damn, Prickett, turn that damned thing off.” Stevie Prickett, the newest member of Legend’s police force ran back to the car and cut both lights and sirens. “Sorry, Sheriff.”

  Marcus grunted and took the finger print box from his hands. Jim watched, his mind whirling with possibilities. There was Sissy’s mother, Candy. She had thrown dart-eyes at him any time they came face to face for the past three weeks. He didn’t know why unless it was because he was dating Lilly. But he’d made it clear long before Lilly came to Legend that he just wasn’t interested.

  Then there was Suzie. She’d been mad as fire at him for virtually the same amount of time. Suzie was too classy to vandalize. She’d rip his head off with words, but she would never destroy property belonging to someone else. Not even him. That just left Larkstone. As far as he knew he didn’t have any real enemies off the playing field.

  “We’re done here, Coach. You can call your insurance company and have them handle the rest.”

  Jim nodded and watched as the Sheriff and his deputy returned to their cars. They left, one after the other to return to town. He turned back, walked through the gates then pulled them closed. He started to return to the house but heard a vehicle approaching. Intending to wave since he knew virtually every resident of Legend, he stopped with his hand in mid-motion as a dark green sedan passed by, its windows too darkened to see inside. A strange tingle tickled the back of his neck and he swatted it, hoping he hadn’t been bitten.

  With a shrug he pulled out his cell phone to call the insurance company. He needed to hurry if he was going to get to stop by Lilly’s house for a quick kiss, before meeting his team for their last practice. Tomorrow was the big game, the last hurdle before the national championship. The urgency to succeed hadn’t been diminished at all, though now it took second place in his heart. He’d be late if he had to as Lilly was now top priority. It was something his coaching staff ribbed him about constantly, but that was okay as it was all in the name of fun.

  The community was looking forward to having fun, too, and had geared up. Banners and streamers were all over town. A parade was already scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Food booths, rides for toddlers, local bands, and general partying were planned whether the Dragons came home with a state championship, or not.

  Jim smiled to himself as he entered his house. Or not wasn’t a consideration. His boys were ready.

  ****

  The kitty had only showed up the week before. It’s black and white coloring a complement to its black eyes and tiny pink nose. Only now there was red. Lots of red. And not just on the broken animal, all over the concrete porch as well.

  Lilly felt her knees give. It couldn’t be coincidence. Or a mean but childish prank. No. It was a message. A clear message from those who knew she would know exactly what it meant. They had found her. They knew where she lived. And they were coming for her once they were through terrorizing her.

  A cry of outrage ripped from her throat. How dare they do
this to her now? She wouldn’t stand for it. Not this time. She tentatively touched the door knob, and then tried to turn it. It didn’t budge. With a shaking hand she fit her key into the lock and slowly turned it until it clicked. Swallowing, she slowly opened the door and peered inside, scanned the open living room, dining room and kitchen area then closed the door at her back. She moved silently from room to room, pulling closet doors open, exhaling shakily when nobody jumped out at her.

  Lilly returned to her barely used bedroom and pulled her suitcase from the closet. She retrieved her gun and placed it inside her purse then backed away from her bed and knocked over the picture she and Jim had taken and had framed the week before.

  Sharp pain caused her to yelp. She looked down at her bleeding thumb and the shattered glass over the picture. Nausea hit the back of her throat full force when she saw the dagger drawn in red ink over Jim’s wonderful, smiling face. She dropped the photo and searched the room again. Someone had indeed been inside and they were not just threatening her. They would go after Jim, and Suzie, too, if they knew Suzie was her friend. She had to get out of town and she had to do it fast. Then maybe they would leave Jim and everyone else in town alone. She was their target. They would follow her.

  She slammed the bedroom door closed and whimpered when she realized there was no lock on the knob. She went straight to the closet and grabbed armloads of clothing, haphazardly stuffing them into her suitcases. She did the same with those items stored in the chest of drawers that came furnished with the rental house. She hadn’t had time to buy much since moving to Legend. Still, her suitcases were stuffed when she was done.

  The sound of the front door opening sent her heart into overdrive. Lilly pulled the gun from her purse and took up a position behind the open bedroom door. She licked her dry lips and forced herself to take slow steady breaths. She grasped the gun tightly then lifted it against her left collarbone. Tears threatened but she blinked them away. She couldn’t give BD’s thugs any advantage.

  The knob turned slowly before the door opened. Lilly took a deep breath and slammed her shoulder into the door, knocking the intruder back with a thump and a curse. Adrenaline had her swinging around and leveling the gun at his face. “Oh, Jim! Oh, no! I could have killed you!”

  Jim stared at her before moving to take the gun from her fingers. She released it gladly as the weight figuratively and literally was more than she could bear at the moment. He pulled her into his arms as he scanned the room. “What’s going on?”

  Lilly shook her head against his shoulder. “I have to leave.”

  “The hell you do.” He pulled her face up and forced her to look at him. “What’s going on, Lil? A dead cat on your porch! The broken picture of us on the night stand. A gun in my face. I need you to talk to me.”

  She tried to pull back but he held her firmly in place. “Please. Jim, you have to let me go. I’ve got to get out of here. Now. Before someone gets hurt.”

  “Lilly. Tell me. All of it. Are you in trouble?”

  It took only a moment to decide to come clean. There was no time for her to invent a story. So she told him. Everything she had told Suzie and some things she hadn’t. “So you see, I have to go now. They won’t hurt any of you if they are chasing me.”

  “You aren’t going anywhere but with me.”

  Lilly started to protest but was tugged along anyway to Jim’s jeep. It wasn’t as clean now as the first time she rode in it. She bit her lip and scanned the area as he backed out of her driveway. No one was about, at least no one she could see. She turned to Jim. “Please, you don’t understand how dangerous these people are.”

  Jim threw her a glance then checked his rear view mirror. “Then tell me.”

  “They will kill you. Not just kill you. They will make you live as long as possible to make you suffer while they’re killing you.” She grasped his right arm. “Please, just let me go.”

  Jim flicked her a glance as he entered the high school parking lot. “Not a chance. Just give me a minute.” He parked the jeep and leaped out, hesitated, then took the keys. Within a minute he was on the field talking to his coaching staff, and then he was back. Lilly opened her mouth but he held up his right hand while putting his cell phone to his ear with his left. “I need to make a call. Hang on.” He glanced around. “Yeah, Marcus, red light. No, man, I’m not kidding.”

  Lilly frowned. “Red light?”

  Jim shook his head at her, his brows furrowed. “Yeah, call Polly. Tell her to come in.”

  Her mouth dropped open as she stared at Jim in disbelief. “You knew? All this time you knew?”

  Jim shook his head again before giving his attention to his call. “Right. One hour. The Old Meeting House.” Jim clicked his phone closed, slipping it into his pants pocket. “Before you get your panties all tangled up hear me out.”

  She crossed her arms defensively and leaned away. “Start talking, Hood. How do you know Polly? How did you know about my situation?”

  He searched her face, his own filled with compassion and worry. “I didn’t know until I saw the cat on your porch then got a gun in my face.” His cell phone vibrated. Studying Lilly, he slid it from his pocket and flipped it open. “Damn! She called. I missed it. Polly Chapman is a cousin. She usually only calls me for one reason and I’d bet my life that reason, this time, is you. Give me a second.” He pressed a couple of numbers on his phone and put it to his ear, listened, then snapped it closed.

  “She left a message that she needs us on full alert. That we’d know who was involved if it was necessary. I expect she’s waiting to hear from you before she contacts us with details but she knows something is up or I wouldn’t have heard from her yet.”

  “Who is us? What are you talking about?”

  “Us is a group of twelve men who pledged to serve and protect this town and all its inhabitants. Polly basically recruited us and the town too, I guess, as a safe place for those who had no other. Well, she actually recruited my father and eleven others years ago. I took his place after his death, just as other sons have taken their fathers’ places, and so on.

  “We, and those who have needed us, are the only ones who know of our existence. Since I’ve been involved you’re the third person Polly has sent our way. At least the third I know of. There may be some who she sent that we don’t even know about. We only know when she calls for backup. Meaning those people are in eminent danger.”

  Lilly felt dazed. “That’s what she meant. Polly I mean. She told me once I was here I’d be free to live. I’d never have to live in the shadows again. I didn’t really know if what she told me was possible but I knew I wanted to believe her.”

  “You don’t have to run anymore, Lilly. We’ll protect you. I’ll protect you.” He pulled her into his arms. “With everything I have.”

  She didn’t know she was crying until the tears hit her arm. “I can’t let you be in danger. I just can’t.”

  Jim placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Why is that?”

  Lilly punched him, so relieved and yet so scared. “You know why.”

  That slow slide of a smile made his teeth flash white. “Say it.”

  “I love you. You know I do.” The words, the security of his arms, the knowledge that an entire community would stand with her lifted a weight she had carried for too many years. “I love you so much I’m more afraid than I have ever been.”

  Jim kissed the top of her head. “You don’t have to be afraid. I won’t let anything, anything, happen to you.”

  Chapter Eleven

  It was an incredible relief to get the day away from real life to go play, Lilly decided, as she followed the bus loaded with her lover and his team. After Jim met with the other eleven men the previous night he took her home with him and had police posted at his gates.

  She’d happily endured a night of intense passion, though she’d been a little perturbed at first when he’d hesitated to divulge information about the attendees or the agenda. She understood the
necessity of their hidden identities but this involved her personally and she’d wanted to know their plan of action. Jim had other ideas of how they should spend their night. She hadn’t stayed irritated long as he’d mastered Distraction 101 and she’d been a willing student. Then this morning had been such a rush to get ready, help prepare the caravan consisting of virtually the entire town, and get on the road on time, she hadn’t been able to pump him further.

  Jim had insisted she follow the team bus which made his SUV second in the convoy of Legendarians. They’d been on the road for close to three hours. She smiled over at Suzie. “I’m so excited. I can’t believe we’re only one game away from a national championship. Football is so exciting!” Nashville’s skyline rose in the distance. “Look! We’re almost there!”

  Suzie glanced up from the map in her lap and put the two-way radio to her mouth. “The next exit is ours, guys.” She lowered the radio and smiled at Lilly. “I know. It’s going to happen this year. I just feel it! That son of gun is finally going to get his championship.” Tears filled her eyes. “I’m so happy for him.”

  Lilly took a deep breath then eased off the gas as she spotted the exit ramp. Something suddenly loomed in her peripheral vision. She felt as much as saw the dark object close to her door. She glanced over as the vehicle hit her hard, knocking the steering wheel from her grip. She grasped it quickly as Suzie screamed seconds before another car hit the passenger side, then pushed them to the left.

  The team bus had already committed to the turn. She fought to control the large vehicle but couldn’t make the exit as time after time she was rammed from one or both sides. Suzie was shouting into the two-way, telling all those listening they were in danger. Lilly could do nothing more than hang on and keep moving, afraid if she stopped it would finally be over.

  She clamped her jaw tight and pressed on the gas, forcing her pursuers to follow. They weren’t going to do this. Not today. “Hold on!” she shouted to Suzie, before slamming on her brakes. The two cars flew past her while simultaneously cutting towards each other. They met in a collision fender meeting fender. She swerved to avoid them then hit the gas again. “Whoah!” she hooted, triumphant.