“You can’t do that,” she shot back in a near panic. “He can’t know I’ve been talking to you.”
“Really? Why’s that?” He sounded irritated. “You and I have been friends since we were little. Does he have a problem with all of your friends, or is it just me?”
“I guess it’s just you, really,” she shrugged. “I think he feels threatened by you.” He knows if I believed for a second that you wanted me, I’d be in your arms in a heartbeat and there would be no making me leave.
“Why are you doing this?” he growled, smacking the steering wheel with his fist. “Why do you put up with him controlling you like this?”
“I love him, and I don’t want to fight with him,” she said, shaking to the core. She knew almost before the words were out of his mouth, he wasn’t going to buy it.
“I’m still not convinced,” he said sparing her a glance. “The only part I believe, is that you don’t want to fight with him. You sound terrified to me.”
“Look, Zane,” she mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself tightly, trying to stave off the cold feeling in her bones. She hadn’t been able to feel warm in months. Despite the time of year. “You have to drop it. I have to stay with him.”
“You have to?” he asked with a raised eyebrow that she only saw for a split second before he turned back to look out the windshield.
“He’ll kill me,” she replied, barely above a whisper.
“He threatened you,” he growled. It was a statement, not a question.
“Yes,” she said, knowing she had already said too much. He’d never believe her if she tried to deny it. “He told me, if I tried to leave him again, he’d hunt me down and kill me.”
He glanced at her again, a scowl on his handsome face, his blue eyes snapping fire. “He’s going to kill you one of these days, if you don’t get away from him.”
“I can’t, Zane.” She just felt defeated and trapped. She didn’t know how to explain that to him. She didn’t know if she ever would know how.
“You have to, Amanda. I’m not going to let this go. I can’t just stand by and let him do this to you.”
“Zane, I know the law. You can’t arrest him, if I don’t press charges. You have to stay away.”
“Why won’t you press charges?” he asked, just sounding confused.
“He’ll kill me before the law manages to put him away,” she mumbled, dropping her eyes to her lap.
“I’m not going to let this drop,” he grumbled, gripping the steering wheel tight enough to turn his knuckles white.
“You have to. You have to stay away from him.”
“I may have to stay away as a police officer, but not as a friend.”
“Zane, please, don’t get involved. He could try to hurt you. I couldn’t live with that.”
“Will you please, tell me why you went back to Ruby Falls to start with?” he asked in confusion. “We had you over here, staying with your parents. Your father’s our mayor. You were safe there. If you called from their house, the police would be out there so fast, it would make his head spin.”
“It had been long enough, I figured he had moved on to someone else,” she mumbled, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “I was tired and didn’t want to drive all the way back to Sapphire Springs. I didn’t see how staying in Ruby Falls for the night would hurt. But apparently, he had been checking every night to see if I had come home. He told me if I tried to leave again, he’d kill me.”
He sighed, giving a curt nod of his head. “So, you weren’t trying to go back to him.”
“No, I had no intentions of dating anyone for a while.” She chuckled to herself. “Well, that is, unless the one man I really want decided to ask me out. Boy, wouldn’t that be a laugh?”
“Who are you in love with?” he asked, fighting the urge to snarl. He had to work hard not to let his jealousy show.
“I don’t think I’m ready to tell you that.” She looked over at him, and nearly pleaded. “Zane, please stay away from him. I don’t want you to get hurt over this mess.”
“Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.” He turned and looked at her. “If you don’t get away from him, I’m coming after you and bringing you back myself. You’ve got two weeks to decide. Then I’ll take matters into my own hands.”
Amanda just sat in silence knowing she had nothing she could say back to him to make him listen.
They rode all the way back to the station, neither one of them breaking the silence. He let her out and watched her turn and walk toward her car. Before she could open the door, he called after her, “Remember, two weeks.”
Saturday, July 12
Austin stumbled into the apartment, nearly falling when he went to sit down on the couch. It was now seven o’clock in the morning. He had been at the bar till last call, then spent the rest of the night with Gerald, one of his friends. The had been up the rest of the night, drinking shots.
He lay sprawled for several seconds before finally pulling himself to a sitting position. “Amanda,” he shouted, his anger coming to a boil. He had been stewing for the last several hours. And the more he stewed, the more he drank. “Where’re you at, you little whore?”
She gasped, and he turned to find her standing behind him. He wagged his finger, giving her a vicious look. “You’re in trouble, you little whore.”
“Why are you calling me that?” she whispered, starting to shake. She couldn’t think for the life of her what had obviously set him off this time.
“Gerald told me a little secret, and it concerns you.”
She frowned, wondering if the man had finally drunk so much, he had given himself brain damage. “What could Gerald have possibly told you about me? I haven’t seen him in several weeks.”
“You might not have saw him, but he saw you,” he grumbled before belching and falling back on the couch.
She shook her head, still thinking the man had finally lost his mind. “When was he supposed to have seen me?”
“Supposed to have seen you?” he sneered, jumping to his feet. “Are you accusing him of lying?”
“I’m not accusing anyone, of anything,” she whimpered, taking a step back. “I just don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really?” he sneered again, taking a step closer, eating up the space she had just put between them.
“Austin, would you just tell me what you’re talking about, please?” she said, wishing she had a clear shot to the door, but knowing he’d be on her for sure if she tried to run.
“Okay,” he huffed, pulling himself up straighter, making sure to hitch up his jeans when he did. “I’ll play along with your little game,” he smirked, only having the patience because he knew he was going to soon make her pay for messing around on him. “Gerald saw you riding around with Zane in his patrol car Monday morning. What were you two up to? Had you been on a rendezvous?”
“Rendezvous?” she mumbled, feeling so astonished that he even knew how to use the word, that she temporarily forgot her fear. Sometimes she had to remind herself the man really wasn’t stupid, just a drunk.
“You know what a rendezvous is, don’t you?” he sneered, wanting to slap her, but wanting to draw the pleasure of putting her in her place out. He really was into savoring the moment.
“Yes, I know what a rendezvous is, and no we weren’t having a rendezvous. He just wanted to talk to me about something,” she said, starting to shake.
“You knew you were supposed to stay away from him,” he snarled, taking another step closer, running her into the wall behind her. “You know I’m going to have to punish you for that, don’t you?”
“Punish?” she whispered, looking at him like he had lost his mind.
“Yeah,” he laughed, backing hand her across the face. “Punish. You should have known better than to cheat on me.”
“I’m not cheating on you,” she whimpered, holding her hand to her check where he had hit her.
“Don’t lie to me, whore,�
� he demanded, nearly screaming in her face.
When he went to draw his arm back like he intended to hit her again, she picked up the lamp on the table beside her and slammed it into the side of his head, just as hard as she could. If it hadn’t been for how drunk he was, she would have never been able to do it. He was faster than one would think, just looking at him.
“I’m not lying to you, you jerk,” she spat at him where he lay sprawled out at her feet. “I can’t cheat on you. You and I aren’t together.”
Married in Vegas (The Townsends Book 3) Page 26
