Sandra called her to find out if the talk was true. Shanna recalled Zane telling her about dog tails and wagging tongues of gossip. Boy was he right. And it made her sick.
Sandra was full of “he's no good” and “leave him to himself and the buckle bunnies”. Sandra didn’t understand. How could she? Shanna loved him so much, someone saying anything against him ticked her off something fierce. Was that what the gossipmongers were saying? That it was Zane who was the problem? However, it solidified her thoughts in a different direction. She was the problem. She had the proof because Zane was perfect and she still broke him. She would never forget the sadness in his eyes when he said he could not deal with her until the morning. He looked so defeated. She had done that to him.
She even talked to Joey, who directed, “You get your sassy butt over here and talk to Zane. You have made him miserable and I can’t fix it. You are the only person who holds the key. God, can’t you see he loves you? He loves you so much that he sat outside your house the whole damn day today because he hoped you would come home. Did you leave because he spanked you? Or did you have a fight?”
Shanna had to tell her that Zane only told her consequences would have to wait until the next day. He didn’t spank her. She wondered if he cared enough because of her constant trouble. Joey tried to set things up for Zane and Shanna to meet and settle matters, but Shanna refused.
She would not answer the door Sunday night when she snuck in and Zane was too much of a gentleman to just barge in even though he rightfully had a key.
Monday she dragged herself to the clinic. She refused his calls that Janet religiously tried to pass through to her. Even Janet had a say in the ordeal. Of course, she sided with Zane. Well, she should, he didn’t do anything wrong. It was as she had suspected. The one who couldn’t do relationships was her.
Tuesday, she snuck into the clinic and for the first time ever, locked her car and her outside office door. She slouched through her Tuesday trying not to cry. She wondered what the limit on tears was as she had spilled more in the last five days than she ever did when Brett left her. Probably because you left, he just locked the door behind you, she told herself.
Wednesday and Thursday were more of the same misery. Eating had become optional the minute she left Zane sleeping in her, their bed. Thursday afternoon brought dry heaves and the moment the last patient left, she turned it over to Janet and left. She needed Zane so badly she cried and gagged all night. But she did not call him. He was going to an auction in the wee hours of the morning with Joey. As soon as he got back, Shanna resolved to call him. Beg him to come home. Beg him to spank her. Love her. Hell, he could tie her to a leash. She did not care what he needed to do to her if it meant she could sleep with him, be a part of him. Be his again.
It was Friday morning and Shanna was going to the main hospital. She knew Zane’s auction was over an hour away and he would be gone until late that evening. She now knew she wasn’t the problem in her relationships, but her insecurities were. It was still easier to say it was a broken her but she had spent the last week thinking and when her fog had cleared, so did the misconceptions about this mess. It wasn’t the men, it wasn’t her as a person, but her doubts about herself and her worthiness was the real culprit. No matter what Zane said, she knew she had not heard him. He had kissed it, lectured it, said it, and spanked it, but she hadn’t trusted him. Not really. Her own insecurities stopped her from letting go and giving over to him. She had to fix it. She had to fix the problem.
For the first time in a week, she didn’t feel like crying. She didn’t feel like packing up and giving up. She actually felt happy. Tired, run down, but she felt resolved. She was going to fix this problem.
Shanna had gotten back to the clinic just at noon and knew she would be alone until one because she had told Janet not to come in until then. Shanna dejectedly made her way to her office and sat to do some paperwork until Janet arrived.
Sometime later, she heard feet walk heavily between shuffles and looked up to tell whoever it was to come back at one when she found herself staring into the distraught face of a young man. He was noticeably agitated and in hunting clothes. He said they were hog hunting, wild boar, and he shot someone. She looked at him again and wondered how he could look like he had just been on a little stroll, no sweat, no dirt, nothing, if he shot someone. When he got close enough, she smiled cautiously. He looked odd. Purple. Fear? He could be afraid because he had shot someone, that would definitely put fear in a person, but something wasn’t quite right though.
“What? Who are you? What’s your name?”
“Kenny, ma’am.”
“Kenny what?”
There was hesitation in his manner and his eyes. “Larkin.”
“And you shot someone, Kenny Larkin? Who was hunting with you? Who gave you a permit for heaven’s sake? You look sixteen.”
“I am. I can get a permit. Ms. Parker, you have to come and help him. Please, I don’t know who he is or how bad he is.”
“All right, where did you shoot him? Where are we going? Let me drive my car.”
“No. I mean, this is faster and there are not many places to put your little car. It needs a truck to get in as far as we can. It’s about five miles south of here. I shot him in the leg. There's a lot of blood.”
“And you left him there? We need to call the sheriff.”
The young man seemed to jump out of his skin. “No. I already told him. He is coming in from down the road in the other direction. He’ll meet us there.”
He was pulling her and Shanna said she would get the kit and meet him outside. She had learned her lesson even if Zane never reinforced it last Friday. She called him and left a message. She started out the door when she saw the vehicle and texted Zane the license plate number and the make, model, color. Then she typed, “Purple. Come.” She was afraid. Might be nothing, but if it was something, then she needed someone else to know. Then Kenny was coming back in to grab her and she followed him out to the truck.
She went with him even though he didn’t have the standard hunting orange because it wasn’t as normal when hunting wild pig. She asked him questions about the man and could not get much in the way of straight answers. When asked if he left anyone with the man, he said yes, his hunting buddy. When she asked his name, the teen stammered out some name she had never heard of and then they were there. Something was just not right about all of this but if there was a man shot, it was her duty to make sure he got as much chance to survive as possible.
“Where is he?”
“You got to trek out a bit, Ms. Parker.”
Shanna reached into her pocket before getting out to follow the boy. Something is not right. She thought of Zane and even though she knew he was angry with her, she needed him. Anger she could deal with, not being with him, she could not. She sent a 911 out on her phone. She lowered the volume as low as it would go so she could not hear them, but they could hear her. Please work.
“Where are we going, we drove five miles south of the clinic and the sheriff isn’t here yet. How are we going to move the wounded man without the sheriff?”
“Don’t you worry about it. Everything will work out right.”
As Shanna got out of the truck she had reached back for her bag when she heard a familiar voice. Jamie. Shanna didn’t know how long her battery would work, but she had given out the most valuable information, a general location of where she was, why she was there and with whom.
She whispered into the phone quickly, “Tell Zane, Jamie, purple.”
She was afraid. The rest she could not worry about anyway. She laid the phone, still on, in her bag not really knowing if it helped but believing it would. She had to believe it because she had nothing else to hold onto.
“Okay, I need my money. I did my part,” demanded the teen. Jamie gave him some bills and the teen got back into his truck and drove off.
“Let’s get you to the wounded man.”
“I don’t understand. Why di
d the teen come? And why did he leave?”
“He had the transportation, I didn’t. I am sure your man would have warned you off of me and this man out in the field would not have been helped.”
“But you had to pay the kid?” persisted Shanna with rising fear.
He ignored her last question. “Let's go. We don’t need it now, ‘cause you are here.” Shanna noticed another car there but didn’t need more complications now.
Jamie was getting jumpy and looking around which bothered Shanna, as she tried to slow down behind him. It didn’t take too long before he noticed and went back to retrieve her, dragging Shanna forward with him. Her mind began taking in the environment more as identifying landscapes for her trek back would be important.
“Jamie, how far do we have to go? We have been walking a little while now. Someone’s pond is up ahead. I wonder why you are so purple today. Are you worried? Scared?”
“Girlie, that’s a tank. Mother Nature makes ponds. Tanks are manmade. Old man Chapman worked hard on getting this tank just right. And I don’t know what you are talking about, I am not afraid of anything. Purple? You are a strange woman.”
He sounded disgusted with her and she bit her tongue on her natural response about the manufactured ponds in the world. Now was not the time to argue or educate an ignorant man, she told herself.
“I don’t want to insult Mr. Chapman’s tank. Is this where we are stopping? Is this where the man is?”
Just then, three men came out from the bushes surrounding a portion of the tank. Shanna stopped cold. Her chest seemed to seize. One seemed grimy and was shorter than the other two. The second one was about two inches taller than the first but was sickly thin. Finally, one was more muscular and seemed to be the ringleader but something didn’t seem right with him either. A fear she had never experienced before took hold of her being and she almost froze in it, but her training was stronger than the initial fear. She was able to bring herself back into the moment and corral her thoughts into problem-solving mode. Shanna was perspiring and shivering with cold creating a physical confusion similar to her mental chaos.
“Well,” stated Jamie with a snicker, “You might say that, girlie.” To the three men, he called out, “Now, I made good on that Memorial Day debt so we’re even now, right?”
“Yeah, we’re even. You brought us a perfect morsel to snack on today. That Davis chick was right, she is perfect for us.” Shanna was too shocked to see who was speaking.
“Snack? I am going to have a full meal, man.” The wiry one said as he rubbed his twisted tentacle-like fingers together.
“Hey, if we are good and careful, then we can sell her again, you know, to that man out of Dallas. He is always looking for another piece of ass.” The grimy one said as though he had won the lotto and could double the winnings.
“I am so glad that the jock at Boots did not get to her because we would not have had this little honey to feast on. So, so glad.”
The more muscular of the men spoke with obvious lust, a dirty disgusting lust. Shanna felt like vomiting but willed herself to push back the bile because she could not afford to be any more vulnerable. She had to keep herself more alert.
Shanna was overwhelmed with the news that Sandra had practically sold her to these thugs. Practically? She did. She wondered if Sandra had sicced that guy in the hill country on her as well. It sure seemed like AJ was one of her henchmen. No wonder she was so interested in everything that Shanna and Zane did. She had to be some kind of crazy. Zane had been so right.
No time to think about that now but she knew she should have listened to Zane. Zane. What she wouldn’t do to have him with her right now, using his deep rumbling voice to chew her out, slap her butt and tell her to listen and pay attention. Stop putting his woman in danger. His woman. That was who she was. She needed to begin assessing her options for getting out of this mess. She didn’t see any real way she was going to make it alone. Damn, Zane was going to be some kind of pissed at her. God, please let me feel Zane’s wrath because that would mean I am safe.
She had begun to back up slowly in hopes that she could get some distance closer to the road. Even though it seemed like she was in the middle of nowhere she could get as close as possible to the main road before they caught her. She knew the direction she had come from but did she know enough to get back there if she had the chance. And then what? Nope. She could not go there in her mind yet. She had to believe that Zane was on his way.
She looked at one of the men, the more fit of the three and knew she could not outrun him. At least he was the furthest away, so small favors were always appreciated. The two others were emaciated. They looked as though protein and muscle mass was something they never experienced. If it was not a matter of her life, she would have tried to work on helping them get the nutrition they needed. She yanked her wandering mind back to the conversation going on in front of her. Jamie was talking about not doing anything until he was out of the pasture. Someone was talking about some kind of new deal. The conversation became heated.
The four men were intent on getting their opinions heard, forgetting that the subject of their discussion was being ignored. Shanna had very slowly backed away a fair distance but when the shorter one looked up and noticed how far she was from them, she knew she had no other choice but to drop her bag and run. She thanked God for her comfortable sneakers as she did just that, screaming when she heard the chase begin. She told herself that she needed to run in the direction she came. She frantically began looking for the landmarks that she identified earlier but her fear was clouding her memory. Breath came easy at first but then it began to come harder. The harder her breath came the higher her panic rose.
Shanna had stopped screaming because she quickly surmised that it took energy away from her focus and divided her concentration and the only thing she needed to concentrate on was running. Just run. She had no idea how long she had trekked through the woods and pastureland with Jamie and she needed to keep her wits about her. Run. Breathe. Run. It was then that she tripped. She could feel the agonizing stretch of her ligaments and the pulling of muscles. Twisting her muscles caused a cramp. She screamed. The pain was excruciating. Then the yelling started from some direction, actually it seemed like all directions. The pain in her leg caused her to lose focus in her surroundings, blinding all other thoughts.
Her heart was pounding and her leg was spasming, causing her stomach to lurch. Then came the gunshot just as she tried to stand without success. Where was it coming from? Were they trying to kill her? Move! You have to move to those trees. You can hide there. Her cramp was subsiding a bit and she knew she needed to try to walk it off. How close were they? She could hear the pounding on the ground and feel the tremble. She could feel the heavy thudding of her heart and the effort to drag in her breath. She had a random thought that it sounded more like an army of men rather than four men.
Getting up, she tried to stretch out the cramp by running, but it slowed her down and was painful. She began to gulp air and felt her sided twinge. Her panic started to slide and her mantra to control her runaway emotions switched to, run to Zane, run to Zane. She needed to believe that he was just on the other side of this long field. He was waiting for her just past that dividing row of trees. Run to Zane, run to Zane.
It was hot and her head was pounding. No food and not more than a cup of coffee, Shanna was literally running on empty. The sweat was rolling down everywhere. She felt it roll down her face and into her ears, down her neck and between her breasts. Instead of cooling her, it made her more miserable. She feared that she would not be able to keep up the pace for much longer. And the cramp was just at the flare-up stage. One wrong move and she would go down again. They were gaining on her and she was about to run into that row of trees. God, would this never end?
Then it happened. Just before she could get into the tree line, she heard another gunshot that startled her causing her to get a hard stitch in her side and her leg cramped intensely. She sc
reamed again. She screamed long and hard because she knew she was not getting away from those men now. Her desperation and agony flowed out of her. She was unable to get up with her side hurting, stomach beginning to cramp and her leg seized. She screamed because she could hear the sound of approaching feet. They thundered as the buffalo had long ago on this land.
They were upon her and she grunted as she lay down on the ground willing her brain to dissociate from her body so she could have a moment’s peace. She closed her eyes and opened her mind’s eye. She looked for that mountain top or beach, but her eye saw the house. It saw her and Zane’s home. The one he was building. For her. For them.
Someone was touching her. Running their hands over her body. Speaking to her. She began to struggle, began to fight. Someone was picking her up, moving her. They were talking, but she didn’t want to hear them. She didn’t wish to listen. She wanted to stay at the ranch. She wanted to watch them build her house. The one she would never live in. She pushed back to the spot on the ranch where she was safe and happy. She wanted to stay with Zane. Nevertheless, the house was dissolving into the mist. Zane was fading away. The sounds around her were rushing back in. She couldn’t stop them. They were so loud. She fought the sound. She fought the reality.
“Shanna. Baby, it’s Zane. Honey, I have to see your eyes.”
Chapter Fourteen
Zane had had a horrible weekend and this was the week from hell. Now he was at an auction he could not pay attention to long enough to make a real bid. All he could think about was her. He wanted to grab that woman, his woman and love her, make love to her. Well, and spank her little butt cherry red. How was he supposed to do any of that when all he wanted was her and that was obviously not what she wanted? This week, anyway.
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