Hearts Are Wild

by Patrice Michelle

  “You don’t remember anything else?” he’d asked her in the hospital, an urgent look on his face. “She’ll stay with me,” he’d insisted… “I’m taking a personal interest in your well-being.”

  Was his initial worry for her insincere? Had he really just been trying to protect himself initially, to cover his tracks once he realized his plan had backfired?

  “…I was hoping to avoid telling you this…to keep you from worrying, but the escaped prisoner has an alibi. It seems he was busy breaking and entering in another house while you were attacked. So that means whoever attacked you is still out there… I don’t want you out of my sight any longer than necessary. Your memory could come back at any time.”

  Did he say those things to evoke fear in her? To keep her with him so he’d be the first one to know if and when her memory came back? She opened her eyes, trying to rationalize it out. But he’d seemed upset to think Colt was being blamed.

  “Maybe it wasn’t you they were after.” He’d said to her in the hospital.

  Yet his declaration of love for her had appeared so sincere during the storm. Could it be he regretted what he had done? Had he unintentionally fallen in love with her throughout this whole mess?

  Damn, I’m so confused. Her body shook all over as she took gulps of air and silently prayed, Please don’t let me hyperventilate. I can’t pass out now.

  Josh’s phone rang, the sudden sound wringing a gasp of surprise out of her. She quickly stood up straight and almost passed out as her vision blurred. Blinking to regain her equilibrium, she shoved the cell phone in her back pocket and walked over to pick up Josh’s cordless phone, pushing the “talk” button.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s me,” came Nan’s familiar voice. “Well, I found a note but the note I found looks like a phone number. This must’ve been the phone number that police officer give you yesterday. Her name was Renee O’Hara, right?”

  “Yes, that was her name.” Sabrina frowned in confusion. “Hmmm, that’s very strange because I know I picked up her note after I dropped it…”

  She trailed off as realization dawned as to what might have happened. Sabrina ran over to Josh’s bedroom and rummaged in her suitcase for her dirty clothes from the day before.

  “You there?” Nan asked, her voice sounding worried.

  When Sabrina pulled out the note she’d stuck in her jeans’ pocket yesterday she slowly opened up the crisp paper and then called out in a shocked voice, “Ohmigod, I had the note from the person who attacked me in my pocket all along. That must’ve been the note I picked up from underneath the bushes instead of the one from Officer O’Hara.”

  “What did the note say?” Nan asked, sounding excited.

  Sabrina’s voice trembled and she responded with a sob, “Oh, Nan…the note said Elise, meet me in the stables. Josh. I went to the stables to let him know Elise wasn’t home. Josh must’ve been the one who attacked me.”

  “Lord, child! Josh? I can’t believe it! Are you saying that he attacked you thinking you were Elise?” she asked, sounding incredulous.

  “I know it sounds crazy, Nan. I can’t remember being attacked. All I can remember is reading the note and heading for the stables and now I have proof as to the only other person who was in the stables that night right here in my hand,” she finished with conviction as she tucked the note in her pocket.

  Sniffing back the tears that threatened to fall, she straightened her spine, trying to put on a strong front. “I need to call Officer O’Hara right away. Can you please read her number to me?”

  “Where’s Josh now?” Nan asked.

  “He’s gone to pick up his truck that was towed yesterday while he fought a fire in town.” With her memory partially returned, her fear spiked at the thought of Josh returning home. She wouldn’t be able to pretend nothing was wrong. “I need to get out of here,” she said, her voice frantic.

  “Colt will be home any minute. I’m going to send him to get you, Sabrina,” came the older woman’s worried response. “After I give you Officer O’Hara’s phone number, hang up and immediately call the police.”

  She’d just disconnected the call when someone knocked at the front door. Relief flooded through her. Josh had his keys so there was no way it was him. Setting the cordless phone down on the desk, she walked to the front door and peered around the side windowpane.

  The sight of a black pickup truck in the yard and Colt’s neighbor Jackson Riley standing at the door made her draw her brows together in surprise. She didn’t get the impression from Josh that Jackson was the kind of person he’d expect a visit from, but then who the hell knows that anything that Josh told her was the full truth. Jackson might be able to give her a lift back to the Lonestar.

  Opening the door, she said, “Hello Mr. Riley. I’m sorry, but Josh isn’t home at the moment.”

  “It’s about damn time you called the Tanner house. I’ve been waiting to find out where you were,” came a very familiar deadly sounding response.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sabrina sucked in her breath at the look of determination on Jackson Riley’s face. She glanced at the rope gripped in his hands, shock and disbelief rolling through her as her full memory of the night she was attacked came flooding back.

  The tone of his words…the exact same inflection she’d heard that night. He’d sounded full of bitterness, lethal and deadly when he’d said, “Colt can’t have what belongs to me,” right before he knocked her out cold. Her heart jerked in her chest and her gaze flew back to his dark, narrowed one. Self-preservation caused her to react on instinct.

  She tried to slam the door shut, but before she could shut it all the way, he jammed his booted foot between the door and the frame. Gritting her teeth, she put all her weight behind the door, shouldering it as she frantically tried to decide what her next course of action would be.

  “I want that note. Where is it?” Jackson said through a howl of pain as the door crushed his foot. A second later she felt the door give behind his own shouldering efforts, the door jerking behind his weight. When she felt the door jump a second time, she knew she couldn’t hold him off for long. Sabrina waited a brief second, then let the door go completely as she turned and ran as if the very hounds of hell were on her heels.

  While she ran, she couldn’t help but quickly glance back at her efforts. As she’d hoped, she hit the timing just right. Jackson must’ve been in the process of ramming the door with his shoulder again when she let it go. He slid across the wood floor while the door slammed open, splintering on its hinges and banging into the wall behind it.

  “Take the note,” she shrieked as she struggled to pull it out of her pocket and then threw it on the floor, hoping the prize he was after would buy her precious seconds of time. She let out a scream worthy of a banshee at the sight of Jackson’s ferocity as he barreled across the room. The swiftness with which he recovered from his fall and was now heading across the hardwood floor, didn’t bode well for her.

  As he snatched up the note and then continued to come after her, a maniacal look still on his face, she picked up her speed. Dashing through the house, she clawed at a kitchen chair, then tugged on a standing lamp, knocking each piece over to try and slow him down as she made her way to the far side of the house.

  The back door.

  She had to get to the back door. Just a few more feet, she thought frantically as she heard his footfalls not far behind her, his heavy breathing as he hissed, “Get back here, you little whore. No one is going to get in the way of what I’ve worked my whole life for.”

  The man was clearly insane! When she made it to the door, her fingers fumbled with the latch. Relief flooded through her as she finally unlocked it. Pulling the door open, she ran across the deck and down the few stairs to the grass.

  A rumbling thud sounded behind her as she started for the woods, spurring her to push herself harder. She’d only taken a couple of steps when he shoved her between the shoulder blades and she lost her b
alance.

  Sabrina grunted as she hit the ground hard, the action bruising her rib cage. She screamed as she felt his hand pulling on the waist of her jeans and she quickly rolled onto her back, kicking at him with all she was worth.

  Jackson bellowed in anger when she connected with his stomach, knocking him off of her. A sob of relief escaped her as she got up as quickly as she could and took off toward the front of the house. With the head start she’d gained, she hoped the house would hide where she entered the woods. She could hide in there until Josh came home.

  Josh! Oh no! If something happened to her, everyone would think it was him. Guilt over thinking him capable of harming her, along with worry that people would believe he was her assailant, gave her a burst of speed. Just ten more feet, she thought as she started to pass Jackson’s truck.

  The sound of Jackson yelling her name when he came around the house had her glancing back for a second. She’d just turned to face her destination again when she saw someone step out from behind the truck as she rounded the vehicle. She was going too fast to stop as the woman reached out and used her arm to clothesline her.

  Sabrina slammed down to the ground, the breath knocked out of her. As she wheezed to catch her breath, fighting to stay conscious, the voluptuous woman with long blonde hair leaned over her and tsked with a smirk, “Ah, did ya really think you could get away?”

  When starbursts flashed before her eyes, her last thoughts were of Josh and her regret over the fact she’d never told him she loved him. In agonizing slow motion, her vision faded until even the tiny pinpricks of light left behind scattered into nothingness.

  * * * * *

  Just as Dirk had promised, Josh arrived home in record time. He frowned at the set of tire tracks that crushed the taller grass and seemed to lead right up to his front door!

  Josh’s heart jerked in his chest at the sight of his front door standing wide open. He dashed out of his truck, his pulse thundering in his ears as he took a flying leap over the four steps to the porch.

  “Sabrina!” he yelled as he stepped into his house and faced his worst nightmare.

  Taking in the broken door and the shambles his house was in, he hoped and prayed he wouldn’t find Sabrina had been hurt or, God forbid, worse. Once he’d searched every inch of his home and couldn’t find her, he stood in the living room, his entire body tense in fear for her safety.

  His hands shook as he pushed them through his hair, trying to calm himself into thinking rationally. God, how the fuck was he going to find her and who the hell was after Sabrina in the first place?

  His phone rang, jerking him out of his tumultuous thoughts. Josh picked it up, snarling, “What!

  When there was a pause on the line, all he could think about was the unknown attacker torturing him with a silent call. “If this is you, you fucking sonofabitch, you’d better not hurt a hair on her head.”

  “Whoa!” Colt said, his voice calm. “What’s going on, Josh?”

  At the sound of Colt’s voice, Josh shook his head to clear out the enraged thoughts rambling through it.

  He took a steadying breath and ran his hand through his hair again as he said, “God, Colt, I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”

  “Hold on there. Take a deep breath and tell me what’s going on,” he replied in a soothing tone.

  “She’s gone,” Josh’s tone lowered. He sat down and put his head in his hand, trying desperately not to lose it. Sabrina needed him now more than ever.

  “Sabrina?” Colt asked, his voice lowering as if he didn’t want someone—more than likely Elise—to overhear their conversation.

  “Yes,” Josh answered, closing his eyes to keep the tears stinging behind them at bay. Pushing his eyelids hard with his fingers, he opened them and finished, “And I wish to God I knew where to start looking for her.”

  “Are you sure she didn’t leave on her own?” Colt asked.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Josh growled, his head jerking up.

  “Calm down, Josh. Nan just received an upsetting call from Sabrina. She found a note that implied you were the person who lured her to the stables the night of the fire.”

  “What!” Josh yelled into the phone. “I was fuckin’ fighting a fire around the time she was attacked.”

  “After today’s developments, I have no doubt of your innocence, Josh. I’ll be there in two minutes,” came Colt’s firm reply.

  “Huh? You’re here?”

  “Hell yeah, I’m home. Someone’s trying to fuck with my life and it sounds like yours, too. I’ve got a pretty damn good idea who’d want to frame me for my own wife’s murder,” Colt ground out. “No matter what it takes, I’m going to nail the sonofabitch.”

  “Am I in The Twilight Zone? What the hell are you talking about?” Josh asked, his brow furrowing.

  “Long story,” Colt sighed. “Hang tight. Be at your place in two.”

  Josh hung up the phone, thankful for Colt’s steadying words. Right now, he needed the voice of reason whispering in his ear because he wasn’t going to get there on his own in his current, riled up, ready to commit murder state. And the thought that Sabrina could think he’d want to do her harm…he felt physically ill.

  While he waited, he realized he needed to call the police and let them know Sabrina had been kidnapped. He didn’t have time to deal with paperwork, waiting for the police and all that bullshit. Renee. He’d call her and she’d get the ball rolling so he wouldn’t have to stop looking for Sabrina on his end.

  Standing up, he glanced around the room, looking for his cell phone, which had Renee’s number stored in it. He moved quickly, pushing overturned furniture out of the way, looking underneath couch cushions to see if it had fallen between them. He knew he’d left it at home.

  Turning on the cordless phone, he dialed his cell phone at the same time he vowed to always keep the damn thing in the same spot so he didn’t lose the phone every five seconds.

  The phone rang and rang and that’s when he remembered he had left it on vibrate mode. Then a thought struck him, the idea lifting his spirits. Did Sabrina have it with her? Could he get that lucky? He did ask her to keep it with her.

  A steely determination settled over him as he headed for his laptop and pulled up his cell phone provider’s website. Clicking on the GPS “locator” link, he punched in his access code and then his phone number and held his breath as the system’s “verifying position” icon popped up.

  He glanced out the large picture window and saw Colt’s truck drive up and then heard his boots on his porch as the website finally completed its search.

  When Colt entered his house, his gaze moved throughout the house, taking in the shambles Josh’s home was in. Once Colt’s blue eyes met his, Josh gave him a humorless, cold smile. He turned his laptop so his neighbor could see the results. “My cell phone locater program.” He pointed to an area on the screen. “Sabrina’s somewhere in this area.” Glancing up at Colt, he continued, “I’m ready to help you fry his ass.”

  Colt looked at the computer screen, then jerked his knowing gaze back to Josh’s as he bit out, “Not at all surprised. Jackson Riley.”

  * * * * *

  Sabrina awoke to the smell of stale manure and the sensation of something rough yet cushioned underneath her. Realizing she was unable to move her hands and feet, she panicked as her eyes flew open. Rough ropes bound her wrists and ankles and as she shifted she heard the rustle of hay move underneath her.

  Even though fear shot through her, rolling over her in alternating waves of cold sweat and hair-raising goose bumps, she did her best to remain calm as she took in the room surrounding her.

  She saw the roof’s rafters overhead and a quick scan of the room with its empty stables told her she was in an abandoned barn. Sunlight streamed through an open window in one of the stalls, nearly blinding her. Tilting her head away from the light, she squirmed, trying to sit up. The hay slid around underneath her and she lost her balance then fell onto her side o
nce more. Damn ropes. The way they were tied around her—a short rope connecting her tied wrists to her tied ankles—made it near impossible for her to sit up.

  “I see you’re awake,” she heard Jackson’s comment off to her left.

  She shifted her gaze to see the older man standing by a rough-hewn table against the wall, then quickly surveyed the room for his blonde partner.

  “You won’t find her here,” he spat, his lip curling in disdain.

  “Who?” she asked.

  “May. The bitch who stopped you, then decided to take off, leaving me to clean up this fucking mess,” he bit out.

  “It’s too bad,” he continued while he lifted a hammer from the table and turned her way. “I was hoping you’d stay unconscious while I finished you off.” Looking at the hammer, he examined the metal, turning it in the sunlight. He snorted, twitching his lips. “Shooting you would be easiest, but the noise would draw attention and a knife across the throat is just too messy.” He offered a satisfied smile as he let the hammer fall in his palm. “A good knock or two or three in your skull should do the trick. Nasty work, but it must be done.”

  Her gaze widened and her heart raced at his words. When she glanced at the hammer in his hand and then back to his impassive face, sheer terror gripped her. “Heeeeeeeeelp!” Sabrina let out a scream that would wake the dead.

  “No one will hear you way out here.”

  He seemed unruffled as she continued to yell at the top of her lungs until her voice went hoarse. When she finally ran out of steam, he lifted the hammer up and let it fall once more. “You think I’m happy with how this has turned out?”