Everything She Wanted

by Jennifer Ryan

  She wrapped her arms around herself, warding off another round of shivers, not all of which resulted from the cold, but the bone-­deep fear they might not let her go.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” The devil dude grabbed her arm and spun her around. She took him by surprise, stepping in close, and kneeing him in the nuts. He fell to his knees, his hands on his balls, the knife sticking out toward her.

  “Sadie, no,” her brother shouted.

  “I’ll make you regret that, bitch.” The devil dude lunged for her.

  She expected him to grab her, but she couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. His hands clamped onto her shoulders. The knife handle dug into her arm, but fear for her life made her act. She brought her arms up and broke his hold. Surprise showed in his eyes, but they narrowed with determination. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her forward. She plowed into his chest with a thump. His cold leather jacket chilled her skin even more. He wrapped his arms around her back, squeezing her close. She head-­butted him right in the face, hitting him more on the chin than nose than she’d like. He shoved her back to the ground and swiped the back of his hand over his face. Slumped in the dirt and grass, she stared up at him, trying to clear the haze from her aching head and vision.

  She tried to think fast, but the guy came after her again, falling to his knees, straddling her hips. His heavy weight pushed her butt into the soft earth and a jagged rock dug into her spine. He pressed the knife to her neck. The menacing smile on his face reinforced the dangerous look in his eyes. He’d do it. He’d kill her and not think twice about it.

  Cold fear washed through her, stealing her every thought and breath. Her heart slammed into her ribs and stopped for a brief second. Her whole world halted as she stared up into eyes that held nothing but death.

  “Kill her and I won’t make any more meth,” her brother yelled.

  Startled by her brother’s admission, Sadie glanced at Connor, caught the apologetic look, then stared back up into the devil dude’s flat eyes.

  “You’ll cook, or you’re dead. You owe me more than the price of those cattle.”

  “If I’m dead you get nothing. Don’t kill her.”

  The devil dude smiled. It frightened her more than anything he’d done so far.

  “Okay. I won’t kill her.”

  The easy acquiescence didn’t ease her mind.

  “Grab that wire and rope from my saddle,” he ordered Scott.

  “We should get out of here. Those Kendricks come for their herd and we’re dead.” Scott tried to talk reason with the irrational.

  “Get it now.” The devil dude bit out the words. Scott jumped to do his bidding, beaten without ever really getting in the fight to save her.

  The devil dude clamped his hand on her aching jaw and shook her face. “No one fucks with me. If they do, they get what’s coming. You’re going to get your due.”

  Sadie wanted to run, but he had her on the ground, that damn knife at her neck, pressed so hard to her skin she felt a trickle of blood run down her throat where he cut her. His gaze fell on the blood. The slow smile that spread across his face disturbed her, but not as much as the lust that filled his dark eyes.

  Scott dropped the coiled barbed wire and rope next to her. Connor stood off to the side, pacing, biting at his thumb, his eyes filled with worry, but he didn’t come to her rescue, just kept gnawing on his already raw skin.

  “This is going to hurt, bitch.” The menacing words held a note of anticipation and enthusiasm that soured her stomach.

  He used his grip on her face to hold her down. He slid the knife into the sheath at his back and pulled a pair of wire cutters from his back pocket and snipped a long length of wire from the coil. He held it up in front of her, set the tool down, took both her hands, and pulled them up in front of him. She bucked her hips and tried to pull free, but nothing worked to dislodge the big man from her body.

  “Let me go, asshole.” She tried to put as much bravado in her voice as she could conjure to hide her fear, but the tremble in her voice gave her away.

  “You asked for it.”

  He wrapped the wire around her wrists and in between. The harder she tried to pull free, the tighter he wound.

  Panic rose in her chest, making it difficult to take a deep breath. Her chest heaved in and out. In another minute, she’d be hyperventilating. “Stop. Please. You’re hurting me.”

  “Ah, music to my ears.” The amusement in his eyes told her how much he enjoyed her fear and pain.

  “You sadistic son of a bitch.”

  “Yes, I am.” His eyes went bright with delight.

  The barbs bit into her skin. Blood trickled down her arms from multiple punctures.

  “Go get the horses while I finish here,” he ordered her brother.

  Tony and Scott scurried away without a word. The dread in their eyes when they snuck quick glances back told her how much they feared this man.

  “Leave her. You taught her a lesson. Let’s go,” Connor pleaded, pacing back and forth not even five feet away.

  “I thought letting her walk home in her underwear in the cold would have taught her a lesson about sticking her nose into things that don’t concern her. But your sister had to go and fuck with me.” The devil dude leaned down close and stared her in the eyes. “You kick me in the balls, bitch, I’ll make you bleed.” The whispered threat didn’t lessen the ominous reality that he meant it. He turned back to her brother and yelled, “Go get the horses. Hers too. We’re leaving.”

  Connor backed up several steps, then turned and walked away without sparing her a single look, let alone an apology for his cowardice. She expected it, but it still hurt, leaving a pit in her stomach and an ache that squeezed her chest tight. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, but she blinked them away. Her brother had proven more times than she could count he’d cover his own ass over anyone else’s, including his own sister’s.

  Her heart ached worse than her face, jaw, and bloody wrists combined. How could he just leave her here? How could he turn his back on her like this and live with himself?

  A wave of terror overtook her. Against her will and knowing it wouldn’t change her brother’s mind, she gave into her growing fear and screamed, “Connor, help me.”

  The devil dude laughed. “He owes too much money to go against me and help you. You’ve got some guts trying to fight me, but here’s the thing, unlike your brother, I handle my business and any witnesses. Now I said I wouldn’t kill you, but I never said I wouldn’t let the cold do that for me.”

  The tears she’d kept at bay filled her eyes and spilled down the side of her face into her hair. She lost all her bravado and begged, “Let me go. I won’t say anything. I just wanted to keep him out of trouble. That’s all. Please, let me go. I’ll walk home like you said. I won’t tell anyone about this.”

  He cocked his head to the side and smirked, though it wasn’t reassuring. “Nice try. I might have believed you, but then you had to go and take a shot at my nuts. Now, I’m going to teach you a lesson.”

  He pulled the rope close and tied one end to the wire around her wrists. She tried to pull free and scramble away, but she only ended up hurting worse when he wrestled her into submission, her hands crushed under his punishing grasp. Once secure, he finally rose and took his weight off her middle. Finally, she could breathe easier, but her breath stopped when he walked right over her head, yanked the rope, and dragged her over the mud and grass. She rolled to her stomach, pulled back on the ropes, squealing out in pain when the wire dug into her skin, and rushed up to her feet. Better to trot after him like a dog on a leash than get dragged over the ground.

  “Please, let me go.”

  He didn’t respond, just walked right up to a big tree. She pulled back, not wanting to get tied to the trunk, but he had other ominous ideas. He held the rope close to her by one hand and used the other to toss the other end of t
he rope up and over a high, thick limb. He pulled the slack tight, then pulled again until her toes barely touched the ground. She wiggled to get free, but it only hurt her wrists more. Fresh blood trailed down her arms. She kicked out her feet, trying to get him to let loose the rope. He anticipated her move, drew his knife again, and slashed at her legs in a wide arc, catching her across her left thigh and right knee. She yelled in pain and stopped struggling, stunned he’d cut her. The sting burned like fire.

  “Keep it up. I like it when you bleed.” The menacing note of truth in his words sent a bolt of fear through the denial in her mind that he couldn’t be serious. But he was.

  Afraid that all her fighting would only lead to more pain, she hung there, trying to think of anything she could say to change his mind about leaving her strung up in the biting cold. Even now, her skin felt like ice. She wiggled her numb toes hoping to restore circulation. Thanks to the wire around her wrists, she couldn’t feel her hands.

  He came toward her again, this time with his eyes on her breasts that were now at his eye level. He reached out to touch her. She pulled her knees up to her belly, planted her feet on his chest, and shoved him away. “Don’t you dare touch me.” The order didn’t hold as much weight when she ended up swinging back and forth from her hands, grunting in pain as each movement made the wire bite into her skin deeper.

  He moved forward again. She kicked at him again and again, her body swinging and twisting from the rope. She ignored the excruciating pain. Too soon she tired and swung back and forth unable to pick up her legs and strike out at him again. Defeat tasted vile. She swallowed the sour taste, hoping she didn’t disgrace herself more and vomit.

  He smiled and laughed, planting a hand on her belly and pushing, sending her swinging yet again. He’d been taunting her, tiring her out so she couldn’t fight him off anymore. She’d played right into his hands. She needed to be smart, think, find a way out of this despite the reality staring her in the face—­she was well and truly screwed.

  “If I had more time, and those assholes weren’t so fucking stupid and could finish this job on their own . . .” He left the rest unsaid. He didn’t need to finish. The leering gaze he swept over her body said everything. Her mind conjured one gruesome thing after the next; all of them made her stomach pitch, bile rising up her throat.

  After so many minutes holding her up, he struggled to hold the rope and tied off the end around the trunk of the tree, leaving her dangling in the wind. The devil dude grabbed the bundle of barbed wire and brought it back. He wound one end around the wire at her wrists to anchor it, then wrapped the rest around both her arms, down over her shoulders. The sharp edges dug into her skin like little bites of pain.

  She couldn’t help the tears anymore, or the pleading in her voice she hated. “No, please don’t do this.”

  “I like it when you beg, but seeing you bleed gets me off.” He rubbed his hand over his crotch and leered at her again.

  She met his lust-­filled gaze, unable to watch him stroke the bulge in his jeans, knowing at any second he could change his mind, dump her back on the ground, and torture her a whole other way. “Please. The cold is enough. I can’t get free. You don’t have to do this.”

  He cocked his head and grinned. “I don’t have to. I want to.”

  He put the truth in his words to work and pulled the wire around her back and across her chest, once, twice, and over her breasts. To punish her even more for getting in her licks earlier, he pulled the wire on both sides of her tight, making the barbs pierce her thin bra and skin.

  “No.” She bit back another yelp when he pulled the wire even tighter.

  “Uh, the trucks will be at the meeting place in an hour. We need to go if we’re going to make it in time and before it gets dark,” Tony said from behind the devil dude.

  “I’ll be right there. Gather up any strays and start pushing the herd down the valley again.”

  Tony left without another word and without bringing his gaze up from his toes.

  The devil dude glared at her. “You’ve cost me a lot of time.” He wound the wire around her hips, then around one thigh several times and across to go around the other. The wire bit into the knife wound, making it bleed even more. Tighter and tighter he bound her legs until he had her feet wrapped so tight her ankle bones ground against each other.

  He tossed the rest of the wire to the ground at her feet. He pulled the knife out again and held it up in front of her. The waning sunlight glinted off the already bloody blade. Her heart stopped. She didn’t dare breathe or take her gaze from the deadly weapon and the man who liked to use it.

  He jabbed her in the gut with his fist and the air whooshed out of her. She tried to suck in a breath, but ended up coughing before she could refill her lungs. She prayed he didn’t hit her again.

  “If you somehow manage to get out of this, you say one word to anyone, I’ll hunt you down and make this”—­he pointed the knife up and down her bloody body—­“feel like a hug compared to what I’ll do to you next time.”

  “Please, let me down. You can’t leave me here.”

  The sharp point of the knife dug into her side between two ribs, piercing her skin but not sinking deep. Damn, those shallow punctures hurt like hell. Exactly his intention. He pushed, sending her swinging and the knife slipping free. Lucky for her, he didn’t hold the knife there for her to swing back into.

  “Pray the cold gets you before the wolves.” The devil dude lived up to his wicked tat with that parting shot.

  “You can’t leave me here,” she screamed at his retreating back. “Help me! Connor, you can’t leave me here,” she bellowed. “Connor!”

  She waited, hoping he’d do the right thing for once. For her. She’d saved him so many times. This time, she needed him.

  The wind whipped up again, pushing against her back. Not a sound reached her. From her place on the hill and behind the cover of trees, she couldn’t see the valley, the cows, or even her brother.

  No one came.

  He didn’t come.

  Tears spilled down her cheeks. She shook with the sobs racking her body.

  I’m going to die here.

  Not one to give in easily, she wiggled, trying desperately to get free. Her toes barely touched the dirt. The more she moved, the more dirt she displaced until she hung with no purchase on the ground. If he wanted to torture her, he’d picked the perfect way to do it. The more she moved, the worse things got. The wires bit into her skin, sending fresh dribbles of blood down her body. The cut on her side bled freely down her stomach, soaking her panties. She couldn’t hold up her weight, so her body dragged her down, making her wrists and shoulders ache.

  A branch snapped. Her gaze shot up. The devil dude stood ten yards away with her clothes tucked under his arm. He shook his head and smiled. He liked making her crazy, seeing her struggle, and knowing she didn’t have a chance in hell of getting out of this alive.

  She stared him down, not letting him see the fear growing inside of her anymore. She used what little strength she had left to curse the bastard. “I hope those Kendricks find you. I hope Rory Kendrick finds you. Then you’ll be sorry. You’ll see. He’ll make you pay.”

  Yeah, Rory would make him pay for the cows. Who would make him pay for what he’d done to her? No one. She’d die here abandoned by her brother and alone.

  The World of

  THE HUNTED

  If you haven’t read the rest of The Hunted books,

  what are you waiting for?

  Check out the rest of this bestselling series,

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  SAVED BY THE RANCHER

  Book One: The Hunted Series

  FROM THE MOMENT rancher Jack Turner rescues Jenna Caldwell Merrick, he is determined to help her. Soon, he is doing more than tend her wounds; he is mending her heart. Jenna is a woman on the run—­hunted down by her ex-­husband, Davi
d Merrick, from the day she left him, taking part of his company with her, to the second she finds herself in the safety of Jack’s ranch. More than just a haven, Jack’s offering the love, family, and home she thought were out of reach.

  Jack’s support will give Jenna the strength she needs to reclaim her life. The hunted will become the hunter, while David gets what he deserves, when they have an explosive confrontation in the boardroom of Merrick International. But not before Jack and Jenna enter into a fight . . . for their lives.

  LUCKY LIKE US

  Book Two: The Hunted Series

  The Hunted series continues as Special Agent Sam Turner discovers that

  protecting the FBI’s star witness is more difficult than he thought!

  BAKERY OWNER ELIZABETH Hamilton’s quiet life is filled with sweet treats, good friends, and a loving family. But all of that is about to turn sour when an odd sound draws her outside. There’s a man lying unconscious in the street, a car speeding toward him. Without hesitation, she gets the man out of harm’s way before they’re run down.

  Unwittingly, Elizabeth has put herself in the path of a serial murderer, and as the only one who can identify the FBI’s Silver Fox Killer, she’s ended up in the hospital with a target on her back.

  All that stands between her and death is Special Agent Sam Turner. Against his better judgment, Sam gets emotionally involved, determined to take down the double threat against Elizabeth—­an ex desperate to get her back, despite a restraining order, and a psychopath bent on silencing her before she can identify him.

  They set a trap to catch the killer—­putting Elizabeth in his hands, with Sam desperate to save her. If he’s lucky, he’ll get his man . . . and the girl.