“They didn’t leave you water?”
“Oscar and Duroc didn’t have enough brains between them to think of that.”
A pair of wet underpants and a pajama top flew out the door. He picked them up and shoved them into the plastic laundry bag provided by the hotel along with the rest of the smelly rags. He carried them outside and shoved them down into the locked toolbox in the bed of his truck.
The Dollar Store was located a couple of miles from the hotel and offered gray sweats long enough for Cathy’s legs. The sweatshirts all looked too short in the arms so he bought three Christmas T-shirts from a sale rack. She liked flannel pajama bottoms so he looked for those but the only size left on the shelf was small and they wouldn’t come to her knees. Finally he found a rack of nightshirts that said one size fit all so he bought two of those. He had no idea what size underpants or what style she wore. He checked the back, tried to figure out how many inches it would be around her bottom, and finally settled on size six. He tossed a package of six pair of assorted colors in the cart.
He noticed socks next to the underwear and picked up three pair along with a pair of fluffy pink house shoes. He thought about a bra but shook his head. He wouldn’t even know where to begin. He made a run through the toiletries, throwing in a toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, shampoo and conditioner, and shower gel.
* * *
Cathy closed the lid on the toilet and sat down, naked and wretchedly dirty. Her hands shook as she started water running in the deep Jacuzzi tub. Her eyes locked on the clean, clear water and she couldn’t force herself to blink. Finally, she put her head in her hands and wept silently. It was five minutes before she got control and opened the door, filled a small hotel cup with cold water, and drank slowly.
She stared at the woman in the mirror.
How do lips get so parched when it’s raining? Look at me. God, I’m a mess.
“Fifteen minutes.” She touched her dirt-smeared face and her filthy hair.
That’s all her mother gave her to pout, whine, or cry. If life gave her pissy friends or a bad day, then she could bitch and moan for fifteen minutes. After that she had to forget about it and get on with living. Well, she’d had her time and she would get on with it—right after Brad Alton had his fifteen minutes. A picture of what she intended to do to him was the single thing that kept her sane enough to go back into the bathroom and crawl into the tub.
She laid back and ducked her head into the water. She felt as if she’d been baptized a second time when she came up with water sluicing off her face, turning the water brown as it cleansed away the dirt and mud. She poured all the entire bottle of hotel shampoo onto her head and built a mountain of bubbles.
Even with the smell of shampoo and clean water the stench of the rats stayed in her nose. She poured shampoo into the palm of her hand and sniffed so hard that she sucked some into her nostrils and coughed up bubbles. She washed her body with the small bar of soap so many times that it was nothing but a thin sliver and still she felt dirty.
She flipped the lever to drain the tub, stood up, and turned on the shower. Long after the shampoo was gone from her hair she stood under the hot water. She was alive. Nothing had frozen. There was a purple circle on her ankle and a few cuts and bruises on her feet but they would all heal. Her fifteen minutes were up so why didn’t she feel right?
* * *
Travis looked down at the clock on his pickup dash as he pulled into the Dairy Queen parking lot.
“Well shit!” He flipped open his cell phone and hit the right buttons.
Jezzy answered before the first ring had finished. “Is she all right?”
“She’s in a motel room taking a bath. I had to go into town and buy clothes. They grabbed her in nothing but pajamas and she didn’t even have shoes. She’d tied an old blanket around her feet to keep them warm and it stunk like rat piss. They gave her a box of food but no water. I’m so mad I could rip someone’s head off with my bare hands. I’m thinking we’ll be home in the morning after she has a good night’s sleep. Tell Amos and Tinker she is alive. And Jezzy, thanks for working the Honky Tonk for her tonight.”
“That’s good news but I’m telling everyone that she took two days off to go see Daisy. She can tell them about this if she wants. Other than Amos no one else is going to know a blessed thing. And Travis, get a hold of that temper. She needs a broad shoulder, not an avenging angel.”
“Thanks, Jezzy.”
“She’d do the same for me. If she pitches a fit and wants to come home tomorrow, bring her after she files charges. If she needs another day to get it all sorted out, come home on Wednesday. Me and Leroy have the place covered until then.”
“I’ll call tomorrow with an update.”
“Take care of her. Even the strong fall apart after an ordeal like that.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Travis said.
He went inside and ordered two chocolate malts, three double meat cheeseburgers, a triple order of fries, two cups of coffee, and two Dr Peppers. The Dairy Queen was right across the highway from the motel so the food was hot when he carried it into the room. She was still in the bathroom so he set it on the table and went back to get the Dollar Store bags.
When he returned the second time, Cathy was standing in the middle of the floor like a lost wounded soul. A towel was wrapped around her body and a second one around her hair. He dropped the bags on the floor and gathered her into his arms.
“I was scared and I don’t like to be afraid,” she whispered.
“Anyone would be scared,” he assured her.
She laid her head on his broad chest. “Hold me for a long time.”
Without loosening his hold on her, he backed up and sat down on the king-sized bed. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.
“The rats came and ate my crackers and I tore up the springs for wire to pick the lock on the shackles,” she said.
His jaws worked in anger but Jezzy said she didn’t need an avenging angel that night. Later, when she was settled, after she’d made a police statement, there would be time for his rage and whoever caused her pain would pay.
“They said he was going to leave me there a whole week. I barely stood it a day. I’d have been crazy in a week. The rat tried to run away with my phone. Did I tell you thank you for coming to get me? I’m sorry,” she said softly.
“Shhh.” He kissed the soft clean skin on her long neck. “It’s all right. I’ve got you and they’re gone now. We’ll take care of everything.”
She leaned back and looked deeply into his blue eyes. She could trust Travis Henry. He’d never let anyone else harm her.
“Kiss me,” she said.
He leaned forward and brushed a soft kiss across her lips.
A strange feeling surrounds a person when they’ve faced death and fear and endured both. It’s indescribable but definite and demands a token of life. Something that says, “I’m still alive.” Cathy broke away from the kiss and looked up at Travis. His eyes were so soft. He was so kind and had rescued her.
“Make love to me,” she said.
“This isn’t the time. You are vulnerable. We’ll save that for later,” he said.
“What if there is no later? What if right now is all we get?”
“You are safe, Cathy. It’s over. You are hungry and sleep deprived.” He wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince her or himself.
She snuggled down into his arms even deeper. “You are a good man.”
He brushed a sweet kiss across her forehead.
“I’ll brush your hair and then we’ll eat,” he said.
She clamped a hand over her mouth. “Brush? I need a toothbrush.”
Damn, she’d just asked a man to make love to her and her breath probably smelled as bad as the blankets and the shampoo mixed together.
“There’s one in the sacks. I bought a hairbrush and toothpaste and everything else I thought you might need.”
The first thing she found was the package
of panties. She removed one pair and tugged them on up under the towel and then pulled out a nightshirt. She ducked behind the partition separating the bedroom and vanity and dropped the towel. She wanted him to make love to her and now she had a sudden bout of modesty that put a smile on her face. Everything was still surreal.
She removed the tags from the nightshirt and jerked it over her head. The plain old knit felt like silk against her skin.
Travis laid all the Dairy Queen food on the table for two in the corner. When she’d brushed her teeth and her hair a virtual banquet waited.
“That looks so good. I will never ever eat Vienna sausage again.”
Travis bit into the cheeseburger. “Why?”
“That’s what was in the box of food.” She went on to tell him the whole story from the time they said good night to the time she thought she was seeing ghosts across the bayou.
He laid the cheeseburger to one side. “Did they hurt you physically? Are you up for talking to the police now?”
“If you are talking rape, no. I tried to kill both of them but I was a second too late and they had already locked the shackles. If I hadn’t been drugged they’d be out there in that cabin when Brad arrived next weekend. And we aren’t calling the police.”
“Why?”
“We’ve got a bunch of dirty clothes in a bag and there’s a cardboard box of food out there in an old shack. It’s my word against theirs and they’re off to New Orleans to find a voodoo woman to take my curse off them. Brad is up there in Mena, Arkansas, doing his job and he will have an airtight alibi.”
“You’re just going to go home and forget it?”
“I did not say that. How’d you know I liked chocolate malts?”
“You like hot chocolate, and you are changing the subject.”
She leaned across the table and kissed him hard. The taste of burgers, fries, and chocolate was absolutely wonderful. He drew the back side of his hand down across her jawline. When it reached her lips she grabbed it and held it to her lips to kiss each finger tip.
In one swift movement she was sitting in his lap. She leaned back far enough to get a good angle and pulled his head forward. Lips met in a flash of passion that set them on a course that would not be denied. Vulnerability and common sense took a backseat to desire and want.
“You taste like heaven,” she said.
“So do you,” he whispered.
She inched her fingers under his shirt and laid her palms on the broad expanse of chest. “You are so warm and strong.”
He groaned. “One more minute of that and I won’t be responsible.”
“What will a whole night of it do?”
“It will make a perfect night with a perfect woman.” He picked her up and laid her on the bed.
She pulled him down on top of her and tugged his shirt up over his head. “If it weren’t for that little mole right there”—she kissed his chest right above his left nipple—“you would be perfect too.”
“Thank God for that imperfection,” he groaned as she kissed every square inch of his muscular chest.
“And now it’s my turn.” He slipped the nightshirt over her head and tossed it toward the chair where she’d been sitting. Holding back the eagerness to make love to her, he trailed kisses from her neck to her toes, stopping along the way to nibble and taste.
She touched his hair, grabbed his shoulders in a fierce grip when she could stand no more, and still he continued to kiss places that had never been touched before. “Travis, I’m ready.”
“But I’m not, sweetheart. Something this good has to be savored and appreciated. Not swallowed whole and forgotten.” He kissed her lips again in a clash of sparks that lit up the room in an array of bright colors.
Realizing that he was still fully dressed and nothing was going to happen until she took care of that, she unbuckled his belt and pulled it through the loops without ever taking her lips from his. A whiff of leftover Stetson fired her senses even more as she unzipped his jeans and tugged them off. She jerked his boxers off and slung them behind her, pulled his sweater over his head and flung it in the opposite direction, then rolled over on top of his naked body. She grabbed the edge of the bedspread bringing it up to wrap them like a cocoon.
“Nice?” she murmured in his ear, nibbling at the lobe as she talked.
“Very.” He rolled with her, keeping them inside the spread and taking it to the final level at the same time.
“Oh, my,” she groaned into his neck.
He began a slow rhythm that sent every thought other than pleasing her straight out the window into the cold Texas night air. He buried his face into her damp hair and whispered love words in her ear, telling her how sexy she was and how much he wanted her from the first time he kissed her.
She kicked the covers off and wrapped her long legs around him and brought his face to hers for a kiss that lasted until he tried to say her name. Nothing but a moan came out as he collapsed, bringing her with him in fireworks that would rival any Fourth of July celebration.
Cathy opened her eyes only to see the hotel room ceiling and Travis’s blond hair all bound up in an aura with fuzzy edges and soft music off in the distance.
“My God,” she moaned.
He rolled to one side taking her with him. “Me too.”
She snuggled down into his embrace and pulled the spread back over them. If being vulnerable got that kind of treatment, she’d have to order up another dose of it. She strung soft kisses up and down his neck and shut her eyes. Just a few more minutes to enjoy the glow settling around them and then she’d get up and find that nightshirt.
At midnight she awoke with a start, her eyes darting around the room. They’d come back and were holding her down so they could cuff her hands to the iron bedstead. She flailed against them but they were so much stronger than they’d been at first. When she opened her eyes Travis had a leg thrown over her, one arm hugging her next to his side and the other hand had laced itself through her fingers.
She inched out of his embrace so he wouldn’t wake and padded to the bathroom. She’d barely gotten wet when he pulled the curtain back and joined her. He had a bottle of shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel. She inhaled deeply when he opened the shampoo.
“Be still and enjoy,” he said. He lathered up her hair and massaged her scalp until her whole body tingled. After he rinsed it, he repeated the process with conditioner and then he began to bathe her using nothing but his hands and the shower gel.
“Okay, now that you’ve got my hormones singing, it’s my turn,” she said.
She shampooed his hair, kissing him on the neck and back every few seconds as she dug into his scalp.
“You’ve got four hours to stop that,” he said hoarsely.
“What? This?” She massaged harder.
“Or this?” She kissed lighter.
“Either or both,” he said.
“Ever made love in a Jacuzzi?” she asked.
“No, but I’ve got a feeling my luck is about to change.”
“Yes it is.” She flipped the shower switch down and let the water fill the tub.
* * *
When they awoke the second time, they were naked under the covers on the king-sized bed and it was seven in the morning. Cathy moaned and expected to open her eyes to one hellacious sex hangover but instead it was to Travis’s face right next to her. His blue eyes were open and his arms were around her; his hands rubbed teasing circles on the small of her back.
“So how do you wake up after a night of love making? Still biting?”
“I do not bite after a night like we just had, but I would love some coffee.”
“Breakfast is served in the lobby from six to ten. Want to put on your new sweats and join me?” he asked.
“I’d wear my nightshirt to the lobby for food and coffee.”
“Before or after?” he asked with a gleam in his eyes.
“It’ll have to be after if it is at all. I don’t have the energy for a good m
orning kiss right now. You may have to dress me.”
He shook his head and bounded out of bed. In all that gorgeous naked glory he reminded Cathy more of a Greek god than a cowboy. “Honey, you will have to dress yourself. There’s no way I’d ever be guilty of putting clothes on a body as perfect as yours. Now, taking them off is another matter.”
She giggled and threw a pillow at him.
“Aha, a night of pure old lusty sex tames the beast,” he teased.
She rose up out of the bed like a medieval siren and went to the mirror over the vanity. “I look like hell.”
“You are beautiful, Cathy O’Dell.”
“You are a liar. Don’t put your glasses on until I get my hair fixed and some clothes on.” She tugged a new pair of panties up over her hips and tore the tags from the sweat bottoms. They were too big but long enough and they did have a drawstring. The T-shirt was soft and warm and the sleeves too short so she pushed them up. Then pulled on a pair of socks and the house shoes.
“They feel safe,” she said.
“Safe?” he asked.
“That’s the only word I can use to describe them. Being left barefoot in the cold was as devastating as being shackled. These make me feel warm and safe, like I do in your arms,” she said.
He smiled. “Thank you. Are you ready?”
“Give me a minute to brush my hair. When we leave here I want to stop at the first mall.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
Hand in hand they walked to the lobby, Travis in jeans and a western shirt and boots, Cathy in gray sweat bottoms, a red T-shirt with a Christmas tree on the front, and pink house shoes. She felt like a queen coming down a winding staircase into a ballroom.
The aroma of bacon and coffee rushed out to greet them when they opened the double doors. “Hot damn, that smells good. I’m starving,” Cathy said.
“Worked up a little appetite, did you?”
“I did not. I worked up a big, humongous appetite. They better have two cooks still working in the kitchen. That buffet looks like it was made just for me.”
She filled a plate with biscuits and gravy, added a dozen pieces of bacon on the side, and carried it to a table. Then she went back for a glass of milk and a cup of coffee. She sat down and started eating while he was still waiting on waffles to cook. By the time he pulled out a chair she was half finished and eyeing the doughnuts.
Hell, Yeah Page 21
