One of her legs hung off the bed as Travis shifted his weight, trying to take his belt off using only one hand. Even with a knife held to her throat, Jenna’s anger overrode her fear. Travis lifted her skirt with his free hand, grabbed onto her hip, and pulled her another few inches to the side of the bed. The mug was only inches away.
“I can’t decide if I’m gonna fuck this pretty ass now, or if I should give it a few licks with my belt first.”
Her vision blurred as the blade sliced into her neck, but she ignored the pain and focused on the mug. Before she could reach for it, a chiming sound rang out from where Travis had shrugged his pants down.
His phone.
The noise gave Jenna the distraction she needed. Travis momentarily turned his whole body, including the hand holding the knife to look for the location of the sound.
Jenna slid forward, grabbed the mug, and hit him square in the temple. Travis stumbled back and dropped the knife. He recovered and grabbed the cup. In a fit of rage, he struck her with it on the back of her head. The sickening crack echoed through the room, and she dropped to the floor.
Jenna blinked once as she watched Travis retrieve his phone.
She blinked again and listened as he cursed under his breath, bringing the phone to his ear.
“I’m coming. Just a few loose ends to tie up,” he said, running a hand through his hair.
His boots moved closer to where she was sprawled out on the floor.
One last blink, and then it all went black.
Disoriented, Jenna opened her eyes.
What was going on?
She was lying in the backseat of a car. Peering between the front seats, she saw Kate’s ceramic butterfly hanging from the rearview mirror. She was inside her car. Her gaze veered from the clay insect, and she noticed the dashboard was lit up. The car was on, but it wasn’t moving.
Then a rumble of chain and a sharp clatter echoed through the car.
In the space of a second, the gravity of her situation hit her like a wrecking ball. That noise was the sound of the garage door closing.
Travis had put her inside a closed garage inside a running car.
She shot up. She had to turn off the car, but the sudden movement sent shards of pain ricocheting through her head.
She closed her eyes as men’s raised voices floated in the distance.
The light changed, and it was bright again. She tried to move, but all she could do was cover her head with her arms. If Travis were back, she would be powerless to stop him.
“Jenna!”
Not Travis.
Ben.
He lifted her out of the car and carried her outside. Her head was throbbing, but the fresh air helped her focus.
“Are you all right?” he asked, hands frantically checking over her body.
“I’m okay.”
“Who was that guy, Jenna?”
She pushed herself up on her elbows as Ben scrambled to pull her into his arms. She held on to him, relief flooding her body until she remembered her mother. “Ben, we have to call the psychiatric center.”
“No, I’m calling 911. You need an ambulance.”
“No, Ben,” she said, her hands grabbing his shirt. “There’s no time to wait for an ambulance. That was Travis. He’s been watching me, following me. It’s been him, not Aidan Hadley, and he knows where my mother is. He told me he was going to get her. We have to get to the psychiatric center before he does.”
“Jenna, you need to see a doctor.”
She swallowed hard and met his gaze. “I’m going with or without you. Please understand, I need to get to my mother.”
He nodded and helped her to stand. “You’re not doing this alone. Let’s go.”
Ben hit the gas as they sped toward the hospital. Jenna reached for her phone. Panic shot through her veins. She’d left her cellphone and purse back at the carriage house. She scanned the car’s console and spied Ben’s phone.
“Do you have the number for the psychiatric center in your phone,” she asked, scrolling through his contacts.
“No, I just have the main line for the hospital.”
Jenna called and asked to be transferred to the psychiatric center. The time on hold seemed like an eternity before a voice answered.
“This is Jenna Lewis. My mother, Judith Lewis, is a patient there. Eric Lucero is her counselor. It’s very important for me to speak to him. A man, Travis Mayer, may be coming to try to see her.”
“Jenna, this is Sally, one of your mother’s nurses.”
Jenna released a breath. “Sally, is my mother all right?”
“Your mother left treatment. Signed herself out not ten minutes ago. She told us she was going to be staying with you. She even signed herself up for outpatient treatment. Are you sure you didn’t get your signals crossed?”
Jenna kept the phone pressed to her ear, but she couldn’t reply. As they pulled into the psychiatric center’s parking lot, Judith Lewis was walking out. She was dragging a suitcase toward a large white truck.
Jenna stared out the window as Ben parked the car.
“I know that truck, Jenna,” Ben said. “Remember, it almost ran into that sedan.”
Before he could say another word, Jenna opened the door and ran through the parking lot toward her mother.
“Mom! You don’t have to go with him. I won’t let him hurt you.”
Judith handed her suitcase to Travis who hoisted it into the back of the truck. “What makes you think he’s going to hurt me, JJ?”
“Mom, you had to go to a women’s shelter to escape him.”
“I wasn’t escapin’ anything, JJ.”
“Then why? Why did you go to the shelter? Why did you threaten to kill yourself?”
“Look at you, always the drama queen and never that bright either,” Judith said, glancing back at Travis. “JJ, we ran into a few financial snags and needed the money in your trust. But instead of helpin’ me, you gave it all away.”
Ben had caught up and stood by her side. He pressed a steadying hand to her back.
“This was all some big lie to try to get my money?” Jenna asked.
“Well, I didn’t quite think that callin’ you up after how many odd years and sayin’, ‘Hey, this is your mama, I need about three million in cash,’ would go over very well.”
“You did all this just to try to trick me, and you did it with him?” Jenna pointed at Travis.
Judith didn’t answer. She looked down at her nails as if she was bored by the conversation.
“Mom, you know Travis was awful to me, beat me, tormented me. Do you know he’s been watching me, following me? Mom, he tried to rape me!”
“Don’t you dare,” Judith said, her expression twisting with contempt. “You’ll say anything to try and hurt me, won’t you? Ungrateful little bitch. You wouldn’t even have that trust fund without me, and what did do you do with it? Piss it all away to some worthless shelter.”
Ben stepped forward. “That’s enough,” he said, his tone low and deadly, first eyeing Judith, then moving his gaze to Travis.
Travis barked out a laugh. “What are you gonna do about it, pretty boy?”
In the space of a second, Ben had Travis by the throat, pressing him into the truck. “You are going to pay for what you did,” he said, his words laced with fury. “I’m going to make sure of it.”
Travis’ cocksure façade fell from his face. He squirmed and struggled for breath, but Ben’s grip was unrelenting.
“And you,” Ben said, turning his wrath on Judith. “You don’t deserve her love. You never did.”
“Stop,” Jenna said, her voice barely a whisper. She met Ben’s gaze. “I know you’re doing this because you care about me, but I need you to stop.”
His eyes were wild but whatever he saw in her gaze brought him back to himself. He nodded and released his grip.
Travis scurried like a frightened rodent back into his truck and rubbed his neck. “Jude, we need to go.”
Jenna looked at her mother. “I thought we were going to be a family.”
Judith gave Ben a wary glance. She took a few steps back toward the truck and smoothed her shirt. She had grown a few shades paler after Ben’s harsh rebuke, but the distance between them seemed to bolster her resolve. “You? My family? You, little girl, are my greatest disappointment. I have all the family I need in that truck.”
“Jude, now,” Travis said, craning his head out the window, a note of urgency in his voice.
Judith climbed into Travis’ truck, and Jenna’s vision blurred. She tried to call out but couldn’t speak. She tried to count her breaths, but it was no use. Everything disappeared, and she spiraled away into an empty, black abyss.
28
“The doctors say she’s going to be okay—no sign of carbon monoxide exposure. There’s a contusion on the back of her head, but they think it was shock that caused her to pass out.”
“Well, Christ, after the day she’s had.”
Jenna listened to the hushed voices. The last two were low, men’s voices.
“But he didn’t,” a pause, then a sharp exhale of breath. “She wasn’t raped?”
That was Zoe, she thought, feeling oddly proud of herself for identifying the speaker.
Jenna tried to open her eyes, blinking them slowly.
“No, at least she didn’t have to endure that.”
Ben’s voice.
The room came into focus, and she was looking up at Sam.
“Hey,” he said, surprise registering in his voice.
Sam looked different. He wasn’t sporting the warm, relaxed smile she’d grown to love. He looked worried. She shifted her gaze and Ben and Zoe came into view.
Sam stepped out of the way, and Ben took his place. He looked tired, his dark hair a disheveled mess as if he’d been pulling at it in clumps. He held her hands. She looked down and saw an IV coming out of her arm.
“It’s only some fluids. You were dehydrated and in shock.”
It all came back to her like a blurry picture coming into focus. Travis’ attack and Judith’s deception.
“My mother,” she whispered.
“I know,” he answered, cupping her face in his hands. “I know. I’m so sorry.”
Zoe was standing next to Sam with tears streaming down her cheeks. She wiped at her face with her sleeve. “We’ll give you guys a minute, but we’ll be right outside if you need anything.”
“Ben, I don’t want to be here,” Jenna said, not knowing if she meant the hospital or Langley Park.
“I know, sweetheart. But listen, the police are here. They have a few questions, and then I’ll work on having you released. We’ll see if being the stepson of the Chief of Surgery at this place counts for anything around here.”
He was trying to lighten the situation. Trying to do anything to help her. But her spirit was too broken to even fake a smile.
She spent the next hour with a Langley Park police detective recounting the events of the day. The detective showed her a picture of a recently filed bankruptcy document in her mother’s name along with a copy of the marriage license of Judith Jo Lewis and Travis Scott Mayer from Las Vegas, Nevada, dating back fourteen years.
Her car had been towed to the LPPD lot to be processed and searched for evidence, and the carriage house was considered a crime scene. There was an APB out on Travis’ truck, and the detective assured her the police were coordinating with other departments to locate Travis and her mother.
After the detective left, Jenna let out a shaky breath. “She married him the day after I left for Gwyer.”
Ben nodded. His face was etched with concern.
Jenna trained her gaze on the wall. She could feel her heart breaking. “My mother never looked for me. I don’t think she even cared that I’d left.”
“There’s no excuse for her behavior. She was a monster of a mother,” Ben replied, but Jenna couldn’t meet his gaze.
“A monster,” she echoed and stared blankly at the wall.
It was close to midnight when she was released from the hospital. The Tudor was quiet as Ben held her hand and led her inside. Stopping at the foot of the stairs, he met her gaze.
“Do you want me to make you some tea, or do you just want to go to bed?”
Jenna looked down at their clasped hands. She loved his hands, loved the feel of her hand wrapped inside his.
“Bed,” she whispered.
He let go of her hand, gathered her into his arms, and carried her up the stairs. Once inside the room, he set her down and took a hesitant step back.
She could tell he wasn’t sure what she needed, so she decided to show him. She closed the distance between them and threaded her fingers through his hair.
“Make love to me, Ben.”
“Are you sure? So much has happened, Jenna. I think you need to rest.”
She saw the concern in his eyes, but biology was taking over. She arched into him, and his hard cock pressed against her belly.
She pushed up onto her toes and kissed him. His arms wrapped around her as he relented and deepened the kiss.
They undressed each other, clumsy fingers fumbling over buttons. Jenna eased back onto the bed and guided Ben on top of her.
His cock twitched at her entrance, but he stopped and lovingly smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I need you to know we’re going to get through this. I love you, Jenna. You’re not alone.”
She held her breath as if that could keep Ben’s words from penetrating her heart. Then she lifted her hips, pushing the tip of him inside. Ben released a low growl.
She knew he loved her, knew he’d do anything to protect her. She almost cried, but she held back the tears, her heart already starting to harden. She didn’t deserve a life with Ben. She loved him too much to stay. She would rather die than hurt him.
She was her mother’s daughter. No matter how many lies she had told to the contrary, that was the ultimate truth. She couldn’t risk becoming like her mother, couldn’t risk what that would do to the two people she loved the most in this world.
The only way to protect Ben and Kate was to leave and go back to her old life. She thought about the pain Judith had caused her and swore she would never allow anyone, especially Ben or Kate, to know that kind of misery. They had been through enough already with Sara’s death.
Jenna had always believed the lies she told were to protect her heart. She thought she was protecting herself from rejection, but the lies were there to keep others at a distance.
The lies were there to keep others safe from her.
Ben moved inside her while whispering sweet words of love. Too painful for her to hear, she kissed the words away and silenced his voice.
Ben woke up knowing something was wrong. The bed was cold, and the house was quiet, too quiet.
Pulling on a pair of pants, he walked downstairs. There was a note on the kitchen table and next to it, the plastic butterfly ring.
Ten minutes later, he was in his car with Zoe on speakerphone.
“It said that she was sorry, and she had to go back to where it all started. I’ve been driving all over town. She’s not answering her phone. She’s nowhere in sight.”
“Okay, let’s stop and think,” Zoe said. “Pull over and stop driving in circles.”
Ben pulled over near the fire station. He held the steering wheel with an iron grip, adrenaline and worry fueling his body. He had to find the woman he loved.
“We know she doesn’t have her car. I’m sure the police are still processing it for evidence. She couldn’t have gotten far,” Zoe said as Ben listened to his sister typing frantically on her computer.
He was about to start driving around again when he heard the clicking stop.
“Bingo!” she said, a touch of relief in her voice. “Ben, there was a bus that left Langley Park this morning at 6:12 am.”
He hadn’t even thought of the bus.
“It’s headed down to Wichita. From there, she could have gone…”<
br />
There were more typing and clicks.
“Wait, didn’t Jenna tell us that she lived with her aunt in a little farm town near Liberal?” Zoe’s voice was guarded but hopeful.
“Yes, it was a town called Ballentine.”
“There’s a bus from Wichita to Liberal. She could have made it based on the time her bus left Langley Park. She’d be getting into Liberal around one or so this afternoon. She’s got a head start on you, but in a car, you’ll probably make it there around the same time.”
“Zoe, I can’t thank you enough. I just need to make one stop first,” he said, shifting the car into gear. He didn’t have much time. He had to get to Jenna before he’d lost her to her demons for good.
Jenna waved goodbye to the farmer she’d met at the cozy diner in Liberal, Kansas. They’d made small talk over eggs and biscuits while sitting at the counter, and Jenna took it as a sign when he shared he was headed into Ballentine.
She turned away from the road and stared at the structure in front of her.
The windows were boarded up, and weeds had taken over the small side garden with only a few rogue sunflowers growing defiantly. The peeling white paint had turned a dishwater gray. Nobody had lived here for a very long time. But Aunt Ginny’s farmhouse was still standing.
She walked up the old path, then up the two creaking steps, and onto the porch. As if on autopilot, she drifted over to where Aunt Ginny used to have her rocking chair, the special spot where they’d sit and rock away lazy afternoons.
She stared at one of the posts with small notches cut into the wood then knelt down, running her index finger over the grooves. She paused near a spot caked with bits of earth and rubbed at it with her thumb. There was something etched into the wood. As she removed the dirt, gently carved letters appeared.
My Jenna Jo.
Her eyes filled with tears. Her aunt would tell her to stand tall like a soldier as she marked her height on the post with the old kitchen knife. Jenna leaned against the post, fingers still touching each carved notch as tears trailed down her cheeks. She released a sob, then let out a surprised gasp when the porch step squeaked.
The Complete Langley Park Series (Books 1-5) Page 24
