Bent Not Broken (A Cedar Creek #1) (38 page)

Bane looked at Cal. “When was this? You met the boyfriend?” He asked.

“Laid her out back in September when Cal and Ivey started dating. She started seeing the boyfriend a couple of weeks after that. Haven’t met him, yet. Though she’s talked about him some.”

“You know his name?” Cal ground out.

“Kyle something. Don’t know his last—” Rick’s his eyes went wide with understanding and dread. “Shit! Fuck! Shit!”

“Where is she, Rick?” Cal clenched his fists as raw anger cursed through him to the point that a red haze covered his eyes. That fucking bitch!

“Shit! I don’t know man. But I’ll find her,” he said as he opened his phone and punched in the numbers angrily.

*****

Five minutes later Bane and Cal were following two squad cars that held one uniform and one detective each as well as the lieutenant to Gina’s house.

“That fucking bitch! I swear to God if she helped that motherfucker hurt Ivey—,”

“You gotta keep it together, man. Losing your shit is not gonna help Ivey. She’ll need you once we find her.” Bane told Cal.

“You think I don’t fucking know that? All I can do to not go completely off the rails is to not let my mind go where it wants to go. He can’t hurt her, Bane. Not again. If he touches her again—,” Cal couldn’t let himself finish that thought. He locked his jaw and took a deep breath.

“We’ll find her, Cal.”

“I know we will. I just hope it won’t be too late.”

“You and me both, brother. You and me both.”

They stopped on the street in front of Gina’s house and followed the officers to the front door. The door opened and there she was in all her skanky glory, wearing a skimpy nighty and too much make-up, which made her look like the hooker she was. Cal snorted in disgust.

“What can I help you with, boys?” Gina asked in her sexed-up voice that was anything but sexy, as she ran her eyes up and down the officers’ bodies. Stupid bitch.

“Cut the crap, Gina. We don’t have time for your shit. Ivey’s been kidnapped,” Rick growled at his sister.

“Rick, I agreed to let you come with us only because you promised not to interfere and keep your mouth shut. If you can’t do that I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to wait at the station,” lieutenant Bill Stevens hissed at Rick. Rick shut up but continued to glare at his sister. “Now, Miss Summers, we have to ask you a few question and you’d be advised to answer them truthfully and quickly, since time is of the essence.”

“You have a warrant?” Gina asked smugly, but stupidly.

“No, Miss Summers, we don’t. We don’t need one since we’re not going to search your house. Yet. Now, you can answer our questions here or we can cuff you and take you to the station.”

“You arresting me?”

“That depends on your answers. What I’m saying is if you refuse to answer our questions right here right now I have cause to believe you’re a suspect in the kidnapping of Ivey Jones, which means I will put you in cuffs and arrest you.”

“So if I answer you’re questions you won’t arrest me?”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Gina. Just agree to answer his fucking questions!” Rick shouted.

“Bill,” Cal growled at the same time. Stevens held up his hand without taking his eyes off Gina and they both shut up.

“I can’t guarantee I won’t arrest you, Miss Summers. If your answers tell me that you are in any way involved I won’t have any other choice but to take you in.” Gina’s eyes widened with worry and tension, giving away her involvement.

Cal started to see red. If the police weren’t here he would grab that bitch and shake her until she gave him the answers he needed to get to his woman. Bane grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the temptation.

“Fuck, Gina. What have you done?” Rick saw it, too. He knew his sister was involved. His voice was filled with shock and disbelief and fear.

“Miss Summers,” Stevens prompted.

“I…I…she…” Gina stuttered.

“Do you know a man named Kyle Parker?” Stevens asked. Gina looked at him.

“Yes,” she said. She had collected herself and looked at Stevens arrogantly. “He is my boyfriend.”

“Are you aware that he is an ex-convict who spent years in jail for assault and battery and involuntary man-slaughter?”

“That’s not true. That bitch set him up. He didn’t do it,” Gina snapped.

“Fucking hell,” Bane muttered angrily.

“Have you talked to him today, seen him?” Stevens continued.

“Yes, of course I have. We talk every day.”

“Do you know if he is in any way involved in the kidnapping of Ivey Jones?”

She hesitated, then gave a quick, courtly nod. “Fuck!” Rick exploded. Gina’s eyes went back to her brother, her arrogance cracking.

“How do you know he is involved?”

“He…he told me.”

“What did he tell you?” She looked back at the lieutenant.

“He told me that she lied to the police and set him up. He said she led him on and then used him and lied to him to get his money. That he was innocent and never touched her. That she needed to be taught a lesson before she ruined someone else’s life.” Her eyes came to Cal and she said, “I did it to protect you. She lied to you and manipulated you into dating her. She would have taken all your money and sent you to jail with her lies. I couldn’t let her do that to you.”

“Fucking hell,” Bane again growled.

“How can you be so fucking stupid,” Rick muttered in shock.

“Where is she?” Cal hissed. Gina stayed silent. “WHERE THE FUCK DID HE TAKE HER?” He shouted.

Gina flinched, but said nothing.

“Gina, I have seen Ivey’s medical file. There are pictures of her injuries after Parker beat the shit out of her; x-rays of her broken bones; tests; EMT reports; he beat her so bad that she lost the baby she was carrying and had to stay in the hospital for a week. If you know where he took her you need to tell us now. If you don’t and she is hurt in any way or, heaven forbid, dead you’ll go to jail for conspiracy to commit murder, no matter you knew that was his plan or not,” Bane ground out angrily.

Gina’s eyes had widened as she kept shaking her head.

“Gina, for Christ’s sake! Tell them!” Rick yelled.

“The Miller’s hunting cabin,” she whispered.

“Officer Malone, officer Samuels, take Miss Summers into custody. Everyone else, let’s go get Miss Jones,” Stevens barked, then jogged to the squad car. Cal and Bane were already in Bane’s truck.

*****

Fifteen minutes later they were driving through the woods to Bob Miller’s hunting cabin. Every local knew about the cabin. Its location of being close to town but far enough out to hunt the big game attracted a lot of hunters and tourists, who wanted to experience the Rocky Mountains like locals. Bob was making a whack renting it out almost year-round.

They were halfway there. Fifteen more minutes and he would be with his woman. By now, that asshole had had Ivey for two hours. A lot can happen in two hours in the hands of a violent piece of shit like Kyle Parker. Cal couldn’t think about what he was doing to his woman right this second. If he did he would lose control. And once he lost hold on his control he couldn’t promise not to kill anyone.

Fifteen more minutes.

All Cal could do was keep hoping that they wouldn’t be too late.

Ivey

I was fighting like I had never before fought in my life.

I was using everything I had.

My fists.

My nails.

My teeth.

My knees.

Everything.

And I was getting somewhere.

Kyle had me pinned against the wall with his full body weight against mine. My arms were trapped at my sides, so that I had no chance of moving. I could feel his excitement against my butt and bile rose in my throat.

The panic was threatening to consume me.

He would kill me.

Rape me and kill me.

And there was nothing I could do.

He had me pinned.

I knew it was over.

He was winning.

No! No! No! No! No!

Then my body took over and the self-defense lessons I had taken after Kyle attacked me ten years ago kicked in. I smashed the back of my head into his nose. Pain so strong I was seeing stars exploding behind my eyelids seared through the back of my head. But I had to hold on. I would not pass out. Kyle stumbled back, holding his nose, effectively releasing his hold on me. I turned around and faced him. Blood was running through his fingers down his chin and neck. He looked stunned. That was my opening.

I didn’t think.

Instinct was taking over.

Just like my trainer had said it would.

Before Kyle could recover, I shoved my shoulder into his stomach and pushed. Pushed hard, using my whole body until he hit the kitchen counter. He cried out I pain.

I raised my knee and rammed it into his balls over and over again until his legs gave out and he landed on his knees.

I heard nothing.

Thought nothing.

Saw nothing.

All I did was act.

I kept at his balls. Kicked them again and again and again until he curled up into a ball to protect himself.

I switched to his ribs. Kicked them again and again and again until my legs hurt from the exhaustion.

Then I was on him. I took his head and slammed it against the floor over and over and over again.

There was blood everywhere.

On the floor.

On my clothes.

Covering my hands.

Splattering my face.

I didn’t care.

I was breathing so hard my lungs were hurting, but I just kept going. Kyle had stopped moving, but there was no rational thought left in me. I was fighting the devil that had threatened to destroy my life yet again.

But not this time.

This time he would go back to hell where he belonged without taking a piece of me with him.

I held his head in my hand, ready to smash it into the floor again when something pulled off of Kyle’s body.

I felt arms around me, a hard chest pressing into my back.

My father.

He had heard Kyle’s pained moans and had come in to check.

I kept on fighting.

Kicking, hitting, scratching, screaming.

They would not win.

They would not! They would not! They would not!

I kicked and hit and scratched and screamed until the voice at my ear penetrated.

It wasn’t my father’s voice.

It was Cal’s.

“It’s me, baby. You’re safe. Shh, calm down. It’s me. You’re safe.”

I collapsed into his arms.

The fight left me and I started sobbing.

Cal turned me in his arms, and I grabbed onto him with all four limbs, holding on desperately as I shoved my face into his neck. Big violent sobs kept racking my body as he carried me out of the cabin and away from Kyle.

*****

I was still in Cal’s arms half an hour later. He was sitting in the back of an SUV that I didn’t recognize, me sideways in his lap, shaking, holding on for dear life. My face was still buried in his neck, though my sobs had almost completely stopped and my tears had slowed down. Cal was running one of his hands up and down my back soothingly, his other hand on my cheek wiping away the tears.

“You’re here,” I whispered.

“Yeah, baby. I’m here.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” I kept whispering.

“Hey, now. There’s nothing for you to be sorry about, baby,” Cal murmured calmly. We sat in silence again for a few minutes. Then Cal tentatively leaned back and pulled my face out of his neck. He roamed his eyes over my face and his jaw got hard at what he saw. I could only imagine what I looked like. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, every inch of my face hurt.

There was blood dried on my lip from Kyle backhanding and punching me back at my house. I could feel a bruise form on my temple and other places on my face and my ribs were hurting from all the sobbing.

“We need to get you seen to, baby.” Cal said softly.

He was probably right, but I didn’t want to leave the safety of his arms to do that just yet. There was an ambulance parked only a few feet away that had arrived a few minutes ago. The EMT had approached us when they first got here, but Cal had sent them away. Now I could see that they were standing by the side of the police car, talking to the cops, their concerned eyes flicking my way every few seconds, their expressions hard.

I knew all of them of course. Living in a small town like Cedar Creek, that was unavoidable. Which meant they would all soon know everything about me. If they didn’t already. Though right now I couldn’t care less.

I guess finding yourself in a position where you have to fight for your life changes your priorities.

Thinking of fighting Kyle and all that had happened in the last hour, I looked down at myself and saw that I was covered in blood. It was on my hands, my neck, my arms, my shirt, and my jeans. Some of it was beginning to dry and stuck to my skin. It felt claustrophobic.