Little Red (8 page)

“I found it along the way,” I shoot out finally.

“I ruined my shirt working on my bike.”

I glance at Josh who seems almost satisfied with that reply.

My shoulders release some tension as I feel myself letting out a long sigh.

I at least have his lack of knowledge in motorcycles to throw against him

He makes a funny noise and twists his face briefly.

“So, you put on a man’s shirt?”

Though I’m caught off guard, luckily I’m able to think on my feet.

“I needed something,” I tell him.

“I couldn’t very well run around covered in oil.”

“You mean to tell me that you didn’t take any clothes,” he says, glaring at me from
the corners of his eyes again

I take what I hope isn’t too long to think things through again.

My mind whirls with the events just the night before.

Ethan had gone to get my saddlebags for my fresh jeans.

My bags were already at the cabin by the time Josh had found my bike

“I told you,” I begin.

“I was only going for a ride, and I got lost.”

“You got lost.” He scoffs.

“You got lost, and instead of stopping, you ended up going all the way to fucking
Louisiana.”

I swallow hard again and nod as the heat has finally kicked in and is tingling on
my frozen arms.

“Where are we going?” I ask, already knowing the answer

“I’m taking you back home,” he tells me

* * * * * *

The hours pass along the highway.

My mind feels as though it’s racing faster than the faded lines on the side of the
road.

How in the hell did he find me?

I try to keep my gaze looking out the window, but for some reason, I can’t help but
to glare at Josh.

I was almost free, and now here I am, in this truck, on my way back to that house
- the exact two things that I was trying to escape from.

I study the lines of Josh’s face.

He’s relaxed now and staring out at the road as his fingers drum out the beat of the
song that’s playing on the radio on the steering wheel of his truck

“Thank you for finding me,” I whisper, finally breaking the silence.

“I thought I was going to be lost in those woods forever.”

He turns quickly to stare into my eyes briefly.

“You know better than to leave like that, Samantha.”

“I just wanted some air,” I say, protecting my own rear-end.

“I needed to think, you know,” I say softly, tucking my hair behind my ear.

“Sometimes I just need to think.”

He gives me a slow nod, as though he really understands.

“You can think just fine from our bedroom,” he says with a silky voice

My heart sinks as the hope of ever getting away slowly begins to fade.

“I was really scared,” I mutter as I blink my tears back quickly so Josh doesn’t see

“I told you that you can’t get away from me,” he says.

“I will always find you.”

I attempt to withhold my shudder.

“I’m glad you did,” I lie.

“How did you know where to look?”

He releases a chuckle.

“Do you really think that I would let my girlfriend ride on that deathtrap that you
call a bike without installing a GPS locator?”

I force myself to control my gasp as I finally feel the need to surrender.

If I’m going to get away from Josh, it’s not going to be now.

I have to be cunning and strategically plan my getaway.

Which means I have no choice but to go back to Kentucky with him and plan my escape
as quickly as I can; only this time better and with no chance of Josh ever finding
me.

Without my bike I know I’ll have a few problems presented, but if there is one thing
I have ever been, it’s determined to get away from Josh

My thoughts flit back to Ethan, and I feel some part of my heart swell.

How can it be possible that after spending one night with a man that I miss him? How
can it be possible that after finding out he’s damned by a curse to go crazy each
full moon that I would want to see him again?

* * * * * *

A few days after we returned to Kentucky, I find myself moping around the house that
I despise.

It’s not that it’s a dump; it’s actually a very beautiful southern inspired home.

Huge with two stories, it’s white but has an awful pink trim and a wraparound porch

Josh’s mom has two passions in life: shades of pink and floral designs, and they are
everywhere.

The room that I am supposed to share with Josh is a shade of pink that would shame
Pepto Bismol.

I think it’s being in this house that makes me hate pink and floral print that way
that I do to be honest

It’s quiet in the house right now; it has been all day.

Josh’s parents are at work.

They keep mostly to themselves, and they believe their son is a complete angel, disregarding
the marks all over my body.

If we lived anywhere else, if his father wasn’t a judge and his mother a lawyer, Josh
would be in jail by now

Josh was up and out of the house with his friends by 8 a.m.

and to be honest, I couldn’t care less.

It has given me plenty of time to shower, relax, and think.

Think about Ethan, who right now, is clouding my getaway plan.

With my motorcycle sitting in God-only-knows-where, Louisiana, this will be much harder
than last time.

With the bike rigged with that damn GPS device, going back could mean leading Josh
straight to me again.

Staying in Kentucky is absolutely out of the question.

Aside from hating it here, I don’t want to be in the same state as Josh.

Even worse, I would never see Ethan again.

I try to shake my mind out of it.

Thinking about Ethan isn’t going to help me any right now, especially when he has
a way of making my brain so warm and fuzzy

I let out a sigh.

I should have never left that night.

He and his brothers, though a little crazy, tried to help me.

His sister-in-law took me in without knowing me and made sure I was treated like one
of the family.

Ethan, who barely knew me, came to check on me while I showered.

And what did I do? I took off in the middle of the night, drunk, with no real idea
of where I was going.

I don’t regret leaving because Josh found me.

I regret leaving because, well, I left Ethan.

I don’t know how to explain it.

It’s odd.

I feel weird…especially at night.

The past few nights, I have been a whole mess of emotions and I feel something pulling
me back to Louisiana.

It’s strong, and at night, it’s even stronger

“Samantha.”

I shake out of my little funk to see Josh staring at me with furious brown eyes.

I was so locked in my own brain that I hadn’t notice he was home, let alone standing
right in front of me.

I stare back at him, confused, because right now it’s all I know to do

“What the hell are you doing, Sam?” Josh shoots, grabbing onto my bicep

“I wasn’t doing anything.” I wiggle, trying to free myself from his grasp

“The hell you weren’t,” he yells, giving my arm an even tighter squeeze

I shoot him a dirty look.

“I was standing here thinking, that’s not a crime.” I reach to pry his hand off me

He gives his head a shake.

“No, I think you’re fucking lying.

You’ve been acting this way since I picked your ass up in Louisiana.”

“Acting what way? Standing around the house thinking? What else have I got to do?”
I snap.

I open my mouth to speak again but Josh overpowers me.

I feel my back slam so hard against the floral wallpaper that the photos shake and
nearly fall to the floor.

I let out a high pitched yelp as he holds me in place, adding to the pain that’s shooting
down my spine from the initial push

“Don’t you dare play fucking stupid with me.

Don’t you lie to me either,” he says, giving me a shake.

“I’m not stupid, Samantha.

You have been acting different.

You were wearing a man’s shirt for Christ’s sake!”

I let my mouth drop as I use my hands to pry his hands off me.

How could a shirt possibly have tipped him off that something happened?

“You cry out for him in your sleep,” Josh growls.

“Those fucking nightmares that you have that keep me up all goddamned night.”

“I don’t cry out for anyone,.” I retort as I give him a push away from me

His hands tighten on me.

“Don’t you play stupid.

How did you meet him?”

“There is no man,” I tell him, meeting his eyes

“So it wasn’t his shirt that you were wearing when I found you?” he screams

I shake my head.

“I didn’t meet anyone.

I told you, I just went for a ride.”

“Oh,” Josh says, “so you didn’t meet Ethan?” He says it so calmly that it actually
frightens me

My mouth drops and I gasp suddenly, staring at Josh with wide eyes

He lets out a laugh.

“That’s exactly what I thought.”

Before I can open my mouth to cover my tracks, Josh’s hand meets my cheek with such
fury that I am blinded by a stinging pain.

He releases his grip on me, and I lean against the wall for support as I hold my throbbing
face.

I take a few deep breaths, afraid to even move my hand from my cheek

“I want you to remember what that felt like,” Josh tells me roughly.

“Because from here on out, you are being punished.

Fuck up again, Samantha.

I dare you.” He growls as he walks away

I rub gently at my cheek, confused and trying to make the pieces fit together.

Without even looking in the mirror, I can tell that it’s beginning to welt up.

He hit me so hard that I am pretty sure he left an entire hand print on my face.

I take a moment to compose myself, suck in a few deep breaths and head to the bathroom.

At least it’s a room that I know I can lock myself in since Josh is even more hell
bent on being violent with me

Looking in the mirror confirms my suspicions.

Josh has left a hand print on my face, one that’s bright red and raised from the force
of his large hand.

I rinse my face with cool water and tenderly pat it dry with one of the pink towels.

I release another breath, still trying to collect my thoughts.

I’ve had night terrors for years.

I suppose they are caused from my past.

They’re these indescribably horrible episodes that feel so real they hurt.

Except unlike a normal nightmare, I can barely shake myself awake and when I do wake
up, it’s hard to distinguish reality from the dream I was stuck in.

It’s like I’m locked in until my brain finds a way to tell me it was a bad dream and
calm itself.

It’s very possible that in my last night terror I could have called for Ethan.

Sometimes I do remember them, but this is one that I have no recollection of

I look out the small window in the bathroom.

The special film makes it impossible to see clearly out of, but I can tell that by
the color of the sky that the sun is setting.

The sky is that soft purple that I love.

I creep from the bathroom, passing Josh’s game room where he’s playing a video game.

Luckily when he plays those, he loses touch with the world and I am never a concern
of his then.

I walk to the front door that leads onto the large front porch.

I don’t even know why, but I find myself looking for the moon.

It still looks mostly full, but it is waning slowly.

I stare up at it and I feel…different.

I feel drawn to it.

Maybe because I met Ethan under the full moon.

Maybe because I now know just what a full moon can do and the power that it holds…like
its own little secret.

Who knows, but right now I feel like the moon is pulling me out here.

I don’t know what it expects me to do, so I do what seems right and I just take it
in as the purple sky fades into darkness

I let out a sigh as James presses his cell phone to his ear.

He’s talking to Colt, who, of course, understands everything.

A headache is now steady behind my eyes, and my neck is beginning to ache.

I hear James end the phone call as he walks back to my Jeep where I’ve been leaning
my tired body

“That was Colt,” he tells me

I nod

“Ethan,” he starts.

“We’ve been running all over creation for about four weeks.”

I give him a nod

“We’re chasing faint traces of our own smell now, which could very well be places
that we’ve already been.”

I drop my head.

“You don’t understand.”

He leans into the Jeep.

“But, I do.” I look over at him, and he fights a smile.

“You’ve found your mate which is why we’ll just keep looking.

I picked up your scent fairly strongly, mixed with the smell of Josh from the one
night you saw her.”