Chapter 2 #2
Hannah nodded and bustled behind the counter, wrapping each delectable item and putting them in a paper bag. She handed me the bag, placing an extra donut in my other hand. She gave me a wink.
With a shake of my head, I playfully sighed. There was no use arguing when Hannah gave you free food. It was in her roots. And who was I to turn down a free donut anyway?
“Thanks, Han.”
“You bet. How’s everyone up at that farm of yours?”
My answer took a moment too long to form, the truth wanting to burst from my tongue like it always did.
I wished someone would see, would look past the surface and not turn up their noses in favor of being ignorant.
I wished someone would help us when we didn’t know how to help ourselves. But I couldn’t say that.
I couldn’t say anything at all. Not when my father could take his anger out on the others in retaliation for speaking up.
I pasted a fake smile on my face. “Doing great.”
A crease formed between her brows as they furrowed. Could she tell I was lying? With slow movements, I had tucked my wrist behind my back, not wanting to risk her seeing the bruises.
“You be sure to let me know if y’all need anything. Anything at all.”
I gripped the bag tighter, the paper crinkling softly. She always said the same thing before I left her shop, so why did this time have my pulse ratcheting up?
My father had hammered it into all of us: the Thornwoods didn’t rely on anyone but themselves.
And no one knew the kind of man my father was.
Ignorance truly was bliss, and shame was a smothering cloth shoved in our mouths.
I struggled to keep my smile in place. “Thanks Han. See you next time!”
With a wave over my shoulder, I took a step out of the bakery and headed back to the car.
I had just taken a large bite of donut, mouth thoroughly full, when I noticed a strange gray van parked behind mine.
While I couldn’t claim to know every car in the town of Davie, I knew what most of the townies drove, and this was one I’d never seen before. That creeping gut feeling returned.
My steps quickened to get inside my car, and I had just unlocked the door when a hand gripped my arm, yanking me down into the shadows of the alley next to the bakery.
I swallowed hard, trying to get the dough out of my mouth so I could speak or scream.
Fingers tightened on my upper arms as my back was slammed into the brick wall.
I gagged against the last swallow of donut, opening my mouth to scream when a calloused hand smothered it.
“Quiet,” a male voice snapped. A black sweatshirt hung loose on his shoulders, the hood shielding his eyes. I couldn’t tell who he was. Something cold and sharp pressed against my neck, and I went utterly still.
“What do you want?” I breathed, afraid to say more than that. Even if there wasn’t a weapon poised to end my life, I didn’t know how to fight back.
For years, I had wanted to learn self-defense, but the moment my father got a whiff of that, he shut it down. I had learned that fighting back was not an option. Not if I valued my life.
Oh, the irony.
“Shh, quiet,” he whispered, the heat of his putrid breath fanning over my face.
“Don’t try to fight or you won’t leave this alley alive.
” The knife pressed harder against my throat in warning, and a sting of hot blood trickled down my neck.
He tightened his grip to the point that a whimper escaped through my lips, and my body began to shut down like it always did.
“Make a peep and you’ll die.” I couldn’t see his face beneath the shadows of his hood.
The only thing my brain could register was the faint scent of smoke, like the kidnapper had been around a campfire recently.
Davie had always been a safe town. Nothing ever happened here.
Tears welled in my eyes. Dread sank heavy into my gut, curdling like spoiled milk.
He shook me hard, the back of my head hitting the brick wall. Black dots danced in my vision. “Do you understand?”
Another whimper was my only answer, burning tears sliding down my cheeks.
With a grunt, he yanked me forward out of the shadows into the blinding sunlight. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the light as I tried to force the tears away. Every instinct within me wanted to scream, to call out, but I didn’t know who this man was or what he wanted with me.
Besides, there was no one on the street—no one in sight.
As my body continued to shut down with no hope of escape, a familiar head of dark hair appeared down by the small grocery store. At first, he didn’t see me, continuing on his way to a black SUV parked farther down the street.
But then, as if his eyes were drawn to mine, his head whipped in my direction. Though I remained silent, I tried to put every ounce of pleading into my eyes.
“Hey!” the man called. “Everything okay?”
The man gripping my arm swore under his breath, yanking me faster toward the creepy van parked behind mine.
My body obeyed automatically, thoughts entirely freezing in my brain.
And then the man with gold-ringed eyes started walking toward us.
My kidnapper swore again and changed directions, heading for another alley, then swore loudly when he found it was a dead end. He immediately backtracked.
Right into Gold-Eyes’s chest.
“Are you okay?” the guy repeated, those strange eyes studying the fear plastered on my face. “Is this man bothering you?” Sweat beaded on my forehead, but I couldn’t get my mouth to open, to ask for help.
The kidnapper squeezed my arm in warning, and I couldn’t hold back a wince. My lack of response must have been answer enough because he turned his attention on black hoodie man.
“Let her go,” he ordered, his voice a deep rumble.
The man yanked me closer. “This has nothing to do with you.” Even though Gold-Eyes had several inches on him and plenty of muscle, the kidnapper had the audacity to flick his hand at him, shooing him.
The stranger from the grocery store looked between us for another moment before a wry grin split across his face.
“Actually, it does.”
And then he attacked.
Or at least I thought he attacked. I wasn’t quite sure what I was seeing.
Gold shimmering light, brighter than the sun, burst before my eyes, and I slammed them shut. The kidnapper flinched, his fingers loosening enough that I was able to yank away from him. My sneakers stuck to the hot pavement, and I stumbled forward, knees banging painfully into the rocks and asphalt.
“Not so fast,” the kidnapper’s voice growled, grabbing hold of my bruised wrist, and I couldn’t hold back a cry of pain. He pulled me back to his chest, wrapping his forearm beneath my chin, the knife in his other hand pricking at my neck.
“I don’t know what fancy trick that was, but she’s coming with me.”
Gold-Eyes gave a dark chuckle, raising his hands before him, the center of his palms radiating golden light.
He didn’t even bother to respond before he drew his hands into his chest and thrust them forward.
I closed my eyes, shutting out the brightness, and heat burned against my ear before the man’s chokehold was suddenly gone along with the prick of the knife at my neck.
I blinked against the summer sunlight sneaking into the alley as I pried my eyelids open.
The first thing I noticed was the grocery store guy’s chest heaving like he had exerted a ton of effort.
When I no longer felt like my legs were going to give out beneath me, I looked over to find the kidnapper sprawled on the concrete, mouth gaping, skin ghostly pale.
“Is…?”
“He’s dead.” The words were cold, unfeeling.
Dead?
“W-what—” I stuttered before a large hand swallowed my wrist, though this grip wasn’t nearly as crushing as I was used to.
“Come with me,” Gold-Eyes commanded, leading me back out of the alley, into the bright sunlight.
My tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth, and I couldn’t speak—couldn’t ask where he was taking me or what had just happened to the kidnapper. My feet moved forward of their own accord, my brain entirely shutting down before I could so much as think of fighting back.
Before we turned the corner out of the alley, I glanced over my shoulder just once.
The blood drained from my face, and a wave of dizziness made the world spin.
The man that had tried so hard to kidnap me…
He was gone.