Chapter 14 #3
Spencer stood up straight and took a step sideways, as if he was going to come around the counter toward her, but just then, there was a knock on the door.
Devyn was frustrated…and a little bit scared of her brother. She was glad for the reprieve. She had no idea who was at the door, but opening it would give both her and Spencer a break from their intense conversation.
Shifting sideways, she scooted around the island and headed for the front door of the townhouse. Without bothering to look through the peephole, Devyn opened it.
She had no idea who the two men were, standing there. She’d never seen them before.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Is Spencer here?” one of the men asked.
Devyn frowned in confusion. How in the world had they known her brother was here? Had they followed him…? “Can I ask who you are?”
“Nope,” the second man said. Then he cocked his fist back—and that was the last thing Devyn remembered before everything went dark as pain blossomed in her face and she went unconscious.
“Fuck, she’s heavy,” Bruce said for the millionth time as he and Darrell hiked through the forest, looking for the perfect place to stash the woman they’d kidnapped.
“Shut up,” Darrell told him. “I’m sick of hearing you bitch.”
“Then maybe you should carry her,” Bruce retorted.
“I’ve got the chain, the shovel, and the bag with the other shit,” Darrell said.
Bruce mumbled under his breath. He was done with this.
He wanted to go home and have a beer. Or fifteen.
The day had been very long already. He and his brother, Darrell, had been contacted by an acquaintance who knew a guy who knew a guy who needed a job done.
And they were always up for making a quick buck.
And in this case, they were making a cool twenty-five hundred for one day’s work. Simple job. It was a no-brainer.
They’d left their East Texas house early that morning and had driven over to Killeen, waiting outside the illegal gambling house where their mark had been spotted. Then they’d simply followed him to a townhouse, where they’d made their move.
Knocking out his girlfriend, or whoever she was, hadn’t been planned, but whatever.
And Bruce had loved beating the shit out of their mark.
He’d cried and blubbered and begged them to stop.
Dumb pansy. While he was half-conscious on the floor, they’d called their contact about the unexpected woman, who in turn had called whoever had ordered the job in the first place.
The brothers hadn’t signed up for kidnapping, but since their payment doubled from twenty-five hundred to five grand if they took the broad, they couldn’t turn it down.
They’d passed along a message to their mark, picked up the woman, and left.
They’d had to drug her after she almost woke up on their way back to the eastern side of the state, but luckily she’d never fully regained consciousness. The last thing either of them wanted was her waking up and being able to identify them, their car, or any other details about her little trip.
But this walking through the Davy Crockett National Forest was bullshit.
They had to choose a remote section so no one would accidentally find her.
Which meant tromping through brambles and undergrowth, instead of walking along a nice hiking path.
Not to mention, Bruce wasn’t exactly in shape and didn’t enjoy working out. Not in the least.
“Come on, man, we’ve gone at least three miles from that dirt road where we left the car. This is far enough.”
Darrell shook his head and stopped walking.
Sighing in relief, Bruce immediately shrugged and let the woman fall from his shoulder. He didn’t let her fall all the way to the ground, but he wasn’t gentle with her either. Why should he be? She was a means to an end. That end being five thousand bucks.
“Fine. Start looking for a tree. It needs to be big enough that her hands won’t touch when they’re wrapped around it.”
“She’s tall,” Bruce commented.
“I see that, asshole,” Darrell said as he smacked his brother in the head.
Bruce shoved him. “Don’t.”
“Don’t,” Darrell mocked, laughing. “You’re so easy to rile.”
“Fuck you!”
Darrell just laughed. “Come on, help me find a fucking tree and we can be done with this. You sure she’s still out?”
“Yes. She’s been dead weight over my shoulder for three miles. I think I’d know if she woke up. Trust me. She hasn’t.”
“Good. God, I love those date-rape drugs. Makes everything so much easier,” Darrell mused.
Bruce eyed the woman on the ground. He had no idea what her name was. Didn’t care. “She’s pretty good-looking. We’ve got some time…” He let his words trail off.
Darrell snorted. “She ain’t got any tits. I like my women to look like women. But anyway, we don’t have no time to play,” he said regretfully. “My ol’ lady’s expecting me back soon.”
“Damn,” Bruce said. He would’ve liked to at least get his rocks off in return for carrying the bitch for miles through the damn forest.
“Come on, let’s go check over there. The trees look a little thicker,” Darrell ordered.
Bruce nodded and followed his brother. The sooner they got this done, the sooner they’d be able to get home. He would head down to the local watering hole and find him a bitch he could take home and fuck.
Then a thought struck him. “Shit…you got the GPS, right?” he asked Darrell.
His brother froze and looked at him with wide eyes. “I thought you had it.”
“Fuck. No, you said you’d grab it! I got the girl, you were supposed to get all the other shit!” Bruce yelled, panic taking over.
His brother stared at him for a long moment—before he burst out laughing. He doubled over and smacked his leg as if Bruce’s panic was the funniest thing he’d ever seen in his life. “Damn, you should’ve seen your face! I wish I had a camera,” Darrell said when he could talk.
“Fuck you!” Bruce swore. “You’re such an asshole.”
“Of course I’ve got the damn GPS,” Darrell said, still chuckling.
“We wouldn’t be able to mark the coordinates to give to our man to pass on if I didn’t.
And no way I’d hike three miles back to the car for the GPS, then back here, then back to the car again.
Six miles is enough for one day, don’t you think? ”
“Yeah,” Bruce mumbled. He would’ve been more upset with his brother if he hadn’t been so relieved.
He knew Darrell would’ve made him walk back to the car to get the GPS if it had come down to it.
And because he knew him so well, he also wouldn’t have given him the car keys.
Darrell knew Bruce would’ve been tempted to leave his ass.
“Great. Keep an eye out for—hey…what about that one?” Darrell asked.
Bruce would’ve agreed with just about anything his brother suggested at that moment, just to get the fuck out of there, but when he saw the tree Darrell was pointing to, he knew it would be perfect.
The brothers worked quickly to wrap the chain they’d brought with them around the tree.
Tired of carrying the woman, Bruce just grabbed her arms and dragged her through the undergrowth to the spot they’d prepared.
It didn’t take them long to prop her up with her back against the wide tree trunk, then wrap a thick chain around her, securing it with a padlock behind the tree.
Then they pulled her arms behind her, attached a set of handcuffs to each wrist, and secured those to the chain.
Bruce smirked as he stood back and looked down at the helpless woman. With both the chain and the handcuffs, there was no way she’d be able to escape. Her head lolled to one side and she would’ve fallen over sideways if her arms hadn’t been stretched back around the tree.
Darrell fiddled with the GPS for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction. “Got it,” he said. “I’ll send these coordinates to our guy when we’re back on the road.” Then he looked down at the unconscious woman on the ground. “She looks kinda pathetic,” he noted emotionlessly.
“Should we leave the water we brought?” Bruce asked.
Darrell snorted. “No. I’m not gonna waste it.
Besides, with her arms behind her like that, she wouldn’t be able to drink it anyway.
If her man doesn’t come up with that money he owes, she’s not gonna last long anyway.
I give her four days. Tops. And that’s if some hungry creature doesn’t find her first. Come on.
We’ve got a long walk back to the car, and after today, I need beer, food, and a good fuck. In that order.”
Bruce agreed. He turned his back on the woman they’d kidnapped, transported across the state, hauled into the remote backwoods of the national forest, and chained to a tree.
She wasn’t his problem anymore. Never was, really.
He was being paid for a job and that job was now done.
He was as ready as his brother to get his dick wet.
But unlike Darrell, he had a whole bar full of women he could choose from.
Poor Darrell was stuck with the same chick every night.
Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Bruce knew his brother paid for sex all the time, but that wasn’t the same thing as free pussy.
His thoughts full of how many times he might get laid later that night, Bruce followed his brother out of the dense forest back toward their car. He felt no remorse for his actions. It was a dog-eat-dog world, and they were entitled to make a buck, just like everyone else.
Devyn came back to consciousness slowly.
But she kept her eyes shut, trying to analyze the situation before she let whoever might be nearby know she was awake.
That was something Fred had taught her. She’d laughed at him at the time, saying she would never be in that kind of situation, but he’d merely shaken his head and said you couldn’t predict what life had in store, and it was better to be prepared for anything.