Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
DARBY
“Says the restraining order, for starters,” I reply and reach around to my back pocket for my phone and then realize that I left it in the garden. Shit.
“A piece of paper doesn’t do anything. You’re old enough to know that.” Peter scoffs and shakes his head, but he doesn’t move from the doorway, as if he’s biding his time. As if he’s enjoying the idea of making me scared.
And I am.
I’m fucking terrified of him now because he outweighs me by fifty pounds of muscle, and I’m not stupid enough to think that he couldn’t easily hurt me.
The only reason he hasn’t hurt me in the past is because someone else interrupted him.
There’s no one else here, and honestly, I’m so fucking exhausted.
How long am I going to have to do this with this asshole?
I may be scared, but I’m fast, and I absolutely won’t go down without a fucking fight.
“Look, I don’t want any trouble with you,” I tell him. “And that’s the fucking truth.”
“See, I don’t believe you.” Now he pushes away from the door and slowly walks toward me, but I step back, and he moves in a circle, as if there’s a magnet in the middle of us, keeping us apart.
And that works for me while I figure out what in the hell I’m going to do.
“I think you do want trouble because ever since I met you, I’ve had nothing but exactly that. I’ve been to jail, lost a damn good job, and now because of you, I lost another job. Sure, it was shitty, mucking stalls and being treated no better than a fucking slave, but it put food on the table.”
God, how do I call for help without my phone?
“I didn’t say anything to Kincaid about you,” I tell him. And it’s true, I didn’t.
Tucker did, but I’m not going to tell him that.
“Then how the fuck did he find out that I was fired before? And how did he get the stupid idea that I ever put my hands on you?”
“You did put your hands on me,” I remind him with a scowl, but he just smiles.
“That’s your word against mine. Now, it seems to me that you’re all alone out here.”
“Tucker will be back any minute.”
“Nah, he won’t. He’s out with the herd.” His smile widens when he sees my frown. “Betcha didn’t know that one of his ranch hands is my brother-in-law, did you? All I had to do was call him and ask what was going on out here today to know that you’re going to be alone for some time.”
“So, what are you going to do, Peter? Rape me?”
“Maybe.” He nods and my heart falls when he pulls a whip off the barn wall. “Sure was a shame, what happened to you with that whip. Looked like it hurt real bad.”
“You’re not going to whip me.”
My voice sounds vicious. Because I feel vicious. I’m so fucking livid that he would have the audacity to even consider threatening me with a goddamn whip.
Never again.
“The thing is,” he says as he lets the leather uncoil and fall in one long strip to the dirt floor, “that I can do whatever the fuck I want with you right now. There’s no one to help you. No one to hear you scream.”
I can’t hear you if you scream when I’m out with the herd.
I’m truly fucked. I don’t see how I get out of this unscathed because Peter’s right. And that terrifies me down to the marrow of my goddamn bones.
“Ah, it’s finally sinking in,” he says, nodding and smiling that sick smile. “I told you before, I like it when you’re scared of me. It’s exciting. Those pretty blue eyes of yours get wide, and you go a little pale, and fuck if it isn’t sexy as hell.”
“Fuck you.”
“You will.” He winks at me and cracks the whip, making me jump. “I wonder what it is with you and these whips. It’s just a strip of leather, you know.”
He cracks it again, and I feel myself start to shake, and I desperately want to hide the fact that he’s scaring me because I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.
“What would you rather?” he asks. “A whipping or a good fucking? Because I’ll bet that Tucker doesn’t give it to you the way you should get it. You should be fucked like the little whore you are.”
“I’m not a whore.”
“Oh, sure you are.” He tsks, as if he’s disappointed in me. “I bet you spread those pretty thighs for Tucker any time he wants, don’t you?”
I refuse to answer him. I need to just shut my mouth because no matter what I say, it’s not going to change this.
It’s not going to stop him.
He snaps the whip again, and it almost hits me. I can feel the burst of air from it, and I can’t hold the whimper in because the memories are starting to come to the surface, and I can’t have that.
I need to keep my wits about me.
I back up until my shoulders hit the stall behind me, and I feel leather against my hands.
A bridle.
Could I lash out and trip him? Hurt him?
I have to do something, otherwise I’m a sitting duck.
“I think—”
He cracks the whip, and I take the bridle off the wall and lash out. It wraps around his leg and I tug, making him fall back, and the air is knocked out of him, and I don’t pause for even a heartbeat.
I run.
“You fucking bitch!”
I don’t look back as I sprint out of the barn toward the house, adrenaline racing through me as I pump my legs as fast as I can. My phone is in the garden, but I can lock myself in the house, and I decide that’s the best thing to do. I can hide there, at least.
Just as I come around the corner, I’m knocked down from behind, and this time, the air is knocked from my lungs and I can’t pull in a breath as he turns me over, pins me, my hands above my head, and punches me in the face, but I kick my knee up and catch him in the balls, making him scream like a little fucking girl.
“You’re going to die for that.”
“I’m too mean to die,” I reply. His hands loosened on mine when I kneed his family jewels, and I claw at his face, my fingers pushing into his eyes, and he starts to scream more, but I don’t stop.
I hear hooves and then Tucker yelling out, but I can’t stop scratching Peter’s face. Blood coats my hands as he’s yanked off me and thrown aside, and then Tucker’s kneeling beside me, his face masked in pure rage and worry and fear.
“Baby? Fuck, your lip. Did he—”
“No, I fought him off,” I spit out as Tucker helps me to my feet. Tires screech to a halt behind us, and I spin around just as Easton jumps out of the car and runs toward us, his weapon trained on Peter, who’s still crying on the ground.
“I think I gouged one of his eyes out,” I say, but my voice sounds a million miles away, and I can’t catch my breath.
“Good.” Tucker takes my shoulders in his hands. “Look at me, Duchess. Eyes on me. Good girl.”
I’m watching him, and he takes in a deep breath.
“Breathe with me, baby. It’s over now. He can’t hurt you.”
“Never again,” Easton agrees as he slaps handcuffs on Peter.
“She attacked me!”
“I have everything on video, you fucking piece of shit,” Tucker spits out, and when Peter’s gone, Tucker helps me to my feet and folds me in his arms and holds on like he’ll never let go.
I hear Easton return, and I look over to see him standing with his hands balled into fists, his jaw tight.
“I’m going to have to ask you some questions, Darby. And I’ll need that video feed, Tuck.”
“I’ll send it to you,” Tucker replies, but he doesn’t let me go. “And let’s give Darby some time—”
“I can tell you now,” I interrupt. “I’d rather get it over with.”
And so I do, I go through the whole thing without stuttering, without crying, and when I’m finished, Easton reaches out and pats me on the shoulder, and I don’t flinch away.
“I’m proud of you, Darby,” he says. “You did so fucking good. Peter won’t be bothering you again.”
Easton leaves, and Tucker lets out a breath.
“I watched the whole fucking thing,” he says, “and I swear to God it took ten years off my life. I couldn’t get to you fast enough, and you didn’t know I was coming, and God, Darby.”
“I’m okay.” My breathing is evening out, but now that Peter’s gone and I’ve told Easton everything, I’m starting to shiver.
“He had that whip,” Tucker says, shaking his head. “And fuck, I thought—”
“Me, too, but he didn’t get the chance to use it.”
“I’m so fucking proud of you.” He cups my cheek and kisses me hard. “You’re so fucking strong and brave, and Christ, you kicked his ass. I’m so proud.”
“I’m just relieved you got here when you did because I don’t know how long I could have held him off.”
“You destroyed his eye, baby. He was done. You didn’t need me.”
“Yes, I did. I do.” He sweeps me up in his arms and carries me inside, marches through the kitchen to the living room, and sits with me in his lap. “I do need you. Oh God, I’m going to cry, but it’s just because the adrenaline is wearing off.”
“Cry, baby. Do whatever you need to do.”
I don’t want to cry. Jesus, it feels like that’s all I do when I’m with this man, but I can’t stop it. So, the tears come, and my man holds me, murmurs sweet words in my ear, and runs his hand through my hair. And when I’m done, I feel so much better.
I let out a big sigh and pull back to look at my man.
“That scared the shit out of me.”
“Same here,” he agrees and nuzzles my nose. “Are you really okay?”
“Yeah. I’m not hurt. He punched me, but that was the worst of it.”
He growls, but I push my fingers through his hair.
“This time, he’d better go to jail.”
“I think that’s a given. I have a shit ton of video evidence this time. We’ll probably have to talk to Easton again at some point.”
“That’s okay. I don’t mind.”
“You’re very calm, considering all that just happened.”
I blink, thinking it over. “You’re right, I am. I guess I don’t feel afraid anymore. He’s gone, and I’m in your arms.”
“I don’t want you to be afraid in your own home, baby.”
“Maybe we should install a gate.” I pull my lip through my teeth, and Tucker considers my words.
“I mean, I don’t think that’s going to happen often, but you’re right.
If I’m alone, no one can hear me if I need help, no matter what that help looks like.
But if it’s an intruder, well, we might as well make it a little harder for them to get here. ”
“Not a bad idea. I’ll see to it.”
He brushes my hair back and sighs.
“What do you need now, Duchess?”
I press my lips together, and then smile. “I want to sit by the fire. But first, I want to go get ice cream, and then come back and eat it by the fire.”
“That’s all?”
“Yeah. It sounds really great to me.”
“It’s not even dark or anything.”
“I don’t care.” I nuzzle into him. “It’s all I want. That and you.”
“Done.”