Chapter 20
This had to work. It had to. If not, they were all screwed.
This was nothing like Cora ever thought would happen to her.
When she’d decided to try to win a date with one of the owners of The Refuge, she never expected to end up here.
From traveling to New Mexico, clicking with the women there, being here in Arizona with Pipe, having the best sex of her life, falling in love, being gassed, finding Lara alive—but in much worse shape than she’d imagined—and now playing the role of a lifetime.
Cora screamed as loud as she could, pounding on the door so hard, she knew she’d have bruises on her hands.
They needed someone to come investigate what the hell was happening before Creepy Guy blew up their Jeep.
They had to assume he’d then kill Pipe and Owl, and steal away with Lara and Cora in the confusion of all the firetrucks and police cars that were sure to arrive en masse.
And she had no doubt Creepy Guy would take her and Lara.
He was a rapist and a murderer, and she did not want to imagine what he’d do if he was able to kidnap them both.
They didn’t know the details of everything he’d done to women he’d killed in the past, but Cora had a very good imagination, especially after seeing Lara’s condition.
It finally occurred to her, as she pounded on the door and yelled for all she was worth, that it probably wasn’t Ridge who’d hurt Lara.
Yes, it was possible he’d come home from the strip club every night and messed with her, but she guessed it was more likely Creepy Guy the whole time.
Maybe he was the one who’d convinced Ridge to bring Lara to Arizona in the first place.
It made her sick to think that this kind of abuse had been premeditated.
They had to get out of this damn room.
Cora looked over at Pipe as she continued screaming.
He was standing behind where the door would open, every muscle ready to act.
To defend all of them. They’d talked about who might show up before she started her playacting.
They hoped the second bodyguard, Arlo Harvey, would be the one to arrive.
Or literally anyone else who worked in the house.
If they didn’t know what was happening in the basement right under their noses, they wouldn’t be prepared for Pipe to attack when the door opened.
But if Creepy Guy made it back to the house and heard the commotion, he’d be ready.
Even though her throat hurt, Cora didn’t stop screaming. She’d yell herself hoarse if that was what it took. She gave the performance of her life, which it literally was.
Finally, after what seemed like ages, she heard the dead bolt scrape along steel as someone began to unlock the door.
Her heart beat a million miles an hour as she glanced at Pipe. To her amazement, he gave her a reassuring nod. Here he was, about to fight whoever was on the other side of the door with nothing but his bare hands, and he was reassuring her.
“Please! Let me out! My friend needs help! I think she’s dying!” Cora yelled, moving back, letting Pipe get in front of her. His muscles were tense as he stared intently at the opening of the door.
To her surprise, instead of waiting for whoever was on the other side to actually enter the room, as soon as the opening was wide enough, he lunged forward, reaching out and pulling the person into the room.
Cora’s heart fell to the floor when she saw Pipe wrestling with Creepy Guy. The one person they didn’t want to come investigate.
Pipe and CG fell to the floor with a grunt and the fight was on.
Cora knew Pipe had hoped to subdue whoever entered the room quickly, but it was immediately clear that CG wasn’t going down easy.
In fact, as they exchanged blows, it seemed he had way more hand-to-hand combat experience than the average person.
For every blow that Pipe landed, Creepy Guy was getting in one of his own.
The impression Cora had gotten while back at The Refuge was that there weren’t many men who could match Pipe when it came to fighting.
But it was taking all his concentration not to be overpowered or disabled by a blow to a kidney.
Owl leaped into the fray, doing his best to assist Pipe, but Creepy Guy was a monster with muscles.
Fighting off both men as if it was nothing.
The thought flashed through Cora’s head that no woman would have a chance against this guy.
She was certain he had either a military background or some sort of martial arts training.
The thought of him touching Lara made Cora grit her teeth and want to throw up.
The men were all grunting, none of them speaking as they literally fought for their lives. It was eerie. And brutal. Pipe and Owl weren’t pulling their punches, but neither was Creepy Guy. They were all fighting dirty, doing everything they could do to take the other down.
Cora gasped when Creepy Guy landed a hard blow to the side of Pipe’s head that had him stumbling back and momentarily stunned. He then kicked Owl in the stomach, which sent him careening across the floor, landing hard on his ass.
In seconds, he’d turned his attention toward her—making Cora’s heart stop. The look in his eyes was chilling.
If he got his hands on her, he’d use Cora as leverage to make Pipe and Owl back off. She knew that as well as she knew her name.
Creepy Guy rushed at her before Pipe or Owl could get back up and attack. Cora’s life flashed in front of her eyes and she did the only thing she could think of…
She ducked.
Surprisingly, Creepy Guy’s lunge had him stumbling past her.
She moved without thought, leaping onto his back as if she were some sort of WWF champion.
Remembering what Pipe had told her back at The Refuge…two days ago? Three? She wasn’t sure, but his advice echoed in her head as clear as day.
I guarantee someone will let go of you immediately if you stick your finger in their eye. That gives you time to get the hell away from him or her and get help. That should be your goal—not standing and fighting, but getting away.
She screamed, a feral sound that came from deep within her soul as she grabbed his hair with one hand and wrapped her legs around his waist. Then she swung her other hand around, her thumb aimed for his right eye.
The sound his eye made as she pierced his eyeball with her nail made her want to puke. Not to mention the way it squished against her thumb. But instead of letting go at his roar of pain, Cora pushed harder and twisted her hand for good measure.
To make sure this asshole was as incapacitated as possible, she let go of his hair and used her other hand to jam her index finger up his nose.
That was gross…but not as disgusting as the liquid from his eyeball coating her thumb and running down her wrist.
Creepy Guy howled and thrashed in pain.
Satisfaction swam in Cora’s veins, but it was a brief moment of triumph because CG reached behind him and grabbed a fistful of her hair. He literally pulled her over his shoulder by her hair and threw her across the room.
It all happened so fast. Cora’s head throbbed from where he’d pulled out a hunk of her hair, but she barely registered the sensation before she hit the wall. Hard.
So hard her vision went black for a moment and there was a loud ringing in her ears, blocking out all other sound.
She lay slumped against the wall, trying to get her bearings. Shit. She hurt. All over. Her head, her ass where she’d landed, her arm.
She moved slightly, and gasped in pain as she realized she couldn’t move her right arm without feeling as if she was going to pass out.
Looking down, she saw a huge lump in the middle of her right forearm.
It was so deformed, she knew it was broken.
Cora had never had a broken bone before, but she’d seen a guy fall down a flight of stairs, and his arm had looked a lot like hers.
Then she saw the blood and gore on her hand from Creepy Guy’s eye. She gagged at the sight.
A noise finally registered, and she realized it was Owl, yelling at her.
“Cora! Are you all right? Shit! Talk to me!”
Blinking, Cora turned her head toward the fight that had resumed after CG had thrown her. Owl and Pipe were both punching and kicking their target over and over, with what seemed to be a lot more fury than before she’d been hurt.
“I’m okay,” she told him, her voice a little weak.
Looking toward the bed to check on Lara, she saw that her friend still seemed to be unconscious. She hadn’t moved, even with the noise of the fight going on feet from where she lay. Cora frowned in worry, but her thoughts turned back toward the fight when she heard a strange noise.
She inhaled sharply at the sight in front of her.
Seconds ago the fight had been full-on, with fists and feet being thrown and Creepy Guy trying to fend off both Pipe and Owl. Now, Pipe had finally gotten the upper hand. He knelt behind CG, his arm around the man’s neck, while Owl held his arms tightly so he couldn’t break free.
The sound she’d heard was CG gurgling, his breath rasping as he tried desperately to get air into his lungs.
Cora had the brief thought that she should be more disturbed about the scene in front of her than she was, but when she considered Lara’s condition, she silently hoped her man killed the bastard.
Blood ran down CG’s face from where she’d tried to take out his eye, and from where she was sitting, it looked as if she might’ve succeeded. Good. Served the sicko right.
One second Creepy Guy was kneeling, and the next, Pipe was dropping his unconscious body to the floor.
As Owl turned to the bed to check on Lara, Pipe said, “We need to go.”