I needed to keep him distracted for a few more seconds and to work out how to get past him in such a small space.
“So, we’re going to live here in this little cabin forever, are we?” I asked, picking up a tube of lipstick and a bottle of foundation along with the scissors. “Are you going to at least let me clean the place up a little? Or were you planning on keeping me locked up in this room until I die of boredom or choke on dust?”
“You won’t die of boredom,” he said, with a tone that was a lot more ominous than I’d expected. “And I’ll give you something else to choke on. And I’ll be glad to let you out of the room once you get rid of your smartass attitude.” He continued looking right into my eyes with a smug, cocky half-smile on his face. Gross. “When you start treating me with the kind of love and devotion I deserve, we can talk about what I can do for you.”
I stood up next to him again with my makeup and makeshift weapon in hand.
There was nothing in the world he could have done to make me pretend to be his loving, devoted woman. No amount of torture. Nothing.
But instead of telling him that, I just nodded along like I was taking mental notes after everything he’d said.
My palms started to sweat as the seconds ticked by. I needed to make a move.
Now.
“Randy.” I smiled as sweetly as I could. “I just need—oh, shit!” The makeup in my hand clattered to the floor, and I shifted the scissors in my grip, ready to use them as a knife. “Ugh, I’m sorry. I’m just so clumsy sometimes.”
I bent down, pretending to go after the makeup for a second until he finally gave me the opening I’d been waiting for.
“Do I make you nervous?” He leered over me, resting his hand on the bathroom counter. “You’re probably getting all worked up with me standing this close, aren’t you? I’m surprised you can even keep your hands off me, sugar—fuck!”
Blood spurted from his hand where I’d stabbed the tiny scissors with as much force as possible clean through to the counter underneath. Bile rose in my throat as I kneed him in the groin and pushed past him, still holding the nail file, ready to use it.
The bedroom door stood open, and the front door to the cabin was straight ahead of me.
Please let it be unlocked.
“You fucking bitch!” Randy yelled, his footsteps right behind me as I threw the door open and burst outside into the crisp morning air. “I’ll fucking kill you!”
“Gotta catch me first, sugar,” I muttered, running for the nearby trees and ignoring the pain as rocks and twigs snapped under my bare feet.
It was one of those rare occasions when I was thankful for the fact that I’d been brought up dirt poor in the middle of the woods. It had been a lot of years since I’d run around out in the wilderness without shoes on, but I hadn’t forgotten the bottoms of my feet could withstand some abuse.
I did wish that I’d put on some of those clothes he’d bought me, though. That would have been a lot easier than dealing with the stupid sheet that I still had wrapped around me.
No time to be picky. I’d have happily run through the woods butt-ass naked to get away from Randy.
I wasn’t sure which direction to go in or where I might end up, but those things didn’t matter nearly as much as the fact that I had to keep going and keep a distance between us. He huffed and puffed as he crashed through the brush behind me.
“Jasmine! You’d better get back here!” His yelling only made me run faster. “Stop right now and I might go easy on you.”
Yeah, right. I had just made everything so much worse for myself if he got his hands on me again.
His yelling and the sound of him running behind me seemed to grow more distant, but I didn’t dare to slow down or look around. I ran as fast as I could, pushing myself even when my lungs started to burn and my sides started to ache. The bottoms of my feet were muddy, scratched, and probably bleeding, but I still pushed myself harder.
I had to outrun him. My life literally depended on it.
Only when I didn’t hear him at all anymore did I dare to glance back over my shoulder. Even with no sign of him, I didn’t relax my guard. For all I knew, he might have been circling at that very moment to cut me off up ahead.
He had the advantage over me. He knew the woods around this spot, and he knew what direction I’d run off in.