And now, I have the desire to grow and learn who I am as a woman.
“You good?” Hale asks as we cross the street to the place I’ve called home since birth.
“I am. I’m terrific.” Looking around the town I grew up in, I take it all in, knowing I can leave here again with happiness in my heart instead of trepidation and regret. “Better than I have been in years.”
“Come here.” He pulls me forward with a light tug, dropping his mouth over mine and inhaling me. Sipping at my lips, he holds me closer, nearly lifting me off my feet. “I’m glad you’re happy, darlin’, so fucking glad.”
“Come on, let’s go call Jesse.” I know he’s been missing his son, and a facetime call will be good for them both. The first thing we did after arriving was stopped by to see the sheriff, so he knew to keep an eye out for Mason. The possibility that he could come after me is very real, and I’d rather everyone be prepared.
As soon as we enter the house, I can tell something’s off. It feels wrong. Different. A crackling sound from behind me has me spinning around in time to see Hale dropping to the ground and Mason standing there with a sadistic gleam in his eye and a taser in his hand.
“Hello, darling wife.”Evil bastard.
“I’m not your wife.” I realize arguing with him isn’t the best idea, but he has no hold on me anymore.
Stepping over Hale’s body, Mason backs me against the wall. Pressing a hand to my throat, absolute terror strikes for the first time since leaving him. “You belong to me, Laken. Just because some other asshole wets his dick in your cunt doesn’t mean you aren’t mine. I’d kill for you; don’t you know that?” His head cocks to the side, and as I close my eyes, I see Hale moving.
“No, Mason. I belong to me and me alone.” Despite his tightening grip, I feel stronger than I ever have. Pushing the fear to the back of my mind, I channel every ounce of strength I have into my need to live. My need to build a life with Hale. “Let me go, Mason. Leave and never look back.”
“Or what, Laken?” he snarls in my face, our noses touching. “What are you going to do? You could never get away from me before?”
He can’t hurt me. I am not afraid. I am stronger than he thinks.
I keep repeating the words to myself, needing them to be true. Wanting more than anything for them to be true. “I’m not the same girl you manipulated. You don’t scare me anymore.”
His eyes flare, enraged that I dare stand up to him—a man I hate more than any other in my entire life. And the more I talk back to him, I see his composure wavering. “You have no idea what I could do to you.” Mason is so tuned into me that he doesn’t see Hale getting to his feet, legs shaking, eyes unfocused but determined.
“And you have no idea what I’ll do to get away from you. You have no power over me anymore, Mason. You’re just a weakling of a man using threats against those smaller than you to make yourself feel better. You’re nothing. A nobody.” His hand squeezes like a vise on my throat, and I can no longer breathe.
Panic begins pumping through me as he lifts me off the floor, intent on watching me suffocate, but Hale doesn’t allow him. Grabbing a clay vase I made for Mama when I was in grade school, he bashes it over Mason’s head. My tormentor drops to the ground almost immediately, eyes rolling to the back of his head as I fall back onto my feet. Coughing and grasping at my throat, trying to take in enough air.
Hale doesn’t say a thing as he slides back down the wall to sit. Rushing to his side, I forget about myself. “Are you insane?”
His hand lifts to my face, shaking until he touches my skin, pulling me into his arms. “It’s okay.” Trying to reassure us both. “Everything will be okay now.”
“Tie him up,” Hale murmurs as his body spasms, and we hear Mason moaning.
Rushing to the kitchen, I open the pantry door and grab the rope hanging off the hook. I always wondered why my parents kept it there. Even when they would say “in case of emergencies”, I never got it. Now I do. Running back to the entryway, I drop next to Mason, who is almost conscious again, and hog-tie him like I used to watch at the county fairs as a child.
Hale chuckles as I drop back to the floor next to him, gripping one of his hands in both of mine. “Not the homecoming I was expecting.” I want to laugh and cry all at once as I feel my adrenaline begin to crash. “I need to call an ambulance. You were tased!” Staring at the man I’ve come to love, I can’t believe what’s just happened.
Taking Hale’s phone from his pocket, I give the sheriff a call as well as request an ambulance, and just as Mason’s eyes are opening and I’m sure he wants to curse me, he can’t because I tied a rope around his mouth too. All he can do is mumble out his empty threats. As soon as I hear the sirens, I lay my head against Hale’s shoulder and close my eyes, not realizing I am about to pass out.
Hale
She’s fierce.
A warrior in her own right.
Being tased by that asshole was not how I pictured this trip beginning. Hearing Laken talk back to him, fight for her right to live, were both the scariest and proudest moments I’ve ever felt. The adrenaline crash afterwards wasn’t surprising. If my muscles hadn’t been spasming so fucking bad, I’d have gotten back to my feet and kicked the bastard’s ass until he was breathing through a tube.
“Knock, knock.” I see Laken’s mom, Elisa, in the doorway, looking terrified. Waving her in while Laken continues to sleep in my arms in the hospital bed, her husband follows after her. “Is she alright? Did he hurt her?”
“He tried choking her.” She makes a distressed sound as her hands fly to her mouth, and Ward holds her close. “There’s no permanent damage. Slight bruising, and she might be sore, but she’ll be fine.”
Gazing down at the woman in question, I kiss her head and hold her closer as her parents bring chairs nearer to the bed so they can touch her. “And you?” Ward asks.
“Tased. Always a good time. They’re monitoring my heart for a few hours, but we’ll be out by the morning.” I’m already feeling fine and ready to go, but I need to be sure Laken is okay.