“Where do you think you’re going?” He grabbed me easily with one long arm and wrenched me back against him. “We’ve got business to discuss, Miranda.”
I swallowed hard. I could still scream. Maybe I should have screamed already. But there were few opportunities and I was trying to bide my time for the right one. Also, I was so scared, I didn’t trust my voice any more than my legs. For now, I was going to use the Nebraska Nice Girl skills. Maybe I’d take him by surprise as easily as I’d shocked the whole damn reality TV world.
“Nice girls do not finish last!” Shaelynn and I chorused silently together, giving rise to a near-hysterical giggle that I swallowed with a cough.
Oh, God, I was losing it. I probably wasn’t thinking clearly after his chokehold had deprived my brain of oxygen a few minutes ago.
“State your business then, Rick. I’ve got a friend to meet who is going to be looking for me if I don’t get inside soon.” I shivered from the breeze blowing off the Pacific, and the fact that Rick Barrow was holding on to me, his chili-dog breath making me gag and his sociopathic tendencies turning my belly to ice.
A set of headlights swung past us briefly and I prayed they’d come closer. Rick edged me farther behind the SUV. I listened hard and hoped the car had turned into the lot instead of continuing on Highway 1.
“You’re done hanging out with farmer boy, for one thing,” he breathed in my ear. “Whatever you thought you were doing with him is over, or else I’ll go to the press with this erotic smut you’ve written, and embarrass the hell out of your Thoroughbred breeder with Shaelynn’s porno adventures.”
Anger growled to life inside me, vibrating in my ears and along the ground beneath me, giving me the push to find my voice.
“You son of a bitch.” I shoved at him, hard, enough to loosen his hold. “How dare you—”
He bared his teeth like a rabid animal and cocked his arm back. I got ready to both scream and run like hell.
Except that his raised arm was suddenly wrenched backward so hard that Rick fell away from me, right into the waiting headlock of...Damien.
His handsome face appeared out of the night, his heavy biceps curled around Rick’s face like a nutcracker ready to shell an almond. Rick deflated like the cowardly piece of crap he was, dropping my flash drive at my feet and launching into a tirade of whines.
“I didn’t know she wanted it back,” he protested, his words muffled. “I thought she wanted me to read it. I was just going—”
The quick chirp of a siren and flash of police lights cut him off. I had a glimpse of his face reflected in red swirling light for a second before a squad car pulled up beside us. I scrambled over to Bill’s side and checked his pulse. He was breathing just fine. Heartbeat steady, thank God. I realized now that Damien’s Ford 450 idled nearby. That accounted for the growly, vibrating noise I’d heard earlier.
“You should pocket that,” Damien said, pointing to the flash drive with his free hand.
Still watching out for me, even after I’d left him.
My heart hurt at the thought as I did what he’d suggested.
Before I could say anything to Damien—thank him for finding me and saving me—Joelle streaked across the parking lot in a white hotel robe, her normally perfect hair flying in every direction.
“Oh God, oh God, oh God, I nearly died when he grabbed you.” Joelle swooped between me and one of two cops who’d arrived on the scene. The younger officer was helping Bill to sit up, while Joelle blurted, “Damien texted me to see if you were here, and I said no, but then I got worried and started looking out the window every now and then. When I saw your car and this guy, I called the cops, but they said they already had a car on the way, and I couldn’t tell what was going on, but oh, God, I’ve been so scared.”
Her words were fast and murmured into my shoulder while she hugged me. My heart still raced, adrenaline flowing through my veins and making me jittery. Or maybe it was the powerful emotions I felt for Damien, because all I really wanted to do right now was launch myself into his arms.
The cops had already helped Bill into the hotel for some water and a seat where it was warm. Another car arrived to take Rick away, the second set of officers ignoring his whining and protesting about whores and smut and Nebraska Backstabbers. I was pretty sure I’d be in the papers tomorrow even though I’d evaded the press at the farm. And I really regretted that.
“Thank you, Joelle.” I hugged my friend tight and counted my blessings. I may have left my family in Nebraska six years ago, but I’d sure found an ally as strong as any blood tie in my former boss. “I’m so grateful.”