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Peter must have approved of what she was doing, because she didn’t feel the back of his hand again, thank God.
Once the impulse to hurl settled down, Pixie dared start her questioning again, this time a little more coherently. “What amI doing here?”—wherever ‘here’ was—“And why are you doing this?”
Then she remembered Peter’s previous boast, and played to his ego. “Howdidyou manage to get me away from the wedding?”
Pixie was able to see Peter’s face clearly now as he leaned down and gloated over her.
She tried not to cringe when he lowered himself to sit on the edge of the mattress, his thigh touching her hip. Somehow, she knew if she inched away, it would set him off again and she’d end up with another slap to her face. Since she didn’t think she could handle itandmaintain the contents of her stomach, she lay completely still.
“I’ll tell you that, but first… You’ve been a bad girl, Pixie.” He clicked his tongue in what looked like disappointment. “I’ve had a hard time acquiring you,” he began.
Acquire?
Peter’s choice of words did nothing toward settling Pixie’s stomach.
She remained wary while he went on.
“I was biding my time, trying to make you come to me on your own over the past few months, but you weren’t complying.” He shook his head and tsked even louder this time. “I was so patient for you.” He looked like he wanted a high-five for his sufferance, butfuck him.
“Then that asshole cop came along, and after that, you wouldn’t even give me a look,” he growled. “You cunts are all the same. A goddamned pig in a uniform flashes his dick, and you spread your legs for them like hot butter.”
Pixie wanted to defend herself in some way, but she wasn’t sure ifanywords would get through to the clearly delusional creep, so she remained silent.
“When I finally found a time you were without him, I decided to make my move and steal you away at the end of a school day, then you got attacked by that asshole parent.” He spat it like it was her fault.
“After that, you glued yourself to the cop for the rest of the day, then you went to your sister’s and started with all that stupid wedding bullshit. But,” he tapped the side of his temple and winked, like he was some kind of genius, “I decided to use that to my advantage. And it worked.” He laughed hysterically. “None of those so-called professionals figured you’d be in any danger at a wedding, surrounded by all that inadequate testosterone in blue.”
Pixie forced herself not to wince at the grating hilarity coming from Peter, and held her face neutral in order to keep the lunatic talking. Maybe something he’d say would clue her in to where she was, and how she might get away.
“When you came out of that portable shitter, oblivious to my presence between the blue boxes, there was no one around to see. It was easy to cover your mouth with a cloth I’d treated with chloroform.”
Chloroform? Is that why her guts felt so unsettled?
“It made you weak and pliable enough—confused even—that you didn’t put up any kind of struggle. Then as soon as I had you in the woods, I used a vaporizer I’d filled with a mixture of oxygen and ether, administering it using a mask, and…night-night,” he told her merrily.
Peter was obviously getting a charge out of this whole thing. The man was definitely crazy, but also extremely dangerous because hewasn’tdumb. To know how to use ether…
“I wonder how long it took for that boyfriend of yours to miss you?” Peter speculated, interrupting her thoughts. “What do you think? Ten minutes? A half hour?” He giggled uproariously likeit was the best joke. “It was certainly long enough for me to load you into my car and bring you here.”
“Where’s here?” Pixie dared ask, and luckily didn’t get hit for her question. Clearly Peter was enjoying this synopsis of his escapades, which he clearly thought made him look brilliant.
“We’re in a small cabin I discovered several years ago,” he related gleefully. “When I first crossed the Canadian border after things got too hot for me there, I had to find a place to get lost while I fudged a whole new batch of American credentials. I stumbled across this place in the woods. It was remote and clearly vacant, and I was able to move right in and make it mine with a few quick fixes.”
“You…live here?” Pixie hadn’t looked around, but from what she could see, the place looked rough.
“Oh, I did for a few months, until I was able to doctor up a teaching degree for myself and start earning a paycheck. Now I have a respectable apartment in town.”
“You’re… You’re not a real teacher?” Pixie dared. “And your name isn’t Peter?” she added as a guess.
“Oh, my name is Peter all right. But my last name changes for different occasions.” He shrugged. “And I actuallydidstart out as an educator in Ontario, but what a joke,” he spat. “There’s no money to be had teaching. The kids are an obnoxious waste of oxygen, and don’t even get me started on the entitled parents,” he snorted. “The best students I have right now are at the local prison.”
Pixie sucked in a breath. “You…work at the prison?”
Peter laughed uproariously. “What better place for a criminal to hide than amongst other criminals? It was so easy getting a job teaching those poor incarcerated souls. And its a good cover if anybody ever comes sniffing around in my business. The warden there loves me.” He preened, looking proud, untila sneer commandeered his face. “That’s where I met your ex, Skeeter.”
If shivers had been going down Pixie’s spine before, Peter’s casually delivered announcement had her whole body trembling.
He knew Skeeter?
