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Rook promised her that Dodge and Stella would bring the Jeep up as far as they could. But the slow, agonizing downward trek seemed endless.
Her feet were bare and one eye was swollen shut from where Vernon backhanded her when she fought to keep him from strapping her to the bed in Tomlin’s room. She was told that was where she was staying until the baby was born.
And after he was, they would then decide what to do with her.
She had spat in his face when Vernon leaned over her to buckle one of her wrists fast to the headboard. That got her another backhand and a hand gripping her throat until she thought she would pass out. Vernon had taken her right to the edge where she was seeing spots.
But before everything went black, he released her and said if she hadn’t been carrying his baby, he would’ve finished what he started and then buried her in the woods where no one would ever find her.
She had also spat in Vernon’s face and scratched Tomlin’s cheek back at the apartment. She hadn’t gone willingly when they busted in, but they’d tied her up and threw her into the back seat of the same rusty Buick they’d been seen driving the other week in town.
Every bump that car had hit caused another sharp, excruciating pain to shoot through her stomach. Because of that, she was afraid she might go into labor early.
No matter what, she somehow needed to prevent that.
She refused to have the baby while they held her captive. Because if she did, she worried they would take that baby and no one would ever be able to find it.
Screw them, they weren’t getting him.
And they weren’t taking either of them alive back up that mountain ever again. So, if Rook couldn’t get her down to the Jeep in time...
“You have a knife?” she could barely ask since she was having a hard time catching her breath.
“Yeah.”
“Give it to me.”
Rook’s fingers gripped her elbow tighter and he sounded suspicious when he asked, “For what?”
“I just need it. Please.”
“For what, Red?” He continued to tug her along.
“In case we don’t make it.”
“What the fuck you talkin’ about?”
“I won’t let them take me or this baby again.”
“What the fuck you gonna do with a knife that I can’t?”
She didn’t answer him, but cried out when she stumbled again. And when she did, a sharp pull shot through her stomach.
“Red, whatcha gonna do with the fuckin’ knife?”
Again, she didn’t answer him, instead she gasped at another sharp, almost crippling, pain.
“Ain’t givin’ you a goddamn knife,” Rook growled. “Holy fuck.”
“I can’t go back up there.”
“Ain’t goin’ back up there.”
“That’s what I thought before.”
Rook said nothing and kept moving, his profile grim. He also sped up a little, just about dragging her along with him.
Between her huge belly and her bare feet, she struggled to keep up. Plus, her closed, swollen eye made it even tougher to find her footing in the dark.
The next cramp was so excruciating, it made her double over and cry out.
“Fuck,” Rook barked. “Gotta keep movin’.”
She gasped as she tried to straighten and only doubled over again. Something was definitely wrong. Her insides felt like they were being clawed from the inside out.
She was not having that baby on that mountain. She was not!
Then warm fluid gushed from her, soaking her maternity pants and running down the insides of her thighs.
“Oh... no,” she cried. “Oh no. No. No.”
“What?” Rook asked, sounding a bit panicked himself.
“My water broke.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Yes, he was definitely panicked. He wasn’t the only one.
She clenched her teeth and forced herself to straighten and keep moving, but he jerked her to a stop.
“Carryin’ you the rest of the way.”
“You can’t,” she said between gritted teeth as another wave of cramps or contractions, or whatever was happening, almost crippled her.
“The fuck I can’t. You’re still skinny as fuck. Most of your weight’s at your center. Don’t think we got much more to go.”
“If you trip...” She gasped again and groaned, holding onto her belly with both hands and feeling it become rock hard.
Without another word, he squatted down low enough to scoop her up. She bit back a squeal from not only being lifted but him stumbling back a step in trying to balance her weight.
“If you fall...”
“Ain’t gonna fall. Hang the fuck on. Gettin’ you and this kid outta here. They ain’t takin’ you and they ain’t takin’ him. Fuck those inbred hillbillies.”
She hooked her arms around his neck as he held her tightly against his chest, struggling with her weight, but determined to keep going until he found the Jeep.
And besides the fluid still dripping from between her thighs, tears began to slide down her cheeks. She pressed her face into Rook’s neck and just let them flow as she hung on tight.
