Page 68 of Home Again

He took another long sip of beer.

Why do I care? I’ve never cared about a woman so much, and I barely know her.

He watched as Gideon pulled his computer out of his backpack and wondered what he was working on now. The man was always working on something. How much did he really know about Gideon anyway? He’d met his family, and he really thought they were good friends, but after what he’d just said, did he really know him?

“Fuck!”

He took another pull from his beer, frustrated when he realized it was empty. Where in the hell was Armand? How was he going to get five million dollars to ransom Gianna?

His stomach churned, the roast beef and beer were not sitting well.

* * *

The couch was damp and it smelled like urine. Gianna had tried to wiggle her hands enough to get the ropes off her wrists, but the last time she did she’d almost fallen off the couch. As much as she hated the piss-smelling sofa, it was better than sleeping on the floor. Once again she hoisted herself up into a sitting position, swinging her legs over the side of the couch, and looked around the tiny cabin. She could only see a few feet in front of her.

“Shack. Admit it, it’s a swamp shack.”

Bugs that kept flying around her face and she couldn’t do anything to swat them away, and then there were all the spooky sounds that kept coming from outside. She itched from her million bug bites, and her head and hip hurt like crazy. She’d been talking out loud for hours, trying to keep herself calm, strong, and sane. She was pretty sure it wasn’t working.

“Ummm.”

She clamped her lips shut, mad that she’d let out a sob.

“Gianna Fawn Prentiss, don’t you dare cry!” she yelled into the darkness.

She yanked at the ropes that were holding her wrists tight behind her back. She yanked, and yanked, and yanked. This time when she started crying at least it was for a good reason; the burning pain in her wrists was hideous, and she could feel the blood dripping down her hands onto her fingers.

“Shhhhh. It’s going to be all right. Bradley’s not going to kill you yet. He still needs you.” She rolled her eyes heavenwards. It had happened, she’d lost her mind. She was trying to soothe herself like she was a baby.

She gasped, then brought her feet back up on the couch, trying to huddle into a ball. She heard another sound, different than any of the others. Was that what an alligator sounded like? Her pulse was beating so hard in her temples she thought her head would split open. Gianna heard scraping, or was it clawing? A dim shaft of moonlight was coming from across the room, but not enough for her to see anything, just a little bit that told her the cabin door had opened. She heard claws tapping against the floorboards and she screamed. She screamed like her life depended on it.