Page 156

“What? I'm being honest. She looks terrible, but she's alive, so I'm counting it as a win.”

“She looks like someone who's been through hell and back,” Mom said pointedly. “Which is exactly what happened.”

Jase positioned himself near the foot of my bed, his usual easy smile replaced by something more serious.

“How you holding up, darlin'?”

“Better now that I know everyone's okay.” I looked around the room. At my family, at my rescuers, and my family who were also my rescuers. “I was so scared that someone would get hurt trying to find me.”

“When I saw that security footage…” Jase’s voice trailed off, but I could see the emotion he was trying to hide. These tough guys had been genuinely terrified for me.

“Okay, we need details,” Emmie leaned forward in her chair. “How the hell did you get away from that psycho? Graham said you escaped on your own before they found you.”

All eyes focused on me, waiting. I glanced at Graham, who nodded encouragingly.

“It was actually kind of ridiculous.” I felt heat creep up my neck. “She wanted to learn how to bake a cake.”

Dead silence filled the room.

“I'm sorry, what?” Roxie blinked at me.

“Betty Psycho Crocker wanted to learn how to bake a cake,” I repeated. “She kept going on about how domestic and perfect I was, and how she wanted to be just like me. So she decided we should bake together.”

Randy's mouth fell open.

“You're telling us you escaped because she wanted to play house?”

“No, after I refused to bake the cake with her, she drugged me again. When I woke up, I was throwing up. I made a bigger production of it than it was. I pretended to pass out; that made her go to the nearest pharmacy. Even though I was tied up, I hopped over to the kitchen, found a knife, and cut myself free.”

Graham's face went white. His good hand clenched into a fist.

“You could have died.” Graham's voice was barely controlled fury. “If she'd given you too much of whatever that was…”

“But she didn't.” I stroked my thumb across his knuckles until his fist relaxed. “I'm okay. I'm here.”

I looked around the room at all these faces. My throat tightened with emotion.

“You all saved me.”

“Hey now,” Randy's voice was gruff. “You saved yourself. We just provided backup.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I mean it. If you hadn't come when you did, if you hadn't kept looking…” I couldn't finish the sentence.

Graham sat back down on the other side of my bed and took my hand, bringing it to his mouth and kissing my palm. “There’s never going to be a time when I’m not going to be there for you.”

Ava wiped at her eyes and glared at everyone in the room. “If anyone mentions that I'm crying, I'll kick their ass.”

That broke the tension, and everyone started laughing. Even through the pain medication haze, even with everything we'd been through, I felt lighter than I had in months.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The drive from the hospital to Joy's parents' house in Jasper Creek took forty-three minutes. I counted every single one of them. Joy sat beside me in my truck, her left arm in a sling to protect her shoulder. Every bump in the road made her wince, though she tried to hide it.

“I'm fine.” Her voice carried that stubborn tone I'd come to know well.

“You just got released after three days. You're not fine.”

She turned her head to look at me. “I've had worse.”