Heaven, Texas (Chicago Stars #2)(121)

He advanced toward her. She panicked and whirled around with a half-baked notion of climbing back into the car and locking the door, only to discover she had waited a fraction of a second too long to move.

“Gracie!”

In her peripheral vision, she saw him reach out for her, and she jerked away just in time. Acting purely on instinct, she began to run. The smooth soles of her sandals slipped on the gravel, nearly sending her to her knees. She stumbled but somehow managed to right herself and keep going. She flew down the white line on the side of the road, running as fast as she could. Any second she expected him to grab her, and when he didn’t, she risked a peek over her shoulder.

He was gaining on her, but limping so badly it had slowed him down considerably. She pressed her advantage by pushing herself even faster, and as she did, the story Suzy told her of the nine-year-old boy who had been publicly punished for hitting a girl raced through her mind.

After all these years of treating women politely, something inside him had snapped.

Her foot missed the edge of the asphalt, and she slipped into the gravel on the shoulder, then stumbled into the weeds. The sandy soil poured into her sandals. Terror swept through her as she heard him right behind her.

“Gracie!”

She screamed as he brought her down in the weeds with a bone-jarring tackle. She twisted as she fell, and when she landed she was looking up at him. For a moment, she knew nothing but pain and fear. Then she began to gasp for air.

She had lain beneath him many times before, but they had been making love and she’d felt nothing like this. His brutal, unrelenting weight imprisoned her against the ground. The unfamiliar smells of stale beer and sweat clung to him, and his unshaven jaw abraded her cheek.

“God damn it!” he shouted, pushing himself up on his arms. He grabbed her, and lifted her shoulders from the ground just far enough so he could shake her as if she were a rag doll. “Why are you running away from me?”

The veneer of facile charm and relentless affability had peeled away, leaving a violent, angry man who had been pushed over the edge.

“Stop!” she sobbed. “Don’t—”

He pulled her into his arms, clutching her so tightly she couldn’t breathe. She was dimly aware of the shrill sound of a siren in the background. His chest heaved against her, and his uneven breathing battered her ear.

“You can’t…Don’t…leave.” His mouth moved against her temple, and then, abruptly, she was free of him.

For a few seconds, the sun blinded her and she couldn’t tell what had happened. Then she saw Bobby Tom being hauled roughly to his feet by Chief Thackery. As she scrambled up herself, the police chief brutally twisted his arms behind his back, and slapped on a pair of handcuffs.

“You’re under arrest, you son of a bitch!”

Bobby Tom paid no attention to him. All his concentration was riveted on her, and she felt an urgent need to cup his poor, battered face in her hands.

“Don’t go, Gracie! You can’t go. Please! We have to talk.”

His features looked ravaged, and her eyes filled with tears. In the background she heard the sounds of tires squealing and doors slamming, but she paid no attention. Shaking her head, she backed away from him before she could give in to her weakness.

“I’m sorry, Bobby Tom. I never imagined anything like this would happen.” A strangled sob rose in her throat. “I have to go. I can’t take any more.”

Thackery sneered. “The lady doesn’t seem to want you.”

He twisted Bobby Tom around and shoved him toward the squad car. Bobby Tom’s bad knee gave way, and he went down. Gracie gasped and rushed forward, only to watch in horror as Thackery jerked on his arms to bring him upright.

Bobby Tom gave a groan of pain, then caught the police chief in the side with his shoulder, unbalancing him just long enough so he could spin back toward Gracie.

“You said you wouldn’t take anything from me!” he cried.

Thackery bellowed with rage and slammed Bobby Tom’s bent arms up into his back, nearly pulling them from their sockets.

Bobby Tom let out a howl of despair that came all the way from the very depths of his soul. “I love you! Don’t leave me!”

She stood stunned and watched as he began to fight like a wild man. With a growl, Thackery pulled out his nightstick.

She didn’t wait a moment longer. Screaming with rage, she hurled herself through the air at the police chief. “Don’t you dare hit him! Don’t you dare!” She butted Thackery with her head and pummeled him with her fists, forcing him to let go of Bobby Tom to protect himself.

“You stop that right now!” He began to swear as the edge of her sandal caught him in the shin. “Stop it! Stop or I’ll arrest you, too!”

“What the hell is going on here?” Luther Baines roared. All three of them turned their heads to see the mayor running toward them, waddling a bit on his stubby legs, with Dell Brady by his side, and his squad car parked at a crazy angle across the highway. Behind the two men, tires squealed as more cars began pulling up. Terry Jo and Buddy tumbled out of their Explorer, and Buddy, who had a split lip and swollen jaw, ran forward. Connie Cameron hopped out of her Sunbird.

Luther whacked Jimbo Thackery in the arm, forcing him to take another step backward. “Have you lost your mind? What in the sam hill do you think you’re doing?”