Songbird(34)

“That’s a good place for you,” he grunted.

She lay there, helpless, her hands tied behind her, stuck on the floorboard.

“Why?” she rasped out. “What the hell are you doing, Rand? Taggert and Greer will kill you for this. You have to know that.”

He ignored her, staring out the windshield with that same grim…determination. What was he so determined about? This was all some joke. A really twisted, sick, dumb-as-shit joke, but a joke nonetheless.

Rand was quiet, respectful, and he’d always had a smile for her. What the living hell had gotten up his ass?

She cleared her throat and tried a different tactic. “Rand, what’s going on?” She purposely softened her voice and tried to make herself sound…accommodating. God, she was actually trying to sweet-talk this bastard. “Why are you so angry with me?”

Could she sound any more pathetic? She was so through being pitiful. Enough was enough, damn it!

“Just shut the hell up so I can drive. I have to get away before they come back. They’ll fix that fence soon enough.”

He was almost talking to himself, not even acknowledging her awkward-as-hell position on the floorboard.

“Did you sabotage the fence?”

He shrugged. “Seemed the easiest way to get them out of your bed and out of the house.”

Her cheeks went warm, and rage shot through her veins.

Then he turned to stare at her. “Yeah, I know all about you, whore. You couldn’t leave well enough alone. You already destroyed Sean. You should have stayed away from Taggert and Greer.”

“Dear God, is that what this is all about? You disapprove of my relationship with Greer and Taggert so you’re taking me away?”

She could hardly control the incredulity in her voice. He was off his goddamn rocker.

“Rand, stop the truck. Let me out. Now.”

He slammed on his brakes, and for a moment she thought he was actually going to listen to her.

Then he turned, his eyes sparking with fury.

“You don’t get it, do you? You don’t get to make demands. You twist a man’s balls, have them dangling from your fingertips. It should have been you who died. Not Sean. I won’t make another mistake.”

Nausea rose in her throat. Tears of anger swam in her eyes. No way. He couldn’t mean what she thought he did. She tried to open her mouth but all that came out was an inarticulate sound of rage.

She licked her lips, frustrated that she couldn’t get her tongue to work.

“Nothing to say?” he mocked. “You didn’t have much to say that night either. You deserve to die if for no other reason than for causing Sean’s death.”

She closed her eyes. None of this made sense. Rand had worked for the Donovans forever. Since he was a young man out of high school. What could possibly have made him hate this way?

The truck rattled to a stop. Rand got out and walked around to open her door. Without any care, he yanked her from her awkward perch, and she stumbled, trying to get her feet under her. Her hands were completely numb from the tight bonds around her wrists.

Where on God’s green earth were they? They’d gone the opposite way of town. There were no houses, no buildings, nothing but rock formations jutting from the earth and the base of a large hill that sloped sharply upward, a precursor to the mountains in the distance.

Rand shoved her forward and she went down to her knees, the rocks digging into her shins.

He hauled her upright and all but dragged her beyond the maze of rocks and boulders. A cave. He was taking her into a freaking cave.

A low moan escaped her. She hated the dark. She never slept in the dark. Not since Sean died.

“Please,” she whispered. “Not in here. I’ll die in here.”

“That’s the idea.”

Her mouth fell open, and he shoved her through the tight opening into the yawning mouth of darkness. This time when she stumbled, he let her fall. He knelt beside her and coiled rope around her ankles.

Panic hit her hard. He really meant to leave her here. Where Taggert and Greer would never find her.

“Why did you do it?” she rushed out. “Why Sean? I thought you liked him. He was always so nice to you. He gave you a home and a job.”

Rand’s fingers tightened around her ankles, and she could positively feel the rage billowing off him.

“It was supposed to be you,” he seethed. “Not Sean. Never Sean. But he stepped in front of you, took the knife.”

Cold settled over her like a suffocating blizzard.

“But why?” she croaked.

“You pulled them apart. You took Sean from the ranch. You turned brother against brother. The Donovans are good people, and you destroyed their family. I heard you that day when you pranced into the house talking about loving them all, wanting to be with them all. Couldn’t blame them for being appalled and sending you away. It’s what they should have done. What kind of a woman proposes something like that?”

“Someone who loves them,” she said faintly, too shocked, too numb to filter his explanation. Sean had died because of her. She’d always known it, just hadn’t realized how much she’d been the cause of his death. It hadn’t been random at all.

Oh God.

“Love,” he said scornfully. “What does a whore know about love? You tempted them with your body. You took Sean away. But that wasn’t enough. You had to come back, luring them with that pitiful smile. I won’t let them be dragged down by you again. They deserve better than that.”