Trusting You (Second Chances #2)(60)
“So help me God you better not f*cking touch her!” Brett roared.
“Too late, loverboy. I’m touching her now and she loves it.”
All I could hear after that was Brett’s violent outburst before Daniel rolled down the window and tossed his phone out of the car, shattering it into a million pieces on the desolate highway. Daniel finally took his hand away from my mouth.
“Why wouldn’t you let me talk to him?” I screamed.
Daniel rolled his eyes and shook his head, exasperated. “I didn’t want to hear you two going on and on about how much you love each other. You’re supposed to love me, not him.”
In the state he was in there was no arguing with him. I wasn’t going to win no matter what I said. “What about my family and my job, Daniel? You’re taking me away from everything. Don’t you know how unhappy that’ll make me? I thought you wanted me to be happy with you.”
He sighed and kept his eyes on the road. “It’s for the best. You’ll see that I’m right in time.”
Oh my God, he has completely lost it, I thought to myself. Turning away from him, I laid my head against the window and gazed down at the watch on my wrist. It was the only thing that was going to keep me sane. It was my only comfort … my only hope.
Thirty-Two
After three hours of nonstop driving, a screaming bladder, and an empty gas tank, Daniel finally decided to pull over at a rest stop and give me a break. He parked by the gas tank and got out of the car to open my door. I groaned when he took my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist as we walked inside the station.
Daniel smirked and leaned over to whisper in my ear, “You didn’t honestly think I’d let you go in the store by yourself now did you?”
“Are you going to watch me pee, too?” I asked sarcastically.
“Tempting,” he teased. “But no. I have no desire to watch you take a piss. I’ll get us something to eat and drink while you’re in there and then we’ll be on our way.”
Once inside the store, the bathrooms were just off to the left. Daniel walked me over and opened the door for me. “You have three minutes, Mel. Make it quick.”
The second he sidled away, I shut the door and locked it. I used the bathroom quickly and cringed when I saw my face in the mirror. I had makeup smudged under my eyes and my hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in a week. I combed my fingers through it and splashed water on my face to wash the makeup off. As I sat there staring at the haunted reflection in my eyes in the mirror, a flash of light caught my attention.
How did I not notice the window!
Up above, there was a small window, that if I stood on the toilet seat I could probably reach. Immediately, I scrambled into the stall and stood on the nasty toilet seat that I just had to squat over to use. The window was one of those that could push out, but not fully open. I could squeeze through, except I knew it would take more than a minute to do so. Daniel would soon be pounding on that bathroom door in just one second.
Undoing the latch to the window, I gently pushed it open and it gave. The cool night breeze flew into the bathroom, and I could already taste my freedom. It was so close. Turning around, I put my back to the wall and extended my arms outside so I could grasp onto the edge. It was a good thing pull ups were my specialty in gym class. Once I had a firm grip on the ledge of the window, I began lifting myself up. As I slid across the edge it tore through my shirt, and scraped across my bare skin underneath. I hissed as the burn from my straining muscles and the searing pain of my torn skin radiated throughout my entire body. When I was halfway out, a loud knock sounded on the bathroom door.
“Shit, shit, shit. Come on, Melissa, you can do this,” I whispered to myself. I was so close.
Another loud knock.
“Melissa, are you okay in there?” Daniel asked, sounding agitated. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” I growled. “Can I not have a little privacy?”
Gritting my teeth, I pulled myself the rest of the way out of the window and collapsed onto the ground for a few seconds to catch my breath. Except, now my problem was where was I going to go? Being in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night all by myself was probably a bigger risk than taking my chances with Daniel. All I knew was that it was a risk I was going to take.
Looking around, my only option to hide was the woods out behind the rest stop. With my luck I’d probably get eaten by some wild animal and then this whole getaway attempt would be for nothing. Slowly, I made my way toward the back of the building, and when it was all clear I took off for the woods.
My feet pounded hard on the wet, muddy ground as I raced to my freedom and yet through a set of dangerously looking woods. I could barely see since the moon overhead was shadowed by a sheen of clouds not to mention the thick canopy of trees that blocked it out as well. My lungs hurt from the cold bite of the wind so I stopped to take a break and slumped against a tree.
“I’m free,” I whispered.
And just as I said that, a twig snapped in the distance and echoed as if it was right beside me. Or was it right beside me? My breath ceased in my chest and I froze. Please don’t let it be him, please don’t let it be him, I repeated over and over. I stayed perfectly still, hoping that if it was him or just an animal that it would pass me by. It was pitch black and my clothes weren’t bright so I knew I could blend in. A few moments passed with nothing but silence, so I blew out a shaky breath and pushed off the tree, except I didn’t get far…