Trusting You (Second Chances #2)(61)
Thirty-three
“Did you think you could get away?” Daniel snarled in my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist. “You should know better than that. I guess I’m going to have to do this the hard way.”
“No,” I pleaded desperately. “Please don’t knock me out.”
I sagged in his arms, defeated. Was I ever going to escape him? What was taking Brett and Mason so long to find me? Surely they would’ve caught up to us by now.
“Why should I trust you?” he growled. “You broke it by trying to run away from me. You have a lot of making up to do if you want to gain back that trust.”
Trembling, I swallowed hard and stood there with my back to his and his arm still squeezing down on my neck. What was he going to do? Slowly, his grip started to cease and he swiftly lifted me up and threw me over his shoulders. “There’s only so many incidents I can take before I get fed up, Melissa. All I can say is that you’re walking a thin line right now.”
Daniel hustled us through the trees and in no time at all we were in the car and headed back down the road. My back hurt from the scrapes and I cringed every time I moved. Daniel handed me a soda and a bag of chips that he must’ve gotten at the store. As much as I hated to take his offering, I was starving and my head hurt like hell.
I guzzled down the soda and sighed as the fizziness filled my belly and helped the starving ache. At least the caffeine would help me stay alert and awake for a little while longer. Only when I gazed down at the bag of chips did I start to panic. It wasn’t the chips that had my heart beating out of control, but the absence of something on my wrist. My watch is gone!
In that moment, everything came tumbling down. I could feel the blood draining from my face and the dread settling in the pit of my stomach like a ton of lead. My only hope of getting away from Daniel had just been lost by my stupid attempt to run away. It was probably lying in the woods somewhere all broken, shattered, and untraceable.
“Are you okay?” Daniel asked, looking back and forth from me to the road. “You don’t look so good.”
“I don’t feel good,” I choked out. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t feel good at all. The car felt like it was swaying back and forth and my eyes were getting heavier by the minute. Everything moved in slow motion as I turned my head to look at Daniel. My tongue felt thick and dry when I opened my mouth to speak, slurring my words, “What’s happening to me?”
Daniel smirked and reached over to rub my thigh. “I decided I wasn’t going to take any more chances on you tonight. You need to sleep anyway if you’re going to be worth a damn to me, so rest up. You’re going to need it.”
My mind couldn’t form a coherent thought from the dizziness, but I did understand one thing. He drugged me. Probably with the sleeping pills I knew he took on a regular basis. “How…many?” I asked slowly.
“How many what?” Daniel retorted innocently.
I swallowed hard and opened my eyes to see him one last time. “Pills…how many of your sleeping pills did you give me?”
His hand traveled up higher on my thigh and I didn’t have the strength to push him away. I couldn’t even feel where he was touching anymore. Devilishly, he smiled and licked his lips. “Don’t worry, baby. I didn’t give you much. Just enough to put you out for a few hours while I find us somewhere to stay.”
The last thing on my mind when I passed out was the cold realization that there was a huge probability that I would never see Brett again, but by God, I was going to try my hardest to find a way. I am going to find a way.
When my eyes fluttered open, I had no idea if it was day or night. All I knew was that I was lying on my stomach, naked from the waist up in a bed. Daniel must’ve gotten us a hotel room and carried me in because I sure didn’t remember a single thing. The shower water was running and I could feel the steam billowing out into the room and coating me in the moisture. My back didn’t hurt nearly as bad, but I could still feel the sting.
Groaning, I moved my arms and legs and sat up, covering my breasts with the sheet. It took a few minutes for my blurry vision to adjust and focus on the room we were in. It wasn’t a fancy hotel by far, but I assumed Daniel did that on purpose. If the police were looking for us they sure wouldn’t think to look for him in a dumpy motel.
The bedside table had some brochures on it so I scooped them up and read over them quickly to find out where we were. Holy shit, I’m in Ohio!
Daniel exited the bathroom just as I was about to have a meltdown. Wide-eyed, I held up the brochures. “Are we really in Ohio? How long was I out?” I asked incredulously.
“Yep,” he quipped, sitting on the edge of the bed. “We’re right outside Cincinnati. By tomorrow we will be two Canadian newlyweds on their way to their honeymoon. I have a friend who lives in Toledo who’s going to fly us over the border and give us all the paperwork we need. I talked to him while you were out and he said everything’s good to go.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed, closing my hand over my mouth. The bile rose in the back of my throat and I felt sick. Running to the bathroom, and taking the sheet with me, I collapsed onto the floor and dry heaved into the toilet.
I could feel Daniel’s presence behind me but I didn’t want to look at him, or even begin to think that my life was really that screwed up. “Are you okay?” Daniel questioned cautiously, but then immediately turned angry. “You’re not pregnant are you?”