The Lonely Mile(34)
CHAPTER 30
MARTIN TURNED THE STOLEN Toyota into his dusty gravel and dirt driveway and glanced across the front seat at Carli. His angel’s head was turned away from him, and she stared out the side window, sobbing. That was okay, it was to be expected. Martin knew it would take some time—probably a lot more than the scant seven days available—before she grew to accept him in her life. It would be nice, though, if she were at least to acknowledge him. He had gone to a lot of trouble to unite the two of them, and she didn’t seem to appreciate his efforts at all.
“We’re here,” he said softly, reaching out and stroking his angel’s long blonde hair. She cringed and shrank toward the window with a cat-like mewl of fear and disgust as the car rolled to a stop.
“Why are you doing this?” She asked so softly, it was barely more than a whisper. Still, at least his angel had decided to talk to him; the words were the first she had spoken since begging him not to hurt anyone as he was kidnapping her. Martin viewed this as a step in the right direction.
“Why am I doing this?” he repeated as if not understanding the question. “Are you serious? Why did Romeo need Juliet? Why did Richard Burton need Elizabeth Taylor? It’s fate, my angel. We’re meant to be together.”
“Is that why you held a gun to Jimmy Morrison’s head? Fate told you to do that? You could’ve killed him!” Her voice was a little louder now as her anger flashed.
“He tried to make a move on me. He wanted to be some sort of hero,” Martin snarled, “and I couldn’t let that happen.” Carli faced him now, fear in her eyes, and Martin felt a surge of excitement. Besides,” he said with his most charming smile, “I didn’t shoot him, did I? I didn’t even hurt him.”
“How can it be fate if you’ve never even met me? You don’t know anything about me.” The anger had dissipated and now she was whispering. Martin loved the sound of her delicate voice; it was like the breeze rustling the tree branches outside his window at night.
“I know I can’t live without you. I knew that the moment I laid eyes on you—it was fate. I knew that second how special you are.”
Carli shook her head, tears running silently down her face and dripping onto her t-shirt, but holding her head a bit higher. “That’s bull,” she said. “I know what this is really all about. I’m not stupid. My dad saved that other girl from you and now you’re trying to get even with him.”
A flash of anger bubbled inside Martin’s chest and he grabbed her t-shirt at the neck, pulling her toward him. She resisted, and he slapped the side of her face, hard.
The insolent little brat cried out and touched her cheek, opening her mouth as if to respond before thinking better of it.
How dare she question his motives! Who the hell did she think she was talking to? He shoved her against the passenger side door and sat perfectly still, breathing slowly in and out through his mouth until he managed to get his emotions under control. The little bitch was going to have to learn to keep her insolent mouth shut. But there was time for that.
He thought for a moment about how he wanted to answer her. She may have angered him, but her assumption was a reasonable one. He kept his hands at his sides and finally said, “Yes, I was angry with your father for interfering in a situation that was none of his business, for sticking his nose where he had no good reason to put it. I’m not going to lie to you, my angel—I will never lie to you—yes, I hope this hits him right in the gut and teaches him a lesson about minding his own business. That’s something he really should have learned by now, and, I have to tell you, I don’t mind being the one to teach it to him.
“But that is an entirely separate issue from you and me. In fact, if anything, I should probably thank him. He stopped me from making a very big mistake. Because, if he hadn’t interfered, I would never have looked into his background and I would never have learned of your existence. So don’t tell me what my motives may or may not be, Carli Ferguson, because you have no idea.
“Anyway, my point is this: removing you from that school bus this afternoon combines my main goal—to enjoy your company —with a very pleasant secondary goal, which is to teach your father an important and obviously long-overdue lesson. Do you understand?”
Carli’s shoulders were shaking and he knew she had graduated from sobbing to crying, although she still refused to face him. “Anyway,” he said, opening the driver’s side door of the stolen vehicle, “let’s go inside and get out of this heat.” He left the car parked nose-in to the closed door of the single-stall garage which was already hiding his box truck, the vehicle the police would be searching for. Leaving the Toyota in plain sight was risky, but there were no neighbors within a mile in any direction, and this end of the long, winding driveway could not be seen clearly from the road, so Martin was confident it would not pose a problem.
“We are destined to be together, my angel, you’ll see.” He opened Carli’s door like a gallant suitor trying to impress his girl on their first date. She stepped out of the car slowly, reluctantly, and Martin wrapped an arm around her waist. He could feel her entire slim frame shaking like a leaf, and she continued to cry quietly. Martin walked his angel up the front steps and into her temporary home.
CHAPTER 31