Saving Kenna Read online

  I was pretty sure when this was over I’d never sing again.

  The ebony haired woman, I now knew to be Delaney, came in most days. She did her best for me as she’d done before, but her hands were tied by Marcus’ demented mind. Beyond a general tending to my wounds, I was given nothing besides a cup of water and a few pieces of bread.

  The only good thing to happen was our ever changing locations. Irelyn’s rescue had disrupted Marcus’ plans, and, as a result, they took to moving me around town to different locations. At least this house had carpeting and a bathroom.

  Using the bathroom at my leisure, instead of the once per day I had been allowed previously, felt like the best fucking gift ever. I hated my happiness and sense of wellbeing had been reduced to having the most basic of human needs met.

  But this was my life, and I latched on to happiness where I found it.

  When the time came to move again, I felt like crying, knowing not only would I lose my bathroom, but I’d again be thrown in the back of the smelly van.

  I leaned against the side of the cargo van and closed my eyes as they drove me around Scottsdale bound and gagged. It was hotter than shit back here, and I felt nasty and dirty even though I had quickly showered in the last house we’d been in.

  The old, ratty shirt they had dressed me in made me feel even grimier. Worse than the clothing and the sense of general filthiness was the constant hunger in the pit of my stomach. On occasion, Delany treated me to protein bars and extra water, but I hadn’t seen her in a few days.

  Right now, I’d give my left tit for a cheeseburger and fries.

  At night, we would land at one house or another, and I’d be tossed over the shoulder of whatever thug drove, only to be locked in a room with nothing but the clothes on my back.

  I tried hard to keep my thoughts positive, but I started to wonder if my family or Sloan would ever find me. Had enough time gone by that everyone had decided I was a lost cause?

  At this point, I had lost track of how much time had passed—perhaps a few weeks but I wasn’t positive. Certainly, that wasn’t enough time to forget I existed?

  No! My family wouldn’t give up on me, and I believed with all my heart Sloan wouldn’t either.

  He would find me one way or another.

  The van came to a stop, and I heard a surprised driver question whoever had stopped him.

  “Are you sure? That’s not what Marcus told me this morning,” the driver said to the unknown man.

  “Positive. You’re done for the day,” the other man said.

  I stiffened at the sound of the man’s voice. His raspy, too-many-cigarettes intonation made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

  Joe Franklin!

  Feared straightened my spine as my heart sped up. My mind mercilessly replayed the night he had raped me. I could only assume he planned to do it again.

  The intervals between my breaths shortened as panic set in. If I didn’t get my respirations under control, I was going to hyperventilate and pass out. On second thought, unconscious might not be so bad.

  Just thinking about what might happen nearly paralyzed me, and I closed my eyes, commanding myself to calm—to engage my brain and all the martial arts training I’d done for the last several years.

  Maybe, if I was smart, I could use Joe’s fucked up plans against him. In order to rape me, he’d have to unbind my ankles to free my legs. What the asshole didn’t know was I had wicked kicks. And, during my confinement, during all my sequestered time before they had started moving me around, I had been working the Tae Kwon Do forms, keeping myself in shape mentally and physically.

  This might be my only chance for escape. As if on cue, the doors to the van opened, and Joe climbed in.

  “Did you miss me?” he grunted as he closed the doors behind him. The lascivious look on his fat, ugly face sent terrified shivers climbing up and down my body.

  I ignored both him and my body’s response as I started to plot my escape. After all, a man was never as vulnerable as when he was in the throes of passion. I could use this to my advantage.

  Just as I figured would happen, Joe removed the bindings from my ankles and the gag on my mouth before taking off his pants.

  Though I wanted to freak the fuck out, I kept my demeanor calm and expression impassive as I watched and waited.

  “You’re not fighting me. You want this don’t you? I knew you enjoyed me fucking you.” Joe licked his nasty lips as he pumped his small, now erect, penis.

  At least I think it was erect; it was too small to really know.

  Quelling the need to puke—or maybe even piss myself—I dug deep and forced a smile to my face. I let my own gaze wander over him as I licked my lips, pretending Sloan stood naked in front of me instead of this small-dicked asshole.

  When Joe smiled at me, I knew I was well on my way to giving an Oscar winning performance.

  “You know Joe,” I made my voice low and sultry. “At first, I was pretty upset with you, but I’ve had time—lots and lots of time. I’ve come to realize that I did enjoy it.”

  “Of course you did. I’m a good fuck,” he said smugly, and I almost laughed.

  Sloan was an excellent fuck, and this man was a joke. None of that showed on my face, and I marveled at the shit I was willing to say and do to save my own life.

  “I just wish…” I sighed heavily and frowned my disappointment.

  “You wish what?” He dropped to his knees before me, his lusty gaze intent on mine.

  The nasty stench of sweat, and his own disgusting smell, wafted over me. I turned my grimace into what I hoped was a look of sexual interest. Thank God there was only enough light to maneuver by, but not enough to really see his ugly visage or my feigned desire. As it was, I would have nightmares featuring his twisted countenance for years to come.

  “Well, I just wish I could touch you while we fuck. I mean, you’re so strong and manly, and I know we may not get a chance to be together again.”

  Even as I heard the words come out of my mouth, I couldn’t believe my own ears.

  Joe considered me suspiciously, his eyes narrowing. “How do I know this isn’t some kind of trick?”

  “Trick?” I cocked my head as if confused. “Certainly you know there’s nothing I can do against you, Joe. You’re so much stronger than me. I’m just a girl who has come to the conclusion that sometimes you have to make the best of what’s given to you. Since you want to fuck me, well, let’s do it right, don’t you think?”

  A wide smile split the foul man’s chubby face. He’d bought my act, and now I had to execute my plan perfectly.

  Joe released my hands, and I stretched my wrists to loosen them. All I had to do was let him get close enough so I could both knee him in the balls while simultaneously delivering a heel palm to the bridge of his nose. While neither would completely incapacitate him, in conjunction, they should buy me enough time to escape.

  I stroked my finger up and down his arm as he moved closer to me. As soon as he was in the perfect position for me to strike, I did.

  First, I brought the heel of my palm down hard against the bridge of his nose, and then I kicked him in the balls with all my force.

  “You fucking cunt!” Joe groaned, one hand grabbing his balls, the other hand covering his face.

  I used this opportunity to roll to the side as Joe’s massive body collapsed forward. With shaking legs, I jumped over him and moved quickly to the door.

  I tried to release the latch, the entire time keeping an eye on Joe. Unfortunately, the it jammed, leaving me trapped in the van with one angry-as-fuck rapist.

  Sweat started to pour down my face, and my heart pounded in my chest. The only opportunity I would get to free myself quickly faded away.

  “Damn it! Please!” I begged to whoever or whatever might be listening. “Open!”

  In the time I spent trying to open the door, Joe recovered enough to stop me from leaving. He pulled me back by my neck, trapping me in the bend of
his arm while he applied the necessary pressure on my airway to subdue me.

  Blackness skirted the edges of my vision and, instead of fighting it, I gave way to it. Once unconscious, Joe would rape me. At least this time, I wouldn’t remember it. Sometimes, it was the small mercies in life you had to cling to instead of bemoaning the bigger opportunities that never came to pass.

  This was one of those times.

  When I woke, Delany had my head cradled in her lap as she stroked my hair. She smelled like rosewater, and for a minute, I forgot where I was and what had happened. But not even her kind ministrations were enough to keep the reality of my situation from returning.

  “Don’t sit up, Kenna. Just listen. I cleaned you up as much as I could. There was dried blood and other things on your thighs. I know Joe raped you, and from the redness on your neck, I’m guessing he choked you, too. God Kenna, I’m so sorry.” Delaney sniffed and I felt hot, wet tears land on my face.

  Tears for me? Tears for herself? For both of us?

  “I-I tried to get away, but I couldn’t.” My own tears streamed down my cheeks. The pain in my body and between my legs was almost unbearable, and I didn’t want to think about what he had done.

  Losing my virginity hadn’t hurt this much, but then Sloan had made sure it wouldn’t. Joe Franklin didn’t give a shit about me, and I had almost bested him, damaging his fragile male ego. For that alone, he would have been merciless with me while he fucked me. A part of me wondered how he’d been able to perform after I nailed him in the junk, but maybe my kick didn’t hurt as much as I hoped.

  “Oh Kenna. I’m so sorry,” she said again, her voice breaking. “You don’t deserve this. Neither of us do. If I could change our situations, I would. I know it’s cold comfort, but the good news is Marcus will punish Joe for what he did. And, now, he’ll have to wait to auction you until the evidence of the assault is healed. Maybe within that time… I don’t know. Anyway, you have a fairly nasty black eye, but I’m sure you know that since it certainly has to hurt. I’ll convince Marcus to let me tend you with ice at least. Given he’ll want you to heal as soon as possible, I’m sure he’ll let me. I’ll try to sneak in some pain relievers as well.”

  The sorrow in her voice, and her attempts to help, touched me. Whatever kept her tied to Marcus must be strong because I couldn’t imagine she wanted to be here.

  “I know you do this at your own risk. Thank you for that.” I tried to sit up, but my stomach churned and my head throbbed so badly I stayed lying down. With my eyes closed again, I let the ramifications of what being raped might mean for me. A week prior to being kidnapped, I had taken antibiotics that canceled the birth control pill.

  Sloan and I had unprotected sex the last time we were together a few weeks. Our times together were few and I didn’t want to stop him.

  Now, Joe had raped me twice.

  I tried to push the realization from my head, but it was too late on all accounts; the damage was done.

  “Delaney,” I said weakly.

  “Yeah?” Her hand stopped stroking my hair.

  “My period is late. I-I think I’m pregnant.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Sloan

  Present Day

  ANOTHER NIGHTMARE WOKE me from a dead sleep. I rubbed my face and tried to rid myself of the dark dream that had haunted me for weeks. In it, I stumbled around endlessly, searching for something or someone I had lost.

  Since Emmeline’s death and the funeral, the dreams had become more intense and I cursed myself for not going to the service, but I had been following yet another dead-end lead. I felt like a fucking dog chasing his tail. When I heard Marcus had shown up and Zolt had knocked him around, I cringed, and then proceeded to beat myself up for not being there. Luckily, T-bone and his men had been there, but it was Irelyn that kept Zolt from killing Marcus.

  If Marcus died, I had no doubt I would never see Kenna again. As much as I wanted to kill the fucker, we needed him alive.

  That hadn’t been our only incident. After her parent’s death, Irelyn drove out to Paddy’s ranch in the middle of the night and was almost caught by Marcus. Zolt and T-bone arrived just as Marcus’ men came looking for her. After a high speed chase, Zolt successfully brought his wayward wife home.

  I understood Irelyn’s need to act, to do something, anything, that might change the game in our favor. Thank God for T’s GPS locator on her Mustang. Otherwise, Zolt might not have gotten there in time, and Irelyn would, once again, be under Marcus’ control.

  Unfortunately, her need to help had tipped our hand. Until that night, Marcus didn’t know we knew about the sex club at the ranch, but he did now.

  Our luck seemed to go from bad to worse. Right after that night, a woman accused Zolt of raping her, and he and Irelyn were forced into hiding, only coming back when Brody, Zolt’s brother, was found beaten and left for dead.

  He’d just come out of his coma, and it looked like he’d make a full recovery.

  As all this shit continued to happen, I finally used my Ceilte connections and did some digging into Delaney Carmichael’s past. What I found surprised me. She and Marcus had grown up together; they were step siblings.

  Apparently, they had fallen in love as teenagers, and Delaney had gotten pregnant. She lost the baby after Marcus’ father kicked her in the stomach, causing Marcus to beat him to death.

  Delaney ended up spending time in a mental facility before moving to Europe a few years later.

  The most disturbing thing, however, was finding out Irelyn looked exactly like Delaney before she had died her hair black and took to wearing blue contacts.

  Even now, looking at the picture of Delaney au natural freaked me out. She was Marcus’ obsession and Irelyn had been Delaney’s stand in.

  But today, and thank fucking God, it all ended today!

  All of our hard work had finally paid off after my contacts gave me the information we needed to find and intercept Delaney Carmichael. I’d given the 411 to T-bone and asked him to not reveal me as his source. I didn’t want to explain the method I’d used to finally get us a break. It was bad enough Kieran would definitely come snooping around, and I didn’t want him involving my family or T-bone and his company.

  My phone beeped with an incoming message, and I searched the bed for it. I had fallen asleep looking at a picture of Kenna the way I did every night.

  T-bone’s text was short and to the point.

  Exchange at O’Shea ranch 2 hrs.

  “Thank God!” I said, turning my eyes heavenward.

  This was it; the plan had worked. Today, Marcus’ carefully crafted world was about to crumble around him.

  Using my information, Irelyn, Zolt, and T-bone had intercepted Delaney Carmichael at her oncologist’s office and convinced her to help us. If everything went according to plan, in just a few hours, this nightmare would be over. Kenna would be back with me where she belonged.

  I left my bed and headed for the shower. I had just enough time to tidy up the loft and prepare for Kenna to come home with me.

  She would come home with me regardless of what her parents wanted. I needed her here so I could fix what was broken—rain enough love on her until whatever horrors had befallen her became a distant memory.

  As I showered, I thought about Delaney and her situation. The poor woman suffered from chronic eosinophilic leukemia, and she’d already lived longer with the cancer than most. We knew from her doctor’s willingness to help her and us that she didn’t have much longer. Zolt and Irelyn would do right by Delaney, and with Marcus out of the picture, they would make her last days as comfortable as they could.

  I dressed, and then surveyed the loft, making sure everything was in place. Though Irelyn warned me the Campbells may not allow this, she helped me to prepare nonetheless, agreeing her friend would require time to heal away from her family.

  I understood the ramifications of being held captive since I had been held a few times myself. Kenna would be angry and would someone
who understood. With me, she could scream, cry, and gnash her teeth if necessary. If she needed to beat the shit out of me, I’d let her. God knew I deserved it and more.

  Knowing Kenna the way I did, I knew she would have a hard time being around her family. I wouldn’t allow her to be somewhere that forced her to govern her feelings.

  Being a martial artist, Kenna would be doubly hard on herself. Failing to protect yourself went against what we were trained to do.

  In all honesty, I needed her here for me as well as for her. The blame for Kenna’s abduction, and everything she suffered, fell squarely on my shoulders which meant I had to fix her, and us.

  Even as I prepared to bring the woman I loved home, my mind drifted back to the last time we’d been together a few weeks ago on the night of her abduction.

  The energy around us zinged with sexual tension, snapping and crackling. I tried to ignore it, but as always, my need for her trumped everything.

  “Sloan,” Kenna said and placed her warm, soft hand on my cheek.

  I closed my eyes and leaned into her touch, reveling in our intense connection; the one that always pulled us together, and the one that had me fucking her on the hood of my car only a week prior.

  Try as I might, I couldn’t stay away from her, and I was beginning to wonder why I even fought against it.

  “I’m all alone tonight.” Kenna ran her fingers through my hair, further degrading my control.

  “I know,” I said huskily, then damned myself for letting my desire for her sound in my voice.

  She took off her seatbelt and inched closer to me, intensifying her scent around me.

  I told myself ignore my body’s reaction to her, but when she leaned in and brushed her incredibly soft lips over mine, I knew I was done for.

  “I don’t want to be alone tonight. What happened between Zolt and Irelyn, the way he blamed her for what his life has become, well, it has me on edge. He was so mean to her, and I don’t understand why. I think he really cares about Irelyn.”