Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 105089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
“You want to keep your big mouth shut, or when we get to Billings, we’ll have fun removing body parts to send to your husband.”
She started laughing. A full, belly laugh.
“What the fuck? What’s so funny, bitch?”
“So. Dead.”
Ernie got back into the car and Bert shoved her back. “Fucking shut up, bitch.”
“What’s wrong? Why is she laughing?” Ernie asked.
“Because she’s losing her mind. What is that?”
“Fried chicken? What’s it look like,” Ernie sneered as they started off.
“Like shit that’s sat around a long time.”
“I’ve got a cast iron stomach. I’d offer you some, bitch, but stupid cows don’t deserve food,” he told her.
“I wouldn’t eat that if I was starving,” she replied.
It smelled awful. And Ernie was a really loud eater, smacking his lips and sucking on his greasy fingers. Gross. She felt her stomach turn as she continued to work on the knots around her wrists. She finally got them free but was careful to keep her hands low and in the shadows so they didn’t see.
She was going to need the element of surprise.
Several hours later, they reached the outskirts of Billings and Ernie was farting up a storm.
“Fucking hell, Ernie! What the fuck?” Bert complained, lowering his window.
Her eyes were watering from the stench and she’d already gagged several times.
“Fuck! It’s not my fault!” Ernie cried. “It was the damn chicken. I need a bathroom. Fucking pull over.”
“I can’t pull over here. Hold it!” Bert ordered.
“I can’t hold it! Pull over!”
“We need to make it to the drop-off point!”
“Pull over, or I’m fucking doing it in here!” Ernie cried.
Oh, hell no.
“Look! There! At that park! There’s a bathroom,” she pointed out.
Bert pulled the car up close to a small public bathroom, not caring that he was driving along the grass and ruining it.
Asshole.
This was her moment though.
Before Bert had even stopped the car, Ernie had his door open. She didn’t waste time. She flung open her door and jumped out.
“Hey! Bitch! Get back here!” Bert roared.
Yeah, she wasn’t doing that. She raced toward a clump of trees. Unfortunately, she didn’t see a hole in the ground and her foot plunged into it, twisting it and sending her sprawling.
She screamed in pain, and suddenly he was on top of her. He grabbed her, yanking her into the air. She tried to fight back, but Bert was fucking huge and strong. He just held her tight, his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming.
He got her back to the car and started shoving her inside.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” a woman yelled out from behind them.
It was enough to have Bert loosening his hold. Cat took advantage, and sprung free of his hold, racing toward the trees again, careful to run at a different angle. She saw someone running at Bert. Shit, she couldn’t keep going when some good Samaritan might get snatched up by Bert instead. She hid and waited for her opportunity to help.
“Hey! You!” the woman yelled.
What the hell was she thinking? She needed to run away.
Then she raised her arm. Cat couldn’t see what she was holding, but Bert started howling in pain and the other woman took off again.
“Psst,” Cat said as the woman got close to her.
The other woman froze and glanced toward her.
“Over here.” Cat gestured toward her.
She couldn’t see her clearly, it was still too dark. But she seemed slight and young.
The woman glanced around, then moved toward where Cat was hiding behind a large tree.
Bert had stopped screaming, which wasn’t a good sign. They needed to get out of here.
“Come,” Cat said. “We have to go before he starts searching. Do you know someplace safe we can go to?”
“There’s a twenty-four-hour diner not far from here,” she told her.
“Okay, that might work.” Cat needed to get hold of Alejandro as soon as possible. But the first step was getting to safety. “Let’s go.”
It was growing lighter, and she knew Bert would be hunting for her. She kept the hood of her sweater over her head, not wanting anyone to see her, and tried not to limp.
But her ankle hurt a lot.
“Are you hurt?” the other woman whispered.
“I’ll be fine. Keep going. Please.”
As they reached the edge of the park, a car approached and Cat hid, although it didn’t sound like Bert’s car. His heap of junk spluttered along like it was about to die.
Still, it wasn’t safe being out in the open like this.
“We’re just going to have to make a run for it,” she said, crouching. “Pretend we’re out jogging, which it looks like you were already doing.”
That wasn’t very safe. Alejandro would spank her every night for a week if she went running alone in the dark.
“You don’t want to call the police?” the other woman said.
“Christ, no. My Papi would have a fit if I involved the cops.”