Chapter Six
“Darcy,” I hear Riker say softly but I’m still half asleep. “Want me to carry you inside?” He asks as he reached down to lift me up into his arm. Guess he’s going to carry me no matter what. Why did he even bother asking me?
Resting my head against his chest I open my eyes and see trees, lots and lots of tree.
“Where are we?” I mumble.
“My family’s hunting cabin. It’s only about an hour outside of town. I called my brother right after you fell asleep and had him come stock it for us. We passed him as we were coming up the mountain. I hope you don’t mind but I also called your mom from your phone. It had rung a few times, so I pulled off and got it out of your pocket. I told her where I was taking you and she agreed that getting away for a few days would be good for you.”
Riker lowers me to my feet when we reach the front door of his cabin. The porch is huge. Two wooden swings hang on either side, and four rocking chairs sit in between them. This is not a normal hunting cabin. Riker unlocks the door and waves for me to go ahead of him.
Stepping inside I couldn’t stop my jaw from hitting the floor. It’s absolutely gorgeous. High vaulted ceilings, a massive open floor plan, a beautiful fireplace sits in front of black leather sofa with matching chairs on either side of it. There was even a bear skin rug hanging on the wall.
“This is a hunting cabin?” I ask Riker as I slowly start walking around.
“Well, it was just a small one-bedroom cabin that had just a woodstove, a small room that could only hold a table and about four chairs, and a small bathroom that was on the back porch. But in the last couple of years my brothers and I have been rebuilding it. Most of it is done, we just have the back part to finish. Paul wants to put in a hot tub, while Greg wants to add on to the mud room, so we can skin and clean our kills here instead of taking them back to town.”
Walking into a beautiful chef’s kitchen I run my hand along the butcher block counter tops. “I’m sorry to tell you but this is no longer a hunting cabin. This is a resort style cabin.” I softly giggle.
“We all wanted a place, that even if we didn’t want to hunt or fish, we could come to relax. One of the added bonuses was about two years ago the county added two new cell towers not five miles from here. So, we don’t have to worry about losing cell service. Thanks to Greg being able to set up a hotspot for us, we also have wifi.”
Riker walks around opening some of the windows to let the warm summer breeze in. Then he walks into the kitchen, open the fridge door and starts pulling food out. Steaks, eggs, bacon, and a pitcher of lemonade.
“I’m not really hungry.” I tell him as I take a set at the island bar.
“You need to eat.” He states as he grabs a pan from one of the lower cabins and sets it on the stove. “Paul went way beyond just stocking the place for us. We have enough food here to last us at least a week, if not two. He also brought us one of his famous chocolate cakes.”
“Why would he need to stock so much food? How long do you plan on keeping me here?” I want to smack myself for not thinking about this sooner. I was so lost in the shear fear of having to deal with Bradley again that I totally forgot to ask Riker about anything to do with him bring me up here.
Riker walks over to me and turns my bar stool so that we are face to face. “Darcy you needed to get away from all that for a little while.” He reaches in his pocket and pulls out my phone. “Call your mom and tell her we made it here safely. She may have an update from the police by now. They were doing the sweep when I talked to her earlier. She had sent your sister and all your friends home after we left but your cousin Steve stayed with her to help deal with the police. Detective Roy wasn’t too happy about me leaving with you, but he’ll get over it.”
“You didn’t answer my question. How long are we staying here?” I ask him again as I open my phone only to see I have over twenty text messages and four missed calls.
“As long as it takes the police to find this creep and lock him up. My brothers can keep bringing us supplies. Keeping you safe and away from this crazy stalker is more important than anything else right now.” He leans down and kisses my forehead before returning to the stove where he starts to cook our dinner.
I’m at a lost for words right now. He wants me to stay here until Bradley is caught? Is he joking? It took the police three months to catch Bradley the first time. And that was only because the woman he was trying to take had a stun gun that he didn’t know about. She used it on him before he could get the rag over her face. She’s the whole reason he was caught.
After my rape they ran the DNA found inside me through a date base and found out that there was fourteen other women who had been raped and beaten. Not all of them survived like I did. Only six of us were found alive. Bradley left us all in different places. I was left on the back side of a warehouse. The only reason someone found me was because they had been out on a walk with their dog when the dog smelled the blood.
I had been missing for two days. There’s no telling where he kept me for those two days. I’m glad I don’t remember what happened to me, but at the same time I wish I remembered something so that the DA would have had more to nail Bradley’s ass.
When Bradley was arrested and charged with the murder of eight women, the rape and torture of fourteen women, and one charge of assault, we all thought it would be a slam dunk case. To our surprise Bradley’s lawyer was able to get him out on bail by stating that the DNA evidence alone couldn’t convict him. He claimed it could have been consensual sex with all the women and that he was being set up by someone else.
The DA warned the judge that if Bradley was given bail he would run. I guess the judge thought setting the bail at five million dollars would keep Bradley locked up. Too bad that didn’t happen. Bradley posted bail two days later and no one has heard from him since. Well, not until we all started getting the notes.
Bradley had said on his voice that one of his angels had gotten his note and tried to call him. That means he left notes for all of us. I wonder if the police have looked into that yet. Have they checked on the other girls?
I quickly dial my moms number and wait for her to answer.
“Did you make it to the cabin?” She asks right off.
“Yes, we’re here now. Have the police check on the other girls? Bradley left notes for all of us, he said so in his voice mail. Did he leave bugs at their places too?” My words are rushed but the more I think about all this the more scared I get.
“Take a deep breath honey.” Mom says gently. “Yes, the others have been checked on. They did get notes too but didn’t know they were from him. None of them called the number. The police are going to check their homes and work places tonight. All of them have been told to find somewhere else to stay for a couple of days.”
“When can I come home? I have a business to run mom. I can’t do that from here.” I know I shouldn’t be thinking about work, but my work was my life. I can’t run the company from a hunting cabin.
“Your company will not fall apart if you take some time off. Your sister and friends can handle everything just fine. Missy also told me about the new hire you just got to handle the computer work. She’s going to help him with the website while you’re gone. Right now, Darcy you don’t have a choice but to stay gone for a few days. Until the police can either find Bradley or someone can kill the bastard.” I can hear not only the worry in my mom’s voice but also the anger. She also right. The girls can run the company for a few days. I just hope it won’t take longer than that to find or kill Bradley.
“Just keep me updated on what’s going on. I need to know everything, or I’ll drive myself crazy. Also let the girls know I have cell service and to feel free to call me if they need anything.”
“I’ll keep you update but the police have asked us not to call you from your office. They found four microphones and seven cameras there today. They hope they got them all. but they are going to try to bring in the FBI to help do a better sweep. We should know more tomorrow. Detective Roy said the girls could come back to work tomorrow but not to call, text, or talk about you while in the office.”
“The FBI?” I gasp. What the hell?
“The police need help Darcy. This is a big case, an important one. It scared me too at first but right now the more help they can get the better chance they have at finding him. But you need to just go rest right now. I can’t tell you not to worry because I know you will but please try to at least rest.”
I promise my mom I’ll rest, we say our goodbyes and I hang up. All of this is just too much for one day. I take a deep breath and the wonderful smell from the kitchen causes my stomach to rumble. Guess I am hungry.
Riker was flipping the steaks as I turned around to watch him. He moved effortlessly around the kitchen. He caught me staring at him and winked at me.
“It smells good.” I tell him.
“Nothing big, just some steak and eggs with a side of bacon. How do you like your steak?”
“Medium rare please. Can I do anything to help?” I ask him. I could tell he started to say no but stopped himself.
“You could set the table and pour us some lemonade.” He tells me where to get everything and I go about setting the table.
It didn’t take long for the steaks to get done. As they rested he fried the eggs and bacon. We both dug in as soon as we sat down to eat. I was much hungrier than I thought. Everything was delicious. I helped him wash the dishes, then he leads me over to the couch and cuddled me next to him. I should have fought this but being with Riker right now made me feel safe.
“Are you up to talking?” He asks after we sat there for a few minutes. I was hoping he would just turn the TV on but no such luck.
“What do you want to know?” I ask. No need to pretend I don’t know what he wants to talk about.
“What happened Darcy? Your sister just told me that this Bradley guy was more or less a stalker and had been arrested but jumped bond and no one knew where he was. But I think there is more to the story.”
I rest my head on his chest, not wanting to look at him while I tell him the truth. I start from the beginning and go through everything detail by detail. Not leaving anything out. I felt him tense up when I started talking about the rape and about what the doctors had told me, but I didn’t stop talking. He let me get through the whole story. He didn’t stop me when I started crying again, he just held me as I let go of everything.
When I was finished I felt like I had been hit by a truck. I was exhausted both mentally and physically. Riker didn’t say anything after I was done. He leans down, kissed my forehead, then got up and walked outside.
Well, that hurt. I spill my guts to him about being raped and beaten and he walks away from me?
Before I can even think about what to do I hear something explode outside. I run to the door and jerk it open. Riker is standing on the porch, panting, while staring down at a broken rocking chair. He smashed a chair?
“Riker?” I say his name quietly.
He doesn’t turn around, but he does answer me. “Go back inside.” It was an order, not a request.
All at once I felt hurt, angry, scared, and let down.
“Screw you Riker! You asked for the story, so I told you. It’s not my fault you couldn’t handle it. How about instead of breaking things you just take me home?” I cross my arms and stare at his back. He still hasn’t turned around.
“It was either break something or leave you here while I go search for that son of a bitch. But I wouldn’t be turning him into the police.” He laughs harshly as he finally turns around and heads towards me. “I’d be putting him six feet under for what he did to you.” He cups my cheek, then rest his forehead on mine. “I’m not leaving you, and you’re not leaving me.”
I know he wasn’t just talking about us leaving the cabin, but I wasn’t ready to have that talk with him anytime soon.
“You walked away. What was I supposed to think? That really hurt. I pour my heart out to you about a very dark time in my life and you say nothing. You just get up and leave me to come out here and break a chair.” I tried to blink back the tears but a few still slipped down my cheek.
Riker gently wipes my tears away before leaning down to kiss my forehead. “I won’t walk away again, I promise. I’m sorry hurt you, that wasn’t what I meant to do. I was just so angry.” He whispers.
We decide to drop the subject for the rest of the night. We watch movies on Netflix until after midnight. Riker and his brothers didn’t just update the main cabin, they also added three nice size bedrooms to the back end of the cabin. Riker made it clear he wanted to stay with me but I really wasn’t ready for that. I didn’t think I would ever be ready.