Mackenzie
When I closed the door on Jake panic flared in my chest and from the corner of my eye I could see my fingers trembling as they quietly replaced the chain.
Goodbye, Jake.
I swallowed hard as terror filled every pore of my being.
“Nicely done, mon cherie,” Derek whispered in my ear. His breath was warm and soft against my cheek, while his gun was cold and hard against my ribs. Exhaling deeply, he licked my lobe and pressed his lips against my temple in a big kiss that made my stomach churn.
“You know, if you had let him in I was going to shoot him,” he said, his lips lingering on my skin.
I squeezed my eyes closed. “I know.” Of course I knew. He had warned me the moment Jake had knocked on the door. You get rid of him or he’s dead.
I felt the rough calloused pads of Derek’s fingers as they pressed into my jaw. “You did well, mon cherie.” He ran his nose through my hair, inhaling deeply and moaning. It took everything I had to keep the vomit down and my knees from buckling. I had to keep my calm if I was to get through this.
Thirty minutes earlier, I had been in the kitchen pouring a glass of wine. That’s where Derek had cornered me. He had stepped out from the shadows and revealed himself to me with two simple words, “Hello, Mackenzie.”
That’s when I had run, tipping over a lamp, a bar stool and a side table in my attempt to make it to the front door. But Derek had been too fast for me and had tackled me less than a yard from the freedom of my front door. We’d crashed to the floor, hard, and Derek had used his bulk and strength to overpower me. He’d straddled me while I had squirmed and fought beneath him, kicking the timber floors with the back of my ankles until he had pressed his gun to my temple and told me to stop.
“I’m not here to hurt you, Mackenzie,” he’d sputtered. “But it doesn’t mean that I won’t.”
That was when Jake had banged on my front door. My instinct had been to scream for help but Derek had clasped a hand over my mouth and pressed the gun deeper against my skull.
“He’ll survive this,” he’d whispered darkly. “If you do exactly what I say. Do you understand me?”
I had nodded.
“Good. Now I am going to take my hand away and you are not going to make a noise. Because if you do . . . if you do . . . I will kill him and make you watch.”
Again, I had nodded, then forced my body to relax so he would see I would do as I was told.
When Jake hammered on the door again Derek had gestured for me to get up.
“If he knocks again I might just shoot him,” he said with an amused smirk on his lips.
Terror tore through me. “I can get rid of him!” I’d said quickly.
Derek had eyed me suspiciously.
“Please . . . Derek.”
My use of his name had struck some kind of chord with him and he had relaxed a little. He’d gestured toward the door. “Make him go away.” He’d held up his gun. “Or I will.”
Come on, Z. Please open up.
Swallowing deeply, and trying desperately to stop my fingers from shaking, I’d reached for the door chain.
Just give me two minutes and then I’ll go.
I’d put the door chain on to stop Jake from storming in; hoping it might save his life because if he did I had no doubt Derek would try to hurt him. Then holding my breath I had opened my door.
Seeing Jake brought tears to my eyes and in that one moment I was terrified. Terrified that he would get hurt. Terrified that he wouldn’t go away and end up being shot. Terrified that he would go away and what that would mean for me once he was gone.
When I was alone with my captor.
I didn’t know what Derek had in mind. He’d once said that he’d never hurt me. That I was his angel. His sole reason for breathing. That a world without me would be like a world without oxygen. Yet, according to the police and the slew of psychologists involved in the case afterwards, Derek had planned on killing me the night he had kidnapped me. A murder suicide . . . or so they said. So I had no idea what nefarious plans he had for me once Jake was gone.
Oh, God.
“I love you, you know that, right?” Derek said softly.
I inhaled my sob and turned to face my intruder. “Then let me go,” I pleaded.
He shook his head. “It’s just you and me now, Mackenzie.”
In that moment I was grateful that Meg and Anna were out of town. Because if they had been here this would still have happened, and Derek would have hurt them both.
I dropped my gaze to the floor because I couldn’t bear to look at him. “What are you going to do?”
Standing right in front of me, he used two fingers to lift my chin and I had to swallow back my fear as his eyes met mine. “We’re meant to be together,” he said tenderly, as if we were two lovers and this was an intimate moment.
“No,” I sobbed desperately. I couldn’t take it. My fear was palpable. “We’re not meant to be together.”
Derek raised my chin again, this time harder. Rougher. “Why?” he asked sharply. But before I could answer he seemed to spiral into an emotional vortex. “Why do you do that? Every time I think you’re finally getting it! Every time I think I can trust you—” He took two frustrated steps back. “Why, Mackenzie? Why?”
He turned on his heels and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
I thought of Jake and my chest caved in with the heartache. I would never see him again. Never kiss him again. We would never get our happy ending.
“Because I don’t love you,” I trembled.
Derek swung back to look at me. I thought he would erupt into anger but he seemed suddenly inspired by whatever mania was going through his head and his face lit up with excitement. “Of course you don’t. How could you? You don’t even know me.” He smiled and I looked away because I didn’t want to watch as he crossed the room to me. But when he reached me he lifted my chin again and spoke to me with an excited affection. “But you will. I know you will. You just need to get to know me. Just like I got to know you over that summer at college.”
He spoke of that summer at college as if we had been lovers.
But we hadn’t been. He had stalked me. Obsessed over me. And then viciously attacked me.
I trembled beneath his touch.
“Derek . . . please—” My face broke. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to endure what was about to happen.
Derek wiped my tears. From a lover it would have been a gentle, loving moment. It would have been intimate and soothing, and it would evoke a flood of affection. But this was none of that. This was torture.
“Oh, my sweet Mackenzie,” he said as he looked down on me with a delusional adoration. “We are going to be so happy together.”
I felt more tears spill down my cheeks. “No.”
His mad eyes searched my face and I could see the craziness there. It wasn’t bright and vibrant, it was dark and sinister, and it terrified me.
“Mon cherie,” he whispered.
As he leaned in to kiss me I closed my eyes and forced my mind away from what was happening. I forced my mind away from the touch of his lips against mine. Away from his insistent tongue as it forced its way into my mouth in an unwanted kiss. I gagged and he moaned, and when I gagged again he crushed his body against me, gripping my arms until they hurt. He moaned again, desperately this time, and I realized with a sickening terror that he was getting off on my fear.
When he pulled back to look at me his face was a mask of unconcealed evil.
“Let’s take this to the bedroom,” he said.
I stiffened, my body absolutely rigid with fear. Oh, God.
Derek exhaled deeply as if a sudden surge of pleasure rippled through him.
“Tonight is going to be magical,” he sighed and brushed a lock of hair from my face. “When I finally make you mine.”
“No!” I pleaded, terrified of what was about to happen. I tried to shake him off me. I was going to fight this right to the end, right to my very last breath. But when I struggled against him he gripped me tighter and laughed at me, getting off on my panic.
“I know, I know,” he laughed. “It’s always so crazy the first time together. But don’t be nervous, mon cherie. You can trust me. I know we’re made for one another.” He sighed deeply again. “When we finally make love . . .”
His words filled me with revulsion and I struggled again, fiercely trying to break free from his grip. “Derek, no—”
This time a dark shadow crossed his face and he gripped me tighter. “Why are you fighting me?” His fingers dug deep into my arms. “Why are you trying to get away from me?”
“Let me go,” I begged. “You’re hurting me.”
He shook me and I was like a ragdoll in his hands.
“Why are you not happy? When we can finally be together!” Anger was bright on his face as he yelled. “Why are you ruining our first time together?”
“Because this is wrong, Derek,” I cried. “You’re sick!”
Rage erupted across his face as he struggled to keep me restrained. “We belong together!”
“No.”
I whimpered as he shoved me toward the bedroom. “I know we do. And you will too when I’ve finished with you.”
I fought him. I fought him so hard but in the end it only increased his arousal. He forced me up against the wall, mashing my face into the plaster and pinning me there with his body. My body jerked and flinched as he reached around for the buckle of my belt.
I struggled but it was no use. This was going to happen.
I squeezed my eyes shut and forced my mind back to that first night in Jake’s cabin, when I had told him about Derek and his madness. When Jake had pulled me into the safety of his arms and surrounded me in his warmth. If I tried really hard, I could feel that warmth around me now.
I would not be here while Derek did whatever he was going to do to me. He might overcome me physically but I’d be damned if I was going to let him take my mind. I would think of Jake and those four magical days at Moose Lake.
Derek ripped my belt through the loops of my jeans.
And I thought of Jake and his beautiful smile.
Derek’s tongue slid into my ear like a slug.
And I thought of Jake holding me tight against his broad chest.
Derek’s moan filled my ears and rushed to the receptors in my brain.
And I thought of Jake’s exquisitely gentle touch.
Derek’s breath filled my nostrils with suffocating intensity.
And I thought of Jake and the look of affection on his face as he told me he loved me.
“Jake.” His name was just a whisper on my lips as Derek struggled with the button on my jeans.
That was when the front door exploded.
Distracted by the disturbance, Derek’s hold on me loosened and seconds later an unseen force removed it completely, freeing me so I was able to swing around and see what was happening.
Jake.
He had Derek in a tackle and threw him against the wall. But Derek was like a wild animal and fought viciously, growling like a feral cat as he struggled against Jake’s bulk.
That was when the gun went off.
* * *