7
“Please. I don’t want any trouble. I will give you what you want, just let me go.”
Caston was sizing her up. There was something not quite right with her, but he wasn’t sure what it was. All he knew was that he had her and with Lee taking care of Michael, he had plenty of time.
“Take off your clothes.”
She started to shake with the idea of it, trying to talk him out of it. There was no talking him out of it though, she saw that then. He wasn’t interested in anything that she had to say. When he barked his order again, Jessa started to undress, trying to check her tears.
“Come on girl. I don’t have that much patience.”
She tried to hurry up, but her hands were shaking so badly that it was hard to. His yelling at her wasn’t helping either. Jessa wasn’t good under pressure and she was crying too hard to see much through the blurry vision she was afforded.
When she managed to get her shirt off, he made a sharp intake of breath and she looked up disgusted. The last thing she was trying to do was turn him on. But there was a problem with her pants, so she went for her bra, hoping that he would be distracted for a few moments for her to make a plan.
Pulling the clasp back and letting her fullness come to his eyes, there was no more yelling. She felt a rough hand on her and tried to ignore it. Jessa was done playing the scared woman. She wanted his hands off of her and she was seething inside. He holstered his gun and made use of his other hand on her softness. She moaned as he tugged on her nipples, then whimpered as he pulled harder. That was what made him want more.
Caston sat down on a chair, pulling her down to his lap and she could feel the excitement underneath her. She wanted to spew, her stomach lurching from the touch, but there was nothing that she could do.
“Please. You don’t have to be so rough.”
He grinned at her and assured her that he did. “You will come to like it Jessa, just give it some time.”
When his hands went for the front of her pants, she stopped his hand. “Let me do it.”
He was more worried about what was in front of him and let her slide off of his lap. She knew that she didn’t have much time, but there was something holding her back. It was the first time that Jessa worried that it would be enough, would she be enough?
She pushed his hands away, trying to give herself some room to move. He smiled at her and she tried to make her own smile reach her eyes. The last thing she wanted was for him to touch her, but it was what had to be done.
Gathering her courage, she started to pull her pants down, her hands searching for the knife that was strapped to her thigh. It was the only thing that made her feel safe and when her hands closed around it, she let her pants fall. The man’s attention was on her panties and not on the gleaming blade in her hands. Before he knew what had hit him, she had plunged it deep into his neck.
His eyes were wild, searching for her before settling on her face in surprise. “Did you really think I was going to let you touch me?”
He groped for her with one hand, while the other tried to stop the blood pouring out of his neck. It wasn’t what he had thought would happen. It was poetic in a way that he would be taken out by some weak women. It seemed fitting to him and he started to give up the fight. It was over. Caston fell from the chair with a thud and she was left to listen for sounds outside. The man was losing his fight with life and she wanted to make one thing clear to him before he went. Jessa wanted him to know that she had won.
She bent down and whispered in his ear. “I told my son to go wait in the woods until I killed you bad men. He will come out when I kill you and your friend. Do you really think I haven’t met men like you before? You are not special and there is no place left in the world for you.”
Jessa saw his eyes get smaller and she knew that he wished he could kill her, wished he could warn his friend that she was loose. But he couldn’t manage to breathe, let alone to speak. She smiled at him, that time it reached her eyes, happy that there was one less creep in the world to deal with.
Looking out the window, she saw Mike still being held by the other man. He kept looking towards the place where she stood and Jessa wondered if he could get away. There was still the matter of Carin and Jason who she could no longer see. There were too many variables.
Then she heard shouting and had time only to throw her shirt back on and make it downstairs. Jessa looked back at the monster one last time before leaving. There was nothing to be done there anymore. Racing down to where Mike was being held, she realized that he was in a tussle with Lee. That wasn’t the cause of commotion though. She was immediately worried about her son and peered into the bushes where she had last seen him. Jason came stumbling out, full of blood. For a terrifying moment, she was terrified that something had happened to Shane. Before the fear got to her head, Jason that fell. He had been shot in the back from the bushes.
The gunshot pulled Lee’s attention away from Michael. He whipped around just in time to see Jason fall, and then he stared with wide, surprised eyes at Jessa, who had emerged and was walking weakly toward the bushes where she had been afraid Shane might be hurt. The distraction was sufficient enough that Mike was able to wrap his arms around Lee from behind, putting pressure on the man’s neck until he fell. He held on until he was sure the man was dead before he moved back and got up. He looked at Jessa and thought he was going to lose it with relief.
“I was coming for you,” he said.
She gave him a kiss and then moved towards the bushes where Shane had run. Carin was still somewhere, but Jessa would let her go if she didn’t cross her path again. She was done and the last thing she wanted to do was chase down and kill an old woman. Her payment was with her grandson’s life and Jessa couldn’t think of anything worse than being in this world alone. She almost felt sorry for her.
Her eyes searched for Shane and she quickly found him in the bushes. He had listened to her and was waiting there just as she’d told him to. Milo was passed out beside him. He’d been seriously injured.
“What happened to Milo?” she whispered, afraid for the worst.
“He was shot,” Michael said, stepping beside her and taking her hand. Shane was still staring off into the distance, where Jason had fallen. He was holding a gun in the air with both fists. It looked huge in his tiny hands.
“Who gave you this?” she asked, taking it gently away from him.
“Milo did. He told me to that I might have to use it one day,” Shane said, his small body quivering. “He was right.”
Jessa never wanted him to have to do that, but she knew that the world was different and adapting was the only way that he was going to make it. She scooped him into a tight hug.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded and she buried her face in his hair, kissing the top of his head.
“I never wanted you to have to do that. But we have to keep going Shane. The bad men have friends and I don’t want to stick around for them to find us. Michael, tie your shirt around Milo. We have to get out of here.”