Chapter 11
“Damn!”
Chloe cursed as she felt the pull on her steering wheel, knowing her tire was either flat or getting there fast.
She slowed on the desolate two-lane highway that led out of town and to Walker Ranch, pissed at herself because she knew she was going to have to call Gabe. She’d had a flat awhile back, and hadn’t bothered to replace the spare tire. She’d lost one of her rims and the tire when she’d been out searching for Ellie, and replacing it had slipped her mind entirely.
I’ll get a lecture from Gabe.
Chloe smiled, knowing it wouldn’t be a scolding, but more of a diatribe on how she had to look after her safety. Gabe worried more about her than how she behaved. From now on, he’d check her truck regularly, and probably blame himself because he hadn’t done it before.
Only Gabe would blame himself for her carelessness.
She slowed the truck carefully and pulled off to the side of the road, getting out of the way of traffic—not that there was much of it at this hour. Once a person got outside of town, the surrounding areas were pretty sparsely populated.
She shut down the vehicle, leaned across the passenger seat, and opened the glove compartment, fumbling for the flashlight.
“Gotcha,” she said in triumph, curling her fingers around the compact light.
Hopping out of the truck, she left the driver door open for extra illumination, and made her way to the front of the vehicle first. The tire on the driver’s side was fine; the one on the passenger side was almost as flat as a pancake.
Chastising herself again for not having a spare, she resigned herself to calling Gabe to come pick her up. She could call Tate. She’d just come from her brother’s house, and she knew he and Lara were still awake. But Gabe was closer, and for some reason he was her number one choice of a person to call when she was in trouble.
It was funny how she’d come to appreciate his support, knowing he’d actually want her to call him. He wouldn’t make her feel like she was a bother, or that she was inconveniencing him at all. In fact, he’d come just because…he cared.
She barely knew how to handle someone like Gabe, but she was learning, and his affection and kindness meant so much to her.
That’s what a normal relationship should be like.
Not having ever had someone normal in her life when it came to men, the difference between her ex and Gabe seemed like a rather startling contrast.
“But it’s so damn good,” Chloe whispered to herself as she moved to the door of her truck and jumped back up into the high seat. She scooped up her cell phone to call Gabe.
The phone only rang once before he answered.
“Chloe. Where are you?” His greeting was abrupt, husky with concern.
“Stranded,” she confessed into the phone. “I have a flat, and I forgot to replace the spare.”
She listened as he started his lecture, smiling because she could hear the telltale signs of him pulling on his boots while he was talking to her.
“I’m close,” she told him calmly. “If I didn’t know you’d probably be upset, I would have just walked to the ranch. I do have a flashlight.” She gave him the mile marker she’d just passed on the highway.
“You’re not that close,” Gabe growled. “Don’t move from where you are. I’ll be right there.”
She wanted to tell him that she’d grown up in Rocky Springs, walked the wooded areas alone many times in her youth, but he was too busy cursing at himself for not making sure she was safe.
“Gabe, you aren’t responsible for me doing something stupid,” she reminded him. “And my safety isn’t your obligation.”
“Bullshit!” His words exploded from the phone. “I’m making it my business because I damn well want to. I don’t want to think about you being stranded somewhere ever again.”
She heard the sound of a closing door and it was evident that he was hurrying to his vehicle, her assumption verified as she identified the roar of a truck engine.
“Don’t hurry. I’m fine,” Chloe begged, worried that he’d drive like a bat out of hell.
“Don’t hang up. Talk to me until I get there,” Gabe demanded.
“There’s a dead zone near the middle of your driveway. It will drop our call.”
“Shit, then—”
Gabe’s voice cut out and the call dropped.
“Obviously he found the dead zone,” Chloe muttered to herself, clicking the Off button on her phone.
It was funny that Gabe had never noticed that calls dropped when he reached the middle of the road to his house. There were plenty of dead areas outside of town. It happened when you lived in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. She’d first noticed it when she’d been talking to her mom on her way to her first day on the job. It had happened again when she’d called Lara on her way to see her mom not long ago.
She saw a set of headlights pull up behind her. Fairly certain it was probably the area police or somebody passing by from Rocky Springs to offer help, she wasn’t alarmed. In a rural area like theirs, almost everyone stopped to help each other around here.
She stepped out of the truck, ready to tell the Good Samaritan that help was already on the way.
Unfortunately, she realized a little too late that her would-be rescuer wasn’t a humanitarian.
It was James, and he wasted no time pinning her to her truck, taking her off-guard and slamming her against the metal. He had a death grip on her hair, and he used his body to keep her pinned.
“Hello, Chloe. I told you this wasn’t over. You didn’t believe me?” His voice sounded slightly manic, and she could see his dimly lit features morph into an expression of evil.
“What are you doing here? What do you want?” she asked in a hostile voice. She was frightened, but she’d be damned if she’d show him her fear. After spending years in his unyielding grasp, she was tired of worrying about what he wanted.
“I want you to marry me. You know you want to. This game is getting old.” He yanked hard on her hair.
Chloe yelped, unable to stifle the sound as he grasped her throat with his other hand.
Right at that moment, she caught a glimpse of his eyes as he turned his head slightly, the light from the truck’s interior landing on his face.
A cold chill ran down her spine as she got a look at his expression, a face that she was absolutely certain could cause her more than just pain.
He wants to kill me.
She shivered in his grasp, looking at eyes as frigid as Antarctica. James had no humanity. He was completely sociopathic.
“I won’t marry you. Not now. Not ever,” she gasped, struggling to breathe as his grip around her throat tightened.
She moved quickly, just like Lara had taught her, letting her body go limp for a moment to throw James off-guard. He hesitated and stepped back just enough…
Chloe used every bit of strength she had and raised her knee to his groin, scratching at his eyes, wishing she could claw his hideous eyeballs from his face. She used her anger to fight, having no mercy as he backed off with a loud howl.
“Gabe Walker is on his way. I suggest you go and don’t ever fuck with me again.” She panted as she used her foot to kick him in the ass when he turned, cradling his genitals.
“You fucking bitch!” James wailed maniacally. “This isn’t over. Wait until tomorrow. You’ll be getting a package from me. I have a copy of what I’m sending, and I’ll ruin your whole damn family. You either marry me or I’ll destroy the life of every damn member of your family.”
Chloe was still breathing hard as James spotted the distant headlights. He was still covering his balls as he limped back to his car.
“You’ll pay for this, Chloe.” His harsh voice was menacing, dripping with the desire for revenge.
“I already have,” Chloe muttered to herself as James screeched out of his spot behind her truck, nearly nailing her in the process.
Doing a U-turn, she watched the expensive vehicle head back toward Rocky Springs as the distant headlights from the opposite direction got closer.
Sucking in heavy breaths of air, Chloe tried to calm her nerves.
What was James saying about ruining her family? How could he? Everyone had said that breaking an engagement was no big deal, and it really hadn’t been. Some society papers had sniffed around for some kind of scandal, but they’d gotten nothing, and the few who were interested quickly went on to a bigger story.
“Relax. He can’t hurt you anymore,” she whispered, consoling herself.
She watched as the approaching lights came over another dip in the highway and came to a stop after turning and parking behind her.
Gabe.
She hurried to his vehicle and threw herself at him the minute he exited the vehicle.
He caught her and wrapped his arms firmly around her waist. “Well, that’s quite a greeting, sweetheart. I think I’d like to rescue you more often,” he said in a voice that contained both worry and a little bit of humor. “But then you’d have to be in trouble, and I’d hate that.”
“I missed you,” she told him, holding onto his warm, strong body with everything she had, resting her head on his massive chest.
“I missed you, too. You okay?”
She hugged him tightly and wrapped her arms around his neck. She wasn’t going to tell him about James and his stalking. The last thing she wanted was for her sweet Gabe to be involved in her mess. She had a feeling that if she looked closely, she’d find a jagged piece of metal or some kind of object that had punctured her tire intentionally. James had set this up. She could sense it, and he’d acted way too unsurprised to see her stranded.
Bastard!!
“I’m good,” she whispered quietly into his ear. “I’m always good when I’m with you.”
“It’s cold out here. Get in the truck.” Gabe looked like he hated to let her go, but he untangled them and went to open the passenger side of his vehicle.
Before Gabe could lift her up, Chloe grasped the handle along the doorframe and hopped into the seat, using the running board. She needed a few minutes in the dark to compose herself, get her emotions under control.
He closed the door carefully once she was seated. He went to her truck and gathered the things on the seat, including her cell phone, and locked the vehicle, and then pocketed the keys.
Just being with Gabe made her feel safe, and she smiled at him as he got into the truck and handed her the phone and her bag.
“You should have worn a jacket,” he grumbled, closing his door and plunging the interior into darkness.
After he started the truck and put it into motion, Chloe said softly, “Thank you. Not having a spare was dumb.”
“I’d want you to call me anyway,” Gabe answered as he started his truck and maneuvered it onto the highway. “Those tires are too damn big for you to be handling alone. I’ll take care of your truck in the morning.”
Chloe’s heart wrenched as she heard the protective note in his voice. Truth was, she had handled her last flat tire alone. She hadn’t even thought about calling James. It had been a struggle, but she’d managed.
“You’re amazing. You know that, right?” she told him quietly.
“Sweetheart, changing a tire for a lady isn’t exactly a big deal.”
It’s a big deal to me. It’s a big deal that you care about my safety, and that you don’t want me to struggle. It’s a really big deal that you give a damn.
“Little things mean a lot,” she answered sincerely, knowing just how much they really did count.
“If you think so, I’m not going to argue with you. Anything that makes you like me more,” Gabe said jokingly.
Chloe smiled into the darkness, amazed at just how quickly Gabe could make everything right again.
She tried not to think about James and the look of pure evil in his eyes. What would have happened if she had married him? He wanted her for the material things she could bring to the table. All of her brothers had been haranguing her about getting a prenuptial agreement, but she had refused because James didn’t want it. He’d told her it was a sign that she didn’t trust him. Now, she knew she should have listened to them. By the time she had changed her mind and thought it might be a good idea to have an agreement in place, she’d already known she was never going to go through with the wedding.
Chloe’s eyes were wide open now, and she didn’t doubt that he might have arranged to have her disposed of after she’d said her wedding vows. Judging by the look in his eyes, he might have done it himself just to have complete control of her money.
God, I hate those thoughts, but I know it’s possible.
She wasn’t going to lie to herself anymore. James was an opportunist who had preyed on her naiveté, and then he’d systematically undermined her confidence because she already had hang-ups about her weight. Every word, every criticism, no matter how subtle, had been an attempt to make her self-esteem sink lower and lower. Lately, his remarks had been downright cruel, and he’d dug the knife in as deep as it could get, making her feel that no other man would ever love her—not that he did.
She understood everything so rationally…now. Natalie had told her that she thought James was a dangerous sociopath after Chloe had talked about some of the really dark incidents that she hadn’t shared with anyone else.
After seeing James tonight, Chloe knew Natalie was right.
“Hey, why so quiet?” Gabe queried in a husky voice.
“I was just thinking,” she replied honestly.
“About?”
“How lucky I am to have you as a teacher,” she answered in a teasing voice. It was getting more and more difficult to think of Gabe as just a learning experience or an affair as they’d agreed to do.
“Are you ready to graduate?” He sounded worried.
Chloe didn’t ever want to leave Gabe. She already knew that. She’d been lucky enough to find him, and she didn’t ever want to let go. Unfortunately, she’d made the arrangement to help her heal, and it had helped. Now, she was stuck with the consequences. “Not at all. I think I’m still a fledgling, and I still have so much to learn. But maybe you could advance me a grade or two.” She kept her voice intentionally low and sultry. If her intimate relationship with Gabe was going to eventually end, she wanted to experience all of him.
“Baby, if I teach you much more, I won’t live through it. You’re already perfect, to tell you the truth. You always were.” His voice sounded husky and vulnerable.
Chloe reached over and put a hand on his thigh, needing to touch him. “I thought you liked to be the boss in the bedroom.”
So far, he’d been demanding, but she had been too afraid to completely trust him, to completely let go and follow. She knew he’d never completely relinquished control either. He was still careful, and it wasn’t necessary anymore.
“Sweetheart, I can’t—”
“That’s too bad,” she interrupted him thoughtfully. “I was thinking that could be pretty hot.”
“You do?” Gabe sounded like he was breathing heavily.
“I do,” she admitted, loving the idea of Gabe demanding her compliance in the bedroom. The whole idea turned her on. He was already a demanding lover, but she’d love to put herself at his complete mercy. It was a measure of trust, and she did trust him. He’d make it the most pleasurable experience imaginable. “I want to be yours,” she added enigmatically.
“As far as I’m concerned, you already are,” he grumbled.
“Then show me.” She moved her hand up his thigh and gently cupped his cock that was currently trying to pop the buttons of his jeans.
“Chloe.” His voice came out strangled.
“I want you, Gabe. I want everything you are, everything you feel for me.” She teased the denim fabric with her fingers.
“You might be sorry,” he said huskily.
“I want to make you come,” she insisted.
“That’s a given,” Gabe rasped.
“Any way you want it,” she added. “Any way you need it.”
“Fuck! You’ll pay for teasing me like this, sweetheart,” he said gruffly.
How many times had she heard similar threats from James? But her ex was far from her mind. Hearing it from Gabe’s sensual mouth was more like a promise of ecstasy. Pain was the last thing on his mind.
“I’m counting on it.” She squeezed him through his jeans.
“I feel too damn much. I’m scared that I’ll hurt you if I let go,” Gabe admitted gruffly.
His vulnerability clenched at her heart. “I want it. I want it all,” she answered simply. “I’ll give you all of me if you give me all of you.”
“Deal.” The word shot out of his mouth instantly.
Chloe was done playing any kind of games. Gabe loved her body, and she would willingly let him have it.