Page 135 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

“Hey, Zeke,” Travis called when a thought struck him. “What was she driving?”

“A white Toyota – one of those little SUVs, Rav 4 maybe?”

The others all looked at Travis.

“It wasn’t her, then,” said Deacon.

“Did you get a look at her?” Trip asked before Travis could.

“Yeah, short black hair.”

“Definitely not her,” said Ace.

They all looked at Travis again, but all he could see was Retta, with her blonde hair hanging loose around her shoulders and a worried expression on her face. His gut told him that she was in trouble – he just didn’t know what kind of trouble.

“Would you go into the restaurant, Zeke? Ask Ty to ride out to cabin number six with you – see if she’s there? She might have fallen.”

“On it,” said Zeke. “I’ll call you as soon as I get there.”

~ ~ ~

When Retta opened her eyes, her head was pounding. She was lying on the back seat, and Jamie was muttering to herself as she drove. They had to be on a dirt road; the vehicle was bouncing over ruts. Retta had no idea where they were, but she needed to find out. She needed to get away. Although, how she was going to do that, she had no idea.

She kept her eyes half-closed, hoping that Jamie wouldn’t notice that she was awake. She needed to think, but her headhurt so much, it was difficult to think at all – let alone figure out how she could get away.

Her heart started to pound when Jamie stopped the vehicle and turned in her seat. “Wake up!”

She opened her eyes and stared back into Jamie’s. She’d always been wary of her at school, she had a well-known temper, and a vicious streak. But this didn’t even look like the same woman. She looked disheveled, as though she might have been sleeping in the car for a few days, and there was a wild look in her eyes that scared Retta.

“What are you doing?” Retta asked.

“Getting rid of you so that he’ll come back to me.”

Retta closed her eyes. “If you kill me, you’ll get caught – you’ll go to prison, then you’ll never get him back.”

Jamie laughed. “I’m not that stupid. I can’t kill you. I just have to get you out of the way, then I’ll go home and wait for him to come back to me.”

Retta swallowed. She didn’t plan to kill her. She was going to survive this. She …

Jamie opened her door. “You’re going to kill yourself.”

Retta tried to get away from her when she opened the back door. She didn’t know what she meant about her killing herself, but she had no desire to find out.

Jamie grabbed her leg – the leg that Retta was convinced was broken again – and dragged her out of the vehicle. She landed on the ground with a thud and screamed in pain.

“Be quiet!” Jamie yelled. “And get up!”

“I can’t! I can’t walk.”

“Then I’ll just have to drag you – it’s not far.” She grabbed Retta’s arm and started pulling her along. Retta tried to fight her off, but she couldn’t do it. They were on what she guessed was a forest service road at the bottom of a wooded slope.

There was a wooden shack just off the road and Jamie dragged her toward it.

“If I had the time, I’d take you up into the mountains, but this will have to do.” She gave Retta an evil smile. “You’re so pathetic that you won’t be able to get far.”

She tugged on the door to the shack and screamed in frustration when it didn’t open. To Retta’s surprise, she dragged her back to the vehicle. “Get in!”

She didn’t protest and somehow pulled herself up into the back seat. It was better than being left in that shack.

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