Page 86 of His Coveted Obsession

Easton, please get here soon. Please…

Present Day

Iwouldknowthosesmooth hands anywhere… that voice. Was I dreaming?

“Thomas. Little Rabbit.”

I want it to be true. The past few days had been literal hell.

Someone tried to lift me, and my body trembled. I was so cold. Always cold… and wet. I fought him off because I wasn’t sure he was real. It could’ve been those horrible men again. But I was too weak. A lack of food and water had my energy quickly diminishing. My stomach was so empty, I felt literally sick.

God, and my body ached all over from the muscle spasms from the cattle prod andbeing hit.

“Thomas!”

I freeze at Easton’s commanding voice, which brings me back to reality. “Is that you, Superman? Am I dreaming?”

“It’s me. I’m here to take you home.”

Itwashim. It was really him. Easton never, ever let me down. He was my one, true constant.

I burst into tears and wrapped my arms around Easton’s neck. “Oh, god! I knew you’d come. I justknewit. You promised to protect me, and here you are.”

“I wanted to get here sooner.”

That he found me at all was a miracle in itself. I didn’t blame him at all. “You’re here now. You’ve kept your promise, never lying to me. It’s the one thing I love about you the most.”

“I’ll always come for you.”

I cried again as he lifted me to stand and tugged me out of the cell. Easton quickly pulled off his black sweater and put it over my head. “I don’t have anything else.”

His warmth and smell enveloped me, so I held myself as if I could actually hug a sweater. That was when I noticed the sticky blood on the fabric, then my eyes trailed to his hands and arms, also covered in blood. And was that a knife?

“Are you hurt?” I asked.

He shook his head. “It’s not my blood. Come on. We need to get you out of here.

There was another man with him, grabbing Annie, giving her his black Henley, since she was only wearing her bra and underwear. She saw me and rushed into my arms, sobbing. I held onto her for dear life. “I’m so sorry, Annie Boo. I’m sosorry. Did they hurt you?”

“No, they didn’t touch me. They tried to scare me, though, telling me terrible things they were doing to you and what they had planned for us.”

I nodded and held her tighter as Easton and the other man got the women out. The man in the next cell to me hadn’t been around for a couple of days.

Easton took my face in his hand again, scanning me as I held my sister. “They clearly injured you, but did they do other things to you? Did they rape you?” he asked bluntly.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Good.”

He handed me a blade, and I took it. “Uhm.”

“Just in case. We can protect you, but I want you ready in case we get incapacitated for some reason.”

“Okay.”

I had no idea how to use a knife or if I could even bring myself to kill someone.

He reached for the back of my head, pressing fingers at the base of my skull. “Here, with enough force, you can kill them quickly.” Then his fingers moved to my throat. “Cutting here won’t kill them instantly, but they will bleed out and die.” His fingers continued to move to my middle back. “Rapid stabbings to the kidneys will inflict a lot of pain and kill them rather quickly if you’re fast enough.”

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