Page 54 of Lone Star Country Protector
The butt of a gun or possibly a knife handle?
His one arm, wrapped around her like a band, was stronger than both of hers put together. Now that he’d picked her up and was holding her to one side, could she throw her head back and cause the man some pain at the very least?
Get some of her DNA on him? Or his underneath her nails?
Screaming in the isolated parking lot wasn’t doing any good. She had to try something.
* * *
Dalton knew somethingwas wrong. He fired off a text to his sister, asking what was going on and what was taking them so long. Then he waited. A minute passed with no response.
“What is it?” Grandpa Lor asked. “What’s wrong?”
Dalton shook his head. “She should have been back by now. And Jules isn’t returning my text. Something’s off.”
Dalton looked up and caught Grandpa Lor’s stare. The second their eyes connected, Grandpa Lor’s expression said he knew exactly what Dalton was talking about. Once a marshal, always a marshal. Those instincts never went away.
“Go get your girls.”
Dalton nodded before standing up and rushing toward the hallway. He stopped at the door and looked back. It did the soul good to see his grandfather awake and alert.
He tapped the doorjamb a couple of times. “Watch out for anything suspicious while I’m gone, okay?”
Grandpa Lor reached toward the call button. “It isn’t much, but it should stir up a bee’s nest of attention shouldthe need arise.” His mischievous smile was back, and it warmed Dalton’s heart to see its return.
Dalton offered a small smile before making a beeline toward the elevator bank.
Blakely could be anywhere, but his money was on the parking lot since Jules hadn’t returned his texts. The thought of anything happening to his sister was enough to cause his hands to fist. Add Blakely to the mix, and he was downright boiling over.
You should have gone down instead.The voice of shame shot daggers straight through his heart. Guilt consumed him. He should have been the one to run down to pick up the food. Now, he’d not only put Blakely in danger but his sister too.
If anything had happened to Jules…
Nope. He couldn’t go there. Not until he assessed the situation.
But he had no time to deflect the shame as he tapped the elevator button for a third time in a row. Would constantly hitting the button make the metal machine move toward him faster? He didn’t know and didn’t care. It gave him something to do with his hands while he waited. Besides, his tombstone would never read:Here lies a patient man.
The elevator dinged and then the doors opened. His chest squeezed when it came up empty. He wanted Blakely and Jules to step out of that elevator and tell him what a worrier he was. He wanted to be wrong about the pair of them being in trouble. He wanted, no,needed, both of them to be safe.
Instincts honed by years of experience said he was about to find out just how badly he’d misjudged the situation. And he would never forgive himself for the mistake.
Chapter Twenty
Blakely brought her hands up to dig through the layer of thick cotton and find her attacker’s skin. She managed to maneuver enough to slip a hand underneath the material of his hoodie, up the sleeve. It was then she realized he was wearing some type of rubber glove just like the other night. So he was still concerned about leaving any DNA traces behind.
This was no doubt the same person who’d attacked her before. He must have been following her up to now, biding his time. Was he the same person who’d driven the SUV?
The short answer was most likelyyes.
If this man was going to kill her in this parking lot, she fully intended to have some of his DNA under her fingernails.
Blakely made a claw shape with her hand before digging her nails deep into the flesh of his wrist and then scraping as far as she could go.
Hoodie bit out a few choice words but didn’t loosen his grip.
She needed to break free. She needed to get loose. What could she do to stop this bastard from killing her?
Now that she was approaching the vehicle, she saw Jules’s face muscle twitch. She was alive?
