Page 13 of One More Betrayal

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The rain continues to pound me. Water streams down my face and the nape of my neck. Everything about me is soggy, including my hope.

The incline is too steep, the ground too slippery, for me to get to the road. But what if the slope isn’t so steep farther along? Then I can scramble up it to the road and wave someone down.

Except I don’t think anyone has driven past since I tried to avoid the deer and crashed through the guardrail. The road is too far away to hear approaching vehicles through the rain, so I have no idea if anyone has noticed the broken guardrail or Troy’s overturned truck. I only know no one has leaned over the metal rail to see if the driver is all right.

I’m alone. Alone with an unrelenting throbbing in my head.

I shudder, partly from the realization at how alone I am and partly from the cold. The pain in my body intensifies, annoyed at the unnecessary movement.

I don’t mind the pain. God knows I’ve suffered enough of it over the years. The pain reminds me I’m alive. If I can survive my husband’s abuse and the assaults in prison, surely, I can survive this.

I have no idea what time it is. It’s impossible to tell with the thick clouds, but it’s dark enough to know nightfall is coming soon.

And I have no way of getting to safety.

There’s no sign of a hiking path leading into the forest that could possibly get me to the road where the incline isn’t so steep. No easy way out of here.

I sway on my feet, still lightheaded. The sweat shirt I tied around my thigh is wet and heavy from the rain and my blood.

Even if there is a path nearby, I’m not sure I could make it far with my injured leg.

I lean against a boulder. Maybe I can rest for a few minutes, then return to the truck to see if I can find my phone or something I can use to wave down a vehicle. I just need a second.

I sit on the ground and rest the back of my head on the wide rock. It provides a small amount of shelter from the wind and the diagonally falling rain. The forest swims around me, and I’m forced to close my eyes. Just for a moment.

I’m so tired. Tired and cold. I just want to sleep. Sleep and only wake up once I’m home again. With Bailey.

My body shivers harder, draining what little energy I have left.

It doesn’t help that I went hiking before this. At the time, I figured I would go home and have something to eat and drink. I wasn’t worried about surviving the night out here.

I didn’t even have the foresight to leave Troy a note to tell him Butterscotch is with Rose and not Katherine and to tell him where I went. It’s not as if I were Angelique, unable to leave a message in plain sight at the risk of the Gestapo, Milice, or SS stumbling across it.

My only hope is Troy will return home and discover his truck and I are gone and…and then what?

A flash of lightning brightens the sky as if to answer the question.

I didn’t even think to tell Rose where I was going. I only told her I’d be back in a few hours.

Just one more minute…and then I’ll figure a way to get help.

“Get up, Jess. Find a way to get back to me.”

Troy. I let the deep, smooth sound of his voice weave into my consciousness, and I imagine him smiling at me with the sexy grin of his.

“Just one more minute…one more minute…one more minute…” I whisper, my voice growing weaker by the second.

If I don’t find help soon, I won’t get to hear Troy’s voice again. His real voice, not the one playing in my head.

The wind abruptly shifts direction, and without warning, a deluge of small pebble-sized hail releases from the clouds. Its stinging touch pummels me. I release a gasped shriek, unable to find the will to stand up.

Unable to find the strength to seek better shelter than the boulders.

6

Troy

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