Bucked: The Mountain Man's Babies(14)

He was good. Kind. Gentle.

I’m banking on his generosity right now.

In fact, it’s all I have to go on. Maybe I’m grasping at straws; looking for something that never existed.

But I know Buck would have fought to the death for me. When I left, I was only thinking of his safety. I didn’t know I was carrying his daughters.#p#分页标题#e#

But now I do.

And I sure as hell can’t go into labor here. If I do the babies will be taken from my arms and whisked away to a couple in Russia, who apparently are unable to conceive – not to mention the husband is a mob boss.

They paid in cold hard cash for my children.

Of course I haven’t seen a dime, not that I’d expect to, or even want to.

The whole thing makes me sick.

The fact that I’m carrying daughters only confirms my resolve to get the hell out of here before they are born.

The moment they come into the world, that is the moment their lives are as good as over.

This world of crime is no place for a girl.

No place for me.

I need to get out of here tonight.

There are thirty-eight dollars in my pocket, all I have in the world. I can’t risk packing any clothes, any preparations for the night only put a target on my back.

Instead, I wear two sweaters to bed, shove gloves in my winter coat. I get up in the dark of night, tiptoe to the exit, and walk through the mansion with my eyes lowered. Hoping that as I walk through the shadows no one will see me, find me. Restrain me. Sedate me.

Hoping I can leave before I am found.

My heart races as I fumble with the stolen keys to unlock the door in the kitchen.

“What are you doing out of bed?” Latvia asks, coming up behind me, causing me to rattle the keys, my hands shaking, my fear knowing no bounds.

“What is this, a prison?” I laugh nervously.

The starushka narrows her eyes on me. She has been the closest thing to a mother my entire life. Which is saying very little. Every woman at the mansion does as they are told; there is very little gossip or chatter.

Tonight, I hope to find sympathy with this woman who has watched my belly grow so large over the last eight months.

“Not a prison, child. You want a prison, you can have one.”

“I don’t want a prison, Latvia. I want to....”

“Leave?” she supplies the word I couldn’t find.

I nod, the kitchen is dark, but my heart spreads with warmth. I should have confided in Latvia months ago about my plans to leave.

“I have to go, Latvia, for the babies.”

She nods, tears in her eyes. “Go, child. Go, and never look back.”

“I’m going back to the Idaho forest, to find the babies father. Maybe he can help –”

“Shhh,” Latvia says harshly. “Don’t tell me a thing, Rosalind. I don’t want to know.”

I must look hurt because she adds. “Don’t you see? Information can be used against me. If I know nothing, it is better for you. For the babies.”

“Thank you,” I whisper, kissing her cheek. “Thank you, Latvia.”

I steal away in the night, the moon swollen in the sky, its light guiding me.

The light, the only thing I can cling to as I cross a highway, disappear. I leave without looking back.



The third trucker who picks me up looks me up and down, searching for a story that I refuse to give. Latvia was right, avoid telling my story, because if I spill anything – the underground crime ring, the women for sale, the babies on the black market, it will only put a target on my back.

“Just trying to get home,” I tell him.

When the morning sun breaks through, I run my fingers over my eyes, determined to be positive.

Buck will remember me. He will be happy to see me. He will keep me safe.

Maybe – it’s a lot to ask.

If I don’t ask him, I’m alone.
#p#分页标题#e#
For all these months I’ve been dreaming of this day.

The day when I get to walk up his road, taking a left off the highway at Eagle Canyon, and a mile up is a marker for his place. A massive, carved bald eagle is perched out on the gravel road.

I memorized the directions he gave me to his cabin the day we met and have been reciting them ever since.

“Just pull up here,” I tell the driver when we reach Eagle Canyon. “I really appreciate it.”

“Sure thing, honey. Now you gonna be safe walking through the woods at dawn?”

I nod. “As safe as I’ll ever be.”

I carefully get out of the big rig, taking a deep breath.

This is it. Now or never.

I blink back tears, needing this to work.

The truth is, I have nowhere else to go.





11





I wake up with a hard-on. Once again I spent the night dreaming of a woman that at this point I think I made up in my head. It’s been eight months since I saw her heart-shaped face, since we laughed over pancakes, and I spread her pussy apart with my cock.