Cut Too Deep(54)

She started to scrabble backward, only wanting to get away from him. She hadn’t given thought to Sam’s body until she put her hand on his inert leg. She snatched it back with a scream, and Garrett laughed. He got to his feet, towering above her. But she could see he held his shoulder awkwardly, and took the smallest amount of satisfaction from that. She’d hurt him. Not much, but she’d hurt him.

“See that dead guy behind you?” he spat. “You’re going to end up wishing you were him. I’m going to make you pay for every moment I suffered in that prison. I’ll make you pay for every beating I took, for every time …” His face twisted again. “For every time someone touched me.”

Her eyes widened in fear.

Garrett reached down and grabbed her by the front of her t-shirt. He hauled her only part-way up, before drawing back his fist.

Garrett’s fist connected with her cheekbone with an explosion of white light behind her eyeballs. As quickly as the light arrived, it vanished again and was replaced with a tunneling darkness.

And Jenna fell down the tunnel.





Chapter Twenty





The first thing Jenna became aware of was the thumping pain in her cheekbone. It pulsed with her heartbeat, sending throbs of pain directly behind her eye and into her brain. The surface she lay upon was cold and hard beneath her body, and a strange chemical scent filled her nostrils.

Where was she? She was used to waking up in strange places, but for some reason she couldn’t remember going to bed last night.

Her eyelids fluttered, but her hair had fallen in her face, blocking her view. The cold surface beneath her face was nothing like a bed, but more like the tiled floor of a bathroom. Had she slipped getting out of the shower and hit her head? Was that why she couldn’t remember where she was?

Jenna moved to lift a hand to brush away her hair, but her arms didn’t budge.

Alarm spiked through her and her eyes flew open. What had happened came back to her in a rush. Garrett was here! He’d killed Sam and had hit her in the garage. She tried to sit up, trying to figure out if she was still in the garage or if Garrett had moved her. She yanked on her arms again, but her shoulders screamed as cramps seized her muscles, and she realized he had bound her hands behind her back with something—probably tape of some kind.

She managed to shake her head enough to get her hair out of her face, though the action sent more shockwaves of pain rolling through her cheekbone, eye, and head. She hoped he hadn’t broken her cheekbone, but when she wiggled her jaw, it felt more badly bruised than broken. She figured she wouldn’t be able to move her face at all if he’d shattered the bone.

From her horizontal position, Jenna quickly took in the sight of the bare, concrete floor, together with the tires of a couple of vehicles, and a pile of tools in the corner. With relief, she realized she was still in the garage. Then she saw Garrett, sitting, propped up against the wall, staring at her, a hateful little smirk on his face. The sight of him made her sick to her stomach and sent ice through her veins. His was a face she had hoped never to see again.

How long had she been out?

“Oh, good,” said Garrett, getting to his feet. “You’re awake. I was about to give you a kick or two, to try and wake you up. You’re not much fun when you’re asleep and snoring.”

“More like unconscious,” she muttered, her voice rasping against her dry and sore throat.

He shrugged. “Whatever.” He took a couple of strides toward her and reached down and grabbed her by the top of her arm, hauling her up to sitting. She yanked her arm away, not wanting his hands on her. Garrett let go and stepped away, his arms folded as he stared down at her.

Her throat felt raw and she coughed, and rested with her back against the front of the counter. Her face throbbed and she couldn’t imagine what she must look like. She could tell by the way her vision was slightly narrowed in one eye that her face had swollen. Not that it mattered what she looked like. If she made it out of this alive, she’d worry about her appearance then.

Someone would be here soon, wouldn’t they? If Ryker didn’t decide to come in and check up on his business, then a customer would surely drop by needing an oil check or a tire change? Garrett wouldn’t get away with this. She just needed to stay alive long enough to wait for help.

She cleared her throat again. The best way to stay alive was by keeping Garrett distracted, and she knew he liked nothing better than talking about himself.

“How did you find me?” she asked, trying to make her voice sound more confident than she felt.

He snorted. “That was so easy it was almost pathetic. You registered your car to your real name, so all I had to do was keep entering the registration into a database and wait until the number popped up.”