Cut Too Deep(63)

“Doesn’t look like you’re doing much to me.”

He didn’t want to open the door again to get back behind the wheel because of her, Jenna realized. If he opened the door, she might be heard. She wished the windows of the Ford weren’t blacked out, so the guy outside could see her on the backseat. But she guessed Garrett had planned for that.

She needed to increase her efforts.

With her feet bound, she managed to twist onto her back. She lifted her knees and hammered her feet against the inside of the door. She’d lost her shoes somewhere back at the garage, so her bare soles only made a muffled thump against the padded metal, but she kept it up, certain the noise would be heard from the outside.

Garrett’s voice came again. “Look, just get the hell away from my car, and then I’ll move it. Okay?”

“What the heck is your problem, man? All I—” The man trailed off, and then said. “What is that thumping? What have you got in there?”

Garrett paused. “Oh, that’s just my dog. He hates being cooped up.”

Disbelief was evident in the guy’s tone. “That’s your dog?”

Jenna screamed again, spurred on that she been heard. She increased her efforts, kicking the door harder and faster. She’d been heard! Someone would save her!

“Yeah.” Garrett’s tone had grown hard and cold, and a nugget of dread settled in Jenna’s stomach. “You want to see it?”

The man’s voice sounded confused. “No, not really. I just want you to move the damn car.”

“I think you should see it.”

Suddenly, the back door her feet had been hitting opened, bright sunlight blaring into her eyes, making her squint. But she managed to make out the shape of Garrett standing silhouetted against the sunlight, another man at his side.

“That ain’t no dog!” the other man exclaimed. “What the fuck—?”

But he didn’t get a chance to finish. Garrett grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed the man’s forehead against the roof of the car. There was a sickening crunch, but Garrett didn’t stop there. He pulled the man’s head back again, and once more smashed his skull against the car, and then did it again and again. Garrett’s expression was cold fury as he let go of the stranger’s head. The man fell limp. Quickly, Garrett bent down and hauled him into the back seat, half on top of Jenna, half on the floor.

Jenna gave another scream against the rag and tried to push herself backward, away from the man’s body. Was he dead? Had Garrett killed him? He lay motionless across her legs, a weight that seemed to be far greater than it would have been in life. Blood started to seep across the new leather seats and she couldn’t see any sign of him breathing. Though in her head, she knew he was a victim, just like her, and that he’d been no more than an innocent man only moments before, her paranoia of germs went into overdrive. It was a body! A dead body touching her skin! Oh, God. She didn’t want the dead man anywhere near her.

“That was very stupid, little bitch,” Garrett spat, leaning into the back seat. “Very stupid indeed. You just got another person killed.”

Jenna sobbed.

All she could hope was that someone had seen what had happened.

She tried to see if the man’s chest was rising, or if she could feel any breath, but there wasn’t any.

Was a dead body touching her right now?

Garrett climbed back into the driver’s seat, got the SUV started again, and pulled away from the curb. He didn’t go far. He did a couple of maneuvers then stopped the vehicle again and climbed out. Jenna heard a couple of footsteps and then the back door opened. Garrett reached in and pulled her out, the strange man’s body falling completely to the floor, wedging between the front seats and the back.

Jenna landed on her knees, scraping them raw. Garrett’s hand remained tight around her upper arm, his fingers digging painfully into her flesh. She blinked in the bright sunlight and recognized that they were parked in Ryker’s driveway, behind Ryker’s truck. Garrett must have been attempting to park across the street when the guy had asked him to move the car.

Garrett slammed the back door shut with his foot, shutting off the sight of the other man’s body. “I had been hoping not to park in front of the house so as not to cause suspicion, but you kind of fucked that up for me.”

What did he expect her to say? Sorry?

Besides, she couldn’t say anything with the filthy rag still stuffed in her mouth. Frantic, her eyes searched the properties opposite Ryker’s house, desperate for any sign of someone outside of their houses—mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, or collecting their mail. But the street was deserted. Her gaze flicked to the windows, hoping to spot a drape moving, or blind slats being separated as a nosy neighbor spied on them, but everything remained still.