Most Eligible Baby Daddy(28)

Gris laughed. "Is that so, fucko? And when are you getting out of here?"

"Sooner than you think."

Gris laughed again. He walked up to the sheriff and took a key from him.  He put the key into a control panel on the wall and hit a green unlock  button. Forrester heard the cell door clank open.

"Oh, look," Gris said, tauntingly. "You're free, fucko."

Forrester forced himself to sit up on the bed. The pain in his ribs was  excruciating but he pushed through it, refusing to allow himself to  wince.

"Oh, you're feeling better?" Gris said.

Forrester threw his legs over the side of the bed. He tried to stand but  he couldn't. He sat on the bed and tried to look as confident and tough  as he could. He wasn't sure if Gris had seen that he couldn't stand up.

Gris was sneering, towering over him in the tiny cell.

"I'm going to take Elle back where she belongs," Gris said.

"You so much as lay a hand on her, and you're going to regret the day to the end of your life," Forrester said.

"And who's going to make me? You?"

"That's right, me," Forrester said.

At that moment, Gris threw a punch. Forrester dodged, leaning back, his  ribs burning with agony. Gris's fist flew in front of his face, harmless  in the air, and Forrester grabbed it and yanked the wrist backward.  Gris grunted in pain and lunged toward Forrester. Forrester tried to  rise up and get out of the way but his body refused to obey. The cracked  ribs needed time to heal. He leaned back but Gris landed on him  painfully. He punched Gris twice in the face but as soon as Gris's knee  landed on his broken ribs, he knew the fight was over. He almost blacked  out from the pain.

Gris noticed and capitalized on his advantage, punishing Forrester's  already damaged rib cage with a flurry of powerful punches. Each punch  further damaged the broken ribs, causing agony in every nerve of  Forrester's body.

Gris got back to his feet and looked down at Forrester. Forrester had to struggle just to remain conscious.

"I'm going to fuck you up so bad, you're not even going to remember your name," Gris said.

And then the heel of his boot struck Forrester's ribs. Forrester tried  to grab it but he was losing control of his muscles. He looked up and  saw the lightbulb of the cell above him. Then Gris's face. Then  everything went black.

He couldn't see, but he hadn't fully lost consciousness. Gris kicked him  repeatedly, in the ribs, in the chest, in the face. Forrester was  powerless to protect himself.

Through the fog of pain he heard the sheriff's voice.

"Enough, Gris. You're going to kill him."

"I want to kill him."

"Not in my jail, you don't."

"Well then, at least let me make sure he doesn't follow me."

"Follow you?"

"I'm taking the bitch home, where she belongs, and I need to know no one's coming after her."

Forrester felt a merciless kick from Gris's boot strike him in the face,  and then he blacked out for real. It would be days before he regained  consciousness.





Chapter 32

Elle

IT WAS JUST GROWING DARK when Elle saw the headlights pull into the lot  of the diner. She recognized them instantly as Gris's. She knew those  headlights intimately. She'd watched them, in despair, every night for  the past few years as they pulled into the driveway of her home with  Gris. He'd wasted no time getting his car fixed.                       
       
           



       

"He's here," she said.

Kelly and Grace both stopped what they were doing and looked up at her. There were no customers in the place.

"Don't worry," Grace said. "He can't do anything to you. Not while we're here."

"You're not alone," Kelly said. "We've got your back, Elle."

Elle nodded nervously. She prayed her friends were right. They didn't  know Gris like she did. They didn't know the violence he was capable of.  Her biggest fear wasn't even for herself. Gris was her problem and she  knew she'd have to deal with him. Her biggest fear was that she'd drag  Kelly and Grace into her world, and that they'd end up getting hurt too.  She couldn't allow that to happen. Grace was getting on in years, and  Kelly was looking after her brother.

Gris was alone. He pushed the door open forcefully and came inside. The  three women watched him from the kitchen as he made his way to the  counter and took his seat.

Kelly made to go serve him but Elle stopped her.

"No," she said. "Leave this to me. He's my burden to bear."

"The hell he is," Kelly said. "You left him. He's got nothing to do with you anymore."

Elle smiled but couldn't let Kelly take the heat in her place.

"I'll go," she insisted, "but I'm more grateful than you can know."

Elle walked up to the counter as confidently as she could.

"What can I get you?" she said, as if she'd never met Gris before in her life.

Gris just smiled at her.

"It's nice to see you too, honey."

"Don't call me that," Elle said.

"That's not what you were saying a few days ago. Come on, babe. Don't treat me like that."

"Either order something, or leave," Elle said. "I'm not your honey."

"Fine, I'll have a coffee," Gris said.

Elle put a mug in front of him and poured the coffee. For a second, her  mind flashed back to the time, just a few days earlier, when she'd been  pouring Forrester his coffee. He'd reached out and touched her. It had  been a real moment, something true and from the heart. This was nothing  like that.

"So," Gris said, his voice grating against Elle's nerves. "When are you  going to bring this little charade to an end and come back home where  you belong?"

Elle shook her head. "Don't you get it, Gris? This isn't the dark ages. I'm not coming home with you, and you can't make me."

Gris just smiled. "Dark ages?" he said. "That's very rich coming from  someone like you. I mean, you're the only person I ever heard of who was  actually sold to another person."

Elle's cheeks flushed. Gris knew that was her most sensitive, most painful memory.

"Don't do anything you'll regret," Elle said. "If anything happens to me, Gracie and Kelly will go straight to the police."

"The police? The police in this town are a joke. I've got them wrapped around my finger."

"What do you mean?"

Gris threw his hand up, as if brushing away her comment. He looked  annoyed at himself. He'd made a mistake. He shouldn't have mentioned the  police. Elle made a mental note to go check with them about Forrester.  Maybe they knew something she didn't.

"Look," he said. "I don't give a rat's ass about your little friends,  Elle. You're coming home with me, whether you like it or not. One way or  another, it's happening. Now, you can make it easy on yourself and come  willingly, or you can chose to make it more difficult than it has to  be. Either way is the same to me."

"Gris, I'm never coming home with you."

Gris looked her up and down. The way his eyes crept over her made her skin crawl.

"Why not? It was good enough for you for the last three years."

"It's not good enough anymore, Gris."

"What do you know? You've only been gone a few days."

"A lot has happened in those few days, Gris. I'm not the same person I was when I was with you. I'm different now."                       
       
           



       

"How much could have happened in such a short time?"

Elle sighed. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me," Gris said, forcefully.

"Well, I met someone, okay. I know there are better men then you out  there. Men who don't make me feel like shit. Men who don't try to make  me weaker all the time. I know I have options, Gris."

"What options? You're not talking about that little prick I saw hanging around the other day, are you?"

"Who?"

"You know who I mean? The pretty boy with the tattoos and that piece of shit pickup truck."

"What do you know about him, Gris?"

"Nothing?"

"Don't lie to me. You know something."

Gris sipped his coffee. There was a leering smile on his face that gave  Elle the creeps. "I know he's never coming back for you, Elle. He had  enough of you already."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because I know you, you little whore. I know how worthless you are. I  know how unloveable you are. You're disgusting, Elle. No man in his  right mind would want more than a quick fuck with you. You've never been  loved, and you never will be loved. That guy you were with is proof. If  he loved you so much, where is he? Why the hell did he skip town on  you?"

Elle felt the blood rising to her cheeks. She tried to stay calm, she  tried not to show emotion, but she knew she was letting Gris get to her,  and she knew he could tell. She'd never been good at hiding her  feelings. She wanted to cry, she wanted to burst into tears in despair,  and Gris could read it on her face like a book.