realized he wasn't nearly as intoxicated as I'd thought. A malicious smile crossed his face as the blood drained from mine. If I didn't act, I was going to be a victim, and I was almost positive I wouldn't be his first or last.
I sprinted for my truck, his footsteps close behind me as I darted to the passenger side. My saving grace was the narrow gap between the backside of the bar and the truck. I squeezed through and fumbled with my keys as he tried to reach for me.
Shaking as I shoved the right key into the door, I glanced back to see he'd disappeared from the truck's front. Without knowing where he'd gone, I frantically started to wedge myself into my truck's safety when it shook. The door lock was depressing down into my hip as I jerked my head around just in time to see the man lunge from the tailgate to the front of the truck bed.
He grabbed my hair, jerking me into the truck's bed as my jeans ripped at the waist, still caught on the lock mechanism. Pain shot through my hip as it dug in, matched only by my scalp's searing agony. I seemed weightless to my attacker as he tossed me into the bed, towering over me.
Around us, the motion lights flickered to life, but he paid no attention to them. He had his prize. Desperately, I tried to get to my feet, but the slick soles of my work shoes refused to catch on the metal bed. He kicked at my knees, sending them crashing into the hard surface again as I screamed out.
"Go ahead and scream. I can drown you out, and there isn’t another bar or house for miles."
My stomach lurched, every nerve in my body on edge as panic took hold—my fight or flight response struggling with the best avenue for safety. There was no way I could overpower him. Every defense I'd had was now sitting in my truck along with my purse.
"Please, if you just leave now, we don't have to tell anyone what happened. You are making a big mistake."
"Who's gonna believe a little bar slut over me?" He chuckled.
I watched in horror as he pulled out a compressed cattle-prod. With a flick of his wrist, it extended to the full length of three feet. The end sparked inches from my face. He ran it down my body, hovering close enough that any movement would be met with a searing jolt of electricity.
"Don't worry," he licked his lips, "You'll get this later, but I want the first round."
From the front of my truck, a shadow shifted. It caught my eye as I looked frantically for help. My captor never saw the man approaching from behind him, his features and steps masked in the darkness. I could only make out his outline as he grabbed ahold of the man from the side. The would-be rapist was caught off-guard, his body rocking as the stranger dragged him from the bed to the ground.
As the two men wrestled in the dirty alley, my senses started to return. I leaped from the truck's bed, grabbing the cattle-prod from the ground where it had fallen. I didn't know who either man was, but I knew I wasn't going to be a prize for either. I pressed the button on the end, and the prod jumped to life. The small spark at the end, making both men turn.
Without waiting for common sense or reasoning to catch up to my actions, I lunged forward, driving the end into my attacker's shoulder. He screamed and shoved the stunned stranger off of him as he withered in pain. I ran the prod continuously with a renewed sense of power until there was no juice left in it. The man lay on the ground, twitching but still breathing.
I tossed the spent instrument to the side, my eyes leveling now on the newcomer as the street lights flickered back to life. He took my breath away.
3
Chapter Two (Jackson)
I’d seen the way he looked at her in the bar. It was a look I knew well. Everything in Texas was larger than life, including egos and male entitlement when it came to women. You had two schools of thinking—women were equal or below you. It was apparent the man thought women were just toys for his amusement. Granted, most people thought the same about me. The difference was that a woman left my place after a