The ski mask was back in her face as he held her phone in front of her. The driver gripped her head to make sure she didn’t move. Olivia smirked when the phone wouldn’t turn on with facial recognition. With a growl, the man in the ski mask yanked her thumb forward and placed it on the reader, but it still wouldn’t unlock.
“Dammit. We have to get the phone and computer or we won’t be paid,” the driver cursed.
“I’ll get it from her.” The man in the ski mask stood and the booted kick to her side came as a shock, as if it were happening to someone else. Olivia’s mind was screaming for her to run, to fight, to do something . . . but the booted kick came again and again.
She felt the masked man’s hand grip her hair and pull her back up to sitting. Olivia couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t make sense of what was happening to her. “What’s the password?”
“Screw. You.” It hurt as she gasped the words but they felt satisfying to say—until the punch to her face landed.
“Shit, sirens,” the driver said. The increasing noise of the police sirens broke through the fog in Olivia’s swimming head.
“You’re lucky, bitch.” Olivia didn’t see the fist coming as her eye was already swelling shut but then blissful darkness overtook her.
Trent couldn’t wait to get home. It was amazing how his own house didn’t feel like his anymore at all because Skye wasn’t in it. It was 4:53 in the afternoon. Close enough to the end of a workday. Trent closed down his shop and went inside. He changed clothes, packed a couple more things, and then snuck out the back. He walked over to Tinsley’s house and used the ATV to drive through the woods, across North Cypress Lane, and into the back part of the Bell Landing farm. He drove the distance of the farm until he turned onto a path that led to Palmetto Drive. He looked both ways and when he didn’t see any people or cars, he gunned the ATV and shot down the short distance to Ryker’s house. He entered the code and could finally breathe when he entered the compound.
Edie’s car was still parked in front of the guesthouse and Trent knew the sight that would greet him. He parked and walked inside. He looked the length of the house and found Edie and Skye knitting out on the patio. Home. He was finally home.
Edie glanced up and then Skye as soon as he opened the glass door to the patio.
“Hey, sweetie. You’re home early,” Skye said, smiling up at him. Trent placed a kiss on her lips and his hand automatically fell to her shoulder as he stood next to her. His whole body relaxed with her touch as she welcomed him home. There was that word again. Home.
“I hit a good stopping point. Your knitting is coming along nicely,” Trent told her.
Edie stood up and stuffed her things into her tote bag. “She’s doing really well. The girls will be excited to see your progress at knitting club.”
Trent wasn’t relaxed anymore. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Don’t worry, Trent,” Edie told him as she packed her knitting bag. “It’s four days away. A lot can happen in four days. And if it doesn’t, we can totally sneak her in through the back. No one will see her, I promise.”
Trent wasn’t so sure about that.
“Do you think we could have it here?” Skye asked. “There’s enough room, isn’t there?”
“That’s a great idea! I’ll run it past them. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Edie bent down and hugged Skye before patting Trent on the shoulder as she walked by.
Trent took a seat on the couch with Skye and pulled her against his side as she finished her knitting. The silence was comfortable and once again that warm feeling of being home wrapped around him and soothed him.
“How was your day?”
Skye didn’t look away from her scarf as she spoke. “Busy if you can believe it. I have such good news, and I also have something I wanted to talk to you about. Let me just finish this row.”
Trent watched the way Skye concentrated on her knitting. She was so focused on it that she probably didn’t notice the tip of her tongue was peeking out between her lips.
“What’s the good news?” Trent asked when she finally set down the scarf.