from his pocket before bending over the dining room table. With a dirty card he pulls from his wallet, the man cuts lines of what looks like cocaine before snorting them one after the other.
Now, I don’t have any experience with drugs, but four lines in less than a minute seems a little extreme. Is he revving himself up to hurt me more? Is he trying to distance himself from the acts he’s about to commit?
As he pours more powder on the table, my entire body begins to tremble uncontrollably. The best outcome would be that he overdoses before Colton gets home. I could handle looking at him seizing on the floor and foaming out of his mouth. The compassion and circumstances Colton reminded me to always be cognizant of while working a case are nowhere to be found in my current situation. I don’t care what this man has been through. I don’t care who hurt him or what injustices he thinks he’s owed retribution for. I know he’s here because of a case Colton worked. That was clear when he admitted to knowing whose house this was with Colton’s full name and position with the police department.
It's retaliation, and I’m caught right in the damn middle. If I do survive this, I can’t see this being a winning point to get my parents over to the side of accepting that we’re together.
After he’s done snorting the powder, he pulls a disgusting bandana from his pocket, wrapping it around my face and forcing my mouth to open up around it before he ties it at the base of my skull. I fight him as much as I can, but the combativeness is futile. The fabric is tight inside my mouth making my jaw ache almost instantly.
The drugs only make the man pace faster, his movements jerky as frustrated hands swing around.
I’m trying to convince myself that things could be a lot worse when the front doorknob turns. The masked man produces a gun I didn’t know he had and points it in that direction.
My heart sinks when Rick and Landon step into the house. Terror fills their eyes, but neither turns to run. A look of defiance crosses Landon’s young face when he spots me tied up across the room, and I just know that it’s going to be that stubbornness that’s going to get him hurt.
Chapter 33
Colton
Today has been the longest day in history. Three calls, endless paperwork, and more than one patrol officer asking about Sophia kept my body busy, but my mind has managed to stay at home with her.
My cock is rock hard with anticipation from her texts, my fingers twitching to smack her perfect little ass for not responding to my last four texts as I pull into the driveway.
She didn’t message back when I let her know I was going to be later than I’d originally promised before leaving this morning, and I’m nearly certain the burgers I picked up for us on the way home will get cold on the counter while I spend an hour or so showing her just how much I missed her.
My hand lingers on the door handle inside my truck when I look at the front of my house. It’s dark outside already, and my front porch light isn’t on. There’s no warm glow making the front of my home inviting, and the sight of darkness at my door makes my pulse ramp up. The light is always on. I never wanted Rick to come home to darkness, plus it’s a safety feature. As a cop, I also know the porch light is often dismantled by criminals. Common courtesy makes people open their front door when someone knocks, and that invitation into a home goes up when the person inside can’t see who is ringing the doorbell, despite knowing it could end badly.
Fear begins to swallow all reasoning as I climb out of the truck, making sure to close the door without making a sound. I feel like a fool as I creep along the side of my house but instinct tells me something is off. Sophia’s car is in the driveway, and Rick’s is right behind it, which forced me to park a ways up the street.
I hope to look inside and get a good laugh. Maybe the bulb I installed a few months ago was bad, and it burned out too fast. Crazier things have happened.
But I can’t take that chance. Dread washes over me