“I didn’t say he did. I said he spoke with you, and I know what he said to you. You gotta understand that Preston says anything and everything that flits across his brain in any given two-second period. He’s always saying something.” I watched her face carefully, begging my words to penetrate that damn cold stare she was attempting to hold onto.
She grinned – but just barely. “Preston is fine. He didn’t offend me. I had a really good time, Penn.” She hesitated, and I knew whatever she was going to say next was something she was forcing herself to say. “I just think it’s better if you and I are friends.”
She looked me boldly in the face while she said it. But she didn’t mean it.
“I’m pretty sure we’re more than that now, whether you want to admit it or not, Anne.” I held her gaze, refusing to simply give up.
Suddenly Murphy came bounding out of the back room. “Penn! Penn’s hewe!” He ran straight to me and I swung him up in my arms.
“Hey buddy. Why don’t you tell your mom how we were supposed to go meet the horses today?” I smiled at him, and noticed Anne was smiling widely too now. She couldn’t be stern when Murphy was involved.
His huge green eyes turned quickly to hers. “Howsee? We see howsees, Mommy?”
Anne shot me a look of defeat. She couldn’t even begin to protest against Murphy. “Sure, honey. Of course.” Then she focused her eyes solely on me. “Not fair, Penn. Totally not fair.”
A tall, trim woman with short brown hair entered from the back the same way Murphy had. She was grinning widely.
“Penn,” she said, giving me a nod.
“Kate,” I returned, doing the same.
We were both smiling, and I instantly knew Kate was on my side with this.
“Well, I do believe I’ll be letting you off early today, Anne.” She grinned at Anne devilishly, and Anne rolled her eyes.
Three against one wasn’t fair, but it sure as hell worked for me.
10
Valerie
“Don’t know why everybody’s so damn impressed with the fuckin’ mountains. Bunch’a damn rocks and deathtraps is all they are.” Randall took a giant swig of his beer, and I studied him while he swallowed it.
I had expertly managed to pour the Ex-Lax into his can without him even realizing. I’d put it in a saltshaker, knowing I couldn’t exactly just bring the damn bottle with us.
I’d hoped and prayed and begged to whatever universal power there could possibly be that he wouldn’t notice the taste or consistency change. There really hadn’t been a way for me to test those out without also giving myself some major issues that really wouldn’t fit well into my escape plan.
“I think they’re pretty. The trees are beautiful.” I’d spaced out slightly, gazing around at the now-familiar surroundings. I’d been spending a lot of time here. If these woods bought me my freedom, then they were the most exquisite creations of nature, as far as I was concerned.
“You remember, don’t matter if you like ‘em. I don’t like ‘em. End of story.” Randall sounded edgy, and I thought I’d heard his stomach make a questionable noise as he was talking.
“Yeah. Of course. I mean, trees are everywhere. Not like they’re special,” I agreed quickly, hoping I hadn’t just sent him into pissy mode. Pissy mode always came before angry mode, which was directly followed by beat the shit out of Valerie mode.
He pulled me to him, giving my cheek a rough kiss. “These sandwiches are pretty good, Val. Think them women at the church are whippin’ you right into shape.” It was the closest that Randall had come in a very long time to saying something sweet to me.
He hated the mountains and the woods, but my suggestion of making him a picnic dinner and serving it to him like he was a god or some equivalent had put him in an excellent mood.
His ego. His ego was always the best bet. The times when Randall felt worshipped were the only times I knew I stood a chance of receiving any bit of kindness from him.
That was fine. Whatever it took to throw him off.
Murphy had sat himself in the grass in front of the picnic blanket and was absently pulling at the blades. Ever since Randall and that one godawful slap, Murphy kept his distance a bit. This scared me, because once Randall realized Murphy was wary of him it would only serve to incite Randall’s rage. And I had no way of guaranteeing that he would take it out on me and not my little boy. It was new territory that I did not want to become familiar with.
I refused to.
Randall pushed me down on the blanket and instantly had a hand up my shirt, squeezing “his girls” as he called them. The diet he kept me on made “his girls” close to non-existent, but for whatever reason, he seemed okay with that. I knew it had to be just another aspect of his incessant need for control.
“Randall... This is a public park... Murphy’s right there...” I could tell by the rod he was pressing against my thigh that he wanted more than a little cop and feel.
“Ain’t nobody up here, and Murphy ain’t payin’ no attention. Thought that was why you brought us this high, Val. Isn’t today my special day? Don’t you have a gift for me?” He unzipped his pants and put my hand on his swollen cock.
Dread and disgust were filling me, but I made damn sure to keep my expression pleasant. It could only be a matter of time now before his stomach started dictating his actions.
I started tugging, part of me wishing I could just die, and pumping – making sure to do it just the way he liked. This would all be over soon.
“No, no, little girl.” He grabbed my hand firmly and removed it. “Get yer face down there. Let’s make this a real special day.” His eyes had that glazed over, lusty hunger in them.
“But Murphy will notice that for sure, Ran –”
“Put the blanket over your head. No more backtalk, Val. Suck it – and do it good. I want you to convince me that you enjoy it. If you don’t, I’ll convince you that ya should have.” He gave me a wide smile that made me shudder, the shoved my head toward its designated destination.
That was the moment that audible gurgling ripped through his stomach. His body tensed, and his dick was almost immediately shrinking.
Another stomach roll – this one sounding mildly like a cartoon monster. Randall pushed my head away with one hand and zipped his pants up with the other.
“I gotta shit, Val. We passed an outhouse not too far back, didn’t we?” Randall was holding his mid-section with both hands now.
“Yeah.” I nodded innocently. “Are you okay?”
“Fuckin’ stomach. I’ll be right back. We’ll pick up right where we left off.” He winked at me and then began to half-walk half-jog up to the trail, following it in the direction we had come from.
My adrenaline rush was ringing in my ears.
It was go time.
I counted out a full sixty seconds before throwing my purse across my body and picking Murphy up – fully interrupting his grass picking project.
“C'mon bud. We’re going for a special little jog.” I pulled his tiny body into my arms. Just a little further up the trail and then we’d veer into the woods and disappear entirely. All we had to do was quietly slip away.