Chains (11 page)

She’d even received unusual e-mails from anonymous accounts with cell phone pics of her at various places. Text messages—until she’d had her cell number changed—and how he always “coincidentally” showed up at places where she was shopping. Not speaking to her, but watching her, waiting until she saw him before turning and walking away, just another customer going about his business.

Just enough stuff to unsettle her and shatter what little peace of mind she might try to claw back.

Once the divorce was final and she had her maiden name again, she made her decision and fled, quitting her job and walking away from everything. The monthly payments on her first RV were less than rent and utilities for a crappy apartment, and she had the nation as her backyard. She was already making enough from her jewelry business at the time to support herself. The return address she used for any items she shipped was a remailer service that sent items to Eliza and Rusty’s address for her.

Paranoid? Yes.

She’d accepted a lot of mental and physical abuse under the guise of BDSM. She recognized that now, but at the time she didn’t understand she had a voice. She’d fallen in love, and by the time she realized what Sam was, she was already married to Sam and trapped under his thumb.

Not anymore.

Even better, Sam couldn’t find her, couldn’t track her, couldn’t trail her. She set up a private domain registration for her website, so Sam couldn’t get that information.

Now, he knew she was back.

The one time shortly after the divorce was finalized that Sam had shown up at Eliza and Rusty’s house looking for Rebecca, Eliza had—literally and bodily—thrown the much larger man off her front porch when he refused three times her demand for him to leave.

It was nice having a friend who was a martial arts expert.

When Eliza had come home one evening a week later and passed a car parked down the street that she didn’t recognize, with a man sitting in it who she did, she snuck back down under the cover of darkness and placed large roofing tacks in front of and behind all four tires without the man ever realizing she’d been there.

An hour later, a tow truck drove past their house and stopped just down the street.

That was the last time they’d seen a hint of Sam Edsel around their neighborhood. The wrecker left a short time later with the car on it, all four tires flattened.

Sam wasn’t as smart as he thought he was. At least when faced with an obviously superior opponent—or, in Eliza’s case, a crazier and wilier one—he’d backed off.

Unfortunately, he’d sworn to Rebecca countless times that he considered her
his
property unless or until he released her, and as far as he was concerned, he’d never released her.

It didn’t matter to him that she’d released herself.

Yes, she was older, wiser, and stronger now than the terrified woman she’d been back then, but she didn’t want anything to do with Sam.

If she stayed in Sarasota and he tracked her down, her life would be misery, always looking over her shoulder. Not afraid, because while he was abusive and nuts, she didn’t think he was quite stupid enough to try to physically harm her now that they were no longer together.

But he was fond of a mind fuck, and yes, she absolutely believed he would try anything he could to annoy, harass, intimidate, or otherwise interfere with her life, right up to and skirting but not quite crossing the line of breaking the law.

Rebecca was no Tilly and definitely no Eliza. She’d flinched one too many times during her relationship and marriage to Sam. No way would she subject herself—or Toby and Logan—to that kind of nonsense. Because she had no doubts that Sam would do everything in his power to harass Toby and Logan at their jobs, try to get them fired, do anything he could to any of her friends to make them miserable simply for allowing her presence in their lives.

It was better to leave and let the men get back to their lives. She did leave them a note. Yes, she expected them to try to contact her, but she was hoping they’d let her make the clean break.

After getting her things packed and loaded and walking Chewi one last time, she set up the Waze app on the tablet, stuck the tablet into its dashboard holder, and pulled the RV out of their yard.

It was late in the day when she stopped south of Atlanta at an RV park off of I-75. She had an event in Tennessee next weekend anyway. She’d stay here a couple of days before continuing north to where she’d planned to stay there.

Rebecca hated to leave the way she had, to just up and go, but she knew if she stayed any longer she wouldn’t be able to stand it. She was too damn nervous, now that Sam knew she was in the area, to stay.

Even for Toby and Logan. She wouldn’t let Sam try to ruin their lives, and if she was there, that was exactly what he’d set out to do.

It would break her heart to walk away from the two of them without a chance to really find out if they could have had something more, but they were tied to their house and jobs and she had her own life.

And a whole lot of fear.

Maybe more than was healthy, and she realized that, but it was the truth.

Maybe they can come visit me from time to time.

* * * *

Toby noticed it immediately when they returned home from work that afternoon.

Becca’s RV was gone.

He’d wondered why she hadn’t returned his texts that day. Now he had his answer.

“Dammit,” he muttered, jumping out of the car before Logan even had it shut off, charging up toward the house.

Sure enough, she’d left them a note on the dining room table. Toby picked it up and read it before passing it to Logan.

Dear Toby and Logan,

I’m sorry to leave like this, but after running into Sam at the club, it slammed home how stupid I was to think I could have anything approaching a normal life. If Sam knows I’m back in the area, he’ll try to hunt me down, and I don’t want to cause trouble for you guys or any of our other friends.

I love you both, and you were wonderful to me. I can’t tell you how much I hate doing this. Maybe you can come visit me sometimes. But I would have had to leave anyway. I didn’t expect it to be this soon, or permanently. I really wanted to make a home and a life with you both.

I love you,

Bec

Logan handed the letter back to Toby and pulled out his phone, trying to call and then text her.

“She won’t answer, you know,” Toby said.

“I know. I still wanted to try.” Then he sat at the table and started swiping through an app on his phone.

“What are you doing?”

Logan didn’t look up. “I’m going to find her.”

“What the hell do you mean you’re going to find her? How?”

He held up his phone, smiling. “Waze. She added us as friends, remember?”

“Son of a bitch.” He also sat, pulled out his phone, and opened the app.

Working together, they began scouring any icons along I-75. Logan searched from Sarasota north, while Toby started at the Georgia state line and scrolled north from there.

After forty-five minutes and both men having to get their chargers for their phones, Toby let out a triumphant cry. “Found her! Ha!” He zoomed in and it looked like she was stopped at an RV park.

“Good,” Logan said. “Let’s go. Don’t lose her. That’s your job. I’ll drive.” Logan grabbed his keys and headed for the door again.

“Wait, don’t we need to pack?”

“Fuck that, it’s only eight hours to Atlanta.”

“She’s south of Atlanta.”

“I know, that means we can be there before midnight and hopefully talk some sense into her.”

They locked up the house and got into the car, Logan verifying they had Toby’s car charger, too, and raced for I-75.

* * * *

Rebecca sent Logan’s call to voice mail and didn’t read his texts. It would just make her sad, and she didn’t want to be crying while on the phone with them.

That was Eliza’s job, to listen to her cry. And she called her friend once she’d had dinner and walked Chewi, preparing to settle in for the night.

“Heya, chica,” Eliza said by way of greeting. “We still on for this weekend?”

“No. That’s why I called.” She told Eliza what happened.

“Um, oookaaay. Back the fark up. You’re
where
?”

She didn’t tell Eliza exactly where, knowing her friend would absolutely rat her out to Toby and Logan. “I had to leave. Sam saw me at the club. You know that.”

“Um,
yeah
, and Sam’s now
banned
from the club. I
told
you I took care of it.”

“You didn’t tell me you got him banned from the club!”

Eliza hesitated. “I didn’t? I thought I did. Sorry.”

“
Sorry
?”

“Well, had you, ya know,
called
me and told me you were freaking out this badly, instead of just up and leaving, maybe it would have come out sooner. Look, honey,
stop
running. We talked to Kel and Derrick and told them what was going on. They refunded Sam his annual membership and told him he’s not allowed back on the property. He’s got a lifetime ban.”

“Great. One more thing he’ll blame me for and come after me about.”

“I don’t know why you’re still letting that creep live rent-free in your head! For cripe’s sake, you’re three years shy of forty. Isn’t it time you quit running and live your damn life? Those two guys are crazy about you.”

“And Sam’s just flat crazy and will try to do anything he can to interfere.”

“Like what? Walk around?”

“Uh, stalk me. Stalk them. Stalk you and Rusty.”

“Okay, for starters,
let
the fucker come after me. I
dare
him. Secondly, your guys can take care of themselves. It’s not like their jobs are in jeopardy or anything. You are a lot older now than you were then. You have job security. Letting Sam win this mindfuck means he still has control of you and your life. Don’t give him that control any longer. You’re acting like the fucker’s got you in chains and he doesn’t.”

Rebecca thought about that. “You think I made a mistake?”

“Uh,
duh
! Have you at least talked to Logan and Toby?”

“No.” Self-doubt flooded in. “I left after they went to work.”

“I supposed you left them some stupid note, too?”

“Yes.”

“
Dammit
, you are a grown fucking woman. Act like it!”

“Don’t yell at me.”

“I
am
going to yell at you when you’ve got two hot, gorgeous guys who love you and want to be with you, and you’re running like a scared rabbit, because, what, some douchecanoe
might
do something? You don’t even know what he might or might not do. You let him win this without even fighting back. Dammit, I wish you’d called me before you left.”

“You would have told me not to leave.”

“Fuck,
yes
, I would have told you not to leave!”

“Stop yelling at me!”

“I’m
not
yelling at you!” Eliza dropped her voice. “Sorry. I’m
not
yelling at you.”

“Then what are you saying I should do.”

“Uh, for starters,
call
your guys. They’re probably freaking out worried right now. Then get your ass back on the road first thing in the morning for Sarasota. And let them spank you for this bullshit, for me if for no other reason, because I
damn
sure want to spank you. And not in the fun and sexy way, either!”

“I can’t call them right now.” She felt too ashamed. “I’ll call them in the morning.” She looked at Chewi. Yes, it was probably her imagination, but he’d been giving her stink-eye all day, a recriminating expression that seemed full of judgment and blame.

You took me away from my friends with the good nommies, stoopid woman.
Why
are we here again and not with the friends with the nommies? They were perfectly good minuns.

Eliza let out an aggravated sigh before she hounded Rebecca in her ear again. “Fine.
I’ll
call them. So tell me ‘yes, ma’am, I
will
drive home tomorrow.’”

“I still don’t know—”

“Did I
tell
you to say that?” Eliza barked. “You make me get in a car and drive up wherever the hell you are and drag your ass back down here to Florida, I
will
be spanking you myself when I find you. And don’t forget, I
can
find you! At the very least, you owe those two men a face-to-face good-bye, not some bullshit letter. Understand?”

She hated to admit her friend was right, but her friend was right. “Okay, I will.”

“
Thank
you.” Eliza sounded slightly mollified. “Now, I’m going to call them and tell them you’ll be back tomorrow, and not to worry about you. That you freaked out about Sam, but you’ll see them tomorrow night. Correct?”

“Yes. Fine.”

“No, not
fine
. You
will
do it.”

“Okay, I get it. I screwed up.”

“
Thank
you. Finally. Those two are stupid-crazy over you and you just go running scared. They’re not abusive asshats, and if you let Sam run you away from them, you’re letting Sam run you away from the best thing to hit your life in a long damn while.”

Chewi stared at her.
Besides me.

“Let me get off of here. My phone’s almost dead,” she fibbed.

“Okay. Call me when you get back on the road tomorrow.”

“Thanks. I will.”

She looked up and realized her tablet was still turned on. She’d flipped it from cellular to Wi-Fi mode upon arriving in the park but had forgotten to shut it down.