Haynes, K. R. - The Light in Her Eyes [In Her Eyes] (Siren Publishing Classic) (25 page)

Feeling one of his hands travelling lower down her body to the zipper on her jeans, Chloe thrashed around in his hold even more, screaming “No!” at him.

Her hands still trapped behind her back made it all the more difficult for her to break free from his unyielding grip he had on her. Panic set in when she heard the lowering of the zipper of her jeans.

Her voice shook when she yelled “No!” to him again. Fear lacing her voice, her body shuddered violently from a combination of the sheer terror of his hands on her body taking what he wanted from her and from her own pain.

She had to stop this. She couldn’t allow him to vandalise her body in this way. Couldn’t allow this bastard to touch what belonged only to Randall.

Her body was only for Randall to touch, to explore and to take. This bastard had no right to grope her like this. The bastard had no right to take what didn’t belong to him.

Chloe managed to fight free of his hold on her and stumbled backed away from him.
Hearing him yell at her, “You little bitch,” had her edging back even further from him. She couldn’t run though. Her legs were barely holding her up as it was. Her hands still tied behind her gave her no way to escape him.

Seeing him advance toward her, Chloe was determined not to concede to the violence the bastard was about to throw her way. She wasn’t going down without a fight. She at least owed Randall that much.

Suddenly the scent of gas became increasingly stronger in the room.
Coughing from the choking feeling the gas gave her, Chloe watched in disbelief as her attacker backhanded her
across her already battered and bruised face
.

Falling to the ground from the force of the blow, she was vaguely aware of the bastard’s retreating presence. The front door slammed shut. The bastard had the nerve to make his exit via her front door.

Now here she lay on the hardwood floor.

Battered, bruised, and bloodied.

Her torn blouse lay open and loose around her, exposing her bra-covered breasts to anyone who rescued her. One of the straps on her bra had broken loose during the struggle with her attacker. Glancing down, she could already see bruising forming on the half-exposed breast were it had been so roughly manhandled. Her breasts were actually painful from where the bastard had touched her so violently.

Her hands still tied behind her back rendered her helpless to cover herself up. She was too battered and bruised to even move. The strength she had found within herself to ward off her attacker was all but gone now. All she could think about was the pain, the bruises on her flesh left behind from the bastard’s rough handling of her. The marks the bastard left behind on her body.

She felt weak.

She felt ashamed.

Tears leaked from her eyes from the realisation of how awfully close she had come to being permanently violated by that bastard. Her body shuddered violently from the thought. The pain, the bruises on her flesh left behind from the bastard’s rough treatment of her would fade away in time. Physically her body would heal with time. Mentally, though, she wondered if she would ever be able to get pass this attack.

She wouldn’t have given up what belonged only to Randall, not without a fight.

She would have fought her attacker every step of the way.

On the verge of unconsciousness,
knowing she couldn’t remain here on the floor, she needed to get help to her somehow.

Feeling her mobile in her back pocket of her jeans, Chloe wiggled
her tied hands down till she could grasp the mobile with her fingertips and tug it free from her back pocket.
She cursed,
remembering the damn thing was still switched off from last night
and she hadn’t gotten around to turning it back on yet
.

Okay, she could do this. Yes, the smell of gas leaking inside her home made her nauseous. Yes, her body felt like it had done ten rounds with a boxing champ in the ring. She could do this though. Calmly, Chloe felt around for the button at the side and held it down for five seconds, until it vibrated, letting her know it was switching back on. The wait for it to power back up was excruciating.

Once her phone came back online, she flipped it open and hit the emergency button then waited for it to connect to an operator. When the faint voice of the female operator echoed over the phone line, Chloe screeched to the woman her address and brief description of what had happened. The woman promised to have an ambulance there within the next fifteen minutes, and the fire brigade there within five minutes. Chloe sighed in relief. Thank god her house wasn’t far from the local fire department, was her last thought before she blacked out again.

* * * *

She awoke with unfamiliar hands and voices surrounding her. Realising her hands had been freed, Chloe blindly pushed the hands upon her body away.
Her eyes flew open when the hands came back.
She screamed and cried hysterically for them to get their hands off of her, only to have their hands coming back the more she pushed them away from her. One of the firemen crouched down to her eye level. He told her that she was safe now and they were going to carry her out of here and out to the awaiting ambulance.

Chloe wanted to fight them still, no matter what they told her. She wasn’t safe, not until Randall was with her. “Randall!” She screamed his name as loud as she could over and over again. When the firemen lifted her gently from the floor and began to carry her outside, Chloe knew in her mind she was safe. But her body thought otherwise and thrashed around within their grip.

One of the firemen called out to get Officer Randall here pronto and he didn’t care how they did it, just get him here fast. They knew about her and Officer Randall how? Then Chloe heard Jake’s voice not far from her. Jake was here?

“Chloe, oh god.” Hearing the break in Jake’s voice as he came up to her, Chloe knew she must look as bad as she felt.

“J–Jake…Jon, please,” was all she had the strength to say before pain engulfed her,
causing her to cry out.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Jake couldn’t believe his own eyes when he saw Chloe being carried out by the firemen. He wanted to hunt and kill the fucker who dared to hit an
innocent
woman like Chloe. The rage burning out of control within him was hard to rein in when he caught sight of her delicate face and body all battered and bruised. Blood welled in the cuts to her lips and on her cheeks where the skin had spilt from being bashed. Her clothing was tattered and torn down the front, and bile rose in his throat when he thought about what may have happened to her.

Only hours earlier, he had driven past her place and seen her car there but had failed to stop and check in on her. Kicking at the ground with his foot, he cursed out loud as he pulled his mobile free. Randall, the poor bastard, was going to be beside himself when he set his eyes on the damage the attacker had done to his Chloe.

Jake knew Randall. He was aware he was a fellow Dominant and no doubt once Chloe had healed from her injuries she would feel the full force of the punishment Randall would dish out to her. Although Jake had a feeling Chloe would accept everything her Master gave her and more. Hell, if she could survive this attack on her life, she could survive anything.

* * * *

His phone vibrated in his pocket when he stepped into the command centre for another briefing on the investigation he and Mick were heading up. Flipping the phone open, Randall stepped out into the vacant corridor. “Talk to me,” he uttered to whoever was on the other end, not bothering to check who had called him.

“Randall, Jake here. We have a situation. I, ahh, need you down here now.”

“Where the fuck is here and what the fuck is going on, Jake?”

“It’s Chloe.”

Uneasiness rolled through him as he stammered out, “What about her? What the fuck is going on, Jake? I don’t have time for this shit. Just give it to me straight.”

Randall heard Jake blow out a harsh breath before he answered his questions. In his gut he knew what he was about to hear would haunt him for days to come.

“She’s been attacked, Randall. The asshole beat her up pretty badly.”

“Where is she?” Randall had to rid himself of the pictures running through his brain at hearing Jake tell him his Chloe had been beaten. “Precious,” he murmured to himself.

“Where, Jake? Where is Chloe now?”

“She’s at her house.”

“She’s where?” Randall could feel his rage building rapidly inside him. What the fuck was Chloe doing at her damn house? “Was she there alone?”

“By the looks of it I would have to say yes.”

“Fuck. Shit!”

“I don’t know why Chloe went to her house this morning alone. The bastard must have been waiting for her or something. Whatever her reasons for coming here, you need to get your arse down to her place promptly, Randall. Chloe, she’s- messed up pretty badly and won’t let anyone go near her. You need to get down here fast, for her sake, man.”

Randall was already walking out the police station as soon as Jake had mentioned Chloe’s name. “Leaving now,” he told the PI before flipping his phone shut.

Chloe, his precious Chloe had been hurt by the one targeting her. Randall felt sick to the stomach not knowing what had happened to her. If the attack had been…God, he couldn’t even think it. But what if the attack had been a sexual attack? How could he possibly help her get through this? What could he offer her besides himself, his love and support? Would that even be enough to get them both through this? Could he ever be enough for her again?

Randall scrubbed a hand over his eyes to remove the wetness gathered there. Beating a fist down hard on the steering wheel, he screamed out, “Fuck!”

Grabbing his phone, he sent a quick text message to Mick, filling him in on what was going down at Chloe’s place. He then threw his phone down on the seat next to him.

Backing out of the car park, the tyres of his truck screeched across the black tar as he accelerated out of the station’s car park. Randall didn’t give a flying fuck if he broke every goddamn road rule to get to her. He drove hard and fast to get to Chloe’s place. He had to be with her. He had to see her with his own eyes. He needed to feel her in his arms and hold her tightly against him. He needed to know that she was alive and safe.

God help him if something ever happened to her that she couldn’t survive. His life, well, wouldn’t be worth shit if Chloe wasn’t standing there beside him to share it with, day in, day out.

She
was
his life.

She
was
his heart.

She
was
the air he breathed.

If Chloe wasn’t there with him, wasn’t alive and in his arms where she belonged, Randall would find himself dead within his own body. The realisation of that alone created an ache within him, knowing he’d be lifeless without her.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Turning into the street Chloe lived on, Randall couldn’t believe his own eyes. What the hell had happened to her, to warrant so many emergency services vehicles? Besides the one ambulance parked a few houses down from Chloe’s place, there were also two fire trucks and half a dozen cop cars swarming the suburban street. There was even a goddamn roadblock blocking him from driving any closer to her house.

Pulling over to the side of the road, Randall jumped out of his truck and locked it up before walking swiftly over to the two cops who stood manning the road block. On his approach to them, he pulled free his badge, flashing it to the two cops. Lifting up the police tape, he ducked under it while asking, “What the hell is going on here, deputies?”

“We’ve got a gas leak, sir,” one of the deputies said, pointing in the direction of Chloe’s house. “The woman was lucky to make it out alive after inhaling all that gas.” Randall half listened to what the deputy was saying to him. He tried to make sense of the information but none of it made any fucking sense. A gas leak. It just didn’t add up. Excusing himself away from the deputies, he beat feet and sprinted down to the ambulance. Chloe. She needed him.

* * * *

Chloe sat huddled underneath a blanket in the back of the ambulance. Her body trembled from the pain yet she refused any and all medical attention. “No,” she all but shouted out to one of the paramedics when the woman came at her with a syringe filled with some kind of drug to help ease the pain. The paramedic huffed but stayed back. Chloe knew they were only trying to help her.
She didn’t want their help. She just wanted Randall.
She tugged the hospital blanket around her tighter, trying to fight off the ever-present coldness trapped within her body.