Son of a Preacher Man (21 page)

“What happened to you?” Mary Ellen shouted, setting Hunter crying and calling the attention of every person in the store to her.

Nadya fought the tears back, not wanting to cause a scene or scare the boys. “I
…
fell,” she said, looking meaningfully at Billy.

“Oh. Billy, honey, can you get the first-aid kit out of my office? It’s in the bottom drawer of my desk.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

As soon as Billy went down the hall, Mary Ellen rushed over and put her in the chair behind the counter. They were blocked from sight by a display of lip balm, but it wasn’t exactly private. “Who helped you fall? If it was that Pansy Campbell again, I swear I’ll go after her with a baseball bat.”

“It was a man. A big man. His hand was as big as my face.”

“Did you get a look at him?” she asked as she dabbed at Nadya’s face with a tissue. “What happened?”

“I was talking to J.T., and as soon as I hung up the phone someone slammed into me and I hit the ground. Knocked the wind right out of me. He shoved my face into the asphalt and told me to get out of town, that no one wanted my kind here.” Her voice wavered on the last sentence and tears threatened again. God, she hated feeling this weak. It was just like when Branson Taylor had rammed her against the wall, only this time no one had tried to rape her. Her heart raced, and she was afraid she’d hyperventilate and pass out.

“Auntie Nad? Here’s Boo Boo Bunny. He makes the owies go away.” Billy handed her a blue terry-cloth bunny with an ice pack inside.

“Thank you, sweetie. This will make my knee feel a lot better.” She tried to pull herself together.

“You can hold onto it when Mama sprays the stuff on your cut. She says it doesn’t hurt, but it does.”

“Okay.”

Mary Ellen sprayed, dabbed and bandaged Nadya’s cuts, all the while muttering under her breath. As soon as Billy wandered off to look at the candy bars, she whipped out her phone and started texting furiously.

“Who are you texting?”

“Bill. He needs to tell J.T. to get his ass back here. I’m not letting you push this aside.”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Not like last time, no siree. Wait, what? You’re not?”

“No, I want whoever did this caught and punished.”

“Then how come your mama wouldn’t let my mama call the police?”

“One, because Matthew Woodrow was the chief of police, and he and Branson Taylor were friends. And two, my mama didn’t trust the police. She’d been chased out of towns by too many to believe they were anything but the enemy.”

“Why don’t you believe that?”

“Partly because I’ve dealt with some honest police officers, and partly because my mama taught me to think for myself.”

Her phone buzzed and she looked at the display. “Bill says J.T. said he’ll be here soon.”

“What exactly did you tell Bill?”

“That you’d been attacked but were okay and to send J.T. to the store.”

“Oh boy.”

“Now you just sit right there while I make sure Hunter hasn’t climbed up to the roof. I get nervous when he’s quiet.”

Just then something crashed and cans of peas came rolling down the aisle.

“Hunter William!” Mary Ellen bustled off.

Nadya reached up to pull her hair back and winced at the pain in her shoulder. That bastard had wrenched it so hard she was lucky he hadn’t yanked it out of its socket. Something about him triggered a memory, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. It was probably just a flashback to the time she was almost raped.

God, how could she have been so stupid? If she had been in the city she never would have ducked into an alley without checking her surroundings first. It had all happened so fast, and in broad daylight.

She replayed the scene, trying to pick up on any little detail that would help her identify her attacker. It all began to blur together, and her teeth started to chatter. Soon, her whole body was shaking.

“B-Billy?” she called. “Would you g-get me a blanket?”

He seemed to be much farther away than before. Nadya’s vision slowly narrowed, and she felt herself tipping over in her seat but couldn’t seem to get her balance before the world went black.

Chapter Fourteen

When J.T. got to the store there was a crowd of people gathered in front of the cash register, and Nadya was lying on the floor with her feet elevated on a stack of newspapers. Little Billy sat by her head and pressed a cloth to her face.

“Everybody step back. Give the woman some air.” J.T. crouched next to her, checking for injuries. Her face was scraped and bruised, and she had nasty cuts on the one hand he could see, but nothing looked broken. She smiled wanly at him, then winced when a cacophony of voices all started talking at once.

“Enough!” Bill shouted over the din. “Store’s closed. Get out.”

There were mutters and grumbling, but everyone filed out. When the dust settled, J.T. could hear a baby crying in the aisle and assumed it must be Hunter. “Bill, why don’t you take the boys home. I’ll send Mary Ellen as soon as I get a statement.”

“Sure. Come on, Billy, I’ll make us some hot dogs and beans for dinner.”

“I want to stay with Auntie Nad.”

“Go on, honey,” Nadya said. “I’m okay now. Thank you for taking such good care of me.”

“You can keep Boo Boo Bunny. I have another one at home.”

J.T. waited while Bill collected the boys. His rage simmered but he kept it tamped down for the moment. It tried to bubble over every time he catalogued a new injury, but he fought it back.

“What happened?” he asked when he was sure he could control himself.

“Which time?”

“Don’t get cute with me, Nadya. I’m hanging on by a thread here.”

“Sorry. This time, I think I was in shock, or at least that’s what Mary Ellen thought, so she covered me with this blanket and put my feet up. I’m feeling less shaky now, so it must have worked.”

“What put you into shock in the first place?” He checked her pulse. It was a little rapid but strong. Her pupils looked okay, and she had color in her face—all good signs.

“When you called, I stepped into the alley by the post office so I’d be out of the way.”

“So you were talking to me, we hung up, then what?”

“As soon as I put my phone in my pocket, something slammed into me and I hit the ground.”

“Which way were you facing?”

“I had my back to the sidewalk. Why?”

“If you’d been facing the sidewalk it would have meant your assailant was already in the alley. This sounds like someone came along behind you.”

“I’m pretty sure no one was in the alley, but I didn’t go that far in.”

“Okay. Go on.”

“When I hit the ground, it knocked all the wind out of me and I couldn’t breathe. The guy mashed my face down so I couldn’t see and yanked my arm up behind me.”

“Did he touch you any other way? Kneel on you or kick you or anything?”

“No.”

“But he was strong enough to hold you with just your arm back and your head down.”

“Well, I couldn’t breathe, so I wasn’t exactly fighting him.”

“I’m just trying to get a picture here. Do you remember anything about his hand? Did he wear gloves?”

“No, no gloves. He had a huge hand. The palm covered my eyes, and the thumb was all the way down below my chin.” She tried to show him what she meant, but winced when she brought her arm up. “Come over on this side, I can’t reach across with this arm.”

“He yanked up your left arm?”

“Yes. Does that mean he’s left handed?”

“It could. It could also mean that was the angle he came in at. Did he have any calluses or were his hands smooth?”

“I don’t remember. It happened so fast, and I was focused on trying to breathe.”

“Did he say anything to you? Try and steal your phone or purse?”

“He didn’t take anything. He just said for me to go away, that they didn’t want my kind around here.”

“Here, have some juice. It’ll get your blood sugar up.” Mary Ellen started to crouch down, but J.T. stopped her.

“I’ll help her. If you get down on the floor, you may never get up.”

“I can probably get up now, I’m feeling much better.”

“No!” both J.T. and Mary Ellen shouted.

“You about scared me into an early grave when I saw you topple over. I can’t go through that again. Now I know why Bill would get so white when I’d faint during the first trimester.”

“I think you should go to the hospital and get checked out. We can rent a hotel room for the night.” And until he caught whoever was after her. He didn’t say it, but she must have read it in his face.

“No. I want to go back to the cabin. I got a little shook up because it reminded me so much of the last time I was attacked, but I’m okay now. Honest. A hot shower and some ibuprofen and I’ll be as good as new. Although, I won’t be winning any beauty contests, that’s for sure.”

“You’re going to be awfully sore tomorrow,” Mary Ellen said. “If you go to the hospital they’ll give you some good pain killers at least.”

“No hospital. I was chased out of this town once. I’ll be damned if I let it happen again.”

J.T. looked at Mary Ellen and shook his head. Nadya wasn’t budging on this. And he really didn’t blame her. But shit, he wanted her safe.

“You can make your statement tomorrow. Let’s go home now.”

He scooped her up off the floor and held her to his chest as if he were cradling a baby. For a second, he just held her close and inhaled the scent of her. He’d been so fucking scared when Bill had told him she’d been attacked. His heart had literally stopped beating.

If this morning in the kitchen had been heaven, the drive from the state forest had been hell. Had he any doubt about his feelings for her, this would have taken care of them. He’d been half in love with her when she was eighteen, now he was in love up to his eyeballs.

All he had to do was convince her she was just as in love with him.

A flash had him spinning with Nadya in his arms. Mary Ellen stood there with her phone, snapping another picture.

“What the hell?”

“You two just looked so darn romantic, I needed to capture it forever. Don’t worry, I’ll tag you in it.”

“Mary Ellen Farley, if you put that picture on the Internet, I’ll get even,” Nadya yelled.

J.T. figured this was as good a time as any to make a quick getaway. “We’ll see you in the morning, Mar. I’ll want a statement from you too.”

He had to cross the street to get to his truck, as he’d driven the police cruiser straight to the store. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten about the church auction being held at the town green, which just so happened to be right next to the police station. No wonder there were so many people in the general store. They were all on their way to the green and stopped in for a pop or something.

Dale had a population of three hundred or so people, and J.T. swore just about every damn one was staring at him. Nadya lifted her head, saw a hundred plus people smiling at her and stuck her face into his neck.

“Please, let a hole open up and swallow us. Please.”

“I think we’re just going to have to brazen through this one, darlin’.”

“Fantastic.”

“We’re almost there, just hold on a few more yards.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not really.”

He got to the truck and reached over to open the door. It wasn’t easy to juggle Nadya and his key fob, but he managed to get it open. They both breathed a sigh of relief when he set her down and carefully buckled her seatbelt.

She made a grimace of pain as she readjusted in the seat. “Sorry, I’m a little sore.”

“I’ll bet. I’ll give you a massage when we get home.”

“That’s the best idea you’ve had all day.”

“I’ve had a few more, but it looks like they’ll be on hold until you heal up.” He smiled and leaned in to kiss her gently.

Thunderous applause echoed between the buildings as the entire congregation clapped and whistled.

“God. Let’s get out of here.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Nadya was sure someday she’d laugh about the spectacle she and J.T. had just put on for the town’s amusement. But that day wasn’t now. She was sore, her face hurt, her knees stung and she was emotionally beat up.

“I went into Canton today—well, thereabouts,” J.T. broke the silence.

“Oh? What for?”

“Wanted to have a talk with Woody Masterson’s sons.”

Her stomach flipped. Here was something else she’d avoided thinking about. She now had brothers. “What did they say?” Did they want to meet her? Were they curious about her?

“Nothing. Seems they’re on an extended buying trip in Ireland. Their mother is down in Sarasota with her sister, recovering from her loss.”

“What? I could have sworn Hornblower said he’d met with all three of them. Maybe I misunderstood and he just said he’d spoken with them.”