You're the One (36 page)

The tyres lost
traction in the gravel for precious seconds as she battled to
regain control.

She wheeled
out of the skid, but the car ahead of her blocked her in, the car
behind her angling, cutting off any retreat she might have.

Looking down,
she swore on seeing the mobile on the floor. Hands shaking, she
unsnapped the seatbelt and lunged down, grabbing the phone to
scroll through it quickly. “Come on, come on,
come on
!”

Moz’s voice.
“Hi, Del. What’s up-”

“Cutter! Moz,
Cutter’s here, he-”

The phone was
knocked from her hands, the door wrenching open, a hand grabbing
her hair to drag her from the car, releasing her so that she fell
to her knees.

Crap, that
hurt. Trembling, she scrambled to her feet, her gaze going from
Cutter’s hard face to the other man standing nearby.

Fritz, she
recognised him from the night the men and the dog had first come
onto her property.

And Cutter.
Her gaze flew to his face, saw the cruelty stamped in every grim
inch.

“Well, if it
isn’t the inspector’s little bitch.” Cutter looked her up and
down.

“What do you
want?” So glad her voice only trembled a little. Damn the adrenalin
running through her. Her heart pounded, but she had to keep a clear
head.

“Your
boyfriend took from me.” Cutter’s mouth twisted. “So I’m going to
take from him.”

Yeah, she’d
kind of figured this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. “And
what are you going to take?”

He grinned
viciously. “You’re a woman of spirit, Del. Remember what I said
about liking a woman with spirit?”

She
straightened her shoulders, balanced on her feet. “You’d respect
her?”

“No. I like to
break them.” His gaze flicked lower, lingered on her breasts, the
junction of her thighs. “I’m going to enjoy breaking you.”

“Is that what
you do?” She wasn’t going down without a fight, wasn’t going to beg
and plead. Wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing she
was scared.

Gutsy she
might be, but she wasn’t a fool. If Cutter got hold of her, he was
going to give her a whole world of pain.

He reached for
her.

She knocked
his hand aside.

He laughed.
“Oh yeah, I’m so going to enjoy breaking you.” He jerked his head
at the watching man. “Fritz.”

“You touch
me,” Del pointed at Fritz, “and I will make sure you regret
it.”

They both
lunged at her.

Del fought,
scratching, biting, landing a solid punch to Cutter’s gut that had
him grunting and actually stumbling back a step.

Fritz grabbed
hold of her hair, hauled her back, kicked her in the back of her
knees.

She retaliated
frantically, slamming her elbow into his groin, missing disabling
him but making him curse and release her.

Pushing
upright, she darted through the gap between them.

“Goddamn
bitch!” Cutter started after her. “I’ll cut you up!”

Del ran right
for the bushes, her only hope to lose them amongst the trees and
bushes. At the same time she wondered if she’d be better off on the
road where a passing car would see her, stop to help. But the men
had a better chance of catching her in the open, and it could be
awhile before a car passed on the side road.

It was a
no-win situation.

She leaped
over a bush.

Cutter wasn’t
far behind her, Fritz following, both swearing viciously.

Suddenly a
figure stepped out from the bushes at the side, an arm snaking
around her waist to twist her to the side and forward, sending her
staggering behind him.

Cutter and
Fritz skidded to a halt.

“Well, well.”
Cutter looked the man up and down. “What’s this?”

Regaining her
footing, Del looked at the back of the man. “Farris?”

The young
farmhand didn’t turn to her, keeping his attention focussed on
Cutter and Fritz. “You all right, Del?”

Geez, that was
the question of the century.

Cutter
sneered. “Out of our way, boy.”

“Not going to
happen.” Farris shook his head.

“Two against
one.” Cutter grinned. “You like the odds, boy?”

Farris
shrugged. “Two, one, whatever.”

Del stepped up
beside him, her arm brushing his. “Two against two.”

“Del,” Farris
growled from the side of his mouth, “run. Now.”

And leave her
friend? She might be scared but she wasn’t going to desert him.
“Not bloody likely.” She squared her shoulders.

“Damn it,
Del-”

“Woman doesn’t
know how to obey,” Cutter drawled. “Do you, Del?”

“Suggest you
go away and leave her to us,” Fritz added coldly.

“Yeah, you
see, I don’t like to see men beating up on a woman.” Farris flexed
his hands. “How about you two just go and we’ll forget this.”

“Forget it?”
Cutter’s grin grew uglier. “Del will go squealing to her boyfriend
and he’ll be after us.”

“He’ll be
after you if you hurt her,” Farris replied. “He’ll hurt you bad, I
promise you. Leaving would be the better option.”

“He’s going to
come after me anyway, so I figure might as well make it
worthwhile.” Cutter pulled something from his pocket, flipping it
open with a click. He held the switchblade in the air. “Have a
little fun with blondie before I mark her up some.” His eyes
glittered. “Kind of ironic seeing as my name is Cutter, huh?”

The man was as
mad as a cut snake.

“Del,” Farris
muttered, “run. I’ll hold these two.”

“No way.” Her
heart pounded so loudly she wondered none of them heard it. “I
stand with you.”

Boy, she
wanted to run, but no way was she leaving Farris to face them. He’d
fight to save her at any cost, probably get himself badly injured
on the way. No way was she leaving him.

“You should
have listened to him.” Cutter flicked the knife. “Fritz, you take
him, I’ll take the bitch.”

“And I’ll take
a swing,” said a new voice.

Cutter rocked
forward as something heavy slammed into his back.

Del could only
gape as Dee swung the cricket bat once more and landed another blow
to Cutter’s back.

Fritz leaped
for her, Farris jumped him, they went down in flying fists and
cursing.

Cutter rolled,
grabbed the bat, wrenched it from Dee and started up.

Holy crap! Del
dived onto him, bringing him crashing down.

A fist to her
side, a slap to her face, and then he was cursing, swearing,
grabbing at his own hair as Dee took a good handful and started
hauling him away from Del.

“The knife!”
Dee yelled. “Jesus, Del,
get the knife
!”

Cutter gabbed
Dee’s wrist, twisted viscously, forced her to her knees. But before
he could do more damage Del was at his back, the tip of the knife
pricking his throat, hands trembling with combined fury and nerves.
“You bastard! You
mongrel
! Let her go or I’ll cut you, I
swear! I’ll slit your bloody throat!”

“I’ll break
her wrist,” he grated. “I’ll do it. Put the knife down.” His
stiffened as she exerted pressure, the knife tip indenting his
skin.

“I’m warning
you, Cutter,” Del hissed.

He released
Dee. She slid out of reach, pushed to her feet.

“Good.” Del
swallowed. Now what?

Dee picked up
the cricket bat, swung it a few times. “Maybe I should just knock
his block off. Do us all a favour.” Her voice trembled but her
hands were steady.

A hand touched
Del’s shoulder. She glanced up to see Farris, the young farmhand’s
face grim. His right eye was swelling, the corner of his mouth
bloody. Crap, he hadn’t fared well.

He gestured
her back.

She obeyed,
moving quickly, not wanting to be within reach when Cutter was free
of the threat of the knife tip at his throat.

Dee’s hands
tightened on the bat, face determined.

Farris moved
even faster. A step to the side, a hard punch down, catching the
side of Cutter’s jaw, sending him down into the dirt. Cutter cursed
groggily, tried to push up. Farris dragged him up enough to aim
another punch, a third, hitting the man without mercy. After the
fourth punch to the jaw, Cutter stayed down.

Breathing
heavily, knuckles skinned, Farris strode up to Del, gently taking
the switchblade from her suddenly slack hand and clicking it shut.
“You okay, Del?”

“Yeah.” She
embraced him suddenly, hugging him.

He hugged her
back.

“Thank you,”
she whispered. “Thank you.”

“Can’t have my
hottest fantasy hurt.” He winked. “Ow.” Stepping back, he gingerly
dabbed a finger to the corner of his eye. “Ooh, that’s going to go
black.”

“Ruin your
good looks.” Dee came forward.

Del threw
herself into her cousin’s arms, feeling the answering tremble in
Dee’s body. So, not as controlled as she looked. “Dee, where the
hell did you come from?”

“I was
dropping some newspapers off at Old Jack Stanton’s. Saw your car
blocked off, recognised Cutter’s, knew you were in a heap of shit.
I grabbed the cricket bat from the back seat and came looking for
you.”

“You silly
cow.” Tears pricked Del’s eyes as she hugged her harder. “You could
have gotten hurt.”

“You think I
was going to just drive off and leave you? Are you out of your
mind?” Dee kissed her cheek, smoothed Del’s hair back from her
face, her gaze concerned. “You really okay?”

“I’m fine.
Farris got to me first.”

Farris gave a
grin, a little finger wave.

“What were you
doing out here?” Dee asked him.

Jesus, am I
going to cry?
Del turned away, used the hem of her t-shirt to
wipe under her eyes. Had to be tough. Clearing her throat, she
turned back to face Farris.

“I was out
checking the dams,” Ferris replied. “Was checking how much water
was left in the one just over there.” He indicated the direction
with a jerk of his head. “Heard a ruckus and came looking, saw Del
running, saw what was happening, and just waited my chance.”

“Well, thank
God for you two.” Del looked down at the unconscious men. “Now
what?”

“Now we take
the garbage back to the road.” Leaning down, Farris hooked his
hands under Cutter’s armpits and started dragging him back in the
direction of the road. “Tell me you called the cops before you
grabbed the cricket bat, Dee.”

“Of course I
did,” Dee replied, annoyed. “I’m not that stupid.”

Farris
grunted. “Bet Ryder won’t say that.”

“Ryder can
kiss my fat arse.”

Hands still
shaking a little, knees trembling from the adrenaline rush, Del
reached down and grabbed Fritz’s wrist. “Here, give me a hand.”

“We could just
drag him by the balls.” Dee grabbed his other wrist.

Her hands were
still trembling too. Looked like the adrenaline rush wasn’t just
affecting Del.

From the
distance sounded police sirens.

“Oh goody,”
said Dee. “Here come the men and women in blue.”

Del panted,
tugging at Fritz’s arm. “Come on. Geez, for such a skinny bastard
he sure is heavy.”

“Dead weight,”
Farris explained, yanking Cutter unceremoniously through some
bushes.

Cutter
groaned, Farris paused to punch him again, and then the farmhand
continued pulling. “Nearly there, girls, keep on pulling.”

“Is that what
you said to the girls behind the shed?” Dee queried.

Farris
blushed, but snorted a laugh.

“Will you just
pull?” Del demanded. “Put your fat arse into it.”

“I’m doing all
the pulling. You put
your
skinny arse into it.”

“Both of you
put your arses into it,” Farris suggested.

“If you hadn’t
helped save my life, I’d make you cry for that,” Del informed
him.

“I still might
just for the hell of it,” Dee said.

The sirens
were blazing now, the sound of tyres braking on bitumen. Voices as
cops spilled out of cars.

“Del! Dee!”
Kirk yelled.
“Girls!”

“Del!” Another
voice bellowed, deeper, rougher. The sound of bushes crashing.
“Dee!”

“Over here!”
Farris yelled. “They’re fine!”

“Moz!”
Dropping Fritz’s wrist, Del ran right through the bushes and into
Moz’s arms.

He crushed her
to him, kissed her, hugged her, pushed her back to check her over,
his face a picture of worry and anxiety. “Oh God, Del.” Another
hug. “Did he hurt you? That bastard, I’ll kill him! Oh sweetheart,
oh baby.” He looked over her head. “Dee?”

“Fine. We’re
both fine,” Del replied, voice muffled from where he held her face
in his shoulder. “Having a little trouble breathing here.”

“Sorry.
Sorry.” A rain of kisses on her face. “Oh God, your face. He hit
you?” Fury had him trembling, made his tone darker. Anxiously he
scanned the bushes, holding Del tight. “Dee, thank God.”

Peering over
her shoulder, Del saw Kirk appear with his arm tight around Dee,
snugging her into his side.

“I’m fine,”
Dee announced, but made no move to shift away from Kirk.

He made no
move to release her, giving her a hug.

Four cops had
moved into the bushes, appearing within seconds dragging Fritz, who
was groaning. Farris appeared with Phil, both of them dragging
Cutter through the bush and onto the side of the road where they
unceremoniously dropped him .

“Farris saved
me.” Del looked up at Moz. “Farris and Dee.”

“Come here,”
Moz demanded of Dee.

Kirk neatly
deposited her beside him, and Moz gathered her into his embrace,
dropping a kiss on Dee’s head. “God, you women, you’ll be the death
of me. Thank you, Dee, thank you.” He didn’t release her, kept her
in his hold, cradled both of them to his powerful frame.

“A little
awkward,” Dee confessed.

“Don’t care,”
he said gruffly.