The One Nighter (11 page)

“Take the hint already,” she muttered as she opened the door.

The sound of footsteps on the walk behind her was the only warning she had before she felt a heavy blow on the back of her head. Her vision retreated into a dark tunnel as she collapsed on the floor.

She willed herself to get up.

But her body took over as everything went black.

* * * *

Damn her!

Why wasn’t she answering her phone?

Okay, so she was angry. He had come to grips with that during the last ten calls. But that was no reason to shut him out. The least she could do was let him know that she was okay.

The light overhead turned yellow, and he stepped on the accelerator, desperate to make it through before it turned red. A quick stop at the office proved that she hadn’t waited for him like he had instructed. A feeling of forebo
d
ing crept into the pit of his stomach.

Something wasn’t right.

He could feel it.

Pulling into the parking lot, he spotted her car at the end of the row. He eased into a spot next to hers. Barreling out of the car, he made it to the sidewalk in record time, barely remembering to hit the automatic lock button on his key ring. He hurried up the path to her door.

Dim light filtered through the blinds. He rapped his knuckles against the hard wood, listening as he waited for her to answer.

Suddenly, the light went out.

“Mel, I’m not stupid. I know you’re in there,” he e
x
plained.

He heard the sound of shuffling inside and raised his hand to pound his fist against it.

“Let me in,” he commanded, his tone harsh.

After a moment, he heard the lock click. He tested the knob, a little surprised when it opened. Taking several steps inside, his eyes narrowed as he tried to see in the dark.

Where the hell was she?

Suddenly, the door slammed behind him, the lock sli
d
ing back into place.

“Melanie,” he said, barely able to make out her si
l
houette.

She flipped the switch on the wall, and light illum
i
nated the room.

What he saw made his jaw clench painfully.

Miranda stood before him, a perverse smile sliding across her mouth. But it wasn’t the evil grin that worried him. It was the sight of Melanie bound to a chair, her arms pulled behind her, her mouth taped with duct tape. His a
t
tention was pulled back to Miranda as she motioned to him, a gun held firmly in her hand.

All of the air in his lungs evaporated in an instant.

The look of fear in Melanie’s eyes made his chest ache.

“Is this
who
you’re looking for?” Miranda challenged.

He took a deep breath as he mentally searched for a way out of the situation. “Miranda, what are you doing?” he began cautiously.

She walked around Melanie, stopping behind her, the gun hanging limply at her side.
“I had the right, didn’t I? I mean, after all, she’s the reason you left me.”

His eyes met hers. “That’s not true.”

Her eyebrows arched high.
“Really?
Can you honestly tell me that the reason you left had nothing to do with you fucking her?” she demanded, her temper flaring.

She bent down, her face side by side with Melanie’s. Her arm rose as she pressed the gun to Melanie’s temple. Melanie’s eyes squeezed shut, tears streaming down her face. Miranda gripped her jaw with her free hand, holding her head still as she stared at Connor.

“I don’t get it, Connor. She doesn’t have anything going for her. God knows, she’s not prettier than me. So, what is it? Is it the sex? Is that why you walked out on me?”

Knowing he couldn’t let this go on any longer, he took a step toward them. She stood up, aiming the gun at his chest.

“Don’t take another step,” she warned. “You wouldn’t want me to shoot the little slut, would you?”

He stopped abruptly, holding his hands out in front of him. “You’re right, Miranda,” he began slowly. “I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have left you.”

She shook her head wildly, her eyes glittering. “Don’t you dare try to placate me like I’m one of your
bimbos!
”

Taking a deep breath, he watched her try to regain control as she pressed the gun against Melanie’s head.

“I bet she wouldn’t look so pretty if I pulled the tri
g
ger. I bet you wouldn’t want her then, would you?”

Connor weighed his options. He thought about rushing her in an attempt to get the gun but decided against it. She was too unstable, and the threat was too high. All she had to do was get off one shot, and it would all be over.

He couldn’t risk that.

He wouldn’t.

All he could do was reason with her.

“Miranda, wait!
If you pull that trigger, the police will swarm this place. That’s if the neighbors haven’t already figured out that something is up. You’ll never make it out of here. You don’t want that.”

The laugh that she let out chilled him.

“I’m not an idiot, Connor. I pretty much said goodbye to a clean getaway when I grabbed Miss Can’t Keep Her Pants On.”

Ignoring the way she waved the gun at him, he took a step toward her.
“Maybe.
Maybe not.
Come on, Miranda. She’s not the one you’re mad at. I am. If we leave now, you still have a chance,” he bargained.

Her eyes narrowed, and she chewed the inside of her lip as she considered his proposition. “She’d tell them who I am. She’d tell them what I did,” she voiced aloud.

“By the time she gets out of the ropes, we could be long gone.”

For a moment, he wasn’t sure if she would take the bait. All he could hope for was that her sense of self-preservation outweighed her lust for revenge. Still, he had no other option. The thought of her hurting Melanie made his stomach turn. He would rather she shot him, because his life would pretty much be over anyway.

She tilted her head to the side, waving the gun at him as she spoke.

“For once, you’re right.”

His satisfaction was short-lived as she slammed the gun against the back of Melanie’s head. He watched her slump forward in the chair, the rope the only thing keeping her up. When his eyes met Miranda’s, she smiled.

“Just to make sure the little bitch doesn’t get anywhere for a while.”

When he started toward her, she pushed him away with the butt of the gun.

“Don’t even think about trying to be a hero,” she warned.

His jaw clenched as she dug the gun into his side.

“Turn around,” she bit out.

Connor felt the cold steel pressing against his back as he led her out to his car. He started to open the driver’s door, but she ripped the keys from his hands.

“Other side.
I’m driving,” she informed him.

When he hesitated, her lips pursed in a frown. “Get in.”

Connor slid into the seat beside her, watching as she turned the key in the ignition. He sent up a silent prayer that Melanie was okay.

He just hoped that after all these years, God was still listening.

Chapter 15

Connor winced as Miranda blew through a red light. The sound of squealing tires made him jerk as the cars around them barely stopped in time.

“Jesus, Miranda!” he yelled.

But Miranda didn’t hear him.

Even though her eyes were focused on the road ahead, he would bet she didn’t see a thing. She swerved in and out of traffic on the highway, barely avoiding a collision.

“We could have been happy together, Connor. We could have been the perfect couple,” she spat.

He gripped the dashboard to keep from sliding around in his seat.

“Miranda, no one is perfect,” he replied, his gaze firmly trained on the road ahead.

She yanked the steering wheel to avoid a minivan. Turning his head, he noticed that the van held a mother and two young children. If he didn’t do something soon, som
e
one was going to get hurt. As worried as he was for the both of them, the thought of some unsuspecting person b
e
ing injured because of his indiscretions made his stomach turn.

“I was perfect, Connor. I had it all until you left.”

He glanced over at her. The cool, detached exterior had shattered. The woman before him now was just an
empty shell. Her clothes twisted, her eyes glazed, she bore no resemblance to the woman he had spent several months with.

“Miranda, you never had to be perfect for me,” he d
e
nied.

Her eyes met his, tears crowding the corners. “Then why didn’t you love me?’ she challenged.

He sighed heavily.

Why couldn’t he love her?

Maybe because he had fallen for a girl he couldn’t have a year ago?

Because he’d never forgotten the woman who walked away?

Looking into her eyes, he saw so much more than the manic behavior that had taken over.

He saw pain.

Pain that he had caused.

And deep down, he knew there was no way to make it right. No matter how much he wished he could change the events that led up to this moment, the dice was cast.

Miranda had made choices that had sealed their fate, choices that couldn’t be undone. He glanced up, knowing that no words could undo the pain he had caused
her,
no words would satisfy the fury that resided inside of her. What he saw in front of them made him cringe inside. A school bus lay directly ahead of them.

Leaning over, he yanked the steering wheel as hard as he could in an attempt to avoid it. Miranda fought him, clawing at his arms as she screamed wildly. The car narro
w
ly missed the back of the bus. He felt her nails dig into his
skin as he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he saw what they were heading for.

“No!”

It was the only word he could get out before the i
m
pact. The sound of crunching metal and devastated groans filled his ears.

Melanie…

As long as she was okay, he didn’t care what happened to him.

It was his last thought before everything went black.

* * * *

Melanie sat in the waiting room, twisting her hands t
o
gether in her lap. A glance around the room confirmed that it was a busy day for the hospital. People were huddled t
o
gether as they waited to be treated. The sounds of coughing and talking filled her ears.

She still couldn’t believe what had happened. In all the time she had lived in the complex, the nosiness of her neighbors had annoyed her.

But today it had been a real blessing.

After what happened today, she would never again complain. Hearing strange noises and seeing unfamiliar fa
c
es had alerted them that something was wrong. They had come to her rescue only minutes after Connor had left with Miranda.

As she was being treated in the ambulance for minor surface wounds, the police had put out an all points bulletin for Miranda. Despite the fact that she had come to with an earth-shattering headache, Melanie hadn’t needed any stitches.

To quote the medic,
she had been lucky
.

Still, sitting in the ambulance, wondering if she would ever see Connor again was far from lucky.

It had been hell.

She had just reached the hospital when they were bringing them both in.

Taking a deep breath, she glanced over at the circular desk where several nurses were working. In all her life, she had followed the rules. But today she had seriously cons
i
dered breaking them when the nurses informed her that she couldn’t see Connor because she wasn’t a relative.

No amount of convincing had swayed them.

She was stuck out here.

At least the police had been more informative, filling her in on what happened after Connor and Miranda left. Despite the fact that Miranda had nearly avoided several a
c
cidents on the highway, she hadn’t been so lucky with the telephone pole she crashed into. The police theorized that Connor had probably tried to take control of the car to avoid an accident.

A chill raced up her spine. She could only imagine what went on in that car. If the horrible images she conjured in her mind were anything to judge by, it had been hell. She didn’t know what she would do if anything happened to him.