Long Gone Read Online Free PDF Page B

khaki shorts and a yellow Bermuda shirt, he looked like he might have been vacationing in the Gulf for the summer tan on his broad face.  
    “I see you ’re finally awake ,” he drawled in his Charleston, old-money accent as he surveyed her critically. Sniffing the air, he peered around the bed and spotted the stain on the rug. “My mother was right ,” he said with distaste. “Not only are you a bitch, you’re not even house broken .” Laughing at his clever metaphor, he circled the bed to stand on the opposite side.   
    The terror she’d suffered moments before r eceded. While she knew that she was dealing with a monster, she knew this monster. Ashton might be cruel, but he was also lethargic and dull. At least with him, she stood some small chance of escaping.
    A quick inventory of every object near at hand showed nothing she could use for a weapon. She would have to rely on herself, then. Grabbing the brass headboard , she pulled herself into a sitting position, every muscle in her body braced for his attack.  
    But rather than jump on her, he sat on the edge of the mattress, causing it to dip and her to roll toward him. He stretched out a hand. The moist pads of his fingers grazed her cheek as he slid them from her cheek to her left breast, squeezing it hard. Repulsed, she forced herself to hold his snake-like gaze. A show of fear would only goad him.
    “All those weeks when you belonged to me,” he muttered, breathing hard, “ you kept your thighs together like a Vestal virgin . Turns out you were sleeping with your federal agent, weren’t you?” 
    Reaching for the waistband of her pajama pants, he tried yanking them down over her hips, but Skyler resisted, and his efforts got him nowhere. “ You can’t stop me from taking what’s rightfully mine,” he threatened, leaning over her.   
    S eizing her chance, Skyler jabbed her free thumb into his right eye and jackknifed her legs at the same instant, making brutal contact with his groin. WITSEC’s mandatory course in self-defense paid off. With a bellow of agony, Jameson reared back and toppled off the bed.
    With grim satisfaction, she watched him curl into a ball on the floor, one hand over his groin, the other o ver his right eye. But her victory, she knew, was only temporary.
    “You bitch!” he screamed. “You fucking bitch! I swear you’ll regret that move.”
    As she waited for Jameson’s inevitable recovery, remorse plunged through her. She and Drake had come so close to being r eunited. So close. Now she would never again know the joy of feeling his arms around her.
     
    **
     
    Flying down the steps to the main deck, Drake drew up short to see his father leaning against the door to the engine room, catching his breath. His left eye was already beginning to blacken and his upper lip was cut and bleeding.
    “So, I’m a little out of practice,” Connor admitted, returning Drake’s astonished stare with a belligerent look. “The kid was a martial arts expert.”
    “Uh-huh.” Drake looked around. “What did you do with him?”  
    Connor held up a set of keys. “Locked him in the engine room.” He gestured toward the sliding glass doors. “I can hear a struggle near the front of the boat,” he added more gravely.
    His words tore at Drake, causing him to wheel toward the glass doors, intent on getting to Skyler now .
    His father leapt in front of him. “Slow down, there, hotshot. Your silver tongue might have gotten you this far, but Jameson is probably armed and not averse to killing us on sight. We need to catch him off guard.”
    “Luckily, he’s not expecting us,” Drake retorted. Retrieving his pistol, he checked to see that his clip was full. His muscles quivered with rage. “You might have to keep me from killing the SOB.”
    Connor produced his own pistol from under his shirttail. “That sounds like something I would say.”
    Drake narrowed his eyes at him. “Don’t kid yourself. You and I are nothing