Cherished Enough, page 17
“The minute you walked into that party, I realized instantly you were supposed to be mine.”
What in the world was he talking about?
“Then the way you smiled at me, so sweetly, I knew you weren’t like any of the other whores in that place. Your innocence poured off you in waves…delicious, exciting waves…”
I stared at him, utterly confused.
“You flirted with me, Morgan. Made me hard as a damn rock for you.” Bradford gave me a smarmy grin, and my eyes went to his mouth.
I’d seen that smile before! But where? Where had I seen it?
I slowly shook my head. I couldn’t remember, damn it!
“Maybe we should kiss so you can be reminded. I see the way you’re thinking so hard, trying to remember where we met.”
Pressing myself against the wall, I shook my head. “I don’t want to kiss you.”
His smile faded. “Why? Because of him? Do you know what it did to me to watch you fucking him night after night!?”
My entire body went rigid. “What do you mean?”
He laughed, low and dark. “You like to be on top. And you like it when he licks that pretty pussy of yours.”
My stomach lurched, and I instantly covered my mouth. I was going to get sick. Throw up right there. “Oh God…no. Please, no!”
“Every time I saw that bastard, I wanted to strangle him with my bare hands. He took what was mine. I hated him for that,” he seethed. “I tried to crush his little dream of owning his own bar. I wanted that power over him. But when I told him—he couldn’t have cared less! That was because of you, Morgan. All because you couldn’t keep your legs closed and wait for me.”
The room started to spin, and I felt like I was going to pass out. He’d been watching us. Watching us in our own home.
“Are you okay there, princess?”
My gaze jerked up when he took a step toward me. I held out my hands. “Stay away from me! Don’t you dare touch me!”
Another step. Then another. The closer he got, the more my heart raced in my chest. Bradford grinned.
Then—it hit me where I’d seen that smile before.
“Rich?”
Bradford stopped. His smug grin slowly spread into a wide smile. “You remember.”
“I don’t…I don’t understand.”
He stood right before me now, lifting his hand to touch my face. I jerked back. Grabbing a lock of my hair, he rubbed it between his fingers. “Do you call this honey brown? Golden brown? I never could figure out if your hair was light brown or dark blonde. But it’s just as soft as I thought it would be.”
Once more, I felt the urge to throw up.
“The night you walked away from me, I vowed to win your love. I followed you around campus as much as I could…and you were clueless. Even followed you to Hamilton that first Christmas break. Stayed in this very cabin. That’s when I saw you looking at Ryan with lust in your eyes.” He closed his own eyes, his brow furrowed as if in pain. “I wanted you to look at me like that. I saw a glimpse of it the night he brought you to Le Vacher. You let your eyes move over my body, and I saw it—you wanted me.”
My eyes widened in horror. “No! I’m in love with Ryan.”
“Shut up!” he yelled. “Don’t you ever say that again! Never!” He started to pace the room again. “I had the chance to go to France. Develop my culinary skills, but I had to pass it up to move to fucking Hamilton. I had to stay close to you so when you graduated and moved home, we could be together. Then that fucker ruined everything!”
“What about Savannah? I thought you loved her?”
An evil laugh slipped from his mouth. “Savannah was a cover. Yeah, she’s a good fuck. But she’s a little whore. Anything I want to try, she’ll do it for me. It’s really pathetic, actually. She means less than nothing to me. She was only a warm place for me to stick my cock. I used to close my eyes and pretend it was you riding me. It was you I was sinking into.” He gave me another smirk. “Savannah fell so fast, I knew she’d be the perfect thing to take any suspicion away from me. Sure, she’ll be hurt when I never show up again, but she’ll get over me. They always do.”
My voice cracked as I asked, “What do you mean, when you never show up again?”
He paced back toward me. “After I make you mine, we’re leaving Hamilton.”
Tears slipped free and rolled down my face and I shook my head.
“Oh, princess,” he said, putting his clammy hand on the side of my face. I had to fight the urge to jerk away. If I did, I knew it would only make him more angry. “We can’t stay here. We need to start a new life together far, far away. The longer we stay, the sooner that fucking family of yours, or Ryan, will find us. They’ve been out all day looking for you.”
He frowned. “Poor little Ryan was all torn apart when Savannah and I stopped by to bring him some food I’d made. I am, after all, the caring and concerned friend. I was watching you on my cameras trying to figure out how to get out of this room while that dumb fuck was sitting right there.” He let out a sick-sounding laugh. “While he was crying in Savannah’s arms, I was sitting directly across from him, watching you on my phone. Imagine how pissed at himself he’d be if he knew that!”
My chest squeezed so tightly I had a hard time breathing. Oh, Ryan. I closed my eyes and tried not to picture how worried everyone was.
“Avery…is she okay?”
“She’s fine. And so is that stupid-ass bodyguard of yours. I have to admit, the addition of Nox and his merry band of military men threw me off, and I had to lay low for a bit. I thought I was finally going to be able to grab you when we went four-wheeling.”
I sucked in a breath. “That was you?”
He smiled. “When that stupid idiot Bonnie had to go to the bathroom and you offered to go with her, I knew it was my chance. The fucking bodyguard was so busy staring at Bonnie’s ass, he never noticed me slipping through the woods.”
“How did no one know you were gone?”
He shrugged. “I ran back to my four-wheeler and met back up with Savannah. Told her I took a wrong turn. She didn’t even notice I was gone for a few minutes.”
As much as I didn’t want to think about it, I asked, “That’s how you knew all of our plans? The camera in my apartment? How?”
“Cameras. Plural. And that was the easiest part. All I had to do was show up the same time as the team from the security company. Told them I was hired by your dad to install additional cameras as backup. No one even questioned when I added a few more.”
I gently massaged my temples. My head had already been pounding; now it was throbbing. And I was still a little woozy from whatever he’d used to knock me out. It wasn’t as bad as when I first woke up, though.
“Do you have a headache?” His voice almost sounded tender.
“Yes.”
“I’ll get you some Tylenol. I also have a gift for you.”
He took a few steps backward before turning to leave.
“I thought your name was Rich?”
Pausing, he glanced over his shoulder. “It is. Rich Bradford. Now…I’m going to need you to get undressed, so you can put on your gift.”
Panic instantly filled my entire body. Before I could think of anything to say, he shut and locked the door behind him.
Sliding down the wall, I buried my face in my hands and cried. “Please find me, Ryan. Please!”
The door opened seconds later, and Bradford or Rich or whoever the hell he was stepped inside with his hands full. There was a small table and two chairs on the other side of the room near the door. He put a glass of water and bottle of Tylenol on the table, followed by a gift box and a plate of food.
“I need to call Savannah. I have to let her know my mother’s fallen ill and I had to leave town—and that I won’t be back for at least a week.”
I wiped away the tear that rolled down my cheek. The last thing I wanted was for him to see me as weak.
“Come over here, Morgan.”
Knowing how unhinged this guy was, I decided to do as he said. I slowly made my way over to the table. I opened the unopened bottle of Tylenol and took two. The smell of the quiche on the plate made me both hungry and sick to my stomach.
“Open your gift.”
Swallowing hard, I reached for the white box. It took everything I had to keep my hands from shaking. When I took the lid off, I pulled tissue paper to the side and stared at the light blue lingerie. I jerked my head up to look at him.
“I picked it out for you. Stupid Savannah found it hidden in my closet and thought it was for her. She almost put it on, but I couldn’t have her tainting it. I lied and told her I was saving it for a special occasion. Then I had to distract her with sex.”
He looked up in thought and laughed. “I guess it wasn’t really a lie. I am saving it for something special. For the first time we make love.”
“No,” I said. “I am not doing that with you.”
His eyes filled with anger. “Yes, you are. I’ve waited three fucking years to have you. I would have had you that very first night if your goddamn friend hadn’t shown up. I could see it all over your face then—you wanted me.”
I shook my head. “Bradford, I—”
“Don’t call me that!” he shouted. “You call me Rich. That’s the name I want to hear from those pretty lips.” When he tried to touch my mouth, I stepped away.
Scowling, he tried to grab me and I cried out, “I’m pregnant!”
Bradford froze. “What?”
I pressed my hand to my stomach, and I prayed with all my heart that I could lie well enough for him to believe me. “I’m pregnant with Ryan’s baby.”
He pushed his hand through his hair, clutching at the strands, his face a mask of fury. “It’s because you were careless! You let him fuck you without a damn condom! What the hell were you thinking?!”
I stood perfectly still, afraid of what he might do.
“Fuck!” he shouted. “This ruins everything! Now I have to raise his goddamn child?!”
A small piece of me relaxed, knowing that he believed the lie. Now I had to hope he wouldn’t want to be with me if I was carrying another man’s child.
“Brad—Rich, if you let me go, I won’t tell anyone it was you who took me. You can slip away and no one will ever know.”
He gave me an incredulous look. “You think this changes things? I’m still gonna make you mine. Whether you’re pregnant or not.”
My eyes went wide, and nausea filled my chest yet again.
“But it changes my plans for the immediate future. I’ll need to rethink a few things.”
“I thought…” My voice trailed off. What could I say? This man was completely insane. A monster.
He narrowed his eyes. “Are you lying because you thought that would keep me from making love to you?”
“Do you really want to force me to have sex?” I countered. “You’d be raping me, Rich. Is that what you want?”
Staring at me, he looked confused and almost tormented. “I don’t ever want to hurt you, Morgan. If you’re not ready yet, that’s okay. I’ve waited this long; I can wait a little longer. But a part of me doesn’t believe you’re pregnant.” A slow smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Maybe I’ll go to town and get a pregnancy test.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
He walked over to me, causing me to back away until I hit the wall. He cupped my cheek, and I had to close my eyes to keep from gagging at his touch.
“I would never hurt you, Morgan. I love you. You’ll see that soon. You’ll see how destiny has brought us together.”
He slid his hand to the back of my neck and into my hair. Grabbing a fistful, he pulled hard enough to jerk my head back, and I let out a small scream. His mouth covered mine, and before I even knew what was happening, his tongue was everywhere.
I pressed my hands into his chest and shoved with all of my might, but it was useless. He pushed closer to me, covering my body with his. I could feel his erection, and felt powerless to do anything. There was no space between our bodies to thrust my knee into his groin, so I pushed harder with my hands.
As quickly as it began, it stopped. Rich turned and walked to the door as I frantically wiped at my mouth. “I’ll be back, darling.” He pointed to the quiche. “Eat up—you’ll need your strength.”
The door shut, and I looked at the table. Lunging forward, I picked up the plate and threw it as hard as I could against the door. “Fuck you, you goddamn lunatic!” I screamed.
Chapter Twenty-Four
RYAN
I sat with my head in my hands, devastation choking me, and vowed yet again to kill the fucker who’d taken my Morgan.
The FBI had tapped into the apartment cameras and put the feed on a loop with most of the lights out, making it appear that everyone had gone back out to continue searching. After that, they let us back into the apartment. Currently, Brock, Hunter, Blayze, Georgiana, Rose, and Lincoln were all talking quietly among themselves in the living room. Savannah was also still there, but she’d gone into the stairwell to take a call.
Minutes later, she walked back into the apartment with a confused look on her face.
“What’s wrong, dear?” Lincoln asked.
Savannah glanced over at her. “Bradford left.”
“What do you mean he left?” Blayze asked.
She shook her head. “He just called me and said his mother was sick and he had to leave town. I told him I’d go with him, but he said no. That he’s already halfway to Missoula to catch a flight home.”
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He was very short and kind of…cold toward me. Said he’d be gone at least a week.”
Lincoln handed Brock a cup of coffee. “I’m sure he was just worried about his mother, Savannah. He’s probably afraid. It sounds serious, if he had to drop everything and leave so quickly.”
Savannah nodded slowly and sat down.
Turning to Lincoln, I couldn’t help but notice how tired she looked. “Lincoln, if you want to go lie down, the guest room is quiet.”
She offered me a gentle smile. “Thank you, Ryan, but I can’t sleep right now.”
“Should I heat up some more of the food Bradford made?” Savannah asked.
“Ryan, you should eat,” Brock said.
I shook my head. “I don’t think I can keep anything down.”
He looked at me with a world of understanding.
Blayze stood. “I might have some food. I’m starting to get a headache.”
Hunter walked over a few minutes later and handed me a beer. I took it with a grateful nod. He sat down next to me…and didn’t say anything for the longest time. Then he cleared his throat, and when he spoke, his voice was low. “Ryan, I’ve been thinking. How well do you know Bradford?”
I was so surprised by his question, I didn’t answer right away. “I mean, we were going to go into business together, so I’d like to think I know him pretty well. Why?”
Hunter’s brows pulled down. “It’s just…I always got a weird vibe from him. And more than once I caught him looking at Morgan and…” He looked over to Savannah who was standing in the kitchen, then back to me. His voice was so low now I had to lean in to hear him. “It gave me the creeps how he looked at her. If he didn’t think anyone was watching, he was practically eye-fucking her. I noticed it at Ravalli’s, and the night we went to Le Vacher to celebrate the opening of the boutique. He…watched her. And I remember thinking it was so odd, especially when he was with Savannah.”
I rubbed at the back of my neck. “Hunter, you can’t possibly think it was Bradford. I mean, he was with us when Morgan spotted that guy in the woods when we went four-wheeling.”
“Yeah. But I also remember Savannah saying something about how he disappeared for a bit. Something about turning down the wrong trail. Ryan—there’s only one trail up there.”
I frowned. “I didn’t know he disappeared that day.”
“Savannah said it was only for like five minutes. And at one point, I remember passing him because he’d fallen back behind everyone else.”
Letting out a disbelieving laugh, I shook my head. “It can’t be him, Hunter. I think we’re all so desperate to find Morgan, we’re grasping at straws.”
Hunter sliced his fingers through his hair. “Maybe. I just find it odd that Morgan is gone and he suddenly had to leave town. Did you even know anything about his mom? Was she sick?”
“He doesn’t talk about his parents much. I’ve never met them. All I know is that he apparently comes from a lot of money.”
The door opened, and Stella and Avery entered. Poor Avery had been a mess since all of this began. After being released from the hospital—Merit and Dirk had insisted she be looked at—she’d stuck to Blayze’s side like glue. At least until Stella came over and finally talked her into leaving the apartment. They’d gone to Albertsons to pick up some drinks and more food.
Avery’s gaze caught mine as she walked by. I stood to help both ladies with the groceries, and so did Hunter.
“Let me get that, Grams,” Hunter said as he took the bags from his grandmother. I took the three out of Avery’s hands.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away. “I’m okay.”
“Oh, Savannah!” Stella said, greeting her in the kitchen. She glanced around the living room. “I figured Bradford would have beat us here. Are you waiting for him?”
With a sad smile, she replied, “No, he had to leave town earlier. He’s on his way to Missoula to catch a flight home. His mother’s sick.”
Stella and Avery both paused and shared a confused look. Suddenly, my blood turned to ice in my veins.
Hunter placed the bags on the counter and looked at his grandmother. “Why did you think he’d beat you here?”
Stella frowned. “We saw him at Albertsons not ten minutes ago. He was looking at pregnancy tests. He said it was for Savannah and that he was in a rush to get back to her.”
“Me?” Savannah said in shock. “I…I can’t have kids. And Bradford knows that.”
