Playing with Fire (24 page)

A moment later he snatched her up by
her hair and threw her on the couch. “You bitch! You told that
Mexican where the hell we lived?”

Two things happened to her in that
moment. On the inside she was jumping up and down for joy. But on
the outside her face was void of emotion; she widened her eyes and
faked shock. “I don’t know what yur talkin’ about
Lenny.”

He smacked her across the face. “Don’t
give me that shit you lying whore. I know you told him. Him and a
bunch of state boys just showed up to my daddy’s house. They got
him under arrest for kidnapping.”

Noelle shook her head, and blew her
hair out of her face. “I never told him exactly where we lived. But
the fact that your daddy’s the sheriff shouldn’t make it too hard
to track him down. Let alone you got arrested and they got your
address that way.”

Lenny grabbed her chin hard and she
knew she’d have a bruise from it. “Are you sassing me woman? You
think you can run off to the big city and come back all smart
mouthed? You got another thing coming.”

Lenny reached for his belt and nearly
had it out of all the loops on his pants when someone pounded on
the front door.

“Arkansas State Police. Leonard Dunlap
come out with your hands up.”

Lenny pressed himself against the wall
near the front door. “Screw you. I ain’t coming out.”

The stern voice continued on the other
side, “Mr. Dunlap, release your hostage now or we will be forced to
kick in the door.”

Lenny told them what he thought with a
string of profanity. Noelle let out a scream. “Get me outta
here!”

Lenny rushed over and covered her
mouth. “Shut the hell up. I swear I will kill you dead right here
and now. Keep your mouth shut.”

The voice outside called in to her.
“Miss Dupre, are you alright?”

Lenny pulled the gun out of his pants
and pointed it at her. “I’d think really carefully before I
speak.”

She nodded. Her mouth felt dry and she
had to lick her lips before she could talk. “Yeah. Yes I’m
alright.”

The sounds of footsteps outside the
house could be heard as police shuffled through the tall grass.
Noelle tried to reason with Lenny. “You know they are surrounding
us right now. That’s them outside. Just open the door and stop this
before it gets outta hand.”

He grabbed her arm and placed the gun
close to her chest. “Remember when I said shut up? Now would be a
good time to do that. I don’t need you telling me what they’re
doing, Sherlock.”

Time ticked by for what seemed like
hours. Noelle knew not to look at any of the clocks on the wall;
their batteries had all died years ago. The lights flickered and
then went dark.

Lenny laughed. “Those assholes just
cut the power. Don’t they know we can still survive in here with
the kerosene heaters? Morons.”

The only moron Noelle could see was
Lenny, thinking he’d wait out the cops. The heater would only keep
them warm for so long once the cold Arkansas night came.

Her arms started to go numb so she
wiggled her shoulders and tried to flex her fingers.

Lenny headed down the hallway to the
closet and took out one of the heaters. He brought it back into the
living room, set it up in the middle of the room, and turned it on.
The smell of the kerosene filled the small space and made Noelle
feel lightheaded.

“Lenny, can you please untie me for a
minute? I can’t feel nothing but pins and needles on my
arms.”

Lenny glared at her. “You’re fine. You
wouldn’t be tied up if you’d just kept yur ass here in the first
place. Did you seriously think I wasn’t gonna find you?”

Noelle turned her head and ignored
him. Within three stomps be was back at her side, grabbing her sore
chin again. “You answer me when I talk to you.”

Noelle gave him an innocent look. “But
you been telling me shut up all damn day.”

Lenny struck her again. Her lip was
swelling more and more with each hit, she wiped the corner of her
mouth on her shoulder and wasn’t surprised to see the blood left in
its trail.

“You think you’re real smart don’t ya?
You ain’t smart, you ain’t funny, and you ain’t cute. You are
nothing but a worthless waste of space. I don’t know why the hell I
tracked ya down except that I’m too lazy to want to train someone
else to pick up after me.”

Noelle just shook her head. At least
he admitted he was lazy. “You never loved me did you? I mean
ever?”

Lenny shrugged and looked like he was
pondering his answer. “I think at first you were alright. Your
cooking is edible and you clean better than me, which ain’t saying
much by the looks of the place.”

Noelle stared at him. “Then why the
hell keep me here? If you know I don’t wanna be here and you think
I’m only passably alright, why go through all this?”

Lenny leered at her and the look made
her skin crawl. “Because I can. Because you like the way I treat
you, if you didn’t you woulda left a long time ago.”

Noelle shook her head. “You are outta
your ever loving mind. The only reason I left now was because I
could finally afford it. If I’d saved my money before I woulda been
done and gone years ago.”

Lenny hit her upside the head. “Quit
yapping already. I’m sick of listening to ya carrying
on.”

The fighter in Noelle finally broke
loose and she kicked Lenny in the crotch. He fell to the ground,
clutching his jewels and gasping for breath. But he managed to
wheeze out, “You bitch.”

“Oh, you don’t like that? Let me hit
you again, like you do me.”

Noelle kicked again, this time her
foot connected with his face and his head snapped back. While he
was down she tried wiggling out of the handcuffs and nearly
succeeded until he lunged for her again.

She lunged right back and was able to
lift herself off the couch with enough force that when her shoulder
rammed into his stomach, it knocked them both backward until he
landed on his back with a thud and a curse.

In the brief scuffle, Lenny had
knocked over the heater. Noelle rolled off him just as the kerosene
ignited. She let out a scream and stepped away from the fire.
Unfortunately, it was between her and the only exit.

She struggled for another minute with
the handcuffs and finally got one hand out. She covered her face
with her arm and coughed as the flames spread rapidly through the
room.

Noelle looked back toward the door,
and now Lenny also blocked her path – Lenny and his gun. “Bitch,
you ain’t getting outta here alive unless it’s over my dead
body.”

The flames rose again and the smoke
thickened so that Noelle could no longer see Lenny six feet away.
She turned toward the window and struggled to open it.

Panic and chaos took over the next few
moments until the sound of two gun shots broke through and Noelle
dropped to the ground.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Rhythmic beeping broke through the fog
that clouded Noelle’s mind. Slowly she opened her eyes, but the
pain was too great. It hurt to breath and her lungs felt as if they
were raw.

She listened for other noises around
her, but all she heard was the incessant beep and the occasional
scuffling of shoes outside her door. A moment later, footsteps
approached her bed on the left. Noelle dared to open one eye and
saw LuAnn walking toward her bedside.

The déjà vu stole Noelle’s breath for
a moment. She wondered if somehow she’d dreamt about California and
Trent and Delphine, but the whole time had been in a hospital bed
in Batesville.

She closed her eyes and felt the tears
fall. To think it had all been in her head was
heartbreaking.

LuAnn patted her arm. “Now, now. It’s
gonna be alright. You’re alive and we are so thankful for
that.”

“Oh LuAnn. I had the craziest dream. I
swear, I thought you helped me get away and I had this great new
life in California and then Lenny …”

More footsteps approached the bed and
a soothing hand wiped the tears from her face. “Mi amor, don’t cry.
LuAnn is right, everything is gonna be fine.”

Noelle’s eyes flew open and she nearly
jumped out of the bed to hug Trent. “Oh my God. I thought I’d
dreamt the whole thing.”

Trent smiled that dimpled smile and
shook his head. “I’m as real as they come. How are you
feeling?”

She shrugged. “My head is killing me
and I feel like I’ve been smoking longer than Delphine. How did I
get out of there?”

It was then that Noelle noticed the
bandage on Trent’s right arm. “What happened to you? Are you
alright?”

Trent and LuAnn calmed her down and
LuAnn laughed. “That’s my girl. Always worrying about other people.
As far as you getting out, once the cops heard the gun shots they
broke through the door. Lenny fired one shot at you but missed
through all the smoke, and then he killed himself before the cops
could get to him.”

Silence filled the room for a moment,
and though Noelle would never understand why Lenny had treated her
so badly for so long, she was still sad at the loss of a life,
however misguided it was.

Trent leaned over and kissed her
forehead. “You passed out from the smoke inhalation. As soon as the
state boys got in and they saw to Lenny, I charged in looking for
you. I got burnt as I was helping another officer carry you
out.”

The tears really fell then. It was one
thing for Trent to tell her he loved her, and for her to feel his
love, but it was a whole new ballgame for her to know he’d meant
what he said about risking his life to save her.

“I don’t know whether to kiss you for
saving me or smack you for putting yourself in danger.”

Trent gently cupped her face, my vote
is the first option. He kissed her softly, slowly, as if he were
afraid of hurting her. LuAnn’s coughs broke them apart.

“Sorry to break up the little love
fest ya’ll got going on, but Miss Noelle here really does need some
rest.”

Noelle clasped LuAnn’s hand. “I’ve
missed you. I hope Lenny and his dad didn’t cause you too much
trouble.”

LuAnn waved her off. “Nothing this ol’
bird can’t handle. Now, I’m gonna go grab an extra blanket for
lover boy here as long as he promises to sleep in the chair and not
try to get in bed with you.”

Trent actually blushed. “Yes,
ma’am.”

LuAnn nodded curtly and walked out.
Noelle laughed and shook her head. “I never realized how much
Delphine is like her. I wonder if they are long lost
relatives.”

Trent laughed. “Lord I hope not. One
Delphine is more than enough!”

LuAnn returned a moment later and
waited as Trent settled into the reclining chair in the corner.
“Now when I come back in the morning, you better be right where I
left you.”

Trent nodded and flashed her a smile.
“Yes ma’am.”

LuAnn blushed and turned to Noelle
with a wink. “Honey, if things don’t work out, you just pass him
right on along to me.”

Noelle shook her head. “Oh no ma’am.
I’m keepin’ this one.”

LuAnn bent down and whispered to
Noelle, “Honey, I am so happy for you, and your momma is smiling
like crazy up there in Heaven.”

Noelle nodded. “Yeah, I know. She’d
really like Trent too, I think.”

LuAnn nodded. “Yeah she would. Just
knowing he puts that smile on your face would be enough for her.
You make sure you keep that smile no matter what.”

“Yes ma’am. And you make sure you come
out and visit me. We’ll always have a place for you.”

LuAnn kissed Noelle’s forehead and
said goodnight. Trent waited for another five minutes before he got
up and motioned for Noelle to slide over.

“LuAnn can yell at me in the morning
if she wants, but right now all I want is to hold you in my arms.
It’s been a long few days.”

Noelle smiled and sighed when he
wrapped his arm around her. “Yes it has. I’m just glad it’s really
over. No more looking over my shoulder, no more waiting for the
other shoe to drop. I can finally get on with life.”

Trent kissed her. “For now, let’s just
get some sleep. I think tomorrow may be a long day,
too.”

Noelle’s brow arched. “Really? How
so?”

Trent winked. “You’ll just have to
wait and see.”

Truth be told, Noelle didn’t care what
tomorrow brought because she knew Trent would be right by her side
through it all.

Safe and back in his arms, she slept
like she didn’t have a care in the world.

Trent hugged LuAnn goodbye and
promised, for the umpteenth time, to keep Noelle happy. It was a
promise he’d gladly keep.

He got in the car and let Noelle and
LuAnn say their goodbyes in private. He knew how much Noelle would
miss her, and now that there were no worries about Lenny or his
father, Trent knew he’d be bringing Noelle back to visit again
soon.