Secrets in Battle: Secrets of Savannah Series Book 3 (17 page)

Chapter 32

Judd and I have both been so busy that we haven’t spent any time together since we were at the spring almost a week ago. I’ve been on day shift, but by the time I get in and go help Nana for a little while
, I’m beat. He and Ryder have been being OBGYN’s for cows this past week. It seems every night they have a new critter being born.

I try to wait up for him most nights in his apartment, but this week I’ve passed out before he gets there.
When he woke me up with his tongue this morning, I was so excited. It didn’t last long, though, before Ryder was knocking on the door.

I groan and he sits up. “Shit!” Making his way over to the door
, I hear him and Ryder talking.

He walks back over to me and shakes his head. “Damn it. My dick is so hard right now it may blow apart soon from the pressure. But if we don’t go help this cow now
, she may die. I promise I’ll make it up to you, Princess.”

I groan. “Fine, but right now I guess I’m going to take care of this myself. You aren’t the only one in pain here.”

If we didn’t have sex soon, I was going to scream. I don’t know what’s come over me these past few weeks, but I can’t seem to get enough of him.

Here I am
, hours later, entering damn chart info at the nurse’s station and all I can think about is Judd entering me. Pounding into me, bending me over, and smacking my ass. Shit, I’ve got to fucking stop. My panties are drenched and I’m at work. This is embarrassing. He has to fuck me tonight, I don’t care how tired we are. We have to.

I hear my phone ping that I have a text.

Scarlet: Hey Ryder wanted me to make sure you don’t have to work tonight.

Me: No why?

Scarlet: He knows they’ve been crazy swamped and he wants us all to go out for dinner. He’s buying.  Maybe the steakhouse or something.

Me: So no birthing tonight?

Scarlet: Nope. I think the last cow is giving birth now. I told him if we don’t have sex soon I’m going to kill someone.

I smile thinking about the
uninterrupted sex I’m having tonight.

Me:
I understand completely. I’m about ready to break something.

Scarlet: I feel your pain. So dinner is good for you then? I’m sure
it’ll be an early night. ;)

Me:
Sure! Sounds great. I’m out at 3 today.

Scarle
t: Okay. Plan to leave around

6?

Me: K- Sounds good.  : )

I feel like today has been the longest day ever. First of all
, I’m so damn tired. This schedule I’m keeping right now is insane. Nana and I almost have everything together like she wants it, though. I can’t wait to get the final product together for her. We are going to work solid on it this Friday since I’m off. She wants us to get it all together in time for Christmas. I’m going to load it to one of the self-publishing websites and get printed copies for the family.

I climb in the shower to start getting ready for our night out. I feel the water pounding over me as
I scrub my body. Wishing it were Judd’s hands all over me gets me hot.

After I’m finished making sure every part of me is scrubbed, buffed, shaved and moisturized, I stand in front of my closet.
I have been in tennis shoes and scrubs all week. I want to dress like a girl tonight.

I grab a turquoise cotton dress and my brown, silver and turquoise cowgirl boots. Throwing them on with some si
lver jewelry, I take one last look at my hair and makeup and head downstairs.

I smile when I see Judd. He lets out a low whistle since it’s just us. “Well
, Princess, you look super sexy.”

I grin. “Thanks, that’s what I was going for.”

“I vote we stay in and I get to have my way with you over and over again.”

I chuckle. “As much as I would love that, Ryder feels bad about you two pulling such long hours. Trust me
, Scarlet is just as bent on us getting back home. We’ve all been missing out on our alone time.”

He laughs. “Well
, let’s get going.”

Scarlet and Ryder left a few minutes before us. They had to stop by for him to sign some papers at the lawyer’s office for his dad.

We all meet at the bar and grill the guys decided on a little after six. This place has a live band going on tonight so it’s pretty packed. Scarlet and Ryder go out for a dance after we order our drinks and food.

Judd leans over and brushes his hand up my leg to the apex of my thighs. He whispers closely in my ear as he b
rushes over my clit. “You aren’t wearing panties. You are such a bad girl. Follow me.”

He stands up and pulls me behind him. I can barely breathe. Between not having sex with him for days, him rubbing my clit at the table in a crowded place
and his vibrating voice in my ear, I almost came at the table.

Once we reach the door to a small storage closet, we look around and step inside. He pushes me up against the shelving. “Damn baby
, you are sexy. I can’t wait to get home and make love to you all night to make up for the past week. Right now, though, I’m going to fuck you hard and fast, otherwise I won’t make it through supper.”

I reach down
and unfasten his jeans, pushing them and his boxers down. He puts his hands under my ass, lifting me, and I wrap my legs around his waist.

He slams into my wet pussy. “Fuck
, baby.”

“Oh God
, Judd.”

He pumps harder and faster. I hold on to the shelving
, trying not to scream loud enough that people hear us.

“Fuck
, Princess, I’m about to come.”

I nod
, letting him know I’m there, too. He slams into me three more times, emptying himself inside me.

He slowly lets me down and reaches over on the shelf
, grabbing some paper towels for us to clean ourselves up with.

“That was a great appetizer, I can’t wait for the main
course later.” He rumbles in my ear as we are walking back down the hall.

Once we make our way back down the hall into the bar
, I see a guy watching me. I don’t think I know him, but maybe I went to school with him or something.

I shrug it off and sit down
at the table about the time our food comes out.

Scarlet looks at me and smirks. “So what were the two of you doing?”

As soon as I cut into my steak, I look up and see that guy watching me again. I get a strange nauseous feeling. I stand up. “Excuse me.”

I jump up and run to the restroom
. After emptying my stomach, Scarlet comes in the bathroom while I’m washing my face and hands.

“Hey
, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I guess my stomach got a little nervous from what we just did.” I giggle. “Plus, there is this guy I keep seeing watch me in there
, it’s giving me the creeps.”

“Should we tell the guys? Did he say anything to you?”

I shake my head. “No, but I feel like I should know him or something.”

We make our way back out and when we come to the end of the hall
, I see Patrick Wilson standing with the guy. “That’s Patrick with him.”

Then something about the way the light hits his face, it all floods back.

I don’t even hear what Scarlet is saying.

“Scarlet, that is the guy who slipped me drugs.”

Chapter 33

I’m just about to go check on Princess when they come back to the table. I can tell by her facial expression that something is very wrong.

“Are you okay?”

Scarlet looks at me. “Judd, we’ll get everything boxed up and bring it home. You get her out of here.”

Ryder looks up from his plate. “What’s going on?”

Princess still won’t speak.

Finally
, Scarlet looks at me. “Patrick Wilson is here and he’s talking to the guy that she’s pretty sure slipped drugs in her drink that night.”

I see red.
Ryder knows me all too well. He puts his hand on my shoulder. “Get her home. This is upsetting her, and as much as I want to go beat that fuckers face in, she needs to go home.”

I nod and take her hand
, trying to make it through the bar. We make it just outside the door before we come face to face with some preppy ass douche bag.

“So Annabelle
, this is what you are doing now? Your father’s business is going into the toilet and you are fucking farm boys in storage closets in bars.”

She finds her voice. “Shut up
, Patrick! Get out of my way.”

He shakes his head. “You’re a real gem
, aren’t you? Glad I didn’t end up with you. You know, the company you keep and everything.” He motions to me.

She glares up at him. “Oh
, so you’d rather hang out with people who puts drugs into women’s drinks? That fucker you were talking to in there is a rapist. He put drugs in my drink one night.”

“Like you wouldn’t have fucked him anyway. He doesn’t do that to girls who aren’t already asking for it.” She hauls off and slaps him.

“You’re a stupid cunt, Annabelle.” He turns and storms off just as I’m about to knock the shit out of him.

My heart is about to pound out of my chest when the door opens. The guy in question walks out.

He looks at Princess. “Nice to see you again, Annabelle.” She shivers beside me.

His smirk sets me off. “You son of a bitch. You are a piece of shit.” I charge toward him
. I hear Princess telling me to stop but I just can’t. I punch the guy repeatedly in the face until I feel hands trying to pull me back. I turn around and swing, almost hitting my princess in the face.

Ryder tackles me to the ground. He looks over at the guy. “You better get the fuck out of here before I let him up to finish the job. Don’t show your face around here again. I know people who can make your sorry ass disappear.”

The guy jumps up and runs to his car, tearing out of the parking lot. Ryder looks down at me. “Judd, get ahold of yourself. You could’ve killed that guy and you almost hit Annabelle.”

I try to sit up. “Oh my God. Princess
, are you okay?” She steps back a little and I feel like shit.

She nods a little. “Scarlet is going to take me home.”

I stand up. “Wait. Princess.”

Ryder puts his hand on my shoulder
, stopping me as I’m trying to walk after her. He starts walking me in the direction of my truck and motions for me to give him the keys. “Man, give her a little bit. All of this scared this shit out of her. She just saw you try to kill the guy who was going to rape her a few months ago. She couldn’t get your attention and about the time I was walking out was when she put her hands on you to stop you. I know not to do that but she didn’t. You almost hurt her. She needs some time. Don’t be stupid, give it to her. In the morning, go talk to Luca. You lost it there.”

As we climb in the truck
, I nod. “Ryder, I can’t lose her.”

“You won’t but you lost it back there
, man. You only saw red and while I understand wanting to kill that bastard, trust me, I do after what happened to Scar, you can’t do it.”

I nod and lean my head back against the seat. “Yeah, I know. I’ll go talk to Luca in the morning.”

~*~*~

I feel lost. In the past three days she’s pulled away from me. She says it’s just work and that she’s always tired, but I know it has to do with the other night.
Ryder says she’s been sleeping a lot and helping Nana. She hasn’t really texted me, she hasn’t waited for me in my apartment. My bed is empty without her.

I talked to Nana about it, she says I just need to give her time. That she has a lot going on and we are strong enough to get through anything that comes our way.

I told Luca what happened. We tried to work through some of the issues, but he told me most of it will be up to me to learn to control the rage.

Ryder and I are working on residing one of the small barns today.

Ryder’s phone starts ringing. He answers it.

“Hello.” “Annabelle slow down
.” He’s shaking. “What’s going on, Annabelle?” He drops his tools. “I’m coming.”

I look at Ryder. “Man
, what’s going on?”

He takes off running to his truck. After we jump in
, I see the tears pouring out of his eyes. “Ryder! Talk to me.”

“It’s Nana.”

He tears out of the yard headed for Nana’s.

“Ryder
, what do you mean?”

He’s wiping
his face as we sling the truck up in Nana’s drive. “Annabelle found her.” He’s out the door before the truck stops.

I look up to see emergency vehicles flying down the private drive.

I bury my head in my hands and let out a sob. Ryder runs in the house with me on his heels.

As we enter the house
, Princess runs over to us. “Ryder, I’m so sorry. When I found her it was too late.” 

Scarlet comes flying through the door
a minute later and into Ryder’s chest and sobs.

I pull Princess to my chest as she sobs.

A deputy comes in, he has to get a report from her. I walk her over to sit down on the couch.

“Ma’am, I know this is hard. I just need to know what happened so we can put it in a report.” He give
s her a kind smile and puts his hand on hers. “I’m sorry we have to do this now.”

She nods. “
My name is Annabelle. I’ve been helping Nana with her memoirs. I came down because we were supposed to work on them today. She didn’t come to the door like she normally does, but I just let myself in. When she didn’t answer, I started looking for her. I found her in bed. I screamed, I shook her. I tried to calm down. I’m in the last part of my nursing degree so I checked her pulse. She was already cold. I’m guessing whatever happened, it was last night. I called 911, then I called Ryder and Scarlet.”

He pats her hand. “Annabelle, you handled this all very well considering the circumstances. Thank you. This should be all I need for now.”

My mom and dad come barreling through the doors. My mom grabs Ryder, pulling him into her chest. I pull Princess in mine. “I’m sorry you had to find this.”

“I’m just glad it wasn’t Ryder.” She cries into my chest.

My dad steps up and hugs her. “Sweetheart, you handled yourself very well. Nana would be proud.”

She looks up. “Has anyone called Greer?”

Dad nods. “Yes, Sarah is driving him in.”