"Whatcha gonna do, shoot me?"
"I just might."
Lester pitched back his head and laughed.
"That'll be the day."
"Why don't you just crawl back into that hole you crawled out of?"
Suddenly he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her out of her
chair, his ringers digging into her arms.
"Get your hands off me."
"Not until you understand this, bitch. Don't try to keep me from my son.
And if you push me too far, you'll both be sorry."
He let her go with such force that she almost fell.
"First rattle out of the box, I'll tell Daddy the truth, that his
perfect daughter got rucked and knocked up." He chuckled.
"Hey, that kind of rhymes, doesn't it?"
Before Cassie could find her voice, he spun on his booted heel and
stormed out the door. Clutching her stomach, she sank into the chair and nursed the crippling terror that threatened to consume her.
What was she going to do?
"Cassie, are you all right?"
Her heart sank even lower. Where had he come from? More to the point, why had he come? Hotel business, she thought, answering her own question.
She rose to her feet and crossed her arms over her body to try to stop herself from trembling.
"Cassie, answer me."
She gazed at him through stricken eyes. His face was lined with concern and something else--rage.
"No." She began to shake all over.
"I don't think I'll ever be all right again," "So that was him?"
"Yes," she said in a tiny whisper.
"I'll be a son of a bitch!" Austin rubbed the back of his neck and began
pacing the floor.
"What the hell is he doing out of the pen?"
Cassie drew several deep breaths far down into her lungs, then let them
out.
"He said he just got lucky, which could mean anything."
Hysteria bubbled beneath the surface of her composure. She knew that if she ever let go, she would go down for the count.
Words that she'd never heard spewed from Austin's lips.
"I had no idea this was coming," Cassie said.
"In fact, I'd been assured he wouldn't get out, not for years, anyway."
"That's our sorry justice system for you. The victims don't have any rights."
Tears burned her eyes, and her shaking worsened.
"Sorry. Sit back down, okay?"
He moved toward her. She panicked and held up her hands.
"Don't.
I'm . fine."
"I was only trying to help," Austin said hoarsely.
If he touched her now, she wasn't sure she could remain intact. As it
was, seeing him had further loosened something inside her. Despite theincident in the car, she didn't trust herself not to seek the haven ofhis strong arms and body, begging him to hold her and make the fear go away.
But that wasn't the solution. Austin wasn't the solution. In fact, hewas another complication, one she had to deal with just like she didLester.
Another fris son of fear surged through her.
"You're far from fine," Austin said, his gaze piercing.
"Austin, don't push, please. I ... I can't take any more."
His features darkened, then twisted.
"I'm not the one you need to fear."
Oh, but you are, she cried silently. My heart fears you.
"I just want to make the hurt go away," he said in a husky voice.
"No strings attached, I swear."
"If you mean that, then you'll leave me alone."
"I can't." His voice sounded broken now.
"Don't you understand that you and Lester are on the same level in my
book?" she said with cruel intent.
Her blow struck. His face drained of color, and he winced.
She hated that, but she hadn't known what else to do. Her world was
crumbling in front of her. Even though Austin had backed off a bit, hewas still too close, making her long for the freedom and the magic of along-ago time, a time she would never know again.
"If it makes you feel better to kick a dog while he's down, then goahead. I can take it."
"Go away, Austin," she said in a dull, faraway tone. "I want to bealone."
"Suit yourself." His mouth worked.
"At least for now."
The unscented water was so hot it scalded her toes. Though Cassie feltthe tingling pain, she didn't care. It was nothing compared to thehorrific pain raging inside her.
So many questions and no answers circled through and around her brain,taunting and teasing. When she had left the office, she had gonestraight home to her room. The big house had been empty, except for Joy.James, with Tyler in tow, had taken Wilma for a drive.
Now, as she sat in the tub, Cassie blamed herself for not having stayedon top of the situation concerning Lester. Because of her lax attitudeand her attorney and the network's failure to notify her, she had beencaught raw and exposed.
Damn! Damn! Damn!
What to do? That was the most pressing question. Should she take Tylerand leave again? Or would snatching her son from his newfound and secureenvironment harm him psychologically forever?
Her mind said run. Her heart said stay.
When she put the situation in perspective, Lester truly had no legalrights, which meant she could get a restraining order against him.
But she would just be wasting her time. To Lester and his militia group,a piece of paper didn't mean squat. They operated under their own rules,made them up as they went along. For the most part, they got by withthat tactic, too.
Lester's arrest had been the result of a slipup, one that she betwouldn't be repeated.
Cassie closed her eyes, sinking further into despair. If only she hadnever married him. If only she had been honest with her parents. If onlyshe had told Austin the truth.
She could "if only" herself crazy, and it wouldn't change one thing.
When she had learned she was pregnant by a man fourteen years hersenior, a man who was her daddy's best friend and who was engaged tomarry her mother's sister, she had done the only thing she knew how todo.
Survive.
In the process of doing that, she had tried to make her farce of amarriage work. After learning Lester was affiliated with a militiagroup, she had continued to try, thinking she could change him, make himinto the father and husband she longed for him to be.
It had been after Tyler turned three that Cassie realized nothing wouldever change Lester, that he was indeed a monster in disguise. Even now,the terror of that moment was as strong as if it had happened yesterday.
It had been late, because she had gone to class, then to work. Tyler wassupposed to have been at day care; she'd already made a point, thoughnot an obvious one, never to leave Tyler alone with Lester.
That was why she had been so stunned when she'd walked into the housethat evening and found her son home with Lester. She had dropped herthings and hurried into -the den. What she had seen had literallyknocked her breathless.
Tyler had been perched on Lester's knee, holding a pistol in his tiny hand.
Fright so numbing, so gagging, had welled up inside of her that for a moment she couldn't talk, couldn't move. Somehow she got her bearing and remained calm.