Michael gathered her slender body in his arms.
Lee slammed the trunk, gave a two-finger wave, and sped off into the
night.
Nia never flinched. Her breathing remained slow and steady as the
door closed, shutting her off from the outside world.
Not knowing when Lee and Angelina would return, getting Nia out of
that place was a priority. But concerns about Nia being unconscious for
three hours trumped that. Michael carried her to his Cadillac CTS and
gently laid her across the back seat.
Her natural beauty mesmerized him. Baby-soft cocoa skin. Eyebrows
that framed her brown eyes like they were works of art. Thick black hair
that created a halo around her face.
He placed a feather-light kiss on her lips. In a fairy tale, she would
awaken with undying gratitude. But he feared that no magic kisses or
potions could ever make her regard him favorably again.
He got the smelling salts from the first aid kit in the car. Getting in the
driver’s seat, he turned toward her and waved the bottle several inches
away from her nose.
She wrenched away from the acrid smell of ammonia. Convulsing
with coughs, she thrashed around, probably hoping to free her hands,
take the blindfold off, and make a run for it.
Putting a hand to her chest, he gently held her in place. The heartbeat
that was faint as he held her against his chest a minute ago now pounded
against his palm like a battering ram.
“Shhh,” he whispered.
Her head darted around to follow his hushed tone, then to take in
other sounds in the space: a dog barking nearby; the hum of the furnace
in the adjoining utility room; his ragged breathing as the fear of losing
her to killers subsided.
Michael braced himself, knowing that once he said something, she
would recognize him. “I’m going to take off your blindfold.”
She gasped, cringed, and craned her head toward the sound of his
voice.
He untied the black bandana that covered her eyes and let it slip off.
Light spilling from the dome light over Nia’s head made her squint,
but when she fully opened her eyes, she honed in on Michael’s face. Her
expression transformed from bewilderment to horror, giving voice to
everything she couldn’t vocalize.
Why did you do this to me?!
Janice Pernell made her writing
debut as a co-contributor
to Baring It All: The Ins And
Outs Of Publishing in 2014. In
2018 she released No Right
Way To Do A Wrong Thing,
her first work of fiction. She is
writing another novel and two
Christian inspirational books.
www.janicepernell.com