I barely made it out of the area before the local police arrived. I didn’t want to answer questions or bring more attention to myself. So, I fled again, this time with nothing but the clothes on my back and a purse, the contents of which were basically useless. I only had the cash from my tips and that was just enough to get me here.
When I ran out of cash, I figured this was far enough away. But by then, I’d begun to think I would never truly escape him, not until I was dead.
Don’t you see, Tanner? Just being around me is an extremely dangerous thing.”
Chapter Six
Arabella was as terrified as she was relieved to finally tell her story. She just hoped doing so wouldn’t get another person she cared about killed. She’d already lost too much. Losing Tanner would be something she wouldn’t survive.
It was crazy since she’d only known him for twenty-four hours. She was sure part of it was a bit of hero worship, since he’d literally saved her life on that bridge. The other part, well, that was more complicated. Somehow, she trusted him. She was also feeling things she hadn’t felt in years. She’d missed her little side so much and Tanner was bringing it out, without even giving it any effort at all.
Arabella now knew for certain that Tanner was a Daddy, she just wondered if he would be her Daddy. Would he be a good one? Arabella was pretty certain he would be. Arabella wondered if she’d gone insane even hoping for it, but she couldn’t help herself. Her little had been in hiding since right after her wedding and she wanted that part of herself back.
“I met him in a club in Chicago. I was working as a freelance writer at the time. I was looking for a Daddy, he was looking for a little. Things between us seemed to click.
It was less than six months before he had me so wrapped up in him that I had lessened the number of jobs I took, and he convinced me to move in with him.”
Arabella took a moment before continuing her story. She appreciated that Tanner kept quiet and let her take her time without pushing.
“He said and did all the right things. He was a police officer, so he wasn’t always home a lot, but I was happy with our relationship. It was idyllic, until he convinced me to go Vegas and get married.”
Tanner sucked in a breath like he was preparing himself. She couldn’t blame him, she also needed preparation to tell the rest of her story. She took her final deep breath and dove in.
“It was a week after the wedding, the first time he hit me in anger. He apologized immediately, bought flowers, and promised it wouldn’t happen again. I was so stupid, I believed him. That promise didn’t last a week before he ignored my safe word during a spanking. One I didn’t feel I deserved.”
Now Tanner would understand her reaction to him threatening to spank her. She didn’t think she’d ever trust a man to spank her again. Not after James.
“That was when I lost respect for him as a Daddy. I stopped calling him that. He didn’t take it well to say the least. I started taking more writing jobs again, working on them when he was out, or at work. I kept the jobs hidden from him and squirreled away all the money I made.
I knew immediately I wasn’t going to stay, but he had me neatly blocked in. I couldn’t even afford a ticket back home to Idaho by that time, not that I’d told any of my family. I was too ashamed that I had landed myself in that position.”
“Jesus, fuck. Little Hurricane, you should not be ashamed and you are not stupid. Do you know how many women never even try to plan to get out? You knew you weren’t taking it and worked toward an escape. That makes you strong. Stronger than any woman I have ever met, and it is not something to be ashamed of.”
Tanner reached over and grabbed her hand. He gave it a quick squeeze and turned back to the apartment they were watching, giving her the chance to continue. If she was being honest, she didn’t think she could talk any more about it. She was too drained from letting all that out.
“So, tell me, big guy, how’d you end up rescuing damsels in distress full time?”
She neatly changed the subject. Thankfully, Tanner let her.
“Well, Little Hurricane, that is one hell of a story. Might take all night to tell but it starts with my friend Blade and his piece of shit father…”
Tanner spent the rest of the night explaining it all, effectively keeping her mind occupied.
“…So, that’s how I ended up being the accountant and treasurer for The Hellhole …”
Something caught Tanner’s eye and Arabella looked around to find out what he was looking at.
“Holy shit, he’s on the move.”
As Tanner was starting the engine, Arabella wondered what they were supposed to do now.
“Maybe he had to go to the grocery store? Or he could need to go to the post office.”
“At ten o’clock at night? I don’t think so. I think he’s finally decided to try to find Diana. There’s only one way to find out…”
“Follow him?”
“Follow him.”
Putting the car in drive, the pair pulled out behind Brian Preston. They followed him across town where he parked his car but didn’t get out. Arabella was just wondering what he was doing, when Tanner cursed and pulled out his phone.
“What’s going on?” Arabella asked him before he had a chance to call.
“See that motel over there?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s the hotel where Diana and her bodyguard are.”
Oh, shit.
“So, he found her? How?”
“I don’t know, but I need to let them know to get out now.”
As Tanner pressed the call button on his phone, Arabella prayed for the first time in years. She prayed for the safety of a woman she didn’t know and yet, knew all too well.
“Blade, he found y’all. Get the hell out of there ASAP.”
There was a pause where she assumed Blade was talking before Tanner spoke again.
“I don’t know, man, as far as I could see, he hasn’t left his apartment this whole time. The first time he goes out, he comes straight to y’all. At this point, who cares how the hell he found her, just get her the fuck out, man.”
Another few moments of silence passed before Tanner said, “On it” and reached for the door handle.
Facing her, he ordered, “Stay,” like she was some kind of puppy, then headed straight for the car of the scumbag.
Like hell was she going to “stay”. If the goal was to distract the man like she assumed, she knew exactly how to do it. Nothing distracted a woman-beating douche canoe more than another woman.
She had the advantage over Tanner, since she wasn’t trying to be stealthy. She sauntered right up to Brian Preston’s window and tapped. As she suspected, it didn’t take long for him to roll it down.
“Can I do somethin’ for ya, Doll?”
Arabella shuddered. What was it with the pricks and calling women “Doll”? When James had first started calling her that, she’d found it cute, now it made her sick. She did her best to disguise her reaction and pasted on a smile she was far from feeling.
“Well, I was wondering if you might be willing to point me in the right direction? I was on my way to a meeting, but I can’t seem to find the coffee shop I was supposed to meet them at.”