Her rental was in a mid-sized older community that was experiencing a revitalization. When the houses were redone, they ended up practically eliminating the driveways for a few hundred more square feet, so it was all street parking. Since her unit had been vacant for a few months, one of her neighbors had taken to parking in front of her house.
It was annoying to have to park a bit away, but at least she wasn’t in those god-awful heels. She was walking on the sidewalk in front of her unit when a man started jogging her way and calling out.
Immediately she dropped her bag and took up a fighting stance.
“Whoa.” He stopped and raised his hands. “Didn’t mean to frighten you. My wife wanted me to come move the car. She said someone was staying here now. When I saw you walking, I realized I should’ve done it when she asked instead of waiting. Sorry about that.”
Taylor not only breathed a sigh of relief, but she may have even laughed about it a little.
“Sorry about the Tyson stance, but I mean, you came out of nowhere in the dark. I could barely make out your shadow.”
“Yeah. That’s on me. Bad choice.” He bent to retrieve her bag. “That and these three streetlights have been out for months. My wife has called the city a million times, but, as you can see, still in the dark.”
“Thanks.” She re-shouldered her bag.
“Anyway, I’m moving my car now if you want to move yours up.” He unlocked his door. “Have a good night, um?”
“Taylor.”
“I’m Miguel. Me and my wife Maria and our boys live over there in the blue house. You should come for dinner some night, Maria makes some mean tamales. She’d love to meet you. We just moved in, and she doesn’t know anyone in the area yet.”
“Nice to meet you, Miguel. And the first thing you should know about me is I never turn down good food, so don’t just offer to be polite. Warn Maria though, if the tamales are as mean as you say, she may never get rid of me.”
Miguel laughed. “Maria is going to love you.”
The whole exchange lightened her mood. Maybe her time spent there wouldn’t be so bad. Keeping busy was a bonus. If she was eating tamales with Maria and Miguel, she wouldn’t be wondering what Prowler was doing.
Whohe was doing.
After setting her things down on the counter, she went to move her car. Having it almost a block away was fine for the night, but having to hoof it tomorrow when the sun was out and it was over one hundred wasn’t her idea of a good time.
“Fuck,” she cursed as she rolled up next to the curb in front of her house. She hopped out to check her rims. She had gotten really close to the curb. Reaching for her phone, she realized she’d left it in the house.
“Guess I’ll have to assess the damage in the morning,” she groused before heading inside. Realizing she’d left the door ajarwhen she went to move her car, she double-checked that she locked it before she went to draw a bath.
When she leaned over to adjust the faucet, she froze. There were footsteps behind her.
“I always did like that view of you, Mykayla.”
Billy’s voice triggered something inside her. For years she froze at that sound, made herself small, but not anymore. She whirled around, swinging and kicking. Not having a clue where he was, she didn’t care. She’d already proven that she could and would fight back, even with Billy.
Her fight was short-lived when he headbutted her, rocking her back before spinning her into a bear hug. That’s when she saw her brother.
Travis.
“Hello, sis. Long time no see.”
The sight of Travis renewed her fight. When he approached her, she twisted and flailed trying to loosen Billy’s hold, but it was no use.
“Open up, sweetheart.” Travis tipped a water bottle to her lips with a hand in a black brace. Fighting like hell not to ingest whatever it was, Taylor kicked Travis frantically while turning her head.
Travis grabbed her breast, digging his fingers in but standing far enough to the side she couldn’t kick him.
“Listen to me, sister,” he sneered. “You either open up and drink it now, or you’ll open up screaming when I shove my cock up your ass, and Billy can pour it in then. You’re choice.”
Being raped by Travis was a real and present threat since she was a teenager. It was her nightmare fuel, so she complied, swallowing the warm water with chunks of bitter pill bits in it, until he pulled the bottle away.
At that point, if he was going to do vile things to her, she hoped whatever he’d given her knocked her out.
