Chapter 6 - Miley

It had been a couple of days since the party in the woods, but still Miley couldn't rid herself of the memory. She had been sitting quite happily on the tree trunk with a beer in hand, watching Lauren and Haley dancing by the bonfire and listening to the conversation going on all around her when one of the girls had screamed. She wasn't sure which one of them it had been, but no sooner had she turned her head in the direction than she caught sight of the reason why.

At first glance, she had believed it was a dog. Its amber eyes glowed from the shadows of the trees at the top of the ravine like something out of a horror movie. But when it stepped out into the moonlight and its chin was illuminated by the orange light of the fire, Miley very nearly screamed herself. It was larger than any dog she had ever seen, and its shaggy pelt was jet black. It was even twice the size of any wolf she had seen on the nature channels she"d loved to watch when she was a kid and her parents weren't demanding she work every waking hour at the hardware store.

Lauren had run to her so quickly, gasping for breath, that Miley knew she wasn't the only one who had seen it. The mood in the entire ravine had changed in an instant. The music was stopped, the buzz of conversation turned to worried exclamations, and everyone started to flock together like a herd of frightened animals.

Then he had appeared, the guy from the hardware store, like a giant of a man skidding down the side of the ravine in less time than it took Miley to register what was happening.

Tall, dark and tattooed, several of the women and girls in the ravine had seemed to forget their fear at the mere sight of him, turning from prey into predators themselves. And the way they'd looked at Kane, as if they would have let him take them right then and there, made Miley feel sick to her stomach.

Her own fear at the sight of the wolf was quelled by the sight of him, too. Even she couldn't deny the fact that he was drop-dead-gorgeous. He wasn't a pretty boy or a supermodel by any means, but he could most definitely have been on the front cover of some tattoo magazine, or even a rockstar on some metal band"s album cover. The leather jacket he was wearing allowed Miley to picture him all too easily on a motorcycle with the wind whipping through his jet-black hair. She could also all too easily imagine herself sitting behind him with her arms wrapped tightly around his muscular torso, holding on for dear life while he got her the hell out of Nightstar for good.

But all that had been gone from her mind the moment he told the group they were seeing things, the moment he tried to make them feel like they were insane for suggesting there was a wolf in the woods. And when he had gripped her wrist in order to warn her to be careful, she had felt the spark of his touch, but she had forced away the desire, choosing anger instead. It was anger at his being so familiar he believed he could touch her like that, anger that he cared enough about her to single her out and warn her to be careful, even anger at herself for actually believing someone like him could care about her.

She knew all too well what her parents would say. She was useless, worthless, and a fool. Nobody as handsome, as powerful, as well-connected as he was would ever look twice at a pitiful girl like her.

And yet, when his eyes met hers that night in the woods, she had felt like the only person in the world who mattered. He made her feel that way, and it scared her more than she would ever admit.

So she tried to force the whole experience from her mind. Even as she headed home, exhausted to the point of near-collapse two nights after the party, she couldn't stop thinking about it, no matter how much she told herself it was over and that she would likely never lay eyes on either the wolf or Kane again.

She put her key in her front door and entered the house with the hopes of heading straight to bed only to find that her mother was awaiting her.

The look on her face told her immediately that something was going down. And it was definitely something she wasn't going to like. Her mother never smiled from ear to ear like that. Nor did she wait for her in the hallway as if she had wonderful news. It was never good news.

"There you are! How was work?" her mother asked, taking hold of her arm just above the elbow to walk her down the hall. The hair on the back of Miley"s neck rose on end. Her mother never asked her how her day had been, much less how work was.

"Fine," Miley said in a clipped tone. "What"s the matter? Has something happened to Daddy?"

The way her mother was smiling, how happy she seemed, she couldn"t help but think that maybe her father had been in some kind of terrible accident. It was a horrid thing to imagine, and it made her stomach twist with guilt, but she was hopeful.

"Oh no, dear," her mother said, reaching up to stroke Miley"s hair back behind her ear. "Daddy is just fine. Better than fine, in fact."

"Then what is going on?" Miley asked, fighting her mother"s grip when she tried to lead her down the hall, into the kitchen. Something wasn"t right.

"I just made coffee," her mother said. "Have a drink with me."

"Where is Daddy?"

"He"s in his office," her mother said. "Drink with me."

Miley gulped. It was best just to have a drink and get it over with, yet she still couldn't shift the odd sensation in her gut. There was something her mother wasn"t telling her, a reason she was being overly nice and smiling.

"What"s Daddy doing in his office?" Miley asked as she was urged down onto a chair in the dining area of the kitchen.

Her mother placed two mugs of coffee on the table between them and sat down next to Miley before she answered, "The mayor is visiting. Isn't this exciting?"

Miley"s skin crawled. The urge to jump up and run was so powerful that it took everything she had to fight it.

"Why?" she asked through gritted teeth. It wasn"t every day the mayor of the town dropped by just for a coffee and a friendly chat, even if Jack Blackwell was better than the last mayor, he wasn"t that much better.

He likely had far better things to do than sit in her father"s office, unless…

It didn"t bear thinking about. Miley cringed.

"Drink," her mother insisted, pushing the mug in front of her closer. "He"s been here a while. They should be finished any minute."

"I"m not sure coffee is such a good idea, Mama," Miley protested. "I"m exhausted and I won"t sleep tonight if—"

"It"s decaf," her mother said, picking up her own mug and taking a sip. When she smiled again, Miley noticed what she thought was a new, badly hidden cut at the edge of her mother"s lip. Her father had hit her again. For what this time, it wasn't obvious, but it could have been anything as small as giving him his coffee too hot. Heaven forbid he should have to test it himself before chugging it down.

"Mama, maybe it"s time we—" Miley wasn"t entirely sure what she was about to say. Maybe she had been about to suggest it was time they both left her waste of space father behind, but before she could finish, she heard the door to her father"s office upstairs click open.

The sound of two sets of boots pounded down the stairs. The floorboards creaked as they reached the front door.

"I must thank you again, Mayor Blackwell," she heard her father say when she strained her ears in the direction of the hall. She didn"t hear any response, but she did hear the front door opening.

"Take care!" her father called loudly out of the door. "We shall speak again soon!"

Then the door closed, and Miley"s throat constricted as she heard her father"s footsteps coming toward the kitchen.

"There are my two favorite girls!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms wide as he entered the room. His good mood only made Miley"s worse, and she stared down into her coffee mug, leaving it untouched.

"Well?" her mother asked, standing to step into her husband"s arms. "How did it go?"

Miley cringed, half-expecting her father to yell not to question him. Instead, he picked her up and spun her excitedly, only making Miley more nervous. She had never seen either of her parents so happy before.

I should have run when I had the chance, she thought even before her father made his grand announcement.

"Our debts are paid!" he declared. "And you, my dear, Miley, are going to be married!"

Miley was so shocked that she had no control over her actions. She leapt to her feet and turned on her father. "This isn"t the dark ages! You can"t just marry me off to pay off your debts! I"m not a cow you can just send to slaughter to pay your bills!"

Too late she realized what she had done as the back of her father"s hand swung toward her.

It connected with her face with such force that it made her head spin and her ears ring.

"You will be and do exactly what I tell you!" her father snarled at her, grabbing her by the elbows.

The fear and anger she felt then were like nothing she had ever felt before. This was it, it was now or never, she had to do something.

"No!" she screamed, jamming her heel down on the top of her father"s foot.

"Ahh, fuck! You little bitch!" her father exclaimed as he reeled backwards but Miley didn"t stick around to see what happened next. She didn"t like the feeling in her gut, the one that told her whatever semblance of a life she had was over, the one that told her she wasn"t safe and never would be again.

And so, she ran. She ran to the only place she had ever felt safe. She ran to the woods.

By the time she finally stopped, the forest around her was pitch black with only the light of the waxing moon to see by. She was panting so badly that she thought she might bring up a lung.

With only a glance back over her shoulder to be certain her father hadn"t followed her, she started to wander more slowly through the trees, trying to catch her breath by sucking in deep lungfuls of fresh night air.

And after a while, when she was absolutely certain her father hadn"t followed, she stopped again. In a clearing, she turned her head to the sky and enjoyed the sensation of the breeze upon her sweat-slick face.

This was as free as she had ever been, as free as she would ever be again, and she wished to make the most of it while it lasted. Sooner or later, she would have to go home. She couldn't survive out here alone.

It was as she lowered her face again that she heard the snapping of twigs. Immediately on alert, she yelled, "Who"s there?"

Her throat tightened, stomach twisting. Glancing around the clearing, she listened. The forest seemed eerily silent, as if even the trees were holding their breath.

One thing was certain. She could feel eyes on her. Whether they were human or animal, she didn"t know. What she did know was that they made her feel more than a little uncomfortable. Especially when she remembered that damn wolf she had seen.

There aren"t any wolves around here, she told herself over and over, her feet rooted to the ground as she tried her hardest to bring herself to believe that damn Kane.

"Who"s there? I know you"re there!" she called again, listening.

What an idiot she was. This was usually the part in every horror film where the stupid nineteen-year-old runs away into the woods only to never be seen again.

Maybe that wouldn"t be such a bad thing if she could guarantee that wherever she ended up wasn"t as bad as where she was now. But she couldn"t do that. And so, she turned and started to run back in the direction she had come.

She only stopped again when her lungs were burning for air. Still on edge, she listened again, trying to sense whatever it was that had been watching her. She hadn"t heard anything in pursuit, but then again, all she had been able to hear was her own heartbeat pounding in her ears.

Leaning over with her hands on her knees to try and catch her breath, she almost jumped right out of her skin when her cell phone started to ring in the back pocket of her jeans.

"Shit!" she exclaimed as she grabbed the phone and pressed the accept button. "Lauren! You scared the crap outta me!"

"All I did was call like I said I would when I finished work!" Lauren protested, and Miley pursed her lips. She had almost forgotten talking to her that morning. It felt like an age ago now.

"Sorry, I"m real jumpy."

"When aren"t you?" Lauren asked, and Miley could imagine her scowling into the phone. "What"s the matter this time?"

Miley couldn"t help herself. She reeled off the story, starting with her father"s debts, adding his plan to marry her off to have them paid, and ending with her escaping to the woods.

When she had finished, she was even more breathless.

"Girl, I think it"s time you hit up that grandma of yours up north!" Lauren exclaimed when she had finished, and Miley"s chest tightened. She gasped. Why hadn"t she thought of that? The thought had crossed her mind so many times over the years. She"d even fantasized about it with Lauren, both of them dreaming about how they"d run away to her Grandma Peters"s farm up north one day just to get away from all the shit in Nightstar for a while.

But they"d been kids then, back when her father had told her wonderful stories about how he had grown up on a farm and his mother had made fresh biscuits daily and everything was perfect save for the fact his daddy was a drunken piece of shit. Miley guessed the apple didn"t fall too far from the tree, but the last time she had heard anything about her father"s parents, it had been a conversation she had overheard about how her father wasn"t going to attend his daddy"s funeral.

Miley had never met either of her grandparents, but she had always longed to meet her grandma, even if it was only down to misguided girlish dreams. Maybe Grandma Peters was her last chance at freedom?

She yawned hard. "You might be right, but I don't think I"ll get very far tonight. Do you think maybe I can stop at yours for the night? Would your mom mind?"

"Don"t be stupid! Mama loves having you over, if only to tell me she wishes I were more like you!" Lauren laughed. "Get your ass over here and I"ll make us some hot cocoa!"

***

Miley had never felt safer than she did in his arms. Those strong, powerful, muscular arms wrapped around her and held her tight. He didn"t speak, but if he had, he would have said something along the lines of, "Don"t worry, you"re safe with me."

And when his fingertips stroked under Miley"s chin, she turned her face up to look into those familiar charcoal eyes.

Her heart skipped a beat, panicking for a second as she recognized Kane. Unsure of how she had gotten there, she started to pull away, but his arms pulled her close again.

She didn"t fight him. She knew she should, but she didn"t want to.

His presence was powerful, dominant and aggressive, but it was nothing like her father. In fact, he made her feel quite the opposite.

And when he leaned down, his lips barely brushing hers, all she could do was enjoy the feel of his warm flesh on hers.

"Wha—" she started to ask what was happening, but before she could, he kissed her deeply.

And for the second time that night, her head spun. This time it wasn"t pain or fear or even force that made her head spin. Though his kiss was forceful, it was the pleasure she found in it that made her head spin so delightfully.

When he pulled her so close that their bodies melded against each other, her heart skipped another beat. They were unbound, unencumbered by the restrictions of clothes, their naked bodies becoming one as Kane laid her down so gently that it brought tears to her eyes.

A small voice in the back of her mind told her to scream, told her to kick and fight and do whatever it took to get away from him, but that voice was quickly quieted by the way he came down on top of her, cupping her face in his hands to kiss her again.

He kissed her lips, her jaw, her throat, even her breasts, and every touch of his lips was like being branded by fire. Yet it wasn"t painful. It was intoxicating.

And when he placed a light touch of his lips between her legs, her entire body went wild.

"Fuck!" she cursed, biting her lip when she realized she had said it aloud.

When Kane came up again, he smiled down at her with a devilish grin, reaching down between their bodies to guide himself deep inside her.

Miley expected it to hurt. She had always been told her first time would hurt. But it didn"t. It felt like nothing she had ever experienced before.

She opened her legs wide to him, her arms wrapping around his neck to pull him nearer.

Damn, she wanted him inside her more than she had ever wanted anything in her life. His muscular body covered in tattoos was all hers, hers to do with as she wished. And she gave him hers with no fear. Pleasure swelled inside her so violently that she thought at any moment it might turn to pain.

Kane thrust harder, faster, deeper. He started to pant, his body trembling against her own, and though she had no experience of it save for having watched stupid pornos with Lauren in their early teens when they had wanted to know what all the fuss was about, she was sure he was close to climax.

She tilted her head back, her own so close that she was almost screaming breathlessly, and just as she was about to do, so she felt someone grab her by the shoulders and start to shake.

"Miley! Miley! Wake up!"

Ruined. Her dream—the best dream of her entire life—was utterly ruined. Her cheeks burned red-hot with embarrassment as she sat bolt upright on the pull-out bed Lauren had set up for her in her bedroom.

She kept her hands under the covers, all too aware she had been touching herself in her sleep.

"What is it? What"s the matter?" she demanded, yawning even as she saw the fear in her friend's hazel eyes.

"I"m so sorry, Miley. It"s your parents—"

"What about them?" Miley burst out before Lauren could finish.

"They are downstairs."

Shit! Shit! Shit!

It looked like she wasn"t going to be running off to Granny Peters"s farm anytime soon, after all.

Anger and fear mixed with all the wonderful sensations of her dream, leaving her utterly confused.

She had never felt that way before.

I don"t even like Kane! she told herself, shivering that she should have such a vivid dream about a man she despised, a man who was the epitome of everything she hated. He was one of Mayor Blackwell"s men. He was the enemy.

So why couldn"t she shake the incredible feeling of his hands upon her skin?

It was just a dream! It was just a dream! she told herself over and over as she headed downstairs to face the music from her parents.

Why couldn"t they even let her have this one night of freedom? One morning of waking up refreshed after an amazing dream, regardless of how confusing it had been, so she could have breakfast with Lauren and her mother and talk and laugh just as she had done when she had slept over when they were kids.

If they were going to sell her off to better their own lives, couldn"t they at least give her that?

By the time her foot touched the bottom step of the staircase, she was decided. She really was going to run away. She didn"t know how or when, but the second she got a chance, she was going.