Princess (American Princess #1)(37)
Author: Courtney Cole

Tom knelt in front of the door and made quick work out of the padlock with his tools.  Sydney decided wryly that having an ax made all the difference.  She rubbed her raw feet as she watched him work.   Within half a minute, the padlock and hinge dropped to the ground and the door swung open.

“Deidre?” Sydney called.  “Come out- we’re not going to hurt you.  We’ve got to get out of here before he comes back.”

Deidre didn’t answer and she didn’t come out and Sydney didn’t have the patience to wait.

She crept into the doorway of the room and peered inside.  Deidre was crouched in the back corner, eyeing the door cautiously, like a caged animal.

Sydney could tell that she was probably a pretty girl, but her beauty was hidden behind quite a bit of grime and ugly harsh bruises.  Her blondish-red hair was matted and tangled and she smelled horrible, like she had crawled straight out of the sewer.  Bright, suspicious green eyes peered out from under a layer of filth.

“Deidre?” Sydney said softly.  “Come out. You’re going to be safe now.  But we have to leave here.”

Deidre’s face crumpled and she started sobbing.  Sydney rushed into the room and put her arm around the distraught girl, but the girl shirked away from her.

“Deidre, I know it is hard for you to believe right now, but I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.  Now let’s get you out of here before Harrison gets back.”

The girl nodded and Sydney helped her hobble outside. It was clear to all of them that Deidre was in a bad way.  She was very weak.  Her clothes were ragged and her legs were covered in lash-like bruises.

Sydney winced as she saw the slashes on Diedre’s back.  It appeared as though she had been whipped. She swallowed hard as she tightened her grip on the injured girl.  Tom and Danny led the way to the truck and they all piled inside.

Sydney turned to Tom.

“Thank you so much for helping us!  Can you take us to my house, now?  Please?”

She was hoping that Stephen would be at home.  She desperately longed to hear his voice but she couldn’t chance calling him.  Harrison had probably tapped his phone. 

“I know this is going to sound really stupid, but where are we?” She looked sheepish.

Tom didn’t miss a beat, he just looked at her sympathetically.

“You’re about ten miles east of Gary.”  That made sense.  It had taken less than an hour to get from her house to the hide-away house the night she had been taken.

She settled back into the seat, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.  She hadn’t rested easily in a couple of weeks and the soft leather truck seat suddenly felt really good.  Her eyes stung from lack of sleep.  The hum of the road as they flew over it toward Chicago lulled her to sleep even in the midst of life-changing excitement.  A body could only stay awake so long.

Jolting bumps intruded into her peaceful sleep, and she startled awake.  She hadn’t even been aware that she had fallen asleep.  She jerked up in the seat to look out the window and was relieved to find that they were crossing the bridge on I94 into Chicago. She could see the Willis Tower rising out of the horizon.  She was almost home.  Her close proximity to Stephen made her antsy all over again, but she tried to ignore it.  She couldn’t make the truck go faster.

“I’m sorry I fell asleep,” she apologized to Tom.  I haven’t slept much at all for weeks.  I can’t tell you how thankful I am that you helped us.  I don’t know what we would have done…”

He interrupted her.  “Don’t think a thing about it.  I’ve never seen a sorrier looking pair than the two of you walking up my drive.  I couldn’t just go about my business, now could I?”

She smiled a jittery smile at him.  She was on pins and needles.  Would Stephen be home when they got there?  What if he wasn’t?   What should they do?  What should their next steps be?  She took deep, calming breaths and focused on the road in front of them.  It wouldn’t do any good to fall apart now.  Tom turned onto the Skyway and headed into town.

Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up in front of her house.  Tom pulled the truck up behind Stephen’s T-Bird before he turned to her.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll walk up with you to make sure that he’s here.”  It was as if he had read her mind and discovered her secret fear…that Stephen wouldn’t be home.

“Thanks, Tom.”

She flashed a brief grin of relief at the kindly man before running up the sidewalk, her bloody feet barely touching the concrete.  She didn’t feel the pain, though.  Or the exhaustion, fear and fatigue.  All she knew was that she was just a scant twenty yards from the love of her life.

Before she even reached the door, it opened and Stephen filled the doorway, surprise and shock freezing him in place.

“Sydney?”

He opened his arms up just in time for her to leap into them, wrapping her legs around his waist.  She buried her face into his neck and breathed him in.  He smelled like soap and musk and Stephen.  She was so relieved that she felt tears welling up in her eyes.   After a minute, Stephen pulled his face back.

“Sydney, how are you here?  Are you alright?  What happened?”

He fired questions at her, one after the other, before she even had a chance to speak.  And he didn’t loosen his grip on her even a little bit. She smiled and pulled him close for just another second.

“Stephen, I love you so much.  And I’ll answer your questions, but not right now.  There’s no time. We’ve got to leave.  We can’t stay here.  I’ll explain in the car.”

She unclasped her legs and dropped to the ground, wincing a little as pain shot from her feet up into her calves.  She started to tug Stephen toward his car and then remembered Danny.  He had trailed up the sidewalk behind her and was watching her now uncertainly.

She knew that his parents must be frantic with worry, but she was too afraid to turn him over to them right now… not with Harrison probably hot on their tail.  All of a sudden, an idea occurred to her.

“This is going to sound crazy, but we need to get to my parents’ house, I think. All of us.”

Stephen did a double-take but she continued before he could interrupt.

“Danny, I know you miss your parents, but you need to come with us for a little bit longer, okay?  We can call your parents from a secure line.”