Text (Take It Off #4)(6)
Author: Cambria Hebert

My vision was blurred, and at first I thought tears were threatening again, but they weren’t. After several minutes of really taking stock of my body, I realized only one eye was blurry—because it was swelling shut. Likely from where he punched me.

Well, on the bright side, I didn’t have to worry about the way I looked because no one could see me.

A hysterical laugh bubbled out of my throat and I swallowed it, returning my attention to the hole. I studied the ground, the walls, everything. I wanted to know everything about this pit I now called home.

As I was shining around the flashlight, something glinted in the side. I stepped closer, bending down to look. It was a necklace. A silver locket with a red stone set in the center. Around the stone was a beautiful engraved scroll design. I picked it up, brushing away some of the dirt caked on it. The metal was cold and I knew instinctively that it had been here a while.

I also knew I hadn’t been the first woman to be thrown down here. I stared at the necklace a long time. I didn’t really see it, though. Every ache and pain in my body became more pronounced. My knees shook with the cold and my teeth began to chatter. I knew that I was likely going into shock and I told myself to calm down. The only way I was going to get out of this was with a clear head.

I tucked the necklace in my jacket pocket, not willing to put it back in the dirt, and I prayed whatever poor woman had lost it here was somewhere at peace.

I also made that woman a vow.

Justice.

Justice for what was done to her. Justice for her life, though way too short. I knew she was dead. He wouldn’t keep kidnapping if she wasn’t. I hoped her end was swift.

I tried 9-1-1 again. I paced around the circle, trying to find a signal, waiting for just one call to go through.

Finally, the dial tone came on and the phone rang in my ear. Excitement and hope flooded me, and I sagged in relief. Then the phone beeped. The ringing stopped. The dial tone went away. I looked at the screen.

Dropped call.

I sank down onto the ground. I was so utterly exhausted. My eyes felt like they had a ton of sand in them. I leaned against the dirt wall, tucking my legs beneath me, gathering myself close, trying to keep in my body heat.

I would just rest for a minute and then I would try the phone again. The second I had even a smidge of a signal, I was going to get someone on the line. I was going to tell them what happened and they would come for me. I would be safe.

Even as my eyes drooped, I tried the phone again. The call didn’t go through.

I was still attempting the call when my body succumbed to my exhaustion and I fell into a troubled and painful sleep.

6

Nathan

I needed a beer. There was no beer. And why was there no beer at this weekly poker game?

Because the dude bringing it was late.

I’m pretty sure that somewhere written in the guy code of life was a rule that stated, “He who brings the beer shows up on time.”

Clearly this guy needed a class on guy code.

“Where the hell is the beer?” Patton complained as he shuffled the deck for, like, the thirtieth time.

“I say we dock him a hundred in chips when he gets here,” Braden said.

“There’s liquor behind the bar,” Jinx, our host, said, getting up and going around the wooden bar against the wall. “Who wants a drink?”

A couple of the guys yelled out their orders and a few more made jokes about leaving and going to Twin Peaks (it was like Hooters) for their drinks.

I stayed quiet. I didn’t want liquor. I wanted beer. Beer was good for mellowing the mood, and for some reason I wasn’t feeling too mellow. I thought finally taking down that picture, finally resolving that it was time to move on, would give me a sense of peace.

But I didn’t feel any peace.

Instead, I felt kind of edgy, kind of keyed up. It was as if something was happening around me that I didn’t know about, yet I could feel the bad energy.

Yeah, like I said, I seriously needed that beer.

“Should we just start the game? Make him sit out the first hand?” Patton said, returning to the chair beside mine with what looked like Captain Morgan and Coke in his hand.

“You driving?” I drawled, giving the glass a pointed stare. Yeah, I sounded like an old man, but he was one of mine. I wasn’t about to let one of mine screw up his life over a couple drinks.

“I’m crashing on the couch,” he replied.

I nodded and let the subject drop. I wasn’t a nag and I took him at his word. Besides, he knew I would come down on him if he got behind the wheel of his car. Marines were never really “off duty.” Marines were on call twenty-four seven.

Acting like an ass wasn’t part of the job.

Patton started dealing the cards, and I glanced at the door once more. I wasn’t what I would consider friends with the guy bringing the beer. Lex was more or less and acquaintance that I saw every Friday at our poker games. I knew him well enough that if I saw him out in town or at a restaurant, I would stop and say hi, maybe make a few cracks about poker or something. But he wasn’t someone I would go watch a game with either.

I fished my cell out of my pocket and called up his name in my contacts. All of the regular poker players exchanged numbers a while back, in case of a location change or if something came up and someone couldn’t be there. It was common courtesy to let the others know because we usually held up the game until we were all around the table.

Which made his tardiness that much more peculiar.

“Anyone hear from Lex?” I asked. Maybe he wasn’t coming.

No one spoke up; everyone shrugged. “It’s not like him to be late,” one of the guys said as he adjusted his chips into neat stacks.

“Shit comes up,” Jinx said matter-of-factly, sitting down with a huge ass glass of some kind of liquor concoction.

Bottom’s up, I told him silently. The faster he got hammered, the faster I would start winning. I hadn’t lied when I told Patton I was feeling lucky.

I fully intended to walk away with full pockets tonight.

I hit the message button and shot off a quick text to Lex.

You’re late. U coming?

Hopefully he would reply with a yes or no and we could get on with the game. And someone could make a damn beer run.

How Jinx could have that bar and no beer was beyond me. ‘Course, last weekend we were all here watching football so I guess I kind of knew where the beer had gone.

I dumped the phone in my lap and picked up my cards as the game began. I grabbed up a handful of peanuts and tossed them into my mouth, crunching away as I studied my cards. Not a completely worthless hand. I could work with this.