Lorie O - Strong, Sleek and Sinful

“Kylie?” Diane’s soft-spoken, serious tone didn’t sound good.

Kylie’s heart moved to her throat and beat furiously as anxiety created a sheen of perspiration over her body. “Yes?” she asked.

“She went to meet him.”

“Crap,” Kylie hissed, meeting Perry’s dark gaze when he stared at her after parking his car. “Please tell me they discuss where and what time.”

“The bowling alley,” Diane said, and then paused, her breathing coming hard through the phone. Dorine obviously felt the need to keep her mother apprised of the conversation, as she yelled in the background. “And ten minutes ago,” Diane said, her excitement level dropping drastically. “At eleven. You need to get to the bowling alley now.”

“We’re here,” Kylie informed her.

“What’s going on?” Perry demanded.

“Dani agreed to meet her boyfriend, Petrie, here at the parking lot ten minutes ago,” Kylie told him without ceremony.

“Goddamn it,” Perry howled, slamming his fist into the dash hard enough to make the car shake. He jumped out, slamming the door, without another word.

“I’ll call you back,” Kylie told Diane.

“He won’t hurt you,” Diane whispered.

“I know that,” Kylie assured her, forcing her tone to remain calm. “We’re going to go find Dani. You go take care of your mother and sisters and be calm for them. Okay?”

“Okay, Kylie,” Diane said, and said goodbye reluctantly before hanging up.

Perry had stormed off in one direction and Kylie opted to take the other, wishing she was more properly equipped but patting her purse and feeling the small handgun inside. She stared into the darkness, her heart pounding so hard it was damn near deafening.

There weren’t many cars in the lot at this hour, most of the stores closed except the bowling alley and the donut shop on the other side of the lot in the adjacent strip mall. She could see into the shop through its glass windows, and a few people sat at tables inside while one employee stood behind the counter. The best she could tell, everyone inside eating pastries were men. She didn’t see any women or teenage girls. Nonetheless, she sprinted across the lot to the wide sidewalk and then strolled down it, past the donut shop, and confirmed Dani wasn’t inside.

Petrie hadn’t picked her up and taken her for a bite to eat so she could unload the woes of her home life on him. But then the sickening feeling inside Kylie’s gut told her Petrie wasn’t who Dani believed him to be.

“Please let me be wrong,” Kylie muttered under her breath, combing her hair away from her face with her fingers while staring across the parking lot.

She didn’t see Perry. Her cell phone rang, though, and she jumped, then damn near attacked it as she dragged it out of her purse and stared at the unknown number.

“Hello,” she said, answering on the fourth ring and praying whoever it was wouldn’t hang up, and would be someone she wanted to talk to right now.

“Kylie?” a small voice said, sounding broken and terrified.

For a moment Kylie couldn’t breathe. “Dani?” she asked, praying she was right.

“Yes.”

“God, tell me you’re all right.”

“I’m not all right.”

Kylie was hightailing it back to Perry’s Jeep before thinking about it. Perry must have spotted her, because he appeared out of the shadows at the far end of the bowling alley, and she gestured to him frantically as she raced around the truck to the passenger side.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart? Where are you?” She forced herself to remain calm, take deep, soothing breaths. If the son of a bitch had Dani and was using her to lure Kylie in, she was more than game to take the motherfucker on.

“I’m at a pay phone. I need you. Please come get me and don’t tell anyone. Please? Promise? I’ve done a very, very bad thing and my uncle will kill me for sure.”

Kylie slid into the passenger side at the same time Perry slid into the driver’s side. His wild look was frantic as he stared at her and then her phone.

“What?” he demanded.

“Oh my God, Uncle Perry is with you. Kylie, you’ve got to lose him. Please.” Dani was crying now and harder to understand.

“Where are you?” Kylie asked, remaining calm as she stared into Perry’s dark, fierce eyes.

“I don’t know,” Dani wailed into Kylie’s ear.

“Are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so. I’m scared. And I’m the biggest fucking idiot.”

Perry started the car, continuing to look over Kylie’s way. “It’s Dani, right. Where is she?” he asked with a baritone so cool sounding it gave Kylie chills.

“She’s scared and isn’t sure,” Kylie told him, hearing Dani hiccup in her ear as she continued crying hard. “But she sounds as if she’s okay.” Then putting the phone close to her ear, Kylie covered it with her hand, needing only to hear Dani. “You know your town, Dani. Look around you. Tell us where you are.”

“You’re bringing Uncle Perry. He’s going to kill me.”

“We were both out looking for you, so we’re together, and yes, he is bringing me to you. You have my word he won’t kill you.”

Perry grunted and she ignored him.

“You don’t know my uncle that well then.”

“Dani, where are you?”

The sobs continued before Dani finally answered. “On the south side of the bowling alley parking lot. I ran back here. But I think there might be a problem. God, Kylie, please come by yourself. I’ve done something really, really bad and I might be in some serious trouble.”

“The south side?” Kylie looked outside, getting her bearings. “I’ll be there in a second.”

“Okay. Where are you?”

“Don’t hang up, Dani. Stay right there and do not hang up the phone.” Kylie pulled the phone from her ear just far enough to focus on Perry. “She’s on the south side of the parking lot here at a pay phone,” Kylie whispered. “She keeps repeating she’s done something terrible and doesn’t want you to come get her, just me.”

“Damn the luck,” Perry growled, making a sharp turn back into the parking lot instead of turning onto the street.

“Kylie, I think he’s coming back. He’s going to see me. I’ve got to go,” Dani hissed into the phone.

“We’re right here. Don’t hang up,” Kylie said frantically, and then heard the hum in her ear. “Damn it,” she snapped, tossing her phone into her purse but then quickly reaching for her door handle. “She was on a pay phone on the south side of the bowling alley but just panicked and said she is afraid he’s coming back and that he’ll see her. She hung up on me.”

Perry didn’t answer but accelerated hard enough that the tires squealed. He raced across the parking lot but then hit the brakes so hard Kylie slammed her palms against the dash. Making a sharp turn, he drove only a bit slower through the dark side of the back of the building toward the other side.

“She kept saying she’s done something really terrible.”

“She agreed to meet that bastard she’s been talking to online,” Perry hissed, sounding mad as hell.

“I think so. But something happened and it caused her to call me from a pay phone crying her eyes out and begging me to come get her. Yet then she hangs up in a state of panic. I think she got away from him and he’s coming back for her.”

Kylie didn’t have to voice her thoughts. Obviously Perry was thinking the same thing. He turned the corner sharp enough that Kylie swore he did it on two wheels instead of four.

“There!” Kylie pointed at a small figure racing down the length of the building.

At the same time another car turned around in the back lot-a black Suburban.

“Drive!” Perry ordered, slowing the truck and undoing Kylie’s seat belt at the same time.