Always Running (MATURE CONTENT)

CHAPTER 15

REGRET. Nessa had no regrets. She didn't regret meeting Lucas and she didn't regret making love to him either. The only thing that she would regret was letting her insecurities get the best of her. That, she would always regret because it had cost her the one good thing in her life.

As the bus got further and further away, Nessa's heart ached more and more for Lucas. Never would she lay in his arms again. Never would she have his soft, powerful lips on hers devouring her. Never would she have him making love to her and making her soar again and again with ecstasy. Never would she look into those deep blue eyes that held so much strength and power and vulnerability at the same time. Never would she feel safe again.

Nessa allowed herself to sleep for a few hours as the bus headed into her new destiny. She would worry about a new identity later. All she wanted to do now was sleep, or at least try to. Her eyes closed, and she felt herself drifting off.

Loud sirens filled the night air. Nessa shot up in her seat waking up with her heart in her mouth. She watched from the window as a state trooper cruised ahead of the bus and blocked it.

Oh crap! Oh crap! Nessa began to panic. Why was a state trooper stopping them? The bus driver had no choice. He pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. The doors were opened, and a large man stepped inside wearing a dark green uniform and a badge over his heart.

"Good evening, folks," his raspy voice called out. "Nothing to worry about, I'm just looking for a young woman who is wanted back home."

Nessa started to breathe out the breath she had been holding, the state trooper was looking for a runaway. She leaned back in her seat and froze when the trooper stopped at her seat and smiled.

"You need to come with me. Don't make a scene and stay quiet." He reached for her wrist and pulled her behind him.

Nessa didn't struggle. She really couldn't do much against a state trooper. The last thing she needed was to be wanted by the law as well. The trooper placed her in the back seat of the car and took her bag from her making her more frightened than she had ever been. Justin had finally caught up to her. She was as good as dead. She sat very stiff watching as the trooper drove on ahead of the bus instead of turning around.

"Where are we going?" Nessa's voice trembled with fear even though she was doing her best to keep it steady.

The trooper didn't answer her.

She had to think of something. She couldn't let this man take her to Justin. Not after being on the run for seven years, seven long and arduous years!

"I need to use the bathroom," she blurted out.

"There isn't a rest stop nearby," he said.

"I can use the bushes, I don't mind." She would take the opportunity and run. It didn't matter that she didn't have her bag. She had money in her pockets and her bra and her socks, so she would make it for a few weeks. She would figure it out like she always did. The goal now was to get herself out of the cruiser and away from the trooper.

"Just sit right there and hush, you'll be home in no time."

Nessa couldn't fight the tears any longer. She couldn't go back to Justin, she just couldn't. She would rather be dead than to go back to that monster. She tried to calm herself down. Her panic started to grip her heart. The last thing she needed was to have a full-blown panic attack, it would only serve her to get her deeper in the shit house.

"Please, please don't take me back to him. I have money, it isn't much, but I'll give it to you to stop and let me out. Just tell him that you didn't find me or that I got away. I've done it before. Just please don't take me back to him or better yet just kill me. You could claim it was self-defense."

The trooper looked at her through the rearview mirror as if she had lost her mind. Of course, he wouldn't risk his life by going against Justin. No one would. She had to find a way to escape. She couldn't go back to Justin. He would kill her and if he didn't, he would surely make her work the pleasure houses as punishment for running from him or he would sell her off to the highest bidder. No. She had to get away.

The trooper pulled up to a pretty little motel that had cottages all around the main building. There was nothing but woods all around. It would make it easier for Justin to get rid of her body, she thought. The back door opened, and Nessa held on for dear life to the other door not wanting to be taken to Justin.

"Please, please!" she begged as the trooper pulled her off the door and practically dragged her to cottage number seven.

Nessa laughed through her tears. It was poetic really. She had been running for seven years and now she would die in cottage number seven. That number was just bad luck, she thought as the trooper opened the door and sat her on the bed after turning the lights on.

"Wait here," he said, leaving and locking the door behind him.

Nessa frantically looked all around the room for a weapon. She went for the lamp on the nightstand, the damned thing was bolted down as well as the television set and everything else she could have used as a weapon. She walked into the bathroom and tried to pull the towel rod off, but she didn't have the strength she needed to pull it off the wall. Panic threatened to take a hold of her again. She had to fight it off. She needed to keep her wits about her if she was going to get herself out of the mess she found herself in. Her eyes fell on the toilet, and she frowned. The damn seat was plastic not wood, completely useless, and the tank had no top. Suddenly, she smiled a huge smile remembering her knife. She reached down into her boot and pulled it out. She unsheathed it and held it tight in her left hand. She walked back out into the room and positioned herself behind the door. She would wait for Justin to walk in and she would jump on him and she would slice his throat before he could do any more harm to her, but then she would be wanted for murder, no, she couldn't kill him she would use him as leverage against his men to get away, because he would no doubt have men with him, the coward that he was.

The door opened slowly bringing Nessa out of her deep thoughts, she waited for Justin to walk in. Her heart pounded so hard against her rib cage she was sure the damn thing would break her bones. The moment he walked inside she pushed the door closed and lunged herself at his back and wrapped her legs and arms around his body while she held the knife to his neck.

"Don't you fucking move!" she said quietly not wanting his men to hear her.

"Language, baby."