Take Me To The Lake: A Billionaire, Mountain Man Romance (Mountain Men of Whiskey River Book 3)

Trying to wake up from this horrible nightmare I had last night, but it’s hard because I just feel so groggy. When I try to roll over and reach for Cash, I can’t move. I’m attempting to open my eyes, but it’s an uphill battle. Even though I’m confused and dizzy, I’m finally able to open my eyes. But when I get a glimpse of what’s around me, I realize that the nightmare I thought I was having wasn’t just a dream, but it’s happening in real life.

My mother and her boyfriend kidnapped me and if the grogginess is any indication, they drugged me, too. Whatever they gave me starts to wear off, but I’m still trying to piece together what happened. Then it begins to come back to me. Me shooting the gun, but it didn’t do anything. Though I’m praying, Cash heard it. Obviously not in time to stop them from taking me, but it should have at least drawn some attention.

When I finally open my eyes, I’m shocked that the first person I see is not my mom or her boyfriend, it’s Jana. She’s looking right at me with wide eyes as I wake up. She’s taped to a chair. My guess in much the same way I am judging by how my arms hurt being trapped behind me. She has a gag in her mouth, but thankfully I don’t, at least not yet.

‘Shit,’ I whisper as I try to move any muscle that I can.

Jana gives me a no crap look. Though she looks a whole lot worse than I do as she has a cut at her temple, blood in her hair, and has the same clothes on she wore the night she came over to my house. If that’s when they took her, it was three nights ago.

I’m attempting to sit up as much as I can, then try to stifle the sound I make when I move my aching shoulders.

‘Oh, good, you’re awake,’ Mom says.

Then her boyfriend walks over and shoves a gag in my mouth.

‘No, stop!’ I start to yell, but it gets all muffled and makes it easier for him to put the gag in.

Whatever this cloth is, it’s not clean, and it tastes nasty. Though I want to throw up, I’m afraid that if I do, I’m just going to choke and that will be how I die.

But I know Cash will come for me, for us. We need to stay in one spot long enough for him to find us. I have no idea how long I’ve been out, but from what I can see, it looks dark outside, so it’s been several hours at least.

‘Told you to just do this the easy way and none of this would have had to happen,’ Mom says. Her rationalization that it’s my fault she’s disappointed in me is ridiculous.

‘So, now you’re both probably wondering about the plan, aren’t you?’ Mom’s boyfriend asks as I try to remember his name.

They had started dating not too long before I left, and I stopped paying attention to the names of the boyfriends a long time ago. There were just too many of them to keep track, but I think his name started with a ‘D’ which is perfect because I can refer to him in my head as the Dick. I don’t know. Maybe his name was Devin.

‘Had you just handed over the money when your mother asked the first time, we would have taken it and been on our merry little way. Right now, we would have been in Mexico and you never would have heard from us again. But since you refused and then moved so rudely without a forwarding address, we had to use your friend here to figure out where you were. As you might have guessed, I have had eyes on you for a long time.’

So the footprints at the edge of the woods that Cash had been tracking was him?

‘Of course, I was a little sloppy, and it made it hard to find a way to get you alone. But that’s where your friend here came in. We were going to use her as bait to get you out here by yourself. Or at least until the perfect opportunity opened up, which happened today. When we saw that you were alone, we didn’t want to miss our opportunity.’ He smiles that creepy smile of his which gives me the creeps.

‘Now that we have you, we will ransom you off your mega rich boyfriend and for a bonus price, he can have your friend here, too,’ Mom says with a creepy smile.

Even though my mom was a bad mother, I had at least thought she had some basic motherly instincts. I guess I was wrong.

‘But I think we’ll wait till tomorrow to make the call. Really let him sweat it out. I bet we get more money for her that way,’ the Dick chuckles.

Then he walks over and pulls my gag out.

‘It’s hilarious you two think you’re going to make it out of this alive,’ I say, giving them an evil smile of my own.

A sharp sting fills the side of my face before I register the fact that he had struck me across the cheek.

I glare at my mother, who even in her dark times, I still had some love for her. But I always told myself that she was fighting her disease, and it didn’t mean she didn’t love me. But now I know there’s no love here. What an idiot I was.

As I stare at her, all I feel is pure hatred. I’ve never hated anyone, but right now I hate this woman who gave me life. What kind of person does this to another person, much less someone who’s supposed to be your protector? Isn’t she supposed to take care of me, put me before all else?

‘You are the biggest piece of shit I’ve ever met and the most horrible mother. You can’t die from a drug overdose soon enough.’ I spit out as I glare at her.

There’s not a shred of emotion on her face. Then her boyfriend slaps me across the other side of my face.

Maybe it’s the drug still in my system, but I barely feel it. But a little pain is worth it and I’m glad I got that off my chest..

‘I raised you and you owe me at least this,’ my mother says.

‘I owe you for what? Starving me?’ This time it’s my mother who slaps me, but nowhere near as hard as her boyfriend. It feels kind of like someone slapping a bug off your face.

At that moment, the front door bursts open. Not gently either. Someone slams into it.

‘Lay another hand on her and I will kill you both.’

I would know that voice anywhere. It’s my Cash, my protector, my love. A moment later Hank is standing in front of me, putting himself between me and my mother and her dick boyfriend, while growling fiercely at them.

Pure relief hits me, but I also know he’s not here without a plan. You wouldn’t just burst in here outnumbered without using some strategy. Although Hank seems to be holding his own pretty well.

Before anyone else can speak, the back door bursts open and three large men step through. Axel is first, and he detains my mom and has her on the floor in an instant with his knee in her back. I have to say, a very satisfying move to see.

Bennett tackles The Dick and has him on the floor in much the same position. Then in steps a man that I’ve never seen before. He has a scar down the side of his face, but if Cash trusts him, then I do, too.

Bennett brings in cable ties that they use to restrain my mom and her boyfriend. With their arms behind their back and then tied to the cable around their ankles, they can’t even walk at this point.

But what is taking all my attention is the man whose name I don’t know. His eyes are locked on Jana, and she hasn’t taken her eyes off of him. But an instant later, Cash is in front of me, and he’s untying my arms. My shoulders ache as I’m finally able to move them.

The other man’s doing the same to Jana. Despite his size, he’s being extremely gentle with her, so I know she’s in good hands. The moment I’m free, I collapse. When Cash catches me, I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist.

‘Are you all right, my love?’ Cash asks me as he gently runs his hands over every inch of me.

But his hand stops on my face, where the boyfriend slapped me. Only there’s blood on his hand.

‘I barely felt anything,’ I tell him.

‘The cops are on the way. I’ll check their bag and see if we can figure out what they gave her,’ Axel says.

‘Too bad you couldn’t have aimed the bullet a few inches higher and shot this guy’s dick off. You would have been doing the world a service,’ Bennett snorts.

‘I didn’t shoot him,’ I say.

‘Yes, you did, you stupid bitch. On your porch,’ The Dick whines.

‘I don’t think I hit anything with that shot. They had my hands pinned, and it was more trying to get your attention.’ I say to Cash as I rest my head on his shoulder.

‘Well, it worked. I came running, but they had already taken you by the time I got there.’

‘Come on, Hope, let me go. You know I was never going to hurt you. I just need some money to get out of here, get back on my feet and get clean.’ My mom pleads.

‘You’ve always chosen guys over me. Now it’s time for me to follow your example.’

When Mom tries to talk again, Axel takes the gag that had been shoved into my mouth and stuffs it in hers to stop her.

Then I look over and watch the other man with Jana. He helps her to try to stand up, but her legs give out right away and she moans in pain. Instantly, he picks her up and looks over at Cash.

‘Let’s take them to the road and wait for the cops there. That way, they don’t have to be around these two.’ The man says and Cash nods.

‘We got them. They’re not going anywhere,’ Bennett says.

Then Cash, with me in his arms, follows the other man out as we go up the driveway.

The moon gives enough light that we can see where we’re going. At least there’s enough light along the driveway where the trees aren’t as thick.

‘Who is that?’ I ask Cash.

‘That’s Cole. He’s the neighbor I told you about.’

Then I remember him telling me and that makes sense. But I’m glad he was willing to come out and help.

We’re quiet as we make our way up to the road. Once there, Cash puts me on one of the four wheelers but keeps his hands on me still like he’s worried I’ll disappear if he lets me go.

Cole sets Jana down on the other four wheeler.

‘Are you okay?’ I ask Jana.

‘Yeah, I…’ she stops and coughs.

Cole pulls a bottle of water from his backpack and hands it to her and she drinks thirstily.

‘Slow down, small steps or you’re just going to throw it back up,’ Cole says.

He also pulls what looks like a granola bar from the backpack. ‘This isn’t going to taste great, but it’s got protein and some other things that are going to help you start to feel a lot better.’ When he hands it to her, she takes a small bite.

‘I was taken the night that I went and saw you guys. They grabbed me before I walked into my apartment.’ Jana says, taking another bite.

‘He kept asking me all sorts of questions about you. They wanted me to call and try to get you to meet me somewhere so they could get you away from Cash. I kept refusing. When I wouldn’t tell them, there would be some form punishment thinking the pain would make me change my mind and do as they asked. But you’re my friend and I wouldn’t turn on you like that, not for anything,’ she says.

It’s then I finally let go of Cash and on wobbly legs, I get down, walk over to her and pull her into a hug. She hugs me tightly and then she starts crying.

‘I wouldn’t have blamed you. Not one bit if you had done what they had asked. I’d rather you stay alive. I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost you,’ I tell her.

My words make her cry harder and we simply hug each other. I will stand here as long as it takes for her to understand how much she means to me.

‘I had no one to come for me, and I was so scared,” Jana says. “When I saw you, I was relieved because I knew Cash would come for you and I’d finally be saved.’ She cries even harder into my shoulder.

And I hug her even tighter.

‘You have me. Cash and I were going to check on you after he got done with his traps today. We would have realized something was wrong. No matter what, I would have come for you,’ I tell her.

I say it with so much conviction, because I know I would have, and Cash would have been right there by my side. When she finally lets go, I’m able to step back. Cash instantly has me sitting back on the four wheeler and Cole steps back up to Jana.

‘This is my neighbor, Cole. This is Hope’s best friend, Jana.’ Cash introduces them.

Cash hands me one of the granola bars that Jana is eating and I nibble on it. While it doesn’t taste great, but at this point I’d probably eat grass if he told me to.

I watch as Cole looks over Jana’s wounds. He starts with her ankle that is swollen pretty badly. She has a few cuts on her arms, and what looks like a burn mark as well, all on top of the wounds I saw on her face earlier.

‘Can I lie down and sleep until the cops get here?’ Jana asks.

‘No, you have a pretty decent head wound and I need you to stay awake,” Cole says. You’re going to need stitches and it has to be cleaned. How did you get this cut?’ Cole taps on her head just below where it’s bleeding.

‘Earlier today, right before they left. They gave me another dose of whatever they were using to knock me out, and when I woke up, Hope was there this time, and they were back.’

Right then, the cops show up. I don’t know how long they take, but they ask both of us a bunch of questions and take pictures of all of our wounds before going to the cabin.

‘You can bring her back to my place and we will take care of her get and her to a hospital.’ Cash says to Cole.

‘No, I can’t go to the hospital. I don’t have medical insurance. I can’t afford to go,’ Jana says panicked.

Cole gently cups her cheek. ‘I have medic training. You can come stay with me. I can stitch you up and get you all taken care of,’ Cole says soothingly.

Jana looks over at Cash and me. She doesn’t know this guy, so she’s wondering if she can trust him and wanting to know what to do.

‘He’s a good guy, and I trust him. We’ll be by to check on you. He lives not too far from me. Are you okay with that?’ Cash asks her.

Jana looks back at Cole and then nods. Cole gets ready and situates Jana on the four wheeler in front of him. Then he wraps an arm around her waist, says his goodbyes and heads off.

Cash puts me in pretty much the same position as we go home.