Daddy’s Wild Girl (Montana Daddies #16)

Chapter 49

49

B ebe had never been this happy in her life.

She held Corbin’s hand, swinging it back and forth as they headed to his truck which was parked out the back of The Wishing Well.

Staring up at the sky, she marvelled at the stars. It was so different from the city. Here . . . she felt like she could breathe.

Corbin unlocked his truck and lifted her in. He grabbed the belt and pulled it over before kissing the tip of her nose.

“Good day, baby?”

“The best, Daddy.”

As he started straightening, he stiffened. What was wrong?

He turned just as something came toward them.

No. Someone.

Corbin ducked down, but he was too late and something struck him hard on the head. He crumpled onto the ground.

She screamed, but then a hooded man appeared in front of her, covering her mouth.

“Scream and I kill him. Nod if you understand.”

The voice was deep and it was obviously a man. A large, tall man. But she couldn’t see his features, they were obscured by a mask and he was wearing all black.

Had he been waiting out here for them? Who was he?

He undid her seatbelt and tied her wrists together. Leaning down, he picked up Corbin, throwing him over his shoulder.

What was he doing? Where was he taking him?

What the hell was happening?

Should she have tried to scream? But she didn’t want him to hurt Corbin.

Maybe she should try to run? But he could still kill Corbin.

She couldn’t take the risk. And she didn’t want to be separated from him.

So she stayed where she was. But the second she saw her chance, she was taking it.

Bebe had finally found her Happy-Ever-After and no one was going to ruin that for her.

Corbin had a killer of a headache.

And why was the bed moving so much? Where were his blankets?

And why were his legs and arms secured . . . suddenly, he realized that something was terribly wrong.

He forced his body to stay relaxed, his eyes to stay closed as he used his other senses.

Where was he?

What was going on?

That noise . . . the hard flooring beneath him . . . the movement . . . he was in the back of a truck.

His truck?

Where had he been last? He tried to think. And suddenly, it rushed back at him.

The Wishing Well. Mary-Anne. Bebe!

Fuck!

He’d put Bebe into his truck and buckled her in . . . then he’d sensed someone coming toward him.

He might have been able to get out of the way, but he’d worried that the person would go after Bebe instead.

Fuck.

His instincts were normally better than that. He’d been distracted by his girl.

But his head was killing him, so he could guess what had happened.

Bebe. Where was Bebe? Frantically, he opened his eyes, staring around. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, but then he saw someone lying in front of him.

“Corbin?” she whispered. “Are you awake?”

“I’m awake, baby. Are you all right?” He ran his gaze over her.

Her hands were bound in front of her.

Shit. Fuck.

What was going on? Who knocked him out and tied them both up?

Roger? Had Roger done this?

He was going to fucking kill him!

“I’m o-okay. He hit you on the h-head. You’ve been unconscious. I wasn’t s-sure you’d wake up again.”

Oh hell.

His poor girl.

Corbin tried to move his arms, but the asshole had bound them behind his back. Leaning forward, he brushed his face against hers, needing to touch her, to reassure her.

“It’s all right, baby,” he murmured. “I’m going to get you out of here.”

“Wh-what are we going to do?” She sobbed and he moved himself closer.

“Hey, hey, listen to me. Everything will be okay. I just need you to keep calm and do everything I say, understand? When we don’t turn back up at the Ranch in a few hours, Kent will start looking. And he’ll find us gone. This truck has a tracker on it. They’ll come for us and in the meantime, I’m going to keep you safe. Tell me you know that I’m going to keep you safe, Bebe.”

“H-he t-threatened to k-kill you if I y-yelled out. So I didn’t. But w-what if that was our ch-chance?”

“Baby, whatever decision you made in the heat of the moment was the right one. Don’t second guess yourself.”

She nodded and buried her face into his chest. “Sorry. Sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.” He looked around for any sort of weapon. He had some tools back here but they were in a toolbox, and it would be hard to get to them with his arms behind him.

The truck slowed and turned. Where the hell was this asshole taking them? And who was he?

The road became bumpier. Likely not a road at all but a track leading into the woods.

Fuck.

This wasn’t good. He had to force himself not to tense. The last thing he wanted was to scare his girl.

“Baby, do you know who it is?”

She shook her head. “A man, I think. He’s got wide shoulders and is big and strong. I don’t know. He had a mask on. I don’t know.”

“That’s all right. Bebe, there’s a toolbox in here. I can’t get to it, but you might be able to since he tied your arms in front of you. Do you think you can be brave and find it? Maybe search through for some sort of tool I can use?”

How he was going to swing it, he had no idea . . .

He also wasn’t sure why the guy had tied Bebe’s hands in front of her. Obviously he didn’t see her as a threat.

The truck slowed even further as the terrain grew rougher, and something scraped along the carriage.

Was this even a track?

Bebe moved away and he hated not having her near him, but he trusted her to do what needed to be done.

“I’ve found it. I’m opening it.”

The truck came to a stop. Fuck!

“Bebe, come back here. Quick.”

She scooted toward him, just as the back of the truck opened and the guy grabbed him, hauling him out. He nearly fell onto his ass as the world around him spun.

Fuck.

He’d been hit harder than he’d thought which was going to make everything more complicated. He glanced around but didn’t recognize the area. Although the fact that it was dark didn’t help.

Just as he’d thought, though, they hadn’t been traveling on a road for the last fifteen minutes at least.

The tracker in his truck should still work.

He hoped.

Regardless, Corbin needed to do something about this guy before he could harm Bebe.

He reached in and grabbed her, dragging her out.

“Hey! Easy, asshole!” Corbin snarled as the bastard dropped Bebe on the ground.

She let out a small moan of pain and he agitatedly moved closer to her, needing to protect her.

“Your bitch is fine,” the guy grunted out.

Strangely, he didn’t sound like anyone that Corbin had heard before.

“Who are you? What do you want?” he asked as Bebe used his arm to stand.

She was shivering as she pressed closer to him. The temperature had plummeted and he knew it was close to snowing. There was a stillness to the forest, as though all the animals had disappeared.

“Start moving,” the guy ordered as he turned on a headlamp. Then he drew a gun out from the back of his pants.

Shit. Fuck.

“Who are you?” Corbin demanded right as the first flurries of snow dropped.

He heard his girl gasp. Fuck. He hated that this bastard was ruining this for her.

Her first snow in Montana should be magical. She should be sitting on their porch at home, wrapped up in a blanket and sipping hot cocoa.

Not at the mercy of some asshole with a gun.

“Who am I? I’m your worst nightmare.”

“Dude’s been watching too many bad action movies,” Bebe grumbled.

Corbin quickly stepped in front of Bebe as the guy swung out with the back of his hand. He’d been aiming for Bebe’s face, so he got Corbin in his chest.

Asshole was huge and could have done some real damage to his girl’s face. Corbin barely felt it, though. Probably because he was too filled with a mind-numbing rage.

Bebe let out a small cry, pressing herself to his back. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“Don’t say that,” the guy growled. “That was a line in one of my girl’s movies. None of them were bad.”

Corbin stilled. Why did that ring a bell? Wait, his girlfriend was in a movie?

“Who is your girlfriend?” he asked.

Fuck.

Had he been wrong all along about the attacker in the parking lot before he’d left for San Francisco? The guy who’d attacked him with a knife? Had that been this guy?

He ripped off his mask. Corbin knew that wasn’t a good sign. It meant that he planned to kill them. But he couldn’t think about that right now. He was trying to piece things together. Why did this guy seem familiar? Had he met him before?

“Name’s Sebastian,” the guy said. “I’m Linny’s man.”

“Linny? As in Lindsay Pierson?” Corbin asked.

The guy took a step closer, leaning over him menacingly and blinding him with the light of the headlamp.

“Yeah, asshole. The girl that you put behind bars.”

“She was in rehab, not jail. And that was because she tried to assault me.”

“She would never!” he roared. “She loves me. I’ve always watched over her. I watch at night to make sure no one hurts her. Me!”

“Are you the guy got into her room?” he asked. Was this guy her stalker? He had to be. “Why would you come after me now? That all happened over six months ago!”

“Because I didn’t know which one of you got her put away. You sent her away from me!” he yelled. “So I waited until she got out and then I asked her.”

“You asked her?” Corbin asked. “Is she all right?”

“Of course she is. I’m taking care of her.”

Had Lindsay gone missing? There hadn’t been any news about that, had there? But she’d been out of the limelight a long time though. And from what he remembered, she didn’t really have family or friends.

“That’s why I couldn’t always be around. I had to go back and look after her. But now that I’m going to take care of you, I’ll be able to be with her full-time. You were hard to get to. There was no getting onto that ranch. I nearly had you once in the parking lot of that bar, but you got away. And then I managed to follow you to San Francisco.”

“How?” Corbin asked.

“I put a tracker in your truck. You drove it to the airport. I followed you and bumped into you at the airport, putting another tracker in your bag when I picked it up for you.”

“Fuck, that’s why you seem familiar. You were the asshole that knocked into me.”

“Yeah. Now start moving. We’re going to go for a walk.”

Corbin maneuvered himself so that Bebe was in front of him. He didn’t want her near this guy. But that meant she kept tripping over things, as she couldn’t really see. The bastard behind him had the light. He should go first.

Right. Only, he’s also got the gun.

“It’s going to be all right, baby,” he whispered as she tripped again, whimpering.

“Stop speaking and walk faster. Fucking hate the snow. Been living in some shitty cabin up here while I waited on you to leave the Ranch, and I’m gonna burn that fucker before I leave.”

So, there was a cabin around here?

She tripped again, and this time, she didn’t get up.

“Get up, bitch!” Sebastian roared as Bebe lay there, panting.

Shit. They’d been walking a while now. Was she getting tired? Cold? She shouldn’t stop or she’d get hypothermia. The snow was really coming down now and it was freezing. Visibility was shit.

“We need to go to your cabin! She’s going to freeze!” Corbin said urgently.

“Who said I’m taking you to my cabin? Nope. I’m going to the cabin as soon as I take care of the two of you. But you know, I suppose here is as good as anywhere.” He moved around Corbin, raising his gun.

“Noo!” Corbin yelled, trying to dive toward him.

But that’s when Bebe moved. She rose like an avenging angel. There was something in her hand.

A wrench? Where the hell had she hidden that?

She slammed it down on Sebastian’s arm.

“Bebe, no!” She was no match for him. And her hands were tied. But Sebastian dropped the gun.

Shit. Fuck.

Corbin threw himself at Sebastian, taking him to the ground just as the other man flung Bebe away. She landed with a scream of pain.

Fuck! Corbin took a blow to the gut as Sebastian tried to shove him off. He managed to knee Sebastian in the balls, making him grunt in pain. But then he shoved Corbin off too.

Shit! Where was Bebe? He had to do his best to save her. But just as he got to his knees, Corbin saw her. She was standing in front of Sebastian, shaking. He was no longer wearing the headlamp, it was over to their right, shining off into the distance. But there was enough light for Corbin to see the fear in her face. And the gun in her hands.

“Bebe, baby, it’s okay. It’s?—”

Suddenly, Sebastian lunged at her and the gun fired.

“Bluebelle!” Corbin screamed. He’d never known fear like this. It struck him like lightning, stealing his breath, his thoughts, and his ability to move.

He ran toward them as Sebastian crumbled to the ground.

Bebe is still standing. She’s still standing.

He came to a stop right before her, cursing the tape around his hands.

“Bebe, are you all right? Baby! Are you hurt?”

“I . . . I . . . I . . .” A sob escaped her and she collapsed on the ground.

No, no, no. They couldn’t stop moving otherwise, she was going to freeze to death.

“Bebe, baby. I need you to grab the gun. Make sure the safety is on and put it in my pocket, okay?”

“I . . . I . . .”

“Bluebelle,” he said sharply. “Do as your Daddy says. Right now.” He detested having to get so firm with her when she had been through an ordeal. But they had to get out of here before things really became dire.

With a sob, she moved, grabbing the gun and switching on the safety. She couldn’t manage to get it into his pocket, though.

“It’s all right, baby. Put it in my hands. Good girl. You’re doing so well. Are you cold?”

“What? I g-guess.”

Fuck. He didn’t know whether she was confused and breathing so shallowly because she was headed toward hypothermia or in shock.

Whatever it was, he had to get them out of there.

“Bebe, is there anything that will help take the tape off my wrists?”

She stared at him for a long moment, then looked around. She was fumbling, moving slowly, and he hated it. Then he noticed that she was actually limping.

Fuck.

“Baby, what did you do to your foot?”

“It hurts.”

Fuck.

She was really killing him.

He should have protected her! And he was still failing her. It was killing him.

Then he turned to Sebastian. Shit.

“He might have a knife on him, Bebe.”

A sob escaped her. “I don’t want to.”

“It’s all right, baby. You don’t have to. We’ll start walking. Come on.”

She shook her head and kneeled beside Sebastian to pat him down. Finally, she drew something from his pocket.

A pocketknife!

Opening it, she limped her way behind him to cut through the tape. She managed to nick him a few times, but he didn’t say anything.

As soon as his wrists were free, he put the gun in the back of his jeans and turned to grab the knife. Then he cut off her tape and drew her against him, hugging her tight.

“I . . . I think I k-killed him.”

“Don’t think about it now, baby,” he told her.

Because they had other, more pressing matters.

Like how to get the fuck out of here.

“Right, we need to get out of here.” He started stripping off his jacket. First, he checked his pockets, but his phone wasn’t in there. Damn it. The asshole must have searched him and gotten rid of it.

“Bebe, do you have your phone?” he asked.

“No, he took my bag. I don’t know what he did with it. And that was my brand new phone.”

“That doesn’t matter, baby.” He’d probably thrown it away.

“What are you d-doing?” she asked.

She was still shivering. That was good. She wasn’t hypothermic yet.

“Giving you my jacket.”

“N-no, you need it.” She pushed it off her and held it to him.

“Bebe,” he growled.

“Corbin, if you freeze to death, I’ll be out here on my own.”

He shook his head and put it on her again. “I won’t let that happen. Take my jacket. Do as you’re told.”

“So bossy.”

“You’re damn right. You are far too precious for me to lose. And besides, I have another idea.”

He turned back to Sebastian, kneeling down to feel his pulse. Or lack thereof.

“Is he . . . is he dead? Did I kill him?” she asked.

Shit. Fuck.

His poor girl. She was going to be traumatized by this.

“He is, darling girl. But if you hadn’t killed him, I would have.”

Gladly.

“Good,” she said fiercely. “I’m glad he’s dead.”

He stared up at her in shock, then smiled. Working quickly, he drew off the dead man’s jacket. Sure, it had some blood on it, but not freezing to death was more important.

He searched all through his pockets and found a phone. Bingo. But it was password-protected. He held the phone up to Sebastian’s face. Too dark.

Getting up, he grabbed the headlamp and used it to add more light. He got into his phone. Shit. No reception.

They were just going to have to walk out of here. Or get to that cabin he was talking about. But where would it be?

Fuck. He’d have to try and get them back to the truck. But it was a long hike with Bebe’s foot in such bad shape. He could tell she was trying to hide how much it hurt.

There was nothing else of use on Sebastian, so he stood and moved to Bebe. “How bad is your foot, darling? Can you walk?”

“I’ll be fine,” she said.

Fuck.

“All right. We’ll go slow, but we have to move. The temperature will continue to plummet and the snow is getting thicker.”

“Will we b-be okay?”

“Of course we will, baby.”

He’d make sure of that.

Sharp pains slashed her ankle and up her leg. She was trying to move normally to keep up with Corbin. However, the pain was overwhelming.

But they couldn’t stop. It was freezing cold, and if they stopped, they were dead.

Bebe wasn’t sure how much more she had in her, though. She tripped and slid over, her ankle giving way. A cry of agony escaped her before she could pull it back.

Corbin turned, rushing to her. “Bebe!”

“I’m all right.”

She wasn’t though. Every time she tried to move her ankle, she was in agony.

“I . . . I don’t think I c-can keep going.”

“Shit. It’s all right. I’m going to carry you.”

“What? No! You can’t do that!” She was holding him back. He’d be fine without her. “Go without me. Leave me.”

“The next chance I get, sore ankle or not, I am spanking your ass for even suggesting that,” he told her fiercely.

She closed her eyes for a moment. She should have known he wouldn’t do that.

“I don’t want you to die out here!”

“That’s another one. No one is dying.”

He stared around them. “There’s a hill over there. I’m going to climb it and see if I can see anything.”

How would he see anything? Visibility was terrible. The headlamp helped but it could only provide so much light. Unless . . . was he unsure if they were going the right way?

Oh God!

“Everything will be okay, darling girl. Let’s just get your ankle up high.” He carried her over to where there was a downed tree and set her foot up. “Stay here, darling. I’ll be right back.”

“Pretty sure I won’t be moving,” she told him.

He disappeared, leaving her alone in the dark. Oh God. What if he didn’t come back? What if she hadn’t killed Sebastian? What if he came back to life and found her?

All right, now you’re talking about zombies being real or some shit.

She tried to shift around to a more comfortable position, but her movements were sluggish and she was finding it hard to concentrate.

Suddenly, someone appeared front of her and she screamed.

“Hey, it’s me. You’re all right, baby.”

“S-sorry.”

“You didn’t fall asleep, did you?” Corbin asked in concern as he picked her up and stood her on her good foot.

“I . . . I don’t know.”

“Right. Don’t do that.” He bent down in front of her. “Lean on my back.”

“Corbin . . . I don’t think . . .” She didn’t think what? Why was it so hard to concentrate?

“Bebe, do it,” he said sternly. “Right. Now.”

So she slid her arms around his neck and he heaved her up onto his back.

“Do you k-know where the truck is?”

“Not exactly. And I’ve found something else.”

She could scarcely believe her eyes when they approached a ramshackle cabin.

“Am I dreaming?”

“Nope. This must have been where he was staying, I think. Let’s hope he left some supplies.” He carried her to the front door and set her down as he opened it. Then he carried her in.

It felt so warm in here compared to outside, even though she doubted that was actually the case.

“Let’s get you sitting down.”

“I . . . you . . . what?” she asked.

“Shit. We need to get you warm.”

She felt like things were happening at warp speed. One moment, he was in front of her. Next blink, he was lighting the fire. Next blink, he was stripping her off.

“C-Corbin. I f-feel funny.”

“I know, baby. We need to get you out of those clothes and get you warm.”

He laid her down in front of the fire. Huh, it was burning quite well. She seemed to be lying on a rug on the floor.

“I’m tired. I just want to sleep,” she moaned.

“Well, you can’t sleep yet, baby. Not until I get you all warmed up.”

“Is that why you’re stripping me?”

“Yep. You’re in wet clothing and we need to get it off.”

After he’d stripped her down to her underwear, he wrapped another blanket over her. Then he moved the blanket back away from her feet.

“Shit. It’s swollen and purple. Not good.” He got a cushion off the rickety old sofa and put it under her foot.

“I need to get some wood from outside, baby. Then I’m going to come in and lie with you. All right? Try not to go to sleep.”

“Gonna be hard.”

Blink. He was gone. Blink again. He was back and calling her name, shaking her.

“Noo, I’m sleeping,” she grumbled.

“And I need you to stay awake.”

Agonizing pain engulfed her toes and fingers. “Ahh!”

“What is it!”

“It feels like glass in my fingers and toes!” she cried.

“That’s a good sign. Lay still,” he ordered as she thrashed around.

“I can’t! I can’t! It hurts.”

“Shh, baby. I’m going to rub them.” He drew back the blankets and rubbed her good foot.

“Nooo!” she cried. “Stop!” She tried to pull her foot away.

“Bebe, I need to do this. Behave for Daddy.”

“I don’t wanna.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Don’t think that just because you’re hypothermic that I won’t spank that butt.”

Her lip trembled. “So mean.”

“I’m sorry, Bebe. But I’m trying to keep you safe.”

And she wasn’t making that easy.

“Sorry, Daddy. Really.”

“I know.” Leaning over, he kissed her. It was still painful as hell, but his kiss made it better.

“Daddy has magic kisses,” she said.

“Good. I’m glad I’m doing something right. I found a burner with some gas in it. He must have been using it to cook. There’s a bit of food and some canned soup. I’m going to heat it up for you.”

She watched, feeling a bit useless but too miserable to move, as he warmed her up some soup. As it was heating, he stripped off some layers and wrapped another blanket around himself.

Lord, she must be feeling like crap if the sight of him stripping off didn’t stir her.

“Good girl, darling. I’m going to feed you some soup.”

He sat behind her and lifted her up so she was leaning back against his chest, his legs on either side of hers. Then he picked up the soup and brought it to his lips first to check the temperature before blowing on it gently.

“Open up, baby.”

“I’m not hungry. Tired.”

“Well, you need to eat. Come on. Daddy will make choo-choo noises. Chugga-chugga-choo-choo!”

She had to smile before opening her mouth to take the soup. Actually, it was surprisingly good. Chicken noodle.

She could only handle some of it, though. She slumped back against his chest.

“You have the rest, Daddy. Bebe tired.”

“All right, baby. You go to sleep. Daddy will take care of you.”

Corbin piled all the blankets he could over them as he hugged Bebe close, sharing his body heat.

He took her pulse, relieved to find that it was steady and strong. Okay. And her skin temperature felt much better. He was still worried about her foot and the fact that it was snowing.

But at least she no longer felt hypothermic.

Fuck. He couldn’t believe all of this. What the hell had happened?

Lindsay’s stalker had kidnapped them and tried to kill them. And it sounded like he had Lindsay trapped somewhere. As soon as they were safe, Corbin would have to send someone to find her.

But he wouldn’t be leaving his girl for a long, long while.

If ever.

He could have lost her tonight and that could never happen again.