Under a Rogue Moon

Chapter 17

Chapter 17When they walked out of the snooker room at close to eleven, they were holding hands, fingers loosely entwined as they paced leisurely to the bar. Flanna felt exposed to the few people who were still in the pub, though it wasn’t just the fact that Jason’s destruction of her underwear meant walking around with nothing on beneath her skirt. For the first time in his presence, she felt stripped of the pretenses that had been between them, the truth lying out there for anyone to see. Just as Jason had predicted. One of these days, she was going to learn that a lot of what Jason said wasn’t just joking around.

Neil was still behind the bar, washing pint glasses before putting them away. When Flanna placed the room key onto the counter, he took it without a word, his gaze flickering over them with only a hint of inspection.

She blushed, but when she tried to extricate herself from Jason’s side, his grip on her tightened. He stopped her from making a fuss about it by speaking up first.

“I still can’t get over how quiet it is around here,” he said to Neil.

The publican shrugged. “We’re a small town, Mr. Randolph. If you’re looking for big city business, you’ve come to the wrong place.”

“I never said there was anything wrong it. It just takes a little getting used to.” He slid onto one of the high stools, tugging Flanna so that she was forced to stand between his legs. It was a completely territorial move, she knew, and one she would’ve fought even the day before. Now, though, the possessiveness of his hold warmed her from the inside out, and she allowed herself to relax against the strong curve of his arm.

“Flanna said all these attacks recently are something new, though.” Jason’s tone was casual, and it shocked her how he could make it sound just like any normal, day-to-day conversation. “It’ll be good when they catch the guys who did ‘em.”

He was good. He was really good. He’d even remembered to make it sound like there were multiple attackers when he knew full well they all had the same guy behind them.

“Whoever they are,” Neil said, “they’re not local. The police said Mrs. Lange’s attackers have an American in the bunch. Someone from your side of the world, it would look like, Mr. Randolph.”

“My side of the world’s a pretty big place. It’s just a shame someone’s showed up to mess up your back yard, too.”

“We’ve been trying to figure out where people like that could be hiding out,” Flanna said. She didn’t like the tension that was starting to rise between the two men. It was better to get what they needed and get out before Neil started casting aspersion on all Americans. She didn’t know how Jason would react to that. “If they’re not local, where are they staying? Wouldn’t somebody have seen a stranger hanging around?”

“I don’t know,” Neil admitted. “I went out with the police this morning to check on some of my properties. Places we thought could serve to hide someone who didn’t want to be found. But we didn’t see anything amiss. It’s possible that they’ve moved on.”

Flanna knew that wasn’t true, but nodded anyway, settling back into silence as Neil and Jason continued to talk. This was all she needed to know. Though Neil wouldn’t be as thorough as she could be in a sweep, he was smart enough to spot something wrong with his own holdings. Wherever Romm was hiding, it was likely closer to Kesbury than here.

The clock struck eleven behind the bar. “Time to go,” Flanna said, pulling away from Jason’s embrace.

“Could I have a word with your young man?” Neil asked as Jason stood to join her. “In private.”

They met each other’s eyes for the briefest of seconds before Jason slipped on his easiest smile. “I’ll be right out,” he said, leaning in to brush a kiss across her mouth.

Reluctantly, Flanna walked away, wary of the conversation that was about to take place behind her. It was most likely just more of Neil’s protective instincts coming out, but she didn’t like the idea that people didn’t trust Jason. She had to keep reminding herself that he was still a newcomer to them; such faith was going to take time. After all, she hadn’t trusted him from the beginning, either.

The night had chilled only slightly in the hours they’d been inside. Pulling her coat tighter around her body, Flanna paused in front of the pub, tilting her head back to stare up into the sky. The half-moon was nearly hidden by clouds, the threat of more inclement weather close on the horizon. If Jason had been by her side, he would have had some comment about the night’s beauty. She’d never known anyone to be as enamored with the moon and nighttime as he was.

The lot was still half-full as Flanna crossed it to her car, absently humming beneath her breath. At the nearby roundabout, the red glow from the streetlights scattered its illumination across the deserted road, brightening the world to amber before switching to green. Nothing else moved. Birley’s residents had long taken to their beds.

The gravel crunched beneath her boots as she closed the distance, her fingers slipping into her pocket for her keys. They were tangled with the torn fabric of her underwear, and she paused beside her door as she pulled both out of her coat, remembering the smirk on Jason’s face as he’d leaned over to pick them up from the snooker room floor.

“I should keep these,” he’d said, and then laughed when she snatched them away.

“A single snooker lesson hardly merits getting souvenirs,” she’d replied.

His hands had grabbed her hips then, dragging her back against him so that he could kiss the side of her neck. “As long as I get to go home with the teacher, that’s all I need.”

Her body warmed with the memory, her fingers slowing as they worked to get her keys free from the underwear. She was going to have to change her clothes when they got back to the house. Though Neil had nixed the idea of Romm being somewhere easily accessible around town, they still needed to be alert. A sweep was smart. And if they didn’t find anything, maybe Jason could be persuaded for an encore performance to their last encounter under the moon.

So lost in her thoughts, she heard the crunch too late.

Something heavy shoved into Flanna’s back, slamming her into the car at the same time as it crushed her hand against the window. She cried out in pain, but it was quickly silenced by a large hand slapping across her mouth.

“You reek of Randolph, do you know that?”

The words were a harsh whisper in her ear, breath hot and clammy as it blew across her cheek. Flanna’s blood chilled, not at the surprise of the attack but at something far more frightening.

She knew that voice.

Another scream was stifled when he grabbed her wrist and slammed her fist into the window again, her fingers uncurling reflexively to let her keys fall to the ground. The force of the contact created spidery cracks through the glass, but Flanna was far more concerned with the very large male body pressing into her from behind.

It shifted as it bent to pick up her key ring, but its displacement wasn’t nearly great enough for her to fight back or squirm free. She saw a flash of white out of the corner of her eye and realized with growing horror that it was her underwear still attached to the keys.

“Did you let him f**k you inside the pub, too?” He laughed, but there was nothing light about the sound. “There’s a real little exhibitionist inside that English schoolgirl, isn’t there? I knew you’d be a wildcat in the sack.”

If she’d had any doubts about who it was behind her, they were banished with his deliberate choice of words. She didn’t need to be facing him to know that his dark hair would be shaggy and long, his eyes as black as the night around them. She only wondered if he’d still have marks on his face from where she’d scratched him at Rage.

He started dragging her along the side of the car, never moving far enough away to allow her leverage to fight back. “I’m not really one for sloppy seconds, but for you, sweetheart, I’m making an exception. I only wish I could see Randolph’s face when he realizes that all those noble intentions of his have gone to straight to hell. It’s going to be priceless.”

“Take a look for yourself, Romm.”

She’d never been so glad to hear Jason’s voice, but with her face still pressed against the car, it was impossible for Flanna to see him. Now she just had to wait for an opening to fight back.

“I was wondering if you were ever going to show your face,” Romm said. “What’s wrong? Wasn’t she a good enough f**k to distract you from the other bitches inside?”

“Let her go.”

“Because you said so?” Another laugh rumbled through Romm’s chest. “Please. I didn’t listen to you when you were actually interesting. Why in hell would I listen to you now?”

He must have looked back over his shoulder. Flanna didn’t care. All of a sudden, he wasn’t bearing all his weight against her upper body. That was the only opportunity she needed.

Slamming her head backwards, she winced when it connected with his jaw with a sharp crack. It left her spinning, but it was enough of a surprise to startle Romm into loosening his grip, allowing Flanna to twist to the side and shove her elbow into his solar plexus.

I can’t believe he fell for that twice, she thought when he gasped in pain and stumbled backwards.

Jason leapt forward, tackling Romm around the waist so that the pair went flying back against the car. The door bowed under their weight, but Flanna didn’t waste the time to watch, wishing that she’d not foregone wearing a weapon that night. Her only option was to get something from the car. She could only hope that Jason kept him distracted long enough for her to get into it.

She scanned the area in search of her keys, but it took a tilt of her head to spot where they had been kicked beneath the car. They weren’t far from the men’s feet, but the only way she was going to get to them was by circling the vehicle the long way around. Shedding her coat as she dashed around the front, Flanna threw herself to the ground and shimmied along the gravel to get underneath, ignoring the rough texture scraping along her stomach. The fight had moved slightly away from the side, but the lack of light made it hard to see where exactly the keys had landed. She had no choice but to grope around blindly until she found them.

She heard a grunt and looked up to see a body hit the ground several feet away from the car. The dark made it hard to discern who it was until he lifted his head and she saw the moonlight catch against the blue of Jason’s eyes. Blood dripped from a gash on his temple, but the feral curl of his lip frightened her even more.

A powerful hand wrapped around her wrist and dragged Flanna out from beneath the car. Gravel scratched along her cheek, and the sharp edge of the undercarriage sliced across the back of her head before she was free. Though she began hitting and kicking at Romm as soon as she was able, he was still stronger than she was and slammed her against the driver’s side window yet again.

The force shattered the glass even further, and Flanna squeezed her eyes shut when she felt the glass slice into her skin. She had already been dizzy from headbutting Romm, but this was a thousand times worse, the pitching world around her making her crumple to the ground. Her dead weight threw Romm off-balance, and he let her go to stop from falling as well. He couldn’t turn in time to dodge Jason, however. The two men crashed into the car yet again, snarling with unrestrained rage.

Distantly, Flanna became aware of a man’s shout. Not Jason’s. Not Romm’s. When it came a second time, closer, it occurred to her it was Neil’s, and she managed to lift her head to watch blearily as he lumbered toward them with a baseball bat hefted over his shoulder.

Romm saw him, too, and broke free from Jason’s hold to take off into the darkness. It took only seconds for the night to swallow him up, and only a few more than that for Jason to reach her side.

“Don’t,” she said, pushing at his questing hands. “Go. Get Romm.”

“You’re bleeding! You’re crazy if you think I’m leaving you like this.”

“I’ll be fine. You can’t let him get away, Jason.”

Neil’s wheezing drew close, his broad face appearing suddenly over Jason’s shoulder. “The police are on their way,” he said. “I called when I heard the commotion.”

“We’re going to need an ambulance, too.” Jason was fighting her efforts to sit up, pushing back against her shoulders to keep her on the ground. “Damn it, Flanna! Will you just stay still?”

She opened her mouth to argue, but the sudden rush to be sick stopped her from speaking. Twisting sideways, she vomited onto the gravel, her stomach heaving while the pounding in her head grew steadily worse.

“I’ll ring 999 again,” she heard Neil say, though his voice sounded fainter and farther away this time.

“I don’t need emergency,” Flanna insisted. She wanted to look at him, to convince him of her condition, but the best she could manage was a wobbly lift of her head that made her pitch to her right.

His strong hands came up to steady her. “He almost put your head through the window,” Jason snapped. “You’re bleeding, you’re throwing up, and you can’t even sit up straight without toppling sideways.”

“I’m—”

But her assertions about being fine were interrupted by another bout of vomiting.

Jason kept her hair pulled out of the way, using a tissue to wipe her mouth when she was done. Settling again on her back, she blinked up at him and saw the fear etched in his face. “You should’ve gone after him,” she said. Her voice was barely a croak this time, and a sudden lethargy seemed to be spreading through her limbs. “We’re going to lose him now.”

“As long as I don’t lose you, too. God, I’m so sorry, Flanna.”

“Sorry? What do you have to be sorry about?”

“For not being there sooner. It won’t happen again. I swear to you.”

She was about to say that there was nothing for him to apologize for when the world went dark.