He hit her in the face. “Shut up, you whore! Why are you acting so afraid? It’s not like you haven’t f**ked half the town already. Everyone but me. You led me on and I can’t have that. You’re mine, Maggie.” He squeezed her breast hard and she bit back a whimper.

“Get off me, you bastard. I don’t want you, damn it! There are plenty of other women in town. Date them and leave me alone!” She looked around the room for a weapon, anything she could use to stop him.

“I don’t think so,” he snarled and ripped at her shirt, sending buttons flying and exposing her bra and her bare stomach. “I mean to have what’s mine.”

“No! NO, ALEX!” Struggling and screaming, she turned her head and saw a face in the window. He held his finger up to his lips, indicating she should stay quiet about his presence.

Alex ripped at the fastenings of her pants and she kicked at him and tried to raise her hands but her wrists were still bound and he had them pinned with one hand, while the other was pulling at her clothes.

“Get off me, you bastard!” She screamed. She screamed and she screamed and he slapped her again, so hard she tasted blood. He ripped at the front of her bra and it came open, baring her br**sts and she began to weep. “Stop it, damn it! I don’t want this.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he muttered and unzipped his pants and started to pull himself out.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and several large men in body armor poured in pointing guns and screaming, “GET DOWN! GET OFF THE WOMAN NOW!”

Shane stepped forward and yanked Alex off of her and threw him across the room. Another officer came to her and gently pulled the sheet from the bed around her, covering her nakedness.

“Are you all right, ma’am?” the officer asked softly.

She started to tremble, shaking so hard her teeth chattered.

“Did he rape you?”

“N-n-no. He-he tried b-b-b-but you s-s-s-topped h-h-im,” she stuttered out.

Shane came forward looked her over. “Maggie, honey? I just need to look at you. Make sure you aren’t injured.” He gently opened the sheet and winced as he saw the hand and finger shaped bruise on her left breast but he felt relief seeing that her panties were still on. “Honey, we don’t have any female officers here but I want to get pictures taken of you and your injuries. Will you let me do it? Officer Jeffries here will stay in the room but he won’t look at you when I have to take the pictures of your br**sts. I’m sorry to even ask it of you but it’s necessary for the case.”

Tears running down her face, she nodded, still trembling. She went into another place in her head as he took pictures of her face, neck and her wrists and then of her torn clothes and the bruise on her breast.

Shane did it as quickly and methodically as he could but he couldn’t fight the rising bile, the anguish over what she’d gone through.

“All done, honey. I’m going to wrap you in this blanket here. It’s a blanket from my car, not his. I’m going to take you out to where Kyle’s waiting for you. He’s been so worried. And then we’re going to take you to a hospital.” He spoke to her calmly and softly as he touched her carefully.

Sobs tore through her stomach. “Kyle’s here?”

“Of course he is, Maggie. He threatened to kneecap me if I didn’t let him come with me. Come on, honey, let’s get you taken care of.”

Nodding, she stood still while he gently put the blanket around her and picked her up. He held her against his body and carried her the mile back to where the cars were.

Her eyes were closed but she heard hear Kyle say, “thank you, God,” and come moving toward her.

“Thank you for saving me,” she said softly to Shane and he nodded and handed her over to Kyle.

“We need to get her to a hospital. Kyle, you ride in the back with her. Dad, you all follow us.”

Maggie opened her eyes but one of them was pretty near swollen shut and she had to close that one. “Kyle, he…oh god,” she whispered and began to cry.

“I’m here, Red. Always here. God, I love you so much. Hell, I’m so damned thankful you’re okay. We’ll get through this, baby.” He stroked gentle fingers over her hair.

They checked her into the hospital. She had a concussion and they wanted to monitor her at least for the next twenty-four hours.

Alex had been transported to jail and awaited arraignment on kidnapping, false imprisonment, attempted rape and assault charges in addition to violating the two orders of no contact.

Maggie slept but they woke her up every hour to check on the concussion. She was feeling loopy from the lack of REM sleep and the rush of adrenaline her body had produced over the last day.

Kyle never left her side and he looked almost as bad as she did. The whole Chase clan was splayed across every available surface in the waiting room as were Maggie’s father and her friends. Maggie’s father had called her mother to tell her what had happened but she’d expressed disinterest in the whole situation.

Finally, after twenty-four hours, the hospital discharged Maggie and Kyle carefully loaded her into Matt’s Bronco and they drove back home.

She stared out the window and he looked at his father with a worried expression. When they neared Petal, Matt asked, “Where to, sweetheart? Momma wanted me to tell you that you’re welcome to stay with her and Daddy until you felt better. I figure you and Kyle might like some time alone. I can take you to your house, too. Just tell me where and I’ll go.”