Page 82 of Rogue Wave

“We need to go,” he said nervously. “If she’s here, her cop boyfriend isn’t far behind.”

Wow.

I guess he wasn’t trying to protect me out of love but rather fear of Hank.

I’d take the protection either way, but it still burned a little.

Samson’s anger only increased at my father’s comments. It became obvious that Samson wasn’t just a buddy of my dad’s… He was the one calling the shots. “No. Just call in some more guys from down the street and tell them to take care of it.”

My father pulled up his phone and started texting.

I needed to come up with a way to stall them.

Hank would come for me. At least, I hoped he would.

Even if he didn’t want to go to the beach with me, hopefully he would see that I hadn’t gone and wonder what was wrong. Unless he decided to go for a run, a shower or something else.

Crap.

I needed to think of a way out of this.

Surprisingly, I didn’t feel any fear. Just frustration…and anger.

“Take a seat,” Samson said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

That’s when I saw it.

A gun.

Aaaaand…now I felt the fear.

He pulled out one of my kitchen chairs and pointed to it with the gun. “Sit so we can chat.”

He practically spat that last word.

“Tie her up,” he ordered my dad.

Dad hesitated.

Only for a second, but I saw it.

Apparently, Samson did too, because his voice turned lethal. “We got a problem?”

After a tense moment, Dad grabbed the ropes that I hadn’t seen in Samson’s back pocket.

Why did he have ropes?

I wasn’t sure if they were planning on tying me up the whole time or if that was for something else and now they were improvising.

“Why are you doing this?” I said to both of them, but it was really meant for my dad.

I tried to keep my voice calm and neutral, because I needed them to feel in control. If they thought they had control, they’d get careless. Let their guard down.

Years ago, when living with the O’Haras, Gale had taken it upon herself to teach any and every girl who ever came through our foster home some basic skills. She taught us how to pick a lock, several self-defense moves, and how to get out of ropes if you were tied up.

I knew she had come from a very bad foster home prior to living with us, so I wasn’t sure if she knew those skills from living there or if she’d had to learn them afterward for peace of mind. Regardless, in this moment, I would be forever grateful for all her lessons.

“Create slack early,” I remembered her voice telling us as she demonstrated. “If you know you’re going to be tied up, expand your chest, pull your shoulders back, and tense your muscles. This way, when the ties are secured, you can relax, and it will give you some wiggle room.”