Page 146 of Until Joy

“How you holding up, darlin'?”

“Better now that I know everyone's okay.” I looked around the room at all these people who'd become my family. “I was so scared that someone would get hurt trying to find me.”

“We were scared, too,” Wes said quietly. “When we realized what had happened…”

He trailed off, but I could see the emotion he was trying to hide. These tough guys had been genuinely terrified for me.

“Okay, we need details,” Kayan leaned forward in her chair. “How the hell did you get away from that psycho? Graham said you escaped on your own before they found you.”

All eyes focused on me, waiting. I glanced at Graham, who nodded encouragingly.

“It was actually kind of ridiculous.” I felt heat creep up my neck. “She wanted to learn how to bake a cake.”

Dead silence filled the room.

“I'm sorry, what?” July blinked at me.

“Betty Psycho Crocker wanted to learn how to bake a cake,” I repeated. “She kept going on about how domestic and perfect I was, and how she wanted to be just like me. So she decided we should bake together.”

Randy's mouth fell open.

“You're telling us you escaped because she wanted to play house?”

“No, after I refused to bake the cake with her, she drugged me again. When I woke up, I was throwing up. I made a bigger production of it than it was. I pretended to pass out, that made her go to the nearest pharmacy. Even though I was tied up, I hopped over to the kitchen, found a knife and untied myself. That’s how I got free.”

Graham's face went white. His good hand clenched into a fist.

“You could have died.” Graham's voice was barely controlled fury. “If she'd given you too much of whatever that was…”

“But she didn't.” I stroked my thumb across his knuckles until his fist relaxed. “I'm okay. I'm here.”

I looked around the room at all these faces. My throat tightened with emotion.

“You all saved me.”

“Hey now,” Randy's voice was gruff. “You saved yourself. We just provided backup.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I mean it. If you hadn't come when you did, if you hadn't kept looking…” I couldn't finish the sentence.

Graham sat back down on the edge of my bed and took my hand, brought it to his mouth and kissed my palm. “There’s never going to be a time when I’m not going to be there for you.”

“Yeah, you're our family, Joy. We don't leave family behind.” Wes smiled.

Kayan wiped at her eyes and glared at everyone in the room. “If anyone mentions that I'm crying, I'll kick their ass.”

That broke the tension, and everyone started laughing. Even through the pain medication haze, even with everything we'd been through, I felt lighter than I had in months.

Chapter 37

I shut the front door and turned the deadbolt with more satisfaction than any man should feel from a simple lock. The sound of Joy’s parents’ sedan heading down my driveway as they started their journey back to Jasper Creek made me grin like a kid on Christmas morning.

“Are they really gone?” Joy called from the living room. “For real?”

I found her curled up in the recliner, her legs tucked under her. The sight of her in my space, comfortable and safe, still knocked the breath out of me.

“Yep. They're gone.”

“Thank God.” We both said at the same time.