Free One Good Reason by Nicole Salmond Page A

with
Stevenson as he drove back to the house. But all thoughts quickly vanished when
he pulled up to the house, the Thai men running into the forest screaming.
    Hayden
pulled the handbrake on and pushed the door open. “What the hell is going on?”
He yelled out to one of the Thai men as he ran up towards the house.
    “It’s
the girl. She escaped,” the Thai man replied as Hayden ran up the stairs,
taking two at a time.
    He
pushed through the front door, following the Thai man when he saw Aun on the couch, holding a rag to his bleeding leg.
    Aun saw him walk in and started yelling at the top
of his lungs. “That fuckin ’ bitch! I’m going to kill
her.”
    “Where
the fuck is she, Aun ?” Hayden yelled at him, furious
that he’d trusted Aun .
    “She’s
gone! She fucking came onto me in the shower! She was naked and rubbing herself
up on me. Even fucking kissed me, the stupid cunt. Then she kneed me in the
dick and stabbed me!”
    “You
deserved to be stabbed, you idiot! All you had to do was watch her while I went
out! Why the fuck were you with her in the shower!” Hayden roared at him.
    How
stupid could Aun have been? Now Ava had escaped and
was somewhere in the Thai forest.
    “She
said she pissed herself and wanted a shower. Argh!” Aun yelled, clutching his leg. “I’m going to rip her apart when I see her again!”
    Hayden
turned towards the door.
    “Where
are you going?” Aun called out to him.
    “I’m
going to fix your problem that you’ve created. I’m going to find her and bring
her back.”
    “But
what about my leg?”
    Hayden
turned to Aun . “You think I give a fuck about your
leg? You just let our prisoner escape! The best thing you can do now, is hope
to God nobody finds out, or it won’t just be a leg you’ll lose, it will be your
life.”
    He
slammed the door behind him as he started ordering instructions to the Thai
men.
    When
he’d thought his day couldn’t get any worse, it just did. Strangely though, he
hadn’t been pissed off that she’d escaped, and had managed to pull it off so
well. He’d been pissed because her life was now in danger. If she managed to
survive in the forest with no supplies, food or water, he doubted she’d survive
now if the Thai men caught her before he did. He would have to find her, and
save her from them. He didn’t know for sure she was as innocent as she claimed,
and right now, it didn’t matter. It would be on his head and conscious if
something happened to her, and he couldn’t let that happen.
     
    *** 
     
    Ava
wasn’t a very fit person, but the adrenaline she felt and the need to survive,
made her run through the forest for hours. He throat ached for water. Her feet
sore and cut from the forest floor. She hadn’t been able to hear the screaming
men for a while now. She didn’t want to stop, but she desperately needed a
break so she could catch her breath and put her clothes on. Being naked didn’t
worry her when her life was on the line, but her body was now covered in cuts
and bruises. She needed to put her dress on to help stop any more cuts against
her skin. So, she gave in and stopped running.
    She
pulled on her dress and underwear and fell to the ground crying.
    She
didn’t know if they were tears of joy that she’d just escaped. Tears of fear
that they might find her, and then what? Tears of what she had just been
through the past two weeks and how she’d had to have a strange man feel her up
and kiss her. It had been so degrading, but she had to do it. She knew it was
the only way.
    She
wondered if Hayden had found out about her escape yet. Maybe he had, and was
already out to come and get her and bring her back. But she couldn’t go back,
she wouldn’t.
    She
wiped her eyes. She could cry when this was all over. When she was back in
Australia. Back home. Right now, the sun was setting and it would be dark soon.
She needed to find shelter for the night and figure out a way to get home. She
had no idea where she was, or