Free Holdin' On for a Hero by Ciana Stone Page A

flames from the fire. Her thoughts wandered, carrying her back in time. She remembered how it had been when she and Wyatt were children. Despite the normal bickering and childishness they had been close.
    Things changed as they matured. She closed her eyes and without warning a memory surfaced. It was of her high school graduation…
    She filled with immediate excitement when she looked out in the auditorium and saw Wyatt sitting beside her father. He was wearing his dress uniform and he looked so handsome. But there was a woman with him. Several girls close by her also noticed and started whispering to her about wanting to come over to her house and meet him. Chance didn’t even hear them. Her heart had plummeted the moment her eyes fell on the woman with Wyatt. The rest of the graduation ceremony passed in a haze. All she was conscious of was the woman who was holding Wyatt’s hand and smiling up at him.
    Afterwards, Maurice had a party at the estate. As always, the guest list consisted of his friends rather than her own. Wyatt came and brought the woman, introducing her as his fiancée, Cheryl Thompson. Chance immediately disliked Cheryl. She hated her bleached hair and red lips and the way she rubbed all over Wyatt yet batted her eyes and flirted with all the other men. Chance was careful not to let anyone know. She smiled and was polite but kept her distance, wishing she could leave.
    As the party was winding down, a boy Chance had known from school stopped by. He had graduated a couple of years earlier and she had dated him once or twice. His name was Mark Woods and his father was an acquaintance of Maurice’s from the country club.
    Mark asked her to go out and since she didn’t want to hang around and watch Cheryl crawl all over Wyatt, she agreed. To her dismay, Cheryl overheard her tell Maurice that she was going out with Mark and insisted that she and Wyatt join them. Chance insisted they take separate cars and they met at a local bar that many of the kids went to because they were lenient on enforcing the legal age limits.
    Chance wasn’t a big drinker but her date was. He drank one beer after the other as the rest of them made an awkward attempt at conversation. By eleven he was staggering drunk. Wyatt suggested that he drive Mark home but Chance was not about to get stuck riding with Cheryl so she said she would drive Mark herself.
    As Wyatt and Cheryl left to return to the estate, she helped Mark into his car. They left the bar and headed for Mark’s house which was about ten miles from the Davenport estate. They were less than a mile from his house when Mark suddenly started groaning and saying that he was going to throw up. Chance found a gravel road and pulled off the pavement so he could get out. But instead of getting sick he started grabbing her and trying to pull her pants down.
    She was terrified. She did not want to have sex with Mark. She screamed at him to stop but he just laughed, saying it was time someone heated up the ice in her veins. He taunted her as they struggled, calling her frigid and cold. She fought him harder and broke away. She tried to get out of the car but he grabbed her hair and yanked her back. The jerk caused her to hit her head on the car frame and the last thing she remembered was blackness closing in…
     
    Chance sighed and snuggled deeper under the quilt. She would just as soon not remember that night but the memory demanded attention…
     
    She woke up and looked around fearfully. The sight of her own room gave her a feeling of relief mixed with confusion. “How did I get here?” she asked aloud.
    She got up and started downstairs. Abbott met her at the foot of the stairs. “Miss Chance.” He nodded, averting his eyes.
    “Where is everyone?” she asked, realizing that she was not properly dressed, wearing only a T-shirt and her underwear.
    “Your father had a meeting and Mrs. Davenport took Miss Thompson into the city to do some shopping.”
    “Oh, okay.”