Free LIKED - A Dark Romance Novel (Story of Dangerous Obsession and Lust) by Diana Quippley Page A

a true
crime missing persons show on basic cable about The Blackhearts: The
Sensational Deaths of Don and Gia. Don was found brutally murdered in his home,
but when Gia’s fate was finally discovered, it would turn out that he was the
lucky one. Cut to tampon commercial.
     
    She felt the vibration of the road through the wheel well against her
side. She used her elbow to push herself back upright.
     
    The van stopped and she wondered if it was a traffic light or if they had
reached where Jack was going to hide her while he did what he had planned for
her.
     
    It was a rolling stop and the van continued on. She wondered, if the police
would pull him over, if he kept doing it. Would she be able to yell just as the
officer reached the window?
     
    “Jack?” Her voice shook. “I want to go home. I won’t tell anyone. Let me
go home, please.”
     
    He called back. “If you keep talking, I have to tape your mouth shut and
we have a long way to go, so shut up, please.”
     
    “Where are we going?”
     
    “Gia?” He raised the end of the word like he was scolding a child. “Shut
up or tape. I don’t have a choice here, but you do.”
     
    She closed her mouth, but felt her chin quiver. A cry escaped her again.
She shook as she tried to hold it in, but failed.
     
    He turned on the radio to an oldies station and turned it up. A voice
crooned through the static about bubble gum and first love.
     
     
    ***

Chapter 7:
     
    Way to Go
     
     
    Gia fell over and landed on her side on the floor. The cable attached to
her wrists made a sound like it was rolling out from a spool attached above her
head. She wondered how far it would go. If she got her feet free and the doors
open, how far could she run before she reached the end of the spool? Would the
teeth rip the tape and she would be free? Would Jack start driving the van and
drag her along the road behind him as punishment for trying to escape? Is that
what the cable was about? Gia, you either stay in the van or I drag you behind
it, she thought. You have a choice; I don’t. Stay or drag. Would the tape or
her arms break first?
     
    She tried to move her feet to right herself, but there was no leverage.
     
    The radio was on a talk station now shouting about illegal immigrants
committing crimes against citizens.
     
    She decided to stay still on her side to keep from drawing attention to
herself or making Jack mad. She wasn’t sure it mattered, but she lay still
anyway. The ribbed surface of the bed of the van hurt the side of her head
through the bag and she couldn’t decide how to position her head to minimize
the pain. The van went over a rough patch of ground and bounced lifting her
head up only to smack it back against the metal floor. As dizziness crept in
from the impact they hit another and she bounced her head again.
     
    Gia gritted her teeth and felt the strength drain out of her. She wasn’t
going to find a clever way to foil the villain. No one was coming to rescue her
from the monster. They would find her months later when there was nothing left,
but her teeth and chewed bones. A hiker or jogger would happen upon them and
investigate. News crews would descend on her patch of woods and then she would
be forgotten again. She would probably be a cautionary tale in the churches out
in Dark Orchard, Kentucky. Collectors would trade around pieces of trash from
her apartment. They would probably still be more interested in Jack. His owl
mask would go for a small fortune for sure.
     
    Gia drifted off to sleep in exhaustion. The sleep was heavy like her mind
was pushing as far down into her body as it could go. The dreams came in
flashes with fear, but no story. A bump in the road would knock her head and
pull her back up. She couldn’t tell if her eyes were closed or open. She would
waver on the edge of consciousness just long enough for her to realize where
she was and what was happening. Then, she would drift back down into the dark
sleep of exhaustion and