Angel's Hero

Chapter 29

"Get on the boat, Angel," Owen jabbed the gun into her back.
They were in the marina of Boothbay Harbor.
Owen had taken over driving once they'd changed vehicles, leaving her Jeep abandoned on the side of the road. It wasn't a well-travelled road, so unless someone went looking, they weren't going to find her car for some time.
Angel felt her hopes drop a little more.
By the time they had reached the marina, she was down to the bare minimum to keep herself from crying. He'd parked on the other side of the marina, away from the closed down streets. It was dark and deserted here.
Angel could hear the town's festivities across the bay, almost like a cruel joke. She could hear her sanctuary, but she couldn't reach it.
Angel knew she was doomed if she set one foot on the boat in front of her. It bobbed gently in the quiet night; the sound of the water softly lapping against it had a strangely calming effect on her.
Putting the rifle into a long bag, which he'd slung over his shoulder, Owen had proceeded to pull the handgun now pressed to her back from the waistband of his dark trousers, before using it to force her down the short pathway leading between the buildings on this side of the harbor. They had parked on the side of the road, close to the jetty they were now on. The truck, parked illegally, would draw attention, but too late.
Angel hadn't known his plan, not until he'd pushed her out towards the water, and her stomach had dropped.
"I said," Owen pressed the gun more painfully into her back. "Get in the boat."
She turned to look at him.
Stared at him, her back to the water.
She was not going to make this easy.
"Get in the fucking boat, Angel," Owen said as he lifted the gun to her face. A little spark of anger tinged the edge of his calm.
"No," Angel lifted her chin.
He dropped his gun hand as he looked beyond her, and smiled. He nodded.
A blinding pain exploded between her shoulders.
"He said, get in the boat, you bitch."
Angel, coughing and spluttering, having fallen forward to the rickety planks of the platform, looked over her shoulders.
Surprise at seeing the woman there holding an oar must have been clear on her face.
"Jenna?"
"Yes, it's me," she smiled. "Finally getting what you deserve, aren't you? Thinking you can just get away with ruining someone's life like you did? Sending him to jail for nothing? And then coming here to ruin mine? Shameful."
Jenna looked down at Angel, shaking her head pitifully, one foot on the edge of the boat, her hand on the raining running along the top of the cabin.
It wasn't a small boat, and the shape reminded her of the one those guys had used at the end of Jaws to hunt down the killer shark.
That did not make her feel better.
Frozen, she just stared at the other woman moving around the vessel easily, gathering ropes and taking bags off the end of the dock, then disappearing into the cabin beneath the helm of the boat, that held the wheel and captains seat.
Moonlight glinted off the metal of the throttle.
Angel felt herself zoning out on that reflection, the silver of the metal shining seemed too tranquil to be part of what was happening here. She closed her eyes, imagining herself anywhere else.
Owen stepped over to her, and grabbed her by the hair. The pain of having his fist ripping at her scalp forced her into motion, and out of her head where all she could see was Conner.
His face, smiling and tender; each look he'd ever sent her was blending into one that made her feel safe.
She stumbled over the side, and fell, hard, onto the deck of the fishing boat.
Still trying to get her breath back, Angel eyed Jenna, and wished hateful things.
"Really, Jenna? You believed his lies? And did all of this because I was your competition?" Angel deliberately rolled her eyes. "Pathetic."
Jenna reacted viciously, jumping with both booted feet down onto one of Angel's bare legs.
She screamed out in pain, and Jenna laughed. Owen went to work releasing the various thick ropes, and tossed them on board, some landing on Angel making her flinch under their substantial weight.
If it had been any other night, her screams would have been heard.
As it was, the firework display in the marina had only just started, and the explosions drowned her out.
She looked up at the colorful sky, and tried not to think of Conner, and the pain she had caused him as they had had their own private display back on the farm.
She hoped he was okay, and that he would be able to forgive her when she got out of this.
If she got out of this.
The thought that she might not see again brought on a sense of fear for Angel of everything she would be missing out on. She wouldn't know what it would be like to get married, to have a husband who loved her.
She would never know what it would be like to be a mother, to bring this baby into the world, and love it unconditionally; something she wanted desperately.
She wouldn't know what it would be like to grow old, and go through all of life's ups and downs. The celebrations, the fights, the joys, and the losses. All of it. She wanted it all.
Oh, god, I don't want to die.
Her hands covered her belly as she lay there on the deck, her face turned down, crying openly.
She had to survive. She had to make it through this. Her baby needed her. Conner needed her. Michelle, Jackson, Sienna, Bo... they all needed her. And she needed them.
Standing up slowly, painfully, she looked at Jenna as Owen continued untying the rope.
The woman was trying to curl herself around him, as she stroked him, verbally, and literally.
"You did it. You're so brave and strong, Owen. You're amazing," she said as her hands travelled up and down his back.
Ew.
So, Owen had seduced her, and played his mind games on her, and made her a part of his plan.
Angel almost felt sorry for Jenna. Almost. Except her leg and her back hurt.
Using every ounce of energy she could summon, she charged the smaller woman, pushing through the pain.
Before she could reach Jenna though, Owen raised his arm, shoving the woman nibbling his ear off him. He pointed the gun and pulled the trigger, as the sky above them exploded.