In Safe Haven, a runaway ‘wife’ discovers love in the arms of a female doctor who treats her broken bones and bruises then mends her broken heart.
In Safe Haven, Joanna Fairfield AKA Ms. Smith AKA June Davis is on the run from a murderous man who wants more than her love. Vicious killer Vernon Brown wants to take Joanna’s son, adopt him and kill her.
Running away for the second time on a dark stormy night, Joanna stops in a place called Eagle View, North Carolina. It’s the small town her grandmother always claimed was a good place to raise any child. Her son, Danny is ill and she needs a doctor. When she meets the town’s one and only family doctor, Dr. Ellie Winston, sparks fly.
Excerpt
“What do you mean you can’t find her?” The tall, slick-looking Black man roared at a sturdy-looking, thick-necked man with a barrel chest. “I pay you to watch the bitch for me! How the hell did she get away again?” The tall man poked the shorter man twice in his large chest for emphasis.
The shorter man wanted to break the finger thrust into his chest but he knew better. He drew a deep breath. Anger flashed in his dark eyes but left as swiftly as it came. He realized the man poking him in the chest could have him killed with one snap of his manicured fingers. He’d replace him just as quickly. “My best guys are working on it, Mr. Brown. Near as I can figure, she’s been planning this for some time. We’re havin’…”
Vernon Brown held up a perfectly manicured hand. “I don’t want to hear anymore of your bullshit excuses, Keith.”
He stood so close that Keith could feel the man’s warm breath on his nose and smell the subtle aftershave he used. He added a threat in a dead calm voice he used to intimidate his subordinates. “You got ten days to find the bitch. You don’t find her and you’re gone permanently, understood?”
Keith looked into the darkest eyes he’d ever seen. What he saw in them frightened him. The man’s eyes looked dead. There was no life in them. One glance into those flat black eyes and Keith realized that he was lucky Brown didn’t kill him today. “Yes sir, Mr. Brown. I understand.”
“Ten days, Keith.” Vernon Brown strode to his car without another word. He folded his tall lean form into the expensive sports car and squealed off, leaving a long, smoking strip of tire tread and the arid smell of burning rubber as the only reminder that he’d been there.
Keith let out the breath he was holding. He had more ten days to live before Vernon Brown killed him. He could handle the timeframe but it meant calling in favors from people he didn’t trust. Hell, if this wasn’t an emergency, he didn’t know what was! He’d better get started on those calls after he talked to the men about finding the tricky bitch and her kid. That good-looking piece of ass was more trouble than he ever imagined. “Ain’t no bitch worth getting killed for!” he muttered, flipping out his cell phone then punching in the first of several phone numbers.
He called Charlie the tracker first. He’d found Joanna the last time and helped bring her to Vernon Brown. It’d be a long time before he forgot Brown’s reaction when they brought Joanna Fairfield home.
He and his men brought her to Brown’s compound just as he ordered. They stood outside next Keith’s car, waiting for the boss to appear. A minute later, Brown stepped out of the house. He stood looking down at them from the wide porch that surrounded the house. When Brown saw Joanna, his face turned to solid granite. Keith found it hard to believe that dead eyes could get colder but Brown’s eyes looked like shark eyes…deadly and unblinking.
Brown suddenly grinned when he saw Danny but the smile didn’t touch those cold eyes of his. He strode down the steps to hug and kiss the little boy. “Hey little man, want some ice cream?”
Danny nodded then happily sang out. “Yes, Uncle Vernon!”
“Take, Danny inside, Huffs. He doesn’t need to see this.” Brown ordered. He handed the little boy to Huffs and watched as he took the bouncing little boy into the main house.
Keith watched Joanna’s eyes follow Brown as he held her son and played with him then turned him over to one of his men. He remembered how desperate and scared she looked.
When Brown turned to face Joanna, his eyes turned a hard, dull black. He spoke in a soft, calm voice that contradicted his words. “I’d kill you dead where you stand if it weren’t for the kid. You can’t keep running away from me, Joanna. You have to be taught a lesson.”
Brown advanced on her slowly, unbuckling a thin leather belt and then slowly pulling through it his belt loops as he studied her face. When he finished pulling it through all the loops, he folded it in two then snapped it as he stared at a terrified Joanna. “You know where to take her and what to do when she gets there.”
“No!” Joanna screamed and rapidly backed up as far as she could go, until she bumped into two of Brown’s men.
They grabbed her arms and dragged her, struggling into the small soundproof guest cottage that Vernon sometimes used to perform his ‘attitude’ readjustments.
“Let me go!” Joanna cried out, desperately.
Keith watched Joanna kick, squirm and almost pull away as she tried to break free of the strong hands that held her. Her face said she knew it was useless to struggle but still she kept up the fight. He wondered if she resisted so Brown wouldn’t think he’d broken her. It didn’t matter what he thought, did it? Brown was paying him to do a job so he’d better get to it.
Two of his men dragged Joanna between them into the bedroom. They threw her face down on the bed. Then nearly wrenched her arms and legs out of their sockets as they yanked them straight out, stretching them until they reached the cuffs attached to the four bedposts and snapped the cuffs tightly shut.
They yanked on her clothing until the neck of her blouse pressed firmly against her throat. Seconds before Joanna lost consciousness, the back of her blouse gave way and ripped open. She gasped for breath. They grabbed at her skirt, stretching the fabric against the weight of her belly until it too exploded as her blouse did moments earlier, exposing her underwear for everyone in the room to see.
Brown arrived and stood looking down at her for a moment. He knelt down to trace a path down Joanna’s back, starting from her shoulder blades and ending at the top of her hips. Using the same hand, Brown unhooked her bra then roughly pulled her panties down. She jerked at the cuffs on her hands as if she thought she could escape.
She finally stopped struggling when Brown leaned down to warn her in a hard, hollow voice that made Keith glad his boss wasn’t angry with him. “You’re gonna be sorry you ever ran away, Bitch! Be still or I’ll hurt your little bastard.” Then he stood up quickly.
Keith sensed the first contact from Brown’s belt, took Joanna by surprise. She screamed in agony as the leather bit into newly healed wounds. He watched her struggle to avoid the blows as they rained down her but the steel handcuffs held her firmly in place as the belt created new blood red, roadways across her back and hips.
Joanna called on God for the blackness to descend as it always did and put her out of her misery. This time her body defied her. She remained painfully aware of what was happening to her. “No! Please, Vernon, stop it! You’re hurting me. No! Jesus, help me!” she screamed and then begged.
Keith could hear the desperation in her voice. He wanted to turn away from the ghastly sight but he knew he’d be dead within minutes. Brown hated public displays of weakness in his men.
“Bitch, scream as loud as you f…ing want! No one can hear you in here. Why do you think I made the damn thing soundproof? You could avoid all this pain if you’d stop running away and be nice to me. You know I could just take what I want but I want you to give it to me, freely.” Brown whispered as he ran a finger lightly down one heart-shaped hip that remained untouched by his belt.
Just a simple gathering of the Gay & Lesbian Activist Association of New Birch and Sipsboror (GLAABS) and we plunge down a hilarious ride to perdition.
Just a simple gathering of the Gay & Lesbian Activist Association of New Birch and Sipsboror (GLAABS) and we plunge down a hilarious ride to perdition.
