***Sorry it's been so long. I hope y'all like this chapter! I liked writing it a lot. :) Thanks again for the reads and reviews! Y'all are great!***

-Chapter 14-

John's bed was hard and cold underneath me, and the pressure of his arm on top of me made me extremely uncomfortable. It had surely been hours since he viciously woke me up, and I lay there under his strong embrace wondering what to do next. The one thing I knew for sure was that I had to get out of there by morning.

Usually with John, the morning after a fight was awful. He didn't need to be sweet to me because I had already given him sex the night before, so he could let all of his anger out. And considering he had already put his arm around my throat, I didn't want to see how much worse it could get.

His snores were deep and low behind me, and I could feel his chest rise and fall against my back. I wondered if he was in a deep enough sleep for me to move his arm. I wiggled around a little first, and then tried to pry his arms off of me. John was a strong man, so this wasn't an easy task. Plus, I was restrained, considering I couldn't risk waking him up.

After gentle pushing and squirming for a few minutes, he finally rolled over, taking his arm off of me. Relief flooded my body as I slowly eased out of bed. I grabbed my phone and purse, ready to leave, when I realized that John had picked me up and I didn't have a car here. My heart went numb and my hands shook as I tried to think of what to do. I looked down at my phone. The time showed 3:15 am. It would be too late to call him, I told myself, and pushed the thought away.

After standing on shaky legs in the corner of his room for what seemed like ages, I decided to at least leave his house before going from there. I'll just sneak out the door, and when I'm a safe distance away, I'll call Dolly. She'd do anything for me, so surely she wouldn't mind. I consoled myself.

On stiff toes, I walked towards the bedroom door, keeping my eyes on John. His snores had gotten lighter, which was worrying me. I reached out with my hand and slowly turned the old door knob.

I should have remembered the squeak his bedroom door made. Right as I pushed it open, the awful sound slid across the ground and echoed into the silent room. My muscles tensed up and I froze, not daring to look behind me as I noticed his snoring had stopped. I heard movement behind me, and silently prayed. Nothing specific, I just prayed. Please God, please God.

"What are you doing?" Came his sleepy voice from behind me. I bit my lip so hard I could have sworn I tasted blood.

"Um…" I turned around slowly. "I was going downstairs to get something."

He turned on the bedside light, revealing his dark expression. "Get what?" He spit.

I knew my only chance with him, and the only way I could control him, was with my body (and what it could do). He was more sex driven than anyone I knew. So, I turned around with a seductive smile and purred at him. "It's a surprise for you."

He stood up and collected himself before speaking. "At 3:20?" He asked, unconvinced.

"Hey, it's a surprise, right? I promise you'll like it. I was thinking I need to make it up to you after what happened earlier." I had nothing I needed to 'make up' to him. Just go along, Reba. This could be life or death.

"Okay, but I'm coming too." He walked behind me and pressed me out the door.

"Uh okay, follow me." I tried to maintain my control, but I was panicking. I didn't know what to do, but I needed to figure something out. Right as we got to the bottom of the stairs, I looked to the long curtains and an idea came to me. I walked over to them, looking over my shoulder to see him staring at me questionably. I giggled, and pulled off the ribbon curtain tie-backs. I faced him, and held them tight between my hands. "You ready?" I lifted my eyebrow.

"Um, I think so?" He said with a curious, lust-filled laugh.

"C'mon, then." I said, walking past him and whipping his butt with one of the ribbons.

When we got back to the room, I instructed him to lie on the bed. He did so, and smiled when I climbed on top of him. I grabbed his hands, and tied them above his head onto the head board.

"I see what you're doing." He chuckled, getting hard beneath me.

"Mhmm." I tied them as hard as I could manage, knowing I'd have to. It took me several seconds of knotting before I was a little more relaxed with the whole idea.

"Why are you tying them so tight?" He asked.

"Because I don't want you getting away." I truthfully said in a playful tone. He smirked as I scooted back and started rubbing my hands up his chest. I kissed along his scuffled jaw line and nibbled on his ears. He chuckled and moaned underneath me. "Do you like this?" I drawled.

"Hm, yes ma'am." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. I knew I had him where I wanted him.

"Wanna know what I like?" I whispered in his ear, suddenly empowered by the fact that he was defenseless.

"What?" He asked smiling, his eyes still closed.

"I like a man who treats me right." I said harshly and stiffened my back, looking down at him.

He opened his eyes, causing my heart to stop, and stared at me. "What do you mean?"

I should have just ran- I know that. But at the moment, I felt all of the things I had hidden from him unfold in front of me. I should have left. I should have ran out the door and never looked back. But this man hurt me, and I wanted him to know exactly how bad.

"I mean," I said, rubbing his length beneath his underwear, just so he would feel the confusing way he made me feel. He tried to look concerned but I watched him slowly melt underneath me. "I mean," I repeated, "That I like a man I'm not scared of."

"Please. You're not scared of me." He said, his eyes closed and a pleased smirk along his face as I continued to rub.

"Do you know how it feels to be pushed around? To be hit?" I asked, rubbing harder as my voice rose. He lifted his head suddenly and looked at me, breathing deeply.

"What the hell Reba?" He asked, disoriented.

"Well, John, it hurts!" I practically screamed. I brought my fist up high, and smashed it down against his face. My knuckles stung with pain, but God it felt good.

John blinked rapidly. As soon as he could process what I had done, he looked up at me with burning eyes. "You little bitch." He jerked up his knee, kneeing me in between my legs. I cried out, and jumped off of him. He twisted and turned his body, trying to escape. I knew I didn't have much time. I grabbed the half-full bottle of beer by his bed and poured it on him, and then ignored his screams and curses as I grabbed my purse and ran as fast as I could.

I tripped on the stairs and fell hard on my face. My heart beat quickly as I used my numb limbs to pull myself off of the ground and keep going. I reached the backdoor, and my vision was fuzzy as I tried to unlock it. Finally, I pulled it open, and right before running out into the cold night, I processed what John had been screaming at me.

"You tell Brock about what I do to you, I swear to God I'll be after your whole damn family!" His jumbled words echoed in my mind as I raced across the gravel, tripping several times, but catching myself before falling. I ran out into the open, empty road leading to his house, and only then did I realize how cold it was. The air was harsh and bitterly freezing. I had completely forgotten about my pants until then, and found myself sprinting down an empty road in the middle of the woods wearing only a T-shirt, bra, and panties. I stopped when I ran out of breath, and reached in my purse to pull out my phone.

I know my plan was to call Dolly, but at that point I was so scared I was shaking, and a little 5 foot woman wearing a wig wouldn't provide me much safety. Without allowing myself to give it a second thought, I dialed Brock's number. It rang 4 times, and right as I was about to give up hope, I heard his comforting, concerned accent on the other end.

"Reba? Is that you?" He sounded sleepy. "Are you okay?" His voice was so relieving that I couldn't help it as tears started rolling down my cheeks.

"I-I'm fine. I need you to come g-get me." I tried to speak slowly so he could understand me between my gasps and sobs.

"Reba where are you? Are you okay? Are you hurt? What's going on?" He sounded up and alert at this point.

"I-I don't know. I don't know. I don't know, I don't know!" My voice rose. I really didn't know. "Just please come get me." I cried.

"Okay I'm on my way!" He said frantically. "Do you have an idea of where you're at? My gosh Reba it's freezing! Are you outside?"

I ignored his second question and tried to figure out my location. My mind was so scattered I couldn't even remember the way to John's. Suddenly, I saw blurry lights through my tears. I wiped my eyes, and looked a little way down the road to find a gas station. I could tell it was open by the bright lights escaping the windows. I looked closer to see a lit up sign that said 'Charles Rest Stop'. I read it out loud over the phone.

"Charles Rest Stop?" He asked. "I know where that's at! Is that where you're at?"

"Y-yes. I'm by there." I responded shakily.

"Go inside there, okay? Find the man working there. It'll either be Charles, Junior, who is his son, or Adam, one of the workers. I know them all, and they're great people. Just go sit down and have them make you some coffee. I'm leaving right now, but it'll take me about 25 minutes to get there. Just get inside, okay?" His voice was shaky, but I knew he was trying to stay calm for me. I loved the fact that he didn't waste time with questions- he knew I was shaken up and in trouble, and like always, Brock got it under control quickly.

"Okay. But Brock? I-I'm not wearing pants." I said quietly, feeling completely exhausted, relieved, and embarrassed at the same time.

I heard a hard, sad sigh at the other end. I knew he wanted to ask what had happened, but I also knew part of him had an idea. "It's…" His voice shook a little and he coughed quickly. "It's fine, Reba. They won't care. I'm sure they see stuff like that all of the time in those parts of town." He faked a laugh.

"O-okay. Thank you, Brock."

"Of course." He said as I heard his truck start in the background. "I'll bet there as fast as I can darlin'." His voice was so urgent and alert that 'darlin'' came easily and didn't surprise me until after I had hung up.

I hustled down the road until I got to Charles. I became extremely aware of my partial nakedness when I walked into the light casted by the gas station. I pulled down my shirt as far as it would go, and tried to wipe the mascara away from my face.

I was surprised at how nice Charles' Rest Stop was. It was in the middle of absolute nowhere, but yet it was very well kept and had nice features to it. Thankfully, there was only one car there. I cautiously pushed the door open, and a bell rang. A man, probably in his early twenties, who I assumed to be Junior, came from a room in the back with a surprised look on his face.

"Welcome to…" He trailed off when he saw my face. "Whoa, you're Reba-" Then he realized I wasn't wearing pants. His face blushed and he turned his head quickly. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize, uh…" He rubbed the back of his neck and awkwardly looked back at me, making it obvious he was just staring at my face. "Are you okay, ma'am?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I know I probably don't look like it now," I offered a light laugh, "But I'll be okay. Do you know Brock Hart?" Goodness this was awkward.

"Um, yes I do! He knows my dad." I couldn't help but giggle as he strained to keep his eyes on my forehead, his cheeks still red.

"Okay, well he's picking my up from here soon. Until then, could I just sit here?"

"Of course!" He motioned to a booth at the side of the store.

I looked over at it, and then back at him. I pulled my shirt low over my behind as I walked to the booth and sat down, my back facing him. When I got comfortable on the seat, I turned around to find him staring at the floor, not knowing if he could look up yet. Again, I laughed. "He said something about coffee." He looked up at me, relieved that he couldn't see my lower half anymore.

"Oh, yes ma'am! I'm on it!" A smile lit up his face as he ran to a coffee machine behind the checkout counter. "Brock always stops by for coffee when he comes through here." He brought it around to me, and awkwardly handed it to me from behind the booth. "I can tell you've had a rough day, so I'll just leave you alone. Call me if you need anything, okay? My name is Junior." I offered a genuine smile and nodded. "Wow. One minute you're selling cigarettes to an old lady holding a cat, and the next Reba is walking in pant-less. Who would have thought?" He mumbled under his breath as he disappeared into the back room he had come from.

I turned in the booth and tried to take a deep breath to calm myself. I took sips of my coffee, which warmed me up, but also added on to my shakiness.

Minutes passed by quickly as my breathing started to calm down. I was lost in thought, and lost in the silence of the empty gas station. As I was staring off into space, so lost in thought that even I didn't know what I was thinking about, my phone started vibrating on the table. Thinking it was Brock, I calmly took a sip and turned it over. But as soon as I saw John's number on the screen, I spit my coffee onto the table. I stared down with an open mouth at my screen as my phone shook in my hand.

"You alright in there?" I heard Junior call out.

"Uh-yeah!" I tried to sound casual.

I didn't dare answer. I hit decline, and slammed my phone down on the table. If John could call me, then that means-

My phone vibrated, and I saw that he was calling again. My heart beat picked up and my palms started sweating. I felt as if I was going to throw up my coffee. I was shaking uncontrollably as I looked out the window. "Please hurry, Brock." I begged under my breath.

Every time I hit decline, he'd call right back. I couldn't remember how far I had ran, but I knew if John went looking for me this would be the first place he'd check. The thought scared me so bad it made me sick, and without thinking I got up and sprinted towards the restrooms in the back.

After vomiting, I sat on the bathroom floor, which I knew must have been unsanitary against my bare legs. But I didn't care. The air around me spun, and I tried to focus on one spot to keep me from puking again. Suddenly, I heard the bell ring, telling me that someone had walked in.

I tried to stand, fell, and then tried again. When I could finally steady myself, I walked on shaky legs to the bathroom door. I slowly pushed it open, praying I wouldn't find John behind it.

But when I saw a tall, buff, tan man with dirty-blonde hair and cowboy boots searching the place, every ounce of fear left me. Without even thinking, I ran out of the bathroom and towards Brock. As soon as he saw me he ran towards me, too. We met in the middle, and I wrapped my arms around him as I cried into his shirt.

"It's okay, I'm here now." He rubbed my hair and held me tightly.

We stayed like that for a moment, each afraid to give up what we were sharing, when we heard Junior's voice. "Um, I'm sorry, y'all." He said awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with us. "I wouldn't have interrupted, but I just got a call from a man asking if you were here." He said to me. I inhaled sharply, and I saw Brock stiffen up next to me. "He's still on the line. What do you want me to say?"

"No." I said directly. "I'm… I'm not here."

"Yes ma'am." He turned and walked out. I heard him in the other room explaining that he hadn't seen me.

I looked up at Brock, who was staring at me intensely. "Who is he?" He asked through clinched teeth.

"We need to go."

"Is he coming here?" He continued. "I swear to God I'll kill him." His fist clinched at his side.

"Brock, please-"

"No, Reba! I know he hurt you! I'll be damned if he gets away with it!" He yelled, and I lost it. The last thing my nerves needed was more yelling. He softened quickly and held me again. "Hey, I'm sorry."

"Brock," I pulled myself together and looked into his eyes, sounding as serious as I could. "Please, take me to the truck, and let's go." He stared at me for second. "Brock, please." I knew he could see the tears threatening my eyes.

"Okay, let's go." He agreed. I walked passed him quickly, and started towards the door.

"Uh, Reba? Why don't you walk beside me?" I felt a breeze brush the bottom of my butt cheeks. I spun around quickly to find Brock looking away with a face as red as mine.

"Sorry." I said embarrassed.

"It's alright." He said with a chuckle coming up beside me. "Thanks Junior. I'll pay for the coffee on my next time in!" He yelled to the back.

"It's all good, man. This one's on me!" He appeared in the back doorway with a smile on his face.

"Alright. Thanks!" Brock responded as we rushed outside into his truck to escape the cold. I climbed into the passenger seat and he leaned across the back seat to pull out an old blanket. "Here." He began to lay it across me, but stopped mid-way and let it fall onto my legs.

"Thank you, Brock." I said, meaning it in a way I never had before. I took a deep breath as he pulled off, and prepared myself for the ride home.