Chapter 2

When I got back downstairs, Ed had finished all of the leftover breakfast.

“How do you stay so skinny with all that you eat, Ed?” I asked. “Do you have a tapeworm?”

“No, that is one thing I didn’t pick up in Southeast Asia, Bill,” he replied. “I just have a high metabolism.” Then he changed the subject to a more important one.

“I’m going to need some money, Bill. The stuff, that I need to get, is expensive,” he told me.

“Sure Ed,” I said as I reached in my pocket and dug out a hundred dollar bill. “Will this cover it?” I asked.

“Maybe,” Ed replied. “I’ll let you know when I get back. I’ll take off now, Bill. It may take me a little time to find what I’m looking for. Ashley should be out for around four hours or so. When she wakes up, get her to the bathroom and make sure she drinks a good bit of water. The pill will be effective for about eight hours total. I’ll be back before that.”

“Jeez, Ed. Where are you going to get this stuff?” I asked.

“I’ll need to try a couple of sources to find it, but I’m pretty sure someone will have it. I’ll be back, Bill.” I showed Ed out and then got dressed for work. I still needed to move the truck and unload it. I also reset the alarm system when Ed was gone, and made sure that I had my shotgun with me, too.

It took me three hours to get unloaded and get everything put back up. By then it was 2:00 PM and I was ready for lunch. I cleaned up before going into the house. Even unloading the equipment was a dirty job, but I was used to it. If you are a cleanliness freak then you wouldn’t want to be a blacksmith.

In the kitchen, I made sandwiches for lunch. I made two for me and one each for Ed and Ashley. Then thinking about it, I got out a can of ready made biscuits, put them on a small cookie sheet, and popped them in my electric, counter top oven. It’s very handy for baking small stuff, especially in the summer when you don’t need a lot of extra heat. Mine is big enough that I can bake more than half of a twelve inch pizza in it.

After lunch, I checked on Ashley. She was still asleep. Since it was now 3:00 PM, I opened a beer and went to check my e-mail. It was way too late to start a fire in the forge, and I had nothing planned anyway, other than taking care of Ashley. Plus, I hadn’t checked my e-mail in the four days since I had left.

I really needn’t have bothered, as most of it was spam or people trying to get me to upgrade my services from them. I deleted most of it. After that I went on line to check some of the blacksmith sites to see what was new. There wasn’t a lot.

I was interrupted in my reading, by a hand on my shoulder. It made me jump as I hadn’t been paying attention and didn’t hear her come in.

“I’m sorry, Bill. I didn’t mean to startle you,” Ashley said, quietly.

“It’s all right. I was just reading this article and didn’t hear you come in,” I told her.

“I just wanted to thank you for last night. I really needed someone to care for me. Thank you again,” she whispered as she started to tremble.

I had swiveled my chair around to face her while she was talking and saw the way she was shaking, as she finished. I immediately got up and reached out to pull her closer to me. She came gladly. Tears had started to roll down her cheeks. I held her as tightly as I dared given her condition, and she had her head on my chest.

“Hold me for a while, Bill. Please!” she begged. I held her there for a long, long while. Slowly the trembling stopped and the tears dried up, but still she clung to me. She was so warm and soft. I kissed her hair and reassured her that she was safe.

Eventually we were interrupted by the alarm system letting me know that a vehicle was coming down the road. I checked the camera display. It looked like Ed was back. I reset the security system and sent Ashley to the kitchen to eat lunch. Then I went to the front door with the shotgun to be sure that it was Ed that got out of the truck. Ed was coming up the stairs as I opened the door.

“How did it go?” I asked.

“I finally found it. It just took a while,” Ed answered.

“Come on in and eat,” I told him. “Ashley just got up a short time ago.”

We all sat at the kitchen table while Ashley and Ed ate. I had a beer and some biscuits. I got Ed a beer, and Ed made sure Ashley drank plenty of water. He said she needed it with the pill he had given her.

After lunch, we went back to the bedroom. Ed had Ashley undress. He also told Ashley to hold her breath while he sprayed her back, butt and thighs with a can of something he had gotten while out. Then we waited a short time while it dried.

“This is the latest spray antibacterial and anesthetic that the Army has come up with. I got it through a black market contact I have. You won’t like the price, Bill, but it’s the best around. I also got some new salve to put on over it. Together they should have Ashley healed up in record time. I’ll also put a cloth on her back so the salve doesn’t rub off,” Ed told us.

“What about the bruises and scratches?” I asked.

“I can’t do much for the bruises. For the scratches, I can use some of the spray on them. I’ll put some of the salve on her feet also. She’ll need to wear a pair of cotton socks over the salve,” Ed told us. He then applied the salve and the cover cloth to her back. Ashley then put the robe back on.

“I’m so very tired,” she told us, in a little girl voice. “Can I go back to sleep?”

“Sure,” Ed told her, “go ahead and sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

“I feel fine now, since you sprayed my back. I’m just so tired,” she told us. We got Ashley settled in bed. Then Ed and I went downstairs.

“I need another forty dollars,” Ed told me as we neared the door. I pulled out another hundred and gave it to him.

“Keep it,” I told him, “you put in a lot of time on this today. You want another beer?”

“Sure, I can handle another one.” We went into the kitchen and had a couple of more beers and some biscuits. We talked for a while before Ed left, then I started dinner for myself and Ashley. She would wake up eventually and probably be hungry.

I watched the evening news on the TV to see if there were any missing person reports or any other unusual occurrences. There was nothing more than a fire and some car crashes. There was nothing in the news about a woman disappearing.

Ashley woke up and came downstairs around 8:30. I got her to eat dinner, and we sat and talked for awhile. I told her the name of the town that we were near. She recognized the name and knew approximately where it was. I also told her that there was nothing about her disappearance on the news.

“Bill, I don’t mean to bother you, but would you have any other clothes that I could wear,” Ashley asked after a while. “This robe is very nice, but it is too hot during the day and a little hard to sleep in.”

“Sure, Sweetie. Let’s go upstairs and you can look through what I have. You would probably know what you need better than I would,” I told her. We went up to the spare bedroom and I let her look through what I still had of my wife’s things. She found some underwear and a nightie among her things. She put these on under her robe. There were also some pants and a few blouses. The house shoes fit her feet OK.

“Bill, why do you have women’s clothes?” she wondered.

“I was married. My wife died in an auto accident a year before I was retired. We were living here then. I got rid of a lot of her stuff. It brought back memories that I didn’t want to deal with. I loved her a lot.”

“In a car accident?” she asked. “Was it her fault or did someone run into her?” Ashley asked.

“It was a hit and run. As near as the cops could figure out someone forced her off the road and into a bunch of trees. The car smashed into the trees and caught fire. She never got out. They thought she was killed by the impact, and the fire didn’t leave a lot for them to do an autopsy on. For a while, I thought the agency that I worked for was responsible, as she was in my car not her own. I thought they were after me, but nothing else ever happened while I worked for them. The cops never solved the case, either.”

“Oh, Bill! I’m so sorry. I had no idea,” Ashley said, obviously upset.

“It’s OK, Sweetie,” I assured her. “It was eight years ago. I’ve pretty much gotten over it.”

Shortly after this, we returned to the master bedroom and got ready for bed. Ashley brushed her teeth and combed her hair. I took a shower when she was done and then brushed my teeth. I put on a T-shirt and some pajama pants. When I came out of the bathroom, Ashley was in my bed.

“You know, you don’t have to sleep here,” I told her. “You can sleep in the other bedroom, if you would rather.”

“I want to sleep here with you, Bill,” Ashley said, very quietly. “Last night you kept me warm and made me feel better. I really appreciated that.” I got in the bed next to her, and Ashley moved over closer to me as soon as I was settled.

“Will you hold me for a while, Bill?” she asked softly. I reached out and put an arm around her and drew her even closer. Soon she was on her right side with her head on my shoulder and her left leg was thrown over mine.

My mind was working overtime at this point. This girl was so warm, soft and sweet. I would love to climb on top of her and fuck both of our brains out, but it just wasn’t an option. She was way too hurt yet for anything like that. On top of that, I had no idea if she cared for me at all. Obviously, she was grateful for my help and for taking care of her. That didn’t mean that she was ready to have sex with me, even if she were able, which she wasn’t.

While I had been distracted with all of that, Ashley had started crying on my shoulder. My T-shirt was definitely getting damp. What was wrong now, I wondered?

“Oh, Bill. I’m so sorry,” Ashley whimpered. “I can’t help you. I would if I were able, but I am still just too sore.” I could feel Ashley’s body shake as she finished. I pulled her closer and kissed her wondering what she was talking about.

Ashley reached out under the covers with her left hand and stroked my cock. I hadn’t even realized that I was that hard, or that the tent, that had formed in the covers, was that visible. I guess that shows how distracted I was. She started to stroke me under the covers. God, that felt good. Her small, soft hand felt just terrific on my hard cock. It wasn’t long before she had me spurting all over the sheet, my pants and her hand. It felt like I came a gallon, at least.

When I had recovered, I saw what a mess I had made. It was sticky and getting cold to boot. I got up, and got out a new pair of pajama pants. I used the old pants to clean up Ashley’s hand. I went into the bathroom, tossed the old pants in the hamper and also cleaned myself up with a warm washcloth, then put on the new pajama pants. I rinsed out the wash cloth and carried it in to Ashley and cleaned her up also. Then I pulled the sheet off the bed, tossed it in the hamper, got out a new top sheet from the linen closet, and put it on the bed.

When I got back in the bed, Ashley cuddled back up to me. I kissed her passionately.

“Thank you,” I told her. “That was amazing!”

Ashley had started to cry again.

“Are you OK?” I asked.

“Yes, Bill. I’m OK. I just want you to hold me,” she replied through her tears. I held her close and kissed her eyes, nose and finally her mouth. After a short time, we drifted off to sleep.

At the same time on an estate on the north side of the city, a meeting was taking place.

“Well, why haven’t we heard anything yet?” demanded the large man in expensive clothes. “It’s been twenty-four hours, and there’s not a word on the news or the police frequencies.”

“Boss, we dumped her just like you said. Someone should have found her today,” the large man from the van told his employer.

“After all the trouble we went to in picking a woman that wasn’t with that bunch of bitches, and then fucking the shit out of her and beating her to boot, you can’t even get her discovered by the cops and the news media! How the fuck can we put fear in that bunch of bitches without an example? They must be made to realize that they can’t interfere in our business with impunity. I want that bitch found and in the news!” the boss shouted.

“We’ll go out there in the morning and take a look for her. It’s way too dark to see anything tonight,” Van man told his employer.

“You had better find her. If one of those hicks has taken her in, eliminate them and make sure the girl gets found. Maybe a few dead bodies will cool those bitches off. If not, we may just have to eliminate a few of them to put fear in the rest,” the boss said as he dismissed the others.

Van man and the driver made their way out of the house before they said anything else.

“Are you sure you know where we dumped her?” Van man asked the driver, when he was sure they would not be overheard.

“Yes, I can find it again. I grew up on that side of town. It won’t be a problem. How many men are we going to take with us?” he finished.

“We’ll take two men with us. I want to leave about 9:00 in the morning. I’ll call the others tonight, and we’ll take your van, so make sure it’s ready to go,” Van man told the driver.

“What do you think happened to her?” the driver asked.

“Who knows? Maybe one of the local yokels took her in. Maybe some asshole found her and decided to keep her for himself. How the hell would I know? We’ll find her and fix whoever took her in like the boss said,” Van man finished in frustration.

In the morning they set out in the dark colored van for the area where they had left the girl two nights ago. It took them some time to get there and to get on the right side road. Eventually, they came to the pasture entrance where they had turned around before.