Betting on Hope Read Free Page B

might be short, sixteen, and pregnant— big time pregnant—but she was nobody’s pushover.
    “I’m not afraid to use this plunger, mister,” she said fiercely, true enough but she sure wished it was a bat, or better yet, a steel pipe.
    As if giving her a pep punch, her baby kicked her in the kidney. Jenna didn’t know if she was having a girl or a boy, but the baby kicked like a linebacker. Resolve filled her. Clutching the plunger tighter, she nodded agreement with her little fighter. Jenna’s eyes never wavered from the bloodshot ones that were making her skin crawl as they studied her. This wasn’t going to be pretty; she just had no plans to be the victim.
    Most girls her age would have been terrified, but if Jenna had ever been afraid of anything, it had been beat out of her a long time ago by her dad—until she threatened him just like she was threatening this foul-smelling piece of junk with his tobacco-stained smirk.
    When he took a swaying step forward, Jenna’s heart skipped a beat or two and her adrenaline kicked up a notch, thrumming through her veins like an Amtrak . She had more to protect than herself now, and she couldn’t fail.
    She had a precious baby inside of her and no man was laying another hand on her or her baby ever.
    “C’mon, lil’ girly. You—”
    “I’ll scream and hit you so hard you’ll see stars,” she yelled, as he lunged. Thankfully he was so drunk, he staggered. Jenna might look like a small whale, but she could still move, and she sidestepped him. When his greasy hands grabbed for her, she swung the plunger with all her might. It whacked him in the face and the dull reverberation shimmied up her arms. If it had been a bat, he’d have been knocked out cold. Instead he stumbled back, slipped in a puddle of water on the tile floor, and slammed his head on the grimy sink.
    At first Jenna stood frozen to the spot as he started to fall like a tree in the middle of the woods, but she didn’t stay to see him hit the ground. She spun and ran, grateful when the cool air of the morning hit her heated skin.
    She scanned the parking lot for a cattle trailer. Boy, was this place full. Two cowboys in the truck stop diner had been discussing the cattle they were carrying down the road to Wishing Springs. Her luck seemed good today, because that was where she was trying to get. She’d slipped out back to the women’s restroom, figuring since her bladder had a baby sitting on it she better prepare for the journey.
    She’d been trying to leave when the drunk had come in. He’d been watching her and had obviously followed her out.
    Yet, her good luck returned, and she finally spied the dusty silver Dodge hitched to a long cattle trailer filled to the hilt with bawling cattle. Relief washed through her so sweet it made her breathless. Though maybe the breathless part came from the fact that she was seven months pregnant. Moving as quickly as she could, she faltered when a stabbing pain stole her breath. Had she strained something with the force of her swing?
    By the time she reached the trailer, she hadn’t come up with any great ideas on how she could get inside. Whew, cattle did not travel politely—she had to hold her nose at the stench. It was a mess in there, but if she had to, inside was where she would get. Easing to the back of the truck, instead, she peeked into the bed. Yes. There was a tarp spread out over something lumpy. Whatever it was filled the back end and large sacks of feed secured the tarp.
    Ignoring the pain radiating through her, Jenna hiked her short leg up to the high bumper then hoisted herself over the tailgate and into the bed. Just as she made it, she spotted the two cowboys crossing the lot toward her. She wasted no time crawling under the tarp and burrowing as deeply as she could beneath it. Curling around her baby, she bit back a cry of pain and prayed the cowboys didn’t need to look under the tarp.

    Maggie stared at the camera that would film