by J. L. Beck
As I wait for their response I make copies of all the data I recovered and send it to a secure server. I also make a hard copy on a thumb drive. Then I create a mass email and attach all the evidence I found, as well as the location of Whiteside’s laptop. I set the email on a delayed send. The recipients include the District Attorney’s office, a few lawyers, everyone at the Sheriff’s office and multiple news stations. It won’t send until eight in the morning. This way it doesn’t matter what happens to me today, the truth will come out, no matter what. Lastly, I write an email to Brandon. This one I set to send tomorrow at noon. I tell him how much I love him and that I am sorry for everything that has happened. If everything goes as planned, I will have enough time to delete this email before it ever sends.
Another Bing alerts me of a new email. HE WILL BE WALKING OUT IN 20 MINUTES.
Triumphant, I shut the laptop, gather my things and start heading to the exit. I stop at the front desk and the lady with that glasses looks up at me with a can-I-help-you? expression.
“I just found this near a library computer, do you have a lost and found you can put it in?” I ask the her in my friendliest voice.
“We sure do. Thanks, you are so sweet,” she said, and I hand her the laptop.
30
I sit in the truck, in the corner of the library parking lot for five more minutes before I crank the engine. It will only take me 12 minutes to get to the location. While I drive, I let the plan run through my mind a few more times. It’s simple, get Reed, take him to the cabin and wait there until all the information is released and we are safe. What could go wrong?
A lot of things could go wrong! That is the last thing that goes through my mind when I turn into the parking lot of the run-down warehouse the GPS on my phone leads me to. My hands are sweating profusely and my heart rate must be through the roof. I am taking quick ragged breaths and I have to force myself to calm down before I hyperventilate.
Just when I drive up to the entrance, the door opens and I stop breathing all together. Then I see Reed walking out and my lungs fill with needed air. Relief overcomes me. Now that he is wearing clothes again, he almost looks as if nothing has happened. He takes long and fast strides toward me and before I know it the passenger door swings open and he climbs into the truck.
I want to throw myself at him, hug and kiss him but I know we are not safe yet. Someone could still shoot at us so I just take his hand to cool down the need to somehow touch him. He wraps his fingers around mine, strong and gentle at the same time.
“How did you do it?” His voice is rough and coarse like he needs some water.
“I’ll tell you everything, but first let’s get out of here.”
I slowly start driving away from the building. My eyes rapidly scanning our surroundings for any danger. I pick up speed, needing to put more space in between us and the building. I take a few unnecessary turns and keep looking in the rearview mirror to make sure no one is following us.
After a few minutes I am sure we are safe. The next hour feels like a string of déjà vu’s. Driving up to the mountain. Walking the trail in the darkness. Getting to the cabin and patching up Reed.
I gave him an overview about what I did to get him out while we were walking up the hill, which seemed to quench his thirst for questions until now.
“You told me that you figured out who the Magnolia family is but you didn’t say how you did that and who they are.” Reed asks, while I am finishing up working on his stomach. He is sitting on the bed, propped up on the headboard and I am sitting on the edge of the bed with my legs hanging off.
“By accident really,” I start explaining, “when I recovered the files from Whiteside’s computer, two of them popped up together. They were from a folder of potential suspects, but they had been deleted on different days so they probably weren’t next to each other before. One was Brian Magness and the other one was Liam Oliander. The first four letters of each last name combined?”
“Magnolia.” Reed fills in the blanks. “That’s why we never found someone by that name. It’s not one family who runs this organization. Its two.”
I take a large bandage and put it over the freshly cleaned wound. I gently smooth it out with my fingertips. Then I run my hand over the rest of his stomach pretending I am examining his injuries. I pull my eyebrows together as I would if I was deep in concentration and keep inspecting his shirtless upper body. I’m using both of my hands now, touching every inch of his chest, every curvature of his shoulders and every muscle of his arms.
Reed is laying still, but he is visibly enjoying my exploration of his body. His eyes are half closed, he is breathing heavy and every once in a while, a soft groan escapes his lips. Those kissable lips of his. I move up on the bed, kneeling next to him. I brace myself on his broad shoulders and lean forwards to kiss him. We have kissed before but this somehow feels different. He tastes sweeter. His hands grab my waist to pull me closer and his touch also feels different. More intimate, more intense. Everything just seems more.
My hands trail back to his chest, downwards to his navel but this time I don’t stop there. I keep going until I reach his jeans and then I sit back on my own legs. I undo the button and unzip the zipper. I put my hand down his pants to free his erection. I keep one hand on the base and lean my head closer to plant a soft kiss on the tip before I take him in between my lips. I push down with my mouth and my hand simultaneously, first only a little bit, then I start taking him all the way.
“Christ, Evie.” Reed mutters. One of his hands digs into my hair and cradle the back of my head. I fall into a steady rhythm and when I peek up at Reed his eyes are closed and his head is leaning back against the wall. I can feel him getting even harder in my mouth and I know he is close. I let out a muffled moan and the vibration in my throat drives him over the edge. I take him deep one last time and let him cum in my throat. His hand tightens in my hair and his whole body tenses before he relaxes back into the mattress.
I sit up and find his smoldering eyes looking at me. They look a shade darker when he says, “Come here and turn around.”
I oblige happily and turn to sit on his lap, leaning my back on his chest. He brings his arms around my stomach and starts undoing my jeans. Once that’s done he puts one hand down my pants and uses the other one to push my shirt and my bra up. The cool air chills the skin on my stomach and my breasts but my back is warmed by Reed, making my skin burn. I am hot and cold at the same time and the sensation is surprisingly arousing. I lean my head back to rest it on Reed’s shoulder as he starts to move his fingers through my folds. Two fingers find my clit and start rubbing a circular motion. At the same time, his other hand starts kneading my breast. I start moaning and stirring under his touch. He works my nipple until it’s one hard peak, then he gives the other one equal attention. My hips are moving, trying to meet his fingers and increase the friction. I am shifting restlessly on top of him, my hands clutching the bed sheet beside me. He starts rubbing me faster and with amplified pressure. His hand on my breast also becomes firmer, but what drives me over the edge is when he starts kissing my neck. His lips are hot and wet on the sensitive area under my ear and the pressure that has been building between my legs reaches a boiling point.
My mind goes blank and I let out a loud whimper when it hits me. All-consuming pleasure overwhelms my body, dominating every part of me until there is nothing left besides complete satisfaction.
Luckily, I am already lying in bed. There is no way I will be able to move any time soon, my body wrung out like I just ran a marathon.
Reed readjusts my bra, pulls my shirt back down and buttons up my jeans, making me feel like a life size doll. He starts to lazily stroke my arms and the sensation of this simple touch feels weirdly hypnotic to me. I close my eyes and I am about to drift off but Reed’s voice pulls me back.
“I keep thinking that you must be a dream. I don’t want to go to sleep, thinking I might wake up back in my prison cell.” His confession is bot
h sweet and chilling.
“I’m real. This is real and by the end of tomorrow, you will be a free man. You will be able to go wherever and do whatever you want. You can go back to your family and friends.” More quietly I add, “and your ex-girlfriend.”
Reed snorts, “What makes you think that I want to see any of them? They abandoned me when I needed them the most. No calls, no visits, nobody on my side for years and then you show up out of nowhere. You had no reason to help me or even believe me, but you did. I’m scared that you are a mirage or something.”
“I already told you, I am real.” I mumble.
“I guess you must be some kind of angel then. I don’t know how I can ever repay you for what you did for me. You risked everything for me including your life, twice.”
His praise feels like a knife twisting in my stomach. He thinks that I am some kind of saint. He has no idea. The words that I haven’t been able to say out loud since Jason died suddenly feel like poison on my tongue. I twist around so I can look at Reed.
“See him?” I say and point to the picture of me and my brothers on the nightstand. “This is my oldest brother Jason. He died when he was nineteen because of me.” As the truth finally leaves my mouth I can feel pressure building behind my eyes. I try to stop it but the first tear is rolling down my face already. I expect Reed to push me away or look at me in disgust after my confession but all he does is wipe the escaped tear off my face.
“What happened?” He asks, his voice low and calming.
I consider not telling him more, but I already started so I might as well finish. I reposition myself to sit next to him leaning my back on the headboard. Reed takes the blanket and pulls it over both of us. When we are settled I take a deep breath and start to tell him everything.
“My Mom left when I was a baby and my Dad died of a heart attack when I was sixteen. Brandon was seventeen but Jason was already eighteen so they made him our legal custodian. Our dad died so suddenly that we didn’t know what to do, we were so lost. Jason tried his best. We were all three still in school and money ran out quickly. Jason tried to get a good job but no one would pay a teenage kid with no experience enough to feed a family. Our dad was an IT guy who worked as a consultant for large companies on cyber security but he knew pretty much everything about computers. I was always interested in what he was doing and he was all too happy to teach me. Jason knew this of course so he asked me to do something for him. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyways. He wasn’t a bad person, he was just very impulsive. He was the kid that always got in trouble in school. I should have said no.”
The guilt has always been the worst part. My brother is gone and I could have stopped it. If I would have just said no. More tears are running down my face now that I am thinking about what could have been. We lost so much and it is all my fault.
“What happened? Did he ask you to hack some computer?” Reed prompts after I am silently in thought for a few minutes.
“Yeah, you can say that. He asked me to hack into the bank system and make some deposits into our bank account from a few large corporations. It was so stupid. I knew we were going to get caught but Jason insisted that no one would ever notice a few thousand dollars missing out of a million-dollar account.”
Also, we were about to lose the house and be homeless. We were going to lose everything.
“It wasn’t long until the cops showed up at the house. Jason told them that it was all him and they believed him. He had been in jail for a few months when he got into a fight on the rec-yard. They put him in a segregation unit without seeing a doctor. They found him dead in that cell the next morning. He died of internal bleeding.”
Why can’t I stop these stupid tears from streaming down my face? I don’t think I have ever cried this much. Sob after sob escapes my throat and my entire body quivers with each one. Reed puts his arms around me and pulls me on his lap.
I’m glad he doesn’t try to give me the whole ‘you were just a kid and it was not your fault’ speech. I heard that one enough from Brandon. Instead, Reed just holds me until my sobs subside and my breathing evens out. I have a headache, my eyes feel swollen and my throat feels raw, but despite all my physical discomforts I feel better now. I feel more at peace, like saying everything out loud and having a good cry gave me some kind of closure. Still wrapped up in Reed’s arms, I fall asleep with that content feeling.
31
A far away noise drags me out of my sleep. I listen to it without opening my eyes. Bark, bark. A dog, it’s just a dog. I try to go back to sleep but something won’t let me. A feeling that something doesn’t belong. It’s just a dog. I hear more barking, this time a little closer than before. A dog!
My eyes fly open and I jump out of bed. There are no dogs around here. We are too far out and no one takes a hike with their dog in the middle of the night. I run to the window and look out to scan our surroundings. It is still dark outside and I can’t see anyone approaching but I can still hear the barking.
“Reed! Reed!” I whisper loudly and run back to the bed. “Get up! They found us.”
He is on his feet and getting dressed without a further explanation. I am putting my own clothes on as fast as I can. The content feeling, I was experiencing earlier is inconceivable now. Instead, I am overtaken by an all-consuming fear that chills me to the bone. My mind is racing at a hundred miles per minute. How did they find us? What are they going to do with us? How are we going to get away?
I stare at Reed, who is hastily putting on my brother’s old boots.
“I don’t know how they found us up here.” He answers one of my soundless questions. “I do know that the searching dogs will lead them straight to us. We walked that trail three times in the last two days. We need to get away from here.”
I stuff a flashlight in my jacket pocket and we run out the door. I take Reed’s hand and pull him with me around the house. We can see flashlights shine through the thick forest shrub now but they are still a good bit away. I don’t bother turning on my flashlight. It will only give our location away and I know these woods better than anybody else.
“There is a creek just west of here, it is not deep so we can walk through it, all the way down the mountain.” Just thinking about the cold water on my feet and legs make me shudder, but this will be or best bet.
Twigs keep whacking me in the head and on my arms, but the cold wind that is hissing through my hair also made my face go numb so I barely feel the thin branches biting into my skin. My legs starting to get tired but I can’t stop. We can still hear dogs barking in the distance. We need to keep moving. Ignoring my aching legs, I pick up speed again.
I never let go of Reed’s hand, I am so terrified of losing him. I grasp his hand so tightly that I wouldn’t be surprised if he was left with a bruise.
It is so dark outside that I can barely make out the way, the moon is the only light source we have and not much of that penetrates the leaves covering the large forest trees surrounding us.
I can’t see it yet but I can hear the creek now. We basically sprint the last few hundred feet until we reach it. The barking seems slightly further away now. They are probably searching the cabin, but it can’t be long before the dogs continue to lead them in our direction. We stop right in front of the creek. The running water glistening even in the dim light.
“Leave your shoes on.” Reed orders, as I bend down and start to undo my shoe laces with shaky hands. I halt at his words, and look at him.
“Why? We’ve got to walk through the water,” I protest while I watch him take off his own boots.
“You are already shaking like a leaf,” He says and ties his shoelaces in a knot, then hangs his boots around his shoulders. “Get on my back. I’ll carry you.”
There is no time to argue and also, he isn’t wrong. I am already freezing and getting into the ice-cold water would only accelerate my impending hypothermia. I follow his orders, climbing on his back and wrapping my legs around him. He starts walking through
the creek but instead of going down the stream like we planned he walks straight across and put me down on the other side.
“Rub your scent on the tree over there,” he tells me. Now that I get what he is trying to do, I do as he asked while he himself is walking around leaving footprints. The barking is getting closer again and my heart rate spikes at that realization.
I return onto Reed’s back before he carefully steps in the water again, trying not to leave any footprints leading back to the creek. Reed keeps a fast pace even while walking in the water and I am more than thankful that he is carrying me. I’m starting to relax just a little bit when the barking seems to further reside.
I lay my head down on his shoulder and put my face in the crook of his neck. My face is freezing and he is so warm. I inhale his unique scent and it calms me down even more. He is like a drug I can’t get enough of. Even now, in this impossible situation I think about tearing his clothes off. Apparently, being chased through the woods in the middle of the night doesn’t put a damper on my attraction toward Reed. I want him to carry me to bed instead of through this creek. Hell, I would be ok if he takes me to one of the trees we pass and puts me against it. I can feel the pressure building between my legs just thinking about it. God, what is wrong with me? Seriously, I need some therapy or something.
“I think it worked, we confused the dogs with our trail,” I say quietly into Reed’s ear after I reel my thoughts back to more pressing matters, like staying alive and such.
“Yeah, I don’t hear the dogs anymore,” Reed agrees, seemingly oblivious to the porn playing in my mind.
Our victory is short lived when we start hearing voices coming from straight ahead.
“Shit,” Reed mutters and starts finding his way out of the water. As soon as his feet hit the dry ground I jump off his back. He starts to pull on his boots but I stop him.
