by Marla Monroe
“Yes. Everything’s fine.” She turned and strode to the other end of the bar to put as much distance between her and Charles as she could. The fact that he was standing next to Phillip and Jasper freaked her out, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She certainly couldn’t demand that Charles leave, and she didn’t want to cause a scene.
Caro could feel Charles’s eyes following her as she filled drink orders and loaded the dishwasher. It had always felt creepy to her to have him constantly watching her. It didn’t feel that way when the guys watched her while she worked. It felt comforting. She felt cherished instead of smothered.
How was she going to get Charles away from Phillip and Jasper? She didn’t like them so close to the bastard.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Jill said a few seconds later when she walked up to the bar and dropped her empties into the garbage.
“Guess I have. Someone from my past is here.”
“I take it it’s someone you’d rather not have seen,” Jill said.
“Yeah. I never wanted to see him again. Now he’s here, and I don’t know what he wants.”
“Have you said anything to the guys about it? I’m sure they’d be glad to tell him to get lost.” Jill waited as Caro set up the drinks for her tables.
“He’s standing right next to them. I don’t want to say anything to them while he’s right there.”
“That’s the perfect time to tell them. Don’t let this guy win by making you uncomfortable, Caro. Tell the guys.” Jill lifted her tray heavy with drinks and threaded her way through the crowd to disperse her load.
Caro drew in a deep breath and walked to the end of the bar where Phillip, Jasper, and Charles stood talking. She had no idea what they could be talking about, but she didn’t like it. She didn’t want the taint of Charles to touch them.
“Hey, sweetness,” Jasper said, handing her his empty bottle. “How about another one?”
“What about you, Phillip?” she asked.
“Set me up, too, babe.”
“Coming right up.” She uncapped two bottles of beer and set them in front of them.
“What about me? Do I get another?” Charles asked.
“You need to leave, Charles. I don’t want you here,” she said.
Charles’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t tell me where I can be, Caro.”
“Right. It was just me that had to do and say and be what you wanted. I left for a reason, and I don’t intend on having to go through that again. You have no business here, so you need to leave.”
“Caro? You know this man?” Phillip asked.
“He’s my ex. I left St. Louis because of him.”
“You’re the one who treated her like shit? You have some nerve showing your face around here,” Phillip said.
Jasper stood and walked around the other side of him. “Think your welcome is about out here.”
“You can’t throw me out of a public bar when I’m not causing any trouble,” Charles said.
“Curly, can we toss this guy out on his ass? He’s bothering Caro,” Phillip said.
“I’ll help you throw him out.” Curly walked around the bar and grabbed one of Charles’s arms with Phillip on the other side of him.
“You can’t do this. I’ll have you brought up on charges,” Charles yelled.
“I own this place, so I can do anything I want to do. If you’re bothering my barkeeper, then you don’t get to drink here. Don’t come back,” Curly said as he and Phillip shoved him through the door. Curly whispered to the bouncer, and the man nodded.
“He won’t be coming back in here,” Curly said.
“Thanks, guys, but now I’m worried he’ll try something. I don’t understand why he’s here. I wasn’t anyone special because he was cheating on me when I left him,” Caro said.
“Some guys can’t take rejection, and you rejected him when you left. You don’t need to be by yourself as long as he’s in town. You can stay with us. We’ll take you to work and bring you home each night until he leaves town,” Phillip said.
“I don’t want to live like that. That’s putting you guys out, cutting into your work days,” she said.
“Sweetness, nothing is too much for you. We can easily take a thirty-minute break from working to take you to work. Plus, we’ll get to spend more time with you,” Jasper said.
She smiled. “I’d like that, but what if he doesn’t go away after a few days? I can’t move in with you guys full time.”
Phillip laughed. “Sure you can. We’ve wanted you to move in with us for the last couple of weeks, but knew it was too soon to expect you to feel the same way.”
“You have?”
“Yeah. We’ve been talking about how to talk you into it without making you think we’re trying to manage you or something. We just want to spend more time with you. Wake up next to you each morning,” Jasper said.
“I need to think about it. I can’t jump into anything. One of the reasons is the person you threw out. I make bad decisions sometimes, and I have to be sure this is the best one, guys.”
“You can’t go anywhere without one of us with you until he’s gone,” Phillip said.
“You’re caging me in, Phillip. I don’t want to be caged like that.”
“I’m not trying to prevent you from doing anything you want to do, babe, but while he’s out there, I don’t want to take any chances with you. Let us keep you safe until we can get him to leave. Please, Caro.”
“I’m staying in my apartment, but I’d appreciate it if you’d take me to work and pick me up for now,” she finally said.
“Thanks, babe. That will keep us from worrying about you some. Remember not to open your door to anyone but me or Jasper. Okay?” Phillip asked.
“Okay. I can do that.”
“That’s all that we ask, sweetness. We only want to keep you safe. We aren’t trying to hover too much,” Jasper said.
“I know. I’m just really touchy about having my wings clipped. I know that you’re only wanting to keep me safe.”
“Tonight, I’ll drive you home in your car, and Jasper can pick me up from your place. That way you’ll have your car at the apartment,” Phillip said.
“I need to get back to work before Curly fires me. Thanks, guys,” Caro said.
The rest of the night went without incident unless you counted the fight that broke out over a game of pool. Seemed that one of the players tried to cheat by moving the cue ball with his elbow while the other player was getting a drink of his beer. Someone called him on it, and the fight was on. That got taken care of quickly though.
Caro finished up her bar duties and waited for Curly and the others to meet her at the back of the bar. Jill winked at her as Curly and the other two waitresses walked up.
“Told you to let your guys handle it,” Jill said in a whisper.
“I know. I’m still not sure it was the best thing to do. Now I don’t know what Charles will do next,” she told her.
“Stay close to your men. They’ll take care of you,” Jill said.
Phillip and Jasper were standing by her car when she walked out with the others. Phillip took her car key, and then Jasper helped her into the passenger seat before he closed the door and walked over to where he’d parked the truck. Phillip pulled out behind one of the waitresses and Jasper tailed them.
Once they parked at her apartment, Caro climbed down from her SUV and wasn’t at all surprised to have both men walk her up to her apartment. Phillip insisted on checking out the place before he allowed her to enter. Then they each enfolded her in their arms for one of their world-famous kisses that curled her toes before reminding her to lock up.
Caro nodded and did as they said once the door was closed. She didn’t put the love seat in front of the door this time but double-checked that all the windows were locked before she took her shower and climbed into bed. She dozed off and on the rest of the night but woke around noon to someone knocking on her door. She dressed in a pai
Opening the door, she smiled at the older woman only to gasp when Charles stepped from the other side of the door to grab her by the arm.
“Hello, Caro. We’ve got so much to talk about. I’m sure you don’t want this nice lady to have an accident on the stairs. Let’s make sure she gets home safely, shall we?”
Chapter Thirteen
Jasper pulled up outside Caro’s apartment and climbed out of his truck to get her. He couldn’t wait to see her again. It had only been about twelve hours since he’d last seen her, but it didn’t matter. He loved being around her. Loved touching and holding her. He just plain loved her.
He climbed the stairs two at a time and knocked on her door. When there wasn’t an answer, he knocked again a little louder. Still there was no answer after a good ten minutes. That would have been plenty of time for her to have gotten out of the shower if she’d been running late. Worry ate at his chest like a hungry tiger. Why wasn’t she answering the door?
He raced back down the stairs and walked over to the house where the owners lived. He knocked on their back door and waited. Finally an older woman answered and smiled.
“Hi, are you one of Caro’s friends? I think I’ve seen your truck her before,” she said. “Would you like to come in?”
“No thanks. I’m trying to find Caro. She isn’t answering her door, and I’m supposed to take her to work today,” he said.
“Oh, is something wrong with her car?” the lady asked.
“Um, it’s been acting up, so we were going to take her to and from work until she could get it checked,” Jasper said.
“Maybe that other nice young man was taking her to work. He picked her up about lunchtime this morning,” she said.
“What other man?” he asked.
“Oh, I didn’t get his name, but he had light red hair and a mustache and was a little shorter than you are. Not much mind you. Said he’d knocked but she hadn’t answered, and he wanted to surprise her, so I went with him to get her. She was sure surprised. They helped me walk back down the stairs and back to the house. Nice young man. Held my arm all the way to be sure I didn’t fall.”
“Did Caro say anything?” Jasper asked.
“Actually, she didn’t say much of anything at all other than to be careful with me. She didn’t want me to fall.”
“What color car where they in?” he asked.
“It was a blue car. Why do you need to know that?” she asked.
“I think the man she’s with is her ex-boyfriend, and he might hurt her. Do you remember anything else about the car?”
“It had four doors. I’m sorry. That’s all I remember.”
“Thanks, ma’am.” Jasper hurried over to his truck and backed out of the drive to head toward town.
“Call Phillip.”
The hands-free system dialed Phillip’s cell as Jasper drove well over the speed limit to get to town and hopefully find the man’s car, and with it Caro.
“Hey, you on the way to the bar with Caro?” Phillip asked by way of greeting.
“Charles has her. He took her from the apartment in front of the landlady. We need to find her.” Jasper took a turn a little too fast and slid.
“Slow down. You’re not going to help her if you have a wreck. I’m on my way. Did you get a description of the car he’s driving?” Phillip asked.
“Blue, four door. It’s the best she could give me. It should have Missouri plates though. Unless he rented a car, and then it will still have out-of-state plates. Hell, stop any blue four door you see and make sure Caro isn’t in the car,” Jasper said.
“Should we call the police?” Phillip asked.
“I’m afraid he’ll hurt her if he sees them looking for them.”
“You’re probably right.”
Jasper cursed when he nearly ran over a pedestrian in the crosswalk. “We’ve got to find her.”
“I’m right behind you. I’ll take the north side of town and you take the south side. We keep in touch. Got it?” Phillip asked.
“Yeah. Hurry. I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Jasper said.
“Neither do I, but we’ll find her, man. We’ll find her and keep her safe from now on,” Phillip said.
By the time Jasper made it to town, he was a nervous wreck. Where would he have taken her, and what if he was already heading back to St. Louis? They’d never find her. He drew in several deep breaths to try to calm his racing heart and ease the lump that was clogging his throat. They had to find her.
He drove slowly through the city streets, looking down every driveway and between every house in hopes of finding a blue four door. To his surprise, there weren’t that many cars. Most everyone had trucks. It made the search easier, but he wasn’t coming up with anything.
His phone rang, he answered it on the first ring. “Are you in town?”
“Yeah. Nothing so far, what about you?” Phillip asked.
“Nothing. I’ve only found one blue four door, and it belongs to Ms. Stevens. I’m over on Pine Ridge Road. Where are you?”
“I’m just turning off of Glendale onto Periwinkle Drive,” Phillip said.
“Keep the phone on. I don’t want to waste time calling you back if I need help,” Jasper said.
“Got it. Same here.”
They drove around town for nearly an hour but didn’t find the blue car they were looking for. They even drove through the town’s only two motels several times to be sure they hadn’t missed the car.
“Now what?” Jasper asked.
“Let’s go to the bar and see if anyone remembers seeing that car in town today,” Phillip said.
“I guess so. I can’t think of anything else to do. We can’t lose her,” Jasper said.
“We aren’t going to. We’re going to find her.”
They pulled into the bar’s parking lot and climbed down from their trucks. When they walked inside, it was to Curly behind the bar with a fierce scowl on his face.
“Where the fuck is Caro? She’s never missed a shift before,” Curly snarled.
“She’s missing. Her ex-boyfriend took her. We’re trying to find her. We need to see if anyone remembers seeing a blue four-door car with out-of-state tags around town,” Phillip said.
“Have you called the police?” Curly asked.
“If we get them involved he might hurt her. We’ve got to find her ourselves,” Jasper said.
Curly walked over to the stage where the band was playing and grabbed the mic from the lead singer. He waved his hand to get the band to stop playing.
“Quiet down, everyone. Has anyone seen a blue four-door car with out-of-state tags around town today? Someone’s kidnapped Caro, your bartender.”
There were lots of rumblings as most of the people there loved it when she worked. Several men shook their heads, but one man stood and called out that he’d seen one hauling ass out of town around one that afternoon.
“What direction was he going?” Jasper asked.
“Out toward Crystal Springs,” the man said.
“Thanks.” Phillip and Jasper nodded at Curly and then raced back to their trucks.
Once inside, Phillip got Jasper on the phone again, so they could communicate while they drove.
“That’s not in the direction of Missouri,” Phillip pointed out.
“No, but they have campgrounds out there, so he might have her at one of them.”
“Why? What does he want? She said he’d never really physically hurt her before. Would he do that now?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to take a chance with her life,” Phillip said.
“Neither do I.” Jasper sped up as fast as he thought he could go and still maintain control of the truck. Phillip was right behind him.
They made it to Crystal Springs and split up searching the camp grounds. There were spots all over the area with some being for campers and others for primitive camping.
“Jasper. I think I’ve found them.” Phillip gave him directions to where he was currently stopped on the other side of the springs.
As soon as he pulled up next to his brother, he could just make out the blue car parked next to a large tent and a picnic table.
“I wonder how long he’s been staying out here? That’s a nice tent for primitive camping,” Jasper said.
“There’s no telling how long he’s been stalking her.” Phillip climbed out of his truck as Jasper did the same thing. “We need to be careful not to make any noise to spook him.”
“He parked right next to one of the springs so that’s going to help disguise our movements. I bet he didn’t think about that,” Jasper said.
“What if he has a weapon on her?” Phillip asked.
“We cross that bridge when we come to it. I don’t have anything with me. Do you?” Jasper asked.
“No. I’m a fucking computer programmer. I don’t usually hunt down bad guys,” Phillip snapped.
“Come on. We need to move. I don’t want her in his hands any longer than possible,” Jasper said.
They crept from tree to tree toward the sandy-colored tent. They soon reached the last one before the tent and circled around to where the door of the tent was located. If they got too close, their shadows would alert whoever was inside to their presence. They backed away so that they could make a plan without him overhearing them speaking.
“The door is zipped shut. There’s a zipper on both sides so we can unzip it and jump him, but that’s going to give him time to make Caro his shield if he has a weapon,” Phillip whispered.
“Let’s grab a tree limb and make a cracking sound before throwing it on the tent to make him think a limb fell. That way he might come out to check on it and not be close to Caro when we jump him,” Jasper suggested.
“Kind of crazy, but it just might work.” Phillip glanced around. “Don’t see anything close by. Let’s look closer to the creek.”
They finally found one large enough to get Charles’ attention but wouldn’t crush the tent. Then they timed it just right so that Jasper broke a limb to make a loud cracking noise and Phillip threw the limb on the tent before hiding behind a tree while they waited to see what would happen next.
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