by Eileen Green
Alex was fully dressed, as if he was going out to dinner or on a date.
Once they were back at the club, they checked the recordings and discovered there was just one man, and they found out he had been parked across the street for over four hours before he drove away. The picture of the man wasn’t clear, but Gerard would try to memorize what he could about him.
“Anyone recognize him?” Shane asked.
Gerard and Chad shook their heads. But Gerard knew one thing. “Because this is the second time someone has staked out the joint, I think for the safety of the club and its members, we need to start patrolling the perimeter of the building.”
Shane was leaning against the file cabinet that stood in the corner of the room, his massive arms crossed over his chest. “I agree. We’ll have to take one step further to protect everyone.”
Following Shane and Alex out to the main room, Gerard needed to check on Carrie and Thomas.
The night was over as everyone decided to cut it short after the incident. The men were careful as they escorted their women out to their vehicles, and the women who were there alone were accompanied by a dungeon monitor or even Doms who were taken. Once the club had emptied out, Shane’s subs, along with Alex’s, were sitting with Carrie who looked frightened.
Sunk back into the oversized cream-colored leather couch, she looked like she was ready to bolt, which Gerard couldn’t allow. Alex and Shane’s subs were trying to talk to her, but she still looked panicked.
Several people, including Mistress Eliza, were making their way down the staircase. They had booked space in the private rooms. They headed for the locker rooms, all except Mistress Eliza. She made her way over to Carrie.
The tall elegant woman who was dressed in a black and gold corset, black boy shorts, and her typical thigh high boots, pulled an ottoman up in front of Carrie and sat down gracefully. Gerard moved closer to the area and observed.
“Sweetie, it’s all right. No one got in,” Mistress Eliza soothed as she reached out and took Carrie’s hand in hers.
“What if it was the person who I feel watching me?” Carrie asked, her voice small.
Gerard hated that Carrie had that feeling. He and Thomas wanted to protect her, but he knew they couldn’t just lock her up somewhere to do that. However, her question did make him think. Was it possible the person who tried to get into the club was the one who she felt?
“We have to hope that your men will find him. Just let them protect you.” Mistress Eliza sat for a minute before she stood and headed for the locker room.
Carrie looked up at Gerard, confusion on her face along with concern. He knew she was debating whether she could approach him since he was working. Wanting to assure her, Gerard stepped over to her, pulled her to her feet, and then wrapped his arms around her. He held her tight until he felt her body begin to relax. He and Thomas would make sure she understood that she was safe with them. And, he would do anything to keep her safe.
* * * *
For the first time in her career, Carrie called in sick. A headache had begun on the way back to Thomas’s house after the incident at the club. When they got to the house, both men had climbed into bed on either side of her in the large bed, and they held her close between them. She savored the feel of them, pretending for the night that she was safe. It was the knowledge that as soon as she stepped out of the house it was possible she wouldn’t be.
It was a Thursday, which meant both men had to go into work in the afternoon. What was she to do? She didn’t want to hang out at the club, for even that didn’t feel that safe now, and she couldn’t just sit around her by herself. Thomas and Gerard would never let her anyway.
Gerard stirred first. His arm slid around her waist before he kissed her shoulder. “Good morning, sugar. How are you feeling?”
She wanted to say she was fine, but then she knew she would be in trouble for lying to him. “My head feels like it’s about to split open.”
“She tossed and turned all night, also,” Thomas said from her other side.
The master bedroom had a bank of four windows side by side that faced east, and of course with Thomas being a busy man, he really hadn’t taken any care with choosing aesthetic items for the house. The curtains covering the windows were sheer so they could lie in the large bed and look out at the city lights in the distance at night and the beauty of it during the day. Tinted windows helped, but the sun was still making its way in, hurting Carrie’s eyes.
“We need better curtains,” she whined.
“Do you get these headaches very often?” Thomas asked as he turned towards her.
Moving her arm up, she laid her forearm across her eyes to help block out the brightness. “Only when I’m really stressed out. So much has happened in the past week, and last night didn’t help. I don’t want to be a burden to you.”
Thomas moved her arm and was gazing down at her when she opened her eyes after a few seconds. The look in his eyes told her he wasn’t happy with her statement. She knew as soon as the words left her mouth that it might sound like she wasn’t happy, but she was. The pain was detouring her thoughts so she couldn’t explain properly. She closed her eyes and sighed.
Silence filled the room. She waited for Thomas to say something, but after nearly a minute, she couldn’t take it anymore. Opening her eyes, she found both men looking down upon her, concern on their faces.
A small smile crossed Thomas’s face. His voice was soft when he said, “You are not a burden, no matter what happens, little one. You could never be. Sometimes things happen that we can’t control. We’re here to help you with whatever is going on. You say you feel like someone is watching you, and that is one reason why we don’t want you driving anymore. We can’t protect you out there, especially since we would be working at the same time as you. Can you see that now?”
Nodding slowly, she responded with a soft “Yes. I’m sorry I fought you on this. You just have to remember I’m so used to doing things for myself. Also, I don’t know how to work a relationship. I never witnessed love before.”
“Just let it come naturally, sugar. It’ll come to you, but promise if you have doubts about anything, or a problem, you’ll talk to us about it.” Gerard looked so sincere as he spoke. “Communication is the most important thing in our lifestyle, but also in any relationship.”
She knew that. She preached it in every session she had with couples who were having trouble. Why was it so hard for her to remember her own advice? ‘Physician, heal thyself’ came to mind.
Carrie nodded as her eyes closed slowly. She felt Thomas rise. She opened her eyes to see him pulling off the comforter from the bed and then taking it over to the windows. He worked at tying two corners up on the curtain rod, covering a large part of the windowed area. The sunlight dimmed quite a bit, easing some of her pain. Thomas returned to the bed, climbed in next to her, and then cuddled up to her.
Both men offered a lot of heat, so the loss of the comforter wasn’t a great one, but she loved that she was between them even though they were just resting. She let sleep overtake her again.
* * * *
“Do you think that’s the end of the argument?” Gerard asked Thomas several hours later as they worked together in the kitchen. Carrie was still asleep upstairs.
Neither one of them could get back to sleep once Carrie did. They both savored the time with each other, holding each other’s hands.
Shane had called and told Thomas that Clara drove Carrie’s car over to Thomas’s house so she would have her car. They didn’t want to disturb the threesome, so Shane and Clara left quietly.
When Thomas’s and Gerard’s stomachs began to rumble, they knew they would need to get some food, and have something ready for their woman when she woke up. They both pulled on a pair of Thomas’s sweatpants before heading to the kitchen.
“I hope so. I know the argument about us helping her out financially will still be there, but from what she said, she’s paid down most of it. Perhaps
by the time she agrees to marry us, she’ll let us finish paying them off.”
Thomas continued stirring the scrambled eggs for several seconds before he stopped. Gerard smiled. He thought perhaps Thomas hadn’t heard him with the crackling of the bacon frying in the pan close by, but then Thomas slowly turned, a quizzical look on his face.
“What did you say?” he asked quietly.
Gerard hadn’t meant to blurt out the statement. He wanted Carrie there whenever they spoke about this, but the words just kinda tumbled out of his mouth. Carrie was the one for Gerard and Thomas. However, she was still asleep. Thomas was in front of Gerard, stunned.
Stepping forward, Gerard turned the knobs on the stove and then reached around to move the skillets off the burners. Thomas turned around to face Gerard who smiled at the man.
“You heard me correctly.” Gerard reached down and grasped hold of one of Thomas’s hands. “I intend to marry you, Thomas Thompson. From the moment I saw you for the first time, I knew. I know this is wrong, me asking you, but you and I must hold a united front to Carrie when we tell her. I know she won’t understand, and she will argue, but I really mean it. I love you, and I love—”
The sound of the front slamming caught both men’s attention. Thomas’s brow rose and Gerard thought of what he had just said, and what Carrie could have possibly heard. He realized she hadn’t waited long enough for him say he loved her, too.
Both looked at each other again and then ran towards the front door. By the time Thomas opened the door and ran out, Carrie was backing up out of the driveway. From where he was, Gerard could see the tears streaming down her face as she threw the car into gear and sped off down the street.
“Fuck!” Thomas exclaimed as he turned around and ran to the bedroom. “She must have heard you talking, but she assumed something else.”
He quickly dressed in jeans and a dark green long-sleeved thermal shirt. Gerard, still in a bit of shock, dressed in the clothes he had come in her the night before, when everything was still good. Thomas grabbed his keys and wallet from the dresser and slipped on a pair of black sneakers that were sitting next to the bedroom door. Gerard donned his also.
“She’ll probably head to her place,” Gerard said as he followed Thomas out to the garage where they both got into the classic Challenger. Once Thomas had cleared the garage door and pulled out onto the street, Gerard hit the garage door opener so it would close.
He felt helpless as he sat there in the passenger seat repeatedly calling her cell, but it was going straight to voicemail. Shame filled him that he had even said what he did to Thomas. He should have waited until the three of them were together.
“It’s not your fault,” Thomas said as he maneuvered the streets expertly. “She assumed something, and she should know better.”
His hands were fisted tightly between his knees. Gerard knew Thomas was right, but he was still mad at himself.
“If you don’t stop beating yourself up about this over there,” Thomas began, “I’m going to take it out of your hide at the club. Carrie will also be getting punished there for this. We just talked about communication, and then she does this?”
“I’m sorry. I know it’s not my fault. But I should have waited. I love you both so much, and I want to be a family, and I jumped the gun.” Gerard stared out the windshield, hoping to get a glimpse of Carrie’s car, yet she had at least a three-or-four-minute head start on them. “What if she’s not at her place?”
“Then we’ll have to call Shane.”
They drove the rest of the way in silence. When they got to the apartment she shared with her roommate, they discovered her car wasn’t there. They waited another five minutes for her, but she didn’t arrive.
She had been crying so hard when she drove away, Gerard feared her tears had blocked her vision and she’d had an accident. Or, she may have pulled over.
His stomach did a nosedive as he thought about her out there, by herself, because she heard something that she had misinterpreted. “God, please let her be all right!” he prayed quietly. “I can’t lose her!”
“Shane! I need you to track Carrie’s car!” Thomas practically screamed into his phone. “She’s missing!”
Chapter Fourteen
Pain shot up her shoulder, then her neck, and into her head. Her head that already ached. Stars erupted in her head from all the pain, and on top of it, her heart ached.
Gerard had told Thomas he loved him, and that he wanted to marry him. However, he hadn’t said the words about Carrie. She had been such an idiot! Blindly she had let them lead her, and now, she had wasted so much time on them.
And, to top it off, when she had pulled up in front of the apartment building to go inside, her passenger door had been pulled open, and someone and jumped in the seat and slammed her body against her door. Now, her headache, and heartache, was the least of her worries.
Her vision cleared enough to see that it was a very angry Victor Schmidt, holding a gun. She began to reach for the door handle, until he ground out between gritted teeth, “Don’t do anything stupid, bitch! You’re going to do as you’re told, or I’ll shoot.”
She had read enough books and seen enough movies to know that he was going to hurt her anyway. However, the pain coursing through her body was consuming her, and she needed time to think. This was a residential area, and people could get hurt if he started shooting.
When Mr. Schmidt had missed his third appointment, she knew there was a chance he could become unhinged. He had a history of violence for that was why he had been coming to see her. His wife had gone to the hospital one night bruised and battered after she had taken her children to a neighbor’s house for safe keeping. She had suffered a broken collarbone and arm, several broken fingers, and a concussion. That night, he hadn’t abused the kids, but he had in the past.
It was only the second time he had been arrested because according to Mrs. Schmidt, she still loved him and didn’t want to see him in jail. He had gotten off easy, again. As part of his probation to be able to see his kids, he had to see a therapist, and that’s where Carrie came in.
Putting her hands on the steering wheel, Carrie looked straight ahead, waiting for instructions. She knew Thomas and Gerard would come after her, or would they? Her heart kept saying yes, and most of her brain kept telling her it was all a misunderstanding. Would they try to save her if they knew she was in trouble?
She couldn’t stop the tears as they fell. She felt abandoned, and there was a big possibility she was going to die.
“Head to Highway 6 and then take Highway 70 west, and don’t try to gain anyone’s attention. We’re just going to go for a leisurely drive in the mountains,” Mr. Schmidt instructed, the gun pointing at her from where he held it close to his chest.
Regrets filled her as she maneuvered through the city streets. She had hardly any friends, and the one time she opened her heart, she had it ripped out of her chest. All the time she had wasted studying, she could have been out partying like all the other students. As she’d done her residency, she had still held tight to the no-friends, no-fun adage. There would always be time later for that.
Well, aren’t you the stupid one?
Oh, shut up!
You know they do love you. You just found an out and ran with it!
Not true! I heard what Gerard said!
Be smart. You know you only heard part of what he said. You put yourself in this situation.
God, she hated it when she battled herself. She was usually more confused after an episode, and it took so much out of her. If she didn’t stop now, she was going to be in worse pain than she already was.
Driving steadily so as not to irritate the man next to her, Carrie wondered if she could unhook the pepper spray container off the turn signal indicator she kept there. She did have a way of protecting herself in case a passenger got out of hand. Thankfully, she hadn’t had to use it yet.
They had just turned on Highway 6 heading west, so there was really no
need to use the signal. Traffic was light for this time of day, so she would have to time this just right so he wouldn’t see what she was doing.
* * * *
“Her car is heading west on 6,” Shane said as he was heading east on Highway 6 himself as he had just gotten on the freeway. One earpiece was the lifeline between Thomas and Gerard, and the other, his office. He had a third phone he could use even though hand-held cells were against the law. “I already have a call into the police. They have an APB out on Carrie, and they’re going to try to locate her on the traffic cams.”
“Her roommate said she saw a man get into Carrie’s car and slam her into the door. She couldn’t be certain, but she thought she might have seen a gun,” Thomas said from the other end of the connection. He sounded scared and irritated which Shane couldn’t blame him.
Shane had gotten lucky when that asshole came after Clara. They were able to set up a sting operation to catch him before he could hurt her. With this, they hadn’t been sure anyone was after Carrie, and now, the bastard had her.
“Do we have any idea who might want to hurt her?” Shane asked as he moved around a slower moving vehicle in front of him.
“I just spoke with her assistant at her office. There was a patient who had missed a few appointments with her. She was his court-appointed therapist in relation to his probation,” Gerard said. “His name is Victor Schmidt. He beat the shit out of his wife one too many times, landing her in the hospital. He can’t see his kids unless he attends therapy.”
“Carrie didn’t say anything about him to you guys?” he asked as he sped up.
“No. She just said it felt as if someone was watching her.” Thomas practically growled over the phone line.
“Hey, Dash,” Shane said quickly, having to bounce to his second in charge on his third phone. “I need you to check into a guy named Victor Schmidt. Has a record for spousal abuse.”
