Predator

by Michelle Heard

  My mind wanders to Cara and the way she reacted when I used the same toothbrush as her. I can’t wrap my head around what’s happening between us. It’s like a fucking car accident. No matter how you try to avoid crashing, it’s inevitable. We’re going to collide one of these days, and I can only hope that we survive it.

  I know she’s not ready for any kind of relationship, and me… fuck knows what I want.

  I walk into Walmart and head over to the clothes. I grab the first pair of jeans I see and hold them up. Yeah, they look about the right size. I grab a few shirts, another pair of jeans and two pairs of slacks. I come to a standstill in the underwear section.

  Fuck.

  I grab a box of panties and then sigh when my eyes fall on the bras.

  Yeah, like I said, a collision is bound to happen. I stare at the bras until it’s well past the point of weird. I take the first one and then think back to the night before. I only got a glimpse, but the image of Cara’s breasts is crystal-fucking-clear.

  I search through the row of bras until I find one that looks like it will fit. We can get her more later when she can pick them herself.

  I walk over to the shoes. I grab a pair of comfy looking shoes that I think will fit. As I walk to the front of the store, my eyes spot the aisle with deodorant and shit. I sniff at a few cans before I pick one that smells fresh.

  I grab a pack of pads and tampons, hoping it’s the right shit. I spot some razors and take a pack for her. I get a beard trimmer for myself. I’ve let the beard grow too long. I also get her a toothbrush and brush, because I don’t want to freak her out again.

  I stare at the hair dye, but I just can’t take one. She has gorgeous ginger hair. I sigh and glance to my left. There are hats and beanies, and I smile with relief. I get her two hats with flowers and shit on, and then head for the front of the store again, satisfied that I got the essentials.

  I hand the cashier the cash, grab the bags, and stalk out of the store. I’ve taken too long.

  Just as I walk across the parking area of the motel, four men come out of the room next to ours. They laugh and look casual, but every muscle in my body tenses. I keep my head down as I walk by them. I slow my pace and wait until they get into a car. I wait for the car to leave before I open the door to our room.

  My eyes immediately search for her. She’s sitting on the bed, her hands limply on her lap.

  “Got you some clothes,” I say, and I put the bag down on the bed. “Get dressed so we can leave.”

  She keeps staring at the floor, her face devoid of any emotion. She’s got that ‘the lights are on but no one’s home’ look on her face.

  I crouch down in front of her and place my hand on her knee. Her skin is cold from just sitting like this in the morning cold. I catch her eyes, and they seem to come back into focus.

  “Time to get dressed,” I whisper and suddenly it feels like there’s a fucking rock stuck in my throat. I hate seeing her like this.

  I take my stuff from the bag and the scissors from the first aid kit, and then I go to the bathroom so she’ll have some privacy to get dressed.

  I first cut most of the beard off before I grab the beard trimmer. I trim it, so it looks like I haven’t shaved in a few days. It’s most comfortable this way.

  I pack everything away and wash the basin out before I go back to the room. I’m relieved to see that Cara changed into slacks and a t-shirt. She’s busy slipping her feet into the shoes.

  “Does it fit?” I ask as I pack everything into my bag. I grab her other clothes and shove them into my bag, and then look up.

  She’s staring at me with her lips slightly parted. She takes a breath and tilts her head. “You shaved,” she states the obvious.

  I rise to my full length. “Yeah, time for a new look. Wear one of the hats to cover your hair.”

  I leave the room to put the bag in the car and then rush back. I strip the bedding and start to wipe the place down. It’s a habit I’ll never be able to break. I have to always cover my tracks.

  When I’m done, I take Cara’s hand. “Let’s go.”

  I open the door and scan the area first. It’s quiet outside. I pull her out the room, then lock it behind us.

  She stays next to me as we walk to the reception area. I place the key on the counter and leave without a word.

  When we reach the car, I open the passenger door first. Cara moves to get in but stops and looks at me. It looks like she wants to say something but changes her mind and she gets in.

  I close the door and walk around the car to the drivers’ side. As I get in, I hear her whisper, “Thank you.”

  I glance at her and smile. Her eyes flutter over my face before she quickly looks outside. She curls into herself and rests her head against the window.

  We have a long way to go, but first, we have to stop at my storage unit. Then we disappear.

  CARA

  I keep my eyes closed and try to get Damian’s smiling face out of my head. He shouldn’t have shaved. It was easier to ignore him when he looked like a grizzly bear. Now… shit, now there’s no beard hiding his face.

  Those eyes.

  That smile.

  The look that digs its way into the darkest corner of your soul.

  He’s dangerously good looking, and it’s messing with my head.

  And then he goes and buys me stuff… like he cares.

  A tear sneaks out of the corner of my eye, and I turn my body more into the door, so Damian won’t see.

  My emotions are all over the place. One second I’m so thankful that Damian wants to stick around, and the next I’m swallowed whole by this black hole in my soul. It must be my hormones that are totally fucked up.

  My mind doesn’t stop racing from my parents to Annie, to the baby – to the death sentence hanging over my head – to being at Damian’s mercy.

  I swear, if I knew what was waiting on the other side of death I’d finish it in a heartbeat. I’d just end it.

  But there’s no ending this. I’ll somehow have to face it.

  My whole mid-section is aching, and the pain is spreading into my hips and thighs. I wish I could get some painkillers and a bed. I just want to sleep forever.

  I wrap my arms around myself. I feel nauseous with pain, but I bite it back.

  The car starts to slow down, and I quickly use the shirt to dry my cheeks. When the car comes to a standstill, I peek out the window. I see a building that looks like storage units. I frown, not sure why we’re stopping here.

  “Come,” he says, his eyes already searching our surroundings. I get out of the car and lean against the door as I wait for him to get the bag out of the back.

  He walks to where I’m standing and then his hand slips over my cheek and he leans down. His eyes catch mine, and it’s just like in the beginning. I can’t keep eye contact and quickly look down.

  “How’s the pain?” he asks, once again reading me like a book.

  It doesn’t help to lie, so I grimace. “I could really use some painkillers and a bed.”

  He slips his arm around my shoulders and draws me into his side. “I’ll get you some as soon as we’re done here.”

  I stay stuck to his side as we walk down a narrow passage. The lighting is dim as we pass a few rows of storage units.

  We finally stop by one, and I watch as he unlocks it. The door rolls up, and he flicks on the light. I’m not sure what I expected to see, but it’s not a plain cabinet. He unlocks it, and when he opens the door, my eyes widen.

  There are two guns, some bullets, cash, and some other items. I’ve never seen so much money before. He opens the bag and then shoves the money in. He grabs what looks like a couple of I.D. cards, passports a set of keys, and he shoves them in between the money. One gun goes in the bag and the other behind his back. When he stands up and looks at me, all I can do is swallow.

  Who is this man that he’s so prepared?

  Who keeps so much money, guns, and I.D.’s in a storage unit?

&nb
sp; He shrugs the bag over his left shoulder and then takes hold of my arm. “Let’s go.”

  Before we can leave, voices echo down the passage. Damian pushes me back and quickly rolls the door shut. He switches the light off, and my heart all but stops.

  I gasp as my heart sets off racing again. I open my mouth, but before I can say his name, I feel his arm come around my shoulder. I don’t know how he can see anything, but he steers me to the back of the unit.

  My back brushes up against the cold steel, and my whole body tightens with fear. I grab for Damian, and then his arms fold around me. His body curves over mine and I feel his stubble scrape against my cheek. His breath is warm on my ear as he whispers, “I know the dark and confined space scares you, but try to stay calm. We just need to wait them out.”

  I nod quickly, but wave after wave of fear is crashing over me. My mid-section is aching terribly. I bite at my bottom lip and then let my arms slip around Damian’s waist. I hold on to him and bury my face under his chin. His scent and presence envelop me, and it soothes me some.

  I hear the drone of voices as they pass by the unit we’re in. The pain becomes waves of nausea and dizziness, and all I can do is hold on to Damian.

  He presses a kiss to my cheek and then another to my neck. “You’re doing good,” he whispers.

  “I’m going to puke,” I whisper back. The pain and fear are becoming too much.

  I listen as they roll the door open of the unit next to ours, and then a loud curse makes me flinch.

  Footsteps race by our unit and then the sounds fade fast.

  “Just a little longer,” Damian whispers. “They need to think we’re gone.

  My legs go numb from the pain, and my body sags into Damian. “I need to sit,” I whisper, feeling very weak.

  Just like the night before, Damian slides us to the floor and then pulls me between his legs. I curl into him and close my eyes, trying my best to fight the urge to cry.

  His one hand starts to brush soft circles on my lower back, and it eases some of the pain in my hips. He presses more kisses to the top of my head.

  Torturous long minutes tick by before he stirs. “I’m going to go look first. Stay here,” he whispers.

  My head snaps up and I grab at him. My hands slam into his abs, and I grab the material under my hands. “No,” I shake my head, and even though my body is an aching mess, I struggle to my knees. “Don’t leave me.”

  He hesitates for a second and my heart stops, but then he pulls me up with him. “Can you walk?”

  I nod. I’ll do anything he tells me as long as he doesn’t leave me in this box.

  I can feel his eyes on me, and I wish that I could see as good as he does in the dark. He slides the door open softly, and the light that shines in from the passage is very welcome.

  He looks up and down the passage and then takes the gun from his back. Just like that first day when he came for me, he takes my hand with his left one and keeps the gun in his right hand.

  “Stay behind me,” he whispers, and this time the words sound so different from when he first said it to me. There is nothing neutral about Damian anymore. He’s not clinical with me.

  I stick to his back as we walk down the passage. When we get outside, the parking area is empty. I feel a flicker of hope that we might make it.

  “We have to walk up the road, I have a car waiting at a dealership.”

  “Walk?” I squeak, not sure I can make it much further.

  Damian pulls me into his side so I can lean into him, and his arm settles firmly around me. “We can’t take this car.” He looks to the one we’ve been using. “We’re leaving it all behind.”

  “Your house?” I ask, only now realizing that he’s giving it all up.

  “It was a rental.” He starts to walk, and my numb legs move sluggishly. With every step I take, I lean more into Damian. Suddenly, he stops and he takes my left arm, pulling it around his waist. His arm goes around me as if we’re a couple. This way he’s taking more of my weight, and it helps a little.

  “I’d carry you, but it would only attract attention.”

  I can only nod, my mouth filled with thick saliva. My vision starts to blur, and I don’t take in any of our surroundings anymore. I only focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

  It’s the longest distance I have ever walked. At least, it feels that way. When we finally reach the dealership, I can’t hold back the bile and quickly turn away from Damian. My body convulses, and it makes the pain blindingly sharp.

  I don’t know how we get to the car. With tears blurring my sight, I get to rest my cheek on the worn upholstery of the back seat. I finally get to close my eyes and sink away into a dark bliss.

  DAMIAN

  It’s been a long day and it’s only early afternoon. When I stop at a drug store, I’m torn in two. Cara is asleep on the back seat. I don’t want to leave her, but I need supplies for her.

  I lock all the doors and then rush into the store. I grab painkillers first and then get some more bandages. I grab a large first aid kit too. Rather be prepared than sorry.

  I’m in and out in less than ten minutes, but it feels like a year of my life has passed. I place the stuff on the passenger seat and then open the door by Cara’s head. I place a hand on her forehead and feel overwhelming relief when she’s cool to my touch. The last thing we need is an infection.

  I brush some hair from her face and then close the door again.

  When we leave the busy town behind, I feel a ton of weight roll off my shoulders.

  My mind goes to the contents of the bag. We don’t have enough clothes, but we can get some more when we reach Southport. I’m so fucking thankful that I got Cara a back-up I.D made. With our new identities and the emergency cash, we’ll be okay for a while. We’ll need to get jobs, but that’s a bridge we’ll cross when we get to it.

  I have a cabin in Southport that I got a few years ago. It will be the perfect place for Cara to heal. It’s a quiet village. We’ll be able to disappear there.

  Every now and then I glance over my shoulder to make sure she’s okay.

  I’ve put her through hell today, but she’s a fighter. I didn’t think they’d find the storage unit so fast. Thank fuck I had the other unit under Damian Weston and the one with our emergency stash under Alex Jackson. I rigged the other unit so it would look like someone has already been there, hoping it would throw them off our tails.

  I start going over everything with a fine-tooth comb. I’d love nothing more than to rip Tom’s heart out, but that would give away the little bit of ground we’ve gained. The most important thing is that Cara has a safe place to heal.

  CHAPTER 15

  CARA

  I wake up feeling like a piece of chewed gum, sticky and stretched too thin.

  I pull my face from the seat and wipe away the drool from the corner of my mouth. I’m hot and my whole body is aching.

  I sit up in the back and look at our surroundings. Everything is green, and I can smell salt in the air.

  “How do you feel?” Damian asks, his eyes jumping between the road and the mirror.

  “Yucky,” I sum it all up for him.

  He digs in a bag on the passenger seat and then hands me an energy drink. I take it from him, and as I take a few greedy gulps, he hands me a box of painkillers. “Shit, thank you!” I get excited at the thought of not being in pain. I take two pills and then drink some more of the energy drink. I slump back against the seat and just stare out the window. Pretty houses line the street we’re driving down, and here and there someone is working in their garden.

  “Where are we?” I ask.

  “Southport,” Damian says as he turns down a road. “I have a cabin here.”

  The houses start to thin out, and after a while, it’s only trees with a cabin every few miles. “Where’s Southport?” I ask.

  “It’s in North Carolina. I think you’ll like it here. It’s a small village.”

  I still smell salt, bu
t I can’t see the ocean from where I am. “Is there a beach nearby?”

  “Yeah, once you’re better, I’ll show you the town. Everything’s within walking distance.”

  I stare at the trees passing us by, and then Damian pulls up to a weather-beaten cabin. It makes the house we lived in look like a castle.

  When Damian stops the car, I get out slowly. My midsection feels tender as hell, but at least the pain is easing up.

  Damian grabs the bag and takes the set of keys we got from the storage unit out. His eyes settle on me, and before he can reach for me, I start to slowly walk to the front door. I shake the railing, testing it first before I lean on it so I can climb the creaking stairs.

  “It doesn’t look like much, but that’s the idea. We can fix it up, make it our own.” Damian unlocks the door as my face flushes from his words. He’s using words like ‘we’ and ‘our’.

  I follow him into a dusty small room. There’s only one couch and a tiny TV. Dust particles dance in the air all around us.

  “The bedroom’s through here,” Damian says, and I follow him into an even smaller room. There are only the double bed and an old cupboard. I watch as Damian pulls all the bedding off. He shakes it all out and then makes the bed again. “Get in.”

  He doesn’t have to tell me twice, and I don’t care what condition the bedding is in. I just want to sleep. I slowly crawl under the covers and find a comfortable position for my tender body.

  Damian takes a bottle of water from the bag and places it on the floor, right next to where I’m lying. He leaves a box of painkillers too. “I’ll check on you in a while. Get some rest.”

  When he turns to leave the room, I whisper, “Thank you.”

  He gives me one of his rare smiles that makes the air whoosh from my lungs, and then he leaves. He doesn’t close the door, and I can hear every step he takes. He’s opening and closing cupboards, and then I hear keys rattle. The sound of a door closing tells me that he’s left.