Her Keeper

by Rianna Campbell

  “I just want to talk,” he replied. He smiled at her, but it didn’t touch his eyes, and an icy spike of fear lanced through her chest. She checked her phone one final time before she shoved it and her hands into the pockets of her jacket to keep them from shaking from fear and rage.

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” she replied, keeping her voice as steady as possible.

  “Come on, Amanda. We’ve been friends for so long. I don’t want to just throw in the towel. You can’t really blame me for trying to make it out of the friendzone, can you?”

  Amanda wasn’t at all fooled by his words or his casual demeanor. There was a malicious look in his eyes that she found vaguely reminiscent of shark week. Cold, dead eyes.

  She also knew Colin. He was petty and full of himself. His ego was enormous but fragile. She’d laid a mother of all insults on him the last time they spoke, and there was no way he was going to come to her, hat in hand, wanting to stay friends. He was up to something, and whatever it was would not be good.

  “I can’t blame you for trying, but I can blame you for being a total ass and for not taking no for an answer. Repeatedly.”

  “My father always told me to never take no for an answer,” Colin said with a chuckle.

  I’ll bet he did…

  Colin was precisely the type who was raised to believe that he could buy anything or anyone with enough money. And he certainly had that. Rich, entitled little shit that he was, he’d probably never been denied anything in his entire life.

  “You know, I’m having a hard time remembering why we were friends to begin with,” Amanda remarked, tilting her head to one side and looking him up and down.

  His smile faltered for a moment and she caught the look of hatred on his face before he could slip it back into place. Yup, this was going to be very bad.

  She palmed the mace in her pocket and held it at the ready in case she couldn’t talk her way out of this, or Parker didn’t show up in time to rescue her again. From now on, she was going to wait in the kitchen office until Parker was outside waiting for her.

  “Why don’t we go grab some coffee and I’ll remind you?” Colin suggested.

  “I’ll pass. I’m meeting someone and they’ll be here any minute.”

  She hoped that he would reconsider whatever it was he was trying to do if he knew that they were likely to get interrupted, but it only made him decide to pick up the pace.

  “You really are a difficult bitch, aren’t you?” He snarled, dropping all pretense. “Seriously, do you ever know when to shut up?”

  Colin took two steps toward her and she fought the urge to back away.

  “I’ll rephrase.” He drew a small handgun out of his pocket and aimed it at her. “You’re going to come with me and you’re going to do it quietly.”

  Amanda’s first instinct was to tell him to go fuck himself, but she was defiant, not stupid. She took a step toward him as if she was going to comply.

  “They’re going to miss me, you know. They’ll start looking right away,” Amanda pointed out, trying to act like she thwarted kidnappers every day. She needed to shake his confidence, make him nervous and hope it made him unfocused and not trigger happy.

  But either way, she wasn’t getting in a car with him. If she was going to die, it was going to be right here, standing her ground. She didn’t know what he’d planned, but you didn’t pull a gun on someone and try to force them into your car unless you were prepared to kill them and dispose of the body.

  “And when I say ‘they,’ I mean my former Marine boyfriend and all of his ex-military friends, one of which happens to be my brother-in-law.”

  He sneered as if it meant nothing to him, but he glanced nervously over his shoulder.

  She slowly circled around him, keeping her face towards him at all times, until her back was to the street. He took a nervous step forward and she fought every instinct that was shouting at her to run. If she ran, he would shoot and you didn’t have to be a good shot to hit someone at this range.

  “Turn around and stay quiet,” he hissed. “We’re going for a little ride.”

  She took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. If her plan was going to work, she’d need a steady hand and a cool head. A half dozen prayers couldn’t hurt, either.

  Where are you, Parker?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Amanda held her breath as Colin took hold of her arm, digging his fingers in until it hurt, and started leading her out of the alley.

  She dropped her shoulder and let her bag slide off and onto the ground. She leaned over to pick it up, but of course, she couldn’t reach it with Colin’s hand on her arm. He let go so that she could pick it up.

  While she was bent over, she pulled the mace from her pocket. When she straightened up, she turned and sprayed the can straight into his face.

  Colin screamed, clawing at his face with his empty hand and Amanda turned and ran. She got a few feet away before she was tackled to the ground. The air was forced from her lungs and for a terrible moment, she couldn’t breathe. She was finally able to suck in a breath, just before Colin grabbed the back of her neck and slammed her forehead into the ground.

  Her vision went black for a moment as pain exploded in her skull.

  “You dumb cunt. You really are too stupid to live, aren’t you?” He was sniffling and coughing, still trying to recover from the dousing she’d given him. If she gave him too much time, she’d be screwed.

  Ignoring the blood that was trickling down her face, she threw her head back as hard as she could, catching Colin in the nose. He screamed again and dropped the gun, covering his face with his hands. He slumped to the side and she scrambled out from underneath him.

  She got to her feet and ran, finally clearing the alley before she was tackled again. A large heavy body fell on top of her, and she fought and screamed, hoping that someone would see her struggling and do something about it.

  “Hey! Hey! It’s okay.” She recognized Jackson’s voice and stilled.

  “Where’s Parker?” She asked. Jackson didn’t answer, he just continued to shield her body with his own. Amanda panicked, expecting that at any moment she would hear a gunshot; that Parker would get himself killed trying to keep her safe. When no gun went off, she strained her ears, listening.

  She heard grunts and what she assumed were the sounds of fists connecting with flesh and bone. Then she heard Jackson swear and his weight disappeared. She looked up just in time to see his face illuminated by the street light. And he was horrified.

  There were no other sounds, aside from a rhythmic pounding, which didn’t stop until Jackson pulled Parker off of Colin’s very still body. She couldn’t make out the details from where she was, especially with her vision obscured by blood and tears, but even she could see Colin was down for the count.

  And judging by the trouble Jackson was having trying to restrain Parker, Colin would be lucky if he ever regained consciousness. A chill raced through her at the thought of what had almost happened, and at what Parker might have done.

  Oh, God. What if Colin was dead?

  Something of what she was thinking must have shown on her face, because when Parker looked at her, all the aggression drained out of him and his shoulders dropped, his face falling before he looked away.

  “Jesus,” Jackson said, crouching down beside Colin’s prone form. “He’s breathing at least. We need to call for an ambulance.”

  “They should be on the way already,” Amanda said, her voice shaky and thin. “There’s an app… I used it when I saw Colin.”

  “Smart girl,” Jackson said with a nod of approval.

  “I wasn’t sure you’d get here in time.” She stared at Parker, but he wouldn’t look at her.

  “You did good. Really good,” Jackson assured her. He looked at Parker who was staring at his hands and then back to her. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Just a few scrapes.”

  “You need to go.” Parker’s voice was quiet b
ut firm.

  She and Jackson both looked at Parker in disbelief, but he was still staring down at his hands. He wouldn’t look either of them in the eye.

  “What are you talking about?” Amanda took a step toward him. He held up a hand to stop her and that’s when she saw it. His hands were covered in blood. She covered her mouth and took an uncertain step back.

  “You know we can’t leave until the cops show up. They’re going to want to talk to us.”

  “No,” Parker snapped. “She’s hurt. You need to get her to a doctor. This isn’t her fault, there’s no reason she needs to be mixed up in this. I’ll handle it.”

  “That’s crazy, man,” Jackson said, shaking his head. “Are you out of your mind? I know you’re upset about-”

  “It’s not about that,” Parker hissed, glancing at Amanda before pinning Jackson with a steely glare. “I need you to get her out of here and make sure she's okay.”

  “Parker, you’re just going to make things worse,” Jackson replied, trying to reason with him.

  “Please,” Parker pleaded, his voice cracking. “I need you to do this for me.”

  Jackson paced away, running his hands through his hair.

  “You can’t fix this one for me, Jackson,” Parker said quietly. Jackson stopped, gave him a hard look, and then nodded.

  “Fine, but I don’t think this is going to work out like you think it will.” Jackson sighed, shaking his head.

  “What?” Amanda asked, coming out of the shocked stupor she seemed to have fallen into. “No. I’m not leaving. We’ll just explain it to the police when they get here. He had a gun, Parker. You did nothing wrong.”

  “Doesn’t mean I won’t still catch charges, and there’s no reason for your name to be in the paper beside mine.” He still wouldn’t look at her and she was terrified of what he might do while he was in this dark place.

  “I know what you’re doing, Parker, and I’m not going to let you.”

  “Amanda, just go with Jackson. Go home so that I know you’re safe.”

  “No! I’m not letting you throw yourself on a grenade for me, Goddamnit! You’re doing the same thing you did with Jackson-”

  “For once in your life will you just do as you’re told?” Parker shouted. “I need you to be somewhere that isn’t here. I need you to be somewhere safe. Why do you have to be so stubborn?”

  “Well, back at you, pal,” Amanda yelled, trying to keep the waver from her voice. There was no way she was going to leave him to face yet another horrible thing alone. Even if it was what he said he wanted. She was going to stay with him, no matter what he said. She’d explain it to the police and it would be fine. Then they’d go home, together.

  And who cared if her name showed up in the paper? It wasn’t like she’d done anything wrong. And neither had Parker.

  “Amanda,” Parker said quietly, looking at her with sad resignation written all over his face. His shoulders were curled inward as if his body was folding in on itself.

  No. No, no, no! She was not going to let this happen.

  “No. I’m not leaving.” She stamped her foot, hands fisted at her sides.

  “This is the long run I was talking about, Princess,” he replied, his voice no more than a low rasp.

  “No!” she screamed. The sound of sirens blaring in the distance grew louder and she knew the police would arrive within minutes. If she could just hang on, they wouldn’t be able to go anywhere once the police showed up.

  “Jackson, get her out of here,” Parker begged. Amanda took two steps toward him, intending to wrap her arms around him, and refuse to let go, bloody clothes be damned. Halfway there, she was caught around the waist and hoisted off the ground.

  “Put me down,” Amanda yelled. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Sorry, darlin’,” Jackson replied quietly. “I don’t have a choice.”

  “The fuck you don’t!”

  “Trust me,” Jackson replied gravely as he carried her away. “I really don’t.”

  “You are both out of your damn minds if you think I’m going to stay out of this!” Amanda said as Jackson tucked her into the passenger side of his truck.

  “He didn’t tell me to keep you away forever,” Jackson said with a tight smile. “Just to make sure you were okay and get you home. Then we’ll figure this out, okay?”

  Amanda understood his meaning and nodded, though she still didn’t like it. As Jackson pulled away from the curb they saw flashing blue lights and knew that there was no going back now. She needed to come up with a plan to get Parker out of this mess, but all she could do now was watch in the mirror as they left the man she loved behind.

  ✽✽✽

  It had been over a decade since Parker had seen the inside of a jail cell, but from what he could remember, they hadn’t changed much. And they weren’t any more comfortable in New York than they’d been in Texas.

  Not that he would have been comfortable under any circumstances. His stomach was filled with lead and his head was pounding. And then there was the gaping hole that had opened up in his chest the moment he’d sent Amanda away.

  He’d never been more terrified in his entire life than he’d been when they pulled up and saw what was happening. If anything had happened to Amanda…

  He didn’t even want to think about it. They’d been lucky to get there when they did and she was lucky that she hadn’t gotten herself killed trying to fight off a man with a gun. He’d made Jackson cover Amanda and he’d gone after Colin himself. He didn’t want to risk either one of them getting hurt, and he wanted to beat that asshole to a bloody pulp with his own two hands.

  And that was precisely what he’d done. And then, all the shit that had happened had come roaring back and he’d lived his worst nightmare. He’d become his father in that alley. Violent, ruthless, sadistic.

  He’d hit him over and over, not because he needed to but because he wanted to. If Jackson hadn’t pulled him off, he would have killed him. As much as the bastard would have deserved it, that wasn’t the type of man he’d tried to be. That wasn’t the type of man that Amanda deserved. But in the end, you couldn’t escape what you were and there was no question he was his father’s son. That was apparently one legacy he couldn’t refuse.

  At least Amanda was safe. He knew Jackson would do as he asked and make sure that she was okay and that she made it home safe and sound. And once she’d had some time to process things, she’d realize that this was for the best.

  He’d always told her that things weren’t going to work out for them, and now she’d see why. He’d tried… He’d hoped that she was right, that they could find a way to make it work, but it was useless. He’d never be good enough for her. Hell, he was worse than a waste of space. He was dangerous.

  Whatever charges they threw at him would be less than he deserved, and he’d take whatever they dished out, and do it happily if it meant he could do this one last thing for Amanda.

  “Hanson,” the guard drawled, his tone bored. “Time to make your statement.”

  The guard led him to a small, windowless room with a metal table and a few chairs. On the wall beside the door was the obligatory two way mirror, and on the table was a black box which he assumed was some kind of recording device.

  The guard sat him down in the chair and undid one side of the handcuffs so that he could cuff him to the chair instead. The guard offered him water to drink, which he declined, and he was left to wait for the detective. He’d already been here for three hours, what was another twenty minutes?

  “Hanson, Parker,” the detective said, glancing over a file folder in his hand as he sat down at the table. The man was probably in his late forties and looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

  “That’s me.”

  “Marines, huh? Eight years, that’s a good run. Honorable discharge and now employed for… MacLachlan Security Group. Everything right so far?” he asked, finally looking up at Parker. Parker nodded and the detective went back to his file.r />
  “I’m Detective Jordan, by the way. Do you want anything? Can’t offer you a smoke, but I can get you some water or a soda. Coffee, maybe?”

  “No, thanks.”

  “Okay.” Reaching over and switching on the digital recorder, he rambled the pertinent information about the who, when, and where and then asked Parker to confirm that he’d been read his Miranda rights. Parker agreed that he had and they were off and running.

  “First off, I have to ask if you want us to call you a lawyer.”

  “Nope.”

  “Alright. So, why don’t you tell me what happened?”

  “I already told the officer at the scene.”

  “Okay, so tell me what you told him.”

  “There was an altercation in the alley. He had a firearm and appeared to be a threat, so I intervened. That’s all there is to it.”

  “Except there was nobody else there when the cops showed up. And the device that was used to report the incident was no longer at the scene.”

  Parker made no response.

  “Do you know the other person involved? Can you give us a name so we can get their statement?”

  Again, Parker said nothing.

  “Help me out here, Mr. Hanson. Help yourself. If you’re telling the truth, and they corroborate your story, you could be out of here by lunchtime.”

  “I am telling the truth.” Parker shrugged.

  “Alright, let’s say for a minute that you are. Why didn’t we find a gun at the scene?”

  “I don’t know. It was dark and I didn’t see what happened to it, but it’s there. It’ll turn up.”

  “But you realize how this looks, don’t you? One man in the hospital with a broken jaw, a fractured skull, four broken ribs, and a face like meatloaf, and a second man with no injuries aside from a whole lot of torn up knuckles who claims there was a gun and a bystander in danger, neither of which we can find. You look at it that way and it doesn’t look good for you.”

  “I’m aware of that,” Parker replied.

  “But you’re not going to give us what we need to straighten things out?”