by Leigh, Elisa
“Please don’t do this, Aaron. I’m begging you. I’ll give you anything you want. Just let me go.”
Aaron pulls a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and wipes my mouth and the tears streaming down my face. “Anything?”
I nod, not willing to give up my life. “Please.”
“I want you to kill Chase Sawyer.”
“What? Why?”
“Does it matter why? You said anything, and that’s what I want.”
I steady my shoulders and look the devil in the eyes. “I’ll do it.”
He laughs and claps his hands together. “Now we’ve got something.” Aaron pulls a large pocket knife out of his pocket and opens it. Coming towards me, he points the knife in my direction. He walks around the back of my chair dragging the blade against my skin carefully, as to not cut me. Grabbing my hair, he pulls back tightly so that I’m looking straight up into his eyes and places the blade of the knife against my neck. “If you think you can deceive me, girl, you are sadly mistaken. I will not be made a fool for a second time. You kill him, or I do, then I’m coming after you.”
“Okay,” I gasp hoarsely.
Aaron pushes my head forward and releases his hold on me, then he pushes my chair over, and my head hits the hard concrete, and I pass out.
When I wake up, the ties around my legs and wrists have been cut, and I’m laying on the floor of the dark room. What the fuck is going on? I crawl to the wall and rest my back against it. My body hurts all over. My head is throbbing, and I’m pretty sure the blood I smell is my own. When my eyes finally adjust to the darkness, I spot the knife Aaron had in his hands. This feels like a trap, but I crawl to the middle of the room and grab the knife as quick as I can then go back to my spot against the wall.
I stay there and doze on and off for a long time. I’m not really sure how long, because I can’t tell what time it is. It must be hours. No one comes in. No one is coming to save me.
* * *
Chase
I punch Aaron in his smug face again and again. “Tell me where you’re keeping her, you vile mother fucker.”
“Trust me, you don’t want her.” He grins, blood dripping out of his mouth.
“Shut the fuck up.” Crews tells Aaron. He grabs the prick by the back of the hair and pulls him to a standing position. “Take us to Tori or the next time I won’t be asking nicely. Next time it won’t be Chase kicking your ass, but it will be me and the only thing I’ll be after is causing you the most amount of pain I can. I’ll drag it out for days.”
After two days of nothing, one of Crews’ contacts got back to him. Told him about a warehouse Aaron uses for ‘business meetings.’ That was an hour ago. As soon as he got the word, we left his house and came straight here. The fucker was just sitting here, like he was waiting for us to arrive, wearing the same stupid fucking grin that he’s wearing now.
“Where is she?” I growl.
“Go down the hall and take your first right. It’s my office. There’s a secret room. You’ll find her in there. Find the angel statue and push her to the right.”
There’s something about the way he’s looking at me that makes me feel like there’s more to it. Something is wrong. Is she dead? I rush to his office and find a four-foot angel statue in the corner of the room. When I move it, a door swings open to a flight of stairs. When I get to the bottom of the stairs, there’s a closed door. I twist the handle, but it’s locked, of course, it is. Using as much force as I can, I shove my shoulder into the door, over and over until it finally opens. What I find in the room will probably haunt me until the day I die. Tori is standing against the wall, holding a knife out, a crazed look in her eyes.
I approach her slowly with my hands held in front of me. “Darlin’ it’s me. It’s Chase.”
She shakes her head and shakes the knife at me. “Get away from me!” She screams.
“Tori put down the knife. I’m not here to hurt you.”
She shakes her head over and over. “You have to leave. You can’t be here.”
“What are you talking about? I’m here to save you. I’m here to take you home.” I ask, getting closer to her.
“No! Leave! Leave now!” She screams.
She’s dirty, and her clothes are wrinkled. Her hair is a mess, and her face has tear stains. “Drop the knife.”
“You have to leave. If you don’t, I have to kill you.”
She’s not making any sense, why would she kill me? “I don’t want to kill you.” She cries and falls to the ground. “I’m sorry, I can’t do it. I can’t kill you.” She throws the knife away from her and rolls into a ball and cries. I kick the knife away and walk up to Tori and pick her up.
“Leave me here Chase. If he finds out I didn’t kill you, he’s going to do it.” My heart aches for her and everything she’s been through.
“Who?”
“Aaron said he’d let me go free if I killed you. I told him I would just so he’d let me go, but then he didn’t. He’s going to kill you if I don’t, but I can’t.”
I kiss the side of her head and make shushing sounds. “We got him Darlin’. He’s never going to hurt you again.” She cries into my shirt as I carry her out of her hell and out of his office. She lifts her head and sees him laying on the floor, Crews pointing a gun on him.
“Put me down.” She whispers.
She walks over to Crews and holds out her hand. He looks at me before handing her the gun. Fuck, don’t let me regret this. She looks points the gun at Aaron and fires multiple shots at the center of his body. The shots are deafening, but the defeated look she gives me after handing the gun back to Crews kills me. How the hell is she going to survive this?
Epilogue
Tori
It’s been three years since I killed Aaron. Three years since a part of me died right along with him. I tried to let Chase go, he deserved to be with a woman that didn’t carry so many demons. But he refused. Every day for thirty days I begged him to leave and he wouldn’t. On day thirty-one, he took me to a rehab center and told me he loved me more than anything in the world. He said he would never leave me, and that if I wanted him to be with a better woman than I would need to be that woman.
I walked into the facilities thinking I was doing this for him, hell maybe I did it to prove to him I could never be the woman he needed. After two months and hundreds of hours of therapy, I was finally ready to be me.
I checked myself into rehab, not because of addiction, but to heal the pain I lived with daily. I did the work that needed to be done, and in time, I slew my demons and accepted my imperfections. When it was time to leave, I worried about going back to Chase, still not wanting to burden him. Chase picked me up and brought me back to his apartment and promised to shoulder my burdens as his own.
I went back to work, and life returned to normal. Summer’s pregnancy helped to bring joy back into my life when I had been focused on the bad for so long. Addison and Crews ended up moving to Hilton Head, and she became another person I called mine. When I held Summer and Drake’s son for the first time the last bit of pain, I was holding onto eased.
After that, I started really living my life with Chase and being the woman he deserved. A month after the birth of their son, Chase asked me to marry him. He drove me out to the beach, to a house a few homes over from Summer and Drake’s and gave me the keys. I unlocked the door and walked into a beautiful empty beach house. When I turned around, Chase was down on one knee, asking me to be his wife. I cried and said, yes. How could I tell him no?
We moved into the home a month later after being married in a simple ceremony with our closest friends and Chase’s parents in attendance. It didn’t take long for Chase to get me pregnant after that. In all the time we had been together, we never used protection. I always thought I couldn’t have babies since it never happened for us. Boy was I wrong. I became pregnant with our firstborn Gillian, and six weeks after she was born became pregnant again with her brothers Simon and Silas.
&nb
sp; * * *
Chase
It’s been ten years, and I couldn’t be more in love with my wife than I am today. I’ve watched the woman she’s turned into and been by her side as she’s blossomed. The first year after she was taken by Aaron was rough for us. She needed help I couldn’t give her and she had to fight because she wanted to live. She found her will to live through therapy at the recovery center. I thank God every day she chose to take that step and stay and fight.
The turning point was when Drake and Summer’s son was born. I saw the look in her eyes when she held him. I knew she was ready to start building our family. I finally bought the beach house I’d been wanting for years and proposed to Tori.
Tori took to being a mother like a fish takes to swimming. With six kids all under ten life at home is interesting. Thank God for my parents or we’d never get a night alone. They loved Tori as soon as they met her, just like I knew they would. Tori and Mom got close when she was pregnant and they’ve been thick as thieves ever since.
Now that Drake and Summer moved away we are considering doing the same, but we can’t seem to pull ourselves away from the beach. It doesn’t hurt that I’m Hilton Head’s assistant fire chief and my parents live ten minutes away.
“Hey Darlin’ did you need me to stop for anything before I get home?”
“We need tomatoes and sour cream.”
“What are you making me?”
“I’m making me tacos. You can have some if there are any left over after the kids get ahold of them.” She sasses, always needing to jerk my chain.
“Oh is that so?”
“Mmm hmm.” She laughs.
“You’re a mess. I’ll see you in thirty minutes.”
I hang up on my wife who’s losing it. Damn, she’s a nut.
When I get home the table is set for two and dinner is on the table. I wash my hands and quickly dice up the tomato she had me get and set them on the table with the sour cream.
“Thank you Chase.” Tori says, walking out our room wearing nothing but one of my t-shirts.
I quirk my brow at her. “Where are the kids?”
“Your parents have them.”
I pull my shirt over my head and toss it to the ground. “For how long?” I ask as I unbutton my uniform pants and slide the zipper down.
Tori sucks her bottom lip into her mouth and is waiting for me to lose my pants.
I walk up to my wife, holding her face in my hands. “How long Darlin’?”
“All night.”
That’s all I need to hear and I’m taking her mouth in a deep kiss. I pick her up and she wraps her legs around my waist, her naked pussy already wet and rubbing against my stomach.
“I fucking love you Tori.”
“I love you too, Chase.”
The End
Loving Summer Sneak Peak
Summer Jones
“Oh, sweet baby Jesus.” Tori groans from beside me. Judging by her tone, she just saw another hot guy on the beach. I swear to God, the girl has made me look up from my kindle at least a dozen times since we got here an hour ago. She swats at my arm but I ignore her, I’m going to finish this book if it kills me.
When she does it again I look up at her and scowl. “What the hell is wrong with you? You begged me to go to the beach with you today, even though I just got off a fourteen-hour shift, when all I wanted to do today was sleep and read, then sleep some more. I’m here, now let me relax.”
“But-”
“I mean this in the best way possible Tor, you’re like a dog in heat. Either stop being shy and go talk to one of them-”
“Will you shut up and just look?” She says while laughing and rolling her eyes. She points behind me where she wants me to look and I turn, then immediately realize why she made such a big deal. Sucking in a breath, I stare at the man that has been starring in all of my fantasies lately. I have no idea who he is or what his name is, but he has to be the hottest guy I’ve ever seen. He’s got dark hair and eyes, with a small amount of scruff on his face. What would it feel like against my skin? I’m five foot five and he’s got to be at least a foot taller than I am.
The first time I saw him was when he was wheeling a guy out of an ambulance and into the emergency room. Now when an extra shift comes up in the emergency room, I take it, hoping to see him again. I’ve seen him a dozen times since then, and every time I do, it’s like I can’t breathe. Each and every time, my eyes gravitate to him and it’s as if I’m spellbound. He’s always smiling and joking around with whoever he’s talking to. Last week he was bringing in a little girl who had broken her arm at school. He stayed and comforted her until her parents made it to the hospital.
What’s worse is I’ve totally built him up in my head to be this amazing guy. One night while Tori and I were drinking I made the mistake of telling her about him. Now she won’t stop bugging me. She’s convinced that I need to talk to him, but I wouldn’t know where to start. A man as good looking as him probably has a wife or at the very least a girlfriend.
“Isn’t that the new EMT?” Tori asks innocently and immediately annoys the hell out of me since she knows exactly who he is.
I ignore her and watch him set up his chair, then lay his towel on the back of it. Like my best friend, I’m now in heat, watching as he applies his sunscreen over his tan arms and down his chest and over his abs. No man has a right to look as delicious as he does. He’s with a few other guys, some that I’ve seen working with him at the hospital, all equally as muscular as he is. My heart starts to race but I can’t tear my eyes away. When his eyes connect with mine and he winks, I turn away quickly, mortified that I got caught staring at him.
“You should go talk to him,” Tori says wearing the biggest cat ate the canary grin on her face.
“That’s not happening.”
“You are such a hypocrite, Summer. You give me crap all the time about being shy around guys, but you’re the virgin here.”
“It was one time Tori and you didn’t even enjoy it. You said the whole thing lasted less than five minutes. It’s not like you can call yourself experienced.”
She scrunches up her nose and shakes her head. “It was so bad. Whoever said just getting it over with was a good idea, was wrong!”
The face she makes has me bursting out laughing. “Oh my god, this is why I love you!”
“In all seriousness, are you going to let this opportunity pass you by?”
I shrug. “Look at him Tor. He’s sexy as hell. There’s no way he doesn’t have a girlfriend.”
“You never know until you ask.”
Instead of answering her, I change the subject. “It’s hot, you want to go cool off?”
“Umm, yes please!” She springs up from her position on her towel and waits for me to put my kindle in my bag. Once I’m set, we walk to the shore, me purposely ignoring the hot as hell EMT. We’re almost to the shore when two guys stop us.
“How’s it going ladies?” The dark haired one asks.
“Oh, it’s going, just about to enjoy the water.”
“We can enjoy it with you if you’d like.” His friend says, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Are they serious? They’re tall and good looking, but the way they’re looking at us makes me want to walk away and never turn back. Their whole look screams player, and I’m so not about that life. I roll my eyes and walk off, not interested in whatever lines they are going to throw out. I loop my arm through Tori’s and walk toward the water.
“Fuck you too, bitch!” One of the guys yells, loud enough that other people on the beach can hear.
Unable to help myself, I give him the one finger salute as I walk away and into the ocean. We swim out far enough that we aren’t near any of the kids and can just talk without being heard.
“What an asshole!” Tori hisses beside me.
“Yeah, no kidding.”
“You’re so not a bitch Summer. Not usually anyway, only when you’re cranky or you’ve worked a double shift
, sometimes when you’re on your period-”
“Tori, stop talking.” I groan.
She bursts into giggles beside me. “You’re too easy to rile up. Relax, those guys were total douchebags!”
“Sorry if you wanted to talk to them.”
She splashes water at me. “Just because I find so many guys attractive does not mean I’m whoring it up. The last time I went on a date was with Aaron, and that was over two months ago.”
“I’m just busting your chops. Please tell me he hasn’t called you anymore.” I get worried when she looks away and shrugs. “Has he Tor?”
“Don’t freak out Summer. He hasn’t called me in over a month…”
I watch her and can tell there’s more. “I feel like there’s a but coming.”
She winces. “He’s texted me a few times asking to meet up and talk. He said he was sorry. I’ve ignored him though. I just wish he’d leave me alone.”
The longer we talk, the closer we drift back to shore. The sounds of those around us get louder, and near the shore, I hear some guys laughing. When I look over he’s there maybe twenty feet from us, throwing a football with some of his friends. Oh, sweet baby Jesus is right. Damn, with his dark hair, just long enough for me to run my fingers through and beads of water covering his body I can’t look away. He shouldn’t look this good wet, whoever he calls his, is a very lucky woman.
About the Author
Elisa Leigh
Author of the Panthera Security series, the Steel Daggers MC series and the Daddy Knows Best series, Elisa Leigh writes steamy love stories about men who know exactly what they want from their lady love, that being everything and forever.
