by F. G. Adams
The only room decorated was Harper’s room. It was drastically different from every other space in the home.
The bigger picture is beginning to come into view. A framework which she lives by. Fallyn’s world revolves around Harper. She’s given up her whole life to protect and save her little girl from the monster who is her biological father. In the process, her life is meaningless without Harper in it.
She’s neglected herself by burying her own wants, needs, and desires. Hell, who knows the last time she got laid or went on a date? Fallyn’s been on the run for so long, I believe she might not even know who she really is, much less what she needs or wants.
My phone beeped, bringing me back to the task at hand. Shit. I needed to get busy.
Working at a pretty damn quick pace, I installed pinhole cameras throughout their home. Extra motion sensors on the doors and windows. On the outside, I positioned cameras facing the house in the trees at several different angles. I was finished within an hour. Made the call to Lukas for activation before setting out to the carnival.
The security and surveillance system all packaged up nicely, so that if Fallyn gets in trouble or decides to run, I’ll know. Hell, they’ll know it in Lakeview. We can now monitor their every move. As long as they stay put in Rescue.
At least I can sleep better knowing she’s safer than before.
Peering around the dark alleyway, I turn around, heading in the other direction.
I cross the deserted road. The townspeople are all at the carnival, living it up, enjoying the night. Exactly where I was supposed to be, but that idea went sour fast.
Blue is parked in the lot across the street. Yeah, I named her. I’m attached. Getting in, I crank up the truck and back out.
One pass by Fallyn’s house, and I notice the lights are still on.
The streetlights are all lit up. Thanks to me, too. A couple of the lamp lights were busted, so I climbed up the poles and replaced the old bulbs for new ones. Superman, remember?
“You’re the man, Oliver Bishop,” I attaboy myself, because Lukas isn’t here to do it.
Down the street a few blocks, I pull off the road near the woods. My truck facing the house. Far enough away so I’m unnoticed yet close enough that I can still observe.
The robust smell of coffee beans permeates the air while I fill my coffee mug from the thermos I stashed earlier.
Reclining the seat a little, I lean back sipping on the coffee and wait. My eyes drift back and forth from the road to the small residence. All’s quiet, no activity.
A series of beeps from my phone sends an alert, and I glance at the screen. The back door has been opened. Grabbing my tablet, I load up the app that gives me total access to the home.
“Let’s see what you’re up to now.”
The back door camera is angled toward the door, showing it’s wide open.
“What the fuck?” I vocalize as I sit up, on guard and ready to move.
I promptly pull up the camera on the inside, in the kitchen. Fallyn is carrying a bag of trash and places it outside the doorstep into the trash can. She goes right back in, closing the door, locking it, and setting the alarm again.
At the same time, I get an alert, ‘back door is locked’, ‘alarm is set’.
The tension on her face initiates the pain to return, radiating inside my chest. I rub it, striving to make it go away.
I swore to myself and Taylor that I never would again, but here I am. The discomfort and torment consistently radiating off Fallyn is beginning to break me.
Music begins to play in the truck, “Friends in Low Places.” Yeah, that’d be Lukas. I downloaded the song as a ringtone for him after the pleasurable airport fiasco he set me up with. The call rouses me back to the present. I slide the button across the screen and answer.
“Go ahead.”
“I’ve got news about the suspicious car, Ollie. Ya got a minute?” Lukas asks.
“Yep. Spill,” I respond.
“It was stolen from Richmond, Virginia, about a week ago.” He pauses. “From a local grocery store. And the only witness said, and I quote, ‘Two mafia-looking guys in suits popped the locks, got in, and drove off.” Can you believe that shit? The things people say,” he questions with a halfhearted laugh.
“I think that witness has seen one too many “B” rated movies. But it does give me pause. What do you think, Luc?”
“I’d say something’s afoot. Ya get me?”
“Yeah, brother, I do. I’ll keep a look out. I haven’t seen it come by today,” I reply as I quickly skim up and down the empty street.
“Well, could be nothing, really. That witness may have wanted a moment in the limelight, if ya get my drift. On the other hand, stay alert,” Lukas finishes up.
“Got it. The house is locked up tight,” I say as I glance once more down the road to the home. Just as the lights go out. “Seems they’re hittin’ the hay. I’m goin’ back to the inn to get some rest or try to. We’ll get the alerts if anything goes wrong.”
“Correctamundo.” Lukas halts for few seconds, takes a deep breath, then continues, “Hey, if you need a hand up there, don’t hesitate to ask. Always count me in. Talk to ya tomorrow, douchebag.”
Lukas belly laughs then hangs up.
Always looking out for me with a side of sarcastic, Jolly Green. A read-between-the-lines offer that speaks volumes. That’s the way we work, me, Lukas, and Keagan. We always back each other up and watch the other’s back. No matter what. We are brothers.
My heart is at war with my body. If anything happens, I can be here at their house in a matter of minutes. Although my heart is badgering me to stay put. I’m no good for anyone if I don’t get a few hours of shuteye, so the body wins this round.
Back in my room at the Smithfield Inn, I take a long, hot shower. I scarf down a few pieces of leftover pizza and collapse into bed, ready for sleep. The mattress has a firm softness. Just the way I like it. Optimum for the weariness dragging me under.
I try to close my eyes, but every time I do, her face appears. Fallyn. She’s firmly planted, hooks and all.
I’ll admit I was curious about Fallyn Blackwood from the moment I was given her picture. Call me crazy, but somewhere deep inside I felt the importance of what she was, is, or could be. Getting to really know her tonight on the Ferris wheel was liberating and exciting. I won’t forget it.
My vixen is a witty little thing. She had me in stitches most of the time. Then we really connected. The feel of her soft lips against mine.
“Mmm,” I groan and grasp my lip between my teeth.
The tingling begins to rouse at the base of my spine and travels around to my tortured, swollen dick. Maybe it is just physical. By the looks of my hardened cock, I’d claim that sex with Fallyn would be epic. We’d blow up the sheets. No doubt.
The trouble is, she’s more than just a fuck. With that thought, my cock wilts.
After a few hours of tossing and turning, I’m lying on my back, staring up at the ceiling. The flames flickering off the burning gas fire creates a display of shapes on the plaster. The designs form into Fallyn and Harper, dancing in the lights. As if they were mine to be thinking about. As if they belonged to me.
“Fuck!”
I sit up in bed, chest thumping wildly again. I’m losing it. This isn’t right. Or is it? The lines cannot be blurred. My job is to assess, infiltrate, and bring home. Nothing more, nothing less.
Going into the bathroom, I splash cold water over my face and chest. The insistent need to go to them, to go to Fallyn, is consuming me. A desperation to protect them at all costs. To lay it all out there. Come clean by telling her who I am and why I’m here is on the tip of my tongue, wanting to spill. Then beg her to come home with me. But it can’t happen yet. It’s not that simple. Timing is everything.
Sleep is not an option anymore. I put on my workout pants, sweatshirt, and tennis shoes. Wearing a pair of black gloves and my headphones, I exit the inn and start running at a fast
pace.
The icy wind blowing across my face creates a stinging burn against my skin. I don’t feel it, though.
I try to clear my head from the gigantic clusterfuck of emotions giving me grief. Taylor’s lovely face fading into nothingness. Replaced by a feisty vixen and her cub.
My mind replays like a neon sign, scrolling over and over in my head, while “Welcome to the Jungle” blares loudly in my ears.
Welcome to the jungle, Fallyn is mine.
We got fun and games, Harper is mine.
We got everything you want, Fallyn and Harper are mine…
And for the life of me, I don’t want it to stop.
An hour later, I’m sitting in my truck parked down the street from Fallyn’s home.
Yep, I’m so screwed.
11
Fallyn
Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you but help you discover who you are, or so I’ve been told. My current life challenge has me not only paralyzed with worry but doubting myself as well. Normally, I would be worried sick about Roman’s next diabolical assault. Something along the lines of, not if but when will he show up on my doorstep to reign terror in my life, but not today.
Nope.
Nada.
Not happening today or for that fact, this entire wasted, frigid week.
Instead, I’m wrestling with a conscience I believed long ago had died. The worst kind of worrying, if you ask me, because you have no idea if you are right or wrong. Kind of like, did my actions hurt him? As silly as it seems, I’m questioning my behavior at the Fall Festival. Yeah, crazy. Kind of like talking to yourself, huh? See what I mean by challenge?
Did I make a mistake rejecting Oliver? He didn’t deserve the cold shoulder I delivered after the molten-hot kiss Saturday night. That kiss will go down in history as one of the best moments of my life. So real. The way his soft lips caressed mine and the consuming feeling of being safe in his arms were so foreign, for a little bit there it felt like an out-of-body experience.
I need advice, and I need it now.
The only problem with that is, Harper isn’t exactly the person I want to talk to about my escapade with Oliver. I need my grandma. Thus, another challenge. Should I risk calling? I’ve been hem-ing and haw-ing around the house all week, barely able to concentrate on the world around me. Decision made, I grab the burner phone out of the desk drawer, push the button, and wait.
Doesn’t take long; only a few minutes later, the phone in my hand vibrates with an incoming call.
“Grandma?”
“Has he found y’all so soon? Dang it. I really hoped you could stay in Rescue through Christmas. Well, Jiminy Cricket, I’ll send funds immediately. Go to the closest Western Union and text me back with the branch’s location number. I should have a direction by the time you do. He’s getting faster, Fallyn. We might want to consider overseas again. I know how you feel about it, but—”
“Grandma—”
“Listen here, young lady. We can’t be twiddling our thumbs. Quit your dallying ‘round and go. I’m calling Meredith at the bank—”
“GRANDMA!” I shout loudly, frustrated she won’t stop and listen.
“Huh? What is it, Fallyn?”
I can hear her slippers drag across the tile floor. She must have been in her bedroom when I texted.
“He hasn’t found us.”
“Then why did you contact me?”
I’m so nervous even though in my heart I know she won’t judge me. I just haven’t discussed anything so intimate like this with anyone. Even Jo, and we shared tons of secrets growing up. Plus, I haven’t had a reason to. This is such a bad idea. I should stop before I end up hurting myself. If my life were normal, I could pursue him, but it’s not.
Indecisiveness spreads, and before my mouth can catch up with my brain, I answer her, “I need another kind of help, some advice…I met someone.”
The silence on the line makes me nervous as she waits for me to continue.
“There’s this…um. Well, I kind of…oh, you know, right?” I say, trying not to chicken out but not expanding on my statement.
I hear a chair scrape the floor then creak as she sits down.
There’s a pause, then she asks, “You’ve met a man?”
“Yes. I think.”
“You’re not sure if you’ve met a man or—”
Flustered with her question, I interrupt, “Yes. I’ve met a man, and I kinda…um, let him kiss me,” I whisper into the phone.
“Did you say he kissed you?”
“We went to the Fall Festival, because Harper begged to see what one was like and I just couldn’t tell her no anymore. I saw him for the first time in Ray’s Diner last week when I was choking on coffee, and then I literally ran into him in the grocery store later. He didn’t even care when I yelled and ignored him, or even when I refused to give him my name. He’s a giant teddy bear, Grandma. All gruff on the outside and full of stuffing on the inside.”
I grip the phone tightly in my hand and wait for her reaction.
“Well, honey bear, you’ve been a busy gal,” she sighs. “This is without a doubt new territory for you. What is it that you need advice on? I’ll help you anyway I can, you know that, Fallyn.”
“We were on a giant wheel from hell—”
“Language, Fallyn!” she quickly reprimands.
“Sorry, Grandma.”
“If I said it once to y’all growing up, I said it a thousand times. Your mouth is too beautiful to use such foul words.” If only she knew. “So, you were on a Ferris wheel? Interesting. How in the world did you overcome your fear of heights?”
“I didn’t. Well, kinda didn’t. That’s why I called it the giant wheel from down there. It scared the sh…um, I mean—I was scared, but Ollie was there with me,” I reply, brushing lint off my sweater.
“His name is Ollie?” she questions thoughtfully.
“Well, Oliver Bishop is his name. He says his friends call him Ollie.”
“You don’t say?”
“Mhmm. Harper seems to like him. She thinks he’s funny.”
“I can tell you’ve been thinking about him, but I still don’t know how I can help you.”
“It’s just, when he kissed me, it made me feel so alive and, well, um, safe.”
“Safe?”
“And then I completely shut down. I didn’t even say good night to him. Just grabbed Harper and walked away. I haven’t seen him at all this week. Then again, we haven’t left the house, but that’s beside the point. What I’m trying to say is, he could be someone special, maybe. He even helped me when I had a panic attack in the grocery store. Like I said, he makes me feel safe.”
“Honey bear, you have to realize he’s not Roman. Not all men are snakes. Pigs maybe, but not snakes. God only knows you’ve laid in the grass with that viper for far too long. Your life’s been full of pain dealing with the likes of him.”
“Gawd. This is so hard. My life is Harper. I don’t even know how long we will be here, and then I’ll never see him again. And what if Roman finds out about him? What do you think he will do? He’ll go bat sh…I mean crazy. We both know what he is capable of.” I wipe a tear from my cheek. “I don’t have a future to give. Roman’s taken that away from me, too. Grandma, what should I do? Help me. Please.”
“I can tell this Ollie’s really made an impression on you. Listen here, honey bear, you need to pull yourself together. Quit feeling sorry for yourself. You’re made of stronger stuff. You’re a Blackwood, for goodness sake. Sure, you’ve been given a rough lot in life, but you are alive and you have Harper and me. All of your adult life, you’ve suffered from one bad decision, trusting an evil man who took advantage of a young, naïve little girl. Don’t allow that one bad decision to decide how you will make future ones. If you think this Ollie fellow could be someone special, be cautious, but live, Fallyn. The rest is semantics. Do you hear me?”
She ends her pep talk expecting an immediate answer.
/> “Yes, ma’am. I hear ya loud and clear.”
“Good. That’s my girl. We’ll figure something out, Fallyn. I promise, and you know when I promise you something, it’s good as gold, right?”
“I do. I believe you, Grandma. I’m just so tired of running and never knowing what’s around the corner. So tired.”
I take a deep breath and pony up. She’s right. I’ve got to let the past stay in the past and hope for the best in the future. Even if I don’t see one at the present moment.
“For now, you need to stop listening to your brain and follow your heart, Fallyn. You’re a smart little cookie…use those brains God gave ya.”
“Love you, Grandma.”
“Love you, too, honey bear. Talk to you soon.”
Her line goes dead. I power off the burner phone and place it back in the drawer. Could it really be that simple?
12
Oliver
Lies are a temporary solution to a permanent problem. A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future. You can’t constantly lie and expect people to trust you. Even if it is for the greater good.
That’s the problem. At the present, I’m battling with wanting to come clean with Fallyn. I’ve lied to her and Harper about who I am. But it was only to protect them, right? I keep telling myself that. She should understand it. After all, she’s been lying for years.
The truth is, I’m scared shitless if, no, when they do know the truth, they’ll see the real me. Fallyn is smart enough to recognize my broken pieces, without a doubt. I’m not sure if she’ll forgive me for the web of lies I’ve spun, hating me forever. When we’ve only just started.
Hell, I’m not sure why this is happening to me.
But it is what it is.
I feel again.
She makes me believe again.
I care, a lot.
I can’t fight it anymore.
It’s real. She’s real.
Sometimes you fall in love with the most unexpected person at the most unexpected time.
No shit.
I’ve avoided them the past week. Perched up in my woodsy hideout. Watching. Waiting. Camping out. Staying close. I haven’t been back to the inn in a couple of days. Yeah, I need a shower in the worst way. Sponge baths just aren’t cutting it.
