by Naomi West
“I thought you were just on vacation,” Hollande said accusingly to Liv. “And now I find you alone in a room with a man who… Well, to be honest, either you have something you've been hiding from me or else you've been, I don't know, kidnapped or something! Tell me the truth.”
Liv gave me another fearful look, and he looked triumphant. “That's it, I'm calling the police,” he announced, already pulling out his phone.
I wanted to reach out to smack the phone out of his hands, but surprisingly enough, Liv beat me to it. “There's nothing to get the police involved with,” she said icily, and I gave her a surprised look. She tossed her head haughtily, and I wondered how this brave, arrogant woman pretended to be so meek and humble most of the time. “Hollande, this is Rip. I decided that since you weren't ready to call me your girlfriend, it was time to find someone who wasn't afraid to be seen in public with me.” She gave him a challenging look, and I was almost ready to applaud her, having seen how upset she was talking to the man the night before.
Hollande sneered at her. “And this is who you picked? This hulking brute? Don't lie to me; I know that's not your type.”
“How would you know?” Liv asked. “You've never once asked me about anything that I like. It's always been about what you like and about what you want. You pick where we go on our dates, which aren't really dates I guess since we were never actually dating. You pick who I'm allowed to socialize with. You control every aspect of my life. Maybe that's why I'm not more spontaneous, because you don't let me be spontaneous. Did you ever think of that?”
“I don't believe you,” Hollande said, shaking his head, his arms folded across his chest. “I don't know who this man is, and I don’t know why you feel the need to protect him, but I don't believe you.”
“It's not any of your business,” Liv said, scowling at him and mimicking his posture. “We're not dating. I can do whatever I want to do with whomever I choose.”
“Darling, if you're in a bad situation, you should let me help you out,” Hollande said, his tone disgustingly condescending. I wanted to intervene, maybe to throw a few punches because how dare he treat Liv like that. But I held back, letting her work things out for herself.
“What, you don't believe me? I'm sleeping with Rip,” Liv declared. To my surprise, she turned towards me, twisting her fists into the front of my shirt and yanking me down into a surprisingly heated kiss.
It was as though all the tension of the previous few days was spilling over into the kiss. Our tongues battled against one another's, and our teeth clashed furiously. There was almost too much pressure where our lips collided with one another's, but neither of us wanted to ease off and give the other person control of the kiss. Liv's hands stayed fisted in my shirt, and I brought my own hands up to cup the back of her head, tilting it at an angle to give me better access as I licked and sucked and thoroughly explored every inch of her warm, wet mouth.
The kiss seemed to last forever, but it was probably only a minute or so before she was pulling away and fixing Hollande with a triumphant look. “See?” she asked, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear that she was a little out of breath. “I'm telling you, we're sleeping together. Now if you wouldn't mind, I have better things to do than talk to you right now. I don't even know how you found me.”
“You didn't sound okay on the phone last night,” Hollande said, his eyes blazing furiously. “You sounded like you might need help — like you might not even be in a situation where you could ask for help without ... repercussions.” His eyes slid towards me for a moment. “But Liv, do you really mean to tell me that you're totally okay with this? He's not ... beating you or anything like that? Tell me the truth.”
Liv laughed a little. “He's not beating me,” she said. “I wouldn't have kissed him if he was. I wouldn't be in that sort of situation.” She sneered at Hollande. “Do you really think I'm that attractive, that a man like him would be that desperate to get into a relationship with me? Do you really think I'm the type of woman who would be kidnapped? I'm mousy and plain, aren't I? You've said it yourself.”
“Well, of course you are,” Hollande said matter-of-factly, “but—” Whatever he was about to say, he was interrupted by my punching him in the face.
“I've had enough,” I snapped, scowling down at him where he huddled, a hand pressed against his face. “Don't you dare talk to Liv like that. In fact, don't you dare talk to her again. I'm sorry that you were too spineless to call her your girlfriend when you had the chance, but that door has closed. She's mine now.”
I didn't really know where the anger was coming from, and I definitely didn't know where my words were coming from, but I couldn't deny that it'd been an incredible kiss. It took a lot for a woman to catch me by surprise the way that Liv just had, and I was undeniably aroused by what had just happened.
Liv was staring back and forth between Hollande and I, looking momentarily bewildered, as though she could hardly comprehend what had just happened. “Go home, Hollande,” she finally managed to choke out. “Just...go home.”
Chapter Ten
Liv
If there had been nervous tension between Rip and I over the previous few days, it was nothing compared to how things felt after Hollande finally picked himself up off the floor and left, disgust and anger in his wake.
I turned towards Rip, unable to meet his eyes. “Sorry about that,” I said quietly. “I mean, about Hollande showing up, and about the...” I couldn't bring myself to say the word 'kiss'. “But I did okay, right? You don't think he's going to go to the police or anything like that?”
“If he does, it'll be to get me brought up on assault charges,” Rip said, sounding unconcerned. He was avoiding looking at me as well, I realized. I frowned, trying to figure out what he might be thinking. But I didn't really want to just ask outright about the kiss.
The thing was, that kiss had felt ... right, in some strange way. Nobody had ever kissed me like that before. Then again, I had never kissed anyone like that before either, so I supposed it was only fair. It felt like we connected, though.
But we were going to deliver the packages to Cherri later that evening, and then Rip and I were going to go our separate ways. There was no way I could spend even another week with someone who was so unconcerned about human life and everything else that was the foundation of my moral code.
I frowned and walked back over the seat I'd been sitting in before Hollande had arrived, sitting gingerly on the edge of it. Rip followed me back across the room and sat just as gingerly on the edge of the bed. “Liv—” he started.
I shook my head. “I don't want to talk about it,” I told him, before I even knew what exactly he was going to say.
“Okay,” he said, his voice impossibly gentle.
I looked up at him in surprise, finding something unreadable on his face. I shook my head again. “Look, let's just get this package delivered this evening and then you never have to see me again, all right?”
“Sure,” Rip said, still staring.
We were silent for a long moment, and then suddenly there was another knock on the door. Rip sighed and stood up, seeming resigned to the fact that Hollande had returned — maybe with police reinforcements, given the forceful nature of the knock.
I swallowed hard and stood up as well, ready to intervene if it was Hollande back again.
Instead, Hollande was nowhere to be seen, but there was a police officer standing there at the door. My heart instantly started racing. Rip was sure that they'd be there to press assault charges against him, but were they going to search the room as well? My eyes slipped over to the three packages which were stacked on the table in the corner. It wouldn't take much for them to find the gun pieces, and I wasn't sure what would happen then. Plus, somewhere was that letter that Rip had threatened me with, the one that claimed my involvement in this whole scheme. They were sure to find that as well…
“Officer, what can I do for you?” Rip asked, as though he hadn't just punched H
ollande out in the hallway. He seemed ready to go along without a fight, though.
The officer stared at him for a moment, hands on her hips. “Rip Stevens?” she asked. Her eyes slid past Rip, coming to rest on me. “And…?”
“Olivia Harrell,” I said, mouth gone dry with nervousness.
“Olivia Harrell,” the officer responded. “And just what are you doing here, Olivia Harrell?” Her eyes moved back and forth between Rip and I, and I wondered what Hollande had told her.
“I'm sleeping with him,” I blurted out bluntly, pointing to Rip. I blushed. “I mean, I'm not a prostitute or anything. He's a good guy. He doesn't, like, beat me or whatever else Hollande may have told you.”
The officer looked more confused. “Who is Hollande?” she asked Rip.
We all sort of started at one another for a moment before Rip cocked his head to the side, catching sight of the officer's name badge. “Cherri Velasquez?” he asked.
Cherri raised an eyebrow at him. “Of course,” she said. “Who else did you think it might have been?”
Rip exhaled noisily and pulled her into the room, shutting the door behind her.
Chapter Eleven
Liv
Cherri stared at me in disbelief after hearing Rip's explanation of who I was. “You've dragged an outsider into this?” she hissed, and although the question was directed at Rip, there was no denying the threat in her voice that was directed solely at me.
“Well, what was I supposed to do, Cherri?” Rip asked, sounding just as exasperated as he had when he had asked that question to Damien. “She overheard me on the phone. I couldn't exactly let her walk off after that. Anyway, she's been my cover in some ways. No one gets suspicious about a young couple looking to book a motel room for a night or two, but they do get suspicious when a guy like me shows up on his own on a motorcycle and needs a place to stay.”
Cherri frowned and turned her gaze back to Rip. “You may have compromised our mission enough as it is,” she snapped. “Who exactly is this Hollande guy that you thought might have ratted you out?”
“That was for something else entirely,” Rip said defensively. “He doesn't know about the packages or anything like that.” When Cherri continued to stare at him, clearly expecting an explanation, Rip rolled his eyes. “He's Liv's ex-boyfriend, I guess. Sort of. They weren't really dating. Anyway, he showed up here not too long ago and I ended up punching him in the face. I thought he might have sent you here to arrest me for assault or something like that.”
Cherri looked even more dismayed. “And what happens to me if the cops show up here and find me talking to the two of you?” she asked. “How are we going to explain that? I'm in uniform, after all.”
“Why are you dressed as a cop anyway?” I blurted out. “Wouldn't it have seemed less conspicuous if you had just come in your normal clothes?”
“I just got off work,” Cherri snapped. “As Rip should've known, I'm a prison guard at the prison where Cat is being held. How did you think we were going to get the packages to her anyway?”
“Wait, the packages are going to Cat?” I asked incredulously, staring at Rip. “She's trying to get out of prison, isn't she? And you're helping her!”
Rip scowled at Cherri. “See, she didn't know everything about the mission.”
“Just enough to jeopardize it,” Cherri shot back. “What do you think Cat’s going to say when she finds out you’ve dragged this girl into the mess as well?”
I could feel panic rising inside of me again. “Look, I don’t really have anything to do with this. He kidnapped me at gunpoint; I’m the victim here. As a prison guard, I would have expected you to have better morals than to harass an innocent bystander.”
There was a long silence where they both just stared at me. Suddenly, I wondered if Cherri might reconsider her role in this. If I could only make her see how wrong this was… There must be some good inside her if she had decided to become a prison guard. I couldn't see why she had gotten herself tangled up with the Gemini Riders to begin with, unless it all had to do with money…
“What are they paying you?” I suddenly asked her.
“What do you mean?” Cherri asked.
“To work for the Gemini Riders, to help Cat Zodiac escape,” I said. “What are the Gemini Riders paying you? I know they want their national president back. I assume they've offered you quite a bit of money. But maybe we can make some sort of a deal.” I didn't want to use all my inheritance money paying her off, but I also thought that might be a fair trade off in exchange for my life.
But Cherri sneered at me. “It's not about money,” she said. “The Gemini Riders aren't paying me anything. I'm paying them, and I'm helping to organize this.”
“But why?” I asked. There had to be some sort of reason…
“Cat Zodiac has my kid sister working as a prostitute for the Gemini Riders,” Cherri said finally. “She's promised that if I get the package to her, she'll let my sister go.” She bit her lip, momentarily looking human. “Jamie deserves something more in life than to be passed around as a prostitute by a bunch of crusty biker dudes.”
“Oh,” I said quietly. I looked towards Rip, hoping he would help me out a little, but he was still staring impassively at Cherri.
“I want you to deliver the first package to me tomorrow,” Cherri said to Rip, her tone level. “I'm working near where Cat is being held, and I should be able to get it in to her. The rest of the packages will be delivered to me at work over the course of the week. As for where to make the deliveries, you'll come in during visiting hours. There will be a man there at the desk who will want to check your package to make sure that there's nothing in it that the prisoners can't have. You'll hand over the package; he'll confiscate it. I've already taken pains to ensure that it's Romeo Bradley on the desk checking packages. I'm sure you've heard his name around the Gemini Riders before; he's been useful to us.”
Rip grunted a confirmation. “Who am I there to visit?” he asked. “Surely you don't want to link Cat to any of this.”
“Of course not,” Cherri said, giving him a look of disgust as though she couldn't believe he even had to ask. “You'll be there to see your ex-fiancée, Grace Talbot.”
Chapter Twelve
Liv
As soon as the door closed behind Cherri, I rounded on Rip. “Your ex-fiancée is a criminal too?” I snapped. “Kept in the same high-security prison as Cat Zodiac?”
Rip rubbed at his temples and reached for his wallet and keys. “I need a drink,” he said, looking ashen and exhausted.
I reached out and caught his wrist. “You need to go to the authorities!” I cried. “This is getting out of control. You're smuggling weapons into a prison!” And somehow I was mixed up in all of it.
“It's a pretty solid plan,” Rip said, shrugging a little. “Like Cherri said, Romeo has been useful to the Gemini Riders in the past. I can trust him.”
“Another friend-of-a-friend who you can trust?” I spat. “And what do you think about the people who are going to be killed when Cat gets her hands on these guns and gets them assembled? I'm not even talking about myself here, but what about the other prison guards and the witness and the other people that she kills when she gets out? Don't you care at all about any of them?”
Something flickered in Rip's face, but he set his jaw and stared down at me, shaking his wrist free. “It's not really any of your business anyway,” he said. “Look, I'll get the packages delivered this week. Then Cat will go through with the next part of her plan. And then I'll let you go free.”
“No,” I snapped. “Our deal was that once the packages had been delivered to Cherri, I would go back to my life. I can't—”
“Don't make me tie you up,” Rip snarled, giving me a menacing look. And suddenly, I was reminded of all the things he could do to me if I didn't cooperate with him. I was no longer certain that he wouldn't kill me. Or at least have me killed by one of the other Gemini Riders.
I ducked my head an
d, feeling suddenly tired of this whole thing, backed up to sit on the edge of the bed. It was no use thinking that I never should have gone along with him, when I knew that he would have forced me to come along anyway. But that was little comfort either way.
“You'd better be here when I return,” Rip said, glowering at me. “Otherwise...” He didn't finish the empty threat, but he didn't have to.
I nodded without looking up at him, twisting my fingers around one another. “I'll be here,” I promised.
Rip stared at me for a beat longer. “I really didn't want you to be caught up in this,” he said quietly.
I blinked up at him, wondering at the sincerity in his voice. Not that it was really going to help me, but it was almost comforting to know. I gave him a bitter half-smile and a shrug, though. “Yeah, well. Now I'm caught up in it, like it or not. I just hope...”
