Daring Hearts: Fearless Fourteen Boxed Set

by Box Set

  “You look beautiful,” I said.

  “Come on in, Rory. The boys are excited to see you.”

  The boys were waiting at the edge of the playroom. When they saw me, they pounced, giving me a hug.

  “Aww,” I said. “You guys are so sweet. Thank you for the hugs!”

  “Play!” Greg demanded as he pushed a firetruck toward me.

  “I’ll play in just a minute,” I said. “I need to use the restroom first.”

  “Down the hall past the laundry room,” Sharon said.

  I headed past the laundry room and into the garage. I used the bug sweepers very carefully and methodically. There was a bug on one of the dinosaur toys in the car. Everything else was clean. I needed a reason to get that toy out of there.

  I unpacked the clothes for the kids and Sharon and stacked everything on the tidy workbench at the back of the garage. I placed the bug sweepers back in my bag.

  I needed the T-Rex out of the SUV.

  After walking into the bathroom and flushing the toilet and running the sink, I went to the kitchen and set my purse and duffel bag on top of the fridge. Then I went into the playroom and started pushing the fire engine around.

  Sharon was watching me closely.

  “You know what?” I said. “I think my fire engine fights dinosaurs instead of fires.”

  Greg clapped his hands. “I have dinosaurs,” he said and rushed over to the wall of toys.

  “We need a lot,” I said. “My firemen are tough.”

  Dougie toddled over and found a triceratops under the coffee table. He brought it over and dropped it in front of the fire truck. Then he plopped down on his bottom.

  “Yay!” I said. “More. More.”

  Greg held four dinosaurs in his arms as he raced back to us. “Here,” he said, opening his arms.

  The dinosaurs fell in a pile by his brother.

  “Five dinosaurs,” I said. “I want more. Do we have more?”

  Dougie looked up at me as if perhaps I were too demanding.

  “My T-Rex,” Greg said. “Where is it?”

  He and Sharon looked around the room while the younger brother and I set up the dinosaurs and knocked them down.

  “Mommy!” Greg shouted suddenly. “I left him it in the car.”

  I could almost see the wheels clicking into place as Sharon tried not to make eye contact with me. She followed Greg out to the car and they returned with the dinosaur.

  This particular T-Rex was dangerous all right.

  “Yay!” I said. “We have six dinosaurs to fight!”

  We played for about ten minutes with the toys. I was hoping the kids would lose interest. We needed to get up to their room where I could turn off the baby monitors. Then I could keep the illusion going while Sharon and her kids crept down the back stairs and into the garage.

  “Mommy needs to go soon, boys,” Sharon said. “Let’s go upstairs and show Rory where your pajamas are.”

  “Last one there’s the rotten egg,” I said. Then I stood up and dashed for the stairs.

  Behind me, Greg was running and giggling, and Sharon was carrying Dougie upside down and pretending she was running as fast as she could.

  “Hurry!” Greg yelled as he raced past me into his room.

  When she got to the top of the stairs, Sharon set Dougie down and he took off running.

  I was the third one into Greg’s room, and Sharon pulled up the end.

  “Sorry, Mommy,” Greg said. “You’re the rotten egg.”

  “It’s okay, baby,” she said. “I don’t mind.”

  I went over to the baby monitor. “Are you sure it’s okay if I turn these off? They’re just kind of creepy. I saw this movie once…” I paused and looked at the kids as if realizing I might scare them.

  “No problem,” Sharon said.

  I turned it off and then went and turned off the one in Dougie’s room. Then I went to Greg’s room and pulled a note out of my bra to hand to her.

  She read it to herself and I went through the words in my head. “They could still have audio. The car is ready. You’ll extract the tracking device at this rendezvous point. My brother Graham and his friend Joshua will be there waiting. New clothes in the garage. Take nothing with you except the car and what’s in it.”

  “You know what I love to play?” I asked the boys. “Hide and seek. Do you like hide and seek?”

  They cheered, and I started counting.

  “I’ll help you guys hide,” she said. “Then I’ll leave after she finds you.”

  The kids started running down the hall. I heard her catch them and redirect them to the back stairs.

  This was it.

  I counted for a while and then I started searching the downstairs, calling softly for the boys. I went back upstairs and pretended to find them both hiding in Dougie’s room. I made enough squealing noises and laughing for all of us. Then I said, “Wait a minute, guys. I need to text my boyfriend.”

  I heard the car pull out of the garage and the garage door close again.

  I texted Hearst that the coast was clear. Then I ran downstairs for some juice and back up to the kid’s rooms, chattering away the whole time as if they were waiting for me.

  Hearst rang the doorbell, and I pretended to have the kids hide again while I went to get him. I unlocked the door, pulled him inside, and said, “Hurry.”

  He pulled me to a halt in the kitchen and kissed me senseless for the camera.

  “What?” I said when he pulled away.

  “Where are the kids?” he asked.

  “Oh,” I said. “Upstairs.” I dashed up the stairs as if I’d left them alone too long and Hearst followed.

  When we got to Dougie’s room, I made a show of finding Dougie, and then I found Greg under his bed. I made a big deal about introducing Hearst to the invisible children and then Hearst started playing with us as well.

  When the kids supposedly hid again, I held out my arms for one of Hearst’s hugs. We stood there, taking comfort in each other for a few minutes. Then we got back to business.

  “I think I heard something in the closet,” Hearst said.

  “Let’s find them,” I said.

  We kept this up until after eight. Playing with fake children. Meanwhile, I was dying to know if things had gone okay at the rendezvous point. Had Joshua extracted the tracker without the kids noticing that he was cutting on their mother? Had Graham managed to keep the device warm and drive the SUV to the restaurant?

  I was about to put the kids to bed for the night when the doorbell rang.

  I froze.

  Hearst shook his head. “I’ll watch the kids,” he said. “You get the door.”

  I took a deep breath and went downstairs to the door. Was it Doug or one of his minions? I unlocked the door and opened it a few inches.

  The man from next door stood there. He eyed me curiously. “You’re that cheerleader.”

  I nodded.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Babysitting,” I said, with a bit of attitude.

  He pointed to Hearst’s car. “Are you here alone?”

  “I don’t know you,” I said. “I appreciate you buying the pompoms but I need to get the kids in bed.”

  I started to close the door, anxious to see if he’d leave.

  “Where’d Mrs. West go tonight?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. Out to eat, I think.”

  He nodded.

  I shut the door in his face and made a big show of locking all the locks. Any babysitter would lock the house up tight with a neighbor snooping around. The problem was that I knew the locks wouldn’t keep him out.

  I went upstairs and said, “Just some neighbor guy. Let’s get the kids in bed. Which bedtime story do you guys want? I can read one, and my boyfriend can read one.”

  The pretend kids chose Goodnight Moon and Green Eggs and Ham. Then we put them into bed and sat in the upstairs hall as if waiting for them to sleep. We couldn’t speak freely, but we did hol
d hands which helped keep me from jumping out of my skin.

  After twenty minutes, we went downstairs. I got us each a can of Coke and grabbed a bag of cheese puffs. Then we turned the giant television on a movie channel and got cuddly.

  “What time will she be home?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “She said she’d call when she was leaving the restaurant.”

  “Good,” he said. Then he took the cokes and set them on the coffee table. He ran his fingers over my cheek. “I like the ponytail,” he said. Then he kissed me again. He turned me so I was shielding him from the cameras and stowed the gun in couch cushions.

  We’d done everything we had to do. I needed to check on the sleeping kids every now and then. Otherwise, we waited for a call from Sharon. Then he left and I left soon after. Then we went home and this was finally over. For now though, we had at least two hours, maybe three, to convince anybody watching that we were the All-American teen couple babysitting and making out.

  Apparently, kissing for long periods of time can shut your brain down. I stopped thinking about the danger, the family on the run, the people watching us. The only thing I could process after a while was the feel of Hearst’s mouth on mine.

  “Go check on the kids,” Hearst finally said.

  I blinked at him. “Yeah,” I said. “Be right back.”

  The call from Graham pretending to be Sharon came at ten fifteen. I hadn’t expected it so early, and it worried me a little.

  “You have to go,” I said to Hearst. “She’s on her way home.”

  He kissed me one last time for good measure, and we slipped the gun back into his boot. Then I walked him to the door.

  “You should babysit more often,” he said and waggled his eyebrows.

  I actually giggled.

  He grinned and unlocked all the locks. Then he stepped outside and waited for me to lock them back.

  I went upstairs to check on the kids once more. I was acutely aware of the cameras now that I was in the house alone.

  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the SUV pulled into the garage.

  I texted Hearst and went to the hall by the garage. I opened the door.

  “Did you have fun?” I asked as if Sharon were there.

  I gave my brother a probing look and he gave me a thumbs up and a tense smile.

  Then I laughed as if Sharon had responded and my brother and Joshua filed past me into the house. Joshua held a dummy, and he continued up the stairs. My brother gave me a hug. Then we waited for the sound of Hearst’s car as I babbled on about how good the boys were.

  “Thanks, again,” I said, as I slipped out the door.

  Then my brother, staying out of sight, locked the door behind me.

  I had to force myself to walk to the car instead of running. When I finally got there, I opened the door and jumped in. Hearst reached for me and hugged me tight. Then he released me and we drove out of the neighborhood.

  We switched out the cars at his nanny’s, and then we sped toward the loft.

  “He gave me a thumbs up,” I said. “That’s all I know.”

  Hearst nodded. “They shouldn’t be too much longer.”

  We pulled up at the loft and rushed inside. We expected to be greeted with excitement, but the two teens and Lori didn’t notice us come in.

  Apparently, the loft had been transformed into a dance party. The floor thumped with the bass and the three of them were dancing their rear ends off.

  I gave Hearst a grin, and waited to see what he would do. I nodded my head toward them.

  Even after all the craziness of the night, I never expected him to pull the pistol out of his boot, lay it on the kitchen island, and then skip right into the midst of them and dance.

  I almost collapsed, I was laughing so hard. But I wasn’t going to miss out on dancing with Hearst, so I pulled myself together and joined them.

  Lori gave us hugs right away. It took Felicity and Liz a few minutes to notice us. Then they hugged us too.

  Hearst wasn’t going to win any awards for his dancing, but he was fun to watch.

  We must have danced for an hour. I ditched the hoodie almost immediately, and the t-shirt I wore underneath was sweaty by the time I saw Lori take a break and sit down.

  I’d shaken my bootie just about as long as I could stand it, when Lori hit the power on the sound system and the loft was instantly, jarringly silent.

  “And here I thought you’d be worried,” my brother said, his voice booming into the void.

  “Graham!” I said, turning toward the door and running to him. “You’re safe!”

  I waited for him to set down his bags before I hugged him.

  “Where’s Joshua?” I asked.

  “He’s down in the office, putting some things away.”

  Liz and Felicity were now squealing his name and rushing toward us. I kept one arm around my brother and held up the other to stop them. “Leave him alone, you two. He’s had a hard night.”

  Felicity gave me a dirty look until my brother said, “Thanks for understanding. I’m on sensory overload.” Then she smiled at him.

  “Lori,” my brother said, “Joshua is going to either take you home or follow you home. Whichever you’d rather. I know I asked a lot of you tonight.”

  “No problem, Graham,” she said. “Do we think tonight was a success?”

  We all looked at my brother for his answer.

  He nodded. “They got away. As long as Sharon doesn’t make any mistakes, like calling a friend or using her real name at a hotel, they should make it.”

  I hugged my brother tight, and then released him. I met Hearst’s gaze and we shared congratulatory smiles.

  Chapter 16

  “You aren’t worried about Sharon and the boys?” I asked.

  “I’m more worried about us,” he said. “I want you and Hearst back to your normal, or not so normal selves in the morning. Townsey, avoid ponytails and peppy clothes for a while.”

  “I could go ahead and get that nose ring and the tattoo I want,” I said.

  My brother almost smiled. “We’ll see how it goes.”

  “I’m going to get home,” Lori said. “Good night everyone. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “I’ll walk you down and get the girls’ phones. You can text your parents that Lori is home safe, and that you are staying the night with Townsey since it’s so late. If they don’t like it, I’ll have Joshua take you home when he gets back from Lori’s.”

  Lori and Graham went out the door.

  “I have to sit down,” I said. I went over to the couch and sat.

  Before Liz or Felicity could get there, Hearst sat next to me. He held out his arm and I snuggled against him. I closed my eyes feeling the exhaustion and enjoying the comfort of his embrace.

  “Um,” Liz said. “Guys?”

  I opened my eyes to see that she and Felicity were staring at us. “What?” I asked.

  “What is this exactly?” Felicity asked, motioning from me to Hearst.

  “Huh?” I mumbled.

  “This snuggling each other thing?” Liz said. “This is new.”

  I shook my head. I didn’t have the energy to deal with their questions.

  “Are you guys together now?” Felicity asked.

  “No,” I said.

  Hearst must have been as tired as I was because he hadn’t answered. “Friends,” he said, sleepily.

  “Pretend,” I added as if to clarify.

  Hearst breathed in and out in a steady rhythm that lulled me to sleep.

  As I drifted off, I heard Liz say, “We’re friends, Felicity, but you never hug on me like that.”

  Something about it sounded familiar, but I lost hold of the thought as I drifted off.

  * * *

  “Wake up, Townsey,” Liz said, shaking my shoulder. “Wake up. We have to go to school today.”

  I moaned and tried to roll over. I wasn’t in my bed. I was half sitting, half lying on the couch.

  �
��Graham says you have to go. Get in the shower before you run out of time,” she said.

  I opened my eyes and looked at my friend. She was wide awake, and fully dressed. She wore one of my uniform shirts.

  She followed my gaze. “We had to borrow your tops so we don’t wear the same clothes we wore yesterday.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Why do we have to go today?”

  “Graham said it’s safer. He wants you and Hearst to be there.”

  I groaned. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired in my life.”

  “Here you go,” Felicity said. “I brought you some fresh coffee.”

  I eyed the mug. “Did Graham make it?”

  “No. I did.”

  I struggled to sit up and reached for the mug. I took a tentative sip. It wasn’t bad.

  She grinned at me. “It’s good isn’t it? I used ice cream instead of creamer.”

  I glanced down at the mug. Then I decided it didn’t matter as long as it tasted good and had some caffeine in it. “How much time do I have?”

  “Maybe fifteen minutes,” Liz answered. “Hearst already showered, but he’s got all that junk to stick back in all those piercings.”

  “The boy’s putting his freak back on,” Felicity said. “A shame really.”

  “I like him that way,” I said, taking another sip of the coffee.

  “Yeah, Towns,” Liz said. “We kind of noticed that.”

  I looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

  “What she means is, are you or are you not a couple?” Felicity said.

  “Me and Hearst? No.” I was tired and not fully awake, but I knew better than to share my feelings for him with them.

  “Are you sure?” Felicity asked.

  I shrugged. “We kissed for hours, but it was for show.” I continued to sip from the mug until their shocked silence finally penetrated my haze. I glanced up at them.

  “For hours?” Liz asked.

  “Hours?” Felicity asked.

  “Townsey,” my brother said from the doorway to his bedroom, “get in the shower before you lose your chance.”

  I handed the mug to Liz and stood up. I glanced at Graham. He wore a wrinkled t-shirt and some gym shorts. His hair was sticking out in every direction. I felt exactly how he looked.