Freedom

by Mary Crawford

  “Thank you, I appreciate your honesty. I haven’t worked with you directly before, but I’ve heard good things about your skills. If Tristan thinks there’s a way we can make this work, I’m willing to work with him to make it possible. I guess the way I see it is that we're all different; you’re just different in an unusual way. I think we can work around your unique challenges and strengths,” Jameson says as he stands up to shake my hand. “Take some time to think about it.”

  “Okay, I will put some serious thought into your offer.”

  As we're headed out the door, he turns to me and asks, “What are you guys doing tonight? You met Kendall yesterday, she’s my fiancée. Aidan O’Brien is putting on a small benefit concert for Locate My Heart. Do you and Zoe want to come?”

  “Aidan O’Brien? Doesn’t Zoe’s friend Katelyn work for him?”

  “She does,” Jameson answers, “Although most often she protects Tasha and Mindy.

  “Do you know if she’s coming tonight?”

  “As far as I know, Logan and Katie are planning to be there.”

  I smile widely. “This will be a fun surprise to pull on Zoe. Just text me the details and I’ll see you tonight.”

  I grip Zoe’s hand tightly as I try to find us a back table out of the way of all the enthusiastic fans.

  “What is this place?” Zoe asks.

  “I’m not really sure, Jameson just said we should come,” I answer, trying not to give anything away.

  For a brief second the curtain opens up and Aidan O’Brien is visible as he straps on his guitar.

  “Oh my gosh! How in the world did you score tickets to something like this? Do you know how many years I’ve been trying to get Aidan O’Brien tickets?”

  “You didn’t know Aidan and Tristan are friends?”

  “I guess I should’ve figured it out. Katie went to go work for him instead of Identity Bank. I know I went to a birthday party at Rogue’s house and Tristan was trying very hard to recruit Katie away from the local police department—but this was before she moved to Oregon. Although I was happy for her, I still miss her. She was cool. It would’ve been great to have her as a sister-in-law.”

  Someone clears their throat behind Zoe. “Yeah, I was bummed too. I was looking forward to having you as a sister. John is cool, but he's still only my brother.”

  She turns around, leaps to her feet, and shrieks, “Katie! I can’t believe you’re here. Well, I guess I can believe it. Are you working tonight?”

  Katie shakes her head. “No, Nick has Aidan’s back tonight. I told Kendall I would help with organizing the auction—but I’m done now.”

  Zoe pulls out a chair. “Have a seat!” she exclaims as her excitement bubbles over.

  Katie shrugs. “Okay, I’ll just text Logan and tell him where we are.”

  “Can you believe what Vinnie the Pooh did?” Zoe presses.

  I shake my head slightly. “Remember the judge’s instructions? You’re not supposed to talk about the trial until after it’s all over,” I caution.

  Zoe sinks back into her chair. “I know you’re right. Tori Clarksfield didn’t seem to think I would be called to testify again, but you never know.”

  Katie glances over at me and smiles. “Whoever this is, he’s one smart cookie. I don’t want to get in trouble with our judge. She already seems to hate our side.”

  I nod. “Thanks, I was just paying attention to the small details. My name is Phoenix, obviously you already know Zoe.”

  Katie’s eyebrows furrow, “I’m sorry, I don’t remember seeing you at the trial.”

  “That’s okay, you were probably distracted by everything. I like to make myself as invisible as possible. I guess maybe I was more invisible than I thought,” I say.

  “I guess so,” Katie concedes. “Obviously, we have way more important things to talk about than my ex-fiancé. What’s up with you?”

  Zoe points down to Bruiser at my feet. “Well, it turns out I met this great guy with gorgeous hair and a very cool motorcycle when he called Hope’s Haven for help to rescue Bruiser here after he was hit by a truck on the freeway. He decided to stick around to see how well Bruiser’s health improved.”

  A peal of laughter escapes from Katie. “I can tell by looking at the two of you, he was interested in checking out more than just the dog — although kudos to that. Not everyone can be a rescuer.”

  I flush and I can feel my face heating with embarrassment. “I can’t deny what you’re saying. Zoe was good incentive to stick around even when I had other places to be.”

  “Hey, you work with my brother, don’t you? I knew your name sounded familiar,” Katie responds as her face lights up.

  Again I blush as I admit, “I am not great at meeting my coworkers. I’ve seen your brother around but I’ve haven’t met him yet.”

  “You sound just like my niece, Ketki.”

  I raise my eyebrows in surprise. “You’re not the first person to tell me about Ketki. I guess when I get back to Florida I'll have to look her up.”

  “Are you going back to Florida or are you staying here to work for Jameson?” Katie asks pointedly.

  “I don’t know yet. I haven’t decided. There’s a lot of stuff up in the air. My life is in Florida.”

  “I completely understand. It was a tough decision. Of course, it was made easier by the fact that I had a couple of crazy men stalking me,” Katie says with a smirk.

  “Did I hear from Darya that you shot one of your stalkers?”

  “I did. He was going after people I was responsible for protecting. So, I had to kill him,” Katie admits with shrug and a sad expression on her face.

  I have to remember to close my mouth. Katie doesn’t really look like a lethal law enforcement officer. “Everything work out with that?” I can’t help but ask.

  She rolls her shoulder and her eyes. “As well as something like that can work out. I mean, a guy’s dead. But, at least he was the bad guy. It could have been much worse because Logan, Mindy, Tasha, and Jude were all in the car with us.”

  “Are you sorry you ever left Florida?”

  Katie laughs out loud and tilts her head toward where Logan is talking with a woman in a wheelchair. “At first, I was homesick a lot. But I definitely got the best end of the deal. After I fled my wedding, I never believed I would ever fall in love again. Now, despite all that’s happened to get us here I am happier than I’ve ever been. Logan is my rock.”

  “What does your family think of all this?” I probe.

  “At first, my parents were a little worried and sad, of course. They came out here when Aidan threw a surprise engagement party for us and ended up buying a quaint vacation place up here on the edge of the forest. Sometimes they stay here and sometimes they’re with John in Florida. It works out great for everyone.”

  “What about your friends? Don’t you miss us?” Zoe asks.

  “I do, very much. Fortunately for Logan and me, Aidan travels a fair amount. Whenever we tour on the East Coast, I try to go home for a visit and see as many friends as I can.”

  I squeeze Zoe’s hand. “I didn’t consider that possibility. But, I bet if I take the position here, Tristan will want to bring the staff of both branches of Identity Bank together for training. So, even if we moved to Oregon you would still be able to see your family a few times a year.”

  “What about the whole plane thing?” Zoe asks me with a raised eyebrow. The skepticism on her face is clear.

  “I don’t know,” I shrug. “I did far better than I ever thought I would. I suppose it probably gets easier the more you fly. Who knows? I might even become a frequent flyer or something.”

  “What about me?” Zoe asks in a small, timid voice as a tear slides down her face.

  Katie puts her arm around Zoe’s shoulders. “Try not to worry about it, Zoe. I heard Phoenix say he wasn’t planning to make the move without you. It’s all going to work out. It’s only hard while you’re figuring it out. Once you guys are on the same page, it’
ll get easier. Come on Zoe let’s go get freshened up before the concert starts.” Katie comments as she walks around and pulls Zoe out of her seat.

  Zoe looks at me with a startled look. “Oh … okay I guess we’ll be back.”

  I try to make myself invisible as I watch people mill around and greet old friends. I stick in my earbuds and play music while I scroll through my messages. I take a deep breath and try to shake out my hands. I’ve been clenching them tightly and they are numb.

  I am about to open an email from Tristan when someone taps me on the shoulder. I jump about four inches in the air at the intrusion. When I turn around and see Jameson, I quickly remove my headphones and mumble, “Sorry about that.”

  Jameson looks around with a concerned expression “Where’s Zoe?”

  I point in the direction I saw her go when she left our table. “She and Katie went off to the restroom to do whatever girl stuff they do in there.”

  Jameson pulls out a chair and sits on it backwards as he says, “Awesome, that’s probably the best place for her.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask as a knot of anxiety forms in my stomach.

  “I just got off the phone with Isaac. He was monitoring the security feeds from Hope’s Haven. Someone was messing with the gates to the dog runs. I guess Tristan told them to start locking the runs since someone was tampering with the yard.”

  My eyes widen as I process his words. “Do they think it was Vincent?”

  Jameson shakes his head. “Isaac says it could not have been him because he would’ve had to shrink about 5 inches and grow a full head of blonde hair to fit the description of the perp.”

  “Maybe it’s just random teenagers messing around —” I suggest.

  “Isaac doesn’t think so. I guess their actions were quite deliberate. Besides, Isaac has some contacts over at the jail and it seems that Vincent was caught trying to recruit someone over the phone to do Zoe harm. Apparently, he’s trying to eliminate all the witnesses against him.”

  “Man! That’s scary. Do they have any idea where Vincent disappeared to?” I press as I try to quiet my racing heart.

  Jameson shakes his head. “I wish someone knew. Zoe’s brother seems to have vaporized into thin air. This doesn’t have anything to do with your job offer at Identity Bank West, but I think it’s a good idea if Zoe considers leaving the state of Florida. After she does, she shouldn’t tell anyone in her family where she's at. I suspect her parents are feeding Vincent information about her.”

  “I’m not in a position to tell Zoe what to do. I’ll make a few suggestions and hope for the best.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  ZOE

  I’VE FORGOTTEN HOW MUCH I enjoy Katie’s company. We joke about it, but I really am sad she won't be my sister-in-law. While we were in the bathroom, she announced she would like me to be one of her bridesmaids even though we're not blood relatives. I almost cried when she said she'll always consider me the sister who got away.

  After a while, we decide we should probably rejoin the party before Logan and Phoenix begin to wonder where we are. We’re walking hand-in-hand back to the table and laughing about the upcoming wedding. “Wouldn’t it be funny if we could set it up so I was the opposite of a runaway bride? I could sprint toward Logan wearing my obnoxious florescent orange running shoes,” Katie whispers as she breaks out into another round of giggles.

  “Don’t forget, you’ll need to wear the darkest of dark ivory dresses. After all, didn’t my brother call you trashy because you were wearing ivory instead of white?”

  “Yeah, a spat over the color of my wedding dress is what started the whole debacle. I’ll never be more grateful for an argument over clothes as long as I live. I can’t believe I was ever so stupid, but the fight showed me Vinnie’s true colors and they weren’t pretty.”

  I sigh. “I’ve learned a bunch of stuff about my brother I never wanted to know.”

  “I can imagine. He was doing a good job of disguising everything until the wedding day.” Katie looks over at our table and I follow her gaze. Phoenix, Jameson and Logan are in the middle of some intense conversation. The mood has clearly changed. I didn’t think Katie and I were gone long, but maybe we were longer than we thought.

  I walk up behind Phoenix and lay my hand on his shoulder. “What are you guys doing?”

  Phoenix flinches slightly at my touch. He pales when he realizes it’s me. His reaction is so odd it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Apparently, I’m not the only one. Katie takes looks at Logan with a narrowed gaze. “What’s going on? You have your work face on. I thought we were here to have fun.”

  Jameson takes off his ever-present baseball cap and fiddles with the brim. “That’s what we all thought too, but there’s been a development,” he says with a frown.

  Before I can ask any of the million questions which flood my brain, Katie straightens her spine and takes a chair from a nearby table and places it next to Logan. She sinks into it gracefully and takes a sip of Logan’s drink. “Okay. Spill what you know. We can’t deal with it unless we know what’s going on.”

  “I got a call from Tristan,” Jameson answers. “Apparently someone tried to enter the dog runs at Hope’s Haven.”

  Katie rolls her eyes. “Please tell me it wasn’t my scum bucket of an ex.” As soon as she blurts it, her gaze darts to mine. “Sorry, I always forget there are people in this world who still love Vincent.”

  I shrug. “If even a fraction of the things I’ve heard about my brother recently are true, I’m not a fan either.” I turn to Jameson. “Well, was it Vinnie? Did they nail his butt?”

  Jameson shakes his head. “Sadly, that’s a negative on both accounts. The perp did not fit your brother’s physical description and he got away before the police could get there.”

  “Stuart says there are a ring of people who steal cute pets from peoples’ yards and sell them on the Internet. Could it be that?” I suggest.

  Jameson places his baseball cap back on his head. “Could be — it’s hard to know. The way I understand it, your brother was caught on tape trying to arrange someone to go after you to stop you and everyone else from testifying against him.”

  Katie runs her fingers through her thick brown hair. “Why can’t that guy get a clue and disappear from our lives?” Her disgust is plain.

  “I think that’s part of our current problem. He did disappear. It’s hard to punish a guy you can’t find,” Phoenix adds.

  Before I can formulate a response, the band on stage starts to play and Aidan begins to sing one of his latest hits. Phoenix looks as if somebody sucker-punched him. His hands are trembling as he takes a drink. Last time I saw him like this it was outside the doorway of the dog kennel. As the situation becomes clear to me, I dig around in my purse and hand Phoenix a box.

  He turns the box over in his hands several times before he sets it down and texts me a message.

  “What is this?”

  It takes me a while because I usually dictate my text messages — but that’s not possible in this noisy environment.

  “I knew your big headphones bugged you. I got you these. It should help with the sound.”

  Phoenix concentrates on opening the box. When he sees what’s inside, he gratefully sticks them in his ears. His eyes widen and he shoots me a thumbs up sign. He appears much more relaxed as he leans back against the chair and rests his arm around my shoulders.

  I rest my head against Phoenix’s shoulder as we walk side-by-side into the hotel. After the elevator door shuts, I face him. He cups my face with his hands as he leans down and brushes a kiss across my lips. “Thank you,” he whispers.

  “Thank you for what?” I ask puzzled by his sudden intensity.

  Phoenix shrugs. “For everything. Thank you for making it possible for me to fly out here. Thank you for being by my side and guessing everything I might need. If it weren’t for you and Bruiser, I would’ve lost it tonight when the music started. I didn’t even consider earpl
ugs. I was so focused on making sure I didn’t mess up in front of Jameson, I forgot how loud concerts can be.”

  I stand on my tiptoes and return his kiss as the elevator door opens.

  After he unlocks our room, I walk over and sink down on the luxurious bed. I pat the spot beside me to invite him to sit down. Bruiser doesn’t think twice, he jumps up on the bed and stretches out across the pillows. I don’t know what his life was like before, but he is definitely a spoiled boy now. Phoenix shrugs out of his jacket and his shirt. He sits down on the bed, unlaces and kicks off his motorcycle boots.

  I scoot back on the bed and sit cross-legged as I face him. “Seriously, it was no big deal. I was happy to do it. I was at the mall today while you were meeting with Jameson. I was bored, so I checked out an electronics store. When I saw the earplugs, I knew they would be the perfect solution. The noise canceling headphones are okay sometimes, but sometimes I need to talk to you. These seem like the perfect compromise. I had no idea we were going to go to a concert tonight though. The timing was perfect.”

  “You’re right, it was. They work exceptionally well too. I was able to listen to Aidan and Tasha sing without feeling like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a concert. In fact, I don’t know if I ever have. Usually, they make me feel tense and uncomfortable.”

  “Did you have fun tonight?” I ask feeling curious about his experience.

  “I did. I was having a great time until Jameson dropped his bombshell on us. After that, my brain was a little scattered. Your friends didn’t make me feel weird or anything — even when I asked for my burger to come disassembled.”

  “It’s like Katie said, they’re used to special orders because they have to make them to accommodate Logan’s diabetes.”