My grip on the steering wheel is so tight my hands are white and I can’t feel my fingers. I want to punch the gas and go faster than I already am. I’m already exceeding the speed limit at an unsafe speed most likely scaring Sierra. I don’t dare look over at her as I assess my surroundings making unnecessary turns in case someone is following. When I think it’s safe and no one is following, I finally head to the safe house I reserved until this guy is caught. I don’t want to take any chances with Sierras safety.
Sierra never utters a word asking where we are going or how I found her. She just sits there quietly the whole ride. As I pull up to the safe house, I’m sure she’s confused and curious as to why we are here instead of at home where her parents and brother are waiting for word of her safety and whereabouts. I pull into the garage and put the car in park turning off the engine as we sit in silence. I can’t hear anything aside from the pounding of my heart and my erratic breathing coupled with Sierras slow patient breaths. I wonder what she’s thinking right now. It’s not normal for Sierra to be so quiet with me. Usually she asks a lot of questions and makes conversation but I guess this situation isn’t the usual for us and none of this is normal circumstances.
I can’t take the silence. Something has changed between us. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad but with the abduction and not knowing what she went through I’m sure it’s not for the better. I want to be there for her, lend her a shoulder to cry on and comfort her. I want to tell her that I’m here for her and I love her no matter what has happened and that I will always keep her safe from now on but I don’t. I need her to come to me when she’s ready so I open my door and walk to the garage door unlocking it to let us in. I pause just inside the door and wait for her to follow. I’m sure she’s confused and scared and relieved all in one but I don’t want to push her until she’s ready so I stay holding open the door, waiting patiently until I see her finally open her door and slowly slide out.
I didn’t look too closely before when I first picked her up, afraid of what I might see that’s different. I don’t care that she’s most likely changed in one way or another but I was more afraid to see how badly she was hurt and traumatized. I watch her take her time looking around as she walks to the door I realize she hasn’t changed much in appearance. She’s still just as beautiful and innocent as before. I wonder how much of that innocence was lost though, during her abduction. She doesn’t look like she’s been badly hurt or terribly starved but she does look slightly thinner and definitely unclean. Maybe he didn’t let her bathe. I’m not sure but what I am sure of is how much in love I am with her and having her back here with me and safe makes me want to tell her my feelings for her because I’ve realized you never know when you will see someone again. I don’t want to miss my opportunity to let her know even if she doesn’t feel the same for me. But first things first, she needs food, a shower and some rest.
“Hey baby girl.” I say it low almost a whisper so as not to startle her as she starts to walk through the door I’m holding open. She stops and turns to face me looking up at me with unshed tears and a trembling lip. She looks so tiny and vulnerable like the slightest touch will break her but I know she’s stronger than that.
She doesn’t answer me but instead throws her arms around me and squeezes tight like she’s afraid if she lets go I won’t be here anymore. I wrap my big arms around her and comfort her as best I can saying ‘its ok now’ and ‘I’ve got you,’ trying to give her as much peace of mind with my comforting words and tight embrace as she begins to cry. I continue to hold her while I maneuver us away from the door so I can shut it. I tug Sierra to the living room couch and sit us down, pulling her close as the sobs ebb and turn into sniffles. Sierra never lets me go only holding me tighter and snuggling closer, so close that she is practically in my lap. I’m not very good with girls who cry but this is Sierra, my baby girl, and I would do anything for her, be anything she needs as long as she needs me and if that means letting her cry on my shoulder then so be it. Only Sierra has me breaking all my rules.
“I’m sorry. I think I soaked your shirt and got dirt and snot on you.” She whispers this to me as if she’s scared of how I’ll react while pulling away. I don’t let her. I just squeeze her to me and kiss the top of her head letting her know its ok.
“Baby girl there is nothing to be sorry for. I will let you cry on me anytime you want and I know after everything that’s happened, you needed this. I’m here for you however you want and need me.” She doesn’t say anything after that and just stays in my arms cuddled against my chest as we both sit in silence thinking about past events that brought us to here.
“You hungry?” I’m sure she’s probably starving and I doubt the little bit of food she was most likely given was any good or even healthy.
“Yeah.” Her voice is still a whisper but that’s ok. I know she’s probably feeling a lot of different things right now. I just hope she doesn’t feel as if she has to whisper out of fear and just because she is overwhelmed.
“Ok. I’ll make something fast and bring you something to drink.” I untangle myself from her and rise from the couch but before I make it to the kitchen she speaks up.
“Ca…Can I sit and watch you in there? I don’t want to be alone.” She looks at me with fear in her eyes like she believes I would turn her away.
“Baby girl, you don’t even have to ask. I could use the company. Maybe you can answer some questions for me or ask me questions.” I suggest.
“Yeah. Ok. Umm. Can I just ask the questions? I’m not ready to think about what happened at the moment. Is that ok?” As much as I want the answers to my questions right now, I won’t push her to give them until she’s ready. I don’t know how traumatized she is and I would rather her give the information without feeling like she’s being cornered.
“Yes. You can ask and I’ll answer the best I can. You just let me know when you’re ready to answer my questions. I won’t push you.” She nods her head and bites her lip nervously.
“Ok.” She gets up and follows me into the kitchen as I get the soup cans out of the cupboard. It’s not the healthiest of meals but I’m sure it’s better than what she was eating while captured and it’s fast and easy. Tomorrow I’ll make her something real to eat.
“Is there some water or juice to drink? I’m thirsty.” I point to the fridge as I pour the two cans of soup into a pot and set it on the stove to cook.
“There are water bottles in the fridge and soda in the pantry if you want caffeine.”
“Thank you.” As she opens the fridge and peruses its contents, I watch her closely. I don’t know what it is but it looks as though she’s hurt beyond just a few cuts and bruises. She favors her shoulder and doesn’t move her arm too much to do anything. Sierra grabs two water bottles out of the fridge and gives one to me as she opens hers and gulps down half the bottle before taking a breath. She’s probably dehydrated along with starving so I hand her my bottle to drink after she finishes hers.
“How did you know where to find me?” The hardest question to answer with a lot of aspects to explain.
I take a deep breath and try to figure out where to start. I don’t want to lie to her and keep things from her but I’m not really supposed to tell her about my undercover job. As I contemplate where to start, Sierra just stares at me with patience and curiosity waiting for my answer.
“Well, to answer that I need to start from the beginning.” She nods as if she already knew that. “I am undercover. Sort of anyways. I don’t really go to college online or have classes at night to take tests like you thought. I run an underground fight club. It’s not really underground but at a warehouse just on the outskirts of town but it’s illegal. I want to be a cop and I’ve been helping them catch criminals through my club.” I stop and wait to make sure she’s understanding what I’m saying while I turn off the stove and divvy up the soup into two bowls for us to eat. I don’t say anymore until we are both seated at the kitchen table and start e
ating.
“Nobody knows I’m undercover aside from my sergeant and about two or three other officers who are undercover with me. Not even Damon knows and you know he knows everything about me.” She nods knowing this is true.
“How did you get to be undercover? I mean, don’t you need to go to the police academy or something? I don’t remember you ever being gone more than a few days at a time.” Here is where it’s going to be hard to explain. Nobody ever knew this and I don’t want her to think badly of me after I tell her.
“You know how I never really fought at school?” I wait for her to nod her understanding. “Well I didn’t fight in school because I fought out of school to keep from getting in trouble. I didn’t want to disappoint your parents.” Damon and Sierras parents were lifesavers for me. They accepted me just as I was, rage and all and I couldn’t stand seeing the disappointment on their faces when I would get into trouble at school.
“I was running my own fight scene at an abandoned house but it didn’t start out that way. I was needing an outlet for my rage so every time someone wanted to fight with me I would suggest they meet me at this abandoned house. Word got around that that’s where I fought and soon students would come and watch the fights and then they started betting. I always won the fights so then guys would come from other schools claiming they could beat me. It didn’t take long before people from all over would come and watch me fight and bet on me. I never did it for the money but when everyone placed bets they would take some of it and give it to me for winning the fights. It went from just me fighting assholes to other men fighting at the house and then people started to bet on them too. I don’t know how long this went on for. A year maybe two, but one day the place got busted. I was in the middle of a fight with some punk from our rival school when shouts rang out and the place was swarmed with cops all pointing their guns at everyone and coming in from all sides yelling for us to get down on the floor and put our hands on our heads.” Sierra gasped and I waited a minute before continuing.
“I was so scared. Not of the police, no. I was scared of what your parents would think of me and what you would think. Damon knew about this place but he stayed away because it wasn’t really his thing. He didn’t like fighting for the hell of it. He only fought when it was necessary. The cops arrested everyone and brought us in for questioning. Most of everyone was let go, probably with a ticket but they kept me longer and made me wait to be last. I didn’t know what they wanted but I knew I was in big trouble. I knew I would have this on my record and I was so disappointed in myself.” Thinking back to that day, it’s a relief to know they didn’t call my foster parents because I couldn’t handle the disappointed looks they would give me. Sierra has been quietly listening the whole time but I know she’s worried about how I made it to where I’m at now.
“I sat in that room for hours but it felt like days with how nervous I was. It was a relief when they finally brought me out and took me to the interrogation room. It started out the same as the movies. The room was concrete walled, a single table with a glass of water and two chairs on either side of it and a chair in the corner with a one way mirror behind it. The cameras were up in two corners of the room and I waited for what seemed like forever before two detectives came in. I figured they would do the whole good cop/bad cop thing but I was shocked when they didn’t. They had a manila folder with a stack of papers inside and they both pulled up the chairs opposite of me and smiled. I thought it was a joke like maybe they were smiling because I was going to jail for the rest of my life.”
“Oh god. I don’t remember any of this. I would have thought that mom and dad would have said something or that you would have been in trouble. When did it happen?” Sierras face would be comical if it wasn’t for the fact that she is completely serious.
“I had started fighting at this place during my sophomore year. It was my senior year that they busted us. I could have lost everything. I almost did.” Sierra covers her mouth with shock but I continue on. “They opened the folder and pulled out a couple papers showing information on me. It was everything about me. My name, birthday, social security number, who my parents were, even the schools and foster parents I had. It was crazy. I was confused and so I didn’t say anything but I doubt they needed me to anyways. They knew everything about me as it was. Then they showed me a paper that had my stats on when and who I fought even. I was afraid to talk when I saw that in case I said something that would get me in even worse trouble. Then one of the officer says to me, ‘we have a proposition for you. You can take it or leave it but if you don’t take it then we will be forced to put this on your record. If you choose to take it then we won’t utter a word of this but you will be working for us.’ Of course I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have them ignore it so I asked them what it was they wanted from me.” I remember it like it was yesterday. I was scared and wanted to have hope that what they asked of me could be something that I could handle.
“They told me that they want me to continue with the fights but as an outsider. Apparently there were a lot of people who came to watch me fight that were being watched for illegal dealings. Mostly drugs but occasionally sex crimes and theft. They wanted me to set up a schedule for the fights and just keep an eye out for certain people. I was just supposed to let them know that they were there. So I agreed after asking a few more questions. They offered to pay me and said that when I reach the age aloud to join, that they will put me on the police force. I agreed and started setting up regular fight nights and moved it to the warehouse they gave me that was wired and had cameras nobody knew about. Nobody questioned me when I did this and the story was that the police had nothing on me so they could only ticket me with trespassing. I still fought to keep up the image so that nobody questioned me but it was fewer than before. They weren’t too happy about it but I couldn’t just stop or else people would suspect something was up. The cops said it was a secret undercover job because it wasn’t exactly funded by the station so only the three of us knew about it and then a third guy came in. That guy is the one who helped you escape tonight. He’s been working his way up the ranks to get to a guy called the ‘boss’ who runs a sex trafficking ring. That’s who we’ve been focused on the last year or so and only one person that we know of knows the identity of ‘the boss.’ As soon as we find out who it is and arrest him I’m done with the underground fighting. I’ll be on the force officially.”
“Wow.” Yeah. My sentiments exactly. “So, nobody knows what you really do?”
“Nope. Only you.” I trust Sierra and know she would never say anything but it’s a lot to take in. “Because of my connection with this club I had asked around to see if anyone had seen you and to keep an eye out. The guy who helped you escape tonight, Carson, he saw a guy bring you in…”
“It was my teacher, Mr. Morris.” I nod already knowing it was him.
“He saw him bring you in and let me know. Normally when a girl comes in he waits until the auction and buys as many girls as he can with undercover cops acting as buyers and return them to their families but he knew that I wanted you back with me at any cost so he helped me save you.”
“He showed me the text he sent you. I didn’t want to believe him at first thinking it was a trick but when I saw you I was so grateful. Can you thank him for me?”
“Of course.” I’m grateful too because without him there I wouldn’t have gotten her in time. “Let’s get you in the shower and afterwards if you still want to ask questions then I’ll answer whatever else you want.”
“Ok. That sounds great actually.” It’s going to be torture having her in the shower naked with water gliding down her body I can just imagine it. I need to reign it in. She doesn’t need me lusting after her right now. I lead her to the bathroom in the master bedroom leaving our bowls on the kitchen table for now and wait for her in the bedroom to finish her shower.
Chapter 7
Sierra
After hearing Forrest’s story of how he found himself
undercover and saving me I had no idea what to say. It was definitely not something I was expecting to hear from him. I actually half expected him to be a part of the underground dealings, not the one trying to catch the criminals doing them. I know that’s not something that’s very nice to think about but I never thought he wanted to be a police officer but I’m proud of him. I’m proud of the way he took the opportunity to help himself and to help others. Proud of him for trying to catch the criminals out there and make this world a better place. He’s come so far from the scrawny little boy who had anger issues to the amazing strong man he is today finding ways to channel that anger. He may have gotten to this spot because of it but he is doing something positive. This is a side of Forrest I never thought I would have seen let alone known about. I know he’s always been protective of me and willing to do whatever it took to help me and my family but the fact he is doing this means he’s willing to help others as well.
When I walked into the house and he called me baby girl I broke. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I needed him like I needed air. I needed his arms around me holding me and making me feel loved and safe. I needed him to feel like I was actually saved. It didn’t seem real that I was here and out of that cell or even that room. I felt like I was dreaming and I didn’t want it to end. I was actually here with Forrest in his arms and out of that evil mans’ prison. I was almost lost forever. Who knows where I would have ended up if Forrest hadn’t shown up? Who knows who would have gotten me and what they would have done to me. I’m sure it would have been worse than what already happened.
As I let the reality of the situation hit me I just cried. I couldn’t help it. I was so relieved that I couldn’t hold it back and Forrest was so comforting. Bringing me into the living room and letting me curl into him and soaking his shirt with my endless tears, soothing me with few words but mostly his embrace.
Save Me (Taken Series Book 1) Page 9
