Worth Fighting For

by Zoe Blake

  Thump. Thump. Thump.

  Rolling her shoulders, she adjusted her position, trying to ignore the annoying sound.

  Then, the sickening crunch of splintering wood pierced the stillness.

  Both Sage and Melissa bolted up with a scream.

  Ricardo stood in the doorway. The shattered remains of the doorjamb littering the floor.

  “You’re a hard bitch to track down,” he spat out before stepping inside.

  Chapter 5

  The ice cold water felt almost painful as it slid down his overheated throat. Still, Conner chugged the whole bottle, crushing the flimsy plastic in his hand before reaching into the fridge for another. Pulling off his shirt, he used it to wipe away the sweat as he headed to the shower.

  After dropping Sage off, he had headed to the gym for a punishing work-out.

  The whole thing was crazy! Absolute lunacy! He must be out of his mind. All of this was unlike him. He had been forced to endure entire tours, six month stretches, without getting laid… hell without even setting eyes on a woman. He had discipline, restraint. He wasn’t some goddamn school boy getting his first taste of pussy. Taking Sage twice last night and again this morning, burying his cock into that sweetly tight passage of hers should have at the very least taken the edge off for him. If anything, all it did was stoke him hotter.

  There was just something about that sassy, little Spitfire with the pink-streaked hair that did it for him. Her smart mouth, that body, her sweet nature, her obvious loyalty to her friend. All that and intelligent to boot. Man, she was the whole package. She had passion and spirit. The kind of woman who had what it took to be with a Marine. It wasn’t an easy tour when your man was a soldier. Any woman who signed up for that deserved her own medal. For the first time since he signed on with Uncle Sam, she had him thinking it might be possible to have it all, a military career and a good woman by his side.

  Just thinking about her made him want to hear her voice. There he was, acting like a goddamn school boy again he thought. Not caring, he reached for his phone, dialing her number as he kicked off his sneakers and shorts. His shaft rose with anticipation. Damn, the woman wasn’t even in the room!

  Voicemail.

  He would try again after his shower.

  Conner stepped into the hot stream of water, letting it soothe his strained muscles. Reaching for the soap, he worked up a rich lather before reaching for his cock. Pulling on it in long, slow strokes, he thought of Sage.

  The illuminated screen dimmed. Sage closed her eyes in relief. Her phone had fallen out of her purse when she tossed it on the sofa earlier. Thank god she had turned the ringer off when she was at the museum earlier. Sage spared a hesitant glance towards Ricardo. He hadn’t seen. It had been Conner. He would call back, of that she was certain, and when he did, she would be ready.

  Swallowing hard, Sage once again tried to reason with the unreasonable man. “Ricardo, you haven’t done anything that you can’t walk away from yet. We have no intentions of calling the police. Do we, Melissa?”

  Melissa shook her head vehemently. While Ricardo was looking in her direction, Sage shimmied slightly to the left, just enough for her hand to close over her phone.

  “See? My door can be fixed. It’s all good. Just turn around and leave.”

  “Shut up! Just shut up!” yelled Ricardo. His words slightly slurred. “This is all your fault. Why didn’t you just give me the fucking bear?”

  Both women exchanged an anxious look, unsure what the obviously inebriated man would do once he learned they had found the camera in the bear and destroyed it. Melissa mouthed an emotional, “I’m so sorry.” Sage squeezed her knee in a show of support.

  Ricardo began to pace the apartment like a caged animal, muttering to himself. It was only a matter of time before he got a glimpse of the torn apart bear on the kitchen counter just a few feet away.

  The phone started to vibrate again. Sage pushed it deep into the sofa cushions. Talking again to cover the sound of the soft buzzing as she swiped right to answer. Not daring to look down, somehow confident it was Conner.

  “Ricardo, you can’t keep us here. The longer you stay the more trouble you will be in. Forget about the bear. It’s over. Just please, I’m begging you, just leave,” she said loudly, praying Conner could hear.

  “I want my money!” he shouted. “I’m not leaving without it, bitch.”

  “So that’s all I was! A fucking meal ticket? Some stupid blackmail scheme?” shouted Melissa back. She was also the worse for alcohol. This was not good.

  Sage turned wide eyes on her friend. She had been silent this whole time. While she cheered her friend’s show of strength, perhaps now was not the best time.

  “Let’s just all calm down. I’m sure we can work something out,” interjected Sage.

  It was too late. Ricardo caught a glimpse of the stupid, fucking teddy bear with its guts ripped out. Running to the kitchen island, he took in the chaotic scene of broken plastic and electronic parts. Racing back into the living room, he went straight for Melissa. Grabbing her by the hair, he yanked her upright off the sofa. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled free a small pocket knife. Small but no less lethal.

  Sage screamed.

  “Jesus Christ! Sage! Sage! Talk to me! Sage!” roared Conner into the phone.

  Dropping all pretense, Sage raised the phone to her ear, “Conner! Conner, it’s Ricardo. He’s here. He has Melissa!”

  “Baby, I’m already in my truck. I’m coming to you, baby. You hold on! That bastard is going to pay,” growled Conner.

  Before she could respond, Ricardo, who had momentarily let go of Melissa, grabbed the phone from her hand.

  “Hey fuck you, Marine! I told you before. This is none of your fucking business,” he spat into the phone.

  “You threaten my woman, it is my business. Abort and let them go or there isn’t a hole you can crawl into where I won’t find you. Do you understand me? I’m coming for you. You’re a dead man, Ricardo. You’re only chance is to start running. Now,” threatened Conner. His voice dangerously soft and low.

  “You’ll have to find us first, Jarhead,” sneered Ricardo before hanging up.

  The acrid smell of burnt rubber lingered as Conner’s truck came to a screeching halt just outside Sage’s apartment. The driver’s side door open and Conner already running towards her door before the vehicle had even come to a full stop.

  It was empty.

  The broken door. Shattered wine glasses. An overturned chair. All evidence of a struggle. His baby did not give up without a struggle.

  Letting out a roar of frustration and rage, Conner resisted the urge to punch something. He had to stay focused if he was going to find Sage and her friend. Digging into his front pocket, he pulled out his phone and dialed.

  “Hey, Major! What’s up?”

  “Hippie, is that criminal cousin, the computer hacker, you’re always telling stories about out of prison?”

  Having served at least three tours with the Major, Hippie immediately responded to the urgency in Conner’s voice. He knew when it was go time.

  “Sprung last month. What do you need?”

  Conner hesitated, but only for a moment. “I wouldn’t ask unless it was…”

  “Major,” Hippie cut him off. “What do you need?”

  “I need a trace and anything he can find on a piece of shit named Ricardo Suez.”

  Conner sent up a quick prayer thanking god he knew the bastards name at all. If he hadn’t been trying to track down Sage that first time after she gave him that bum number, he never would have bothered to learn it from the property manager.

  “Done. I’ll round up the crew.”

  “Don’t. What I’m about to do isn’t close to being legal,” warned Conner.

  There was a laugh on the other end before Hippie repeated, “Sir. You mess with one Marine, you mess with them all. I’ll round up the crew, Major. Call you back in ten.”

  “Make it five.”

/>   “Let me get this straight. You were banging a senator’s daughter when you came up with the brilliant idea to film it and blackmail her. When you fucked that up, you decided to kidnap her and her friend and bring them to my shop? And there might be some pissed off Marine on your tail? Am I getting all this right?”

  Ricardo had the decency to look abashed.

  Earlier he had forced both women into his car and driven straight to his cousin Lino’s auto body shop in Alexandria. He was the only family Ricardo had, and it was the only place he could think of to go. He couldn’t take them back to his place; the Marine would find him there.

  “It’s just for a few hours, Lino. Till I can figure out what to do,” pleaded Ricardo.

  “I’ll tell you what you’re going to do! You’re going to get the fuck out of my place! That’s what you’re going to do! Are you crazy? Kidnapping a fucking senator’s kid! Do you have any idea what kind of heat that brings? Never mind this crazy fucking Marine on your ass,” yelled Lino.

  Sage and Melissa were a few feet away listening to the cousins argue. Staring in wide-eyed silence, both women knew their fate possibly rested in the outcome. While the men argued, Sage tried to take in her surroundings. The shop was filled with all sorts of possible weapons; wrenches, pipes, chains. There was only one problem, Ricardo had tied their hands behind their backs and forced them to sit on the dirty, greasy floor.

  Still, it couldn’t hurt to be prepared. Maybe if he left them alone long enough, they could try to untie each other? Then she could grab that pipe that was resting nearby. Or maybe they could make it to that office door a few yards away. The door looked old and flimsy, but it was an office, it probably had a filing cabinet they could push in front of it to help secure it. It had to have a phone to call the police, too. Maybe they would get lucky and there would be a gun hidden in a desk drawer.

  Regrettably, while Ricardo paced angrily directly in front of them, any plan was useless. Their only hope was rescue. Sage held onto Conner’s promise. She knew he would try to find her… but what if he was too late?

  “You don’t understand! We could make a fortune! Her father will pay a big ransom!” complained Ricardo.

  His cousin waved a dismissive hand. “You’re drunk and you watch too many stupid movies. That is not how it works. Besides, kidnappings like that take months of planning. Not something half-assed like this. You’re fucked.”

  Walking towards Sage and Melissa, the cousin addressed them, “I’m going to untie you. Then we’ll call the police. You need to tell them I had nothing to do with this. Okay?” he implored.

  “Yes! Yes! Of course thank you! Thank you!” breathed Sage.

  As the cousin neared, his knees buckled. His face distorting into a macabre mask of shock and disgust before he crumbled to the ground. Both women screamed.

  “You killed him! Your own cousin!” accused Sage as she saw the knife protruding from the man’s back and Ricardo standing over him.

  His eyes blank of emotion, Ricardo pulled the knife free and moved towards Sage.

  “Ricardo, no!” begged Melissa. “Don’t do this!”

  Sage fell back, grimacing from the pain as she leaned on her tied hands. Her only defense would be to kick him. It was paltry but maybe she could buy herself and Melissa some time till Conner arrived. There was no doubt in her mind, he would arrive. Her overbearing Marine would not let her down.

  “No one will pay a ransom for you. You aren’t worth anything,” Ricardo said coldly as he took a menacing step towards her.

  “She’s worth a great deal to me,” ground out Conner.

  The breath Sage didn’t realize she was holding came out in a rush.

  Conner was standing a few feet away. Arms crossed over his powerful chest, looking every inch as pissed off as he sounded.

  Conner assessed her and her friend for injuries. Besides a bit bruised and dirty, they looked generally unharmed. He was still going to beat the bastard bloody, but at least now he wouldn’t have to kill him.

  Conner threw her a reassuring smile, “I told you I was coming for you, baby.”

  Sage let out a sigh of relief. “What took you so long?’

  His little Spitfire. Kidnapped and held at knifepoint and she still had enough spirit to throw sass at him. Damn if he wasn’t half in love with her already, thought Conner. Even with her silky, honey-brown hair tangled and knotted about her dirt-smudged face, she looked beautiful. He would make it his mission to erase the look of fear and anxiety from those big, chocolate brown eyes of hers as soon as he got her to safety.

  Ricardo made some sort of strangled animal sound that drew both of their attention back to him.

  Kneeling down behind her, Conner untied her hands, while never taking his eyes off Ricardo. Whispering close to her ear, he instructed, “I want you to untie Melissa and run for it. Hippie is standing guard just outside the door.”

  “I can’t leave you,” immediately objected Sage.

  Conner gave her a quick kiss on the neck before straightening. Saying loudly for Ricardo’s benefit. “Go. I don’t want you to witness what is about to happen here.”

  Sage shivered. Conner’s voice had taken on a dark edge. His wide stance, lowered brow and squared shoulders all radiating his barely leashed rage. This was not a man to cross. Crawling to Melissa, Sage scrambled to unknot the ties. Filthy and disheveled, they rose on shaky knees. Melissa threw a quick “bastard” over her shoulder before quickly following Sage out the back door of the auto body shop.

  As the door was closing she could hear Conner’s low voice say, “You hurt what was mine. Now you’re going to hurt.” Then the heavy metal door slammed shut.

  Hippie was there, close to the entrance. Conner’s truck was parked nearby, the engine still running.

  Hippie immediately straightened and took off his baseball cap. “Ladies.”

  “Hello again, Hippie,” answered Sage shyly. “This is Melissa.” Feeling awkward about exchanging such polite niceties under such trying circumstances.

  Hippie offered them both an arm. “Your chariot awaits.” Escorting them to Conner’s truck, he made sure to open the door for them both. He then went around to the trunk to retrieve the blankets and water he knew Conner always kept stashed there. A Marine was always prepared. Tucking the blanket around Melissa’s shoulders, he brushed back a lock of her tangled red hair. “You’re safe now.”

  Sage caught the look of protective possession he cast over her friend. She was learning to know that look well. She was also learning that Melissa could do far worse than an overbearing, protective Marine.

  Sage tried to ask Hippie how they had managed to find them so quickly, but his only response was “my criminal cousin” so absorbed was he in seeing to Melissa’s comfort. Instead, she decided to focus all her attention on that scarred metal door, anxiously waiting for Conner to emerge.

  The quiet of the parking lot was disturbed by the sound of tumbling crates, the screech of what sounded like a metal chair, the heavy clang of a chain and then finally a pitiful cry.

  Then silence.

  Sage waited.

  And waited.

  Finally, the metal door swung open and Conner emerged. Throwing off her blanket, Sage ran to his side. Placing both hands against his chest, she checked for injuries.

  His t-shirt was torn and bloodied but it didn’t appear to be his blood.

  “Did he hurt you?” she asked anxiously.

  Conner gave her an amused look. Grabbing her around the waist, he captured her mouth with his own. Pushing his tongue past her willing lips. Reveling in the taste of her. Placing his hand along her jaw to hold her head steady as he continued his assault on her senses. When he finally allowed her a breath, he called out to Hippie without relinquishing her gaze.

  “The lady wants to know if that Army dog hurt me.”

  “With all due respect, ma’am, Conner’s a Marine. We hit first. We hit hard and we hit fast. That piece of shit didn’t have a chance,” laughe
d Hippie.

  “Is he dead?” came the tentative question from Melissa inside the truck.

  “No, ma’am. Death would be too good for him. He deserves a nice long life at the bottom of the food chain in prison,” responded Conner.

  Melissa smiled at Sage. “I like him.”

  Fluorescent blue beams of light flooded the dark parking lot as the thundering sound of choppers rent the air.

  Sage covered her ears as she shouted to Conner, “What is happening?”

  “The rest of the crew is arriving,” he said with a smile as he pulled her close to shield her from the wind blast from the helicopter blades.

  “Are you sure you will be okay?” asked Sage for the hundredth time.

  Melissa nodded her head yes. “I’ll be fine. It’s only right. He is my father after all. And from what I hear from the secret service guys, he was actually pretty freaked out.”

  They were standing on the lawn outside her father’s Bethesda home. The last two hours had been an exhausting chaotic blur. Conner had not been kidding. He had literally called in the Marines to help rescue her and Melissa. Since many military men went on to have careers in law enforcement, it would stand to reason they had a lot of friends in both the state and local police forces… so they showed up to the party, too. Not knowing her familial situation, and upon learning who Melissa’s father was—through the helpful hacking of Hippie’s criminal cousin—he also had his crew alert the senator who, in turn, called in the Secret Service and the FBI.

  Sage later learned Conner hadn’t exactly played fair though. He and Hippie with the help of Hippie’s criminal cousin, quickly narrowed it down to three possible locations as to where Ricardo would take them. Conner sent everyone to the two least likely, saving the most probable location for only him and Hippie. As he put it, he wanted to have a private chat with Ricardo before the others showed up.

  Fortunately, once the cavalry showed up, it was determined Ricardo’s cousin was badly injured but still alive. Between Ricardo’s drunken state and relatively small knife, he hadn’t been able to strike with deadly force. Thank god. The cousin had been a good man who tried to help them. Sage was grateful he would pull through.