by Coco Miller
Maybe I can run. I will run as soon as they stop the car.
“We’re a few hours out. Hold it,” the man from the passenger side says.
“I can’t hold it.”
He turns around, his dark eyes meeting mine. “Then go where you are.”
“I’ll pull over at the next exit,” the driver interrupts.
The man in the pasenger seat with the scary eyes stares at the driver. “Are you crazy? What if she runs?”
“Well, then you’ll catch her...with a bullet.” The driver’s eyes meet mine. His aren’t as scary as the man in the passenger seat, but a chill that reaches inside my bones races through me at his words.
I swallow slowly. “I won’t run.”
Not without a good plan anyway, because he’s right. I can’t just run without a plan. I can’t just take off into the woods and hope for the best. I need to figure out who these men are and why they took me. They don’t strike me as serial killers who attack innocent women for the fun of it but this is a crazy world; you can never be too sure.
“I didn’t know serial killers worked in pairs,” I say sarcastically.
“Do we look like fucking serial killers?” the passenger asks as if he’s actually offended.
Hell, they both fit the profile. It was a natural assumption to make.
“Then who are you?”
I glance into the rearview mirror, waiting to meet the dark brown eyes of the driver once again. If I’m going to get any answers it will most likely be from him. He stares back for a moment before returning his focus back on the road.
“Don’t worry so much about who we are or why we took you. Nobody is going to hurt you. The bottom line is we are keeping you safe from some pretty bad guys.”
“Worse than you?” I fire back.
The corner of his lip lifts into a sly smile. “Yeah,” he says barely audible.
I can’t imagine anyone worse than these two, but at least I’m not dead...yet.
Now that I know they don’t have plans on killing me just yet, I gaze out the window, thinking about my mother who is in the hospital down the street from our apartment. She’ll wonder why I haven’t come to visit her. She will worry.
It was three years ago when she started to show signs. I was graduating high school, and my mother was always sick with the flu, but then she got really sick. We thought it was a nasty case of pnemonia, and I forced her to go to the doctor’s even though she fought me tooth and nail.
I remember sitting in the waiting room of his office when he came out to discuss referring her to an oncologist. My mind raced to think of options. Chemo. Radiation. Eastern Medicine. Long-term care. We would fight this thing.
The appointments were set. Chemo started. The big C would not take my mother. No, she was all I had.
The car takes an exit labeled number eighteen, and it brings me back to the here and now. I’ll get back to my mother, but for now I need to stay alert. I need to keep my eyes open, try to remember all the turns we’re making, and plan my exit.
The car comes to a stop, and I wait, checking my surroundings. Maybe I can let the shopkeeper know I’ve been kidnapped. The moment that word enters my brain, tears sting my eyes. Kidnapped.
Never in a million years did I ever think this would happen to me.
“You take her to the restroom,” the driver points to the back of the building, “and I’ll fill up the tank.”
“Sure thing.”
Dammit. What are the chances we’d pull up to the one station where the bathrooms aren’t connected to the store.
I head into the bathroom with the man holding my arm. Not a soul is around, no one to help me. When I lock the door behind me for the first time since I was abducted I feel like I can breathe. I glance around, wasting no time assessing my surroundings.
A small window up above the sink that looks impossible to pass through lets the sun shine in, giving me a headache.
There’s nothing.
I glance around, seeing if I can make a weapon out of anything lying around. I could take the napkin dispenser off the wall, hit the man standing outside and slip into the woods.
I shake my head, my plan would never work because of the other man. I actually use the restroom just in case, and leave the room defeated.
A red sedan pulls up and parks near the restroom. A tall, leggy blonde flies out of the front seat after the car has come to a stop. She nearly knocks me over in her attempt to make it into the restroom.
As she passes me, I utter two little words, “Help me.” Our eyes connect and she looks at me in total disbelief.
She shuts the door in a hurry.
I stare at the man in the car where she just exited, trying to telepathically tell him...what I don’t know.
My kidnapper grabs my arm. “Let’s go, Kelly.”
My eyes widen. “How do you know my name?”
“We told you, we were sent to protect you.”
I don’t fight him, wondering what the hell is going on. Were they really sent to protect me? I decide I don’t want to run just yet. I want to find out what the fuck is really going on before I make my escape.
Chapter Four
Giovanni
I finish off gassing the car up, and glance off toward the bathroom. I don’t know what it is about Kelly, but there’s a fire there. It’s hidden behind her big caramel eyes, waiting to set the whole world on fire when she stares at you. Like her eyes bore right into me, seeing straight into my heartless soul. Those damn eyes are fucking with my resolve.
I just want this two weeks to go by uneventfully and deliver Kelly safely to her father. I know we can’t tell her any of what’s going on, but it would be so much easier if we could. But, Henry has his own plans and I have to honor them.
I watch a new car pull up, a woman running from the car as she rushes past Kelly. Leo and Kelly make their way back over to me, and I thank my lucky stars this whole stop was made without incident.
When we get back onto the road, Kelly leans forward. “Who are you guys?”
She’s just a few years younger than me and Leo, and I keep my expression stoney. “No one.”
“Giovanni, she’ll find out who were are soon anyways,” Leo says, and I silently glare at him with my eyes, wanting him to be silent. He said my name, which pisses me off.
Kelly utters my name, rolling it around on her tongue. I’m not gonna lie, I like the way it sounds coming from her lips. Like honey, dripping over her sweet mouth.
“Giovanni,” she purrs again, exciting a life force inside of me that has long laid dormant.
Since Leo ratted me out, I do the same. “This is Leo.” I jab a finger in his direction.
Kelly doesn’t do the same thing with his name as she did with mine. “And you both obviously know everything there is to know about me.” She leans back, crossing her arms over her ample breasts.
She has a woman’s body, full of strong curves and hard planes. Her ass is firm, yet bigger than average. An ass I could get a decent sized handful and enjoy it properly. Something I could sink my teeth into. Juicy.
The rest of her fills out the same kind of way. Big tits. Thin waist that juts out to larger hips. I could have a lot of fun with a body like hers.
She makes my mouth water. But, I don’t answer her taunt. Instead I focus on the long drive ahead, keeping my fingers gripped tightly to the wheel. I turn a bit to Leo. “We’ll be there by nightfall.”
“Be where?” Kelly asks from the back seat of the car.
“Our destination,” I answer her.
I don’t waste any time by answering her any further. She’s on a need to know basis, and she doesn’t need to know the full details of why her father asked us to watch over her. All she needs to know is she’s safe.
I won’t let anyone harm her.
I’ll protect her at all costs.
We pull up to the small wood cabin late. The sun is sinking behind the plethora of trees that line the property.
&nbs
p; We carry a sleeping Kelly into the cabin, and Leo takes the car into town to hopefully get some supplies. It’s dark in the cabin, and I sit next to her in the back room, waiting to see if she wakes up.
She stirs in the bed, and I stare at her with the last remnants of the sunset streaming in through the windows as my guide. Like a searchlight, showing me all the many assets she possesses. Her skin is silky smooth, and I wonder what it would be like to trace my hand down the side of her body. Tracing every curve with my fingertips.
“Where are we?” she asks from her bed, slightly sitting up.
“A small cabin in upstate New York.” At least she can say I never lied to her.
I want to make sure she’s safe and not harmed when she meets her father. I’d hate to have a bad report from her when she finally meets her father. That would defeat the whole point of me doing this. I’m here to prove to Henry that I can be made man. That I can be trusted. This is my last task and I’ve got to get it right.
“What happens now?”
“We wait.”
“You won’t hurt me?” Her voice is vulnerable, like a child asking after she’s been woken up from a horrid nightmare.
I step closer, sitting on the edge of her bed. “I promise on my life we will not hurt you.”
Her eyes implore me with their innocence. I almost have to turn away because her stare is too powerful.
“Promise?”
“On my life.” I reach my hand out. But, right before I touch her I remember who she is. Who I am. I can’t touch her. No matter how strong the urge is. Touching would be bad.
“Ok. I’m hungry.”
“Leo is getting food, and we can eat and then go to bed.”
I haven’t made the arrangements of where we’ll sleep yet. The cabin is only a small two-bedroom little thing. Almost like a shack. But it boasts all the amenities we could possibly want. A nice still lake sits outside just before the woods take over.
I can tell no one has visited this cabin in quite a long time, but I was even more impressed that the water and gas was running. The place had power, and in this neck of the woods that was crucial.
Leo knocks on the front door, and I leave Kelly in her room. I’m not worried about her running, where would she even go?
“Stores were open.”
“Yeah, a few.”
“Did you have any trouble?” I ask him as I let him inside.
“None, you?”
I shake my head.
“She sleeping?” Leo asks after he finishes putting all the supplies away.
“She’s laying down. Says she’s hungry.”
I knock on her door, and then enter. I won’t treat her as a prisoner. I just can’t. I wouldn’t want her father to catch wind that I roughed up his daughter. So, when I find her trying to lift the bedroom window, I remind her. “Even if you do escape, then what?”
She spins around and meets my eyes. She challenges me a bit but then surrenders after a moment. “Fine. Do you have food?”
I open the door further. “Right this way.”
I follow her down the hallway, watching the slight sway of her hips as she rounds the corner into the kitchen. Leo is busy putting away the groceries as Kelly leans a hip against the counter.
“We have cereal,” Leo says, holding up a box of Cheerios. “And some milk too.”
“Ok,” Kelly peeps out.
I hate this whole thing. Leo busies himself with making her something to eat as I glance out the window to make sure we weren’t followed. You can never be too certain.
“I’ll take first shift,” I tell Leo. “Try to get some sleep.” That solves the sleeping problem. There’s no reason Leo and I should both be sleeping at the same time, leaving the house unprotected.
Leo heads back to his room after a little while longer. And he passes out. I’m left with Kelly in the living room, sitting next to a roaring fire. It’s late, and I should be exhausted from all the driving, but I feel more alive than ever.
Kelly is beautiful with the light of the fire bouncing off of her curves. It makes me hard just thinking about her. But, I push those thoughts away quickly, knowing very well I can’t let this one get to me.
I won’t lie, Ive been so focused on moving up in the organization that it’s been a long time since I felt the soft curves of a woman in my bed, but again, this mission is too important to fuck up. My dick is just going to have to wait.
“I have to go home,” she says almost desperately.
“And you will once it’s safe.”
“My mother needs me.”
That’s right. Her schedule included time allotted for outings with her mother. They must be close, so close that I wonder if she’ll eventually report Kelly as a missing person.
“Is she your only relative?” I ask fishing for informtion. Wondering if there is a slight chance she may already know about Henry.
“You seem to know so much, you tell me.”
“I’m asking for a reason.”
“Yes, she is all I have in this world.”
I focus on the words Kelly speaks, floating through the living room like a cloud. She’s worried about her mother. She’s worried she’ll never see her again. I try my best to assure her that this is only temporary. That this will be over before she knows it.
“What makes you think I won’t go to the police once you release me?” she asks.
I lean forward in the small wooden dining room chair I sit in. “I’m hoping that eventually you’ll understand why we did this.”
“Why can’t you just tell me?” She rises from her spot on the sofa. She moves closer to the fire, staring into the crackling flames. “Why all the secrecy?”
“It’s my job.”
“Your name...it’s Italian?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“So your job...is it wrong to ask if you’re mafia?”
“That could be construed as racial profiling, but yes, I guess you could say that.”
“And so that’s why you can’t tell me anything.”
My voice is foreign even to me, it’s huskier than normal and must be from lack of sleep. “I want to tell you everything, trust me.” And I do want to tell her more than anything, but I know I can’t.
Henry is testing me.
Some kind of way he knew this assignment would be difficult for me.
But I will pass with flying colors.
I will not fuck this up.
Chapter Five
Kelly
It’s late and I’m tired. I can barely keep my eyes open as I speak in the living room with Giovanni. I don’t know why, but I trust the words he’s telling me. I want to trust that him and Leo will keep me safe. I want to trust that they won’t hurt me. Deceive me. I mean, if they wanted me dead I’d be dead already, right? They’ve had many opportunities to kill me.
I push those dangerous thoughts away and focus on the here and now. The two men are obviously holding me for someone else, and that should be my real concern.
I smile a megawatt smile at Giovanni, hoping my charm can maybe ooze some truth out of him.
“You’re keeping me here for someone, right?” I ask him.
He nods, his brown eyes never leaving mine. “Yes.”
“A man or woman?”
He sighs. “A man.”
“This man you’re holding me for is your boss?” I can tell by the way he stiffens his posture, I’m right.
“Yes,” he says, keeping his lips pressed tight. “My boss asked me to pick you up and keep you safe and I intend to do just that. We are your bodyguards and nothing more.”
I narrow my eyes. “And your friend.” I give a little head nod gesture to the back room where Leo lies sleeping.
“I trust him with my life.”
I don’t know why hearing that makes me relax a little. It’s almost like I trust him by association because for some odd reason I feel safe around Giovanni. It’s an odd sense of security that I don’t know where it stems from,
and I’m not sure I want to find out.
Maybe it’s his eyes, the deep haunting eyes that always look conflicted. That’s how Giovanni’s eyes are. Like they’re always watching, always learning, and always in complete conflict with the information they are receiving.
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. That if you look deep enough you can see straight down. Straight down to the epicenter of a man and see what makes him tick. What makes him human.
And more than anything I wonder what makes Giovanni unlike the other men I’ve met in my life.
I never knew my father, and my mother worked hard raising me on her own. She worked two jobs, sometimes three. But, I never wanted for anything. As soon as I was old enough to work, I did. I got a job at the local deli across the street, packaging deli meat for old neighborhood women coming in to take the meat home for their families.
I tried my hardest to help my mother out, but we never could get ahead. It felt like every time we were able to save a little money something would happen. We’d save eight-hundred dollars and then the furnace would break. We’d save five-hundred and she’d get sick and need to visit a doctor. It was a rat race I was tired of running in.
I didn’t think we would ever cross the finish line. I still don’t.
And now she’s sick.
My mother is dying of cancer and there’s nothing I can do but pay the bills as they come in. So, that means I have to work and work and work. I work so much that I can’t spend a lot of time with her, and now this happens.
I’m upset at Leo and Giovanni for taking me away from my mother. I’m upset with their boss for thinking I need protection and taking me away from my mother. Who is he anyway to care what I need?
It shouldn’t matter to anyone what I do. If I live or die. If this mystery man really gave a shit about me, he’d make sure my mom was okay. She is all I care about.
“You should get some rest,” Giovanni says.
I turn away from the fire, realizing the embers were drawing me under. “Okay.” I head back to the hallway to the room on the left.
Giovanni follows me, I guess making sure I make it’s okay. “Do you need anything?” He hands me a toothbrush.
