by S. K. Lessly
It was so refreshing to see like minds. To see family that looked like me, talked like me and had the same brain as me. I instantly connected with them as if I was their child and not my moms. I speak to them every day, especially my grandfather, who every chance he gets tries to get me to work for him. Josh however isn’t having it.
I introduced two of my cousins, Tessa and Vince to Nickel’s virtual game, so we communicate that way all the time. I don’t know how well my mom’s relationship is going with her siblings and parents, but from what I can see, they seem to be on a mend.
My mom and dad didn’t get a divorce. When she and I talk though, we don’t bring him into the conversation at all. Curtis, my brother, turned out to be employed by Josh, so I see him all the time. We have reconnected, and I swear, he’s just as protective of me as Josh’s brothers are. I wish every day that he was like this with me back when I was growing up, and he admits that same thing to me every day. It’s like he’s trying to make up for lost times, and well hell, I let him.
Josh has been on a couple of assignments overseas, but for the most part, he’s close to me. He travels to his office once a week, but mostly he works with his team in an office he has on a naval base close to Virginia Beach. I still get nervous when he leaves, but he has figured out a way to make me feel somewhat better when he travels. I am currently his Financial Specialist. My job is to track the money of different companies or persons involved in funding terrorists. I hinted before I had connections with overseas banks and could probably get answers and information a lot faster than he could.
I’ve proven myself time and time again, which is another reason why he won’t let me go work for my grandfather. Even his bosses told him he’d better not mess up at home and lose his best asset. Nickels also joined the group, so he knows he has the best team the government has ever had.
There were a few weird things I noticed that to this day has me questioning a lot. First, I got an official apology from the CIA, go figure. Josh allowed two members of the agency to meet with me, with him, Shane and Malcolm, my bodyguards, present of course. Can I just say that Shane is so freaking hot? I mean, I would never tell Josh this, but I’ve blushed being around Shane more than I have with Josh… whew… Anyway, so they asked me a few questions about the kidnapping; who shot first, how they got me to New Jersey.
I told them the moment I stepped on the sidewalk in front of my apartment building someone came out of the door. I looked up and moved to the side, and someone came up from behind me and grabbed me. I managed to get out of the hold, something that Josh taught me, but the guy that came out of the apartment put a gun to my head and told me not to move. Next thing I knew, two cars stopped in front of us, and I saw Diane and a few other jump out yelling for them to get down.
I couldn’t tell them what happened next because someone started firing at Diane and her people from another direction, and the guy holding me was shooting back. I closed my eyes and tried to get away, but I was grabbed and shoved into a car and we drove away.
I didn’t look at Josh when I said, “I was surprised to see Stanley in the middle of the street with a gun in his hand. I take it he works for you, too?”
Of course Josh didn’t reply, and when I asked the CIA if Diane was going to be held accountable for my kidnapping they looked at me strangely. I, in turn, looked at Josh then Shane then Malcolm.
I asked, “What’s going on?”
Shane said to me, “Well, according to them, Diane has disappeared. She was on–site where we found you, but she hasn’t been seen since.”
I couldn’t believe it. Did something happen to her?
Josh, however, said to me, “Sweets, that’s just talk that the CIA has Diane hidden from me for fear of what I will do the second I get my hands on her.” Then he said, and I swear I literally shivered, “Don’t worry. They can’t hide her for long.”
That night, as we laid on the bed in our bedroom, I tried to talk to him about it, but he wouldn’t talk to me.
He would just say, “I warned her, baby…”
I was about to protest and mention Jacks, but something on the news caught my eye. It was Noah’s father. I turned up the television and heard Mr. Baxter tell the world that his son was missing and was seeking help from the public on locating is son. They had a five hundred thousand dollar award out for any information that would lead to his whereabouts….
I cut my eyes at my husband, and he gave me a blank stare. “What?”
I smacked his arm. “You know what. You promised you wouldn’t kill Noah.”
Josh put his hands up, then pointed to the screen. “They didn’t say they found his body. They said he was missing.”
I sat up and looked at him. “Come on, Josh, I’m not stupid. I’m sure if you did kill him, they wouldn’t find the body. You promised.”
I moved to get out of the bed, wondering why the hell I even cared, but for some reason I did. Josh, however, wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me back on the bed.
He pushed me down and half laid on me.
He said, “Sweets, I promised you I wouldn’t kill him, and I didn’t. I did say I would beat the shit out of him, and you wanted me to make him pay publically. That’s what I had planned. I didn’t have anything to do with his disappearance, I promise you.”
I looked in his eyes, and I believed that he didn’t kill him, and maybe he didn’t have anything to do with his disappearance, but I knew my husband, he wasn’t completely in the dark. He knew something…
Man, this chair is uncomfortable.
I shifted in this stupid lounge chair and tried to get to my back. Sometimes I got a pain that would shoot along my lower back that I couldn’t get to go away. I usually got Josh to rub my back, but I didn’t want to wake him. I’d tired him out today.
Today, we had family come and visit with us. We had a large dinner, and we celebrated the pregnancy. I want to say we had a baby shower, but Josh won’t let me call it that, so I just say we celebrated me being pregnant, and I accepted gifts for the little one too…. Yeah, no matter how I say that, it’s still a baby shower.
“Hey… can’t sleep?” I looked up and found a drowsy Josh with bed head looking down at me.
I smiled as he brought a chair up to me and sat down. He rubbed my belly and bent over and kissed it.
“I was just getting some air, that’s all. I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“No, you didn’t wake me. I missed feeling you next to me, that’s all.” He looked at me sleepily. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I shifted again in the chair to get a better position.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just thinking about the last ten months.”
“We’ve definitely been busy.” He smiled and laced his fingers with mine.
I laughed. “Yes, we have.” My smiled died when I thought about this next trip he had to take. It’s the last one before the baby comes.
“Tell me again when are you leaving?”
Josh sighed. “Baby, stop stressing yourself out over this, okay? I’m only going to be gone for a week tops. I promise you I won’t be in any danger.”
He took his free hand and ran it through my hair that has grown like wild flowers.
“Why can’t you send Jackass?”
Yup, I still call his partner Jackass instead of Jacks.
He laughed. “I am sending Jacks, baby. He’s coming with me.”
Josh told me that he and Jacks settled their differences and have an okay relationship now. It’s not how it used to be. But Jacks helped him find the men that kidnapped me, and he was able to make sure they paid for their crimes against me. I didn’t ask what that payment was however. I’m afraid it would add to my nightmares, but Josh assured me they wouldn’t come looking for me again or ever.
I shifted again in my chair, and Josh frowned.
I asked, “So I take it you guys are still BFFs?”
Josh smiled. “Yeah, we’re cool. He knows his place when it comes to you,
and he respects it. I don’t completely trust him, but I trust him enough to have my back, so that’s saying something.”
“Well, I don’t trust him to have mine.” I rolled my eyes.
Jacks came to the house tonight, and I had no idea. When he touched my shoulder, I instantly reached with my left and bent his pinky back then turned and ended up twisting his arm, causing him to hunch over.
“Jesus, love… I was just coming over to talk,” Jacks grunted out.
Josh was in front of me and watched me as I did something I wasn’t supposed to show him I knew. Josh frowned at me and then at his sister.
Liliana shrugged and laughed. “I bet he won’t do that again.”
“What did I tell you, Lil? Sweets, let him go.”
I reluctantly did what he said, but I backed away from him quickly. Jacks rubbed his shoulder and hand and looked at me up and down. He still held that look in his eyes that made my skin crawl, but I did manage to get out a sorry.
He smiled at me. “No worries…I should have announced my presence instead of touching you. My apologies.”
I nodded my acceptance but throughout the night I kept my eyes on him.
I let out a moan and closed my eyes.
“Sweets, what’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “Nothing it’s just my back. You know how it hurts every now and again.”
I met his gaze, and he studied me closely.
“When did you first feel it?”
I closed my eyes again and tried to think… “Um, when I went to the bathroom about a half hour ago, but it just won’t go away.”
Josh sat up, and the look in his eyes had me panicking.
“What?” I asked
“Baby, that was about fifteen minutes between you shifting in the chair since I sat down. Are you sure you’re not feeling any other pains?”
I looked at my belly, then at him. “But that can’t be possible.”
“Yeah, Sweets, it can be.”
I leaned forward and tried to get up. Josh helped me stand, and the moment I straightened, liquid gushed from between my legs. My eyes grew large as saucers, and I started to instantly hyperventilate.
“My…” I looked down at the wet spot and back at him.
He smiled. “Sweets, it’s going to be okay. We’ve prepared for this, remember?”
I nodded trying not to pass out.
“Take a few deep breaths with me.” I followed his chest up and down. “Yeah, that’s it, baby.”
He guided me in our room as he pulled off the throw from my body. He sat me down and quickly went to work grabbing my nightgown and robe. He dressed me and pulled his shirt on and shorts and a pair of sneakers. He grabbed his wallet and my bag, and the first sharp pain went across my belly.
“Oh my God…. Josh!” I gasped and bent over trying to breathe through the pain.
“You’re doing great, Sweets. Just breathe through it.”
“Yeah, you breathe through it… Oh God!”
When it subsided, he helped me up, and we slowly went down the stairs and to the car.
When we got in, he looked at me. “Are you ready?”
The grin that spread across his handsome face made me instantly smile back.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Then pain rocked my body again. “Now get me to the fucking hospitalll… Oh shittttt!”
Josh smiled at me as he said, “Anything for you, Sweets.”
****
He punched the code from memory, and the door disappeared with a ‘swoosh’ behind the left wall. He entered a dark hallway and waited until the door behind him closed. He didn’t need to watch his back. The guard, as well as the cameras, would capture anyone trying to enter through the door swiftly and without prejudice.
He took his time as he walked, thinking how this past week has been. It’s been hectic, but he couldn’t be happier.
He came to a set of steps, descending down into a dark hallway, and he moved in that direction. The moment he hit the last step, he paused. The screams and crying from various rooms along the hallway brought him in the frame of mind that he needed to be in. He was in “Hell on Earth,” and it was a certain way he needed to be in order to leave whatever he sees and does here in this dark hallway and not take it with him.
Once he made it to his door, he punched in another code, and the door again disappeared behind the left wall. He walked in, and the smell of urine and fear hit him instantly.
“I thought you were going to wait for me,” he told him.
Shane shrugged. “You were taking too long.”
He shook his head and looked at the men and woman in the room then walked toward the figure facing him that was sitting strapped to a chair by his arms, legs and feet. He was only in his boxers with his head slumped down toward his chest. The figure finally risked moving and lifted his head. It seems someone beat the shit out of him, and when he looked around the room, he didn’t have a clue who it was… hell, it could’ve been anyone of them or every one of them.
When the figure’s eye that remained open met the new stranger, it widened as best it could, and he mumbled, “No…”
Josh knelt down in front of him. “Hello, Noah Baxter, welcome to ‘Hell on Earth’. We have plenty to go over, and I have no patience, so let’s get right to it. You owe me your life and that’s exactly what you’re going to give. And you’re going to start paying me right now. So let’s start with you giving the names of every player you’ve ever streamed your sick videos to.” Josh pulled a chair from the side of the room and sat it in front of Noah. “Take your time. We have all your life.”
The End!
Check out other books by S.K. Lessly:
Ruined
Desired
Desired 2 by SK LESSLY is coming soon!
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