Finding Erin

by America Leigh

  Rafi stood there still. I think he knew all this before I emptied my soul. His shoulders relaxed and his smirk smoke volumes.

  “That’s more like it”

  “I’m glad you’re pleased” I replied sarcastically. Chuckling at his amusement.

  “I am. So…..is she the same?” Rafi asked peering down to the floor, looking uncomfortable at asking something personal about Maggie.

  “I can’t wait for you to see her. She looks exactly the same. She’s absolutely beautiful, her hair is longer and she’s a little curvier than she was when she was younger. Her eyes have changed their more distinctive now. The browns circle her eyes like caramel pools of chocolate. Then she opens her mouth and she’s nothing like the Maggie I knew. She speaks with a strong Yorkshire accent and is blunt. So she’ll love you” I winked at him. Rafi grunted at me, causing me to laugh out loud. “She could have had me on my knees at any time she wanted, but she’s oblivious to it now”

  Rafi’s frown turned into a chuckle. “Like I said, you’re fucking screwed” He held his stomach while he laughed harder.

  “I loved Maggie before, but I can tell she is going to be amazing now. What are they calling her now? Is it Erin?”

  “Erin Frost. All I see is my Maggie. A very grown up version of what she was, but Maggie all the same.”

  “So what’s next?” Rafi asked me, but I didn’t have the answer so I just shrugged at him.

  “I don’t know. Rhodes says security, wires and surveillance.”

  “I agree,” he said with conviction.

  “How are you?” Rafi turned eyeing me with suspicion.

  “I’m fine. Honestly Eddie. Don’t worry so much.” How could I not, he was family.

  “I’ll try, but promise me something?”

  “Anything”

  “See Marley. Just to keep me sane”

  “Please” I added.

  Rafi’s shoulders slumped, but he nodded anyway. I was thankful that he was in an agreeable mood. I knew that his condition was a sure subject. Even though I knew he could manage his disease. I was all he had. His family was more condescending than mine. My family were influenced by society and the demands of the Vance name. Rafi’s family was the opposite, true Italian blood. Family first and tradition’s must be obeyed, rather than making your own path. Rafi’s disease was hereditary and this strained his relationship with his father when he was diagnosed at twenty. He saw it has a mark against his heritage. His only son carrying an illness.

  “So….. How was your clients today?

  “I’ve only had two conference calls and one Skype call all day, nothing too taxing. I just confirming the limitations and expectations of our products. I expect Matthews and Farley’s to sign any day now”

  “At least that’s something we don’t have to worry about for the time being. By the way the Gala is next Friday and you’re on the guest list thanks to mother.”

  “Aww shit”

  “Exactly” I groaned. I wasn’t happy about the timing of this gala either, but the foundation was important to all of us, Molly was still an important part of my past.

  “You ok about this?” Rafi asked, motioning towards me. I knew what he was asking, so I just nodded. I didn’t really want to have this discussion.

  Not now.

  “Have you talked about Molly yet?”

  “No” I quickly answered.

  “Eddie”

  I shook my head, hoping Rafi would leave it alone.

  “Eddie” Rafi repeated again.

  He stared at me, his gaze penetrating my senses. This wasn’t something I wanted to talk about, not today. After having to deal with all the turmoil of seeing Maggie again and now I have to deal with the repercussions of Molly. This gala was a sure fire way of bringing the past back to haunt me. I wanted to live in the present, but the past had a way of coming back to bite me in the ass. Maggie’s reappearance had be jumping through hoops trying to find out why she had been taken from me in the first place. Now Molly’s memory was being pranced around me. I exhaled harshly. No More.

  “Please talk to someone. Especially with Maggie coming back, your demons need to be put to bed.” Rafi said in a resonate tone. The prompt in his tone was subtle, but true to Rafi’s Italian roots he always made his point. The older he got, the more frustrated I became.

  “Yeah okay” I submitted. Why did everyone think I needed to talk to someone? I was fine. I had found Maggie and everything would be perfect. Rafi stood there waiting for me to argue with him, but I was too exhausted to fight him on this any further. I needed to forget about the last ten years.

  “I need a drink” I said, motioning towards the door. Rafi nodded. I left the office, hoping I could at least drown out the incessant cries of the past that seemed to haunt my dreams. Maybe I’ll dream about the curvy blonde that has invaded my thoughts since I saw her again.

  Chapter Six.

  Erin.

  The exotic smell of wild flowers swam around me bringing me out my daze. I opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings. The lush valley of wild flowers encased me under a gigantic willow tree. The tree was overwhelming at its sheer size, but I recognised it from somewhere, the soft sway of the leaves made my heart flutter in its response. The array of colours made me want to swim through the stages of nature embracing the freedom of it all. I could just about make a small building out behind it. I heard a faint noise behind me. I turned around and found him standing there with his hair swaying in the light breeze around us. It was longer and messier than I remembered. He held out his hand and I took it without hesitation. I looked at him again, now he was closer I realised his features were softer than what I remembered. His broad shoulders and bulky frame was less defined and he stood there with a gentler presence. He was different, he looked younger.

  "What are you doing here, Eddie" I asked, slightly confused. I looked around again. It wasn't only his presence that had me confused, but where we were baffled me. I recognised the place but couldn't remember ever coming here.

  "Don't you remember, baby. This is our place" his comment had me off balance. Baby?

  Where the hell did that come from?

  "Our place?......but I've never been here" I admitted, my body hummed with nervous energy.

  "Sure you have." Eddie said confidently. His eyes were filled with emotion I didn't particularly understand. A smile tugged at his beautiful lips.

  "You just need to dig deep enough, I'm right here beneath the surface" he whispered when he placed his palm over my heart, making me shiver in response. What the hell did that mean? What was beneath the surface? His rugged breath ran down my neck and made me shudder in recognition.

  Remember.

  Remember.

  Remember what?

  I thought as I jerked awake, panting hard. Shit. I rubbed my eyes hard and saw Faith, Peace and Justice huddled around the bed.

  The concern was etched into each of their faces. They stood motionless.

  "What the hell was that?" Justice bellowed into the darkened room. I decided that it was best to keep my dream to myself for the time being. I didn't want to give them anything else to worry about. Now I just needed to figure out, what exactly Eddie meant.

  "Bad dream" I lied, licking my dry lips. Justice eyed me suspiciously. I looked away, finding it hard to talk under Faith scrutiny.

  "I don't believe you" she said quickly. I was surprised by her tone. Faith just stood back with a disappointed look on her face. I hated lying to them, but how could I explain anything about what I just saw under the willow tree and not sound certifiable. There was no other choice. I knew deep down that I had to keep finding Erin to truly find the answers I craved. I just hope that when I do, they’re the answers that I want and not fear.

  * * *

  The next few days passed by quickly. If it wasn’t for the nightly dreams that clung to me like smoke after a fire. The sense of the willow tree actually being real, kept me in a constant state of panic. When Friday morning
came, I didn’t want to face the fact that these dreams could represent more than I even considered when my body reacted to Eddie on Tuesday. My body could be telling me one thing, but combined with my subconscious. It seemed a viable possibility that Edward Vance held the key to a past I knew nothing about. I laid there in bed, staring up at the ceiling and panicked at the prospect at having to actually face Eddie in a few hours and confronting the fear that he actually knows more about me than I do.

  Chapter Seven.

  Eddie.

  I looked down at my watch for the tenth time in the last ten minutes. I was petrified at seeing Erin again. The image of Maggie had held a place in my heart since I was ten years old. Now the image of Erin haunted my reality. There was a possibility that I have loss Maggie forever. What if Maggie is gone? There was no guarantee that she would ever recognise me or want me in that way again. It’s ironic really. Out of all the woman I have slept with over the last ten years. I have never wanted anything more than the casual release that they provided me with, but now I’m faced with the possibility that I could live without Maggie or Erin for that fact, was inconceivable. Rhodes walked into my office looking utterly pissed about something. I have learnt over the last few years with Rhodes, was if he was pissed about something, it was a big fucking deal. This man was meticulous at his job. The man himself was as legendary as his career was. The checks I carried out on his past would shock some people, let alone hire the marine. He was exactly what I needed. That kind of passion and determination didn’t come without some kind of discrepancy on your record over pissing someone off at some point in your career.

  “We need to talk?” Rhodes finally said, in a clipped tone. Hell, this was bad.

  “Ok” I replied slowly.

  “There’s been another breech.”

  “Through the mainframe” I asked.

  “Yes and no” he replied cryptically.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean” I demanded, standing up from my desk to address the situation. This wasn’t merely a coincidence, it was too precise for Vance Media to be targeted simply because of our telecommunications business. Unless my father had something to do with this. No, he wouldn’t breech the company’s firewall, he wasn’t that stupid. He knew that I was good at business and not stupid enough not to backup the mainframe. Why was someone trying to gain access?

  “What were they trying to retrieve?” I asked.

  Rhodes gave me a wry smile, knowing exactly how my mind ticked when it came to my company. I wasn’t a computer genius or anything, Rafi was a wiz at tech compared to me, but we understood the logistics more than any other business in the market today. That was one of the main reasons we had grown considerably over the last five years.

  “Information on your major communications business associates that make up the majority of the communication fraction of the company”

  Shit! That was not good.

  “Did they get anything?”

  “Yes, but nothing case sensitive. The breech didn’t infiltrate your current contracts. So we need to be smart when it comes to stepping up security.”

  “Ok” That wasn’t too bad. A full breech of protocol could cripple the mainframe and it takes twenty four hours to successfully reboot the systems to set second protocol into place. Rhodes mood haven’t shifted. I looked directly into his eyes and cocked my eyebrow at him. Obviously there was something else we had to discuss or he would have dismissed himself and left.

  “Spit it out Rhodes”

  “That wasn’t the only breech Eddie” That made me take notice. I whipped my head back up.

  “What else is there to breech apart from the mainframe?”

  “The company’s internal communications”

  “What are you getting at Rhodes?” I barked out in frustration.

  “They targeted the entire company’s email and communications to all clients and personal enquiries.”

  “What exactly did they get?”

  “This cannot be confirmed yet, but it looks like they could have gained information on Erin and her roommates.”

  “Are they in danger?” my frustration dissipated and was replaced with fury.

  “Not at present, Sir” Rhodes paused and looked worried at the prospect of another breech especially when it pinpointed Erin. “I have full surveillance on all four of them, but you need to be prepared for what may come next. If these people are searching for information on Erin, she could be targeted quickly to hit you hard” Rhodes whole body radiated with anger and frustration. This threat had just become very fucking real and we still didn’t know why they were after Erin and if there was a connection to Vance Media or me personally.

  “What’s our strategy?”

  “Your meeting is at eleven. We go and assess the potential threat of her home and then decide what we do after that. I’m going to be blunt though Eddie.

  “Why break an habit.” I interrupted him. Rhodes gave me a cautious look.

  “I want her out of there, all of them. They need full time protection and the only way I can do that is to have them under one roof. So I can protect them all. Until we can determine what exactly this threat is.”

  “Let’s move then”

  “Sir” Rhodes confirmed and took out his phone and started reeling off the requirement for the security team to expect when we made our visit to Erin’s house. I had a bad feeling about this, what if I was putting Erin in danger by involving her in my business. How can I be sure of that though, what if she is the target and I leave her alone and something bad happens to her? I couldn’t leave her to be sacrificed for being connected to me. I loved her too much for that.

  “Are you going to tell her?” Rhode asked, as if an afterthought had occurred. Nothing Rhodes did was an afterthought, he was always two steps ahead in the game.

  “Yes” I answered quickly, with no explanation or hesitation. She needed to know and sooner the better, because later may not be an option we have any more.

  * * *

  “Is everything in place?” I asked Rhodes, who was sat in front of the black SUV next to the other members of his security. He was the newest recruit. Rhodes had gone territorial when we located Erin and I was thankful he knew exactly what he was doing. I knew deep down that he would keep Erin safe, but there was still a real possibility that this time I could lose her for good.

  “Yes Sir”

  Now I just needed to see how Erin reacted to the fact that she wasn’t just Erin Frost anymore.

  “She’s too out in the open.” I observed.

  Rhodes puffed. His chest strained under the weight of Erin’s safety.

  Rhodes came round and opened my door looking for any possible threats. I jumped out and gave Rhodes a nod and walked briskly to Erin’s front door. I knocked twice. My palms sweaty. I waited for Erin. I never expected to see another beautiful girl standing there.

  “Mr Vance” The red head acknowledged me, holding out her hand. “I’m Justice, I’m one of Erin’s roommates. Please come this way, she’s expecting you.”

  “Don’t worry lover boy. We’ll be gone before you know it.” She sniggered at my expression.

  I was silently hopeful to spend some time alone with Erin. I entered the house and made my way through to the front room, where Erin’s other roommates sat drinking coffee by the looks of it.

  “I didn’t know I was receiving a welcome committee” I said with a chuckle.

  The girls laughed with me. I noticed all of these girls were extremely beautiful, but all were strikingly different. The girls sat side by side on the sofa. The red head was first with ruby red lips that held a knowing smirk. The second had sleek blonde hair swept back into a ponytail. She had the most memorising blue eyes I had ever seen. They were pure as the Caribbean Sea. The last girl on the sofa had beautiful black curls that swept down her back. She had her head down. If I was to make an educated guest, I would say that she is the quiet one. I suddenly looked over to the other door at the back of the liv
ing room and my body tingled in anticipation. I could feel her presence before she even entered the room. Erin stood there with a smile that could light the empire state building and send me to heaven all at the same time. I ran my gaze up and down her slender body and that same need that hit me on Tuesday returned. A glint of metal had me looking down at Erin’s hands and that’s when I noticed the large smoky quartz ring sitting on her left hand. I took in a shuddered breath. She still wore it. It had been a surprise for her fifteen Birthday. I had planned to wait and give her the ring with the pendant I was waiting to be finished at the jewellers, but I couldn’t wait to have something of mine on Maggie. It was a promise of the future we both wanted. A lifetime together and it sat sparkling where I had put it ten years before. I had to prise my eyes of the ring that meant so much to me and continued looking at her, like it hadn’t been only three days since I saw her last. Erin’s hair was pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head and tendrils had escaped down her back and at the sides of her beautiful face. Her eyes were darker than normal and the slight darkness under her eyes told me she wasn’t sleeping either. She was still the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. There was humour there as well, as her eyes swept over her roommates and back over to me. I chuckled to myself. Obviously she had felt the connection between us and brought backup.

  “Good morning Mr Vance” Erin purred at me in that sexy voice of hers.

  “Good morning Erin, I hope you slept well?” I asked. Innocence pouring of her incredible body. She wasn’t wearing anything sexy like last time, but it didn’t matter.

  “Yes, thank you” she replied, but her voice sounded strained and pensive. She caught herself quickly and schooled her features to the professional I had glimpses of during our first meeting.

  “I hoped you enjoyed the chocolate cake?” I asked seductively. My eyes hadn’t left Erin’s since she had entered the room. I was in tune with her every movement. I could feel our attraction from across the room like a traction beam. If she thought filling the room with other people were going to diminish that, she was deluding herself. This connection between us had remained and she still reacted to me like she did when we were teenagers and nothing and no one could ever change that. Erin’s face blushed red and those high cheekbones flushed a deeper crimson was sexy as hell. This woman would always own me. Even if she knew it or not. I would never need or want another woman if I had Maggie or Erin by my side, because they were one in the same. Maybe a little bolder and feistier now, but underneath there still laid my sweet and determined little Maggie.