Tension

by R. L. Griffin

  Keeping her eyes closed was too tempting and she fell back into an unconscious state.

  The next time she opened her eyes, it was light outside and she felt like she had the shit kicked out of her, but she could move her fingers. Trying to be quiet and careful, she worked her fingers until she could move her hand and arm. Her body was awkwardly turned so that she was facing the back seat, shielding her from Jamie’s view. The way she was positioned, she didn’t know if he could see her move. Better be fast. One, two, three... Her hand went under her shirt and clicked on the locator; this was most definitely an emergency. She took a deep breath in relief. Greg would find her now.

  Stella forced herself on her back and stared at the ceiling of the car for a few minutes before she heard him.

  “Hey, babe. You feeling okay?”

  Stella felt like she must be stuck in one of her nightmares; he acted like she’d been taking a nap in the car on a vacation. She couldn’t sit up yet. Her mouth was so dry she couldn’t speak.

  “You need something to drink, probably,” Jamie said and handed her a bottle of water from the front seat.

  Her hand worked well enough to grasp the bottle and, pushing herself up a little so that she could drink, she consumed the entire bottle of water in noisy gulps, wishing there was more. Smacking her lips together, she looked into the rearview mirror at Jamie’s worn face.

  “You want another?” Jamie asked and eyed her in the rearview mirror. His looks were now a mix between her fiancé and the man that shot her. His hair was shoulder length and he had scruff on his face but not a full beard. He’d dyed his hair white blond. While she could tell who he was, he would be unrecognizable to most people. Stella nodded and took the water from him, drinking that entire bottle as well.

  “Damn it, Jamie. What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” She hit him in the head with the bottle and tried to grab him around the neck to choke him, but she moved too soon, her limbs were hardly working, nevertheless agile, and he elbowed her in the face. She saw stars for a few seconds. “Fuck!” she screamed and grabbed her nose, blood began pouring out down from her nose. She noticed the pistol on the front seat.

  “Look, I know this is a bit extreme, but I’m not planning on hurting you, Stella.” He adjusted himself in the seat. “Now sit the fuck down and enjoy the ride for awhile. We’re almost there.”

  “Oh yeah, now that you broke my fucking nose, I’ll enjoy the ride.” She looked out the window and realized they were in Florida; everything was bright sunshine and palm trees. “Where the fuck are we going? You know you’ll never get away with all this, right? You’re being a stupid son of a bitch. I haven’t told anyone it was you.”

  “I know; that’s how I know we can make this work...”

  Stella cut his sentence off with rough laughter. “Jamie. You’re delusional. What’s happened to you?”

  They were both quiet for a moment.

  “You had your sister drug me? Really? She agreed to do that?” Stella asked. The thought stung; she couldn’t believe Sara would do this to her.

  “She knows I love you and all of this has just been a huge mistake,” he answered.

  “Jamie,” Stella whispered.

  “Stella, I’m going to make all of this up to you. I promise. I have a house, our house, and a boat. We can have a good life. I’ve got money set aside. We’re set. Just let me get you there and we can talk about everything.” He eyed her in the rearview mirror. “Promise me you’ll wait to get there until you decide what you want to do. I know you love me, but I’ll let you go, if that’s what you want.”

  Stella sat stoic in the backseat of the car. Her feelings wavered between outright rage and terror, with a little splash of self-pity. That familiar hardness was her only means of survival, but Jamie had caught her off guard. Her bag was gone, she had no weapon. Think. His gun sat on the front seat; she wondered if he’d found hers in her purse.

  She checked her watch. Based on when she got to the bar last night, they’d probably been driving for over nine hours.

  “I need to pee,” she whispered.

  “What?” Jamie reached down to turn off the music.

  “I need to pee,” Stella repeated.

  Jamie’s brow furrowed. Then he said, “Okay.”

  “How much longer do we have?”

  “Around four and a half hours,” he answered.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Our house.” Jamie looked in the rearview mirror for her reaction.

  She had none. Stella let the hardness take over and it made her face into a mask. “I need to pee,” she said again.

  “I’ll pull off at the next exit.”

  “Is this where you’ve been this entire time?”

  “Not quite.”

  She was silent.

  “Why are you with him?” Jamie asked.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Stella retorted.

  “The football player, why are you with him?”

  The situation struck Stella as funny. Jamie didn’t know as much as he thought he did. She laughed, which turned into a snort and caused him to laugh.

  “Why are you laughing?” Jamie asked after they finished laughing.

  “Because the size of your nuts… it’s none of your fucking business who I’m with.”

  “I told you I loved you. It was bad enough when you were with that other tool.”

  “I can’t even fathom us having this conversation, Jamie.” Stella’s mind was racing and she wondered if Jamie had actually lost his mind. “You chose to leave me, remember?”

  “I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I would say to you, Stella. The last four years of my life have been hell. I’m not sure what happened to me. I went into this job thinking I was doing something noble for my country, going to get the bad guys...” Jamie gazed intently at the road in front of him. “I pretended I was a bad guy for so long, I convinced myself I was a bad guy. I’ve done so many things...”

  “Exit!” Stella yelled, pointing at the right side of the highway.

  Jerking the steering wheel to the right, Jamie guided the car to the exit and pulled into the only gas station in sight. He parked and turned to look at her. “Look, we don’t trust each other. I get it. I’m going to get the key to the bathroom and I’ll let you in.” He didn’t make eye contact as he opened the car door. “I don’t want to, but I will shoot you again if I need to, and this time it might stick.”

  Stella’s thoughts were all over the place. She could run, but they looked to be at the only establishment off this exit. She could hide in the woods behind the gas station and then go in when he started looking for her, but chances are he would find her and kill her. She’d activated her locator a couple of hours ago; surely they were on their trail by now. Contemplating all her options was stupid, she ran out of time when Jamie opened the back door of the car for her, making her options null. Jamie stepped back letting her exit the vehicle. He handed her the key and followed her to the bathroom.

  He leaned into her ear. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

  Unlocking the door, she pulled it open and closed it behind her. The smell of clementines made her nauseous. “Fuck,” she muttered to herself. She’d planned so many things; all of her plans were shit. She was terrified that Jamie was actually insane. What rational person would do the things he’d done to her and then think they would be together? The strong odor of urine filled her nose, chasing away the clementines. What kind of person lives underground and still uses expensive soap? The kind whose mama is still sending him soap, undoubtedly. The thought popped into her head; was it possible she was the only person who thought he was dead? Did they all know? Bastards!

  After relieving herself, she walked to the sink and began washing her hands. The image in the mirror was her, but barely. Her nose had dried blood below it and was now turning a reddish bluish color. The bags under her eyes were purple. He must’ve really broken her nose. A pounding on the door m
ade her jump out of her skin.

  “Times up!” Jamie called from the other side of the door.

  Ripping open the door, she got in his face and yelled. “You broke my fucking nose, you asshole!”

  “You were choking me,” he answered tersely. He put his hand on the small of her back and pushed her towards the car.

  “You left me. You lied to me. You shot me. You kidnapped me.” She turned to face him. “We can keep playing this game as long as you want, but remember this. I’ll always win.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Tales

  George’s knee shook the entire row of seats in the private waiting area of National Airport. He’d never seen this part of the airport before. Private planes landed and took off here. It was farther south than the public terminal. He’d seen about ten politicians come and go while he was waiting for the plane that was being sent for him. Surprising himself, he appeared relatively calm. The knee was the only outward sign of the turmoil going on inside.

  Last night, when he didn’t hear from Stella when he expected, he’d texted her. He fell asleep waiting on her reply. The phone woke him from a deep slumber hours later; an Atlanta number he didn’t recognize. It was Greg, Stella’s new lawyer. Stella had set off her personal locator device a few hours ago; it was 3:00 am.

  While the plan was for Greg and George to be notified at the same time, George hadn’t downloaded the app on his phone yet. He’d fallen asleep waiting for her, thinking she was just having fun and forgot to check her phone. Shaking his head and trying hard to focus, he heard Florida and Sara, but he’d had to ask Greg to repeat himself a number of times before he understood. No one could find Sara and there were photos of Stella being carried out of a restaurant by a woman and a man. Her car had been moved, but they hadn’t found it yet.

  Greg told him to stick close to his phone and he’d be in touch, then disconnected like this was an everyday call for him. George slumped in his bed, his head in his hands, stunned. This could not be happening. He just got her back. Pins and needles spread throughout his body, a feeling he’d only felt during those initial weeks after she had been shot.

  Something was wrong; he felt it. He felt her.

  Walking over to the bookshelf in his room, he’d picked up a framed picture of them. She was still in the hospital. They were both lying in the bed, he was holding her hand and she was bandaged all over. Her mouth formed a smile, but her face showed determination underneath, revealing her grit. She already looked like a fighter. He headed into his closet and walked all the way to the back. Pushing the jackets aside on the back wall, he pushed a panel and the wall opened. George pressed his thumb into the safe and it popped open. He took out his Glock and a small grey box.

  The gun felt out of place in his palm, but he turned it over, examining it, trying to remember the last time he used it. He placed it back in the safe and opened the grey box, the contents sparkled knowingly. He was going to convince her to marry him; it was just a matter of time. He was contemplating how to do just that when his cell phone rang again. Running to his bed, where he’d thrown his phone, he hoped against hope that it was her. He didn’t recognize the number.

  “Hello?”

  “George, it’s Jesse. Greg told me what’s going on. I’m headed to the airport now. ETA in DC is two hours. Be at National Airport and Greg will pick you up and head to Florida. She’s in motion, we’re thinking the Keys.”

  “You’re coming to get me?” he asked incredulously.

  “Of course. You want to be there when we find her, right?” Jesse’s voice was calm.

  “Yes,” he whispered. Well, aren’t I the asshole.

  “Well, then get your ass to the airport.”

  He was silent.

  “George?” Jesse asked.

  “Thanks,” George said softly and disconnected.

  Now he was waiting with the rich and famous for a private plane to pick him up. All he could do was wait; he didn’t even know what had happened since Greg contacted him. The lawyer mentioned something about how when they’d made their contingency plans, Stella wanted them to find her and determine whether law enforcement should be involved before calling anyone out of their little group; she wanted anything crazy to be kept secret unless absolutely necessary.

  George remembered how she had outlined her emergency plan with him, but he wasn’t really paying attention because he hoped she would never need it. How could this have happened? His heart clenched at the thought he may never see her again. Scary scenarios kept running through his mind.

  “George?”

  George looked up to find an older gentleman, hair trimmed with silver, smiling weakly at him. His eyeglasses were wire rimmed and he was wearing a rumpled grey suit. He grabbed his backpack and threw it over his shoulder, then walked toward the man.

  One step closer to Stella.

  Jamie pulled into a grassy area right at the water’s edge that looked a makeshift parking lot. The brilliant blue of the ocean distracted her from her situation for a few seconds, but then she noticed that a couple of posts had boats tied to them. Stella was feeling nauseous. Her nose throbbed and she wondered what was next. She knew they were south of Miami, but, by the signs on Highway 1 south, just north of Key West. She couldn’t tell which key they were on.

  “I’m going to be sick,” she said softly.

  His gaze found hers in the rearview mirror. “Why?”

  “I’ve developed some sort of stomach disorder; I have medicine in my bag.” She pulled her heels into her body, knees to her chest, trying to quell the pain. “Where’s my bag?” she asked, hoping she could somehow get her gun in the process of getting her medicine.

  Opening the door, Jamie pulled off his sunglasses and wiped his brow. “Get out,” he ordered.

  “Jamie, what’re you doing?” Stella uncurled herself and hesitantly opened the door. Everything in her body was telling her to fight now, and not go where he wanted her to go.

  “I already told you,” he said, exasperated. “I’m taking you to our house to explain.”

  “Let’s just do it here, okay?” Stella’s voice shook even though she willed it not to. She pushed her hair back from her face, the shaking of her hand betraying her fear. Her whole body was shaking and wouldn’t stop. Sweat rolled down her lower back.

  Jamie sighed and touched her face. Stella flinched.

  “I’m not going to hurt you.” The expression on her face must have told him her thoughts. “Any more than I already have,” he muttered. Putting his hand on the small of her back, he guided her to the back of the car. He opened it and grabbed her bag. He fished around for the prescription bottle and gave it to her. “Here.”

  As he threw Stella’s purse back in the trunk, she saw her last chance to get her gun fade and disappear.

  He pulled out two duffle bags and shut the door, leaving Stella’s bag and her gun in the trunk of his car. Jamie nodded toward one of the three boats that were tied to docks. Stella hesitated. “Come on, Stella, don’t make me break my promise not to hurt you.”

  “You’re good at breaking promises,” she said. Then she started following him down the steps to the docks. Her stomach was churning, her mind reeling with horrible scenarios. “Are you insane?”

  His laugh was short and loud. “Why do you ask?”

  “I’m hoping one of those rinky-dink boats isn’t ‘our home.’” She made air quotes when she said ‘our home.’

  “No, I’m not crazy,” he said, laughing again. It was a familiar laugh, one that used to make her smile.

  “Well, how am I supposed to know how crazy you are?” she ranted. “You’re crazy enough to try to kill me! Crazy enough to kidnap me! But not crazy enough to think we could live on a boat?”

  Jamie’s voice softened. “I love that you haven’t changed at all.”

  Her head snapped in his direction. “You don’t know anything about me anymore.”

  “Well, that may be true, but you’re still a smartass.” Ja
mie threw the bags into the boat and helped her in.

  She got in the boat with apprehension, she knew nothing about boats. It looked like a boat you could go fishing on. There were a couple of chairs and a bench at the back. He untied the knots in the rope holding the boat to the dock and they immediately began drifting.

  Oh fuck. This is it. Closing her eyes, she said a prayer and thought of all the people she loved.

  “Do you remember the first day we met?” Jamie asked out of the blue.

  Stella nodded.

  “You were so damned hot in that bikini. I wanted to take you home the second I saw you.” He cranked the boat, deftly maneuvering out of the dock area, and gunned the engine.

  Stella’s hair flew out and all over. She held it down with her hands. “It didn’t take too long for that, now did it?” she yelled so he could he hear response.

  “No, it didn’t.” Jamie took a hat out from a compartment on the boat and put it on. After a minute, he looked at her, softness filling his eyes, and then he handed the hat to her so she could wear it. “Do you remember that night?” he yelled.

  Oh, did she remember. That night was blazed in her mind. Jamie walked her from the pool to the front of the apartment complex to his apartment. He held her hand the entire time and stopped to kiss her at least ten times. When they finally reached his apartment, he led her to his room. His lips were like velvet and his caress something she hadn’t had the luxury of experiencing. She’d had sloppy, learning-how-to-work-things sex before; it was nothing like this. She enjoyed every second of exploring Jamie’s body. They took pleasure in leisurely touching each other and learning what the other person wanted; as if their bodies already knew each other and were in sync. She’d definitely never had toe-curling, back-arching sex before. Jamie was her first of many things.