Unsafe Haven

by Bella Jewel

  So big.

  “Do you think they’re okay?” I finally ask into the silence.

  “Been a while since I’ve heard anything, so I’d say yes. I hope so.”

  We sit in the silence a little longer. Then, out of the blue, the lights outside and inside the closet switch on. We have power back. I glance over at Oliver, and he squints. We’ve been in the dark so long, it takes our eyes a moment to adjust. When they do, I study his face. His lips are swollen and full. I have no doubt mine are the same. I’ve never been kissed like that in my entire life. Not once. It was absolutely incredible.

  “That’s got to be a good sign,” he murmurs.

  “Oliver? Jade?”

  We hear Marlie’s voice in the distance. If she’s calling out, it must be safe for us to call out, too.

  “We’re in here!” We both yell at the same time.

  A moment later, the door opens and Marlie steps inside, looking down at us. She smiles a little, her eyes scaning over us. “I’d ask if you got locked in here by choice, but I know you’d deny it.”

  Oliver grunts. “It wasn’t by choice.”

  He stands and pulls me to my feet.

  “Well, it certainly wasn’t a bad thing by the looks of it.”

  I flush and say, “Did they find who did this? What happened?”

  Her face loses a little of its light. “Come downstairs, the police are here. We’re figuring out what the hell happened now, but I just wanted to make sure you guys were safe first.”

  “Was anyone injured?” I ask her, following her down the stairs.

  “Not majorly. A few panic scrapes, Kenai got tripped up, but everyone is mostly okay.”

  Thank. God.

  We arrive downstairs to police officers, people standing everywhere, media—how the hell did they get here so fast?—and three people handcuffed. I look at the three people, studying them. They’re young, maybe seventeen or so, and there are two boys and one girl. They’re half dressed in Halloween costumes and all of them are just staring at the officers, scowling. Are they the ones who did this? A bunch of teenagers?

  “They did this?” I ask, stopping and staring as officers speak to them.

  “Apparently,” Marlie mutters, crossing her arms. “One of the boys has a mother who comes here. He started following her. Apparently he was angry that she was spending all her time here and not at home being some sort of slave to him. He got angry, and decided to pull a prank when she told him about the party. Clever kids, pulling it off the way they did. They thought it through.”

  “They were trying to hurt people,” I whisper.

  Marlie nods. “Kids like that, raised in what is obviously a difficult environment, often have no control over themselves. The boy rallied his friends, they got in on it, and they decided to pull a prank. They did a good job at it.”

  “No wonder the mother comes here,” Oliver murmurs. “With kids like that. I’d be ashamed to call them my own.”

  “Well, I agree.” Marlie nods. “I can’t imagine what her home life is like if the kids can take jealousy and obsession to this degree.”

  “They threw a bowling ball at Oliver’s head,” I say softly. “He could have been seriously injured.”

  “The police officers think they’re likely high and on something.”

  “No excuse,” Oliver murmurs. “I hope they get punished. Someone could have been hurt, or worse.”

  Marlie and I both nod and watch the teens as the officers drag them out to the car. Kenai is speaking to a man and a woman, both in uniform, and after a moment he nods and then joins us. “They’re going to the station. The main instigator’s mother has just been located. The woman is a mess.”

  He nods and we look over to see Jenny, a frequent at Sanctuary, talking to an officer. She’s clutching a handkerchief, dabbing at her eyes and nodding her head. She looks so upset, and I can’t blame her. She comes here for peace and quiet, and even the demons she was obviously trying to escape from have come and followed her into her only place of rest. Not only that, they could have hurt someone. I can only imagine how that feels for her.

  “It’s Jenny,” I whisper sadly to Marlie.

  “Yes, that hurts my heart. She’s such a nice lady. I know her husband is a drunk, and her kids walk all over her. I guess they didn’t like her not giving them attention—well, at least, the boy didn’t.”

  “Poor woman.”

  A police officer walks over, stopping at our group. “We’ve taken them into custody and had officers check the place to make sure there is nothing else dangerous on the ground. It’s all cleared. You should be safe to clean up now. We’ve taken a few witness statements. Any you wish to give us will be appreciated, but you can wait until morning to do that.”

  We all nod, tired.

  “Thanks, Jack,” Kenai says. “Appreciate it.”

  “No problems, Kenai. I hope the cleanup isn’t too bad, and we’re glad no one was injured.”

  He nods and the officers leave. A few stragglers hang around and offer to help clean up, but Marlie sends them all home. She looks exhausted, and she’s limping quite severely. She must be sore. Her knees must be hurting.

  “Marlie, go home and get some rest. I’m not tired, I’ll stay and start the clean-up and we’ll finish the rest tomorrow,” I tell her.

  “I’ll stay with her,” Oliver adds with a nod. “Kenai, take your woman home, she’s exhausted.”

  “You sure?” Kenai asks.

  “Yeah, go,” Oliver insists.

  “I can’t leave you both to clean up, it’s been a terrible night for everyone,” Marlie says, her voice weak and tired.

  “It’s fine, Marlie, please. We insist, go home.”

  She looks at me, then slumps and nods. Kenai wraps an arm around her. “Where’s Kaity, we’ll take her, too?”

  “She was out front on the phone, we’ll catch her on our way out.” Marlie yawns. “Thank you guys so much. I’ll double your pay this week for this. Don’t stay too late if you’re tired. We can finish it tomorrow.”

  I step forward and hug her. “It’s fine, go home and get some rest.”

  “You’re both okay?” she asks once more.

  “We’re fine.”

  She nods, and Kenai leads her out the front door. Oliver and I turn toward the mess. Well. This isn’t going to be easy, or fun, but we’ll manage.

  “God,” Oliver murmurs under his breath. “They sure did make a mess.”

  Every decoration has been pulled down and shoved all over the floor, glasses are smashed, tables are upturned, and whatever they rolled down the stairs just scattered things everywhere. Punch is going stick on the floor and food has left crumbs strewn about.

  “There’s only one way to do this,” Oliver says, looking at me.

  “And that is?”

  “Naked.”

  I burst out laughing.

  At least he can make light of the situation.

  * * *

  I squeal as Oliver chases me up the stairs wearing a wolf mask. My laughter turns into giggles as he catches me, flattening me on the floor. His big body pins mine and we roll around across the floor, both laughing. Hearing his laugh is an incredible sound, the best I could have ever hoped for. We both come to a stop halfway down the hall and flop to our backs, still laughing, still wearing wolf masks.

  Our night started off seriously, we got to cleaning, and then Oliver started throwing food at me, and before I knew it we were having a full on war with food, decorations, and costumes. Our laughter turned into playing and we chased each other around the place for well over an hour, laughing until our bellies hurt. It was the perfect way to end a long and draining night. We both needed the break, the distraction, and a way to put the events behind us.

  We found a connection. Humor.

  Oliver pulls his wolf mask off and tosses it to the side, before reaching for mine and doing the same, then he rolls, propping himself up on his elbow and looking down at me. He reaches down, swiping
something off my face, finger coming up with a tiny piece of icing from one of the cupcakes. I giggle. “I spent hours on those damned things.”

  “Well it’s a good thing they went to good use. Well, at least, use . . . anyway.”

  I laugh. “Yeah, not sure it was good use, but anything is better than nothing, right?”

  He sticks his finger in his mouth, sucking the icing off. “Right,” he murmurs.

  My heart does a little pitter-patter and I swallow. The way he’s looking at me right now, the intensity in his eyes. It’s . . . God, it’s making my heart pause and my body come alive.

  “Goin’ to kiss you again, because I can’t stop myself.”

  I nod, no words forming, and let him lean down and press his lips to mine. He kisses me slowly at first, building the intensity, and then little by little the kiss gets deeper. My hands find his hair and I tug, bringing him closer, needing more. His body moves a little over mine and he rocks against me, causing electricity to explode deep in my belly. “Oliver,” I whisper as his mouth leaves mine and slides down my neck, finding the pulse there. He sucks the spot, and then keeps moving to my shoulders, kissing a little path along them.

  Meanwhile his hands get lower, and lower, until they’re at the hem of my dress.

  “This dress has been drivin’ me crazy all night. It’s so fuckin’ hot.”

  I whimper and his lips find mine again, kissing me deep, lips and tongues tangling.

  “Let me touch you, just once. Nothing more.”

  “Yes,” I say quickly, too quickly, but I can’t help it.

  I want him to touch me.

  I need him to.

  His fingers dip to my panties, sliding beneath them. It’s been so long since anyone has touched me there. I’m wet. I can feel it already. He slides his fingers up and down with a ragged hiss, his kiss become even more frantic as he starts slowly rubbing that aching nub, driving me wild, building me higher and higher until I don’t think I can take it anymore. I kiss him so hard he makes a throaty sound in his throat, but he doesn’t stop me.

  “Oliver,” I rasp, arching as an orgasm takes over my body, starting as a slow burn and building into an intensity I can barely handle.

  “God. Fuck. Yes.” Oliver groans, removing his fingers from my panties and sliding them into his mouth with a look in his eyes that has my entire body coming alive.

  “We’re going to do so much more of that, sweetheart,” he rasps. “Startin’ real slow. I’ll light your body on fire.”

  I swallow and look up at him. “I’m okay with that,” I whisper.

  He leans down, kissing me again, and I can taste myself on him. It’s so erotic. So damned incredibly erotic.

  “Best Halloween I’ve ever had,” he says against my lips.

  Dammit.

  Me, too.

  Chapter 8

  “Well, someone has to enjoy this stuff,” Marlie says the next day, sitting at the freshly cleaned table at Sanctuary, wearing a wolf mask and holding one of the many cupcakes we had left in the fridges in her hands.

  “It suits you,” Kenai snorts. “Well, your moods anyway.”

  She tosses the cupcake at him.

  “Hey hey hey,” I say, waving a hand around. “We spent hours cleaning this place last night, don’t you go messing it up.”

  “Oh I’m sure you spent hours ‘cleaning,’” Kaity says, doing some air quotes with a big smirk on her face.

  I look to Oliver and flush. He winks at me.

  “Oh my God,” Marlie cries. “What was that?”

  “What?” I ask, swallowing.

  “That look you two just gave each other. Did you get jiggy on my floor?” She leaps up from the sofa. “On this sofa?”

  I shake my head and Oliver snorts. “You’ll never know, Marlie. That’s the beauty of it.”

  “Oh my God, nasty, nasty, you two are nasty.”

  Kenai chuckles. “We’ve gotten ‘jiggy’ on plenty of these couches, babe.”

  “Ew,” we all say, standing up.

  Marlie flushes. “Well, thanks, Kenai. Way to make a girl feel slutty.”

  He winks at her. “Only for me, baby.”

  She grins. “Back to Oliver and Jade. What did you two do last night? I need all the details.”

  “So do I!”

  We look at the door to see Erin coming in, brown paper bags in her hands, coffee tray in the other. I called her on a coffee and croissant mission an hour ago. I leap up and rush over, hugging her and taking the tray. “You’re a gem. Thank you.”

  “Yeah yeah yeah.” She waves. “Now, tell me what I missed. I was supposed to get all the juicy details about Oliver first.”

  I look at her with big eyes. “He’s sitting right there, Erin!”

  Erin looks at him, wiggles her brows, and nods. “Yes, indeed he is. Hi, Oliver. Are you going to tell me what you and my bestie got up to or do I have to figure it out?”

  He grins. “Figure it out.”

  “Well, he’s no fun.” She flops down. “Spill.”

  “I like your best friend,” Kaity says. “She gets the goods.”

  Erin smiles at Kaity. “Yes, well, she knows well enough by now she’s not to keep anything from me.”

  “I’m not telling you all what we did, because we didn’t do anything,” I say, exasperated. “We cleaned up. That’s it.”

  “They got locked in a closet for a while,” Marlie points out.

  “Oh my God, Marlie!” I cry.

  “Ohhh,” Kaity laughs. “That’s right. What happened in the closet? Was it a build-up to what happened later? Just a warm-up maybe?”

  My God.

  Someone kill me now.

  “Never goin’ to find out,” Oliver says, reaching over and taking my hand. “What you can know, however, is that I’m takin’ this girl home in about ten minutes because she’s exhausted.”

  Aw.

  How sweet.

  “Exhausted,” Erin air quotes. “Right.”

  “Take her home,” Marlie continues. “Right.”

  I roll my eyes.

  They all burst out laughing.

  These guys are the best. Without a doubt.

  * * *

  “You sure you don’t want to eat more,” Oliver says, putting my plate in the sink.

  “God no,” I groan. I’ve eaten so much of that leftover food I can’t handle it anymore.

  He chuckles. “Yeah, there was a lot of it.”

  “So much. At least Marlie will have plenty of food for morning tea for a while, for everyone that comes in.”

  “Yeah, she sure will. You tired?”

  I nod. “So tired. The few hours we got last night just wasn’t enough.”

  “No, it wasn’t.”

  He walks over to me sitting on the couch, leans down, and launches me up and over his shoulder. I squeal and laugh, tapping his back. “What are you doing?”

  “Taking you to bed.”

  “Oliver, we’ve only known each other a few days.”

  He slaps me on the ass. “We’ve been working together months, and I’m not taking you to bed to sleep with you, just to sleep. Actually sleep.”

  “Together?” I squeak.

  He slaps my backside again. “Together.”

  “In my bed.”

  “In your bed, sweetheart.”

  “Oh, okay. Okay then.”

  We reach my bedroom and he puts me down on the bed, reaching for the hem of his shirt and pulling it up and over his head. I stare at his body, taut and bronze, with some intricate tattoos snaking over his biceps and chest. He’s gorgeous, so much so it takes my breath away. “I love your tattoos,” I breathe.

  “Thanks.”

  “Do they mean anything?”

  “Yeah,” he says, dropping his pants until he’s in his boxers.

  “What?” I ask, eyes wide.

  “They mean it’s time to sleep.”

  I thump his shoulder when he sits on the bed beside me, and he grins. “They’re ju
st designs I like, nothing special. You got any secret tattoos you want to show me?”

  I laugh. “Nice try, but no. I don’t have any. I’m too chicken.”

  He smiles and then nods at my shirt and shorts. “You sleep in that?”

  “Ah. No.”

  “Well, get changed.”

  He climbs into the bed like he’s been there a thousand times before. So much for the shy, broody man I met a few days ago. It feels like we’ve been talking for weeks. I guess a situation like what we experienced will do that to someone. Still, I didn’t really expect he’d be so comfortable with me. I like it. It makes me feel safe, and I don’t get that feeling very often anymore.

  I grab a pair of cotton shorts and a tank and go into the bathroom to get changed. It’s only midday, but we’re both so exhausted. I brush my teeth and my hair, then I join him on the bed, hesitantly sliding in. He doesn’t wait, he rolls and takes hold of me, pulling me to his chest and wrapping an arm around me. “I won’t bite, sweetheart.”

  “You seemed broody and shy a few days ago.”

  “You were broody and shy. I was just acting how you were acting.”

  “I was not,” I protest.

  “I tried to smile at you once and you practically ran in the opposite direction.”

  “I’m shy, okay!”

  He chuckles. “I don’t mind. The closet sorted it out for me. If I knew how clumsy you were, I would have planned that myself.”

  “How kind. Getting a girl to like you by making sure she locks herself in a closet. Some people would call that creepy, Oliver.”

  He chuckles. “Yeah, well, it worked. I got to talk to you.”

  “And get locked in a closet with me. Twice.”

  “And chase you around wearing a wolf costume.”

  “Creepy,” I laugh.

  “Totally.”

  “I’m glad, though,” I admit. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had fun, and since I’ve felt so comfortable with anyone. I mean, you could still be a killer for all I know, but at least you’re nice to me.”

  He snorts. “I’m not a killer. And if I was, I wouldn’t be trying to sleep next to you, I’d be subtly holding the pillow over your head.”