My life changed, again, at a juice bar. I’d just grabbed my strawberry juice order, nothing odd about that, but then, as I was leaving, I bumped into a man. A quick look at his body as I passed him made me admire how fit and strong this person was. A quick glance at his face made my blood drain completely from my body. I even felt a moment of dizziness before the world crashed back in on me with one word.
“Rose?”
It takes me several tries to actually voice his name back. “Dean?” I can’t believe standing right in front of me is Dean Johnson from home. Officer Dean Johnson. Officer Dean I’m-going-to-save-you-from-being-killed-and-give-you-the-best-kiss-of-your-life Johnson.
“You’re okay?” Dean looks as shocked as I feel to see me, but before I can attempt to react, he wraps me up in a hug so tight that I think I stop breathing. His arms and body feel strong and there is a moment of safety being in his arms. “I thought you were dead. I can’t believe I found you.” He laughs softly and it vibrates through his body and mine.
“How did you find me?” I manage to gasp out. The feeling of safety quickly leaves me as this situation settles inside me. If Dean can find me, then so can Stan. I’m in trouble. I pull myself away from his arms, but his hands never leave me, resting on my hips and holding on tightly enough that I stay in his grip.
“I was following a lead, which led me here. It was such a long shot and I almost didn’t come.”
“I have to go.” I step away, already thinking ahead of going to Will. Do I have time to go back to my apartment and get my things? Should I just drop everything and start running now?
“Wait.” His hands tighten around my hips, “I’ve spent months searching for you. You can’t just leave.” Dean appears confused and as our eyes connect my heart races. I quickly look away.
“I have to.”
“No, please, I’ll protect you, whatever trouble you’re in, I can help.” His hands move to rest on my arms and I quickly pull away from him.
“You can’t.” I rush out into the street, feeling faint. If Dean can find me, then I’m obviously not hiding very well.
“Rose!” Dean calls out to me and I stop in the middle of the street in time to watch a car speeding towards me. Is this Stan? Is this one of his men? Am I going to be taken back to The Windmill right now? Am I going to be experimented on?
Arms wrap around me and I’m pulled backwards as the car brakes hard. Dean and I fall to the ground and the car that nearly ran me over slams to the side, just missing a car coming from the opposite direction. An older man sticks his head out of the window and waves his arms angrily at me.
“You idiot, watch where you’re going!” he yells at me before zooming away. I’m breathing quickly as I lean back into Dean’s firm body behind me, needing his solid presence for a moment. Glancing down, I see blood over the arm that is still wrapped around my stomach. He must have scraped it when we went down.
“I’m sorry.” I look around at the crowd of people who have stopped to look at us with wide-eyes. We’re drawing attention to ourselves.
“Are you okay? What’s going on, Rose? Talk to me, please.” Dean removes his arm from around me and stands up. As soon as he’s steady, he holds out his hand to help me up. I take it and feel a flutter of nerves in my stomach when he keeps holding my hand even after I’m standing. “You can trust me.”
I nod that I agree. He’s saved my life, twice after the bomb incident back in L.A., of course I can trust him. And I probably owe him an explanation. At the very least he deserves one. Just because Dean has found me, doesn’t mean Stan has, yet.
“Follow me.” I keep my eyes peeled around us and lead Dean back to my apartment. I really do want to pack if I’m going to be leaving. Since I doubt I’ll get out of this explanation easily, I figure I might as well multitask and pack at the same time.
Dean keeps trying to question me the whole walk home, but I refuse to talk. Already my stomach is doing turns just thinking about the conversation we’re about to have. Will he believe me? Will he call home and alert authorities to where I am?
Once we’re safely in my apartment I feel worse. What if I can’t trust Dean? What if this is just some trap and he really works for Stan? Maybe he is a paid off bodyguard for me and that’s why he’s saved my life.
“How did you find me?” I demand angrily, surprising myself with how strong I sound.
“Why are you here in North Carolina?” Dean demands of me instead of answering, his arms crossed over his chest, drawing my eyes to his still bleeding scratch. “What happened to you after the bomb?”
“I asked first.”
Dean sits down on my couch heavily and seems to examine me. I almost think he might be about to argue with me, but slowly his face changes to looking resigned.
“It was luck. I found out that Eddie Hash used to spend a bit of time here in North Carolina a few years back. I thought he might think to bring you here.”
“Who is Eddie Hash?” I’m confused by his explanation.
“The drug dealer you took the kid from.”
“You mean the drug dealer who kidnapped Jonah,” I defend myself. He sounds like he’s accusing me of something.
Dean takes a deep breath, his eyes finally leaving mine to look down at his hands.
“I didn’t get there in time. By the time patrol showed up, the place was empty. We found drugs, weapons and a room that looked like a struggle had taken place. We found blood and your destroyed cell phone. We searched for you, I searched for you. We found out the drug dealer living there was Eddie Hash. He wasn’t a major player, but he wanted to be. He was dangerous.
“We did everything to find you. We had press conferences, we put out search parties, set up hot lines, put up flyers for any witnesses. There was nothing. It took us two days to find Hash and of course he denied everything. The asshole finally admitted to taking the kid, but said you took him and got away. I didn’t believe him, of course. I mean, where were you? Why hadn’t you come home? He had to be lying.”
I’m mesmerized by Dean’s story. I step closer to him, yet resist sitting down next to him.
“We grilled him for days, but he wouldn’t give up your location. The guys figured he’d murdered you and dumped your body somewhere. Instead of asking where he had taken you, they were asking him where he left your body. The guy was completely broken by the end, even admitted to some other unsolved murders. He never broke when it came to you, though.”
“That’s because he was telling the truth. I did get away,” I say softly.
“Then what happened? Why are you here? Why didn’t you tell anyone where you were? Everyone thinks you’re dead, your parents even had a private funeral.”
Sadness overwhelms me hearing that, but a morbid part of me wonders what my funeral had been like.
“I mean you’re still considered missing, but they think you’re gone.”
“What about my letter? Didn’t they get it?”
“They did. They thought it was a sick joke. I thought maybe Hash took you somewhere, had one of his friends holding you, that you were being held against your will. I thought you were able to send that out, but unwilling to say anything more because you thought if they found out you might be killed, or your family might be targeted.”
“So I just made it worse? My letter didn’t help them.” I feel gutted knowing that. I hoped it would make them understand, make them realize that I was alive and I would be okay. I wanted to end their pain, not add to it.
“What’s going on, Rose? Why are you here? You don’t look like you’re being held against your will. You don’t look in trouble at all except that you’re skittish. What have you gotten yourself into?”
“I can’t say —”
“Then you’re coming back home with me,” he cuts me off.
“No.” I take a step back from him, prepared to either run or fight if I have to.
“I’ve spent two months searching for you. I took a leave of absence from work to follow
this lead. I never gave up searching for you. Don’t I deserve the truth?” Dean looks at me with hurt and worry shining through his eyes. He might as well be an adorable puppy begging for food.
“Why didn’t you stop looking for me? Why are you even here?” I’d known Dean for barely anytime at all. Only one fun night at a club and one adrenaline filled day at the bank I worked at where a bomb was set off; those were our only two real times spent together.
I definitely liked him. In fact, even though I’m terrified that he is here, I’m also feeling the telltale signs that I’m sort of turned on by him. He is looking unbelievably hot and the way he’s crossing his arms over his chest is making his muscles bulge; I’m a sucker for muscled arms. Then there are those eyes. He’s looking at me in curiosity, but I swear there is heat behind that look, too, and it’s making my breath catch.
“I’m a police officer; it’s part of my job.” His eyes look away from me and I know he’s hiding something from me.
“Okay, so why are you here and not with a bunch of other cops that I’m sure worked my case? Why does everyone else think I’m dead, yet you’re still searching for me?” I push, wishing he would look at me again.
He quickly stands and his arms fall to his sides. I take another step backwards. He watches me move away from him and then I watch his shoulders slump, as if there is an invisible weight suddenly on them. He sighs heavily.
“It’s my fault you went missing. I should have never left you alone in that bank. If I hadn’t, then you never would have gone to that stupid house. You never would have come into contact with the likes of Eddie Hash. I failed you.”
I hate seeing the guilt etched over his face, guilt that he doesn’t deserve to have. “You had no way of knowing what I was going to do. Even if you did, well, I’m a pretty stubborn person sometimes. I doubt I would have done anything differently.”
“Please, Rose, please tell me what is going on,” he begs me with his puppy eyes back.
My will starts to break. What is the real harm in telling him? I’m still going to have to leave anyway. Maybe once he knows, he’ll be able to stop looking for me.
“I need you to make me a promise first.”
Dean nods and I see he’s sincere.
“You have to promise me when you leave you will forget you saw me. You can’t ever tell a soul you found me here. No one can know, not even my family.”
“What trouble are you in, Rose?” Dean’s shoulders straighten, and with the determined look in his eyes, I think he’s preparing himself to take my problems on.
“Promise me.”
“I’m a cop, Rose; we have an open missing person’s case on you. It’s against the law for me to not report this.”
I think quickly and decide whether or not I can accept that. I’ll have to leave no matter what, so maybe my family and authorities knowing where I have been won’t matter. By the time Stan finds out, I’ll be long gone.
“Fine, can you promise me you’ll let me go, that you’ll stop looking for me? My life depends on this, Dean.”
“Rose, tell me what this is about. I can help you, even if it means witness protection. We can get through this together.”
“It’s not that simple. I’m not just on the run from anyone. I’m being chased by the government,” I admit.
“As in you broke the law?” Dean takes another step towards me and I don’t counter it by stepping back.
I shake my head. “No, I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then I’m confused.”
“The person who tried to blow me up back at the bank was my brother, Doug.”
“We interviewed your whole family, they all had solid alibis.” Dean shakes his head at me.
“This is where it gets complicated.” I wonder if this is even worth the trouble explaining. He won’t believe me anyway.
“Please, Rose,” Dean pleads with me again. He takes the final steps separating us and reaches out, taking hold of my hand. His touch ignites something inside me and I look from his strong grip, trailing up his muscled arms and chest to where his Adam’s apple bobs up and down. I reach up with my free hand and lightly touch the stubble over his chin. His darkening blue eyes look deep into mine as I lean forward, my toes pushing me up taller, and just as my lips are about to touch his, I acknowledge my deep desire to have his lips on mine. Then I ignore it.
He’s distracted and I use the opportunity to surprise him. I take his arm and quickly turn my back to him, bringing his arm over my shoulder and using all my strength, I duck down and flip him over my back. He lands hard in front of me and I don’t give him time to recover. I push him over to his back and jump on him. I throw the gun he has resting in his belt away and grab hold of the pair of cuffs. He struggles under me and, for a moment, I think he might be able to push me off. I dig my knee hard into his back.
“What are you doing?” he demands, sounding shocked.
“I’m sorry, I don’t want to do this,” I apologize to him, grabbing one of his wrists as I wrap one cuff over it. I look for somewhere I can cuff him to that will hold him, but I’m distracted and he finally throws me off his back. He is quicker than I can imagine. He hovers over me and before I can beg him not to he wraps the other handcuff around my wrist.
“No!” I yell, pulling on my arm and feeling the cold metal bite at my wrist.
“There, that should hold you for a while.” Dean lets me struggle and he uses his free arm to rub his back where my knee had been digging into him.
“Let me go!” I demand, pushing his shoulder, wanting to slap him in the face.
“Not a chance.” He quickly leans into me and before I know it, he’s hovering over me, my back on the ground. I become acutely aware of just how close we are to each other and another idea bursts into my mind.
“Are you sure?” I smile sweetly up at him, using my free hand to trail the protruding muscles over his arm, holding him up over me. I feel a thrill inside me at having him so close, although I ignore it. I move my hand lower to the bottom of his shirt and escape under it, feeling his toned stomach which is just as drool worthy as the rest of him.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he questions me, his eyes narrowing, but with a small smile on his lips.
“I thought we could make up for lost time.” I lift my lips to his, but I don’t expect his response to come so quickly or strongly. His body rests down over mine and I feel every part of him touching me. His free hand bunches into my hair and I lose myself to this kiss, not caring that I should be trying to get out of these cuffs or that I should be packing and running out the door.
We roll on the ground and I end up on top of him without our lips breaking apart. My legs come down on either side of him, my dress hitching up my legs.
“Rose…” He pulls away from me. My name on his lips sends tingles down my body.
“What?” I ask, provocatively moving my hips along him.
“No, you’re not distracting me again.” He pushes me off him and this time he sits up, moving as far from me as our connected hands will allow.
I give him a surprised look. While I had set out to distract him, I hadn’t intended to distract myself, too. He had done that. Why am I so attracted to him?
“Talk now, or I take you like this on the first plane back to L.A,” he threatens, his fists tensing and therefore his arms as well. I stare at them for a moment before I mentally slap myself for feeling so weak around him. I should be focusing on getting away, not on how good he looks.
I glare at him, however I know I’m stuck. I have no other choice other than to tell him, and while I’m sure I could come up with any story that is more believable than the truth, I know he doesn’t deserve that. Even if he thinks I’m crazy.
So, I tell him the truth. From being taken out at the front of Jonah’s house, which Dean mentions they found the shell of my car since it had been stripped by the time they got there to telling him about being held captive at The Windmill.
I
talk about Zoe, Will and Charlie, about the boy who was taken and died there. I talk about Stan and Martha and what they told me they wanted me for. I tell him about Zoe’s friend breaking in to tell us his version of the truth and that we decided we needed to escape. It also means I have to tell him about my skills as a hacker, which leads to him realizing about the bank I worked at being robbed.
“So you’re saying that was you?”
“No, I wouldn’t have gotten caught. Some other idiot did that, but when you guys dug deeper then you found what I took.”
“You’re a thief?” he accuses me.
“No… Yes.” It’s true. I stole money and gave it to my family. That technically does make me a thief.
“And you expect me to believe this crap about Paper or whatever you call them? That they are run by the government? That there is someone out there who can dream of the future? A boy who is practically superman and another guy who can stop electrical things with his mind?” Dean snorts before he reaches into his pants and takes out a key from his front pocket. He unlocks his wrist, and for a moment, I fear he is going to cuff my other hand. Instead he unlocks that one, too.
“Are you going to turn me in?” I ask nervously.
“I should arrest you right now. What you just fed me is obviously a lie and I think you’re more likely on the run from the law. You’re a thief and who knows who else you’ve ripped off. That’s probably the real reason behind the bank bombing.”
“No.” I shake my head, but he’s not listening now. I hate that he doesn’t believe me, I hate that he can’t look me in the eye.
“Just stop with the lies. I’ve just wasted… I threw away… shit, Rose, what the hell!” Dean is angry. He fists his hand and punches at the wall, stopping just before he makes impact and stretching his hand out so that he only slaps it hard. “I’m such an idiot.”
“No, you’re not.” I try to reach out and touch him, but he steps back out of reach.
I take a heavy breath, knowing I should let this go. So he doesn’t believe me, big deal. Right now, he is probably willing to go home and never think about me again. I don’t have the right to feel angry or upset at that. It’s the best for both of us. So why am I ruining that?
Taken By Force (Taken Trilogy Book 2) Page 4
