Taken By Force (Taken Trilogy Book 2)

by Jessica Frances

  Chapter 25 – The Bank

  December 24th

  Not having any idea how I’m supposed to feel, I leave the safety of the bathroom and walk straight into Charlie who is standing right in front of the doorway. He reaches out and steadies me, not letting go once I’m standing on my own.

  “Listen, I know you said you would try to forgive me and I know that there is a chance you won’t be able to. I’m not expecting anything from you. Last night was great and I will gladly have that night with you again and again, but I don’t expect it. You have every right to still be mad or angry at me.”

  I’m frozen while listening to Charlie’s outburst. “How do you do that?”

  “Do what?” He narrows his eyes and right now I have his entire attention. He always knows how to make me feel like the center of his world.

  “Say exactly what I need to hear. It’s like you can read my mind. Whenever I need a smile, you get one out of me. When I’m feeling depressed, you make me laugh.” I shake my head, not knowing how to handle any of this.

  “I’m glad you think that, but I can assure you that I don’t read minds. I’ve hurt you, Zoe, and I’m willing to do anything to try to make this right. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

  “You haven’t pressured me, last night was…” What was last night?

  “I loved last night. Not just that amazing kiss we shared, but talking to you. I want to get to know you better. I want to match the extent of my feelings for you with my knowledge of you.”

  “Trust me; there isn’t a lot to learn about my life or me.”

  “There is a lot to learn. Every second with you I learn more.”

  “Okay, what did you learn last night?”

  “Well, apart from learning about your mom, dad and stepdad, I perhaps learned something even more important.”

  “Really?” I try to think about what else we spoke about and come up empty.

  “Yes.” He leans next to me, his lips almost touching my ear and shivers zap through my body as his breath touches my sensitive neck. “I learned that you don’t really like this beard I’m growing.” He rubs the side of his face against mine and I automatically pull away from the scratching.

  “You’re right.” I hold his face in my hands, moving my thumbs by his lips. “I think it’s a shame to cover up this face.”

  “Then consider it gone.” He surprises me and leans in to give me a chaste kiss on my lips. Before I can react, he moves past me and into the bathroom, pulling a razor out of his toiletries bag as well as a can of shaving cream.

  I watch him lather his face, feeling mesmerized.

  His eyes catch mine in the mirror and I smile then turn away, forcing myself to walk out of the room. I refuse to become some creepy girlfriend watching him in the bathroom.

  When I get to the bottom of the stairs, I see movement from the kitchen and direct myself that way.

  “Zoe, you’re up!” Rose ushers me over and I walk slowly to her, wondering what I’m about to get into the middle of. “You have the choice of eating cereal or some butter with a spoon!” Rose swings her arm around my shoulders and directs me to the fridge. “The boys have eaten everything,” she complains, opening the fridge door. I find it looking incredibly bare.

  “As I recall, you were the one cooking up a storm yesterday,” Dean points out.

  “Yes, to feed your starving stomachs because you were all grumpy and complaining about how hungry you were! We’ve been here like, two days, and we have to go shopping again.” Rose pouts at Dean.

  “You forget that there are six people here. Food isn’t going to last very long.”

  “Well, I’m not going this time. Food shopping is way too boring,” Rose declares.

  Charlie walks into the kitchen freshly shaved and I smile at seeing the stubble gone. I want to run my fingers over his smooth jaw, but I resist.

  “Fine, I’ll go.” Dean rolls his eyes at Rose.

  “Go where?” Charlie asks, looking past us and into the fridge to see how empty it looks.

  “Food shopping, you in?” Dean asks him.

  “Sure.” Charlie shrugs as he walks over to the breakfast bar where half a carton of milk rests along with a box of cereal. He pours himself a bowl and grabs a spoon, sitting down on a stool to eat it. I join him a moment later, doing the same as he’s just done, smiling when his free hand rests on top of my leg under the table.

  “I’ll go, too,” Joel offers and I decide to stay back with Rose. I’ll avoid going anywhere with him.

  “Will?” Dean asks.

  “No way.” Will visibly pales and I imagine the reason is him not wanting to be in a car again.

  “Zoe?”

  “I’ll stay here, too.”

  “All right. I’ll grab us some money.” Dean leaves the kitchen and I watch Rose’s eyes light up as she rushes after him.

  “When you’re out, can you boys get…” Her voice fades away as they leave the kitchen.

  “So, what will you do today?” Charlie asks me.

  “I don’t know. What is there to do around here?” I take a bite of cereal, not really enjoying it.

  “Nothing, you should come with us.” His hand squeezes my leg softly.

  “I don’t really want to.” I let my eyes drift to Joel who is busy talking to Will.

  “Right.” He understands immediately.

  “You’ll be safe, though, just to the store and back.” I feel the beginnings of worry swelling inside me. I know this won’t go away until Charlie is back here and safe.

  “We’ll be extra careful.” He finishes the last of his cereal and then holds the bowl to his mouth, draining the leftover milk.

  I watch him, losing interest in my own food. After he puts down the bowl, I move my hand to the side of his face and feel his smooth cheek.

  “Better?” he asks, his eyes shifting to look at me while his body stays still.

  “Much,” I murmur, aware that we’re not alone in here.

  “Good. I should get changed.” Charlie reluctantly moves away from me and I watch him leave.

  ***

  An hour after the boys have left I feel a new appreciation for how much Charlie worries when I’m away. I’m anxious and nervous about the distance between us and I simply wish they would pull up in their car, shopping all done. I also quickly learn there isn’t a whole lot to do around here, and since I’m useless at fixing anything, I do something I do know how to do. I do the laundry.

  There isn’t a washing machine or dryer, so I use a bucket and some soapy water to wash mine and Charlie’s clothes. I try to squeeze out any drops of water and decide to hang them along the balcony at the top of the stairs by our room. I make our bed which hasn’t been done once and I rearrange my new clothes on the ground.

  Then boredom hits and I wish for something exciting to happen.

  I get my wish and regret it instantly.

  “I have an idea.” Rose grabs my arm, pulls me up from the couch and towards the front door. “We’re just heading out for a bit. We’ll be back soon!” Rose yells out to Will and then keeps pulling on my arm until she has me outside.

  “Where are we going?” I finally tug my arm free and straighten up.

  “I thought we could go shopping.”

  “Again?” I groan.

  “This time it’s for Will. He’s never really had a Christmas, so perhaps Santa can visit him this year.”

  “I doubt he believes in—”

  “Who cares; let’s make this special for him.”

  I don’t have any argument for that because she’s right. He does deserve something special.

  “Okay, what are we going to get him?” I ask her, opening the car door and getting into the passenger side.

  “I’m thinking we should get him things he’s missed out on. Maybe some Ken dolls, a teddy bear and a coloring book?” she jokes.

  “Hilarious,” I deadpan. “We should get him a ball. I think he enjoyed playing basketball with Charlie. In
fact, they might all like something like that.” I remember Charlie’s comment about missing basketball, not that there is anywhere to do that out here.

  “Good idea. Keep ‘em coming,” Rose encourages and I rack my brain for more ideas.

  ***

  Rose had given all her money to Dean and as a result she decides she needs to get some more. We drive past a dozen different towns and then park the car behind a building that looks like it might have shut down at least fifty years ago. No one is around us and there doesn’t appear to be a real lot in this part of town. She turns off the engine and passes me a jacket that I assume is Dean’s and a baseball cap.

  “Put these on.”

  “What is going on?” A bad feeling spreads throughout my body as I watch Rose tuck her long blonde hair into the cap, giving her the look of having short hair. I hesitantly do the same.

  “We need money, and I have an idea how to do that which will hopefully not alert anyone. This is a precaution, just in case.”

  “Why are we parked here?”

  “If we get noticed, I don’t want them led back to this car. I doubt any surveillance cameras are out here.”

  I groan, knowing this is a bad idea, but get out of the car and put on Dean’s jacket, feeling too small in it.

  “I spent yesterday looking for more hidden money. There isn’t any. What I gave Dean is the last of it. You see how much those guys eat. What they’ll be able to buy with it won’t last us more than a few days.”

  “So what are we going to do, rob a bank?” I blurt out sarcastically, fearful I know her response.

  “Sort of.”

  I groan again and glance back towards where we parked our car, wishing we had never left it. My legs ache from my bout of exercise with Will yesterday, making me finally wish I had stretched better, especially if I’m going to need to make a run from this town.

  We walk into the only bank in town and I’m told to distract the one lady behind a desk. I’m not sure why I’m distracting her or how I’m supposed to do that, but I keep my cap on as I was reminded to do and sit down by the desk in front of the perky looking woman. Rose paces the edges of the room. She’s been acting strange ever since we got here. Bumping into everyone we pass like she’s drunk. My nerves race ahead of me and I think I’m starting to sweat.

  “Good morning. I don’t think I’ve seen you around here Ms…” The lady looks at me pointedly and I realize I’m meant to know my name.

  “Tina Smalltown…” I blurt, saying the first name I can think of.

  “My name is Tina, too!” The woman sounds like I’ve just told her she won the lottery. I glance again at her name badge and know I just said her name because my mind went blank. “Oh, my momma is gonna get a kick out of that. She named me Tina after her idol, Tina Turner. She just thinks the name is divine. I’ve never met a Tina before, but my good friend Stacy, she works at Wilson’s bar down the road, went to college with a girl called Tina. Stacy owns the bar with her husband and they met when she was in…”

  I sit there for long minutes listening to Tina ramble on about useless information. I realize distracting her isn’t actually going to be a problem after all. I notice Rose has disappeared, and I try not to worry about where she’s gone.

  I hear about Stacy, her husband, their kids, their kids’ friends and it eventually swings back around to asking me what she can do for me.

  “Um, well…” My mind again goes blank, and for a split moment, I think I’m done for. Thankfully, Rose walks back in from outside to save me. I didn’t even notice she’d left.

  “Sorry, I forgot to give you the card, my bad.” Rose smiles warmly at Tina and I hesitantly take the offered bank card she passes to me. “We found that on the ground outside and we thought we should give it to you rather than the police,” Rose explains calmly.

  “Well, aren’t you two just lovely people. It’s getting harder to trust strangers in this day and age. My momma isn’t going to believe your kindness,” she gushes at us.

  “Yes, well, we have to keep moving. We’re heading down to Houston and we want to try to make it there by tonight,” Rose explains.

  Houston? I mouth to her. She lightly shakes her head at me, so I don’t say it out loud.

  “Oh, that’s a real shame. Stacy would have loved to meet another Tina, too, I’m sure. Perhaps you’ll be able to come back through soon?” She smiles kindly at us and Rose doesn’t question what she is going on about.

  “Yes, we’ll have to. Have a merry Christmas.” Rose waves at her as she leads me out the door and into the cool air.

  “What—”

  “It’s done. Come on.” Rose rushes us through the small crowd of people. This time she avoids knocking into anyone. She doesn’t slow down until we’re at the car, and when we get in, she starts it up and zooms off back down the same street we arrived by.

  “What’s done? Did you rob them?” I feel confused.

  “Yes.” Rose keeps one hand on the wheel and with the other she pulls out piles and piles of money from the inside of Dean’s jacket that she’s still wearing.

  “How did you do that?” I gasp.

  “Stole a bank card from some guy, got myself in front of a computer at the bank, brought up his account and moved a lot of money into it. Then I went outside, got access to the ATM and after three different ones I have this.” Rose shrugs like she’s just talking about adding milk and eggs to make pancakes.

  “That’s insane. How is that… I mean, don’t you need… actually, I don’t want to know.”

  “Let’s keep this between us, okay? I don’t think Dean will approve.” Rose sounds worried and I agree with her.

  ***

  We drive for several hours before we find a town with a large shopping mall. After we brace ourselves for the rush of people everywhere, we head inside where we end up buying several items for Will; apart from a football and a basketball, we also get him a slingshot, a Frisbee, a few comic books, a portable game console along with some games the guys gushed over, and loads of new clothes.

  Rose insists on going into a lingerie shop, and I struggle to hold all the shopping bags as we walk in there.

  “I want to get something for Dean,” Rose explains to me, looking around at everything.

  “In here?” I don’t see much of a men’s section here.

  “Yeah, what do you think?” Rose takes hold of a see-through bra and panties set and I feel myself blush bright red realizing what she means.

  “Um, I don’t know.” I look away, feeling like I’m intruding, even though she is asking for my opinion.

  “You should get something here, too, for Charlie. You can torture him with what he’s missing out on.” Rose waggles her eyebrows and I flush again.

  “I don’t know about that.” I definitely will never feel confident enough to wear anything Rose is currently holding in her hands.

  “Have you guys talked more? You seemed calmer together this morning,” she asks me while searching through more racks of uncomfortable looking lingerie.

  “We’ve talked. I think I’m going to try to forgive him.” I prepare myself for Rose’s speech that I’m making the wrong decision and perhaps even a mention of women empowerment.

  “Well, I don’t envy your situation at all.”

  “Do you think I’m making a mistake?”

  “I have no idea. I think, if it feels right to you, then you have to see it through. I can see how much you care about each other.” Rose shrugs, and my shoulders sag in relief that she isn’t annoyed at me.

  “I was worried you would be mad at me.”

  “Me? You’re my friend and I’ll stand by your decisions no matter what, even if it means having to put up with Charlie.” She winks at me.

  “Thank you, for being my friend.” I realize that even though I hadn’t wanted to talk to Rose about this, I unintentionally already have.

  “You’re welcome. Now be a friend to me and tell me which one you think is better.” Rose holds
up two barely even there sets of underwear and I groan.

  ***

  We don’t arrive back at the cabin until much later and I’m exhausted after a day of driving and shopping. Oh, and also robbing a bank.

  “Go inside and make sure the coast is clear.” Rose hisses, eyeing the presents in our backseat. We only just remembered to buy wrapping paper, scissors and sticky-tape before we left.

  I take off my cap and jacket, walking out into the freezing cold weather, shivering after losing an extra layer. I open the door and luckily catch Dean right as he is about to walk up the stairs. He’s alone and I hear the voices of the others from the kitchen. I wave him over and hold my finger up to my lips to keep him quiet. I hear Will’s voice drift over from the kitchen and I know the timing is perfect.

  Dean moves quietly over to me and I leave the door open for him before leading him to the car.

  “Where have you guys been? Will didn’t know where you were or how long you’d be,” he reprimands us.

  “Sorry,” I mutter, knowing I knew none of those things at the time, either.

  “We went shopping for Will.” Rose bounds over to Dean and wraps her arms around him. “We thought we would make this Christmas special for him. Look at what we got him.” Rose distracts Dean from his annoyance with a kiss and then pulls him along the outside of the car and opens the back door.

  “Cool, a football.” Dean reaches out to take it and Rose lightly slaps his hand.

  “These are for Will. Help me get them inside.”

  Dean rolls his eyes at Rose, but he takes all the bags in one hand and picks them up like they weigh nothing.

  “How did you afford all of this?”

  “I found some more money hidden around,” Rose lies convincingly. She holds up the bills for Dean to see. Even given all we spent today, we still have over three quarters of the money she stole.