by C. M. Allen
CHAPTER
19
Archer
Pissed at myself for not telling Sloane sooner about the case I’d been working on, I found myself in the same position of being forced to tell her the truth before I was ready to.
Entering Seth's office, I told her to have a seat while Seth and I brought the footage up on his computer. "Okay, let's bring the image up from that room, at what about fifteen minutes ago? Is that long enough?" Seth asked.
I looked at Sloane for the answer. "Yes, that sounds about right." As we watched the screen, I found that I wasn’t able to have her so far out of my reach with the fear I knew she had to be feeling, so I motioned for Sloane to join us. When she walked over, I wrapped my arm around her and squeezed her tight, placing a kiss on top of her head to try and comfort her. "Are you going to tell me what's going on now, Archer? Is this the same case that you keep mentioning now and then?"
"Yes, it is, but I want to discuss it all later. Right now, I just want to see if we caught this asshole on camera finally."
"Okay, I'll wait, but don't keep me in the dark about this anymore. I want to know what's going on," she said in a stern voice.
"I won't."
We both looked back towards the computer monitor only to find Seth staring between us both. "You two have a very unique Dom/sub relationship."
I waved him off. "Yeah, I know it's not the norm."
"No, it's not," he said in amazement. Lowering his voice, he asked. "You loosing it man? You never allow your subs to act out like that?"
I just glared back at him. "She's not just a sub, Seth."
"Oh."
We all focused back on the computer screen as a man and the red head come into view, but he was smart enough to block our view of him as best as possible with either placing her in front of him or turning so the camera couldn't catch his full view. "There she is!" Sloane yelled as if to prove to us that she wasn’t crazy.
Watching them enter the room, we waited for the motion sensor cameras he had in all the rooms to come on, but nothing happened. "Sonofabitch!" I cursed. "Why the hell isn't that camera working, Seth?"
"I don't know. We checked everything out today when you were here earlier, and then as always, my security team and I did our camera checks tonight before we opened, everything was working just fine. I don't know what the fuck is going on here, but when I get my hands on this asshole, they will be lucky if there’s anything left of him to put on trial!" Seth shouted, pounding his fist on the desk.
"Well, let's see if maybe we caught him coming out." I replied. A few minutes passed by and we saw the guy pop out from the room, but still had no full view of his image. "Check the hidden camera in that hall we put in today." Tapping away on his computer, an image of the guys face finally came up. "Fuck!" I yelled. "You've got to be kidding me? I can't believe we finally catch a glimpse of his face and he still has the mask on. Just once can't this guy make a mistake? I want you to do this. Email this footage to my friend, Agent Kelsey Owens at the FBI so they can take a closer look at it. Maybe they can get something from it we don't see."
"Sure, will do. "Seth's phone ringing interrupted us. "Yes? You didn't find anything? That's not possible. The woman clearly doesn’t come out of the room, we just watched the footage! I want you to look in every closet, room, and bathroom we have again! She has to be here somewhere!" He shouted at whoever was on the other end, slamming down the phone.
"Nothing at all?"
"Nope, they can't find her body or find her alive walking around in here. Should we call the police?"
"There's nothing really for them to go on without a body, but I think you should at least inform Detective Hamilton of what occurred here tonight and let him check the video feed as well. If he wants to interview, Sloane, tell him to just give me a call, he has my number. But right now, I'm going to get her out of here and back to my place where it's safe."
"Okay, I'll call him now. I'm deeply sorry about what you had to witness here tonight, Sloane. I hope you won't be scared into not returning to the club."
Cutting Seth off, I answered for her. "I’m afraid she won't be back until this bastard is caught. I should have never brought her here in the first place tonight."
"Really, both of you, it's okay. I'm not made of glass. I won't break apart at the slightest touch. And it's not your fault Seth, that this guy is some sick twisted psycho."
I tugged her closer to my body. "Yeah, but it still wasn't smart on my part bringing you here tonight with all of this going on."
"You won't come here without me, will you?" She questioned me with concern. I knew she was possibly worried about me being with someone else, but there would never be anyone else for me but her. It's something I'd known for awhile now, but just didn't want to admit.
"What do you mean?"
As she stood there looking between Seth and I, she answered. "We'll talk about it when we get home."
"Okay." I shook Seth's hand and gave him Kelsey's email, telling him if anything else happened with the search for the redhead to call me immediately. Sloane and I walked out of his office into the club, and I could feel her instantly stiffen. Looking around, she seemed to be searching the room for the red head, or the masked man, or maybe both. But I knew one thing was for sure, if he did in fact see her, it made her a prime target for this guy and that scared the ever-loving shit out of me. As I opened the car door for her, I stopped her before she got in. "Are you okay? I mean, really okay?"
She looked down at her feet, then back up at me. "I'm not going to lie to you Archer, that whole thing I witnessed tonight and that guy possibly seeing me really freaked me out. But what I'm most upset about is you, yet again, not trusting me enough to just be honest with me and tell me what was going on instead of it coming to a point where you're forced to have to tell me. Again!" she said, sitting down in the car and slamming the door shut, making me feel like she was shutting me out all over again.
CHAPTER
20
Sloane
Archer stood by my door for a moment, seemingly trying to gather himself before getting into the driver seat and shutting the door. Staring straight ahead, he asked. "Are we okay?"
I let out a long sigh before I looked over to him. "I think maybe it's best if you just take me home, Archer." Jerking his head in my direction and looking into my eyes, I could see the fear he held in them of losing me all over again and I knew I needed to reassure him that he hadn't lost me, I just need some time to think things over. "I'm not running away from you, Archer."
“Then why does it feel like you are?” he mumbled back.
"I just need some time to think about things, like what happened here tonight. Us."
"What is it about us that you need to think about? Whether or not you want to be with me?"
"It really hurts me the way you repeatedly keep things from me. I feel like I'm constantly having to prove myself in order for you to just open up to me and trust me and then you show me yet again how much you still don't trust me enough to tell me the truth. My God Archer, you took me to the very same club tonight that women are being killed in and I might have seen the murderer. Why would you not warn me that something was going on there before we went? What if I would have gotten separated from you and something happened?" I watch him stare straight out the windshield, gritting his teeth so hard his jaw ticked under the pressure. Starting the car, he drove us away from the club without another word.
When we pulled up in front of my apartment, having made the long drive in silence, he turned off the engine and looked over at me. "You're right about everything you said tonight. But in my eyes, it was done to protect you, not because I didn't trust you. It was terribly irresponsible of me to take you to that club tonight, and for that I'm sorry. This case has me losing some of my common sense lately. I put you in danger tonight Sloane and that's unacceptable. I think that until this case is solved, it's best if we just keep our distance so I don't make any further mistakes that m
ight endanger your life."
The dread of losing him and the anger of him bowing out on us yet again, fight for top position in my heart and I decide I have nothing left to say. Opening my door, I got out, slamming it behind me and started off towards my apartment when I heard his car door shut and footsteps moving quickly behind me to catch up. Running beyond me a bit, he turned around to face me, grabbing my arms to stop me. "You have nothing to say?"
I pulled my head up, and the tears that had gathered in my eyes began to stream down my cheeks as I looked straight into his hurt expression that mirrored my own and gave him my one-word answer. "No."
Running his hand through his hair, he let out a heavy breath. "What the fuck do you want from me, Sloane?!"
I felt the pain of his rejection yet again stab me in the heart. "Obviously, something you're still not ready to give me. Goodnight, Archer." Stepping around him, I made the climb up to my place on the second floor and he no longer followed, letting me walk out of his life without a fight all over again. Once I closed the door behind me, I allowed the tears to fall freely with my body as I slid down the solid structure to the floor, devastated by this man all over again. After awhile, I finally got up to go to my bedroom. As I reached the threshold of the bedroom door, I heard a knock at the front door, and my heart skipped a beat, hoping that it was Archer back to talk things out.
Opening the door, I was greeted by the same pain stretched over his face that I felt in my heart. His heated stare roamed over my body before landing back on my gaze. "Jared, what are you doing here?"
"I was driving by and saw your lights on. Why have you been crying, Sloane? What has that bastard done to you now?" he asked, caressing my cheeks with the back of his hand.
I turned out of his touch and retreated into the living room, sitting on the couch. "Why do you care, Jared? You and I are done and after the way I played with your heart and broke things off with you, I can't believe you would care anything about how I'm feeling."
Shutting the door, he made his way over to the couch and sat next to me. "Sloane, look at me." Turning my head towards him, he wiped the streaks of tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. "I love you, Sloane. That shit doesn't just go away... no matter how hard you try and push me out of your life. If there's even a chance that I can be with you, I will fight for it with everything I've got."
Knowing that if Archer was to walk through that door and force me to choose between the two of them this instant, that I would still choose him after everything I replied. "I'll only hurt you again, Jared. And you can't keep wasting your time on someone who doesn't know what she wants. You're not being fair to yourself."
"It's my heart Sloane, and I'll place my love where I choose to. Wasn't it you that said no matter how hard you tried you just couldn't stop loving him?" When I nodded my head, he finished. "Well, I know how that feels. And even though I know I will always be second choice in your heart, it doesn't change the love I feel for you. I still now and will always want you." New tears began to fall at his words of love and forgiveness. "Aww babe, please don't cry. I hate to see you so upset like this. If this is what he does to you then why do you want to be with him? He's just going to keep hurting you over and over again if you let him."
"Some would say the same to you about me." I mumbled.
“Come here." Pulling me into a hug, he placed a kiss on my forehead and my eyes closed at the comfort I felt under his lips. Moving his lips down, he kissed me on the temple and then the cheek as his hand grasped my chin, bringing my lips to his as he gently glided his lips across mine, testing the waters of his suggestion. Overflowing with emotions of confusion, hurt, and need, I invited him in further, kissing him back. "I knew you still wanted me," he said in a muffled tone. Deepening the kiss, his hand grasped the back of my head, pulling me in closer to him as he ran his tongue over the seam of my lips, seeking permission to invade me deeper.
Opening my mouth, our tongues glided over one another with heat igniting inside of me from the passion I felt from his kiss, when suddenly Archer's face popped into my head and I broke the kiss, pushing Jared back. "I-I can't do this now, Jared. I'm too confused about my feelings. This... this is just too much for me to deal with right now."
"Sloane..."
His words were cut off when my door swung open so hard that the doorknob lodged itself in the wall and stayed open. "What the fuck are you doing here with her?!" Archer shouted, stalking towards us with Gage in tow.
Jumping off the couch, Jared met him head on. "What do you mean what am I doing here? You're the one who's fucking with her emotions, asshole!"
"Stop! Stop this now! I will not have the two of you going at it again over me. I am not some freaking possession for you two to fight over! Can't you get that through your thick heads?!" Not able to deal with these two any longer, I turned to walk into my bedroom and slammed the door, blocking everything out and flopped down onto my bed. After a few minutes, I heard a soft knock at my door. "Go away!"
"Sloane? It's me Gage. Can I come in, please?"
"Fine, whatever," I said with a huff. As he slowly opened the door, he shut it behind him when he entered. "Are you okay?"
Propping up on my elbows, I looked at him. "Do I look okay to you, Gage? There are two grown men acting like cavemen in my living room, thinking they own me like some sort of piece of property. One can't fully trust me, while the other one would let me hurt him over and over repeatedly without giving up on his love for me, and do you know which one I'm in love with? That's right, the one who can't ever just trust me enough to be honest with me and keeps hurting me over and over again. How's that answer for you?" Letting out a huff, I plopped back down onto my bed.
"You love him, Sloane?" Realizing what I just said, I closed my eyes tightlyand pinched my nose between my fingers. I wanted to make the confession go away, but I knew it wouldn't. "Yes Gage, I do. I am in love with a man who doesn't trust me and can dispose of me with the drop of a hat as though I never mattered to him in the first place."
"Boy, you have no idea just how much you really mean to the guy, do you?"
Popping back up on my elbows to look at him again, I asked. "How could I ever know I mean anything to him with the way he constantly pushes me away, telling me it's for my own good? I'm sick and tired of these games he plays. Reeling me in, only to release me again. It hurts too much. Maybe Jared's right, I just need to get over him and allow someone else to take up that space in my heart, someone who is ready to."
“That would not be wise on your part Sloane, because Archer would go through the gates of Hell to get to you. He loves you more than anything on this earth. Why do you think he came after you when he heard about Jared?"
"Because he's like every other man that wants what he can't have, which is why he's here now." Thinking to myself, how is it he came back tonight, right at the perfect time, and with Gage at his side I asked. "Gage?"
"Yes?"
"How is it that Archer and you arrived here together tonight?"
Looking down, he smirked. "I was already here and called him when I saw Jared walk up to your door."
Springing off the bed and heading straight out of the bedroom, I found Archer pacing back and forth in the kitchen with Jared no where in sight. "Where's Jared?"
Looking up at me with hurt and anger riding on his stare, he asked. "You shut me out tonight and all you have to say is, where's Jared?"
"I shut you out?! You have to be kidding me, right? Was it or was it not you that told me that we needed to keep our distance from one another not more than an hour and a half ago?"
He glanced over my head at Gage exiting my bedroom. "Gage, would you wait outside with Mr. Knight and give Sloane and I a moment alone, please." Nodding his head, Gage walked out the door without another word, shutting it behind him.
CHAPTER
21
Archer
When I get the call from Gage, telling me that piece of shit Jared was at Sloane's place not barely more than
an hour after I'd dropped her off, I knew I needed to get to her before he could fill her head with lies and take advantage of the situation. When I entered the apartment, the sight of him so close to her made me see red and all I wanted to do was beat him to a bloody pulp. He was always going to be waiting in the wings for his chance to get Sloane back, not that I blamed him, but she was now and would always be mine, no matter what, and now I knew what I needed to do to make that happen. After Gage left, I took a hold of her hand and led her towards the couch. "Please, sit."
Letting out a puff of irritation, she dropped into the couch. "You know if you're just going to tell me more half truths Archer, you can just save your breath I've had enough of it."
Placing my finger on her lips, I tried to remain calm and in control, which could be very trying at times with the accusations and assumptions she jumped to. "First of all, I'm not going to give you any half truths. I'm going to be totally honest with you," taking a deep breath, I proceed. "When I was younger, I had a best friend by the name of Parker, we did everything together. Riding bikes, playing baseball, checking out girls, and getting ourselves into trouble at times. He had a younger sister named Bryn, that was always wanting to hang out with us, and she did when we let her, but most of the time she had to sneak up on us to get her way. But as we all grew up, Parker and I always kept an eye out for her, making sure no boys picked on her or took advantage of her after she blossomed into a beautiful young woman by the time we all got to high school. After graduating, Parker and I went our separate ways, him off to college, and me off to join the military. We always saw each other now and then, but eventually lost touch over the years, as people do. Anyway, I got a call from him about six months back... he told me that Bryn had been beaten and strangled to death."
