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Jonah
Monday morning rolled around way too early. Dillon and I had spent the whole weekend making plans for handling Elle’s security, including recruiting a couple of officers from Gran Colina’s police department to help out during their off hours.
If we’d had time to worry about it, I think we’d both be completely freaked out. But with Elle’s life on the line, we couldn’t take the time to stress about it. That was definitely a worry we were putting off until after the job was done.
Hawk Works had let us create our own protocols for client protection, so we had a plan that was already working, but there were all kinds of details to handle beyond the basics of Elle’s safety. All the original contracts were in Hawk Works name. We had to make sure we maintained the same resources that Hawk Works had at its fingertips, even if ViviAnna was footing the bill—GPS monitoring, hotel rooms, gym and office rental, car rentals, and backup if things went south.
I just prayed that didn’t happen.
As we crossed the university quad, I glanced around warily, placing my hand low on Elle’s back. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that we were now the last line of defense, the heightened threat, or a real issue that had the back of my neck prickling all day long, but I definitely felt an increased sense of something being wrong as we crossed the campus to the SUB.
Dillon sensed my worry. “What is it?” he asked, his voice low.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Something just feels wrong. Maybe we should stay out of the crowds for now.” In a crowd, someone could shove past the two of us.
Elle swung her backpack around to search the outside pocket. “I have protein bars that we can eat picnic-style on the quad before joining Mrs. Latham so you guys can keep an eye out.”
I nodded. “That sounds like a good plan.
She gave me a private smile. “This way, you’ll have more room to eat Mrs. Latham’s cookies.”
Dillon groaned. “I’m going to have to up my workouts to make up for the extra calories she’s feeding us, but damn, her homemade cookies are totally worth it.”
I grinned in agreement. Shortly after Dillon started accompanying us on campus, Mrs. Latham had started bringing Tupperware filled with incredible, homemade cookies. She said if we were going to provide the yummy eye-candy, then she could provide a little bit of something yummy for us in return.
At first, we’d tried to demur the offering since we were both a little fanatical about healthy eating, but then, we’d tried the cookies. From that point on, we devoured them like we’d discovered chocolate for the first time. Like Dillon said, the cookies were totally worth whatever extra we had to do to burn them off.
We ate our protein bars in the quad, enjoying the Indian Summer day, a rare warm one for this late in the fall. That meant it would probably be snowing tomorrow.
“Hey, Dillon, can you go grab Mrs. Latham’s bread crumbs from Ricky?” Where we sat was on the edge of a grassy hill with our backs to a brick wall, so I could see any threat coming. Right now, I felt like she was completely secure. I didn’t get the same fuzzy feeling about taking her into the crowds of the SUB today, and her safety was too important to ignore my instincts. Despite that, I knew Elle would want the bag of bread.
“Sure. I’ll be right back.” He took off at a jog across the grass.
“He seems to be handling this all pretty well,” Elle said as she watched him go. “Is he really okay with not working at Hawk Works anymore?”
“Honestly, yeah. I don’t think he would have joined in the first place if it hadn’t been for me, pushing it. He’d always said we should form our own company.” But I’d been leery. I’d spent too much of my life barely scraping by. Starting a company had meant I’d be responsible if other people weren’t making enough to feed their families. It had been too risky.
“But you didn’t want to?” she asked.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to. I just felt like we should get a few years experience under our belts first. And we have that now, so I think it’s going to be fine.” I was still scared to death about fucking it all up, but fear kept me on my toes, right? “Maybe fate was giving me a push by bringing you into my life.” I pulled her against me and kissed her.
Normally, I wouldn’t let myself become diverted by her, but I’d already spotted Dillon coming back toward us with the bag of bread in his hand. He had a good view of everyone around us. So I took advantage of the moment.
“Aww, man,” Dillon whined. “You two are so sickeningly sweet that I don’t think you need any of Mrs. Latham’s cookies today. I think I should get them all.”
I elbowed him in the stomach since he stood directly behind me.
He responded with a low grunt. “You’re just mean.”
Elle laughed and snagged the bag of bread scraps out of his hand. “Come on. Mrs. Latham is waiting.”
When we came around the building to Mrs. Latham’s quiet little corner, I could just see her curly head of gray hair over on the bench. She painted such a lonely picture. I couldn’t imagine losing the love of my life after fifty-plus years together like she’d had with Mr. Latham.
I glanced over at Elle. Could we be together for the next fifty years? It seemed like an impossible fantasy that I suddenly wanted to make true. Every day, I fell harder and deeper for her.
Her most beautiful quality was right here in this corner...her generosity of spirit. Most college students wouldn’t have noticed a lonely, old woman sitting in the courtyard alone. Elle had, and she’d developed an incredible friendship with her, a friendship that now all three of us enjoyed.
And she wanted to spend her life working with EDAC...Everyone Deserves A Chance. Seriously, who wouldn’t fall in love with her? Add to all that her sexy-as-hell body and beautiful smile. Yeah, I had it bad for this girl. And honestly, I was okay with that.
As we approached, Mrs. Latham seemed to be mumbling to herself. I hoped that wasn’t a sign of her mind going. Something like that would devastate her life and Elle in turn.
“Mrs. Latham?” Elle asked softly so she didn’t startle the elderly woman.
Mrs. Latham jerked a little in surprise, but then she jumped off the bench, surprisingly nimble for a woman who had to be in her eighties. She blessed us all with a wide smile. “There you all are. I was worried I’d have to eat the cookies myself today.”
“No worries, Mrs. L,” Dillon said with all seriousness. “We will never turn down your cookies.”
She beamed at him. “And that’s why I like you best.” She pinched his chin as she handed him the big, Tupperware container.
“Hey,” I protested.
She laughed. “There’s plenty for you, too, Jonah, but you have Elle to dote on you. Dillon needs someone to dote on him.”
Dillon nodded as he shoved a cookie in his mouth practically whole. “I am a sad sack, aren’t I? Next time, I think you should bring me double just out of pure pity for my pathetic, sad life.”
“Shove off, you sad sack,” I mocked. “And stop hogging all the cookies.”
Dillon grabbed a handful of cookies out of the container and passed it to me. My mouth watered at the sweet smells of sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and chocolate. I grabbed one and let it melt in my mouth. “Chocolate chip snickerdoodles?” I moaned. “Mrs. Latham, you are definitely spoiling us.”
“Happy to do so, dear.” Her eyes glittered with glee as Elle sat down beside her. They began to feed the pigeons.
Elle liked the cookies, too, but she didn’t have the obsession that Dillon and I had developed for the little decadent sweets. She was always happy to wait until we’d had our fill before she explored the plastic container. Personally, I think she enjoyed my pornographic sounds more than the cookies. She always got a certain glint in her eye as I ate.
I liked that glint in her eye. Maybe too much. I swiped a hand over my tired face. We needed more sleep. Sex all night, every night was wearing me out. I sank down on the bench. So. Tired. My eyes drifted shut.
I yawned wide as Dillon sank down on the other side of the bench. Wait. Should we both be sitting?
I slowly turned my head to look at him, but his eyes were closed. Sleeping...I liked that idea.
I shook my head awake.
This wasn’t right. I couldn’t get my mind to track why being so sleepy might be an issue, or sitting on the job, or taking a nap...
Elle!
My eyes jerked wide open. I tried to get them to focus, but it was like a film of cotton had dropped over my head. I tried to stay awake, but just couldn’t.
***
ELLE
Mrs. Latham patted my hand and pointed over to two of the pigeons fighting over one of the crusts. “Oh, there’s Edward now. He’s always such a rascal when it comes to sharing.”
I laughed with her. The guys had gotten really quiet. Usually as they ate, they made all kinds of noises...usually it was a little embarrassing since it sounded so pornographic. Getting turned on when Mrs. Latham was present just felt a little wrong.
With Jonah extra vigilant and worried today, I glanced over at them to see if something was going on. Both Dillon and Jonah were on one of the other benches hunched over...asleep?
I sat up and my heart clamored within my chest. Alarm swept through me. I stood to go to Jonah, but Mrs. Latham grabbed my arm with a surprisingly tight grip. “Aw, the boys are plum worn out, aren’t they?”
I tugged my arm, trying to free it from Mrs. Latham’s grasp. A pinch of pain lit up my thigh. Mrs. Latham held me tight. No. This couldn’t be happening. Not Mrs. Latham. She quickly plunged the liquid in through the syringe sticking out of my leg. I drew in a panicked breath to scream.
But before I could utter a sound, Minerva ran around the corner and placed a gun at Jonah’s sleeping temple. “Don’t scream, or your boyfriend dies.” She glanced at Mrs. Latham. “You got her?”
“No problem,” Mrs. Latham said, but that wasn’t her normally crackly, elderly voice. That was a man’s voice. The man’s voice. That was the voice from my nightmares.
I’m going to make you famous.
Terror swept through my system, helping to fight off the effects of the drug they’d injected into me. It hit my body surprisingly fast. I reached under my shirt, hit the panic button that Jonah had insisted I wore, and grabbed hold of the knife strapped there.
My fingers felt swollen, clumsy as I grasped the knife by the hilt. My eyes flew to Minerva. Sweet, weird Minerva, now with cold, threatening eyes. My friend suddenly looked like a cold-blooded killer. One holding a gun to Jonah’s head.
Ice-cold terror flooded my entire being. She hated him, and I had no doubt she would take great pleasure in hurting him.
Fuck!
I couldn’t use this knife. She might shoot him. Instead, I twisted it in my palm and slid the blade back into the sheath. I hoped I’d get a chance to use it.
I had no idea what was happening, but I had to stay awake, stay conscious.
Mrs. Latham—no, not Mrs. Latham, she was the psychopath—yanked me up by my arm.
How had I missed this?
“Come on,” he growled. “Let’s get you out of here before you become too lethargic to move. I gave you a smaller dose than your gorillas, so you should be able to make it to the car. But I’m leaving my niece here with your apes.” He lifted the shirt from his waistband to show me a walkie-talkie system strapped to him. “If you make any sudden moves, she’ll know, and your boyfriend will never see the light of day again.”
He began to drag me to the parking lots as Minerva bid us farewell like we were just leaving a tea party. “Goodbye. You two have a lot of fun today. Okay?”
Shivers rolled up and down my spine as I tried to figure out what I could do. Once he had me in a car, my chances of getting away from him would be so much worse. I couldn’t let that happen, but I also couldn’t risk Jonah and Dillon getting hurt by Minerva. They were both unconscious, helpless. She could kill them both without them ever being able to fight back.
But at the same time, the drugs in my system were pulling me under. If I lost consciousness, I could be signing my death warrant. I didn’t know what exactly he wanted with me, but I knew I wouldn’t escape again. Not this time.
I shook my head.
“Don’t worry, my dear.” It was weird to hear Mrs. Latham’s words come out in a masculine voice. “We’re almost to the car, and then you can take a long nap before we call for your mom.”
Oh, god. He would hurt my mom, too. While I was scared for what he planned for me, thinking about him having my mom terrified me.
I tripped over my feet as they grew clumsier by the minute. My limbs became less and less responsive. We both grunted out a whoof as we fell to the ground.
“I’m shorry,” I slurred. “It’sh hard to move.” My lips and tongue felt way too big for my mouth.
I was so tired.
“Uncle Gustaf, is everything okay?” Minerva asked over the walkie-talkie.
“Yes,” he responded, but he didn’t push a button when he spoke to her. It must be on an open frequency. “She’s clumsier than I expected. The drug is hitting her too hard. She definitely doesn’t have her mother’s grace.”
“Okay,” Minerva said. She began whispering things I couldn’t quite understand through the not-so-clear walkie-talkies.
I couldn’t focus on her anymore though as my captor grunted and hefted me up, acting like I weighed a couple of hundred pounds. Maybe he was an actor. He was definitely theatrical enough in his movements.
But that might work for me. My head lolled to the side. Was anyone on campus paying any attention to us? Did anyone get my SOS call from my panic button? Didn’t anyone see that this wasn’t right? An old lady should not be hefting a college student across campus.
***
JONAH
Someone was running their fingers through my hair.
Elle. I smiled internally, not awake enough to move yet.
It felt so good, but something pulsed in the back of my brain. Something needed my attention, but what? I couldn’t remember.
But this felt so good. She could keep stroking my hair like this, and I wouldn’t worry about anything else. Then the words she was murmuring sank into my head.
“She doesn’t deserve you. You need someone like me. We’ll be so good together.”
That wasn’t Elle.
Adrenaline poured through me, making me more alert than I probably should be.
I tried not to reveal I was awake as my brain scrambled to catch up with what happened. Mrs. Latham. The cookies. Sleepy. The cookies had been drugged.
Oh, fuck. Where was Elle? Dillon? Their backup?
My cheek lay on something soft, so I squinted open the eye closest to the soft surface. The voice sounded like Minerva’s. All I could see were those damn pigeons and what had to be Minerva’s knees. I had no idea what I’d be swinging up into, but I had to hope to take her by surprise. My head was still too foggy to sort anything. Overwhelming terror hit me. I had to find Elle before I lost her forever.
I reared my head up and slammed it into what I hoped was Minerva’s face.
She screamed. A shot fired, blazing fire into my arm. I kept my momentum going and twisted around to grab the arm holding the gun.
It fired again.
***
ELLE
On the radio, Minerva screamed, followed almost immediately by a gunshot. I knew this would be my only chance.
It needed to focus to make this work with the drugs floating in my system. I slid the knife around in my palm and plunged it into the former Mrs. Latham’s side. The knife sunk in, but it was just like stabbing a pillow. He wore a padded body suit, so I hadn’t hit anything besides fluff.
He yelled and backhanded me, and I crashed to the ground. I tried to keep hold of the knife in the struggle, but it spun out of my hand. I kicked upward, aiming for his balls and missed. He dove for me, grabbing both my arms as we struggled on the ground.
I screamed as loud as I could. “Help me!”
I could hear voices milling around.
“It’s just an old woman.”
“What’s going on?”
“Is she having a nervous breakdown?”
He had to let go of one of my hands to clamp over my mouth.
I reached for his wig and yanked. The wig flew off along with what appeared to be half his face. The growing crowd gasped in horror.
“You bitch,” he snarled. He lowered his macabre face down to hiss in my ear, “This isn’t over. I’ll be back for you.” Then he leapt up and took off at a sprint.
No! If he got away, this nightmare would never end. “Grab him,” I yelled as I took off after him, but drugs and the fact I’d been knocked around a few times hampered me.
Luckily, the crowd listened to me, and a couple of the guys grabbed him just as I leapt onto his back. He fell to the ground with me attached to his back like a spider monkey. I grabbed his head and slammed it into the ground one, two, three times. I would not let this man hurt me or anyone I loved ever again.
Tears flowed down my face as I sobbed. All I could think about were those gunshots I’d heard over his walkie-talkies. Jonah was probably dead.
I would make this man pay for that. He’d threatened me and terrorized me, and now, he’d hurt the man I loved for trying to protect me. I hated him, and I channeled all of that rage and pain into hurting him.
Strong arms reach around me and pulled me back. “Hold on there, Rambo. I think you got him.”
Jonah. Oh, thank god. He was alive.
I turned and flung my arms around his neck. “Are you okay?”
“Close enough,” he murmured into my hair. “How about you?”
Reality closed in. Blood flowed down Jonah’s arm, soaking me where he held me. That had been close...too close.
Everything crashed over me. Spots encroached on my vision and my legs shook. “Um, okay, but...” I said, my voice wobbling, “I think I might pass out now.”
Jonah gently lowered me to the ground.