by Levi, Casey
“Well nothing for right now. Just get through the night without him trying to escape.” Reed ran his hands over his face.
“I want to stay up and help watch.”
“Kristen-”
“Reed I can’t sleep knowing that he could be gone by morning again.” She looked up at him with pleading eyes. They could not risk losing him again, and she was going to do everything she could to make it so it would not happen.
Reed let out a sigh of defeat. “Alright, but if he wakes up, I do not want you talking to him. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, I promise.”
* * *
They had spent most of their night in silence as they watched over Brady. She wanted to talk to Reed, but every time she opened her mouth to say something, they ended up talking about Brady. She wanted to talk about something else, but honestly, she wished that they could talk about their relationship. It was a silly thought. Was that even what they had, was a relationship?
Kristen leaned forward on the couch and rubbed her hands over her face. She could feel the stinging in her eyes, and the heavy set of her lids. She was going crazy just sitting there, and not being able to take it any longer she got up to go splash some icy water on her face.
When she entered the bathroom, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was a wild tangled mess, and still looked wind-blown from the storm. She tried to comb her fingers through it but gave up after her fingers kept getting stuck. Dark circles had settled in under her eyes, and bits of dirt were smeared across her face here and there. No wonder her and Reed have not even kissed, she looked like a crazy person. Her clothes were torn and muddy and she desperately needed a manicure, but a shower was what she really needed right now.
Kristen splashed some cold water on her face a few times before patting it dry and heading back into the living room. When she entered the room, Reed looked up at her with a fazed look.
“Where are you going?”
“I just came from the bathroom.” She said as she plopped down on the couch.
“Oh…”
Kristen turned her body so she could face him. “Reed?”
“Hmm?”
“Can we talk?” She was not sure what she even wanted to talk about, but she could tell that something was on his mind.
“We are talking.” He said without looking up at her.
Kristen sat there for a moment. She fiddled with the dirt underneath her fingernails, but the silence was becoming too much for her. She could tell that he was distracted, but she wished that he would talk to her about what was on his mind. Instead she felt like he was ignoring her. Maybe now was not the time to be talking about feelings and such. He would not even notice so; she did not care.
* * *
Reed had not even noticed that Kristen left the room again. His mind was so gone with trying to decide what to do with Brady, that he just blew her off without meaning to. He leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees and rested his head in her hands. How could life be so messed up right now? Especially now that he was done with school. He had made plans to move away and start his own logo designing company, but then things changed with Kristen. If he had known the world was going to end, he would have grown a pair and done something about her a long time ago.
“Hey man you alright?” Aran asked him as he walked into the room with Julie at his side.
“I will be.” Reed stood up and stretched his arms. “Can you watch him for a while?”
“Yeah, sure.” Aran and Julie sat down on the couch, and Julie cuddled into his side.
“Thanks.” Reed turned and left the room.
He walked around the house searching each room for Kristen, but when she did not appear to be downstairs, he went upstairs. He checked the first two rooms with the linking bathroom, but he only found Jesse and Zac sleeping. He made his way down the hall towards the master bedroom. The room was dark except for the faint glow of the light under the bathroom door.
He reached for the doorknob but paused as he heard the shower turn on. He only paused for a moment before he slowly twisted and opened the door. Peeking his head in, he could see the outline of Kristen’s body behind the shower curtain. He felt himself grow tight and had to shift himself as he walked in the bathroom.
“Kristen?” He cleared his throat.
She pulled the shower curtain back and peeked only her head out. “What?”
It was clear to him that she was pissed, and he almost regretted coming in here. “Look, I just wanted to say I’m sorry about downstairs. I didn’t mean to blow you off.”
“Whatever.” She pulled the shower curtain back into place.
Reed stood there flabbergasted. She just blew him off. He stepped forward and ripped back the shower curtain but stopped in mid thought as he looked at her. Her long hair flowed down her chest covering her perfectly full breasts while the rest of her was exposed to him. Water poured down her body as the steam from the hot water clouded around them, and he wanted to do nothing else but lick every inch of her.
“Reed!” Kristen shrieked.
Reed stared at her intently, and when she tried to cover herself, he stepped into the shower- pushing her up against the tiled wall. He captured her mouth with his, kissing her deeply as he began pulling off his now soaked clothes. Grabbing her thighs firmly, he picked her up and as he slid into her, she tightly wrapped her legs around his waist and dug her nails into his shoulder blades. The pain made his body tingle with pleasure.
Their breathing became frantic and labored as their kiss grew deeper with need. He explored every inch of her mouth with his tongue, and as he pulled away from her, he grazed her bottom lip with his teeth. He pushed harder into her as he tightened his grip on her hips. He loved the way her body fit into his, and the feeling of filling her completely was enough to send him over. His body shuddered as he let go of his release, and his body trembled against her.
He rested his head between her breasts as he tried to catch his breath. He held onto Kristen’s hips as her orgasm hit her in a pulsing wave, and she tightened her muscles around him. He pressed a soft kiss to her full lips before letting go of her, and she slid down the front of his body. He eyed her curiously as she grabbed a washcloth and soap and began running the cloth over his solid chest and down his abdomen in a circular motion.
Reed raised an eyebrow at her. “What are you doing?”
She did not say anything to him but smiled. She worked the cloth around his sides to wash his upper back, and then she slowly ran the cloth down his spine to his rear. He reached behind him and grabbed her hands. Taking the washcloth from her, he wrapped his arms around her and began repeating her actions in reverse. When he reached the front of her body, he moved his eyes down to admire every inch of her as he slid the cloth up to her breasts.
“Damn you’re beautiful.”
“You’re not so bad looking yourself.” She said teasingly.
Reed did not know how long they had spent in the shower washing each other’s bodies- not once but twice, but when they finally appeared, they were exhausted and out of breath. He grabbed the towels on the hook and after giving her one, he wrapped his around his waist. He already missed touching her silky skin, and the feeling of her wet body sliding against his.
He turned around to face her, and she threw a bundle of clothes at him. “What’s this for?”
“Well, I figured you’d want clean clothes. Especially now that your other ones are soaked.” She said as she slid an oversized tee over her head.
“Where did you get these?” Reed looked at her, astonished.
“I searched through the rooms and found some spare clothes in the closets.” Kristen kicked her clothes to the corner of the bathroom and turned to face him. He noticed the shirt she was wearing was baggy on her, but he had to smile at how cute she looked. “They should fit. It’s not much, but at least you’ll have something.”
Reed unfolded the bundle of clothes and found a pair of dark blue jeans
and a black tee with some company logo on it. “Thanks.”
She smiled at him and finished combing her hair and putting it in a side braid. Reed pulled the clothes on, and when he was done, he shook his hair- letting it fall naturally into place. Kristen let out a loud yawn and headed for the bed. She climbed in and pulled the covers over her, and as much as he wanted to crawl in next to her, he needed to go and check on Aran and the others first.
“Are you not going to lay down?”
“I will, here soon.” Reed leaned down and kissed her.
He left the room and went downstairs as fast as he could without begin loud. When he entered the living room, Aran and Julie were still sitting on the couch watching Brady. He doubled checked to make sure they were okay with watching Brady for the rest of the night, and when they had assured him, they were fine, he rushed back up the stairs. As he entered the room, he could hear Kristen’s even breathing and knew she had fallen asleep. Pulling off his shirt, he climbed in the bed next to her, and pulled her into his arms.
He leaned down and brushed a soft kiss to her cheek. “Sweet dreams.”
21
Chapter Twenty-One
The morning had passed by in a blur for Kristen, and she wanted nothing more than for time to slow down. She was still tired from the lack of sleep. She had woken up every hour to make sure Brady was still taped up downstairs. She had feared that he would escape again, and that they would not be so lucky in finding him.
That morning, she and Julie had spent most of the early hours packing up supplies in the back of the SUV Reed and Aran had found not too far into town. The sky was still painted grey, and a haze of fog had begun to form in the lower part of the clouds. Kristen hated the fog and was glad that they had found a car.
Kristen leaned against the tailgate of the SUV as she waited for Julie to come back with more supplies to put in the back, but a faint pleading noise had her looking around.
“Help me!”
She froze in place as the voice echoed around her. She looked around the small col-de-sac- the houses stood their ground, and everything seemed to stand still as her eyes searched slowly over the area, but there was no one is sight.
“Help me!” The cry grew louder.
“Where are you?”
No response.
“Hello?” Kristen walked a few feet away from the SUV as she continued to look around. “Where are you?”
“Kris, who are you yelling at?” Kristen yelped in surprise as Julie came up behind her.
“You didn’t hear it?”
“Hear what?”
Kristen shook her head. “I heard someone yelling for help, but I don’t know. I don’t see anyone.”
“I don’t see anyone either. Maybe after we get this stuff in the car, we can get the guys and look around. Okay?” Julie squeezed her shoulder and turned back to the SUV.
Kristen nodded as she looked around again. There was no other plead for help, and she was wondering if she was beginning to go crazy. She knew it was from the lack of sleep, and she hoped that once they got to Vegas she could sleep for an entire day. She shook her head again and then turned to finish helping Julie.
“Dammit.”
Kristen walked over to Julie. “What’s wrong?”
Julie looked at her exasperation. “I forgot to put those stupid gallons of water in, so now we have to take all this shit out and redo it.” Julie kicked at the tailgate. “Dammit.”
“Here,” Kristen grabbed Julie by her shoulders and turned her towards the house. “I’ll do it while you go and get the water.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well if you don’t go, I’m afraid you’re going to break the car.” Kristen turned Julie and pushed her towards the house.
Julie laughed. “Okay, I’ll be right back.”
Kristen watched as Julie walked away and disappeared into the house. She smiled to herself, and then turned back to the SUV to remove all the bags they had already spent half the morning loading. It was easier to pull everything out and place it aside on the curb, but when she had gotten about halfway through the supplies, she heard it again.
“Please… someone help me?”
Kristen dropped the bag she was holding from her hand and ran forward towards the middle of the street. “I don’t know where you are?”
“I’m over here… please help!”
“Hold on, I’m coming. Are you hurt?” She started walking towards the pleading voice. She could feel her heart rate picking up its pace as she ran down the street when the person did not answer back right away.
“I can’t move… please hurry.”
The pleading cries grew louder as Kristen reached the second to the last house down the street. She ran across the front yard and towards the back of the house. “I don’t see you…”
“Back here…”
Kristen pushed open the gate to the backyard and ran across the cement walkway. When she rounded the corner to the back of the house, there was a Jacuzzi that sat against the back porch in the corner. She stopped when she found the source of the cries. Laying there was a woman, silently sobbing. Kristen cautiously approached her, and when she got closer, she knelt.
“Are you hurt?” Kristen reached her hand out, and softly placed it on the woman’s shoulder.
“Please…” The woman pleaded as she rolled over to face Kristen.
“It’s… it’s you!” Kristen gasped in shock.
The woman on the ground started laughing, and the sound was not pleasant. Kristen stood up slowly from the ground and began backing up away from her. The lady stood up from the ground and pulled a gun out from behind her. She pointed it right at Kristen’s chest, and all she could do was stare at her with wide eyes.
“Where is Brady?” The woman demanded.
“I… I…” Kristen stumbled for words as a lump formed in her throat.
“Well, spit it out. I don’t have all day.” The lady walked closer to Kristen, and she backed away from her involuntary.
“Please don’t kill me.”
“I don’t want to kill you. I just want Brady, and then we will be on our way. So, where is he?”
Kristen could tell that she was becoming impatient with her, and as the gun in her hands began to shake, Kristen’s body shook with fear. She had no idea what this lady was capable of, but she was not going to let this lady take Brady away. Not now, and not ever. At least not until they got the answers, they needed from him.
She could not stop the words before they came rushing out. “You’re not taking him.”
The woman narrowed her eyes. “Oh, I think I can, and I will.” She stepped closer to Kristen, and with incredible speed, grabbed a hold of her arm and turned her around. She pushed the barrel of the gun into Kristen’s back. “Move!”
* * *
“Where the fuck is she!?” Reed stormed over to the SUV and slammed the door shut.
“Reed she was just here. I left to go inside and grab the water, and when I came back, she was gone.” Julie began to cry. “I’m sorry.”
Reed paced back and forth in front of Aran and Julie. His mind was racing in every direction possible, and he could only think of the worst happening to Kristen. ‘Where would she have gone?’ His mind kept producing question after question, and it was becoming frustrating not having an answer. He was not sure why she would just leave without telling them, and if she had left, where had she gone too?
He stopped abruptly and turned to face them. “We need to find her. Now!”
“Oh, no. No, no, no. Oh god.” Julie cried harder.
Aran grabbed her and turned her to face him. “What is it?”
“Well… when we were out here, she was saying something about hearing someone. Then she started talking about the lady who was with Brady.”
“What?” Reed was infuriated. “Did she say where?”
“I… I don’t know. No.” Julie buried her face in her hands. “I told her that we would get you two when we finished
packing up, and then go look around. I didn’t think she would go alone…”
“This is Kristen we’re talking about.” Reed ran his hands over his face. “Okay. Julie, you stay here with Jesse and Zac and watch Brady. Aran let’s go.”
* * *
“Who are you?” Kristen questioned the woman as they walked across the backyard.
“A woman who is simply taking back what’s hers.” She retorted.
“What is it with you females thinking you own men?” Kristen muttered.
“I do own Brady.” The woman let out a bitter laugh. “I’m curious though, what did he tell you and your friends?”
“Nothing. He won’t tell us anything.”
“That’s my boy.”
Kristen jerked her arm away from the woman and turned to face her. “What is going on? What did he tell you?”
The woman raised an eyebrow at her. “It’s not what he told me… it’s what I told him.”
Kristen looked at her in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“Nothing. Keep moving!” The lady snapped at her, and as she tried to grab ahold of Kristen’s arm, she jumped backwards out of reach.
“I want to know what you two are hiding.”
“And why is that? What could you possible benefit from knowing what’s happening?” She said taking a step closer to Kristen.
“Because I want to know what the fuck is going on! I have seen two of my friends die, and I am not ready to die. I’ve seen what it does to you, and I refuse to become one of those things.” Kristen could not believe that she was going to beg this woman, but what other choice did she have? “Please, help us?”
“Trust me kid, you don’t want to know the truth… and as for fighting it… there is no way, but to run… or die.” She took another step towards Kristen.
“Wait!”
“Now what?” She huffed in annoyance.
“How would you know what is going on, if you’re just a lady who worked in a grocery store? In the middle of nowhere?
“I see you pay attention.”
“Well?” Kristen asked expectantly.