Capturing Hearts: Hearts Series Book 4

by Hopkins, Faleena

  His nostrils flare and he rises to pace. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Try me! I’m a fairly understanding person. Fairly.” I can see his brain ticking. “What have you got to lose? No one’s coming up here unless you call them. I can’t fight you. Look at me.”

  He blinks, knowing it’s true. I’m in handcuffs and while I could normally use my legs, my strongest weapon, I really can’t in my condition. I’m stuck. He’s stuck with me.

  He looks around the cave and walks to faded letters on the far right side, tucked away from the light. “You see this? This is where Mark and I put our first initials. We came up here with these two chicks who had tits like you’ve got now. See over here? Here’s where the four of us guys wrote our names? This is another time, still when we were at State. See how my name’s right after Mark’s?” He turns to me. “Right up until the end of college, it was me and Mark, then Brendan and Ross came after. When Sara dumped Brendan, that all changed. Suddenly I was out.”

  With the empty water bottle held tightly in my hands, I try to understand. But I can’t. “This is all because you’re in love with Mark?”

  Bad move.

  Tommy explodes, gesturing with his hands and walking toward me. “I’m not in love with Mark! I was a part of a group. There was a hierarchy. I was here!” He holds his hand up high, palm down and flat. “And then your fuckhead husband came along and took my place. Acted like I was nothing! Suddenly I was on the outside. They moved in together and if I didn’t come over, I’d never hear from them! It was all because of Brendan. He hated me and I never gave him reason to! He always treated me like I was shit. I’m not nothing! Do you know what that feels like? To be treated like you’re a fucking insect? A nuisance? Every time you walk into a room, you feel eyes on you filled with distaste, disgust, or even worse…apathy?”

  Staring up at him, the ice that has always been on my heart with Tommy, begins to melt. “I know exactly what that’s like,” I quietly tell him.

  Sideswiped, he blinks. As he stares at me, recognition lights up his eyes at the memory of who I was in college, a girl dressed in all black hiding in the shadows because she was too shy to say she wanted to be a part of the world. Tommy knows I know what he feels like, because he’s one of those who made me feel like nothing, back then. Brendan, too, and he knows it. Both of them do.

  Smoothing out his sweater for something to do, he turns and mumbles, “Right. Right. So you know.”

  I don’t bother to tell him that those feelings don’t give him license to do the things he did. That Brendan probably sensed he was hiding something, his double life, and that’s why Brendan hated him. Brendan hates liars more than anything. I don’t bother to tell him that Mark can choose who he wants to for his friends, and that’s not Brendan’s fault.

  I don’t tell him these things, because I can see he’s breaking. I’m hoping he’ll do the right thing, if I can just keep my mouth shut; not an easy task.

  He stares at the ash-filled fire pit, kneeling in front of it like there’s a warm blaze between us. How I wish there were.

  “Bruce had been in contact with my dad, keeping an eye on him after my Uncle Paul disappeared, maybe with my mother.” He smirks as if just having thought of this. “Dad had been building up to this for some time, apparently, and he was dumb enough–which makes you lucky–to tell Bruce his plan. He was going to kill you. And he didn’t give a shit about the baby.” Tommy meets my eyes with a look so serious I shiver. I’d thought as much, but hearing it said out loud, that’s a whole other feeling.

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  He drops his gaze back to the fire pit. “Our family has never been killers. We’re thieves. That’s all. When I saw you and Brendan that night in your bar, I wasn’t in my right mind. Time had built up the pressure in here,” he touches the side of his head, “and I just lost it. But anybody is capable of losing it, Annie. Even you.” He reaches for a water bottle and opens it, holding it like it’s a beer with his index finger hooked around the spout as he takes a swig. Wiping his mouth with his forearm, he says, “My dad lost it when I testified and when my mom left. And he–like me back then–needed to have someone to point the finger at, and that was you. But it could have been anyone, so he didn’t have to look at his own life. Also like me.”

  My eyebrows twitch upward. “That’s pretty profound awareness.”

  Tommy glances away on a wry smile. “I had a lot of time to think.”

  “How did your cousin tell you about your dad? Weren’t guards listening?”

  Tommy makes a sound, his mind a million miles away. “He had a friend give me the details. Someone I can’t name since I owe them my freedom and you owe them your life.”

  Stammering, I argue, “I wasn’t going to ask their name.”

  It’s like he doesn’t hear me, though. “You just never know when a friend is going to come through for you, do you? Bruce has good friends.” His eyes rise to look at me again. “I tried to warn you.”

  Confused, I make a face. “What? How? What do you mean?”

  “But you freaked out and ran to Bobby. I couldn’t let him see me of course. I was this close to going back in.”

  The weight of this hangs in the air between us: if Bobby had seen him, I would be dead.

  “Well, you should have told me…” I trail off, lamely.

  “Hey Annie! It’s me, Tommy! Got a minute?”

  I frown. He smirks and standing up in one fluid motion, steps to the cooler. “I’m going to let you go, but I don’t know how.”

  He stares at me. I’m flabbergasted. He’s right. He wouldn’t have been able to tell me had I not run and screamed for Bobby. He probably would have had to cover my mouth from screaming while he whispered into my ear that he was here to help me. I would never have believed him.

  “Why didn’t you stop your father before he got to me?”

  “We didn’t know where he was. He wouldn’t tell Bruce ahead of the abduction. We’re normally in on the plan when it’s been a robbery. But Dad had lost it–I’m sure you noticed–and he wasn’t behaving like himself. More suspicious. My ratting on him probably caused that, too. I had to take care of this myself. It was on me. And if I was back in jail, Bruce wouldn’t have called the cops right away. He was too hungry to lasso up my pop ourselves. This is family history we’re talking about. These things run deep.”

  I guess this happened the only way it could have, which is a total mind garble.

  “So why are you telling me all of this? Are you looking to me for a solution now?”

  He opens up the cooler and tosses me a beef jerky. I catch it as he says, “I’m looking to you for forgiveness.”

  My mouth slackens. I’m speechless. He smiles the tired smile of a man who doesn’t think what he’s asking is possible. Grabbing another beef jerky, he closes the cooler and walks to stand by the entrance, the sunlight outlining his silhouette.

  Leaning against the rock wall, he takes a bite, waiting for me to say something. When I don’t, he says, in a thoughtful voice, “I want you to forgive me, because I’m sorry.”

  Careful with my tone, I say, “It’s hard to do that, Tommy, under the circumstances.”

  He pops another piece of jerky into his mouth and chews for a second, considering this. “Right about now, my cousin has called the cops and turned my dad in. He was the one who kidnapped you, not me. Am I right?” I don’t bother to point out the obvious, that I’m still kidnapped. “I’ve rescued you and I’m going to let you live. So I want you to see this as a leveling out, if you will. A clean slate. Canceling out–that’s what I meant to say. Canceling out what I did. I’ve made it right, in my own way.”

  Careful not to antagonize, I use my softest voice, losing all the edges. “Well, it might make it right if you called Brendan and told him where I am.”

  Tommy’s brow furrows. “Believe me, I’ve thought of that. But how do I do that without alerting them to my whereabouts? That’s why I’ve
decided I’m bringing you with me. It’s the only way”

  “Tommy, what are you going to do with a pregnant woman who you don’t like and a baby showing up who will freak you out?”

  “You’re not so bad,” he mumbles, his lips spreading in a smile. “I deserve a second chance! Everyone is capable of anything given the right circumstances. If someone harmed that baby of yours, when it was five for example, not now. I’m not harming the baby; don’t look at me like that. But if that happened, what would you do?”

  Without hesitation, I shrug, “I’d kill them.”

  “Exactly. See?” Tommy’s flexed finger jabs into the air between us. “All I want to do is get to Canada, marry some nice girl, and start a new life.”

  With my hands joined at the wrists, I hold onto my belly. “Well, why don’t you go and then when you’re a ways away, call Brendan, tell him where I am, and throw the phone away. Ow!” I cringe under the agony of what feels like a knife slicing into me.

  Tommy pushes off the wall. “I could do that. But how do I know you won’t tell them where I’m headed?”

  “Go to Mexico! If you leave and promise to call my husband, my lips are sealed anyway. I’ll be so fucking grateful that I might even write to the governor asking them to let you go! Oh man! This hurts. Ow!” I lower my head and squeeze my eyes against the pain. A pool of liquid pours out in a circle around me, darkening my skirt and the purple comforter. My eyes fly open and I look up at my captor. “Uh oh.”

  “What? Is that pee? Why didn’t you tell me you had to go?”

  “That’s not pee.” I look down at my belly, wondering at my baby’s timing.

  “Then what is it?” he cries out, horrified. “Is the baby okay?!”

  Sighing, I nod. “He’s fine. He just decided he doesn’t want to go to Canada. My water broke. The baby’s coming, Tommy.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Brendan

  And then there were four.

  We’ve called the number Rebecca gave us, but there was no answer. I then phoned the police and told them about it, and they traced it and located it in the city, but now Sergeant Lewis has called me back to say with his smoker’s voice, that they found it. “But I’ve got bad news. It was in a gutter under fallen leaves, discarded probably right after the call.”

  Shaking my head under the disappointment, I mutter, “Thank you anyway.”

  “Let us know if you find anything else. That was before the kidnapping, so I doubt he’ll call Ms. Wells again.”

  With my eyes on Rebecca, I tell him, “I understand. Thanks.” Hanging up, I lay the phone down and look at Mark.

  We’re all sitting around the dining table, and Nicole sighs. Rebecca glances to her and back to me, her almond-shaped brown eyes defeated. “I’m so sorry I didn’t call you.”

  “What are you doing here?” I ask.

  “I told you,” she starts to defend.

  “Sorry. No. I mean, in the city. Why aren’t you in Arizona?”

  She fiddles with her nails, glancing to the half-drunk tea in front of her. She’s dressed nicely, with her usual sophisticated elegance, her long brown hair tied up in a twist like she’d been somewhere special. I’m expecting to hear about a charity fundraiser she was in town for, but she surprises me. “I’m seeing someone who lives in the city.” She meets my eyes. “I guess I just can’t stay away from this place,” she smiles. “It keeps calling me back! He’s a nice man. Normal. Good, you know?” She glances around the table.

  “Ah.” I feel nothing, almost as if I were talking to a stranger. The old jealousy I might have felt in regards to her, has vanished. “Well, that’s great.” I stand up, mumbling a noncommittal, “I’m happy for you. You guys have got to be bored stiff waiting here with me. Why don’t you go see some sights or something?”

  Mark makes a noise and Nicole stands up. She walks over and embraces me. I lay my head on her shoulder and break down. “It’s okay,” she whispers, patting my back, and squeezing me tightly.

  Rebecca’s phone rings.

  Nicole releases me and I turn, rubbing my nose once as I stare at the screen. Rebecca’s eyelashes rise. “I don’t know this number.”

  I lunge for it, but Mark beats me to it, his arm flying out to grab the phone off the table. He hands it to Rebecca and warns us, “Don’t scare him off! If it is him.”

  She gulps, clearing her voice before she slides the phone open to answer the call. “Hello?” She’s staring at me. Nobody is breathing. “Hello?” She nods. “Hi Tommy. How are you?” I start to pace like an animal, my eyes on that phone. Mark rises to keep me at bay, both of his hands up.

  “Brendan!” he whispers.

  “Merry Christmas to you, too. What?” Her shoulders relax. “Okay, here.” She holds out the phone. “He wants to speak to you.” Looking to Mark and Nicole, she explains as I snatch it from her hands. “He could hear my voice was odd.”

  “Tommy?! You motherfucker, where’s Annie? She had better be okay!”

  Tommy’s voice is gravelly and low. “I haven’t hurt her. I want you to know that. Annie, tell him I haven’t hurt you.”

  I hear my wife call, “Brendan?! I’m okay! But honey! Jacob’s coming!”

  With my face contorted with overwhelming relief, I tell the room, “She’s okay. The baby’s coming. She’s okay!” They’re all standing now, and they react to the news. “Tommy, If you’re calling, that means you’re giving up where she is. Is that right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m coming! Where are you?”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Tommy

  Vision: blurred. I’m so fucking freaked right now, I can’t even see straight.

  “If you bring the cops with you, you don’t want to know what I’ll do,” I warn my ex friend, if he ever was that. I’m bluffing, but he doesn’t have to know that. I won’t do anything but run. There’s no way I’m hurting a pregnant chick, and what I said to her was the truth. The person I was that night–all the anger I felt–that person is gone. I just want my freedom.

  “I won’t tell the cops. Let me talk to her.”

  “No. Don’t tell the cops and you’ll get to spend the rest of your life talking to her, understand?”

  He says, with gritted teeth, “Yes.”

  “Good. I’m at the cave, B-man. You know the one.” He swears under his breath as Annie looks up at me, sweat dripping down her neck. “Bring towels and a blanket. Some fresh clothes. A couple pillows.”

  “Get her to a hospital, Tommy!” he shouts.

  “It’s too late for that.”

  “I’m bringing a doctor with me.”

  “How are you going to do that without someone alerting the cops? Now, do I have to remind you what kind of person I am?”

  I can almost hear him planning my murder. After a moment, he growls, “No cops. No doctor. I’ll bring everything she needs.”

  “Brendan!” Annie yells. I give her a look.

  “Annie!” he yells in my ear. “What’s wrong?! What does she want to tell me? Answer me!”

  “Alright! Calm down.” I look at her. “What?! I’m not giving you the phone, so just yell what you have to say.”

  She rolls her eyes and yells to him, “What’s Rebecca doing there? What the hell?”

  I grin. At a time like this, that’s what’s on her mind? Lady after my own heart.

  He stammers, “Tell her Rebecca came to help. I’m bringing her with me. She’s delivered babies before.”

  Rebecca cries out in the background, “I have?”

  This interesting little lie I choose to keep from Annie. I yell, “WITHOUT THE COPS!”

  “Fuck you, Tommy. I’ll do what you say, but if you’ve hurt her or my child, I will spend the rest of my life hunting you down.”

  My eyebrows go up and I look down at his wife. “I told you we’re all capable of anything, didn’t I?” She glowers at me, guessing correctly what Brendan’s said. I hang up without another word. “He’s on his way
. And with Rebecca, too. Now isn’t that interesting? Do the three of you hang out?”

  Annie glares at me, then cries out as a contraction engulfs her. I take off my sweater and fold it up to wedge under her head, tugging down the bottom of the white t-shirt where it rose up. “Okay. I’m undoing the handcuffs…” Her condition has made me feel very helpless, so I unlock the damn things anything to make her a little more comfortable, ridiculous as that sounds. “Alright. It’s done. He’ll be here in a half hour, give or take. Can you wait that long?”

  “Take me to a hospital, Tommy!”

  “No can do. Think about it, how would we get you down the hill? You could barely make it up it.”

  She cries out as another contraction bends her body. “I hate you!!!”

  “Now now… you don’t want to say that ugly word with the baby listening.”

  Annie glowers at me, holding on her stomach. “If yours is the first face this boy sees, there will be hell to pay.”

  This rude statement triggers a thought: my face can’t be seen by anyone. I have to get out of here. This is my only chance.

  Walking to the small cooler, I bring it to her, along with the two remaining bottles of water. “I’m taking off.”

  Her eyes go wide. “You’re what?!”

  The frightened look in her eyes cuts me to the core. Kneeling down, I say, “Look. He’s going to be here very soon. He’ll probably have the cops with him.”

  “He said he wouldn’t!”

  “And I’m not going back inside, Annie. I told you, I can’t. Would you? Would you go back into a place like that?” She doesn’t argue. “Right. This is my chance to be free. I have to take it. Do you understand?” Her face goes rigid. “What’s your son’s name? Jacob, is it?”

  “I don’t want to tell you!” she cries, bending again. “Ow!!!”

  Kneeling in front of her, I look at her with earnestness. “Well, it’s a boy. You did say that. So just hear me out. If when he grows up he makes a mistake but then makes it right, would you want him to spend the rest of his life in prison? Would that be what you wanted? Now, I know my parents don’t give two shits about what happens to me. But you’re a better person than they are, and you’re going to be a better mother. I saved your life today, Annie. I escaped prison and put my own life and future on the line to do it. So, am I supposed to go back into jail now that it’s done? Picture your son having a second chance, wouldn’t you want him to take it?”