by Wylder Stone
Owen knew the amenities of the room would mean more to Trista than they did to him, so he opened the door and stood back, letting her take it all in. It was as grand as the lobby with luxurious furnishings and finishes. They walked right into a large living space with an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling windows and a view to die for. A wet bar and a small dining table for two sat at the window, which was great, but Trista really wanted to see the bedroom.
A partial wall separated the room from the rest of the space, and that it didn’t disappoint. The bed was positioned to face the spectacular view through the same floor-to-ceiling windows in the main living space.
She fell against the bed and let out a breathy sigh. “It’s a real bed! I might not move from this spot! And that view! It’s amazing.”
“It sure is. Wait until tonight when it’s all lit up,” he said, laughing at her excitement.
“Wait.” She sat up abruptly and looked around. “The bathroom. I need to see the…”
Trista was on her feet, darting to the open double doors in the far corner of the room. “Oh, my… Ohhhh…my! Owen! There is a real bathtub in here and a huge shower. We can fit a whole bunch of people in here and I’m pretty sure it’s not a biohazard zone. It’s clean.”
“I could always call Baron, see if he’s interested,” he teased, thoroughly enjoying her enthusiasm and excitement.
She returned to the room and stood in front of him, offering a teasing scold. “Stop. You make that call, and you’re entertaining Baron by yourself.”
“Ehhh, not my type.”
Her expression went serious for a moment as the reality of it all settled in. “This, it’s so amazing, Owen.”
“You’re amazing,” he said. Stepping close to her. “I thought you’d like a real bath and shower for a change. Maybe a nice dinner that we didn’t eat in the car. I owe you a night out. You never got to wear your new dress. A night off from Cesar and his people.”
Her heart melted, her glistening eyes threatening to spill over. He brushed the tears away with his thumbs and whispered, “None of that. You’ll be late for your appointment.”
Getting her attention with that line, Trista quickly reverted to overjoyed and excited. “Appointment?”
“At the spa downstairs, they’re waiting for you. Honeymoon package. You also get a haircut out of it – since you had to leave the last one I thought this made sense..” He shrugged as if it was no big deal, knowing damn well it was.
“Well, well, well…who knew Owen Force could be such a romantic?” she teased.
10
Returning from her pampering spa date, Trista found the place empty. Owen wasn’t there, but bouquets of roses were scattered throughout the room and petals were tossed along the floor, creating a path to the bedroom. She followed the whimsy trail of red, pink, and white to find the same theme of roses in the bedroom, too.
Across the bed lay the dress she bought to impress him back in Corner Creek, along with the shoes to match. Something else really had her curious. It was the gift bag with fluffy tissue paper covering the top. What else could he possibly have thought up?
“How on earth?” Her hands covered her mouth in surprise, and the emotion consumed her. In the bag was her favorite makeup, in all of her colors, something Trista hadn’t had since their first safe house in Bull Trail.
“He remembered,” she whispered to herself. “How did he know what kind and color… James.” Owen said his brother could find out anything about anybody.
She laughed out loud, picturing a band of Force brothers hacking who knew what to track down makeup. Owen had been right. They really would do anything for each other, including hack fancy department stores’ databases for a customer’s makeup profile.
A note sat at the head of the bed, folded in half, with her name on it.
Meet me downstairs, ballroom 3, as soon as you’re ready. I’ll be waiting…
Your husband, Mack Whittington.
Her head fell back in laughter as Trista held the sweet note to her chest. She couldn’t believe this was her life, even if only for a night. She felt like Cinderella heading to the ball.
Ballroom three was just as elaborate as anything else Trista had experienced throughout the day. However, there was one slight difference, which was the handsome man who stole her breath the minute she saw him. Owen stood, waiting for her, leaned against a small wet bar with a drink in his hand. He wore black tailored slacks and a white button-up with the top two buttons left undone. It looked like Owen had done some shopping of his own. Owen Force defined class and style.
“Is it just us?” she asked, “A private dinner in the ballroom?”
“Just us…” he replied in a breathy tone. “You look…I don’t think there’s a word for that yet.”
“Well, you clean up pretty nice yourself.” Owen reached for her hand and swept his lips across her knuckles.
A group of servers entered the dimly lit room with a cart, carrying several silver domed platters and champagne, setting everything at the candlelit table for two. When she looked around, she noticed the room’s lighting was mostly provided by candles. It was a romantic scene that belonged in a movie. Just lovely.
“I owe you a town picnic,” he said as the server removed the two domes from the place settings. “I hope this will work?”
Trista laughed, “Fried chicken and potato salad? I’d say you did okay. Perfect for a picnic.”
Music began to stream through the room with its romantic whimsy and melodies. It wasn’t anything she had ever heard, but it didn’t matter. It fit the theme of the night and melted her heart.
“Dance with me…” Owen whispered in her ear before he grabbed her right hand and began to sway to the music.
Eventually, they made it to the table and enjoyed their meal together, along with several glasses of champagne. It was exquisite – if fried chicken and the like could be such. Then they danced some more. Trista was entranced by his every word and every move.
Looking around the room, she noticed their table had been cleared. The staff was nowhere to be seen, and there wasn’t a dessert tray to be found. “No dessert?”
“It’s upstairs, in our room…” Owen whispered.
Her head tilted and offered a sultry grin, “I believe you’re flirting with me, Mr. Whittington.”
“I am.” He said without explanation.
“Then I have a terrible sweet tooth. Show me the way, Whittington.”
11
Moonlight illuminated the room as they entered, the view from the windows leaving them breathless.
“That view is amazing.” She said. “I think I can stare at it all night.”
“Well, that’s about all the time we have, so let’s make the most of it.”
Each had changed into more comfortable clothing and met back in the living room where Owen had moved the sofa closer to the window, facing the view.
“I thought it would be more fun to eat our dessert here, like this.” He said.
“I love it. We can watch the stars and the streets.” She giggled, taking a seat in the middle of the sofa.
“We have tiramisu, cheesecake, some chocolate thing, I don’t know what the rest of this stuff is. Looks fancy though…pick your poison, Tris.”
“They all sound delicious.”
He nodded and wheeled the table closer, “Then we’ll eat all of them. Start with the tiramisu, I might have already sampled it. It’s good.”
She laughed at his honesty and appreciated the care he put into making sure she had a good day and lovely evening. It seemed he wasn’t finished by a long shot – the desert tray was expansive. “Works for me.”
Owen took the seat next to her and shared a blanket as they watched the city nightlife while indulging in dessert. It was simple, it was safe, it was exactly what they both needed.
“It’s been nice.” She said. “I don’t think I thought of Cesar once today.”
“You are now.”
“Nah
. Only because I’m reveling in the day I had where he didn’t exist.” She shrugged, eyes trained on the view as he spoon twirled in a bowl of crème brule. “Will it ever be like this? I mean really be like this. No running. Do what we want. No looking over our shoulders.”
“One day, sure. We have a lot of work ahead of us though to get there. We have to stop Cesar. Stop him for good. That won’t be easy.”
She nodded in agreement, “I don’t doubt that. I’m starting to wonder if he’ll ever go away. I mean, the kind of contacts he must have to do what he does…that doesn’t just stop in prison, does it?”
Owen shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. Given the charges and expansive list of countries requesting extradition so he can stand trial there – he’s bound to end up behind bars. But you’re right. Deals are made, even in prison. Everything and everyone can be bought. That will be the real challenge, but we’ll get there. One way or another, I’ll see to it.”
“I’m sitting here watching all those people below going on about their lives wishing that was us. Out there. Doing what we want.”
“I need you to understand that the only reason we have the limited freedom within this building is because my company runs security and they were prepared for us. We have extra teams all along the strip to keep us safe.” Owen heard her plea but needed her to understand just how extensive the length were that he went to just to have this short time. “I’m not trying to scare you, I just don’t want to mislead you.”
“I understand. I figured you’d done something like that. Las Vegas is a far cry from small town USA which was hard enough to stay off anyone’s radar.”
He grabbed her hand. “I know this has been more than you expected and really hard, but you’re doing great. You know that, right? It won’t be long now before we can at least reunite you with your family at least. That’s next. Get to that point. It will still be a highly guarded situation, but at least you’ll all be together again.”
“I can’t wait for that day.” Trista saw the pained look that quickly passed through his expression and clarified as not to hurt him and let him know she saw him as part of the plan. “I enjoy my time with you, but I can’t wait until my son and even my sister with us, Owen.”
“We’re getting closer to that day. Cesar is escalating and that’s what we want. He’ll make a mistake and reveal himself and that is what we need right now. Until then, we need to remain one step ahead, cautious, and ready for whatever is next.”
Trista turned her attention back to the city lights and pondered what that might look like. She couldn’t even imagine it, it had been so long since she’d been with her loved ones. But at least it was something. Getting closer could mean weeks, or it could mean months. After the time she’d spent in protective custody, even she knew that. But she had something to hope for, something to wish for, something to look forward to.
“Thank you for this?” she said, breaking their silence.
Owen nodded his head for her to follow and moved into the room. “I owed it to you.”
“I just…nobody has ever gone to such lengths just so I can take a real bath.” Trista’s voice squeaked with emotion, but she pulled it together.
He crawled across the bed and reached a hand out for her to follow, “You forgot to say, sleep in a real bed. Why don’t you go ahead and enjoy a warm bath. I’ll bring you a glass of champagne.”
“I’d rather stay right here…” She tilted her head to look at him.
Owen hesitated for a moment. He wanted more from her and for her, but didn’t want to cross a line they couldn’t come back from. This was for one night only and then they were back on the road. Running. They couldn’t afford these distractions, but he couldn’t avoid them either. There was so much on the line and that’s what not only brought them together, but could drag them apart in the end. Or worse, cost them their lives.
Despite his own internal warning and knowing better than to anything to compromise their roles or relationship, but he was just a man afterall and she was a woman. Despite having the same conversation on repeat, he was crossing a line and ignoring the warning signals sounding in his mind. Owen leaned in and kissed her. Then kissed her again, their night was long and late, until the line was fully crossed and they were undoubtedly on the other side.
12
Trista woke to the sound of a knock on the door. Turning to her side, Trista realized she was alone, and Owen was already up. Her body was tired from dancing so much the previous evening and then it donned on her that their evening included much more than dancing. The reminder filled her senses and left her smiling. She stretched, taking in the warm rays of sunshine cascading in from the bedroom windows that boasted a morning view as spectacular as that of the evening.
“You’re awake,” Owen said, pushing a cart of silver domed lids into the room. “Breakfast is here.”
He crawled back into bed behind her and pulled her close, kissing her shoulder.
“Good morning,” Trista said, welcoming his embrace.
“Sleep well?” he asked.
“No, late night with a guy,” she teased, turning to face him.
“Some guy?” he snorted.
“I don’t recall his name – nice fella, though,” Trista said with a giggle.
Owen laughed at her teasing and appreciated how she was so relaxed with him. Their night hadn’t made things awkward or strange, “I can remind you…”
She let out a deep sigh and asked, “Does it have to end?”
“Unfortunately. We need to eat and get back on the road.” Owen replied
Her tone took a sad note. “Then what?”
“Go back to the plan, stick with it, and see what happens.” His tone left little hidden – he was as disappointed as she was Despite that disappointment, however, they both knew they’d come back to this and nothing where Cesar was concerned had changed even if everything between them had.
“One day at a time?”
He smiled at her, wishing he could offer her reassurance, security, something. “One day at a time…”
He didn’t have the answers or know what lay ahead, but he did know they still had time in their own little world before they had to return to reality. Hopping up, he yanked the blankets away, causing her to scream playfully and moved to the edge of the bed to grab a plate of food.
Owen placed the dish between them and leaned back on the bed, “For now. We eat. We deal with Cesar when we walk out the lobby doors. Until then, ”
13
Back on the road, they headed west and returned to cheap motels and greasy diners or drive-thrus. It was like they were circling, trying to land, but couldn’t out of fear of being surrounded. From the most northern parts of Washington, to the most southern of California, they just kept driving the same circle, albeit a different route. Each night, though, still felt as special as the first. It didn’t matter where they were as long as they were together and a step ahead of Cesar.
Trista wasn’t a case anymore – she’d become more than that despite the reservations he had personally and professionally. Spending the amount of time they had together without anyone else to lean on – it was bound to happen. That’s what Owen told himself, anyway. Human nature. Instinct. Protecting her had always been his objective, but now it was more than that. The need to keep her safe was so intense it nearly drove him mad. What he would do to keep her safe was limitless.
He could feel that Cesar was closing in. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and instigated a type of fury he’d never experienced. For the first time in his life, Owen was scared because, for once, he had something to lose. Her.
She was getting stronger, more confident, and ready to fight back if need be. That eased his fear, but he didn’t want it to come to that. The girl who once wanted designer everything and was a devout vegan who wouldn’t drink a beer now didn’t care if her jeans were from this season’s runway and rarely wore makeup. Burgers and beer were a staple.
; Owen saw Trista for who she was and who she was becoming. Despite her early spoiled tendencies, he had always some form of affection for her, a duty, but he was falling in love with this Trista. And that scared him. That’s when danger escalated to deadly.
It was time to settle down in one place again – and wait. They needed to lure Cesar out of hiding so their nightmare could finally be over, and they could live their lives. Live without having to look over their shoulders, afraid to be happy, afraid of it ending.
Catalina Island was their final destination. It was a small island nestled off the coast of California, just off the shores of Los Angles. Though the island, one of several, was only reachable by a ferry ride across the Pacific Ocean, or private boat, it was safe. They would see their enemy coming, should he catch up with them. They would know if they had been found.
It also didn’t hurt that the Force cousins resided there and ran their business from there for the very same reason Owen wanted to hide out in the open on the island. If the cousins were called away by a client, Owen’s brothers were only a few hours away and would rotate in and out so Owen and Trista were never alone on the island.
The next several weeks were spent enjoying the town, their little private beach in the cove below the bluff their cottage sat on, and enjoying each other every chance they had. If not for the looming threat, their romance would be one for the pages. They were good together.
The feds wanted Cesar and were more than willing to help flush out the leak in Owen’s agency in exchange for flushing out Cesar. US Attorney Aaron Markus wasn’t always a US Attorney – he started with a military career that eventually led him to where he was. He knew Owen, even knew a few of his brothers either from serving together or crossing paths on missions. Aaron was happy to do Owen a favor because he didn’t have an ounce of sympathy for a traitor. He didn’t care how much money was involved, how deep the blackmail ran, or how bad the asshole was in need, you don’t turn on your brothers. And you most certainly never submit to the enemy.