by Aubrey Parr
Weapon at attention, Cam kicked the door in and found his sister duct taped to the office chair. Zane was right behind him, fighting to get to both Lauren and Rich at the same time. He needed to know she was okay, and he wanted to kill Rich. He had never wanted to take a life, but it scared him how easily he could end Rich’s right then.
The tape held Lauren’s arms and legs to the chair, and there was a huge piece pressed across her mouth. Her delicate pink top was ripped from the shoulder down on one side, and her bra was pulled out of the way to expose her small breast. He had unbuttoned the top of her pants. Both Zane and Cam said silent thanks that she hadn’t been in a skirt. Lord knew what that pervert could have accomplished. Now inside the office, they could hear her muffled screams for help. Her eyes were wide with horror, and tears streamed down her face.
As Lauren sat there helpless, Rich was behind the door, holding a letter opener was shaped like a dull dagger. He was livid that the fucking cop was back again. The opportunity to take Lauren had been small. He had gotten messy this time. The women were checking out of the hotel today, and he could tell Lauren was saying goodbye to the fucking bartender.
He should have followed her into the elevator. Acted casual. Then pulled her off on a different floor. There were the cameras to consider. He could have sabotaged those before anyone knew she was missing. This wasn’t his first rodeo; he had done this before. He knew he needed to regroup. Rich realized he wasn’t getting out of this room and would pay dearly for his sloppiness. Watching the scene unfold, his dick still hardened looking at her nipple. He wanted her, wanted to make her call out his name.
Gripping his weapon, he weighed his options. He couldn’t stab an officer. He knew that brought a heavier sentence. It would feel good to pierce the skin of that bartender. Behind the door, he waited.
“Stay back!” Rich warned.
With Lauren’s brother there to comfort her, Zane wanted to make Rich pay. He pushed Cameron aside, and pulled at the door to get to him. He was prepared to stab him, to make him feel the fear that Lauren was feeling. He didn’t care about the cost.
Cam pulled him back. “He’s not worth it. Help my sister. I’ll deal with this monster.”
Zane was screaming something, though he didn’t know what. It sounded incoherent in his head and most likely to the other three in the little office as well.
“My sister!” Cam reminded him, and Zane looked over at a vision that would never leave him as long as he lived. Whether Lauren ended up his wife or a wonderful memory of a weekend he once had, seeing her like that would be part of him.
Zane ran to Lauren, readjusted her bra for her, and held her face.
“I’m here, baby. Hold on. Everything is going to be okay.” By that point, his tears flowed as much as hers.
“Get him out of here!” he yelled to Cam. He didn’t want Lauren to have to see that man’s face ever again. He stood in between them, blocking her view until Cam pulled Rich out of the office. Zane kicked the door shut to add more separation between them.
Zane kissed her right where her lips would be behind the tape. “This might hurt, but I want to get it off you. Can you breathe?”
Lauren nodded her head to answer, took a deep breath, and squeezed her eyes tight, preparing for the pain.
“One… two… three…” He pulled the tape. Her face immediately reddened from the action, and Lauren let out a cry. Zane felt the same mixture of fear and relief he had felt on the other side of the locked door. Holding her face again, he lightly kissed her cheeks and lips, wanting her to feel safe. “I don’t know what I would have done,” he whispered as he leaned his forehead to hers again.
Lauren couldn’t believe it was over. How did Zane and Cam know? How was Cam here? She had known something was wrong. The way Rich looked at her...she should never have agreed to talk with him. As soon as she felt his hand wrap around her arm, she had experienced a fear that surpassed anything in her short lifetime.
She had walked home on dark nights when she shouldn’t have. She had worried then, breathing heavy while she hurried home. This was different. Those were what if feelings. This had actually been happening. The fear was not what if, but how bad would it get? Would she even survive?
Then she heard Zane’s voice. He was trying to get to her. She did her best to make her voice as loud as possible under the tape. As long as he knew she was in there, she’d survive. Feeling Rich move her bra to get access to her breast, his eyes rolling back in his head, sickened her… but she’d survive. Then her brother was there. She loved Zane for wanting to get to her, but she knew her brother’s training would make it happen.
Now Zane was leaning his head on hers the way he had since she’d met him, and there they stayed, in the aftermath of everything. She could hear muffled sounds in the lobby. People were scurrying about in exactly the way you’d imagine if a gun was fired in a lobby. Cam was shouting orders to everyone around him. None of that mattered just then. She couldn’t wait to thank her brother, but she needed a minute alone with Zane.
“Can you get this stuff off me?” she whispered.
“Of course. I’m sorry. Hopefully this won’t hurt as much,” Zane said as he used his paring knife to first cut her arms free and then her feet.
“I don’t care. Just get it off.” She tried to control her breathing, to keep calm. Once her arms were free, she ran her hands through Zane’s hair while he cut the tape from her feet. She wanted some sort of normalcy, and somehow running her hands through his long locks gave her that.
Zane lifted Lauren to her feet and kicked the chair away. She shouldn’t have to see the thing she was taped to ever again. He removed his vest and wrapped it around her exposed body. Leaning against the desk, he pulled her into him and rubbed her hair. “Cry,” was all he said to her.
Lauren listened and sobbed. They stayed there while the outside world dealt with Rich. Zane whispered to her while he wiped her tears, and then she took in one large breath and exhaled. Calmed, she mustered a smile up to him. “Thank you.”
“Let’s have your friends bring you down a shirt.” He kissed her forehead and kept ahold of her hand while he reached down to grab her purse from the floor. “Is your phone in here?”
“Oh my god, the girls!” She took her purse and found her phone inside. “I have two missed calls from Cam. I forgot we silenced my phone.”
“He must have known something was wrong and decided to check on you in person. It must be your brother’s cop intuition.”
“I don’t know. I need to call Nicole.” Searching for her name, Lauren hit call and waited for her friend to answer.
“Hello?” She heard Nicole’s groggy voice.
“Hi.” Lauren started to cry again. She wasn’t sure why. Trying to breathe in, she couldn’t form the words.
Zane saw the look in her eyes and took the phone. “Nicole, it’s Zane. Everything is okay now, but that asshole manager tried to attack Lauren.” He saw tears fall and pulled her into his chest to comfort her. “Her brother has him, but her shirt is torn, and she’s pretty shaken up. Could you two come down to the lobby and bring her something?”
“Of course! We’re on our way!” Nicole yelled and hung up the phone.
Upstairs, Nicole grabbed a bra to throw on under her shirt, yelled to Kate to wake up, and ran into Lauren’s room to grab something for her to put on.
“What’s going on?” Kate called out as she wandered into the room. They had stayed up so late talking, her body had let her sleep in.
“Put on a bra. We’re going downstairs. That sleezeball manager did something to Lauren!”
“Holy shit!” Kate stopped dead in her tracks. “I’ll be ready in two seconds.”
Nicole found a Chicago Cubs hoody, and the women met back in the living area, both still in the clothes they crashed in, hair crazy from sleep, though neither cared.
“What the hell do you think happened?” Kate asked. “This is a nice hotel. It’s not like we’re in a rent by the hour type place
.”
“I don’t know. That man always gave me the heebie-jeebies,” Nicole answered. “She couldn’t even talk. Zane told me about it.”
“Shit! What’s the sweatshirt for?” Kate noticed Nicole holding the hoody.
“Apparently, her shirt was ripped, and she needs something to wear.” That made both women shutter.
“Thank God she’s okay.”
Kate grabbed a room key, and they headed for the door.
CHAPTER TWELVE
As soon as Cam got outside of the office, he found the lobby filled with employees who heard the gunshot. Though it had felt like an eternity, he had probably been in that little office for under a minute. Knowing that Zane had Lauren under control, he focused on getting the piece of shit manager into custody. Cam didn’t have his cuffs with him. He yelled his name to the concierge, telling him to call his precinct and have an officer sent over.
“I barely touched her. You can’t make anything stick,” Rich told him, his voice smug.
“I’ve been researching four unsolved attacks all night. I know you’re the guy. I’m fucking tired, fucking wired, and really hungry. Don’t piss me off anymore than you already have. You know that was my little sister you had in there!”
Rich wasn’t expecting to hear that. It had been years; he thought he got away with those scot-free. Shit, he didn’t want to go down for those little bitches, too.
“What the hell are you talking about? I never attacked anyone.” He did his best to sound innocent.
“Shut the fuck up!” Cameron twisted his arm further behind his back, adding more pain. “I’m going to make sure you rot in prison with the maximum sentence for what you were planning to do to my sister.”
Rich couldn’t help himself. “I had some fun things planned, too.” Cam twisted again and harder; this time Rich half-expected it to break.
The elevator couldn’t move fast enough. “Do you remember being cursed any time in the past few years?” Nicole asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. “Seriously! We can’t seem to avoid shit like this lately. First, bat-shit crazy Silvia, then delusions-of-grandeur Santino, and now this!”
“Maybe you’ll get another book idea. You are almost finished with the other one,” Kate continued the joke.
“Good point!” Humor only helped so much. Nicole was worried for her new friend. “I hope she’s okay.”
Nicole and Kate stepped off the elevator and into chaos. There were employees scattered about, talking to the guests that had emerged from their room. Being on the twenty-first floor, the friends hadn’t heard anything, but they realized there must have been a scene. They saw the manager bent over in pain as Cam kept him subdued. A bell hop met them on their way over.
“Ladies, if you can please wait. Everything is okay. The police will be here momentarily.”
Cam noticed them and cut off the employee. “They’re with me. Let them by.”
“What happened?” Nicole asked, though they stayed at a relatively safe distance.
“In the office, check on Lauren. Zane is with her. Good, you brought something to wear.”
“We will.” Nicole looked Rich right in the face. She couldn’t stop herself. “You’re a piece of shit, you know that?” Then they headed straight to the office to check on Lauren.
Rich laughed, and Cam twisted the other direction this time.
Kate knocked softly on the door and slowly opened it. Zane was leaning on the desk, Lauren curled into chest. She seemed calm, but it was clear from her face that she hadn’t been earlier. She had the same trails of mascara running down her face as she had when they first met her on the train.
“Baby girl!” Big Sister Nicole was on duty. She saw the ripped shirt and little bra exposed and her stomach turned. Thank God Zane and Cameron got to her.
That was all it took. Lauren threw her body into her new friends, one arm around each girl and sobbed again. She wasn’t sure why seeing them brought it all back. Was she going to break down like this all the time now?
“Do you want to talk about it?” Kate asked cautiously.
“It all happened so fast. He wanted to talk to me. I thought maybe he saw me behind the bar, and they need a new bartender. He got so mad when I changed my mind and told him I couldn’t talk. His eyes turned to red, I swear to God, they were red!” Getting worked up again, she buried her head into Nicole’s shoulder.
Zane continued for her, “He pulled her into the office and luckily slammed the door hard. I heard it and somehow knew she was in trouble.” His face softened when he looked at Lauren. Both women noticed it. “Somehow her brother knew something was off about Rich, so he ended up showing up at the perfect time. I would have gotten the door open somehow, but it was convenient that he had a gun handy.”
“How could he know?” They all heard Lauren’s muffled voice from under Nicole’s shoulder.
“We’ll talk to him,” Zane answered her, rubbing her back lovingly. “There was an attack a few years back, and all of the employees were questioned. I was off that night, so they barely talked to me. Maybe that’s involved somehow.”
“My God, do you think it was Rich?” Kate asked.
“Maybe… After this, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Lauren sobbed a bit. The other three all looked at each other and silently agreed to finish the conversation another time. “Let’s get your hoody on you, babe,” Nicole told Lauren. She helped her slip into it, even zipped the front for her.
“I’m sorry the shirt you got me is ruined,” Lauren smiled up at her, tears still present on her cheeks.
“Don’t you worry about that for a second. I’ll get you two more in case you spill something on the replacement,” Nicole kissed her cheek. All her life, she wanted a little sister. Kate had become her sister, but more like a twin. She knew looking at her face in that instant, Lauren was the little sister she had been waiting for. She was happy that Lauren had gotten her brother back as well, but she would still make sure she was always there for her.
There came the sounds of officers arriving outside. They waited, comforting Lauren until it was quiet. Just as Kate was going to offer to make sure Rich was gone, the door opened, and Cam walked in. Lauren allowed herself to fall apart one more time. Cameron picked her up and held her like a baby. What would he have done? He wanted to kill that man out there, but his training gave him the discipline to let him live.
“He’s gone,” Cam said through hushes to his baby sister. “I’ll make sure you never have to see him again.” He set Lauren down, looked over at Zane, and held out a hand. “Thank you! Truly, thank you for taking care of her.” Zane took his hand to shake, and Cam pulled him in for a full bear hug. Cam knew that he could have walked right into the lobby and completely missed the horror behind the office door. Zane knew she was in trouble, and Cam would forever be grateful.
“We’ll take her upstairs and get her cleaned up,” Kate offered.
“I’m really okay. I’d love a hot shower though,” Lauren smiled. “I promise, I got it all out of my system. I just needed to see all you first. I know, ultimately, I’m lucky.”
“Do you still want to come by my house?” Cam asked, knowing full well she may want to lock herself up in their hotel room.
“Definitely!”
“I’m going to head by the station, and I’ll be home before you get there.” He gave Lauren a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Thank you,” he said to the other three, before he walked back out to the lobby.
“I’ll get back behind the bar. Please, make sure you come to say goodbye. This can’t be the last time I see you. I’m kind of hooked now.” Zane held her face in his hands and leaned his forehead on hers. She loved it when he did that. Even after what just happened, it made her feel safe. She kissed his lips once and nodded, not sure she could talk without crying again. How was she going to get back on a plane and go back to Chicago? Please God, let Cam’s place have room for me.
Back in the room, Kate started the shower, and Nico
le helped Lauren undress. As soon as her pink shirt was free, she dropped it and kicked it under the bed. The memories attached to that were too much. Reevaluating her offer to buy her two more of those, Nicole figured she’d send her a pile of other pink shirts. After all, it was a great color on her.
Once Lauren was in the shower, Nicole knew she needed to call Derek. He was extremely protective, and she loved that about him. He’d want to know about this immediately. “Dominic has the baby,” she said. “I’ll call Derek.”
“Thanks,” Kate answered back.
Nicole explained the story to Derek, knowing that she needed to talk fast, since Lauren didn’t need to hear the story again. Once off the phone, she walked out to the living room and heard the shower still running.
“How’d he take it?” Kate asked, knowing how both of their husbands were, especially Derek.
“Ready to kill someone, but he’s glad we’re all safe.”
“Think he’ll worry sick now whenever we go somewhere?” Kate asked.
“Probably, but you know Derek, he worries when I walk into the other room.” Humor was clearly Nicole’s coping mechanism with things like this. “He said he’ll talk to Dominic.”
Kate rolled her eyes. Not because she didn’t want to tell Dominic, but because she knew her Nicky would worry just as much. Kate was perfectly safe, and she didn’t want to take his attention away from Kenzie. The stress of the morning made it feel like she had been away from them far longer than two nights. Nicole was her family, too, but she missed her husband and daughter. “Oh lord, they’re going to send in the cavalry between the two of them!”
They both laughed, thinking of their over-protective men. The water shut off, and a few minutes later, Lauren walked out in a robe. a towel twisted on top of her head. “I think I got all of the sleaze off me. Only took twenty minutes of scrubbing.”
She looked much better. Letting her break down probably helped. Curled up on the couch, she looked as though she wasn’t sure what to do with herself. “That was a close one.”
Those simple words were all that needed to be said. Both Nicole and Kate nodded their heads and sat on either side of her. After a few minutes of silence, Nicole’s stomach began to growl. All three of them laughed, and Nicole stretched as far as her long body would reach in order to grab the phone. She called down to Room Service and asked them to bring up a plate of each of their breakfasts, a large pot of coffee, and three mimosas.