by Susan Stoker
They’d played pinball until her fingers had felt sore from punching the flipper buttons. She and Eagle had been well matched. It had taken her a while to get into the swing of playing again, but once she had, she’d beaten Eagle five times, and he’d outscored her eight times. She hadn’t beaten his best score, but she had no doubt that with more practice, she could.
After they’d gotten tired of playing, they’d raided the kitchen for leftovers and brought them downstairs, turning on the television and watching Jurassic Park. They’d agreed that the franchise should’ve stopped after the first three. Then they’d just talked. About nothing and everything.
Eagle had told her about some of the more memorable tow jobs he’d gone on, and had even opened up about some of the people he and Silverstone had rescued while they’d been carrying out their missions.
She’d gotten the impression that all they did was go in and kill bad guys, but in reality, they’d freed a good number of women, children, and even men who’d been held prisoner by whoever they’d set out to eliminate. It had been an eye-opening conversation, and even without details about who and where, Taylor had been impressed.
Hell, everything about Eagle impressed her. At one point, she’d told him he was a good man, and she could tell that he’d been uncomfortable with her assessment. He had changed the subject. She vowed that, one way or another, she would get him to see himself in a different light.
As she watched Eagle sleep, she studied him closely.
It was hard for her to pick out specific features on other people’s faces. They all tended to blur together. She’d never understood when people described someone as having a strong jaw or a distinctive nose. When she looked at people, she simply saw a nose, a mouth, and two eyes.
Looking at Eagle, she could see he had a five-o’clock shadow. She bet if he didn’t shave every day, he could grow a pretty impressive beard in a very short amount of time. His hair was short, and she thought his lips looked full, but she could just be imagining that.
Taylor didn’t want to go to sleep. She wanted this day to go on forever. She’d never been invited to any sleepovers growing up. Had never been close to any of the girls in her classes. But eventually, her eyes drooped, and sleep overcame her.
Brett Williams sat in his car in the parking lot outside Taylor’s apartment and scowled. He knew she wasn’t home, as there were no lights on in her apartment.
“Where are you?” he asked out loud, tapping his thumb on the steering wheel.
He’d been watching his target for two weeks and had gotten a pretty good idea of her routine. She didn’t go out much, but he’d been able to slip in behind her at the post office and talk with her a little bit. He’d wanted to test her condition—and he hadn’t been disappointed.
He’d seen absolutely no recognition in her eyes, even though they’d exchanged a few words in the parking lot of the grocery store. He’d been positively gleeful.
Brett couldn’t stop thinking about all the ways he could torture her when he got Taylor into his basement lair. He could pretend to be different people, maybe tell her that she’d been captured by a cult. And every one of the members was going to interrogate her. She’d think she was being hurt by a dozen different people. He couldn’t wait to fuck with her head . . . and mark her body as well.
She had fair skin, which would welt up and bruise easily. Brett knew how to hurt someone without killing them. Yes, Taylor was going to be the most fun victim he’d played with yet.
But he wasn’t ready for that yet. He wanted to know more about her. And the only way he could do that was to talk to her. Intercept her as she was going about her daily life.
Which he couldn’t do if he didn’t know where she was.
She hadn’t come home tonight. That pissed him off. In the two weeks he’d been following her, she hadn’t met with any men . . . or women, for that matter. She worked from home; she’d told him as much when they’d been in the post office. Where the hell could she be?
If she had a boyfriend, that would make his life more difficult. At one point, he’d toyed with the idea of trying to get her to fall in love with him, but decided he didn’t have it in him to act like a loving boyfriend. No, he’d have to be a stranger until he made his move.
Looking at his watch and seeing it was three in the morning, Brett swore in frustration. He needed to get home. His mother had been locked in her room for eight hours. She’d probably already made a mess that he’d have to clean up. It would just get worse if he stayed away any longer.
“You can’t hide from me,” Brett whispered. “I’ll always find you. Soon you’ll be mine to do with as I please—and I can’t wait to hear you scream.”
And with that, Brett started up his car and drove out of the parking lot.
Chapter Five
Taylor jerked awake and blinked in confusion as she looked around. She quickly remembered. She was at Silverstone Towing. Her eyes went to the chair across from her, where she’d last seen Eagle sleeping, and saw it was empty. She was alone in the basement, which made her very nervous. She had no idea who was in the building, and even if she’d met someone the night before, she wouldn’t know who they were this morning.
Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was seven thirty. She’d only been asleep for around four hours, and she was still exhausted. But she forced herself to get up anyway. It wasn’t like she could sleep the day away. Eagle and his friends might need to use the safe room down here.
She went into the bathroom with the single shower and did her best to make herself look presentable. Her shirt was wrinkled and her hair a mess, but she finger combed it and decided it would have to do.
Taking a deep breath, she headed out of the bathroom and up the stairs. She figured Eagle wouldn’t have left, since he’d driven her the night before, but she really had no idea. He might’ve been called out on a job.
When she stepped into the great room and looked around, Taylor froze.
There were five men sitting at the counter, and they all turned to look at her when they noticed her enter the room.
She remembered that Eagle had been wearing jeans and a dark-blue polo shirt the night before, but none of the men at the counter were wearing anything she recognized. If Eagle was there, he must’ve had a change of clothes here.
One man hopped off the stool he’d been sitting on and made a beeline for her.
Taylor stiffened and did her best not to panic. She racked her brain, trying to see anything about him that looked familiar, but came up blank.
When the man was still about ten feet away, he said softly, “Good morning, Flower.”
And just like that, all the tension drained from her.
“Hi, Eagle,” she said softly.
Eagle closed the distance, leaned in, and kissed her lightly on the temple, and Taylor inhaled deeply. He smelled clean, as if he’d showered recently. Looking into her eyes, he tilted her chin up with a finger and asked, “You sleep okay?”
“Yeah. You?”
“Like a baby,” he said.
Something felt different between them this morning, but Taylor couldn’t put her finger on it. Her eyes glanced around nervously, and she finally noticed he was wearing the name tag Skylar had brought over the night before. She’d been so panicked trying to figure out who he was as he’d been walking toward her, she’d forgotten about the name tags altogether.
“Come on, breakfast is ready. It’s Saturday, and Archer doesn’t work on the weekends, but he made an egg casserole for us to heat up. It’s amazing,” Eagle told her.
He grabbed her hand and led her over to where the other men were sitting.
Knowing she wasn’t being subtle about it in the least, but unable to care even a little, Taylor checked out the name tags the men were wearing.
Smoke, Gramps, Shane, and Robert.
It felt really good to be able to put names to the men without having to ask them who they were. No one would comprehend the relief she felt.
“Good morning,” she said a little shyly.
“Hear you beat Eagle in pinball last night,” Smoke said with a grin. “Good job. Someone needs to put the asshole in his place. His head has gotten too big. No one else will play him, because when he wins, he throws his arms in the air like he’s ten years old and does a ridiculous winner’s dance.”
Taylor giggled. “Oh, was that what that was?” she teased. “I thought he was having convulsions from the blinking lights or something.”
“Hey,” Eagle complained.
Everyone else laughed loud and long.
“She’s got you there,” Robert said.
“Yeah, well, you should’ve seen the evil little smirk on her face when she beat me for the first time,” Eagle countered. “I swear she looked just like Wednesday from The Addams Family. It creeped me out and threw me off my game.”
Taylor laughed. She knew he was teasing.
Breakfast was delicious. She didn’t know if it was the subtle spices the amazing Archer had put into the eggs or if it was the company. All Taylor knew was that she’d never felt so comfortable around people she’d just met in all her life.
When they were finishing up, a man stuck his head out from the hallway and yelled, “Robert and Shane . . . got jobs for you. Smoke, Gramps, Eagle . . . are you guys working today?”
“You need us to?” Smoke asked.
The other man shrugged. “Wouldn’t hurt. After Robert and Shane go out, we’ve got two more jobs stacked and waiting. They aren’t urgent, but . . .”
“We can move our meeting to this afternoon,” Gramps said. “I’m in.”
“Me too,” Smoke said.
“I need to take Taylor home, but I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Eagle chimed in.
“Thanks, guys,” the other man said, then disappeared back down the hall, obviously to go back to the dispatch room.
“It was very nice meeting you,” Robert told Taylor as he put his plate into the dishwasher.
“Same,” Shane agreed, and he followed Robert across the room, heading for the door.
Taylor turned to Eagle. “I can call a cab if you need to stay.”
“Nope,” he told her, without seeming to be in a rush as he finished loading the dishwasher.
“But if you need to get to work—”
“Taylor,” Smoke said, “we’re good. It won’t hurt anyone to have to wait an extra twenty minutes or so for a tow. Our dispatchers are very good at knowing what constitutes an emergency and what can wait. We don’t need to work, but by doing so, it gives our employees a break. They can stop and get something to eat or just chill for a few minutes. We don’t mind pitching in. Hell, when we started Silverstone Towing, we were doing all the driving. It’s fine.”
Taylor felt her respect for the men rise. She already liked them, and now she could see that they took their responsibilities very seriously. She liked that even more.
“All the same,” she said, “I didn’t mean to fall asleep here. I need a shower, and I’ve got a textbook that won’t proofread itself.”
Gramps walked over to her. “In case Eagle hasn’t already said it, you’re welcome here anytime. Doesn’t matter if he’s here or not. You need a change of scenery or want to play pinball, come on over.”
“Thanks,” Taylor said, feeling overwhelmed.
“What he said,” Smoke quipped, coming over and pulling her into a hug.
Taylor felt dwarfed by the two men, but she wasn’t scared of them or their size.
“All right, that’s enough,” Eagle bitched.
Both Smoke and Gramps smirked but backed away from her.
Eagle stomped over and took her hand and pulled her away from his friends.
Taylor laughed and turned to wave. “It was great meeting you!”
“Same!” both men called out.
Eagle stopped at the back door and took off his name tag, then placed it on the metal doorframe. Taylor had forgotten she was still wearing hers too. Feeling reluctant to take it off, she mentally shrugged and added hers to the doorframe. “Life would be much easier if everyone had to wear a name tag all the time,” she said wistfully.
Eagle turned her to face him, and he waited until she looked up before he spoke.
“You’re amazing,” he said softly. “Don’t let anyone else make you feel any different. The people who’ve shunned you because you can’t recognize them at first glance . . . that says more about them than you. It has everything to do with other people’s egos. Just because you can’t pick me out of a group of men doesn’t make me think you don’t like me. A true friend doesn’t care about shit like that. They care about having fun when you’re around. About how you make them forget their troubles when you’re around. They care if you’ve had a good day, and that you’re home safe and sound.”
Taylor wanted to cry. His words meant the world. “Thank you,” she said softly.
“You don’t have to thank me for being your friend,” he told her. “I should be thanking you. Last night could’ve gone very differently. There was a sixty-forty chance that you would’ve been appalled at what I told you and demanded I take you home and never call you again. I wouldn’t have blamed you either.”
Taylor frowned up at him. “Why did you tell me, then, if you thought I might not be able to handle it?”
“Because I knew if you could handle it, our friendship would only get stronger.”
She thought about something then. “Is your meeting this afternoon about going on a mission?”
Eagle shrugged. “We have meetings all the time—we try to stay on top of what’s going on in the country and the world. We get updated info from our contact in the FBI, and we discuss where we think we should go next.”
Taylor swallowed hard. She’d accepted what he and his friends did, but it was hitting home exactly how dangerous it was. “Are you going somewhere soon?”
Eagle leaned down until his forehead rested against hers. “I don’t know. And I’m not just saying that. But I won’t disappear without letting you know. I won’t be able to tell you where I’m going or who our target is, but I won’t just up and leave.”
“Okay,” Taylor said.
She liked being close to him like this. He always smelled good. Clean. And that got her thinking about how she probably didn’t smell all that fresh. She pulled back. “I should probably get home and shower.”
Eagle didn’t let her go far. He leaned down and buried his nose in her hair.
She stiffened. “Eagle?”
“Don’t mind me,” he muttered into her curls. “I’ll just be over here inhaling your vanilla shampoo.”
She grinned. “That’s the stuff I use to try to control my curls,” she told him. “Not my shampoo.”
“I love your hair,” he told her, standing up and bringing a hand to her head. He pulled on one of her curls and watched it bounce back up. “I know this doesn’t mean anything to you, and honestly, I love that about you even more . . . but you’re beautiful.”
People had told her she was pretty before. That her hair was amazing, that she had beautiful bone structure. She hadn’t thought much about it. But Eagle telling her the same thing made goose bumps break out on her arms. “Thanks,” she told him somewhat shyly. “You always smell really good.” She winced. The words sounded okay when she’d thought them to herself, but when she actually said them, they were kind of lame.
He smiled. “Best compliment I’ve ever gotten,” he told her.
Taylor rolled her eyes. “Right.”
“Seriously. If you’d have said I was handsome in return, I would’ve known you were blowing smoke up my ass, because I don’t think you have any clue what handsome really is. I mean, I could have a troll’s face, and you wouldn’t really notice. But using your other senses to tell me you like something about me? I know you’re being sincere, and that means the world to me.”
She couldn’t even get upset at his words. He was right. For instance, she knew, intellectual
ly and from reading social media posts, that Henry Cavill was supposed to be to-die-for handsome, but for Taylor, all she noticed was how, in his popular paranormal television series, his long hair looked like it needed to be washed all the time and how dirty he looked. She had little use for handsome with her condition. For her, it was all about how someone treated her.
And how he smelled, of course.
They stood staring at each other for a moment, then Eagle took her by the hand once more. He opened the door, and she followed him out into the parking lot. He held open the door of his Wrangler for her and shut it once she was settled. They drove back to her apartment in a comfortable silence. After he pulled into a parking space at her complex, he turned to her.
“Please take what Gramps said to heart. You’re welcome at Silverstone Towing at any time. I know you’re an introvert, but we aren’t just saying that to be polite. Believe me, we don’t invite just anyone to hang out there.”
“Thanks. I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable going over there without you, but I appreciate the invite all the same,” Taylor told him.
“I’m sure you could call Skylar, and she’d accompany you,” Eagle told her.
Taylor nodded. “I liked her. She’s nice.”
“She’s very nice,” Eagle agreed. “And . . . if you ever have any questions about our missions, you can go to her if you don’t think you can talk to me about it.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll walk you up,” Eagle said, unbuckling his seat belt.
“You don’t have to,” Taylor protested.
“Yes, I do,” he insisted and opened his door.
Taylor got out on her side and met him in front of the Jeep. “I’m a big girl,” she told him. “I’ve been walking up to my apartment by myself for a long time now.”
“I know. But it would make me feel better to know I delivered you all the way inside safe and sound. Humor me.”
She couldn’t argue with that. They walked together into her complex and up the stairs. She unlocked her apartment door . . . and immediately felt nervous. “Do you want to come in?” she asked.