by Arianna Hart
“Listen, I’ve never hit a woman in my life, but I’m about to if you don’t tell me what is going on in three seconds.” Jared got up and stalked her across the porch.
“It’s just a little fun, that’s all. Bubba wouldn’t hurt her for anything.” She scampered down the steps away from him.
“For your sake I hope he doesn’t because if so much as one curl on her head is harmed I’m coming after you.”
Jared ran into the house and jammed on a pair of shoes. As he was crossing the kitchen he noticed Macayla’s purse sitting on the counter. He knew she carried a gun in there, God he hoped she wouldn’t need it. He brushed past Laura, as she ranted at him.
“What’s the fuss? She’s just another piece of ass. She ain’t got nothing over me!” she shouted from the safety of the driveway.
He didn’t even bother to answer her comment. Macayla was worth ten of any other woman he’d ever met, which made her worth a hundred of that bitch.
He just hoped it wasn’t too late to tell her that.
* * *
Macayla strolled along the aisles, knowing she had a dopey smile on her face, but not caring. Jared had been wonderful last night and she was still in a state of bliss over how well her plans had turned out. There was something to be said about a carefully crafted seduction after all.
Paying for some more champagne and candles she walked out of the store and straight into the gut of the biggest pair of overalls she’d ever seen.
“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” Macayla apologized and tried to scoot around him. The mammoth lump stepped into her path.
“You sure have some pretty hair,” he said, pulling painfully on one of her curls.
“Uh, thanks. I’d kind of like to keep it on my head if you don’t mind.” What was up with this guy? Maybe he was simple minded or something.
“Are you a real redhead? I bet your bush is just as curly.” He continued to step in her way, not letting her move around him to the path that lead to the cabin.
She looked around. The area was strangely quiet. Usually there were kids and parents running everywhere, what was going on? Screaming for help wasn’t an option, the only one who could hear her was the ancient man behind the counter and she didn’t want him to get hurt by this mountain in denim.
“Uh, I don’t think that is an appropriate discussion to have between strangers. I need to get home now, if you’ll excuse me.” Macayla tried again to step around him. If he was just mentally challenged, he shouldn’t give her any problems, if he was looking for trouble she wanted a little more space to move.
“You’re not going anywhere until I see what color your bush is!” He grabbed her arm and pulled her in closer, making her drop her bag.
“Wait a minute buddy, you aren’t seeing anything!” Macayla’s panic level was rising. She had to blot it out, to focus on what she needed to do, push everything else out of her mind.
“Come here girly, let me see,” the mountain said as he pulled her to him with a tug of his ham sized fist.
“Screw you buddy.” Macayla knew if he pulled her in close she wouldn’t be able to do anything. She could have all the training in the world, but he was still a giant and if he wrapped those beefy arms around her she was toast.
“Ha, ha, I like ‘em fiery! I bet you are a real redhead, you got the temper.” He swung her around like she was a rag doll until her back was to him and his other hand was free to roam over her chest. He squeezed her breast painfully before she could counter the spinning in her head.
He was only holding her with one hand, thank god. She could do something, come on brain, work! Panic was warring with training, until he squeezed her again, then temper took over.
Raking the heel of her sneaker down his shin, she jabbed her free elbow into his gut. It was like hitting the “Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man” from the movie Ghostbusters. He barely grunted, but the shin rake was enough to get his attention and give her some room to move.
Macayla stepped away and rammed a back kick between his legs, which caused the release of her hand finally. She executed a spinning kick to the side of his head, and felt the impact all the way up her leg. She landed crookedly, but recovered enough to deliver a shot to his chin with the heel of her hand. He went down like a ton of bricks.
Sweating and sore, and not just a little bit scared, she started to run in to the store to call the police. Before she reached the door, Jared came flying through the trees to her.
“Macayla!” he screamed when he saw her. Panic, relief, and anger chased across his face. “My God I was so worried! Are you okay, did he hurt you, what happened?”
“Slow down, slow down. I’m fine. I was just going in to call the police. The Jolly Jean Giant over there wanted to see if I dyed my hair, I gave him something else to consider.” Her knees were turning to water now that the adrenaline was no longer pumping through her system.
“I was so scared, when Laura told me-“
“Wait a minute? When who told you what?”
“That bitch Laura, the blonde, came to the house and tried to get to know me better. When I told her never mind, you’d be coming home soon, she told me that you were entertaining a friend and we’d have plenty of time.”
“Oh really? So she set this up? Where is she now?” Macayla’s temper reared its ugly head. She could have been raped all because some bimbo wanted to get her hands on Jared. She’d kill the little tramp.
“I have no idea. As soon as she told me that I grabbed my shoes and came running down here to save you. Only you saved yourself. What did you do to that guy anyway?” Jared asked.
“Not half of what I’m going to do to Little Miss Can’t-keep-her-hands-to-herself.”
“We don’t have time for that now. As much as I would enjoy you kicking the snot out of her we don’t have time. We need to pack up and get out of the cabin. If she can find us, anyone can. And after your display here, it won’t be long before the whole camp is abuzz with questions.”
He was probably right, but that didn’t make it any easier to stomach.
“Fine, but if I catch so much as a glimpse of her fake blonde hair on the way back I’m going to kick her ass from here to Canada.” Macayla grabbed the bag off the ground and stormed up the path. She really, really hoped Laura stayed around long enough for a good fight.
“Well, she must be smarter than she looks, because she cleared out of here pretty fast,” Jared said when he finally caught up to her.
“Yeah, too bad. So where are we going to go anyway?”
“I have no idea, I’ll call Connor while you are packing and we’ll make a decision later.”
Jared didn’t like not having a plan, and he really didn’t like rushing from one situation into a possibly worse one, but he wasn’t taking any chances with Macayla’s safety. She’d already been attacked once today, he damn well didn’t want a repeat performance.
Jogging into the bedroom, he grabbed the phone and waited for the signal to clear before dialing.
“O’Riley,” Connor answered.
“Connor, it’s Jared. We may have been compromised, we’re packing up now. Do you think you can find us an alternate location?”
“Shit, I don’t know. I’m on my way up their now anyway. I wanted to be on hand when they caught Hints. Maybe if you give me enough time. Damn it! What happened? I just heard from Alex and they are closing in on Hints right now.”
“It’s a long story, I don’t know that we’re blown, all I know is that at least two people know where we are-“
“So it might as well be two hundred. Better safe than dead.”
“You got it,” Jared replied.
“I’ll work on getting you another place, go to a hotel somewhere for the time being, it might not be necessary if we get Hints soon.”
“Damn, I hope so.”
Jared hung up and stuck the phone in his pocket. He reached into the bag and took out the gun too. Better safe than dead.
The
sound of broken glass made him jam the gun in his waistband and fly to the door.
“Jared!” Macayla screamed from the kitchen.
He came running and found her crouched under the table, broken glass from the kitchen window scattered on the tiles.
“What happened?” Jared called as the front window shattered.
“Get down!”
No kidding. Jared hit the floor and wormed his way to some cover. The shots weren’t coming at random, someone had them in their sites, and was carefully aiming.
“What the hell is going on? You don’t think Mr. Stay Puffed got pissed because I kicked his butt, do you?”
“No, I think that people talk, and Hints has enough resources to have ears everywhere. Stay down and I’ll do a recon.”
Jared worked his way across the room in a low crouch. He was sure it was one of Hint’s hired guns, just as he was sure it was only a matter of time before they charged the house. The adrenaline flowing through his system made his focus sharper. He could hear the sounds of Macayla breathing, the hum of the generator, and the rumble of the refrigerator.
He also heard the creak of the doorknob turning.
Throwing himself behind the couch, Jared aimed his gun at the door. His whole focus was on the slowly turning doorknob. Who was going to come through the door? Friend or Foe? Suddenly the door slammed open, just as a body went crashing through the front window.
Jared turned and fired on the attacker coming through the window. Got his arm, but not the one holding the gun. He rolled through the broken glass and shot again, wildly this time, trying to distract the other attacker.
Macayla heard the glass break and then the gun go off. She didn’t know who was shooting at who, but didn’t like the odds. Her purse with the gun in it was on the counter, which suddenly seemed very far away from her position under the table. She had been reaching for it when the shot came through the kitchen window and abandoned it in her rush to find cover.
Stupid! She could really use that damn gun now.
Footsteps crunched over broken glass, a pair of black wingtips was crossing the floor. Slowly. It wouldn’t be long before whoever it was spotted her under the table, she needed to attack first and hope the surprise would give her enough time get the gun out of her purse. Good thing she kept it loaded.
Macayla found her center and held her breath. When the wingtips got close enough to her she shoved the chair out from the table right into the shins of the attacker in the kitchen. Not stopping to see what damage she might have caused, she bolted to the counter and lunged for her purse.
Her hands were reaching for the strap when gorilla arms wrapped around her middle and pulled her off the floor. She wouldn’t scream and distract Jared, she wouldn’t scream like a girl damn it! She lashed back with her heel and only got a grunt for her efforts. Driving her hand up she tried to claw at the face of the goon behind her, kicking and thrashing her head hoping to strike something tender in the process.
She felt her fingers connect with something soft then heard the bellow before she was dropped to the floor.
“Can’t you handle the girl?” the other man called from the living room.
“She damn near popped my eye out!”
Good, now she was going to take out his knee too. Macayla spun and used the momentum to land a kick on the inside of his knee. She fisted her hands together for more power and was going to club him over his head when he pulled her feet out from under her.
Macayla landed on the kitchen floor hard. She scrambled away as fast as she could until she was backed up against the counter. She was trapped and he was coming for her.
Think! Oh God! What could she do flat on her butt? The goon was crawling towards her, practically foaming at the mouth. She was running out of options and he knew it.
“Please! Please don’t hurt me!” Maybe a little prevarication would throw him off? Bullets were winging overhead and she tried not to think of Jared facing down a gunman.
“Bitch, I’m going to do more than hurt you.” His gravelly voice sent shivers down her spine.
But her pleading did the trick, he left himself open because he was so busy thinking of her as a helpless little girl. Before he could figure out that he had many vulnerable areas open, she lashed out with both feet slamming her heels into his nose and mouth with enough force to rock his head back.
Blood fountained from his nose splattering on the floor. Macayla didn’t waste any time worrying about that, but stumbled to the counter to grab her purse. She dumped the contents out in her haste to get the gun, but she needn’t have bothered. Her attacker was face down on the floor groaning. She held the gun on him anyway.
Carefully walking around his prone form, she took a look in the living room, which had become unnaturally silent while she was fighting for her life.
“Jared? Are you okay? Talk to me.” Where was he?
A creak in the floorboards was the only warning she had. She spun around to see another attacker a foot away. Before she could get her gun up, a shot rang out and blood poured from the hole in his chest. He was dead before he hit the floor.
Jared dropped his arms from in front of him and just opened his arms to her. Macayla needed no further urging, and ran across to him.
“Oh my God, I thought you were dead,” Macayla sobbed into his shirt, reaction kicking in now that the danger had passed.
“Same here, baby. Same here. Remind me never to piss you off though, that’s twice today I’ve seen you take out guys twice your size. Makes me feel a little inadequate actually.”
“Can we worry about your ego after we call the cops? I don’t think this cabin comes furnished with a jail cell.”
“I’ll have to call Connor first and see if he has anyone in the area he can trust. Hints has lots of money and can buy almost anyone he pleases. I don’t feel like taking anymore chances with your safety.”
“Fine, while you are doing that, I’ll go tie up King Kong over there.” Macayla wiped her face on her tee shirt and went to look for some string that would hold the monster bleeding on the floor.
Before she could make it to the kitchen, the front door burst open for the second time today, men in FBI jackets came pouring through the house. They came from the bedrooms, the kitchen window, and the broken front window.
Macayla could only stare in stunned silence as they grabbed Jared and carried him out the door.
“Jared! Where are you going with him?” Macayla screamed, running towards him, slipping on the broken glass on the floor.
Arms grabbed her and held her while Jared was piled in a car and taken away. She kicked out at the men holding her, thrashing and punching as hard as she could against her restraints.
“Macayla! Calm down! It’s okay, I swear.” Macayla vaguely recognized Connor’s voice, but couldn’t think with her head in a whirl trying to get to Jared.
“Jared! Let him go!”
“Macayla. It’s okay, they’re taking him to someplace safe for a little while. We got Hints, Jared’s going to be alright, I swear,” Connor said, pulling her away from the men holding her and hugging her tightly.
“I don’t understand, what happened?”
“We caught Hints about an hour ago, but he had already set his men out to get Jared. When he called me I knew I had to do something, so I mobilized what I could. I tried to call and tell you they were coming, but I can see you were otherwise occupied.”
“Where are they taking him?” Macayla couldn’t believe how lost she felt without Jared there. It was like a part of her was missing. “This is all happening so fast. One minute I’m buying champagne and candles, the next minute I’m being attacked twice in a matter of minutes.”
“It’s all over now. Don’t worry, they’ll keep Jared safe until he can testify. In the mean time you can return home without worrying about getting hurt again.”
Macayla thought it might just be too late for that.
Chapter Seventeen
The first week Mac
ayla was home, she waited anxiously for the phone to ring, even forwarding her home phone to her cell phone when she had to go out. The second week, she stopped forwarding her calls, but still raced home to check her messages when she’d been out. By the third week she worked up the nerve to ask Connor if he’d heard from Jared yet.
He had.
“He’s safe, honest. He’s helping to retrace Hints’ steps, that’s all I can tell you.”
After a month without so much as a word from him, even one through Connor, she got mad. Mad at herself for getting her hopes up when she knew better. Mad at him for not even having the decency to call and tell her he was alive. And most of all she was mad that she still loved him anyway.
Fat lot of good it did her now. She finally opened her heart enough to take a chance at loving again, only to have it blown off its hinges by Jared.
Well, it was time to bar that door for good. Lock it up and throw away the key. She never wanted to feel like this again. Maybe in a few more weeks she’d even stop reaching for him in the night.
* * *
Jared was free. Two stinking months in a hotel room with nothing but chain smoking attorneys and FBI guard dogs. He couldn’t so much as take a leak without one of them guarding the door. But it was all worth it. Hints was behind bars, and probably would be for a while, and Jared was free. He might have to testify before the grand jury, but other than that his life was his own again.
And knew exactly what he was going to do first.
He’d had a lot of time to contemplate what direction he wanted to take now that this was over. He’d been chasing Hints for over three years, and he could honestly say he’d lost the thrill for the hunt.
His only focus now was hunting Macayla and pinning her down until she promised to marry him. She had never actually said she wanted to get married and settle down, but that’s what every woman wanted, wasn’t it? And she must love him, right? Maybe he should call her first before he showed up on her doorstep after