Feeling her shudder Devin tilted her face up with his fingertips. Her eyes were full of unshed tears and her teeth were biting into her bottom lip. His heart dropped seeing her like this “What is it darling’? Talk to me”, he implored.
“I’m so scared Devin” she whispered, her tears almost spilling over. “What if something terrible happen to us?”
He kissed her forehead, “I know I’m afraid too. Everything will be ok, I won’t let anyone hurt you” he promised.
Devin was indeed afraid; terrified that he couldn’t keep Mary Lou safe. He would give anything to get her as far away from here as possible, out of this messy, dangerous situation. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself. It was entirely his fault why she was in this situation. If he hadn’t taken her on that damn nature ride, they criminals wouldn’t have seen them, and their lives wouldn’t be in danger. On the other hand, if he hadn’t taken her on the tour, he probably wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to get to know this amazing woman; and he wouldn’t have gotten the chance to make love to her. He held her tighter reminiscing on one of the best occurrences of his life.
He didn’t want to lose Mary Lou, neither to criminals nor at the end of the week when she would return home to Detroit. He made the decision then and there to fight for her. He was not going to let go of the one woman he wanted physically, emotionally, intimately; the one woman who challenged him, made him laugh and wanted to be a better man; the one woman who he loved.
Love, he mentally tested the words again. Hell, he was in love with Mary Lou. After knowing a woman for all of three days, he was madly, passionately, head –over-heels in love with her. The old Devin would have thought that was completely ridiculous, not to mention impossible. But, here he sat, admitting to himself that he was in love. To hell with it, he was going to let her know how he felt. He was going to profess his love to Mary Lou Carpenter, in the back of a cop car. He would have preferred to go about it in a more romantic nature but, what if he never got the chance again? Taking a deep, steadying breath he began “Mary-
Before he could get another word out he heard screeching tires and the police car suddenly swerved, almost running off the road. The officer driving let out a string of curses, while the other whipped out his gun. Mary Lou’s head popped up of Devin’s should, she looked around frantically “What’s happening?” she asked.
Shots rang out and the vehicle swerved again as a bullet hit one of the back tires, deflating it. Both officers returned fired at an unknown van with tinted front windows driving dangerously close to their car. More shots erupted from the van, “Get down!” Devin shouted to Mary Lou. She quickly ducked down on the seat and Devin threw is body over hers. The police car swerved once more as the van rammed into its side, sending the smaller vehicle flipping on to its side. Mary Lou let out a piercing scream as Devin held on to her. Then there was silence.
Mary Lou was completely still, Devin’s heavy body draped over her. She realized that he wasn’t moving at all; she felt warm liquid drip onto her cheek, she wipe at it and looked at her finger tips. It was blood, but not hers. Oh my God, Devin.
“Devin, are you ok?” She inquired in a tiny voice. No answer. “Devin?” All consuming dread filled her. She eased herself from beneath Devin’s pressing weight, to tend to him. He had to be alive. He had to be ok. She needed him to be. She pressed two fingers to his neck, feeling a strong pulse. Thank you, God, thank you, thank you. She had to get Devin out of here and get help. She made her way to the door, a task of great difficulty considering that the car was now on its side. She saw spotted the two officers in the front, none of them were moving and neither responded to her call. She pushed the door open, with little difficulty and pushed her head outside, scanning the area, she saw no one.
How the hell was she going to get Devin out? She heard a groan. Devin! He was coming to, thank God. She made her way back to him “Devin, I’m so glad you’re awake.” She brushed her lips lightly against his.” Come on you have to get up, we need to get out of here, before whoever was shooting at us comes back to finish the job.”
He moaned again as he got up, blood trailing down his face from the nasty looking gash at his right temple “What happened?” He asked confused.
“We were being chased, shots were fired and the car ran off the road, and you would wake up and I saw the blood and I thought you were gone Devin, I thought you left you me all alone.” Mary Lou broke down in tears in the middle of her explanation.
Yes, he remembered now, there was a van pursuing them, he was sure it was the poachers, trying to wipe out the only witnesses to their crime. A hail of shots had been fired, one had grazed the right side of his head; he remembered the whiz of the bullet and the burning sensation as it had grazed his skin. That’s when he had thrown his self on top of Mary Lou. He must have hit his head and was knocked unconscious when the car had flipped on to its side.
Mary was sobbing hysterically now; she could no longer keep up a brave facade. Tears trailed down her cheeks and she sniffed and wiped at them like child. Devin held her face between his hands, “Shhh, shhh, I know you’re frightened baby, but you have to calm down, if the men are still out there, they will hear you.”
Her chest heaved as she struggled to breathe through her hysteria. Devin’s calm tone penetrated her mind and she instantly tried to take deep breaths.
“That’s right breath for me darlin’, good girl”, he soothed, whispering to her as if comforting a scared child. He could clearly see that the officers in the front were no longer alive and briefly mourned the insensible loss of life, but he and Mary Lou were still alive and he had to focus on keeping it that way. “Ok time to get out of here.” He climbed up to the door that Mary Lou had opened the criminals we nowhere in sight. He agilely hopped out of the vehicle and reached in to pull Mary Lou out.
He had to get a message out for help. He mounted the overturned vehicle to open the driver’s door and searched around for his radio. Locating it he, pressed the button and sent out a message, giving their location. Now they were going to have to hide until the rest of the police got here. Thinking quickly he grabbed the dead officer’s gun, there was a good chance he would need it. He heard Mary Lou let out a petrified scream; he jumped down from the police vehicle to get to her. His heart stopped when he saw a masked man dragging her by her hair with knife at her throat.
“Let go off me you bastard!” She kicked and scratched like a wild frightened kitten. She caught the man in the shin with her foot, he let go of her and hopped around.
“You little bitch!”He roared.
Mary Lou turned ready to cease the opportunity to run. She saw Devin running toward her “Mary!” he shouted. Set off to run, but was stopped in mid stride. Her capture grabbed her hand and swung her around with such force that when she hit the ground, all wind was knocked out of her. He grabbed her back up, but her legs wouldn’t support her, she fell to her knees. She heard a click and felt cold metal press against her temple.
Tears rolled down her cheeks. This was it, she was going to die. She saw the man she loved running toward her. She was going to die and she hadn’t gotten the chance to tell him how she felt. When he neared her capture shouted to him “Come any closer and I blow her brains out”, he snarled.
Devin stopped dead in his tracks, “Please just let her go, she doesn’t know anything. I’m the one you want. Let her go”, he pleaded.
Mary Lou made eye contact with Devin, sobbing. She decided she was going to tell him how she felt, before the masked man standing over her ended her life. All her life she had been quiet and shy, never being heard, she had always been a coward. Well not today, she was not going to die a coward.
Her eyes never left Devin’s, “I-I love you, Devin Cooper”, she professed. She closed her eyes still sobbing. She jumped when a shot rang out, after which she hear a thud behind her Eyes tightly shut she, she waited. Was she dead? She cautiously opened one eye, and saw Devin running to her, gun in hand.
She remained kneeling on the ground, partly in confusion and partly in shock. She looked to her left to see the masked man lying motionless on the ground, blood pooling around him.
In the split second, when Mary Lou’s capture had glanced down at her, ready to pull the trigger, Devin had whipped out the gun hidden in his waist and shot the man squarely in the chest. He had dropped instantly, gun still in hand. Devin was well experience with a gun. Growing up he had always accompanied his father to the shooting range, he had kept up the practice after his father had passed. He had a keen eye and rarely missed a target.
“Mary Lou, are you alright?” He asked reaching her side. He pulled her to her feet, catching her when her knees gave way.
“Devin”, was all she could whisper, still in shock of how close she had come to dying.
He grabbed her up into his arms, shuddering at the thought of how close he had come to losing her. I love you Devin Cooper. Her words rang n his head and his heart swelled. Before he could tell her that he loved her too, siren blared close by and half a dozen police cars pulled up. Police officers flooded the scene in a flurry of activities. Officer Nate ran up to them followed by Brian. He took in the scene quickly, the overturned police vehicle and the seemingly dead masked man on the ground. “Are you two alright?” he asked.
All Devin could do was nodded, clutching the woman in his arms as if she were his life-line. He quickly explained the events that had taken place. Nate and Brian rushed over to the overturned police car calling out their colleagues’ names. Other officers ran over to assist with taking the bodies out of the vehicle.
Brian walked back over to the couple still in each other’s embrace, his eyes filled with sorrow. Devin shot him an apologetic glance “I’m sorry man”.
Brian gave a stiff nod, “I’m glad you two are alright, when got your call, we were afraid we would be too late. It’s my fault” he continued running his fingers through his hair, “I should have made sure that more experienced officers accompanied you.”
“You can’t blame yourself Brian”, Devin protested “you couldn’t have know those criminals would come after us like this, and so fast.”
Mary got over her shock, after witnessing Brian’s grief, sympathy for the officer forcing her out of her silent stupor. “Devin is right; Brian there is now way you could possibly be blamed for this. There is nothing you could have done. No matter who you sent, those men would have still come after u and people, would have still gotten hurt. Please don’t blame yourself for any of this.” She waved her hands encompassing the entire morbid scene.
Brian sighed, “I suppose you’re right” he said sadly.
Devin squeezed her lightly, silently thanking her for trying to comfort Brian.
Nate joined them a few minutes later. Devin asked him “Is this finally over? Can we go home now?”
“You can go home, but this is far from over. I just got word that a van fitting the description you gave was pulled over and four men were apprehended. They had in their possession black masks and guns; they are definitely the men responsible for your attack. Now that we have them in custody, we will need the two of you as the only witnesses to testify against them.”
Mary Lou stiffened in Devin’s arms. He sighed at Nate’s words. “Fine but I will be the only one testifying, Mary Lou is going back to Michigan, I don’t want her out of this mess. Do you hear me? That is the only way you will get your testimony.”
Mary Lou pulled him aside, “Devin, what are you doing? I’m going to testify, anything that I can do to put those criminals away, I’m going to do it.”
Devin grabbed her arms and gave her a gentle shake, wanting her to see sense. “Mary this is your opportunity to walk away, take it damn it. Go back to Detroit and live your life, safely. You don’t need to be dragged through any more of this chaos; it could take months to be over with.”
“I’m not letting you do this alone, Devin.”
He was tempted to give in, so that he could have her here with him for as long as possible. He had been ready to profess his love to her and somehow convince her to stay before she left at the end of the week, but thinking back on everything that had transpired, he was now thinking clearly. If he really cared about her, convincing her to leave was the right thing to do. He wanted her safe and she was being damn stubborn, he knew what he had to do.
“Damn it Miss Carpenter, open your eyes. You don’t need to stay. I don’t want you to stay, you’ll probably end up being more trouble than you’re worth” he said harshly.
Mary Lou couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Why was he talking to her like this? “You open your eyes Devin, a stupid trial isn’t the real reason I want to stay. It’s you, I now you hear me say I love you.” She stared at him nervously waiting for him to respond to those three fateful words.
“I heard you, but I don’t feel the same way about you. The only thing we had between us was just sex.”
Mary Lou inhaled sharply turning her head away from him as if he had just slapped her in the face. Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over, “Devin, I don’t understand. I thought- she shook her head unable to finish her statement. She took a moment to compose herself, “Do you really mean that?, she asked softly.
Of course not he thought. He steeled himself against the hurt in her wide eyes and the tears streaming down her face. He wanted to take her back into his arms and tell her everything he just said to her is bullshit. But instead he lied “Yes.” He swallowed, finding it difficult to continue, “Different people, different feelings” he shrugged. “I’m sorry if I led you on Miss Carpenter.” He could no longer look at her, it was too painful. He walked away and headed over to Nate, “Please, take her back to the ranch.”
Devin returned to the ranch hours later, to find a few of the employers present. Well look who finally decided to show up, he thought outright annoyed. When asked if their guest was being tended to proper, he was informed that she had come, packed up her things and left with the same police officer, she had arrived with. He called Nate and inquired. She had to leave to go and take care of an “urgent matter” back home.
Devin stood, paralyzed. Every breath he took was a painful effort. Had he done the right thing, pushing Mary Lou away? Just like that, the woman he loved was gone.
Chapter Eight
Mary Lou lay curled up in ball on her bed, her head resting in her best friend’s lap, bawling her eyes out. She had arrived back in Detroit in the early hours of the morning. After she had left after her excruciating confrontation with Devin yesterday, Officer Nate had driven her back to the ranch. During the drive, she had borrowed his phone and called the airline, begging to get on a flight back to Detroit that same day. Her ticket was booked for Friday so she had to pay a huge fee to have it changed.
She had begged Nate to wait for her while she quickly packed and he gave her a lift to the airport. She knew that he was aware the she and Devin had some kind of fight, because he would eye her sympathetically every few minutes. She was grateful to him for not asking her any questions. Then she had fed him a half-assed story about needing to get back to Michigan right away because of an urgent matter with her job; a story she was sure he didn’t buy for one minute.
Mary Lou had waited to call Yvonne at reasonable hour that morning. Hearing how distressed her friend was over the phone, she didn’t press her for information. Instead she had showed up at Mary Lou’s door with a tub of her favourite strawberry cheese cake ice cream. Yvonne had waited patiently for Mary Lou start talking; and once she had started she could stop, sharing the erotic moments she had shared with Devin and every sordid detail of the mess they had gotten involved in, followed by their painful last conversation.
Yvonne sat stroking her friend’s hair, a shocked expression still on her face. Everything Mary Lou had told her was insane. “Damn girl and that was only three days, imagine the possibilities if you had stayed until Friday.” You know when I told you that you needed a little fun; I didn’t mean all of th
at.”
Mary Lou’s body shudder as she sobbed even harder. “Oh honey, I’m so sorry.” Yvonne held her until she slipped into a fitful slumber, her dreams filled with the man who had ripped her heart out.
Four months later, Mary Lou’s life had almost gotten back to normal. Almost she thought glancing down at her growing belly as she waited for the elevator to reach her floor. She had spent another long, boring day at work and was anxious to reach her apartment; soak in the tub, then did into the tub of ice cream she held in grocery bag. Her precious little one was craving something sweet and delicious this evening. When she walked through the door to her apartment a wave of sadness hit her, as it usually did when she got home to the empty apartment. It made her think of Devin, and how she wished she was coming home to him every day. She still loved him with everything she had. When she found out she was pregnant two months ago, she had picked up the phone to call him many times, but could never muster the courage to make the call. He had a right, to know about his unborn child, but she wasn’t ready to face him, face the fact that he didn’t love and never would.
Mary Lou luxuriated for about thirty minutes in the tub, hoping the warm water would relieve the nagging pain in her back, a discomfort she had to put up with along with the morning sickness; which by the way came any damn time of the day. After her bath she threw an old T-shirt that was now too tight, her growing belly evident under the shirt. She glanced at the clock, Yvonne said she would stop by at six- fifteen. Probably to try and convince her to call Devin again, Mary Lou rolled her eyes; the woman was relentless.
At six-thirty, a knock sounded at her door. She threw it open “You’re late missy-
ROMANCE: WESTERN ROMANCE: The Secret Cowboy (BWWM Billionaire Interracial Multicultural Romance) (Contemporary Steamy Western Short Stories) Page 10