by T. K. Leigh
Some would say he could be called a hypocrite, but he was a man… A man with needs that had gone grossly unsatisfied most of his life.
When running for state office, his advisor recommended he start a family. He hated having to date and play the sweet, caring individual. That wasn’t who he truly was. But voters loved a family man, so that’s what he became, although he couldn’t remember the last time he played catch with his son, or had a pretend tea party with his daughter. And his wife… Well, they hadn’t been intimate in years. She wasn’t nearly as adventurous as he needed.
He was thankful to have met Anthony Falconi early on in his political career at a fundraiser for an organization fighting against human trafficking. Falconi was a deeply religious man and contributed a substantial amount to his campaign. One night after his victory party for winning the race for state office, David enjoyed quite a few drinks with Falconi. Rather drunk, Falconi invited him up to his penthouse. That was the first time he saw Jolene. And it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Once she turned eighteen a decade ago, he had been returning to Falconi’s Chicago Landmark Hotel as much as possible for her, even after he won election to the U.S. Senate and was supposed to be in the nation’s capital, expected to participate in mundane tasks such as solving the country’s budget issues.
On that warm Chicago night in June, David made his way back to his government car, thinking about the immense pleasure he felt every time he had Jolene tied up and could do with her what he wanted…what he needed. He was startled when he heard the service door open and close loudly, followed by an echoing “Hush.”
He slowly turned around, not wanting anyone to be alerted to his presence.
“Come on, Jolene, baby. Free and clear, honey girl.”
His eyes grew wide. What was going on? Someone was helping his Jolene get out of the hotel? The girls never left. They weren’t allowed. He knew all too well what kind of operation Falconi was running and he supported it one-hundred percent, as well as the various charities that Falconi had established to prevent the very thing he was involved in. Senator Murphy didn’t blame him for it. Falconi was a businessman, plain and simple. He saw a marketable need and he catered to the very distinct tastes of wealthy men. But Jolene… She was his. Senator Murphy felt a connection to her that he never had with any other girl, and it wasn’t just because he had mortgaged his house in order to pay Falconi to be her first. Money well spent, he thought to himself.
His heart raced when he saw the head of housekeeping hide the tall, leggy blonde in the back seat of a station wagon. He clenched his teeth and fists, his blood spiking in rage and anguish at the thought of never being in the presence of Jolene again. Never listening to her sweet voice beg for mercy when she had misbehaved. Never getting his dick hard from the look of fear she had in her eyes. He needed Jolene in his life. She couldn’t get away.
“Where to, senator?” his driver inquired.
Shaking his head, he snapped out of his thoughts, desperation taking over. “Follow that car. The run-down station wagon.”
“Yes, sir.”
The government Town Car turned off the alley onto Michigan Avenue, driving the streets of the city that David had called home for years. The Chicago skyline transitioned from magnificent hotels to smaller apartment buildings, most of them decrepit and in need of serious repairs. For the duration of the long drive, he made sure to keep the station wagon in his sight. His vision was a little blurry from all the scotch he drank earlier in the evening, but he had a mission. Follow Jolene. The thought of losing her sobered him up quite a bit.
After driving for a little over an hour, the car eventually pulled into a bus terminal.
“Stay close, but don’t make it obvious,” David instructed.
“Yes, sir.”
He watched for several moments while the station wagon remained in a secluded area of the parking lot, an older black man getting out and running toward the station.
Almost immediately, he noticed a few of Falconi’s men pull into the station, as well. They looked frantic as they held up a photo, approaching nearly everyone. David’s mind turned calculating, thinking they must have realized that Jolene was missing and were looking for her, too. If Falconi’s men knew that she was in a station wagon in that very parking lot, they wouldn’t be questioning transients about whether they had seen the girl. This presented a golden opportunity for him. Instead of calling Falconi and having him forever in his debt, he had a new course of action. Follow her, and get what he always wanted… Jolene all to himself. He was giddy with excitement over the thought as he observed the black man walk Jolene, wearing an atrocious wig, to a bus.
As the bus drove out of the station, he looked at his driver. “I hope you’re ready for a road trip. Follow that bus.”
“Yes, senator.”
~~~~~~~~~~
ANTHONY FALCONI WAS STARTLED awake with a pounding headache in the middle of the night.
“Jo-Jo Bear! Bring me some aspirin!” he yelled out, wondering what kind of party he had with her the night before that would cause the room service tray to be dumped all over the floor. And if it was a party, how come he had no memory of it? The last thing he remembered was having a drink with that sleazy Senator Murphy after he had finished with Jolene and escorted her back to the suite. Once he had said his good-byes to the senator, he settled down in his suite for a late night snack, courtesy of one of the room service attendants.
“Jolene?! What did I just say?!” he shouted, his temper beginning to flare. He listened and didn’t hear anything other than the whirring of the air conditioner in the suite.
Groaning, he raised himself off the couch, going in search of Jolene. “What the…?” His eyes scanned the guest bedroom, looking for any trace of the blonde-haired angel that should be in that room.
He ran to the door of the suite, his heart dropping when he found his two security agents were nowhere to be found.
“JOLENE!!!!” he thundered, not caring that he may be waking up some high-paying clients at that moment. It didn’t matter. Jolene was gone. And someone was going to have to pay for that.
CHAPTER TWO
BREATHE AGAIN
JOLENE DESPISED THE BUS. It was cramped and uncomfortable, but the alternative was worse. She could be back with him. She could be forced to put on a smile and make a wealthy lawyer happy. Or a CEO. Or a congressman. Or the governor. Or that scumbag Senator Murphy. Or any of the hundreds of other men she had been forced to “entertain”, as he liked to call it. Her stomach churned at the thought.
As the bus rocked her back and forth while it sped down the interstate, Jolene thought about everything she had endured over the past decade of her life. It seemed like yesterday that he appeared on her doorstep saying that the woman who raised her had just died in a horrible car accident and that her father couldn’t take care of her because of his drinking problem. He had kind eyes and a brilliant smile. She cried for hours, mourning the loss of the only mother she’d ever had, regardless that she didn’t give birth to her.
After the tears had finally dried, he produced a document signed by her father naming him as her guardian until she turned eighteen. She remembered caressing the legal paper, her heart breaking even more from seeing her father’s signature, wondering how he could just give her up so easily.
“I’m your family now,” he assured her. “And I’ll always look out for you.”
She had no one left, except for the man surrounded by bodyguards standing in her living room. She took his outstretched hand and left the one-level ranch house that she had called home for the last fifteen years of her life.
She’d never forget the date. December nineteenth. The day everything changed.
Then, when she finally escaped, it all changed again. But she still felt like a captive. She wouldn’t feel free until she was off that bus. Until that happened, she could be found. And she could not be found.
“We’ll be stopping in thirty minutes,” the bus driver ann
ounced, waking Jolene from her thoughts.
She stretched, lifting the eye mask off her face. She squinted, wondering how she could have fallen asleep in such a cramped space. The sun was setting in the west and there were palm trees swaying in a light breeze as the bus drove down a four-lane highway.
“This is paradise,” she said quietly.
A short while later, the bus pulled into a large truck stop. Grabbing her bags, Jolene bolted off the bus, wanting a bit of fresh air and something to eat. The humidity hit her like a brick, but she didn’t care. She could finally breathe again, no longer worried about what kind of monster would be taking her to bed that night.
She ran into the truck stop, needing to shower and change her appearance as quickly as possible. He had friends in some rather high places. Her photo could already be plastered over the news. She couldn’t risk anyone recognizing her. Scanning the shelves, she grabbed a box of hair dye, thankful to finally get rid of the hideous blonde that her hair had been for the past ten years. She wanted her natural dark hair back.
“Hey, there,” the clerk said, eyeing her purchases. Funions. Beef jerky. Hair dye. A shower cap. Scissors. Shampoo. Conditioner. Disposable cell phone and a pre-paid calling card. “Don’t tell me that you’re changing your hair color, blondie.” He winked at her.
She grasped her head, forgetting that she had stuffed the itchy wig into her bag once she was safely on the bus, not wanting to sleep with it on.
“Yeah,” she replied quietly. “I figure it’s time for a change.”
He continued ringing up her items, noticing that she was nervously fidgeting with her fingers. “Did you just get off that bus?”
“Do you have showers here?” she asked, avoiding his question.
“We do. It’s three dollars for ten minutes.”
“Ring me up for twenty minutes please.”
He shook his head, a sneaky feeling washing over him as he observed the anxious girl reach into her bag and pull out a wad of cash, handing him a one-hundred dollar bill. His eyes went wide when he saw several huge rolls that appeared to be all hundreds. He wanted to call someone, but who? And what would he say? That a scared-looking woman came into the truck stop on a bus and changed her appearance? It wasn’t the first time and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.
Handing her the bag containing her purchases, he kept his eyes trained on her as she began to head to the showers.
“Hey, blondie!” he called out, startling her.
She turned around, meeting his eyes, waiting for him to speak.
He looked deep into the brilliant blue hue, surprised at the depth he saw. After several awkward moments, he finally snapped out of his daze from her mesmerizing eyes and nodded toward the windows. “Looks like your ride is leaving without you.”
She grinned. “Good.” She spun around and walked down the long hallway toward the shower facilities, thrilled to never have to sit on a cramped bus again.
After the tedious process of dying and cutting her hair, she emerged from the truck stop, a sense of freedom finally enveloping her. She had just erased the last remnants of the person she was in Chicago. That girl was gone, and she would never return.
She suddenly realized that she had absolutely no idea where she was. Scanning the front of the large concrete building, wayward travelers coming and going from the truck stop on their way to some destination, Jolene saw various newspaper bins. The New York Times. USA Today. The Florida Times-Union.
“I knew it,” she said under her breath, finding a few quarters and paying for a paper. “Jacksonville…”
The sun was moving toward the horizon in the west and she wanted to be settled somewhere before nightfall. The less she was seen in public, the better…at least for now. Grabbing a newspaper and a beach rental circular, she made her way toward a set of picnic benches, hoping to find a place she could hide for a little while until she figured out her next step.
After combing through the rentals, her eyes landed on one that looked decent and fit her price range. She picked up her newly-acquired cell phone and dialed the number. A friendly voice picked up on the second ring.
“Hi. I’m calling about the beach rental. Is it available, and do you take cash?”
~~~~~~~~~~
AN HOUR LATER, JOLENe had her cab drop her off at a coffee shop down the street from the rental she had found. It was better that no one knew where she was headed, even her cab driver. What if he found the cabbie that drove her to the small island off the coast of Jacksonville? She had to take every precaution possible, even if that meant walking a mile from a coffee shop parking lot to her prospective rental.
Paying her driver, she collected her few belongings and took a map out of her bag.
“Hey there! You look lost!” a voice called out as she scanned the map, trying to match a cross street.
She hesitated, reluctant to respond. She was in an entirely new place and if the last twelve years of her life had taught her anything, it was to trust no one. All she did know was that she wanted to find the beach and never leave it.
Feeling someone approach from behind, she spun around and stared at the muscular man walking up to her. She crossed her arms defensively in front of her chest as he took a few steps closer. Her heart raced and she searched the parking lot for anything that looked even remotely suspicious.
The man stopped abruptly just a few feet away from her and scrunched his eyebrows, bewildered.
“What? Is something wrong?” Jolene asked, confused about why he was staring at her.
He shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts. “Sorry. You just look a lot like someone I used to know. Except your eyes are blue.”
“Oh. Okay,” she replied cautiously. “Well, I’m looking for the beach. How close am I?”
“You’re on Amelia Island. Head a mile east and you’re sure to hit the Atlantic.” He closed the distance between them. “You’re not from around here, are you?”
“Is it that obvious?” She retreated from him, trying to maintain the little space there was.
“Maybe. You also don’t look like the normal tourist coming through. What brings you to our little slice of paradise?”
She shrugged. “Nothing really. I just wanted to find someplace quiet where I can just…” She trailed off, a lump forming in her throat. She had dreamt of this moment for over a decade, the reality that she was finally free overwhelming her with emotion.
“Where you can what?”
Her chin quivered slightly and she looked into the hazel eyes that matched the chestnut shade of his hair. “Just be, I guess. Where I can forget. Where I can finally breathe again.”
He looked at her, surprised by her candid response. He could tell that there was more to her story, though. “Do you have a name?”
Jolene paused. “I’d rather not say, if it’s all the same to you.”
“You’re the girl who called about the rental, aren’t you?”
Her eyes widened. “Are you Benny?”
The man in front of her beamed. “Yup. That’s me,” he said, holding out his hand.
She looked down, taking several steps back from his outstretched hand, wishing she could finally get over her gut instinct to retreat whenever someone did that.
Benny immediately pulled back his hand, running it through his hair, trying to get a feel for the woman in front of him. She seemed lost, in more ways than one.
“Come on. I’ll give you a ride to the house. It’s just a few miles east.”
“Thank you, but I don’t mind walking. I’ll meet you there.”
“I’m not a serial killer or anything. You can trust me. It’s getting dark, and you really shouldn’t be walking these streets late at night. It’s not safe, no matter how quiet this little town may seem.”
“No. I’d rather not be a burden. Like I said, I’ll meet you there.” She grabbed the map again, trying to locate exactly where the house was.
“You don’t even know where you’re going.�
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She began walking away, knowing that she probably looked ridiculous holding a road map in the age of smart phones. “I’ll figure it out!” she called over her shoulder.
“Well, then, I’ll walk with you.” Benny ran up to her, catching up with ease. “If you think I’m going to let you walk down this street alone at night, think again.”
Jolene stopped in her tracks and exhaled, a look of complete exasperation crossing her face. She narrowed her eyes at him, attempting to figure out what his game was. Maybe he was just a nice guy. He certainly didn’t look like someone who would harm her. Why was her first instinct to assume the worst of everyone? She had a perfectly good reason why. He was why.
“There’s nothing I can possibly say that will convince you that I’ll be okay on my own, is there?” The corners of her lips turned up slightly in mild amusement at Benny’s charming and insistent nature.
“Not a chance in hell.” He flashed a friendly smile, his dimples popping. It was unlike any smile she had seen over the past decade of her life. It wasn’t a sinister, calculated smile. It was a genuine, pure smile. It felt warm and attentive.
“Fine. You can give me a ride.” She caved in to his offer. “But keep your hands to yourself,” she retorted rather snidely.
“You got it.” He chuckled a bit at her feisty attitude. “My truck’s this way.” He nodded toward a large black pick-up truck parked near the front doors of the coffee shop.
Jolene stepped around him, keeping her distance as she made her way across the relatively empty parking lot. Opening the passenger side door, she hopped into the truck. As she reached for the door, she stilled immediately when she saw Benny standing right outside. It took her by surprise.