by T. K. Leigh
She was taken aback. “Are you sure?” She grew concerned that he was so desperate to finally find his daughter that he was now grasping at straws.
“Of course I’m sure,” he said harshly before relaxing his voice. “I’m sorry, Laney. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just… She’s my daughter. I know the last time I saw her was when she was fifteen, but I’d recognize her anywhere. She has her mother’s eyes. That’s my Jolene. I’m certain of it.”
She nodded. “You need to go then.”
“I do.” The video zoomed in on her shirt, the name of a bar and city easily distinguishable. Finding a piece of spare paper, he jotted down the information as fast as he could.
“Okay.” She walked over to the kitchen island and grabbed her purse. “Just make me one promise,” she said, approaching him once more. “Promise that you’ll be smart. That you’ll think with your head and not your heart.”
“What do you…?”
She held her hand up quickly, stopping him from speaking any further. “Gregory, I’ve known you since you graduated from the police academy over thirty years ago. I know how you get. When it comes to Angie or Jolene, you don’t think clearly. Please. Be safe. I don’t want to show up to work one day and have to be analyzing evidence found on your body.” Her chin trembled with emotion at the thought.
“Laney, baby…” Pulling her into his embrace, he caressed her back. “I promise. I’ll be smart. I’ll have Mark come with me. He’s the second best voice of reason in my life.” He delicately kissed her forehead.
“And who’s the first?” She tilted her head and looked into his brilliant blue eyes.
A gentle smile crossed his face. “You are. Always.”
“Damn straight. Be safe.” She stood on her toes and planted one last kiss on his lips before leaving, a bad feeling enveloping her body.
~~~~~~~~~~
“WHY ARE WE STAYING here?” Jolene asked as Cam carried her into Elsie’s apartment.
“It’s just a precaution. I don’t want anyone being able to find you, and Elsie’s building has heavy security,” he replied, carefully laying her down on the large bed in the master bedroom.
“I feel fine, Cam,” she said as he propped her leg up on several pillows. “You don’t have to treat me like I’m going to break.”
“Please, Jolene. Let me take care of you. To make up for…”
“Stop it,” she scolded. “It’s not your fault. But if you really want to make up for it, I accept little blue boxes,” she joked. “Or nice velvety black ones with the word Cartier on the inner silk.”
“I’ll have to remember that.” He leaned down and kissed her wavy hair.
She cringed from the contact of Cam’s lips on her.
He immediately pulled back. “What? What is it? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“No. It’s not that. I like it when you touch me. It’s just…” She trailed off, nervously avoiding his eyes.
“What? What do you need? Name it and it’s yours, peaches.”
She took a deep breath. “I want to wash my hair. I feel disgusting and I’m sure that I look even worse.”
“Impossible, Jolene.” He gazed at her, the love he felt for her incomparable to any emotion he could ever recall experiencing. Gently caressing her hand and savoring the silky feel of her skin, he lowered his voice. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world. You just have a few battle wounds, that’s all.”
“How do you do it?” she whispered.
“Do what?”
“How do you always know exactly what to say to me so that I fall even more in love with you?”
Lowering his mouth to hers, he ran his fingers down her face, the bruises fading. “Because it’s the truth, Jolene. I am head-over-heels in love with you. And I plan on spending every day showing you how much I adore, admire, and worship you. That’s what you deserve. You are worthy of so much more than what I can give you. I just hope my love is enough.”
Her chin quivered, all the pent-up emotions she felt over the past week rushing forward.
“Don’t cry, baby.”
“They’re not sad tears. They’re happy tears.” She gazed into Cam’s blazing silver eyes. The heat in his expression made her melt into the bed. In just that one look, she could see exactly what she meant to him.
“I’ve missed this.”
“What?” Cam asked, his mouth still hovering over hers.
“Almost kissing you,” she replied, lifting her arm up to stroke his back. She yelped, the movement causing pain to sear her ribs.
“I’m sorry, Jolene.” He pulled back, able to sense her growing frustration with her injuries. Even the slightest motion caused her immense discomfort.
“Cam…” She turned her eyes from his, feeling uneasy about what she had to ask of him.
“What is it? What do you need me to do?”
“I need to shower, but…”
“What?”
“I can’t stand, Cam. I’m going to need help. And with my ribs, I can’t really…”
“I told you, Jolene. I’m going to take care of you.”
“This is just so embarrassing.” Tears began to reform in her eyes.
“Jolene, angel…” He grabbed her hand in his. “I know this is difficult for you. You’ve had horrible, unspeakable things happen to you for too many years. I know depending on anyone goes against everything you swore to yourself, but you can depend on me. Do you trust me?”
“Of course.” She didn’t even hesitate. After everything she had been through in her life, Cam was the one person she had come to realize that she could trust. He was her light.
“You know I love you. I said I would stand by your side, and if that means I get to wash your hair and help you bathe…well, I just hit the fucking jackpot.” He winked as he carefully picked her up in his arms and took her into the bathroom.
As he delicately washed her hair and ran a loofah over her skin, Jolene gazed in his eyes, the love he had for her evident. At that moment, she realized that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. For the first time she could remember in recent years, she wanted a future…a future with Cam.
~~~~~~~~~~
“CAM?” JOLENE ASKED SEVERAL hours later as they lay in the large bed, the room illuminated by a dim light filtering in from the hallway.
“Yes, peaches?”
“When we were in Key West, you mentioned that you had patients that had been through similar events as me, right?”
“I do,” he responded cautiously. Even though he was itching to ask Jolene if she knew a woman by the name of Lori, he was bound by the rules of his profession and his own code of ethics. “I can’t really discuss in detail what they’ve been through, but one of my specialties is working with women that have been the victim of human trafficking.”
Jolene shuddered. “That term makes it seem so horrible.”
“It is horrible. You went through something that no one should ever have to endure.” He reached out and pulled her body closer to his, wanting her to feel loved and cared for, something she hasn’t felt for years. “Is this okay?” he asked softly. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”
“Impossible. Your arms wrapped around me is where I feel safest. I don’t ever want to leave your embrace.” She nuzzled her face against his naked chest, inhaling deeply.
Cam groaned when she began planting soft kisses on his body. “How long did the doctor say we had to wait?” he asked, somewhat surprised that the attack didn’t impair her desire to be intimate with him.
“Until my ribs are healed, Dr. Bowen. You wouldn’t want to break me, would you?” She slowly traced a circle with her tongue, smiling to herself when she felt him harden against her. “I’m quite the delicate flower, ya know.” She returned her lips to his chest, torturing him once more.
Closing his eyes, he tried to think of anything other than the incredible sensation of Jolene’s lips on his body. He couldn’t remember ever being so aroused.
“Jolene…” he breathed.
She pulled back, searching his eyes. “Kiss me, Cam.”
Tenderly cupping her face in his strong hands, he pulled her toward him. “You’re killing me, you know that, right?”
Her eyes watered from the intensity of his expression.
“I love you so fucking much, Jolene. I want to show you exactly how deep my love for you is. I want to give you so much pleasure and it’s killing me that I can’t make you feel good right now.”
“Oh, Cam.” Tears streamed down her cheek. “I feel your love, even though I can’t…” She avoided his gaze, hating that she couldn’t give him what he wanted at that moment.
“Hey. Look at me, Jolene.”
She instinctively raised her eyes to his. “I just want to make you feel good.” He brushed his lips against hers. “I miss the expression on your face when I make you come, Jolene. Do you have any idea how beautiful you look when you’re completely overwhelmed with ecstasy from my touch? God, Jolene. That does it for me. I love making you feel good.”
“I like it when you make me feel good,” she replied, giddy with excitement from his words. He wasn’t the only one frustrated with having to refrain from sex. “No. I take that back. I love it when you make me feel good. And, to be honest, good isn’t quite the word I would use to describe how I feel when you make me come.”
Cam raised his eyebrows at her. “Oh really? And what word would that be?”
Jolene pursed her lips together, deep in thought.
Cam’s heart skipped a beat at the adorable look on her face.
“Incredible. Amazing. Astounding. Magnificent. Extraordinary. Superb. Sensational. I can go on for hours.” She smiled before returning her expression to one of sincerity. “But most important, I feel loved. Thank you for that.”
“For what?”
She nuzzled against his chest once more, enveloped by his warmth…by his light. “For loving me. I know I’m not the easiest girl to love, and that I have a whole shit ton of baggage that most people would toss out, not wanting to deal with…”
“Jolene,” Cam interrupted, “you don’t have baggage. You’ve just had some rather appalling things happen to you. You’re dealing with it one day at a time, and that’s all that can be expected of you. You’re still a strong, vibrant, beautiful woman who deserves love just like someone who never had anything traumatic happen to them. In fact, I’d say you’re more deserving of love because you had to suffer through a past of fear and servitude. And that’s what I intend to give you. A future for you to do what you want, when you want…within reason, of course.” He winked at her, leaning down and planting a chaste kiss on her hair. He breathed in her scent. “Peaches.”
She shook her head, giggling. “If we ever get married, we need to have peach cobbler at our wedding.”
“You got it, princess.”
Jolene immediately tensed up, the wind sucked out of her as the memory rushed forward of all those men calling her that over the years. She had escaped, but all it took was one word to take her back to that time in her life. She could still smell the cigar smoke. She could still hear the sound of ice hitting glasses. Her stomach churned from the memories.
“What? What is it?”
“I don’t feel so well.” She tried to raise herself, cringing from the pain of her ribs. “I’m going to be sick!” she cried out, her entire body trembling.
Cam quickly scooped her up in his arms and ran her into the bathroom, soothing her back as she retched into the toilet.
“This is so embarrassing,” she commented once her body finally stopped convulsing. She leaned back against the cool tile wall, clutching her stomach, completely exhausted.
“Want to talk about what set you off?”
She opened her eyes and stared at Cam as he sat across from her on the floor. The fluorescent lights made everything appear so bright, and she knew that she couldn’t hide from him.
“Please, Jolene,” he begged. “Let me help you.”
She inhaled, trying to erase the smells and sounds from her memory. She would never get over hearing that word. It felt so wrong listening to it come out of Cam’s mouth. He was perfect and pure. He wasn’t an evil monster.
“That was my pet name. We all had one.” Her voice was soft as she talked about things that she would rather leave dead and buried.
“What was?” Cam asked, swallowing hard.
“Princess.” She shivered. “All the men… That’s… That’s what they all called me. I wasn’t Jolene. I was princess…except for him.”
“Who? Who’s behind all of this, Jolene?”
Her eyes flung wide open and Cam could see the terror in them at the thought of naming him.
“Don’t you want to stop it? Don’t you realize that you could be the salvation that all these other girls who he has imprisoned need?”
She shook her head. “No. Don’t you see? Don’t you see that he doesn’t care about that? You can name names all you want, but the people who will actually arrest him… Well, guess what? They’re on his payroll, too. Don’t you think we tried that? One time, a girl was able to get access to a phone. She called everyone…police, FBI, you name it. And what happened? Nothing! Not to him, anyway. But the girl… She was never heard from again. She was gone, except for…”
“Except for what?”
“A week later, we were brought into his office. Apparently, she had been kept there. We heard her screams coming from the other room. They brought us into this dark, cold room. There was metal and chains everywhere. In the center was a large platform, suspended slightly at an angle. They drained her body of blood right in front of us. We were forced to sit there for hours and watch as her heart beat its last beat. As her lungs took their last breath.” She cowered in dread. “It was awful. You could see the pain she was in. And we couldn’t do anything to stop it because then we would meet the same exact fate. He told us as much.”
“But you’re safe now. No one will be able to hurt you.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But those girls are still there, and they’ll never be safe. By naming a name, I’m not worried about signing my own death warrant, Cam.” She met his eyes, her body shaking from her cries. “I’m worried about signing theirs.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“RALPH, I NEED SOME good news!” Anthony Falconi shouted at his associate. “It’s been over three months! Nothing! Not a fucking trace! It’s as if she simply disappeared!”
Ralph flinched in response to his boss’ outrage. At every truck stop between here and Miami, each possible clue was met with a dead end. A few people thought that they recognized Jolene, and there was also that girl he spoke to that looked like her, but there was no solid evidence. Now, he was sitting in his boss’ office after he summoned him back, frightened of what would happen because he failed on his mission.
A loud phone rang, temporarily saving him from his boss’ anger.
“What is it?” Falconi barked into his phone.
“Tony. It’s me. You won’t believe this. Your pal, Senator Murphy, was just on the news giving a little press conference. Apparently, he found the girl.”
“Who?” Falconi quickly stood up from his desk, walking over to the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows in his office, and looked down at the city of Chicago several stories below.
“Jolene,” the man on the phone admitted. “The girl’s father saw it, too, and is heading down there. The senator made sure the video was zoomed in on the name of a bar that it looks like she’s working at. I’d say that he wanted you to find her. She’s in Amelia Island, just outside of Jacksonville.”
A sly smile crossed his face as he retreated back to his desk. “Perfect. You go down there to keep an eye on the girl’s father and I’ll fly in with my private jet.”
“Do you think that’s such a good idea, you being down there? People may get suspicious and put the pieces together…”
“Paulene!” he shouted into the intercom. “Refresh m
y memory! Didn’t I get asked to speak at some fundraiser in Florida?! What are the details?!”
“Yes, sir. You’re one of their largest donors,” a voice replied. “I’ve stalled on giving them an answer. It’s tomorrow night in Jacksonville. They have a back-up speaker on stand-by if you can’t make it, but I think it would go a long way toward your image if you were there.”
A calculated smile crossed his face. “Tell them I’m in.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Don’t worry,” Falconi spoke into the cell phone. “I’ll be there. Looks like we’ll be coming back to Chicago heavy one passenger.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
BACK TO BEFORE
THE FOLLOWING AFTERNOON AS Jolene rested in Cam’s arms on the couch, he felt her begin to tremble. “Hey, hey. You okay?” he soothed in her ear.
“Sorry,” she said. “It’s just the story I told you last night. I can’t stop thinking about it. Every time I close my eyes, I see her body. It’s been years, but…”
“I’m so sorry, Jolene,” Cam interrupted, pulling her body further into his and trying to calm her. “I know seeing something as gruesome as that will probably always stay with you. I’m not going to pressure you to talk about it, but when you’re ready, I’m here and I’ll listen.”
She nodded, thankful to have crossed paths with Cam. She wondered what her life would be like had she continued on the bus to a different destination. She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it.
“Hey, Cam?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think I have value?”
“Of course you have value, Jolene,” he said, helping her roll onto her back, surprised by her question. He hovered over her. “What makes you think that you don’t?”
She shrugged. “Probably just another one of his mind games. He always made us feel that, even if we did get out, no one could possibly want us. That our best chance at a future was there, with him. That no one would want to marry a worthless whore…”