Hostage

  “Where is he?”

  “He went out. I don’t know where.” I hope he’ll believe me. I don’t know where Code went, although I can guess based on the available places around that would have breakfast.

  Deke seems to ignore me because he’s seen the case that Code has been carrying this whole time. The case with the diamonds. He closes the door—he must have lifted a key because he didn’t bust into the room—and strides over to grab the case. He opens it and verifies the contents.

  “Just take it,” I say, pulling the covers up since I’m just wearing panties and a t-shirt. I feel shaky and vulnerable and still incapable of moving.

  “I’m planning to take it, but fucking Code isn’t going to walk away from this.” He look and sounded malicious and dangerous. “I’ve been chasing him for fucking days.”

  “How did you find him?” I ask more to distract him than anything else.

  “Jamie. He trusted the wrong person.”

  I’m suddenly furious at the bastard who was supposed to be Code’s friends and have him a shitty car, fake IDs, and then ratted him out to Deke.

  I should be thinking like crazy, coming up with a plan to deal with this nightmare, but my mind is totally a blank. I still can’t move.

  “Code has a nice little set-up here,” Deke says, his face changing as his eyes rest on me. He steps closer. “I see he’s been having a good time with you.”

  I gulp, the fear rushing up even stronger into my throat, my head, my eyes.

  “I guess I can amuse myself until he gets here.” He’s stepped even closer to me, his eyes crawling over me and something almost savage igniting in his eyes. “Only fair, after what he’s put me through.”

  “No,” I choke, fear finally letting me scoot away from him, toward the other side of the bed. He’s like twice my side, so there’s no way I’m going to be able to fight him off. “No.”

  “Yes.” He reaches out toward me. “Get over here.”

  I try to scream, but it’s like a nightmare because I can’t get my voice to make more than a strangled grunt. He’s grabbing me then, and I kick out at him, but it doesn’t faze him the slightest bit.

  He’s going to rape me. It’s surreal that it’s actually going to happen, and the world blurs into a shaky unreality. It’s sort of like when Code grabbed me in the bank, but worse.

  So much worse.

  In a rush of terror and fury both, I grab for anything I can reach. A pillow, which only bounces off his face. Then the lamp on the nightstand.

  It worked last time, and I get in a decent hit, but he just grunts and grabs the lamp out of my hand, throwing it onto the floor.

  “Fucking little cunt,” he grits out, grabbing me with both hands and forcing me under him. “You’re going to see who’s in charge here.”

  I’m still trying to scream, trying to kick out against him, trying to writhe in a desperate attempt to get away. But I can’t. He’s too big, too strong, too horrible. And I’m absolutely powerless against him.

  My eyes blur even more as he holds me down and starts to unzip his jeans with one hand.

  I’ve been raped before, and there was nothing I could do about my step-father. I never resisted because it just wasn’t something I could do at ten years old. I feel the same way now. Let him do this. Even though it’s wrong. Even though I hate it. Even though it hurts me so much I don’t know how I can stand it.

  Let him do it.

  Don’t say no.

  Because that’s me. I don’t say no.

  Except I can. I know now that I can. And I’m not going to let this animal rape me without doing everything possible to stop it from happening.

  “No!” I scream, my voice finally breaking through my fear. “No! Help!”

  He slaps me hard across the face. “Shut the fuck up.”

  “No!” I cry out again, a little louder this time. I don’t know if anyone can hear me, but I’m sure as hell going to try. I’m still trying to get leverage with my legs so I can kick him in a way that will do some damage.

  He rips off my t-shirt, exposing my naked breasts and then reaches down for my panties.

  “No!” I scream one more time.

  The door to the room bangs open again, and both of us turn to look.

  Code is standing in the doorway, taking in the scene.

  Then his face changes, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before in my life.

  Thirty

  Code

  What the fuck?

  For a minute, I’m too stunned to speak, to move. But once I snap out of my stupor, I take in the scene in front of me. There’s only rage. It’s like everything stops. Wren stops moving and Deke is above her, his fucking cock in one hand, while the other is holding Wren down.

  “I’ll fucking kill you.” I close the door and step further into the room.

  Deke laughs. “I don’t think so. I think that I’m gonna beat the shit out you—just enough to do some damage—but I want to make sure that you’re still lucid enough to watch my fuck this bitch.”

  Wren struggles beneath him, and as much as I want to jump on him and fucking wring his neck, I need to keep his focus on me so that Wren can get away. “Code, please,” she whispers but I refuse to look at her. I need my attention to stay on Deke. I need to focus.

  “Yeah? You think you can fucking take me?” I laugh to taunt him. “I don’t think so. You don’t do any fucking thing for yourself. You’re alone. No one’s here to do your dirty work.” I take a step closer. “C’mon. Leave her alone and come and get me. Let’s finish this.”

  I can see him start to shift off of Wren and something in my expression must have given me away because Deke stops and slaps her across the face—hard. “Oh, I’m gonna finish this. But I’m going to have some fun first.”

  Rising from the bed, he quickly zips his pants as the two of us circle one another. “Do you have any fucking idea what you’ve cost me? I shot Axl! I fucking killed Axl! That wasn’t part of the plan, Code. You fucked up a perfectly simple plan. But then again, you’re nothing but a fuck up. I gave you a chance. I took you in and you had my protection. And what do you do? You fucking stab me in the back!”

  I shake my head furiously. “No, man. I never wanted you to take me in—I didn’t want to part of your fucking crew. All I wanted was to leave. I didn’t want anything from you but you made it what it is. You shot Axl? You were going to fucking kill me! I did what you asked—I risked my own fucking life and you set me up!”

  An evil laugh came from Deke. “It was the perfect plan. But somehow you managed to fuck it up and now I’ve had to kill Axl, his hostage…your bitch over here broke Cam’s fucking nose, my face is all over the goddamn papers—not yours—and I’m tired of chasing you. Now be a good boy and let me fucking teach you a lesson,” he says calmly. “I’m going to enjoy it.” Then he leers at Wren again. “And then I’m going to enjoy her.”

  “She’s got nothing to do with this,” I warn.

  “She’s got everything to do with this. No one has a fucking clue about who you are. You managed to stay off the security cameras and for all the chaos at the bank, the only one that people seem to be concerned with is me! I’m on the fucking run, and you’re here playing house with this bitch!”

  “Not my fault,” I say, hoping to keep him talking, distracted. “This was your plan, not mine. Just…let her go.”

  Something evil crosses his face. His smile is almost a little bit scary. “I don’t think so. I think this bitch means something to you. Those diamonds? That money? They mean something to me. You took what’s mine so I’m gonna take what’s yours. The only difference is that I’m not gonna take it and run. I think I’m gonna keep us here for days and make you watch me fuck her. What do you think?”

  He’ll have to kill me first.

  I can see that I’m not going to be able to reason with him. I don’t have any weapons and I’m pretty much scrambling to think of what I can do to get him the hell out of here. Out of t
he corner of my eye, I can see Wren. She’s motioning to something.

  What?

  The lamp. She’s motioning toward the lamp.

  I know what she’s thinking, I just have to find the right time to grab it and use it. “Not gonna happen,” I say.

  He laughs again and stops moving and lunges for me. He’s so fast that I don’t see it coming. His hands are around my throat—hard—and for a minute, I think he’s gonna win. That he’s gonna make good on his threats.

  “I’m gonna fuck her and you’re gonna watch,” he growls in my face. “Then, while you’re sitting there, begging to die, she’s gonna suck my cock. How do you like that? Her cunt and her mouth will be all over me and she’ll be mine.”

  My vision is starting to blur, and every word out of his mouth is making me sick.

  No. No, he can’t. I’ll fucking die before I let him do that to Wren. No one will ever do that to Wren again. Ever.

  My knees start to give out and in the distance, I can hear Wren crying out my name. It was just enough to cause Deke to loosen his grip as he turns around to tell her to shut up.

  I take advantage of the situation and knee him right in the fucking balls. He goes down hard. “You mother fucker!” he cried. “I’ll kill you!”

  He jumps up and swings at me and I duck. Wren is hiding on the other side of the bed, clutching her ripped shirt.

  “Just take the diamonds and the money and go,” I say, trying to sound calm, trying to just end this.

  Deke shakes his head. “No fucking way. You don’t get to just walk away from this. You’ve cost me too much. I’ll take the diamonds and I’ll take the cash, but I’m gonna have my revenge first.”

  He swings and this time he manages to connect with my jaw—just grazes it - but it’s enough force for me to stumble back a couple of feet.

  To the bed stand.

  To the light.

  I pretend that his fist hit me harder than it did. “Damn it, Deke! What the fuck?”

  He laughs again. “You’re such a pussy. I always knew you were. I’m kind of sorry that I didn’t get to shoot you that day. I wanted to watch the look of shock on your face when the bullet hit you. It damn-near gave me a hard on just thinking about it.”

  I rub my jaw as I turn partially to face him.

  With my left hand.

  It’s a good thing I’m right handed.

  Reaching behind me, I grab the lamp and swing it around hard. It smashes into the side of Deke’s head, right at his temple. He instantly collapses to the ground. There’s blood everywhere.

  Wren screams, and I drops the lamp to the floor.

  Maybe now it’s over.

  “Oh, shit!” Wren climbs over the bed. “Are you okay?” She’s got her hands on my face and is scanning it and my throat looking at the markings that Deke left. “Seriously, Code, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” I say breathlessly. I look her over too. “What about you, baby?” I ask softly. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

  She shakes her head. “I thought he was going to…I’d almost given up. At first I was just going to let him do it, but then I kept thinking ‘no.’” She takes a shaky breath. “No.”

  I pull her to me and hold her close. “I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I never should have left you alone. This is all my fault. I dragged you into this goddamn mess.”

  Cupping my face, Wren forces me to look at her. “No. It’s not your fault. I don’t think that. You saved me.”

  Jesus, does she even hear herself? “You wouldn’t even be here right now if it wasn’t for me!” I step out of her embrace with disgust. I can’t even believe what a fucking nightmare this is.

  I look down. Deke isn’t moving. I know I should feel some remorse, but I don’t. That fucking bastard was going to kill me—and Wren. Crouching down, I feel for a pulse but I can’t find one.

  I hang my head down.

  I’d almost made it.

  I’d almost made it to freedom, to that final peaceful place, and now it’s going to be taken away from me anyway. And instead of just bank robbery and kidnapping, now I have to deal with this.

  I look up and meet Wren’s eyes.

  “He’s dead.”

  Thirty-One

  Wren

  There’s a lot of blood.

  All over Deke’s head and face, pooling now on the floor. On Code’s hands and shirt and even sprayed on the bedding.

  Now it’s on me too. Blood all over me.

  I feel a wave a nausea and turn away from the body on the floor.

  Code steps over and reaches out for me, but stops himself before he touches me. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. What are we going to do? Code, what are we going to do?”

  “I don’t know. We can just try to clean things up and leave with the tour as we planned, but we know they’ll find his body eventually and trace us to the tour.” His face twisted. “Shit, what a mess. I can’t drag you into this anymore. I’ll just turn myself in.”

  “No,” I gasp, turning around to face him fully and reaching out to grab his shirt, regardless of the blood. “I’m not going to let you do that. They’ll send you to prison for the rest of your life. I’m not going to let that happen.”

  His blue eyes grow so soft I might drown in them. “Oh, baby, I don’t know that we have a choice. I’m not sorry I killed Deke. I’d do it again without a blink of the eye. He was going to hurt you, and no one gets to do that. But…” He reaches out and takes my face in his bloody hands. “If there’s a price to pay for doing it, then I’ll pay that price. For you.”

  My whole body has started to shake, differently than a few minutes before when Deke had his horrible hands and body all over me. “I don’t want you to pay the price. I’ll pay it.”

  “I’m never going to let you pay more of a price than you’ve already paid. Not while I’m alive, anyway.”

  I feel tears burning in my eyes as I try to wrap my mind around what’s going to happen now. Code will be arrested. I’ll be sent home. He’ll go to prison for kidnapping and robbery and murder. I’ll never see him again.

  And I can’t stand it. I can’t stand a world where that’s what happens, when life finally has seemed to offer me something I really want.

  “No,” I say, wiping away a few tears with my fingertips. “I’m not going to let you take all this on yourself. Let’s think for a minute before we go off half-cocked.”

  “Half-cocked is the story of my life,” he mutters, slanting me a little look.

  The surprising hint of humor, at such a tense time, causes me to choke on a laugh, and the laughter pushes me right into tears. I hug my arms to myself, trying to control the emotion, and Code gives a low groan and pulls me into his arms. “Oh, baby.”

  His words and his tight hold are comforting, despite the bleak circumstances, and I manage to pull myself together pretty quickly.

  Then I pull away and make myself clear my mind. “Okay. I’m okay. Let’s try to think of a plan. If we’re going to go on that tour, we’ll have to get rid of this body and clean up enough that no one knows what happened in this room.”

  “Yeah.” He wipes his hands on a small clean section of his shirt, and then he wipes his sweaty face. “I don’t know that we can do it. Getting rid of a body isn’t as easy as it looks in movies, and it’s morning now. Daylight. We can hardly just heft him up and carry him to the dumpster.”

  “Then we’ll have to dump the tour. The room is tied to it. We can’t let them find us that way.”

  “But then we’re still stuck with the same problem of getting across the border. They’re sure as hell watching for you. On the tour, we had some protection. But, even with pink hair, if it’s the two of us, I’m not sure we’ll make it.”

  “Shit.” I close my eyes and look downward, trying to make my brain think, when it’s still a blur of lingering fear, adrenalin, and emotion. “If they catch us, maybe we can explain that it was self-defense.”

&nbs
p; “If it was you that killed him, then they’d probably buy it. But since I kidnapped you, they’re not likely to let me go just because I killed Deke because he was trying to rape you.”

  I suddenly open my eyes and straighten up. “That’s it. I killed him.” I glance over at Deke’s body and shudder. “He was trying to rape me, so I grabbed the lamp and killed him. I’m a kidnapping victim, and I saw my chance and did what I had to do to survive. They’ll believe me.”

  “Yeah, but I still kidnapped you and helped to hold up a bank. They’ll still arrest me. But that’s okay.”

  I felt a surge of hard knowledge, of bitter certainty. It swept through my body, propelling me a step toward him. “No, it’s not okay. They’re not going to arrest you. Because you’ll be gone. You’ll be gone.”

  His face darkens. “What do you mean I’ll be gone? I’m not going to leave—“

  “Yes, you are. Don’t you see? This is the only way. You’ll be able to move easier on your own. You have the fake ID. Just hitch a ride or take a bus. They won’t be looking for a man alone.”

  “And what about you?” he grits out, something tense shuddering through his body.

  “I’ll give you a little head start and then I’ll call the cops. I’ll say this guy is one of the bank robbers. He kidnapped me, and I killed him in self-defense when he was trying to rape me. His face is all beat up. They won’t know he’s not the one who kidnapped me.”

  I don’t actually know if this plan will hold up, but there’s potential in it. There’s hope. Hope that Code can get through this.

  That’s what matters to me most now.

  He reaches over and takes my face in his hands again. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to let you deal with this by yourself. If I’m leaving, then you’re coming with me. And if you’re staying, then I’m staying too.”

  I pull myself out of hands, feeling strong, whole, certain for the first time in my life. I see the pathway of light now. It’s just not the one I always thought it was.

  I’m also crying as I say, “No, you’re not. Don’t you see? There’s no happy ending for us here. There’s no bright, peaceful place where we can just be together. Not in this world.” I make a quick gesture down to the floor. “There’s a dead body here, and it’s not going to go away. The cops are looking for you, and they’re not going to give up. And I can’t erase who I really am to run away with you. I can’t give up my dad. He’s been the only one who cared about me for years. Nothing comes without a price in this world. You can’t pay the price alone. So let me pay too—by letting you go.”