by L. J. Voss
We lose track of time while we talk. It isn’t until we both are yawning in between words that I glance at my watch. “It’s getting late. We should get to bed. We’ll head into town early. Hopefully we can get in and out before it starts to get busy. The less chance of you being seen the better.”
When we get to her door we pause and turn towards each other. She leans against her door and looks up at me. Looking into her eyes, I’m at a loss at what to say. I feel like I need to apologize for earlier but I don’t know how. This day has been a ringer. I went from exhausted to fuming angry to afraid and ready to kill to raging desire.
“Well, this is me.”
“I had fun with you today. Even if you did bring in an orphaned duck and put it in my bathtub.”
“I said I was sorry for that. Besides you can’t really have expected me to leave her out there. She’d probably be dead if I left her out there.” She is starting to get worked up again.
“Hey, I was joking. And no, you couldn’t have left her.” At the look she gives me I add, “Cleo. You couldn’t have left Cleo out there by herself. You have the biggest heart of anyone I know. It’s one of the things I like about you. Besides she’s kind of growing on me.” She smiles at that statement. “Well, I guess I should get to bed.”
“Good-night.”
We both hesitate for a second before we lean into each other. This kiss is different than the ones earlier. There’s desire behind this kiss but there’s else, like a promise of more. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
She opens her door and smiles as she shuts it. I head to my room and lay on my bed. Sleep eludes me for a while. My mind is spinning but none of the thoughts have any direction. It seems like hours before I finally fall asleep.
CHAPTER NINE
- Imogen -
This morning we had a quick breakfast and then decided to head into town. In the hopes of trying to be quick we decided to leave Mr. Darcy and Cleo at the cabin. Cleo is locked in the bathroom in the bathtub with some food, water and a towel. Mr. Darcy is locked in my room with his litter box and a blanket. Hopefully we’ll get back and the cabin will still be in one piece. It’s hot and humid after the storm yesterday. My white t-shirt is sticking to me and the air conditioner in the car feels like heaven.
Calder turns the radio on to a classic rock station. “I didn’t take you for a classic rock type of guy, rap or country maybe. Although you’re from Chicago so I guess rock makes more sense.”
“Country? Definitely not country. I don’t mind some rap.”
“You just sort of look like the All-American boy next door so country seemed right.” I mutter under my breath, “Boy next door, with a body of a Greek god.”
The drive into town is silent but comfortable. We decide to stop by the pet store first. It’s a little local mom and pop type store. Unfortunately they don’t have what we need. They were really helpful though and told us that the Petsmart would have some duck food. It’s farther in the city and on the other end which makes Calder nervous. He doesn’t want to drive farther into the city; he wants to stay out on the edge of town.
“Maybe it’s better to go somewhere bigger and that’s busy. Then someone is less likely to be able to pick me out of a crowd. Plus we don’t have much of a choice. Cleo needs to eat and we have to feed her the right kind of food.”
“I’m not happy about it and if my supervisors find out I’ll probably be fired,” he glances at me and graces me with one of his one sided grins I’m coming to love and adds, “Although if they found out about most of my actions at the cabin I’d probably be fired.”
My blood starts to heat, my cheeks flush, and I squeeze my legs together when I think about yesterday. He chuckles at my discomfort. The easy banter between us gives me the courage to ask, “So I was wondering if there was any way I could have my phone. Just to check my messages or check in. June and Kelly are probably worried sick since I haven’t touched based with them at all. Plus I’m stressing about my shop and what if there was an emergency?” I start to ramble a little when he doesn’t say anything at first.
“No. It’s out of the question. Besides I don’t even have your phone with me. It’s back at the cabin. We only have a few more days of this and then you can go home. Plus, didn’t you tell them I was stealing you away for a, what did you call it? A ‘sexcation’?” My ears burn when he reminds me of what I called our pretend getaway. The fact that he remembers makes what I’m going to do later a little more embarrassing than it already was. He continues, “If I really did take you away on a sexcation, you wouldn’t have any time to check in.”
At that my stomach flips and I want so badly for it to be true. Just a few more hours and hopefully it will be. I never thought of myself as easy, I mean I’m no saint, but I don’t just hop into bed with every guy who looks my way. But the thoughts going through my head and the tingles spreading throughout my body just at his words help reaffirm my decision. I have no response to his words and he knows it. We keep stealing glances at each other on the drive. A teenage girl is probably less giddy than I am right now.
When we get to Petsmart, we both head in and I excuse myself to the bathroom. If he won’t give me my phone I’ll find one to use. There can’t be any harm in checking in real fast. I head to the grooming department and ask to use their phone. They seem skeptical so I tell them I’m just checking to see where my husband is and that we are supposed to be meeting here to drop our dog off. I’m proud of my quick, brilliant, albeit pretty transparent lie as she hands me the phone. I’m pretty sure I hear her mutter whatever under her breath. Maybe it wasn’t skepticism I was sensing but the fact that I was making her work. Oh well, I don’t care, I’m on a mission. The thrill of doing something I’m not supposed to do is making me giggly.
I decide to try Kelly first since she was who I talked to when I first left with Calder. Deciding not to bother her at the café and avoid a barrage of questions, I call her house phone. There isn’t any risk of someone answering since she is covering for me and I know Ben will be busy at work. I try to leave it short and to the point but with enough detail that she doesn’t get suspicious. Hopefully she can understand my half muffled whispered voicemail. I didn’t want to blow my cover. Not wanting to take too long and run the risk of Calder catching me, I forgo calling June. Kelly was supposed to let her know where I was and knowing June she is probably off skydiving or has dragged Mabel to some rock concert.
Looking down various aisles I finally find him with a bag of duck and goose food. Man, he is drool worthy. It’s almost like he is a cliché from one of the romance novels I love to read. He smiles when he sees me and we head to the checkout together. After he pays, my stomach growls and I notice I’m getting a little hungry so I ask if we can swing through and get some fast food. There’s a McDonald’s right by Petsmart that he grudgingly takes me to. He doesn’t order anything and after eating I’m not sure the burger was worth the lecture I got about how bad fast food is for me and the disgusted look I got the whole time I ate. Never mind, Big Macs are always worth it.
Calder decides that the grocery store closer to the cabin is better. It’s smaller and there isn’t as much foot traffic. So his reasoning is it’s safer and it’s on the way and then the food won’t be out of the refrigerator for as long. For some reason he seems to be pretty urgent to get back to the cabin. I’m not complaining since I’m looking forward to trying to seduce him later. We’ve both agreed to enjoy the time we have left and that time is getting shorter. Besides he’s hot and no one will blame me.
He parks right in front of the store and we head in. I let him push the cart and we start to gather the items on our list. Three boxes of Pop Secret join our cart and he laughs at me. His urgency to get back to the cabin has lessened as we meander through the grocery store. We go up and down each aisle and we take turns tossing in things we want or need. I grab a bottle of wine and he silently raises
his eyebrows as I set it in the cart. Now’s the part I’ve been dreading. I have no idea how I’m going to get away from him to get what I need. Since I’m planning on seducing him later I have to be prepared. My traitor of a body almost gives me away as I say, “I, um, I have to go grab something. I’ll be right back.”
He responds with a casual smile, “I’ll go with you.”
“No,” I rush out, “It’s, a, I’m, a, I need to get some feminine products.” By now my whole face is flaming red. Great, so not only am I going to pick out some condoms that I just realized he is going to have to pay for since I don’t have my wallet but now he thinks I’m on my period.
“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll just be over in the deli I guess.” He turns and leaves me standing in the aisle like an idiot. I turn to try and find the aisle I want. I’ve gone past all of the aisles at least twice before I finally find the aisle I want. Glancing around to see if anyone is watching me I look at the condoms. Geez, how many different kinds and brands are there? While I like my new empowered female persona I don’t have the knowledge to pull this off. I’ve never had to deal with buying these before. The guy always had them or it didn’t happen. There are different sizes? Five minutes pass as I stand just staring at the shelves. Screw it, I’ll just grab some of all of them. I smile when I realize I know what he felt like looking at the popcorn. Once he sees what I have, he probably won’t be doing much thinking if you know what I mean. Chuckling to myself at my joke, I go to find him and bump into someone at the beginning of the aisle.
“Imogen?”
It takes a minute to recognize him since he is so out of place here. The shock of seeing someone familiar bursts my little bubble of non-reality. “Michael? What in the world are you doing here?” Realizing what I’m holding, I try to hide the packs of condoms behind my back but he wraps me up in a huge hug. The whirlwind of the last couple days and all the chaos hits me a little as I am enveloped in familiar arms. I squeeze him back with my one free arm.
“Girl, have I missed you! Where have you been, slut? You fell off the face of the earth. I had to get ready for that fundraiser all by myself. I’m not sure I can ever forgive you for bailing on me.”
“Oh that’s right! I totally forgot! I’m so sorry, Michael. You might forgive me once you find out why.” I wiggle my eyebrows and my mouth breaks into a huge smile. I stick to the story I told Kelly, just in case she’s talked to him, “I’m actually with a guy.”
“A guy? Tell me, tell me, tell me! Wait, you’re not seeing anyone.”
“Well, that’s the thing, I‘ve sort of been on a couple dates with Wall Street.”
“Girl, how dare you hold out on me! I want all the juicy details. Please tell me there are juicy details. Is he here? Do I finally get to see this sex on a stick you and Kelly are always talking about?”
He grabs me by the arm and starts dragging me towards the front entrance of the store. His fingers start to cut into my arm a little bit and the sting of his nails breaking skin have me on edge. I try to pull my arm out of Michael’s grasp but can’t. “Michael! Michael you are hurting me.” He loosens his grip a little but doesn’t let go.
“Sorry. I just don’t want to miss seeing Wall Street. You guys have been going on and on about him. I’ve felt left out. Now I can finally see him! I guess I should know his real name. I can’t be calling him Wall Street forever.”
“Actually his name is Brett and he’s here in the store. We can go find him so you can check him out,” I grab his hand and loop my arm through his to try to avoid the digging of his nails in to my arm again. “So how did the fundraiser event go? Did you hook up with that artist you were talking about?”
“You wouldn’t even believe it! That’s actually why I’m still hanging around here. The fundraiser was at the Brunner Gallery and Justin, the featured artist, just lives right around the corner. Obvi, we hit it off at the fundraiser and so I’ve been staying with him. And by staying with him I mean we haven’t left the bed for two days. I’m lucky to have slipped out to come here.” He keeps glancing over his shoulder and picking up the pace a little. Something seems a little off or hurried. Turning his head forward he whispers to me, “Imogen, I think there’s someone following us. I think we should leave. You can call Brett from my car.”
My heart drops. They found me. I’m straining my neck as I look all around trying to find Calder. I need him. “Michael, I have to find Calder.” At the panic in my voice he slows and looks at me.
“Calder? Who’s Calder? I thought you said you were with Wall Street or Brett or whatever.”
He’s still slowly pulling me to the door when my eyes catch Calder’s. He’s at the back of the store making his way up to me. He pauses when he sees me with someone. Michael turns looks where I’m looking. When Calder sees him, his face wrinkles with confusion for second. Almost in the way you do when you recognize someone but can’t place their face. Confusion is replaced with fear as he yells my name, “Imogen! Run!”
None of this is making any sense. I’m trying to understand why Calder is saying what he’s saying and Michael pulling me outside in the opposite direction of Calder is angering and distracting me. All I know is that I need to get to Calder. “Michael. Michael! Stop, I need to get to Calder.”
“Immy, someone’s following us. We have to get to my car.”
“That’s Calder. I have to get to him. He’ll keep us safe and then I can explain everything to you.” As we are almost to a grey sedan, Calder comes rushing out of the store. He has his phone up to his ear and his gun out. What happens next leaves me breathless. I don’t know how or why or what but as soon as I see him ice runs through my veins. His face is a mask of helplessness, fear, and anger. “Michael. Michael, let me go. Let me go now,” I’m turning away from him and trying to pull my arm out of his grasp. My mind can’t process anything right now. I’m barely able to register the motion of his right arm coming up. I see the flash of sun reflect off of something and then I hear a gunshot quickly followed by another gunshot. “No!” I scream as I turn to see Calder fall. My arm reaches fruitlessly to him. Anger makes my blood boil and my survival instincts kick in and take over.
I start hitting and kicking and anything I can do to try to get away. Michael’s strength is deceiving. The way he acts and looks you would think that he is thin and therefore pretty weak. All I feel when he wraps his arms around me and lifts me up is hard sinewy muscle. With one last burst of adrenaline I start flailing. When that again proves to be pointless, I realize I still have the condoms in my hands I try to throw them at Michaels face. Maybe I can get lucky enough to hit him in the eye, anything I can to try to get him to drop me so I have a fighting chance of getting to Calder. I’m not sure exactly where he was hit but that fact he is still down and I saw the left side of him kick back is not encouraging.
Helplessly I watch as I’m pulled farther and farther away from Calder. My mind and body have gone numb as I feel the burning metal of a car sitting in the sun on my leg. The heat of the metal sends fire to my resolve to fight. My mind’s still refusing to process that this is Michael doing this. I can’t even start on the why of it. Shock mixed with adrenaline has my mind spinning in a million different directions. Half of me is still hoping this is some horrible misunderstanding. When Michael turns me to face him, the look on his face is all I need to see to know this is not a misunderstanding. His eyes are devoid of any emotion. His movements are calculated and thoroughly planned out. Like a big cat stalking its prey. A paralyzing wave of fear has me immobile. We stare at each other for what feels like eternities. His lips turn into an amused smirk right before I feel the butt of his gun come crashing into my temple. Everything goes black.
- Calder -
I’m not sure why Imogen didn’t want me to come with her to pick up the stuff she needed. It would take more than some tampons and pads to make me uncomfortable. Growing up with my sister, I’ve seen my fair share o
f girlie products. But the slightly panicky embarrassed look on her face has me turning the cart away and leaving her.
She seems to have been gone for a while. I’ve almost memorized all of the drinks on the shelves when the little curl of fear that has been in my stomach since we left the pet store grows. This is too long. She shouldn’t have been gone this long. Almost annihilating an old lady with my cart I start towards the aisle she should be down. She isn’t there but I think I see the ends of her hair whipping around the end of the aisle. Hurriedly I’m jogging with the cart along the back of the store looking down the aisles just trying to get a glimpse of her and see that she’s okay. Fear is morphing into panic with each empty aisle.
Finally I get to the end of the aisles to the produce section. There’s a clear view of the front of the store. I spot Imogen with a well-dressed man who looks to be very into his appearance. His hair is in a wave on top of his head, like the guys in those fashion magazines. He is in tight khaki pants and a suit coat. Way overdressed for the supermarket in my opinion. Imogen sees me as I pause trying to figure out who she could be with. The guy who is holding her arm turns around. His face looks familiar and I’m trying to place him. I know I know him from somewhere. When his eyes meet mine, I can feel dread in the pit of my stomach. There is nothing in their depths except icy cool determination. That’s when it clicks. I know where I’ve seen him and the realization does nothing to dispel the dread coursing through my body. No one really knows who he is. He’s like a ghost. He shows up right when someone goes missing or turns up dead. No evidence. No clues. I’m not sure how I manage but my lips open and I shout, “Imogen! Run!”
Confusion washes over her face at my words. He starts pulling her out the door and away from me. I’m racing after them as my right hand reaches behind me for my gun and my left hand has my phone out dialing. As I rush out into the sunlight I manage a few words to the person on the other end of the phone, “Agent Calder, Imogen’s gone.” I don’t have a clear shot of him. The glint of sun off of the barrel of his gun is all the warning I get. I’m not quite fast enough and the shot slams into my left shoulder. The impact knocks my phone out of my arm. He’s still pulling Imogen away from me. There’s still not a clear shot and with the pain of the hit to my shoulder I’m afraid I’ll hit Imogen even if there was. His gun goes off again and this time I feel it tear into my thigh. The force combined with the pain from both shots has me falling to the ground. I watch helplessly as he drags her and starts taking her to the back of a car. Suddenly there are boxes flying but they do little to stop him. He gets her to the back of a car and knocks her out and shoves her in the trunk. My fingers curl around my phone as dots start forming in my eyes from the pain of being shot and reaching for my phone. I bite out a few words into the phone, “Agent down. Suspect at large. Charge taken.” Then the blackness takes me.