“It will take time, but eventually, one day, you’ll be able to close your eyes without seeing him, without feeling the pain.”
“Then I’ll look forward to that day” Her warm breath cascaded across his chest making him want her even more. “Good night again, Takahiro. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Sheila. Don’t fret in your sleep because I promise I will be here when you wake up. You will be safe with me.”
“I know I will, but I don’t want you to just feel like you have to keep me safe.”
“Can’t help it,” he shrugged one shoulder.
“Try, because one day I want you to feel comfortable doing something more than keeping that thing covered while you nudge it against me all night.”
He groaned and laughed all at the same time. “Trust me; I want to do something more.”
“Then do it,” she said. “I’m not so broken that I can’t know what I want with you. I do know. I wish we had met under different circumstances, but we didn’t. We met in my darkest hour, when I was at my worst, and you saved me from that. But trust me when I say had I met you walking down the strip of stores at the mall I still would have gone head over heels for you. So you don’t have to worry about anything. I want to be with you because I like you, because you’re nice and smart and fun to be with. And if that’s not good enough for you, well then please know that I also want you for the purely superficial reason that you’re hot.”
He laughed harder than before and she laughed with him. “Okay, I’ve got it.”
“But, when we do…”
“Yeah?”
“You’ll be my first, my only, so be gentle with me; please?”
She didn’t raise her eyes to meet his but he could hear the nervousness in her tone so he didn’t need to see her eyes to know that she was nervous on how he would take her revelation to him. She didn’t need to be nervous. He respected and admired her before, and he respected and admired her still.
“Gentle as a dove,” he said. “I won’t hurt you.” He heard the sigh of relief from her and felt her cheek rise against his chest so he knew she was smiling.
“How about we do dinner together tomorrow night? I’m off work a little earlier.”
“I’ll make sure I’m home. We can cook together.”
She may not have realized it but she said “home,” as in this home was hers too. He liked that; he liked that a lot because it really could be her home too. Of course that would give her one major commute to get to work, but he could live with that if she could.
While she had drifted off to sleep again he hadn’t. His mind was processing the day’s earlier meeting. Deputy Sharron would be pulled from protective duty in about a week at the least. He and Deputy Sharon had decided it would be better if they told her that together instead of separate so they were waiting until the official date came in instead of just the possible one. The media attention had ceased and the politicians were on to using something else to play on the wills of the voters. The official stop date wasn’t in, but it would be soon
On top of the dwindling hoopla of trying to make themselves look good for the public, the detectives on the case didn’t have much to go on at all. They had gotten the identity on the perp—Tiger Peters, brother to Dick Peters. The brother was not to be seen anywhere, but from what the detectives told him they figured he wasn’t in town because from what they could see on the records they had been searching, the man had taken the bus back east. The ticket information had his name, and everything electronic looked as if he truly was on the bus and out of town the night of the attack. Takahiro didn’t buy it. Something just felt off, and he knew that electronic documents could be fixed to make up a believable story. But still, without proof they would be clutching at straws for balance.
With the older brother ruled out that still left the question of why, who and how. It wasn’t an issue of how the guys got her because there was enough evidence on that. His question was how did she cross their path. Why did this guy come from Jacksonville, Florida to Scottsdale, Arizona, to take her and torture her, and who was this “boss” he kept speaking of while he beat Sheila? Without answers to those questions they couldn’t finish this case and close it. But with all the other crimes in the city he knew eventually it would become a cold case pushed into a box and out of sight while another case took over. He hated the system sometimes, but he also understood it. There were other cases to be worked, other criminals to pursue and the colder the case the less likely it was to get worked on with the same eager determination that it did when it was blazing hot.
He had asked Sanchez about the Internet thing but Sanchez had said this kind of vitriol was all over the Internet. He had told him that it made him sick just sorting through it. “My wife is black you know so I can’t tell you just how angry the crap online made me. But I can’t link that vile attack that happened online with what happened to Miss Brackett in the real world. I won’t rule it out, but right now it’s a dead lead.”
Right now, in other words, they weren’t trying to figure out who took the picture and got that mess started. He had a sickening feeling that it was all linked. It had happened two weeks before she was taken and Takahiro didn’t believe in coincidences of epic proportions. It had to be connected. If he were working this case as a detective he would spend more time investigating that angle, and the older brother. He knew he shouldn’t think crazy ran in the family, but what were the odds that this man would come to another state just to help a man not related to him kidnap a woman. If this older brother wasn’t in town why was his brother across country in the DSW in the first place?
He looked down to Sheila and remembered the vision of her he saw when he entered that basement. She looked like a wounded doe, pleading for help, nearly broken from the pain. He remembered the relief in her eyes when she saw the guns aimed her way until the team realized the other guy wasn’t in the basement with her. He remembered that relief because most people wouldn’t feel relief at having that many guns in their vicinity, but for her that many guns meant salvation. That many guns meant the Calvary was there and she could now be released from the trap holding her in hell. Like a wounded doe he saw the fear in her eyes, the pain, the sorrow, and the relief that the next human to touch her wouldn’t cause her more harm.
The remembrance of that day haunted him like no other day ever had. They were a strong tactical unit and as long as some of them had been with him he had never seen his men, nor the few women who served beside them, tear up at the plight of a victim, nor feel so much rage against the attacker. He wondered if the guys knew the first animal wasn’t going for a gun and could have been taken out with a bullet to the knee or something to the shoulder, yet went for the kill shot because they had seen the video and they all knew what they found would be a broken woman. Hell, a broken little girl let Grant Jefferies tell it because he said she looked younger than her years like his little sister only with brown skin. He saw her as somebody who needed to be protected, not hurt, not broken, but protected.
If ever he had to say that his team had carried out orders with a margin of glee post tactical operations he would say this was one of them. The only emotion he saw on their faces was sorrow for the woman now in his arms, anger at the men who had done this to her, and happiness that they had taken one rabid beast out of the equation. At least he couldn’t do this to anybody else. Takahiro knew, making no mistake about it, one bite was never enough. Animals like him would always crave more. She may have been the first, but she wouldn’t have been the last.
“Why?” He whispered as he looked up at the ceiling, wondering if God would answer him that. Why her? Why had the attack been this vicious, as if they were going to keep her for days and do this to her repeatedly until she died? Why?—that was the question he needed answered. Until it was answered there was no way they were going to be able to give closure to her, not just with getting the other guy, but with giving her an understanding of what was going through the
ir mind. It wouldn’t justify it, not at all, but it would allow her to stop asking herself that same question—why; they why’s in the world could kill a person’s soul just as much as the what ifs could. He didn’t want that for her. He didn’t want that for himself. He didn’t want it, but right now that’s what he had. Every night he closed his eyes asking why, and every morning he woke up wondering the same thing. If the cops didn’t come up with something soon he just might have to take a leave and go find the answers himself, otherwise the one word question would haunt him to his grave and beyond. He was a detective once upon a time; maybe he would go do some detecting on his own. Maybe he would pull a favor. Satoshi had a couple friends in cyber places most people feared. Maybe he could ask him to see if one of them would be willing to do a little digging on that Internet attack for him. Maybe they could track down the source and he could go get answers for himself to lead him to the enemy.
Takahiro closed his eyes, willing himself to go to sleep. He had a long day ahead of him in the morning and he wanted to make sure he was functional enough to deal with it. Being on duty while sleepy wasn’t a good road to travel down and he knew that. He would sleep now and process everything else later.
“In the clear,” Dick finished cleaning his gun. The cops were so stupid it wasn’t even funny, but at least it helped him out of a bind. Now that they didn’t suspect him he could stalk her some more. Sure, he missed the chance with that cop the first few times, but he knew he would find out where she was staying soon. If it weren’t for traffic he could have made it work, but with things being the way they were he had to tail farther back as not to be spotted. Stupid drivers with chaotic traffic had mucked up his plan several days in a row. But he was a patient man and that patience was going to get him victory. She would pay for his brother’s death.
Fortunately for Ike, they hadn’t connected the two of them yet so at least he didn’t have to deal with the press cramping his style. Dick had given a blanket statement when the reporter called asking and that seemed to silence them a little at the time, but more than that, the media had moved on to another big story and now there was silence on his front. Had they connected him with Ike then things could have gotten sticky. Ike needed to stay completely clear because he was the inside man. They had plans. They were going to do this together this time. They were going to make sure it hurt like hell. And the great thing about Ike being employed at the same company was the simple fact that he heard things that could tell Dick where this woman would be even if he lost the tail. While he didn’t know where she was staying since the cop had been driving in an unmarked car he did know some new things getting ready to happen at work, new things that she would be involved with and that might just give him the chance to find her alone, unguarded, and easy to take again. He wouldn’t underestimate her fighting skills like he had before. While she wasn’t better than he was he certainly didn’t want to give her time to yell or run. This time would be perfect. This time would be the end of her.
Chapter Seven
Sheila looked at her back in the mirror over the basin. The bruising was gone and most of the scabs had already rubbed off, but there was still some evidence of the damage in the spots that had lost skin down a bit deep in the flesh. She wouldn’t call it brutally ugly, but it was a constant reminder of what she had gone through. She couldn’t shake that no matter how hard she wanted to.
The scar running diagonal down her back, that one was from after she begged him to stop. She knew that much because that was the exact spot he had hit her so hard she felt as if he were beating raw flesh to the bone. She wasn’t sorry the guy was dead. She just wished this hadn’t happened to her. She wished she hadn’t gone back out to the car. She wished the cops could have found her sooner. She wished somebody had come out of their home to help her. She wished she had never been strung up and beaten like she wasn’t human, like she wasn’t even breathing, like she was a rug being beaten clean. She wished she knew the why, and she wished they had caught the other guy.
Her fear wasn’t just about the fact that the other guy was still out there and could come back for her. Her fear was that he would do this again to somebody else. As much as she wished this had never happened to her she wouldn’t ever wish it on somebody else. If they didn’t get this guy he would probably just grab another woman. But then again, maybe without his partner in crime he would stop.
A tear rolled down her cheek as she looked at her back. No, he probably wouldn’t stop. He would probably just find somebody else to do the same type of damage before he got off on whatever he liked to do to the woman they had stolen. She wanted justice. She wanted him caught. And if she were being one thousand percent honest, she wanted him dead. She wanted him to die and she couldn’t lie and say she didn’t. She didn’t just want him in prison where her, and everybody else’s tax money could pay for him to have housing, food and free education. She wanted him dead.
She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed Takahiro had come home until she caught sight of him at the doorway to the bathroom via the reflection in the mirror. She quickly pulled her robe closed. While she had shut the bedroom door she hadn’t shut his bathroom door because she hadn’t been expecting him to come home yet. Why was she trying to cover herself when he had seen all of these marks while rubbing her down with the creams and oils? Why? Because she found them to be an ugly reminder of hell and she didn’t want him to see her that way.
He sauntered toward her with a slow, steady, determined pace. She held her robe closed, clutching it in tightly closed fists as she looked at him.
“I didn’t know you were home.”
He grunted.
“That is I didn’t hear you come in. And the deputy usually tells me you’re back. And I thought you had to work late.” She felt herself rambling. She had a few different deputies watching over her, Deputy Sharron was probably her favorite because he seemed to love to talk about his family, the changes to the San Tan area and his duties as a deputy. The others were nice but a couple looked at her with pity in their eyes and she couldn’t bear it so she, while not working, stayed hidden in the room or the kitchen. She tried to stay out of sight as much as possible. Fortunately once she started working Deputy Sharron was the one they seemed to keep on her, except for today. Today there was a nearly silver haired Deputy Richards. He was all business, but she supposed that’s how it should have been. He needed to focus on his job, not just for her safety, but for his own safety too. The other guy who had taken her had a gun so it’s not as if they didn’t know he would be armed and dangerous if he showed up again.
Takahiro put his hands over hers and she clutched her robe tighter. He looked at her with a look she couldn’t explain; it wasn’t pity, it wasn’t sorrow, it was something more complicated.
One hand left hers so that the back of his fingers could brush another fallen tear from her cheek. He lowered his head and his mouth softly brushed against her upturned lips. His touch was so soft, so calming that she felt herself letting go of her rigid line of defense. Her fingers uncurled and it was as if he knew it at first instinct because he had his fingers already brushing the robe aside. She tried to close it back but his hands were already anchored to her waist as his tongue delved deeper into her mouth exploring every crevice as if it were searching for treasure.
She found herself getting lost in the moment so much that she hadn’t realized when his hands moved from her waist to work their way up the outside of her silk robe. Now would have been a good time to pull it closed again but she was so enraptured by the feelings his kiss had coursing through her that she hadn’t thought for even a second about the complexity of what his hands were doing until he had her robe off her shoulders, her arms out of the casing, and the delicate fabric pooling now around her ankles.
“You’re beautiful,” he told her as he looked in her eyes. “Every centimeter of you; don’t you ever doubt that.” He kissed her shoulder and then, slowly, methodically hypnotizing lips
kissed every spot that had been injured as if he had ingrained the now healed bruises in his mind. She should be worried about that, but on another level it felt good knowing he had learned her body that much. Even the areas that were no longer bruised he kissed along with those where the scars were still evident. She felt something more than just happiness with his care for her; she felt aroused. Her hands braced on the ledge of the counter and she held on tight, finding her eyes following his motion, watching him kiss her stomach as he knelt before her. She was near on fire, but in a good way. And when he turned her to face the mirror all the while kissing the back of her body just the same she couldn’t stop watching him.
His lips softly touched her shoulder, then his eyes slowly drifted up to hers and she held his gaze through the looking glass as he placed another soft kiss on her shoulder. And then, as if on a map, he kissed his way down her back, paying special attention to the still scarred area that brought tears to her eyes the first time. Her eyes closed as she held on to the sink and got lost in his kisses. Down her body he went and then back up again, kissing her, soothing her, arousing her.
And when he stopped this time, turned her to face him and lifted her into his arms she knew where this was going, she knew this was that moment she had hoped for with him. She was ready, and now he was too.
He laid her down on the bed and stripped of his own clothes in such a slow pace that she couldn’t help but watch as if she were watching a master paint a canvas, unveiling the work section by section until the beautiful work of art was drawn, revealed, and ready to explore.
He came to the bed, and straddled her body. Slow kisses calmed her nerves, excited her senses and made her desire more. As he slowly kissed his way to her neck and sunk into her just the same. The intrusion startled her. Despite his own obvious need he didn’t rush her; instead, he looked into her eyes and remained still as he supported himself on one forearm while his fingers slowly brushed through her hair.
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