Stockholm Syndromance: A Bad Boy Romance (Still a Bad Boy Book 4)

by Ada Scott

  That was the problem, though. Pacing around like a panther in the shadows of my mind was the harsh truth that this was more than a job now.

  Eliana had torn down my professionalism, with her scorching hot sexuality, with her quirky personality. A part of her was inside my walls, intertwining itself with my heart.

  I wanted to be around her after tomorrow. I wanted to see what the fuck hilarious thing she was going to say next. I wanted to hear my name the way she said it. I wanted her. Fuck. I was in deep shit here.

  Vito Mondalo deserved everything that Jace was going to do to him. For never recognizing the fucking treasure he had with Eliana. For keeping her down, when she should have flown.

  “We’ll stay in Beech Grove tonight,” I said.

  “How much longer do we have?” she asked.

  I couldn’t miss the way the question was phrased. Not “how much longer until we arrive,” but how much longer until the end.

  “Wednesday. Afternoon.”

  For the second time, the first being on the hill overlooking the café in Green Point, I saw her expression drop. “That’s… not very long.”

  I hated myself for bringing her down, but the only thing I could think of at that time was adding a worthless “late afternoon” qualifier to my estimate. Fuck-lot of good that would do.

  I put my hand on her thigh and she immediately grabbed on to it and held on until we pulled into a motel’s parking lot. This time it was a woman behind the counter, so I poured on the charm and gave her a sob story about my girlfriend and me getting robbed while on holiday and being given just enough cash from friends to make it home.

  The overworked owner/operator lady gave Mr. Smith and Miss. Jones a complimentary upgrade out of sympathy, and we went to our room on the first floor. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a cover-story that went well with avoiding the pizza driver like last time, so I was going to make other arrangements for food tonight. Eliana made a beeline for the shower and, after I checked the bathroom out of habit to make sure there were no easy weapons or means of escape, I pulled up a chair to watch the show.

  She gave me a quizzical look, but her movements took on a subtle rhythm that suggested there was quiet stripper-music playing in her head. I’d seen and felt every inch of that smooth skin and feminine curves by now, but with perfection like her it was just as exciting as the first time.

  Turning away from me with her thumbs hooked into her panties, she looked over her shoulder as she slowly bent over. Pausing just before her pussy was revealed to me, she raised an eyebrow. I sat up a little straighter in my chair without thinking about it, unconsciously trying to get a better vantage point over that last visual barrier.

  Eliana smiled the kind of smile that would break hearts and pushed her panties down her thighs to reveal her enticing pink folds before straightening and kicking her underwear into the corner. My handprint was clear as day on one of her ass cheeks, while the other was a more general smudge of bruising.

  I shook my head slowly in renewed disbelief at the contrast between Eliana’s innocent looks and just how hard the inexperienced girl liked to be fucked. She leaned into the shower and I heard the squeak of a tap and running water.

  “Wanna join me?” she asked.

  “Can’t tonight, I’m going to head out again to get some food. I’ll shower after I’m back. Unless you want another meal of water and potato chips?”

  “No, thanks.” She stepped into the shower, but left the door open wide enough to let me keep watching.

  I wrapped a towel around her when she came out and kissed her lips, smelling the humid and soapy air as I held her against me. When we parted, she looked up at me with that shining-armor expression again as if nobody had ever done anything so nice before.

  She seemed to bask in the simple things, in the attention, as much as she did the wild times. It was like I could do no wrong as long as I kept her in mind. To tell the truth, it wasn’t easy to think about anything else.

  After giving her a little alone-time in the bathroom, I cuffed her to the bed and headed out. Thankfully there was a Chinese place just a few doors down the street.

  I ordered a range of dishes and took a seat to wait while a TV blared above us and a few other customers also waited for their orders while reading old magazines. After a short time the news at six began with a breaking news story instead of a report on the multiple incidents in Rockwell that their commercial had previewed a few minutes previously.

  “We’re leading off today with a story that is unfolding as we speak, and we’ll be crossing live to our correspondent in New Mexico for a press conference that Victor Mondalo has called in regards to his daughter, Eliana, who, he has revealed, has fallen victim to a violent abduction from his Hutchinson home.

  This happened several days ago and is only now coming to light because, it has been rumored, the surprise Presidential candidate has stood his ground or been unable to comply with the hostage-taker’s demands. It’s unknown at this time how many individuals are involved or if they represent a terror-group of some kind, but at least one of the kidnappers has been identified as twenty-eight-year-old Eric Winchester of Port Magnus.”

  My heart almost stopped when a picture of me, thankfully not too recent and without this black eye, came up on the screen with my name underneath it. I looked at the other customers, all of whom were still disinterestedly looking at their magazines or their phones.

  The food might have only taken a few more minutes after that, but it dragged on forever as the screen changed over to Vito’s press conference. He made a brief statement before the network came back to the commentary of their news anchors again.

  When my number was called, I accepted it with a downturned head and a muttered thanks and got the hell out of there.

  Eliana

  I missed Eric when he left to get the food. More than that. My body and soul ached for the sight of him, the feel of him against me.

  Just when I thought he’d shown me everything in his bag of tricks the morning he took my virginity, he took it up another notch in the back of our car. Then there was nothing but the two of us and our afterglow huddled up in that tiny space.

  It was like the outside world faded away a little bit. I let myself pretend that we’d never reach our destination, that we’d stay in this little bubble with just the two of us until the end of time.

  Even Eric had seemed more relaxed on the drive to Beech Grove. Maybe it was due to how close we were actually getting to the end of the job. Maybe it was the growing distance between us and the scene of his latest crime, or where he stole our car from. Maybe, just maybe, he even liked me a little.

  Whatever the case, Eric was clearly a lot less relaxed when he returned with the food. At least this time World War III hadn’t erupted outside.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He set the bag of food down on the bed within my reach and then had what was easily the world’s quickest shower. Before I’d even examined all the containers, he was out, dressed, and eating with me, most of his attention still elsewhere.

  “I said, what’s wrong?”

  “Your dad has finally gone public about you,” Eric said.

  My ears perked up. Had this event made him regret the way he’d treated me my whole life? Had he made an impassioned plea for my safe return to his loving arms? Knowing him, it was a lot to ask for, but sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until you don’t have it anymore.

  “Oh? What did he say?” I tried to sound nonchalant.

  “It was a pretty quick statement. Kept to the facts, mostly. He said as a proud American, he wouldn’t be caving into the demands of those who would seek to undermine the values of this great nation. Or something like that.”

  My heart sank a little bit and I growled quietly at myself. I shouldn’t have been so disappointed in an outcome that was so completely expected.

  “Did you make demands?”

  “Me? No. Maybe Jace has though, or maybe somebody else has c
laimed responsibility and was trying to wrangle some kind of ransom for themselves.”

  “Oh. So, what’s the problem then? They don’t know where we are, right?”

  “No, but now our pictures are all over the media. Now every man, woman, and child in the country who has access to a TV, computer or newspaper is working for your father, in a sense. If they see us, they’ll report to the police, and some dirty fuckin’ cop will report to your father. Then they’re hot on our trail again.”

  I swallowed some sweet ‘n’ sour chicken. “So, do we have to get back on the road now? Tonight?”

  “No. We’ve got to stop somewhere, this is as good a place as any to bunker down for the night. People could only have caught a glimpse of you from inside the car or when we walked up here, and I’ve only been to the front desk and the Chinese restaurant. I’ll have to stay on my toes tonight though. We’ll sleep with our clothes on, bag packed and ready to go at the first sign of trouble. We’ll leave early in the morning.”

  I sighed. I’d only put clothes on after my shower so he could rip them off me later. Still, it would be kind of nice to sleep in a bed again after a night in the back seat of the car.

  After drifting off so quickly at first, I’d woken up several times in the night cramped or cold, having to adjust myself for maximum snuggle-factor, so I was kind of tired anyway. With a hunger satiated with actual cooked food instead of gas-station-level snacks, I resigned myself to a celibate and early night.

  Eric threw away the remains of our meal and packed everything we had left into a single bag, except for the metallic briefcase that he must have picked up in Green Point. He left both of them on the table.

  “Sorry, we can’t watch TV. Might not hear the sirens in time.”

  “It’s OK. I don’t want to watch reruns of my dad’s touching eulogy anyway,” I said.

  Eric pulled a pair of socks out of the bag and kicked my shoes over to the side of the bed. He kneeled on the mattress with one knee and I pointed my toes for him with a bemused grin on my face.

  He pulled the first one up snug on my left foot, and then did the same for my right while my eyes flicked back and forth between his hands and his face. For some reason, it made me want to squirm with happiness. I didn’t know that having a man dress me would be almost as sexy as having a man undress me.

  My shoes were slipped on and then he climbed on the bed, shoes-and-all himself, and lied down next to me. He reached up and detached the handcuff from my wrist, bringing my arm down to my side.

  “Just in case we need to get out of here quickly,” he said.

  “Of course.”

  “Don’t-”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Sorry, force of habit,” he said.

  I lifted my head so he could slip his arm under, and we shuffled closer, our legs intertwined. He stroked my hair, tucking errant locks behind my ear and I reached inside his jacket to put my hand on his back and pull us even closer together.

  His touch was so soft. He stroked my cheek when his work with my hair was done, and I stared up into his eyes as if he was slowly hypnotizing me without words. I knew now why cats purred.

  How could those hands be so gentle now and yet so strong when they needed to be? When I wanted them to be?

  “When you were a kid, did you always want to be a murderer?” I asked.

  Eric laughed and the bed shook. It was music to my ears. “No. First, I wanted to be a dog when I grew up.”

  Now it was my turn to laugh. “What kind?”

  “I’m not sure. Nothing you could fit into a handbag at least. How about you? Wait… doctor, of course.”

  “Or nurse. When did you give up on your dream to be a dog?”

  “About six, I guess. Then I wanted to make suitcases like my dad.”

  “You can make a living making suitcases?”

  “Sort of. We didn’t have much, but we lived. He made some really nice stuff, but it’s all antique and antique-style. Who knows how you end up with the interests you end up with? That’s his. He’s a good man.”

  “What’s that like?” I asked.

  “What’s what like?”

  “To have a father who’s a good man.”

  “It’s… irreplaceable.”

  I cast my eyes down as low as his neck for a second, then looked back up. “What are you going to do after… this? Kidnap some other poor girl and take advantage of your rugged good looks again?”

  “No. I need a vacation after this. Besides, I’d rather go out and kill somebody who had it coming and then get paid for it. You’re a special… case. After it’s over, maybe you’d…”

  “What?”

  “Maybe you’d want to stick around. With me.”

  My heart thundered and soared into the air for a few glorious seconds. In his arms anything seemed possible.

  “You won’t… get sick of me?” my lip trembled.

  “No.”

  “Would you be… proud of me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Would you tell everyone… that’s my girl?”

  “Everyone. Except the Secret Service if your dad wins the election.”

  I gave him a smile that quickly faltered. “Is it even possible?”

  “It’s possible if you want it to be possible.”

  “But… Barlow. Nobody talks to me, but I hear things, you know? They talk about him like he’s the devil himself. They say he cuts off peoples’ heads and uses their skulls to drink their blood.”

  “Uh… I’ve never seen him do that.”

  “What did my father do to him?” I asked.

  Eric paused for a long time. “He was involved, somehow, in killing Jace’s parents. Maybe he did it himself.”

  I paused for even longer. “I’m dead.”

  “He said he wouldn’t. I trust him. You sound scared. That’s a first from you.” Eric resumed stroking my cheek.

  “I never had anything I cared about losing before.”

  Looking up at him, I licked my lips and took a few deep breaths. There was an ‘L’ word that was trying to burst out of my mouth.

  I wanted to say it to him while I still could, but it was as if my lips didn’t know how to make the right shapes. My tongue wouldn’t cooperate. A lifetime without it had left me unable to say it.

  The emotion inflated itself painfully like a balloon in my windpipe, as if punishing me for keeping it bottled up, while I must have looked like a goldfish opening and closing my mouth in his arms. Eventually, I buried my face against his chest so he wouldn’t see me cry again.

  Eric

  Like any city, Beech Grove had its share of police sirens. Unfortunately for me, I was in a situation where every siren was a potential cause for concern.

  Every time I heard one, I was snapped out of a shallow slumber to listen intently. Was the siren getting closer? Were others joining it?

  It was almost dawn when the faint sound of a siren drawing closer was joined by another, coming in the same direction. Then another.

  I sat up and disentangled myself from Eliana, going to the window and parting the curtains to look outside. It was all still out there from this vantage point, but another siren joined the approaching cacophony. I went to the bag and recovered my gun, slipping it into my holster.

  “Wake up.”

  “Hmmm?”

  “Wake up. Get up. Get up!”

  Eliana sat upright. “What’s… oh!”

  There were too many sirens to count now, and they were still getting closer. I grabbed the bag and the briefcase with one hand and Eliana with the other, pulling her to her feet and racing to the door.

  Red and blue lights flashed on the curtains behind us as we dashed into the hallway. Eliana instinctively went to the left, towards where we’d come from, but I pulled her to the right, towards the fire escape.

  We sprinted down the empty hallway, then took a left towards the back of the building, where the fire escape was. I hit it at
high speed and it flew open, setting off the alarm.

  The street was empty, and I’d take that over a hail of bullets any day. We raced down the single flight of steps and on to the sidewalk, while at the front of the motel it sounded like every cop in the city was trying to be the first into the parking lot to make the arrest of the century.

  I tried to look everywhere at once as we ran. Really, we’d been lucky that Vito hadn’t gone public earlier, but I hadn’t expected anybody to have made the connection with us and the news story, given how few people had seen us in total.

  The only person who had a lengthy look at me was the woman at the front desk. Maybe she’d just been finishing her shift when we arrived, and then saw the news this morning at home when she woke up. It was impossible to say, but I thought we were a little hard done by to be identified so quickly.

  Up ahead I saw a car parked at the side of the road and put on a burst of speed to try to get to it as quickly as possible. Eliana was running her heart out, and being half dragged by me, when a police cruiser came out of the road to our right, cutting us off, and I just about went flying over the top of the hood.

  I let go of Eliana’s hand and had my gun out in a flash, pointing at the driver, screaming at them to show me their fucking hands. In the dim early-morning light, I saw some hands come up.

  It wasn’t until I ripped the door open that I saw it was a lone female officer in the driver’s seat, looking like maybe it was the first shift in her short career that she’d been given the all-clear to ride alone. Lucky for me, but not so much for her.

  “Keep your fucking hands up!”

  I dropped the bag and briefcase too. Reaching in with my newly freed hand, I took her gun away, while keeping my own out of her reach, and stood up again.

  I kept my gun trained on her. “Slowly release your seatbelt and get your hand back up. Don’t you fucking do anything stupid.”