by Maia Starr
It was Amelia.
“I see you,” she said. “Look to your left.”
I looked to my left and saw her inside a small cafe, cautiously waving at me. I took Wes’s arm and we went into the restaurant. I sat across from Amelia and Wes pulled up a chair to sit between us.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi.”
“I’m glad I found you.”
Wes offered Amelia his hand and a blank expression hidden by his sunglasses, even as the sun was setting. “Wesley Johnson,” he said. “I’ve been hired to make sure you and your husband are safe.”
She ignored his hand and turned toward me. “Is there a place we can talk?” she asked.
“You’re welcome to speak in the car,” Wes said. “I’ll wait outside.”
She closed the door to the car and there was a sudden silence.
“It’s the bulletproof glass,” I said. “It has an added benefit of soundproofing.”
“I don’t care,” she said. “I wanted to tell you that I was sorry. I didn’t hear you out and this has been a strange experience for both of us.”
I nodded. “I’m sorry, too. I should have listened to you. The second you left, I realized how stupid I was. I should have said I was sorry, and then I should have said it again and again and again because that’s the only possible way to tell you how badly I screwed up. I wasn’t thinking of you as a person when I signed up for the service, and that was stupid of me.”
“I’m not just a baby vessel for you.”
“I know. And I don’t want to take the baby away from you. If that ends up costing me my father’s billions, then so be it.”
She nodded. “We’ll figure it out.”
I put my hand on her knee. “We’re in a very bad situation right now, and I need you to promise me you’re not going to run off like that again. Can you do that?”
She nodded.
“Amelia,” I said, “if we’re not on the same page, we’re both in danger. The only way we’re going to get through this is to be on the same team. I want to be on your team, and I don’t want to fight with you.”
“I don’t want to fight with you either.”
“Then let’s not.”
She sighed. “Easier said than done.”
“Maybe. But for you, I feel like I can do anything.”
She laughed. “Cheesy.”
“Yeah, well,” I said, “it doesn’t mean I don’t mean it.”
She took my hand in both of hers. “I know.”
We kissed and I rolled the window down. “Wes,” I said, “I think we’re ready to go back home.”
“Right away, sir,” he said.
Chapter Fourteen
Amelia
A few weeks later, we’d started to relax some. It had been a while since Xavier had threatened us, and it felt almost like a jinx to bring it up. Secretly, maybe even unconsciously, I thought he must have given up and moved on. Maybe all the threats were empty or maybe he’d found someone else to occupy his time. Maybe, and I felt horrible for thinking this, something had happened to him and he couldn’t come after us again. Maybe somebody had hurt him. Glenn had connections; how else did he get Wes and Larry so quickly? Maybe he hired someone to, as they say in the Godfather movies, push his button.
I didn’t wish any ill will on Xavier, I really didn’t. I wanted him to be happy. I just couldn’t make him happy at my own expense. Still, it would have really put me at ease to learn that he had died.
Glenn came out from the bedroom while I was watching an old movie on TV (Two for the Road, a classic Stanley Donen movie with Albert Finny and Audrey Hepburn), dressed in a suit, with his hair slicked back.
“You look good,” I said, pausing the TV, standing up, and walking over to him. I spent a moment just staring at him. I knew it was all fantasy, but I was still married to him, and I had his baby growing inside me. I started to tear up at the thought.
“I’ve just got a business meeting I need to go to,” he said.
I moved my hand up to the top of his head and gently touched his hair, watching it spring up and down.
“You have such beautiful hair,” I said.
He leaned forward and kissed me. It started out just as a peck, but neither of us wanted to pull away, and it slowly became more and more passionate until our arms reached for each other’s backs and our bodies pushed against each other.
Glenn broke the kiss and said, “Don’t get that started or I’m never going to leave. Raincheck?”
“The second you come home, I’m tearing those pants off of you.”
“And then what?” he asked.
“I’d hate to ruin the surprise.”
“I can’t wait,” he smiled at me and, as he walked away, I saw his hard-on push against the front of his pants so tightly, I thought he might tear a hole in them.
“I love you,” he said. “Call me if you need anything.”
He opened the door and said hello to Wes and Larry who were on shift waiting outside the door, then he took off.
I went back to the couch and started thinking about what it was exactly I would do to him when he got home. I’d definitely blow him, but I’d probably tease him a little bit, first. Make him wonder if that’s what I was going to do and put my mouth close to him, then make him beg for it. A chill flowed through my body, and I got excited, hoping he would come back because he forgot something. What was the worst that could happen if he missed the meeting? The world would still turn.
I suddenly lost interest in the movie and thought about what I could do to kill time before he got home. I went to the wardrobe and looked at some of the lingerie that I ordered but that he hadn’t seen yet. I could model them and send him some pictures to show him what he was missing while he was going to his oh-so-important meeting.
Besides, I thought, I might as well take some pictures before I started showing.
I pulled out a slinky red thing and put it on the bed. That was option A. There was also a white one that I liked when I ordered it but wasn’t sure how it would look on me. I hadn’t had a chance to try it on since it arrived because I got a little self-conscious around Glenn. I didn’t want him to see me in it unless I knew it looked good. He was gone now, so I had a chance to see how it looked.
I heard a thud and a scream, and I shot to attention.
What was that?
I walked out to the living room area and heard a struggle coming from the hall. And, amidst the struggle, there were growls. And barks.
I ran to the safe to get the gun, but it was locked. They were still struggling in the hallway. The combination was his birthday, and I knew I should have known it. Under normal circumstances, I would have been able to say what it was without a problem, but in the moment, I couldn’t remember. He was a Scorpio, which meant he was born in November.
I typed in 1-1-0-1. Nothing. The safe buzzed and froze for a second before I could enter the next code. 1-1-0-2. I kept going and made it to 1-1-0-8 when I realized that the struggle was over and there was just silence.
Then I heard a key slide into the lock and turn.
I looked towards the door. Please be either Wes or Larry, I thought. Please don’t be…but I didn’t dare think his name.
Faster. 1-1-0-9. Buzz.
The door opened, and I saw a foot enter from the bottom.
Please be Wes or Larry, I repeated in my mind.
1-1-1-0. Ding.
The safe opened, and I pulled out the gun, held it with both hands, and stood up as Xavier entered the apartment.
“Hello, Amelia,” he said.
My hands shook as I pointed the gun right at him.
“Don’t come any closer,” I told him.
He put his hands in the air as he took a step forward.
“I’m unarmed,” he said. “I’m just here to talk. You don’t answer your phone; how am I supposed to talk to you?”
“I will shoot you,” I said. I repeated it to myself: You will shoot him. You can do this, Am
elia.
He stood in place and looked around, about ten feet from me. “Nice place you got here. Nice life you’ve got going for yourself. You know, I’m still mad at you, but I get it. I’d much rather be here than in my shithole apartment. Of course, I’d never do this to you, but I’m a good guy, and I can forgive you.”
“You hit me,” I said.
“I slapped you,” he said, “and I said I was sorry, and that was months ago. You ran off without even saying goodbye. You made me bash in my own bedroom door and you weren’t even there once I did. Do you know what I’ve been through over the past few months because of you? Yeah, I slapped you, but do you realize what you’ve done to me? I can’t believe you’d do that to someone you care about. Making me worry like that. And then find out you got married two weeks later? What’s that about?”
“I don’t need to explain anything to you, Xavier,” I said. I felt my hand tense around the gun, sweat forming on my palms. I forced myself to put a finger on the trigger.
“What does he have that I don’t?” he asked. “What makes him so special? Is it just the money? Is that all you care about?”
“You need to leave, Xavier. You’re breaking and entering,” I said. “I can shoot you and it’d be legal.”
“Come on, Amelia. You’re play acting. If you were going to shoot me, you would have shot me already. You don’t want to hurt me.”
“No, I don’t,” I said, “but I will.”
“I know,” he said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, “I’m really scared.”
He stepped forward.
“You know what, Amelia? I dare you. Shoot me. Free shot right here.” He pounded his chest, right at his heart. “You already tore my heart out, so it’s just an empty hole there anyway.”
He took another step forward.
“Shit or get off the pot, Amelia. Are you going to shoot me or not? It’s now or never.”
Two steps. He was within reach of me. I closed my eyes and pressed down on the trigger, but he’d already jerked the gun to point away from him and tackled me. He put his weight on my arm with his knee and took the gun out of my hands.
“Let’s not make this any harder than it needs to be,” he said, picking me up and taking me out of the apartment. I saw Wes and Larry lying unconscious on the floor outside the door. I hoped they were all right. I hoped they were only unconscious and not dead.
“I can smell it in you, Amelia,” he said. “And I know it’s not mine.”
He had tied up my hands and buckled me into the passenger seat, where I sat as he drove through the streets of San Francisco. I had nothing to say to him. I was just scared.
“I’m not a monster,” he said. “I think I’m a pretty nice guy. Even forgiving, especially since considering the circumstances. We can put her up for adoption. And then, if that’s what you want so bad, we can have a baby of our own. And we can raise him in our happy little family.”
He looked over at me. “Not feeling too talkative today, are you? That’s okay. It’s been so long; I’ve got a lot to say. See, when you first left me, I couldn’t believe it. I thought you’d be coming back. Where could you even go? A day or two passed and I said, ‘Give her a week,’ but then a week went by, and I started to get worried. And I texted you, and you didn’t respond. I was really worried that maybe something happened to you.”
He tapped his hands on the steering wheel and pulled out a pack of gum. “Want some?” he asked. “No? No problem.” He pulled out a stick and started chewing it, filling the car with a nauseating mint scent.
“So I set up an alert on the internet. And lo and behold, something came back in just a few days. An announcement in the paper that Amelia Davis married future alpha Glenn Carter. Well, that didn’t sound right at all, but it was right there along with a picture from City Hall. I figured call him instead of you because you obviously weren’t picking up your phone.”
I could barely focus on his words between the obnoxious chewing. It had taken a few months away from him to realize that it wasn’t just that I didn’t love him. I hated him. His very presence frightened me and made me angry. Every little one of his idiosyncrasies annoyed me and I couldn’t understand how I was able to live with him for so long. Why was I doing that to myself?
“But even then, I figured you’d get tired of him. So I waited. I waited so patiently. I tried asking nicely and I tried asking not so nicely and I came to think that maybe you’d somehow forgotten about me and all the good memories we had.”
“What good memories?” I asked before thinking.
He glared at me and I could see the hair on his skin stick up and begin to thicken. His wolf self.
The hair fell back down as he calmed himself.
“Lots,” he said. “Dinners we shared together or that trip we went on. Or even just simple things like lying in bed with you, you asleep, and me watching you. You always looked so peaceful. I love you so much, Amelia, that you don’t even need to do anything to make me love you, you know that?”
He tried taking my hand, even as it was tied up, but I pulled away.
“You loved me, too,” he said. “You’re just brainwashed by money. It happens. It’s a drug, you know that? Money is a drug. It fires off the same pleasure parts of the brain as cocaine. And once you have a little bit of money, you keep on wanting more and more and more. It’s an addiction, is what it is. So is love. And I need my Amelia fix. I’ve wanted you back for so long you have no idea what it’s been like.”
He pulled into his apartment parking lot.
“Home sweet home,” he said, “right?”
He brought me inside, and it was even more of a dump than it was when I ran away. Old food boxes sat on the floor, flies circling them. It smelled terrible; I didn’t know how he could stand it. The air conditioner was never fixed, so there was just a large part of the floor underneath the vent that was warped from the water damage.
The bedroom door had been torn from the frame and was leaning up against the wall. He brought me into the bedroom and started tying me to the bedpost.
“I wish I could trust you, Amelia, but you know what they say: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
He tied me tight, and it was hurting my wrists.
“I just need to take care of something really quick. I promise I’ll be right back.”
He walked out of the room.
“Where are you going, Xavier?”
“Just to run an errand,” he said.
He paused and turned toward me. “You know what’s great about this apartment? Thick walls. And neighbors who mind their own business. I’ll be back soon, love.”
He walked out of the front door and closed it behind him.
I knew he was going to hurt Glenn. I struggled with the rope, but it was too tight, and I was just making the pain worse. I had to think this through. What was the correct way to handle this situation?
I could struggle and fight and probably end up making it worse, or I could stay calm and save my energy. Play along with Xavier until he gave me enough space to run and then make like a bat out of hell and get as far away as I could.
That’s what I was going to have to do.
I just hoped that Glenn was going to be all right.
Chapter Fifteen
Glenn
I figured she must be taking a nap or something. Or maybe her phone was off or she had forgotten to charge it. Part of me was worried, but I dismissed it because there were so many other possible reasons for her not returning my texts.
Then I came up the elevator and saw Wes and Larry in the hallway, leaning against the wall. Their clothes were torn and tattered and peppered with blood.
Something had happened, and it wasn’t good.
Larry saw me first. “Glenn,” he said, shaking his head, “we failed. I’m so sorry.”
Wes took over. “We tried. We tried protecting her, but we didn’t expect him. And when he shifted, he was so fast. He had the upper hand, the hal
lway was too narrow.”
“We couldn’t shift to counter him,” Larry said.
Dragons are generally stronger than wolves. But there are situations where wolves have the advantage. Tight confined spaces like an apartment complex are one of those situations and I should have considered that when I learned Larry and Wes were dragon-shifters.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“We’ll be fine.” That was Larry. He didn’t look fine, but they weren’t my main concern anyway.
I walked inside the apartment and saw that there was a struggle right in the entranceway. Everything in there looked neat, exactly how I left it, but there was shattered glass from a vase that fell and the gun was on the floor in the corner of the room.
Dammit, Amelia, I thought. Why didn’t you just shoot him?
He probably moved too fast.
I looked around and saw a bullet hole in the wall. She did try to shoot him. Attagirl.
I walked around, hoping to see anything of use. Any clues to hint that she was okay. I didn’t see any blood, so that was, at the very least, a good sign.
I felt like I wasn’t really taking it all in. It felt like a nightmare, like it wasn’t real. Maybe like I was watching a movie.
Then I walked into the guest bedroom and saw that Amelia had put two pieces of lingerie on the bed. I remembered her kissing me before I left and her saying she had a surprise for me when I got home.
And I lost it.
I screamed and pounded my fist into the wall. I fell to the ground and the rage filled my body. My skin turned to scales. My nails sharpened and grew out, and I started to feel myself get bigger.
“No, Glenn!” Wes yelled. He and Larry ran into the room and held me back.
“You don’t want to do this,” Wes said again. “Count backward from ten, buddy. This isn’t the way we’re going to get her back.”
I did what he said, closing my eyes and counting my breaths, backward like he suggested.
I shrunk back down.