“I know I have already told you to be careful, but I need to say it one more time in case you forget the last twenty times I have told you.”
“I promise you, Lucy. I won’t take any unnecessary chances. You have my word.”
“Seriously, Colin, anytime you think of doing anything, picture me. Watching you. And think to yourself, ‘is this going to piss Lucy off?’ If the answer is yes, don’t do it.”
“Seriously, Lucy. I’ve got this.” Colin tickles me to get me to loosen up.
“Okay, okay. I’ll get off your back.” I jump into his arms and kiss him until we are both out of breath. Colin pulls away and looks me in the eyes.
“I love you, Lucy.”
“I love you too, Colin.”
He gives me one more kiss. At least this time it’s not a goodbye kiss. It’s an “I’m going to miss you so much, and I love you, and I can’t wait to see you again” kiss. And I kiss him right back.
He watches me from his doorway until I pull away. I can see by his look that he is feeling the same way that I am. Hopeful of the future, but terrified of the unknown. One thing I know for sure: This time I’m not giving up.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Fear Itself Mix
Ever since Colin told me about Ex, I have been more determined than ever to be able to kick ass, just in case. I know there’s not much I can do about a guy who can kill me just by thinking about it, but it couldn’t hurt to learn the best moves for taking down a pathetic, spineless bully.
I put all of my frustration from not seeing Colin into becoming a bad ass. If there’s a punching bag around, I’m going to punch it. If there is a board, I’m going to kick it. I can duck every punch, swing and kick that comes my way. And if you try to cut in front of me at the grocery store, I...well I’ll probably give you a dirty look, because I am just not in the mood.
Liz is doing it with me. She knows how scary Ex is, and she wants to be able to help me if I need it.
Drew’s even getting in on the action. We all practice together. And we did something we told Colin we would never do. We bought guns. Whenever we have time, we go to the gun range to practice, since we all suck at shooting. I want to drop the gun every time I shoot it.
As for Colin, we have no idea what’s going on. He doesn’t even want Drew involved, so he’s been completely off the grid. Every once in awhile, one of us will get a text saying ‘I’m okay,’ so that we don’t freak out and call the police.
All of this has kept me so preoccupied that I almost don’t hear Ruth when she tells me that she has some “great news.” I finished my piece on a new educational program, so I have been reading every article I can about drug busts in the area.
“Did you hear me, Lucy? I have really great news!”
“Oh, sorry. I was really into what I was reading. What’s up?”
“I know where Vapor is going to be. I got a tip from a very anonymous, yet completely reliable source.”
I’ve heard about her reliable sources before, so I’m reluctant to share her excitement.
“Where is he going to be?” I ask, trying to show support. She’s been working on this for months after all, and she’s the most tenacious person I know.
“Actually, it’s like a hour and a half away. The only thing is that I might be showing up right in the middle of something. Luckily, my camera guy is coming with me to tape the whole thing, and he use to be a bouncer, so I think I’m good.”
“Uh huh. So where exactly are you going?”
“It’s a cabin. Somewhere near Logan. I guess he goes there sometimes when he needs to help the detectives. Huge drug ring down there from what I hear.”
“Wait. What did you just say?”
“There’s a huge drug cartel down there. Does that surprise you? I guess small town and all, maybe it’s because…”
I block out the rest of what she says with the words, ‘oh shit!’, which are running on a continuous loop through my head.
I sit there, speechless, for what seems like forever, listening, or pretending to listen to her drone on about the drug business in Southeastern Ohio. Finally, I get my bearings and interrupt her mid sentence.
“Hey, Ruth, when are you going?”
“Jack, the camera guy, can’t go until about six o’clock. So we won’t get there until close to eight, but that’s okay. I’ve waited this long. Isn’t this great?”
“Yeah, uh great. I’m so happy for you. Can’t wait to see you on the news.” I am a terrible actress. So not good at playing the part of a calm person.
“Thanks, Lucy. You’ve been so supportive. You’re such a great friend.”
Thank God she is the most trusting person I have ever met. I don’t think one other person on the planet would have believed me.
“Well, I have a doctor’s appointment today, so I have to leave in about…” I look at my phone briefly before looking back at Ruth. “Right now actually. Shoot. I wanted to talk to you more about tonight.”
“That’s okay. I’ll fill you in tomorrow.”
“Great, can’t wait.”
As soon as I walk out of the office, I practically run to my car. The first thing I do is call my boss to tell him I had to leave early. The second thing I do is call Colin and leave him about ten voicemail messages in a row. Apparently he’s not listening to the subliminal message I am sending him to pick up his damn phone.
I finally give up and call Liz, who answers on the first ring. Why? Because she got my subliminal message. That’s what girls do.
“Liz! I don’t know what to do. I’m trying to get ahold of Colin. He’s not answering, and if he doesn’t pick up his phone soon, it will be too late, and he’s going to be on the freaking news.”
“Okay.” I hear silence over the phone for a brief moment followed by, “What?”
I take a deep breath, realizing that I am going off the deep end. “Ruth knows where Colin is. She told me that he’s at his cabin. I didn’t even know that. She’s going there tonight. If he ends up on the news, Ex will know right where to find him. Then, he’ll kill Colin.”
“Oh shit, Lucy.”
“That’s what I said.”
“Have you called Drew yet?”
“No. I called you first. He’s next.”
“I’ll call Drew. You keep trying Colin. Eventually he will look at his phone.”
I hang up the phone and call Colin three more times before he finally picks up.
Thank you, God.
“What’s wrong? I just turned on my phone and saw that you’ve been calling me non-stop. Are you okay?” Colin sounds concerned.
“Uh, no. Not really. Are you at your cabin?”
“I’m on my way back to it. Why?”
“Because Ruth knows that you’re staying there, and after work she’s going there to hunt you down and force you to let her interview you.”
“How did she find out?”
“Her ‘reliable source,’ who is apparently much more reliable than I thought.”
“If her source knows where my cabin is, what else do they know?”
“I don’t know. But you have to come home. I don’t want you there anymore.”
“Okay. I’m coming back. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Can you get here any sooner than that?”
“I’ll try.”
“Thanks for coming home.”
“There’s no way I wouldn’t. That would be taking an unnecessary chance. And my girlfriend doesn’t like it when I do that.”
“That’s right. Now be safe. But drive fast.”
“Got it.” No sooner has he hung up than Liz calls in.
“Liz?”
“Hey Lu. I talked to Drew and he’s texting Colin. Meet us at Drew’s. We’ll wait for Colin there. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Ten minutes later, the three of us are eating take out, and trying to figure this whole thing out.
“If she knows where he was going to be tonight, she’l
l figure out where he will be tomorrow. That girl doesn’t quit. And now that I know she has the resources to back it up, I don’t think Colin has a chance.” I am pacing, and talking, and the faster I talk, the faster I pace.
“How do we stop her?” Liz is tapping one of her chopsticks on the table and deep in thought.
“Can you get her fired?” Drew asks with his mouth full of Kung Pao chicken.
I answer him by throwing one of his pillows at his head. “I’m not going to get my friend fired.”
“Wouldn’t it be crazy if after all this time someone scooped her?” Liz laughs at her own joke. “Months of tracking him down to nothing but dead ends, then she finally finds him, then gets scooped. Can you imagine?
“Holy shit, Liz, that’s it!” Liz and I both look at Drew in confusion.
“Lucy has to scoop her.”
“I don’t think that’s…”
That’s a great idea!” Liz’s completely interrupts my concerns, and jumps on the Drew bandwagon.
“Think about it. You are a journalist. You work for the same TV show as Ruth. It’s perfect. You can ask Colin any question you want anywhere you want. Ruth won’t snoop around anymore, and you can throw off Ex.”
“But I don’t think I can…”
“Drew and I will start thinking up questions. When Colin gets here, he can check over the list. Decide if he wants to add anything.”
“Are you interested at all in how I feel about this?” I don’t think she is, but I have to ask.
“No. I know you, Lucy. You are going to freak out because you don’t want to hurt Ruth’s feelings. Then you are going to freak out because you don’t want to be on camera. But in the end, you are going to do it anyway because you would do anything in the world for him. Including scooping your friend, and being on national TV.”
I pause, trying to come up with an argument. “Damn it. You’re right.” I might as well face the inevitable. Of course I’m doing it.
I try to help them come up with some questions, but I am too anxious to think straight. I give up and start watching Pawn Stars until I hear the door open.
As soon as I see Colin, I jump up and run to him.
He immediately picks me up and wraps my legs around him. After dropping me on the couch, he gently pulls my hair, so that I’m looking straight at him. He gives me a brief smile before leaning over me and kissing me passionately.
After a few minutes, he grabs me around my waist and flips me over so that I am leaning over him. He immediately returns his lips to mine, and we kiss like that from the end of Pawn Stars through the beginning of Storage Wars. Eventually Liz and Drew get tired of waiting for us and start throwing things at our heads.
“You guys about finished, or would you like to take this to the bedroom while Ruth exposes you to the world?” Drew teases.
Colin sits up and takes me with him, pulling me between his legs, my back to his front. “I’ve been racking my brain the whole way here but I keep coming up empty.”
“We actually came up with a plan. But it includes Lucy talking, and I’m not sure you can keep your tongue out of her mouth long enough for that.” Liz rolls her eyes dramatically.
“Can you come up with a plan where I get to keep my tongue in her mouth?” Colin winks at me, and I bury my face in my hands to hide my embarrassment.
He just laughs when I smack him in the arm. “So what’s this great idea that uses Lucy’s mouth? Wait, that didn’t sound right.”
This time Drew laughs and Liz and I both roll our eyes.
“So, we figured that if Lucy scoops Ruth, then Ruth won’t have any reason to keep trying to hunt you down. Plus, we can make sure she only asks questions that won’t give anything away.”
“And when Lucy said no, what did you guys decide?”
“I didn’t say no.”
I can tell that Colin doesn’t believe me. “You agreed to get in front of a camera and do an interview with me?”
“Yes.”
“An interview that other people will see? The same interview that you will be doing instead of Ruth? Your friend?”
“Yes.”
Colin looks at Liz for confirmation.
“Do you actually think she wouldn’t do anything to save you? The girl loves you.”
Colin leans down and kisses the back of my head. “Is that so?”
I turn as best I can to face him and act like I am thinking about it. “Kinda.”
“I’ll take it.”
After finishing his dinner, Colin takes a look at the questions Drew and Liz have come up with. We are sitting around Drew’s kitchen table with our coffee, ready to get to business.
“Okay. First Question. What do you do in your free time?” Colin glances at Drew, one eyebrow raised, and then looks back at the list.
“What’s your favorite movie?” This time Colin looks at me, one eyebrow raised. I just shrug my shoulders.
“If you could be one person from history, who would it be?” Colin puts down the list, and rubs his temples. “Okay. Guys, if Lucy reads these questions she is going to lose her job. No one cares what my favorite movie is.”
“We were trying to stay away from loaded questions, dude. That’s all we could come up with,” Drew answers.
“What kind of questions do you think she should ask?” Liz hands him a new piece of paper and a pen.
“I don’t think we should write any questions down. I trust Lucy. She’s a great reporter. Why don’t we just talk about what to steer clear of, and Lucy can come up with the rest on her own?” Colin eyes me expectantly, gauging my reaction.
“I guess. I mean...that might be okay. It would feel more natural like that. I’m just afraid I might accidentally ask a question that will give something away.”
“If that happens, we can start over and try something else. It’s not like we are broadcasting live.”
“You sure?”
Colin nods. “I’m sure. Question is, are you sure? I don’t want you to do this if it’s too much.”
“Positive. Let’s do this.” I mean it too. I’m not thinking about how Ruth is going to flip out, or the fact that I am going to be in front of the camera. Right now all I can think of is doing what it takes to keep Colin alive.
Chapter Twenty- Seven
Songs That Would Make Chuck Norris Proud
It’s surprisingly cold out here right now. Considering that it was 82 degrees out earlier, I wasn’t really expecting this level of chilliness. Since Colin is jumping up and down while rubbing his hands together, I’m guessing he’s feeling it too. That’s Ohio weather for you.
Colin sees me shivering, so he walks over and starts rubbing my arms.
Drew is busy comparing the camera on his phone to Liz’s, to see which one has the best video. I don’t know why. He really only needs to worry about the audio, since no one’s going to see Colin, or care about looking at me.
I take a deep breath, trying to make sense of how this is going to go. It’s not helping that the wind keeps blowing my hair, and it keeps getting caught in my mouth. Luckily Liz sees my frustration, and digs through her purse until she finds a hair tie.
I fix my hair and reapply my lipstick. Okay. I’m ready... Maybe a few more deep breaths.
I can feel Colin behind me. When I turn around to see what he’s doing, he places his headphones over my ears. The beginning of ‘The Way I Am’ fills my ears.
When Colin pulls me in for a hug, I bury my head in his chest. The combination of the words of the song and Colin’s strong arms calms me. We stay like that until the song is over.
“I’m ready. I pull away from Colin and hand him his headphones. He gives my hand a squeeze then disappears.
Drew starts the camera, and signals me to start.
“This is Lucy Sayre, for Channel Ten news.” This is it.
“Talk about being at the right place at the right time. Today I was taking a walk in the woods, and I literally ran into our very own superhero. That’s right.
The Vapor likes to run on the trails of our state parks, and he doesn’t always watch where he’s going.
He felt so bad about almost giving me a concussion that he agreed to his first ever interview. So, Vapor. I know the one thing everyone is going to ask is, ‘Is this real?’ Can you show everyone that this isn’t just a hoax?” Drew pans to Colin, giving me time to move around to warm up.
“Sure.” Colin makes his voice deeper to keep people from figuring out who he is.
As we planned, Colin pulls a few leaves off of a nearby tree and hands them to me. The leaves seemingly glide through the air, continuing until he’s hands them to me.
“I’ve always wanted to get flowers from a superhero. I guess this is the next best thing.” Liz smiles at me and gives me a thumbs up. She warned me ahead of time that she was planning on encouraging the hell out of me.
“So Vapor, it must be difficult being a superhero. Does it ever feel like too much?” I look in his general direction, which feels really weird.
There’s a pause before he answers. “Sure, it has its moments. Of course it’s hard to see people struggle. And it’s even harder when I can’t help them. There’s so much pain in the world. We are really lucky to have such great people protecting us. The police officers and Fire Department are amazing. Even with all of us working, we can’t save everyone. So, sometimes... yeah it does.”
“We all know that you are a superhero, but from what I understand, you are also a regular guy. Everything you do to help others is you, not a power. Is that correct?”
“Uh, yeah. I train a lot. I can fight. I run, of course. That all helps.”
“Do you put a lot of pressure on yourself to be a superhero all the time, or are you good about cutting yourself some slack?”
“I guess. I mean, I know I’m human. I don’t have superpowers of reasoning or decision-making. I make mistakes just like everyone else. It’s such a privilege to have this ability. I don’t want to feel like I am taking it for granted. So, sometimes that means putting pressure on myself.” I can tell by his tone of voice that he’s not sure where I’m going with this.
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