by K. Renee
“Yeah?” he barks out. “No. I’ll be on my way in a few.” He looks over at Silas before hanging up and pocketing his phone, “I have to go. They found some new evidence.” Silas nods once and turns his attention back to me.
“Danni and I can catch up while you’re gone.” Looking up at Sawyer, I can tell he doesn’t want to leave me here by myself with everyone, but he gets up anyways. He pulls me up, and wraps his arms around my waist.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He leans down to reach my mouth, placing a soft kiss on my lips.
“You need anything, call me.” I raise my eyebrows at him and he grins. He reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out a cell phone. Sure, it’s not mine, but it will do for now. At least I will have something to waste time with.
“Okay. Please hurry back.” Without him here, I’m not sure how safe I’m going to feel. He’s the only one that makes me feel safe. I’m still not even sure how much I trust Silas. I want to, but I can’t yet.
“I’ll be back tonight for sure.” He leans forward and whispers in my ear, “Be ready for a little fun when I get back.” I get a shiver down my spine, and I can feel my panties dampen just by his words. Tonight is something I will definitely be looking forward to.
He kisses me once more before he walks out of the office and shuts the door behind him.
Looking over at Silas, I can tell he isn’t sure what to say either. We haven’t been face to face like this in a long time, and as much as I want answers, I just want to get out of here.
“My men will make sure you’re protected at all costs. I’m sure Saw told you some things that he shouldn’t have, but judging by the way he watches you he is pretty damn smitten with you.”
“Is that a bad thing?” I can hear the anger in my voice; I’m just not sure where it came from. I’m not an angry person, and I sure as heck don’t talk back to people.
“What? The telling you stuff that he shouldn’t or the smitten part?” He narrows his eyes at me, I remember the last time he used this tone of voice on me. I was late coming home from school, he was angry with me. I got grounded, and I couldn’t watch T.V. for the rest of the week.
“Is it really hard to believe that he likes me?” I cross my arms over my chest and he shakes his head at me.
“I swear you’re just as stubborn as you were back then. I’ve watched Saw go through women like you probably change your clothes. He doesn’t stick around so don’t get your hopes up,” he sneers. Instead of hearing anything else, I get up and walk out of the room. I don’t need him or anyone else. I’ve been perfectly safe for the last ten years, I can keep myself safe.
Running towards the front doors of this place, I don’t bother stopping when one of the guys calls my name. I just keep running until I’m about a mile down the road and huffing out. Looking up and down the street, I have no clue which way to go, so I pull up the map app on the phone and find the closest bus stop.
I’ll find my way home all on my own. I don’t need Silas or Sawyer. I can do it on my own.
When the bus shows up ten minutes later, I get on, and hand over the twenty that I found in my pocket. Before I can go to my seat, I’m being pulled backwards. I fall back into a hard body and I tense up.
“Don’t scream.” The voice whispers in my ear. The man pulls me backwards, so I have no choice but to go willingly. I don’t know who it is, but I’m sure that I don’t want to.
When the bus takes off without me, I start to panic. I get drug backwards again, before I know it, I’m getting something pulled over my head and my hands are being tied together. I try to kick, fighting back, but it’s no use. They are way stronger than me.
“Get her in the van. We finally have a way to get that bitch out into the open.” One of them pushes me into the van, and the doors are slammed closed behind me.
“You really think she’s going to come out of hiding for this bitch? She has to know better than that.” The engine roars to life, and they keep talking like I’m not there.
“Yeah, she had her sister go into protection, but apparently it’s our lucky day.” They both start to laugh. I can feel my panic start to get worse with each word from their mouths.
“Let me go!” I yell. I should have yelled before, but I couldn’t. I was frozen and in shock.
“No sweetheart. I’m going to kill your sister and then you. There ain’t no way in hell I’ll let either of you go.” He starts to chuckle, I start to kick my legs and hit the side of the van as hard as I can. I can’t see anything but black, when we come to a stop, I start screaming and kicking harder.
They huff out; one of them starts coming closer. I can’t see where he is, but judging on the sound of his movements, he can’t be too far away. Swinging my legs, I aim for a few feet up and hit him as hard as I can.
One good thing about being a cop’s sister is that I learned a few things to do in case I needed to fight back. Someone opens the door, I start to scream again. Kicking and screaming, I feel someone pretty much grab me and hold me down. Before I can fight him off, something is being pressed to my face and everything goes dark.
When I finally come to, I’m in a small room that is completely empty except for me. My hands are no longer bound together. There is a small window on one side of the room. Pulling myself up off the floor, I make my way over to it and try to open it. When it starts to move, I can’t help but get a grin on my face. I push it up as high as I can, but it ends up crashing down when my hands slip.
Looking towards the door, I wait for someone to come running in here, but they never do. Trying again, this time, I get myself out the window and outside before I slowly let it slide back closed. Looking around, I can’t figure out where I am. Checking my pockets, I find the phone that Sawyer gave me. I go to the contacts and find his name.
Running towards the forest behind the house, I find a good place to hide and hit the call button.
“Hey baby,” he answers on the third ring.
“Please help me Sawyer. I need you to come get me. They might find me and they are going to use me to get Sage. Please,” I cry out. I can’t help but break down. They can’t hurt her.
“What are you talking about? Where are you?” He barks a few things out and then I hear him get back on the phone. “Danni where are you?”
“I don’t know. I ran from the clubhouse and someone grabbed me at the bus stop,” I start to cry.
“Danni I need you to calm down. Please tell me what you see around you.” I take a few deep breaths and start to look around.
“I’m in the middle of a forest. Please Sawyer just come find me.” My lip trembles and I try to keep calm.
“I’m going to run a trace on the phone. Don’t hang up. If you hear anyone coming, run baby. Don’t stop until you know for sure that no one will get you.” He sounds like he takes the phone from his mouth and starts talking to someone else. “I need you to call Sage Grady and tell her that they don’t have her sister.”
“Hey O’Brien, I have a location on that number,” someone yells out.
I hear something coming from behind me and when I look back, I see someone searching the trees. Getting up, I start to walk through the trees quickly. “Sawyer someone is coming,” I whisper.
“Baby I’m coming for you. If they get too close, run. I will find you.”
“Okay,” I whisper into the phone, “Please don’t hang up.”
“I won’t, but I have to get on my bike. I won’t be able to hear you until I stop again. I’m ten minutes from you.” I can hear the worry in his voice. I can’t imagine how scared he and Sage are. I hear movement again so I start walking quickly again. I make it so far into the trees that I can’t even see the edge anymore.
Finding a small little hiding spot, I tuck my body into the old tree trunk and keep my breathing as quiet as I can. I hear some yelling coming from the trees, but I try not to let that scare me more than I already am. I have to stay calm if I want to make it out of this place alive. Listeni
ng to the phone, I hear a lot of wind and the roar of a motorcycle.
I just really hope he gets here in time. I don’t know how long I can keep myself hidden from them. Closing my eyes, I pray that both Sage and I get through this without anything happening to us. I shouldn’t have run from the clubhouse, but I was hurt.
Deep down, I knew that things with Sawyer probably wouldn’t have lasted, but I wanted to keep myself in the dream world a little longer. I liked the attention he gave me, it felt good to be wanted. Now I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again.
When the bike stops, I hear Sawyer get back on the phone, and I can finally breathe again. “Where are you now?”
“Hiding in a tree trunk,” I whisper. I can hear his exhale of breath. I can only hope that’s a good sign.
“Don’t move. I’m coming for you.” He must have stuck the phone in his pocket, because I can hear what sounds like change jingling and fabric moving over the phone. Trying to focus on anything other than what’s going on at the moment, I hear a gunshot followed by two more.
My heart starts to race, as much as I want to get up and see who was shot, I know that Sawyer told me not to move. What if he was the one shot? I hear another gunshot. I jump at the loud bang as it echoes through the woods.
Listening carefully, I can hear him still moving, I just hope he finds me before those guys do. “This way,” someone yells out. He sounds close; I cover my mouth to keep from crying out. Feet stomp right by where I’m hiding and they keep going. I see their backs as they keep searching for me. More footsteps come towards me, and when they get right next to me, I hold my breath and wait.
I see Sawyer’s back going past me. “Sawyer,” I whisper. He turns, looks back at me and runs over to where I am.
He runs his hands over my face, checking me for any wounds. “Are you okay?” His voice is no more than a whisper, I just nod my head. Wrapping my arms around him, I sob silently on his shoulder. He pulls away and looks me right in the eyes. “I’ll be back for you. I need to make sure they don’t find you.” The tears stream down my face, I can’t get any words out.
I point in the direction they went, and he takes off running after them.
I wait for what seems like forever before I hear the sounds of shots again. Holding my breath, I try not to think about him getting shot. He wouldn’t get shot. He’s going to save me.
I hear three more shots, and then everything goes quiet. Voices start to talk behind me a few minutes later, but I can’t make out the words. When I see Sawyer again, I get up from my hiding place and run right towards him.
Throwing my arms around him, I pretty much knock us both over. He barely keeps us both upright. I can feel my shirt getting wet. When I look down, I see the blood covering his shirt, “Sawyer.” I put my hands over his stomach, he looks pale. He falls back onto the ground and I help him sit up.
He tries to grab something out of his pocket, but he can’t get it out. Grabbing it for him, I hand it over and he starts to look for a number in his phone. He puts the phone to his ear and waits for someone to answer. “I have her, but…” He trails off, and I try to put pressure on his wound. “I’m hit.” His breathing gets shallow, and then I hear a bunch of people starting to come towards us.
I take his gun from his hand and sit next to him. I won’t go down without taking a few more of these bastards with me.
“Sawyer, please wake up.” I whisper, putting my head on his shoulder. His hand lands on my thigh, he looks over at me with a frown.
“Baby I’m sorry I didn’t meet you sooner.” He wheezes a little, and then closes his eyes before opening them and looking right at me. “Being with you has been the best few days of my life.”
I hear footsteps coming closer, when I look up, I see men I’ve never seen before with guns drawn. I hold up Sawyer’s gun and point it at one of them. “O’Brien,” one of the men says. I look at Sawyer, he doesn’t respond so I look back at the men and one of them has his hands up. “I’m O’Brien’s partner. He’s lost a lot of blood. We need to get him out of here. Are you Danni?” I nod my head, but don’t take the gun off of him.
“I promise I just want to help him. I can call Sage and she can vouch for me if you want?” I nod my head and he grabs something out of his pocket. I watch him put the phone to his ear and he starts to talk. “Hey Sage, I need you to talk to your sister. O’Brien’s been shot and she won’t let me near him.” He listens for a second and then goes to hand me the phone, but I raise the gun.
“Speakerphone,” I whisper out hoarsely.
He does just that, I hear my sister’s voice, “Dannicka, please let them help Sawyer.” She sounds like she’s been crying. I hate to hear the sadness in her voice.
“Okay,” I whisper. I put the gun down, and they all run over to us. One of the guys checks his pulse while the other grabs me and helps me up. Two of the guys pick him up and start to carry him out of the woods, towards the house that I ran away from.
“Do you know who shot him?” I point to the trees, he motions for a few of the men to go in that direction.
“Two men ran past me when they were looking for me and he went after them. I heard four shots. I don’t know if any of them are dead.” He leads me towards the clearing, when we make it to where everyone is I see the medics working on Sawyer. I watch as they load him into the ambulance and take off without one word on how he is doing.
“What if he dies?” My voice breaks, I can’t even believe I said the words.
“We won’t let him,” I give him a weak smile and he leads me to a car. “I’m going to have them take you to the hospital. We also will reach out to Silas and let him know what happened.” I don’t even bother responding; I just go through the motions and get into the car.
When we pull up to the hospital, I’m so nervous that he won’t make it. I’ve known Sawyer a whole two days, I already can’t believe that I’ve fallen for him. When the cop or whatever he is leads me into the hospital, he shows me to the waiting room and promises to come and let me know something as soon as the doctor tells him something. I just walk to a chair and take a seat. I don’t even know what to do in here. I shouldn’t be here. I’ve done nothing but bring trouble into his life since he came and pulled me out of my apartment early that morning.
Just when I stand up and decide on leaving, I see Silas walk into the room. He walks right towards me, and wraps his arms around me. My body sags in his arms, until he’s holding me up. I sob against his chest until I can’t cry anymore, then I start again.
I never knew that one person could affect me the way that Sawyer has. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I know that it’s the reason you left.” I don’t even care what he said anymore. I know what Sawyer said to me before he went unconscious and that’s enough.
He moves us to the chairs. I take a seat and wipe my eyes. “I never meant for this to happen. He’s going to be pissed when he finds out why you left.” My head snaps in his direction, my eyes start to water again.
“You don’t know that he’s going to make it through this,” I whisper.
“I have no doubt that Saw will make it through this. We all know that it’s going to take a lot to lose that son of a bitch.” I go to say something, but I can’t find the right words, so I end up looking like a fish out of water. “Plus I know this girl he told me he would do anything for. I know he won’t let go of her until he’s ready.”
He wipes the tears off my cheeks and kisses my forehead. “I’m sorry for what I said. I know you are an adult, you can make your own choices, but I never wanted this life for you or your sister. It’s part of the reason I left. You girls deserved way more than a man like me could ever provide.” A doctor comes into the waiting room, asking if anyone is here for another patient, I go back to worrying about whether or not he’s going to make it or not.
I just want to spend one more night in his arms. Hell, I would give anything just for one more kiss. Silas gets up and walks out of the room, I continue t
o think about how messed up things have gotten in this short amount of time.
Closing my eyes, I lean back against the chair, trying not to think at all. I just want to clear my mind. Instead, I remember this morning, how our bodies felt against each other. I think about the first kiss he placed on my mouth, how bad I wanted him afterwards.
Sawyer was definitely my right kind of wrong.
I just wish I could have told him that. Instead he might die without knowing that he meant something special to me, even if we didn’t know each other very long. I was never much for believing in that romance movie fairytale love, but I think I got pretty damn close to it.
I hear people walk in the room, but I don’t even bother to open my eyes. I’m not ready to talk to anyone else. I sure as hell am not ready to hear what the doctors are going to say.
I feel a hand on my thigh; it’s much smaller than Sawyers. Opening my eyes, I see Sage sitting there with tears streaming down her face. I pull her into a hug and we both just cry.
“I’m sorry,” she sobs. “If I wouldn’t have went after them, then you would have been safe and Sawyer wouldn’t have gotten involved.” I squeeze her tighter, we both just hold onto each other like it’s our last lifeline.
“It’s not your fault Sage. I’m the one who ran when Silas said that Sawyer would never settle down. Part of me believed that it was true so I ran. It was stupid. I put myself and Sawyer in danger. It’s all my fault.” She pulls away from me and holds me at arm’s length.
“No, don’t blame yourself. You were protecting your heart. Yeah he was a man whore for a long time, but I see the way he looked at you. It was more than just some fling.” She wipes the tears from her eyes, then wipes under my eyes.
“Everything will be fine. In five years, we will be looking back on this and laughing. You and Sawyer will be married and have a bunch of little kids running around the yard.” Shaking my head, I close my eyes.
“You’re crazy. He isn’t going to want to marry me.” I sniff and wipe my nose with my hand.