Ugh. Well there was a nice morning killer. I had no intention of seeing him or talking to him. I needed to call and get his number blocked. I wasn’t sure whether to reply and tell him where to go or ignore it.
My phone rang and I jumped. Sexy Beast Calling.
“Hello?”
“Good morning gorgeous.” Aiden’s smooth voice purred over the phone.
“Good morning Aiden.”
“Listen, your car is still down. I thought it would be done by now, but it had some major problems. I’ve sent a driver over to take you to work. If you need to go anywhere else then he can take you. He’ll also be the one to pick you up for dinner tonight.”
“Aiden—”
“No arguments. I should have arranged something for you before I left.”
“But—”
“He’s already there Olivia. Go get in the car and go to work.”
The phone went dead and I sat there looking at it for a moment. What was that? I was starting to rethink this whole “sweet Aiden” thing. He was bossy as ever.
The doorbell rang.
I answered and a man in a suit smiled at me. He was broad and about as large as Aiden but had a look about him that didn’t say “driver” at all. He had short, cropped, dirty blonde hair a shade darker than mine and light brown, nearly amber eyes. He was sporting a goatee that was trimmed and fit the overall look of him. He wore a fitted, expensive looking, midnight black suit with a tie.
I took a better look at him. He had been at the table with Aiden for their meeting. My initial impression of that group being a bunch of super soldiers planning on taking over a small country was now confirmed. The blonde hottie looked like he could do it all by himself. He had the look of “dangerous” written all over him.
“Good morning Miss Dawkins.”
“Uhm, morning.”
“I’m Holden, I’ll be driving you wherever you need to go today.”
“Ok Holden. Just call me Liv, please, or Olivia. Miss Dawkins sounds so weird. Aiden called and I really don’t need a driver. I can ride with my roommate. I’m a big girl.”
He just gave me a tight smile. “Do you have everything you need?
Julia came running down the stairs and into the kitchen in her purple pajamas and platinum blonde hair pulled up in a messy bun on top her head. Holden, whoever he was, casually reached for something in his jacket when he had heard the noise on the stairs then relaxed again when he saw her running by.
His eyes had never left the direction of the stairs the entire time and I had seen him nearly take a step forward.
It registered to me that he was probably armed. Why I needed an armed driver was beyond my early morning brain capacity to think about. This was Lakefield, not New York or Chicago.
Crime here was minimal. I had looked it up.
Whatever, I thought. Just another example of Mr. Bossy doing his overbearing, control thing.
“Julia,” I called into the apartment.
Julia poked her head around the wall of the kitchen. “Yeah what the hell. It’s too early. I was up late working on some new material for the clinic. I need coffee and a shower.”
“This is Holden.” I looked at her. “My driver for the morning. That crazy person we’ve been talking about sent him. Holden, this is my roommate Julia. Please don’t shoot her.”
Julia stepped into full view and her eyes swept Holden up and down like a cat about to pounce. Her head tilted to the side and she blinked a few times.
Uh oh.
Holden gave another tight smile and nodded to Julia. “Miss White.”
Julia looked at me. “How does he know my name?”
I looked between them both and rolled my eyes. “I told you Aiden was a stalker. I’m sure he’s got cameras in here as we speak. Possibly microphones. Probably put them in while we slept. Going to do the axe murderer thing eventually.”
I yelled up at the ceiling, “HEY AIDEN! I’m going to start dropping the f-bomb soon! I’m also going to buy a huge dog that hates men!”
Julia looked back at Holden apologetically. “Please ignore her Holden, she reads too many true crime novels. She’s actually very nice. Most of the time. When she’s not being crazy.”
Holden winked. “I’ve already been warned Miss White.”
Julia giggled.
I groaned.
“So now we’ve forgotten that he knows our last names, even though I didn’t give Aiden either of them? Did he run a background check too? Are we on a list now?”
Holden looked seriously at me. “It’s standard procedure with Mr. Latimer’s security. And your names are now on our lists.”
Julia seemed to be thinking about that one as she chewed on her lip. “So if, hypothetically, we were on maybe some report out there, you would have seen it correct? And, suppose that report was somewhat questionable, but clearly trumped up charges with some obviously bad information and even worse situat—”
Holden interrupted her. “We know about the animal clinic protest in college. A nude sit-in? The guys back at the office weren’t too unhappy reading about that one. Pictures were even better.”
His dangerously heated smile at her suggested he’d read quite a bit.
Julia said, “Ah gawd.”
At the same time, I said, “Shit. Julia, I told you that stuff was going to come back to haunt us! But, oh no, freeing the rabbits from unproven animal testing was such a good idea!”
Julia shrugged. “It was the right thing to do. Animals have rights too, and if you’ll remember I didn’t invite you. You tagged along on that one.”
I couldn’t believe we were talking about this. “Oh, excuse me, hippie of the month. I was trying to be a supportive friend and talk you down. You know, because I couldn’t talk you down from the other stuff you did.”
Julia poked her tongue out.
Holden considered that statement. “What other stuff?”
I gave him a sarcastic look. “Oh, you know, unofficial need-to-know stuff.”
Holden gave Julia a questioning glance and smirked. Then he turned back to me. “By the way, I was told to report to Aiden how many times you cuss today. He said something about payment? Your current total is one.”
“What the hell? He needs to get over his damn issue with cussing. They’re sentence enhancers. In fact, when I think about it, his issue with me cussing makes me want to cuss more. I rarely ever cuss. It’s him.”
Holden turned to Julia, “The word “hell” technically counts in my book. You?”
Julia nodded. “Oh yeah. That was two and three.”
“Then your current total is now three Miss Dawkins.”
I shook my head, “I am surrounded by crazy people.”
Holden’s phone rang and he answered. “Yes sir. I’m securing that right now. I’ll deliver the package there myself.”
I looked over at Julia and whispered, “Code names. This is your fault.”
Holden ended the call. “Time to go.”
Julia pouted, “I want a code name.”
He gave her another tight smile and looked Julia up and down. “Now that I’ve seen those videos, I can come up with a few.”
I rolled my eyes again and picked up my satchel from the chair by the door. “Ok, I’m ready Holden. Let’s move this circus along. I don’t have to be at work for another hour so can you just drop me in front of Sweet Treats Pastry? I can walk from there. I need more coffee to deal with this.”
Holden extended his arm out toward the sidewalk. Before he followed me, he turned to Julia, gave her a nod and said, “Miss White.”
Stopping in front of the Benz, I heard Julia giggling again before he closed the door.
I let out a large sigh. I would never hear the end of this. Julia would need a tranquilizer to calm her raging hormones. He wasn’t even her type, but those looks she was spearing him with said differently.
Ug. Surely I could get tranquilizers at the hardware store.
Holden opened the back door
for me. “Miss Dawkins.”
“Please, it’s Liv.”
The windows on the car were so tinted from the outside that you couldn’t tell what the interior looked like. I slid into the seat and tried not to gawk. Leather seats, plenty of leg room, a small video monitor on the backs of each seat, charging connections, a flip out tray and Bluetooth connections.
I ran my hands against the leather. Swanky.
The car pulled away from the curb with Holden driving in the direction of my work. Aiden was rich. How rich wasn’t even a good question. I didn’t want to think about it. The differences between us were so obvious just in that fact alone. Not to mention his looks versus mine.
Aiden Latimer. Well I knew my tormentor’s last name now. I thought I had heard that name before but maybe it was just coincidence. My brain was already on overload and I hadn’t even seen him yet today.
My phone beeped and I pulled it out of my satchel. Brandon.
Brandon: Stop being a bitch and talk to me. Or else.
I switched my phone off.
I didn’t want to deal with that today. I had to remember to talk to someone about getting his number blocked. I always got so busy and just couldn’t remember to do it.
The problem with Brandon was that, when he was determined to be an asshole, he would do whatever it took to get his way in all things. He couldn’t stand to lose.
He got everything he wanted from his parents while he was in college. If he didn’t get what he wanted, he resorted to force or coercion. I had refused to give him something once, and I had paid for it.
I didn’t want to make comparisons to Brandon when it came to Aiden. They seemed different. Specifically, Aiden didn’t terrify me every time he was close.
Well, kind of. But the terrifying part was because he affected me, and I couldn’t breathe around him.
And that kiss. He was a great kisser.
I had never felt like that before. Brandon had always made me feel like I wasn’t worthy and somehow dirty. He was always leering, and trying to catch me off guard to swing things to his advantage. That kind of power-hungry was ugly.
I was having a hard time discerning between the two because Aiden had that feel of power too. He was definitely a powerful man if his taste in cars said anything at all. Julia didn’t understand my confusion because she had never met Aiden. After what had happened yesterday, I felt like I had a very good understanding of his nature. It was the same and yet it was different. But how different?
Holden’s phone rang again.
“Yes, sir. I’ll tell her. We’re nearly there, but traffic is a little slow this morning. Maybe ten minutes,” he said then hung up the phone.
“Miss Dawkins, Aiden has requested that you turn on your phone. He’s been trying to call you.”
Requested. Yeah right. He had probably demanded.
“Well too bad, he can wait.”
Holden chuckled. “I see why he likes you, however, rather than getting me fired, can you please turn on your phone?”
“How well do you know him Holden?”
“Uh, well enough. We served together in the military before he took over his father’s business. Great guy. He took care of us over there and now he pays me and a few of the others to take care of some of his businesses over here.”
I chewed on my bottom lip considering that information. Military. That didn’t fit with my assumption about him the other day or this morning. I would have pegged him as a trust fund kid like Brandon.
“Does he own multiple businesses then?”
Holden changed lanes. “Off the record Miss Dawkins, Aiden owns several. After his father died, he started branching out into different domestic sectors. I’m in charge of his security firm, which was already established when he took over, but Aiden has a lot of different interests. He’s the luckiest man I know when it comes to managing money.”
“To be honest, I don’t know much about him. Other than he owns a Bentley and this Benz. Is this a new car?”
“We own a fleet of different vehicles. Each has its purpose.”
I raised my eyebrow at him. “Such as? And if you’re the head of his security firm, why are you driving me around today?”
“Uh, I don’t mean to sound evasive but it’s a matter of security that I don’t tell you. Both of the cars you’ve ridden in are armored and bullet proof.”
“Is that really necessary? Why am I in this vehicle? I mean, doesn’t he have just some normal car somewhere?”
Holden shrugged. “Aiden is the most down to earth person I know, Miss Dawkins. He is also very well known in certain circles, and he’s an extremely rich man. It takes a lot to keep him safe. As to why you’re in this vehicle, you should ask Aiden.”
“So, you said it was standard procedure that you did a background check on Julia and I. How often have you had to do that?”
“I see where you’re going with that question, but again, you need to ask Aiden about it. The only way you can do that, is by turning on your phone.”
Holden’s phone rang again.
Uh oh.
“Yes sir. I’ll put it on speaker.
I saw him hit a couple of buttons and I suddenly heard Aiden’s voice through the speakers in the back of the car.
“Olivia, why is your phone turned off?” His voice was inquisitive but somewhat irritated.
I considered my answer carefully. I didn’t want to tell him about Brandon. “Uh, well it’s my phone, and I didn’t want to deal with any more text messages while I’m having such a nice ride in your car.”
“Turn on your phone.”
“I’ll think about it and get back to you.”
Holden swerved slightly as another car tried to get in our lane. The motion startled me and I let out an, “Oh!”
“What’s wrong?” Aiden’s voice turned ice cold over the phone.
Holden looked over his shoulder and had an intense glare on his face. “Olivia, are you buckled?”
“Yes!” I said as a twinge of fear started to slide over me. The look on his face was enough to tell me something was very wrong.
Aiden was cussing, “What the hell is going on Holden?!”
Holden’s voice was clear and although calm, he was deadly serious. “That issue we were discussing last night. It’s a go. We need Dylan and Jake here now. We’re at 10th and Madison. Trevor is in our other car, somewhere behind us.”
I was confused and now scared. Holden’s speed increased as he began cutting off cars to get to the next light.
“Holden! What’s happening?”
Instead of Holden telling me, it was Aiden who spoke. “It’s okay baby. Just hold on and I’ll be there. Everything is going to be okay.” His voice was soothing and made me feel safe, despite the circumstances.
Suddenly, the car was slammed by another vehicle. It made a tremendous sound and huge crunching noise. The impact flipped the Benz around and into another car.
I screamed as my shoulder and head hit something hard.
The last thing I remembered was Aiden yelling my name.
Chapter Six
I slowly drifted awake to the sounds of voices. I could hear them saying something but my mind didn’t seem to be processing the conversation. It was like hearing something down a long tunnel. I opened my eyes one at a time and took in my surroundings. I was still in Aiden’s car.
There was the smell of exhaust and burnt tire in the car. I was slumped over into the seat slightly and sat up a bit more. My muscles protested, slightly sore.
Wow. Hello headache.
My brain switched on suddenly, remembering the details. There had been a wreck. We were in danger. Aiden had been yelling.
I didn’t hear Aiden yelling anymore. It was silent in the car, other than the sound of voices somewhere outside. Maybe it was help. I looked around the car. The windshield was cracked but still in place. The passenger door to my left had some buckling. The bags had deployed at some point.
I heard a groan fro
m the driver’s seat and looked forward. Holden seemed to have just come out of his daze as well. The airbag was deployed and slack in his lap. He was shaking his head and looking around.
“Olivia?”
“Yeah Holden, I’m ok. Are you?”
“Just stay where you are. Don’t move.”
Holden reached for his gun and had it in his hand as he undid his belt. He took out his phone and started dialing.
“Yeah Trevor, where are you man?” He paused to listen. “We’re in trouble here. We’re ok, but I’m not sure if we’re out of it yet. There are two vehicles blocking us and I’m hearing people. I don’t have eyes on them though. Not sure. Jake and Dylan are on the way, but I need you here pronto.” He paused. “I don’t give a rat’s ass, run it over.”
I saw the hood of a car outside my window. It was a mangled truck, so I couldn’t see beyond it. I looked through the window to my left and saw a car angled and blocking the rear of the car.
There was suddenly a loud pop on that window and I saw a small crater appear in the glass.
“Olivia! GET DOWN!”
I unbuckled my seatbelt and flung myself onto the seat. I was partially into the floorboard with my face against the cool leather. I heard Holden restart the car and felt the vehicle move. Had I not been witnessing it, I would have thought it was impossible to get the car moving again. There was a horrible scraping noise from the Benz wrenching free of the truck on the right side of the vehicle. I heard another pop.
“Shots fired! Are you in front of us? Fuck. I can barely see through the window.”
I heard the squealing of car tires and several other pops outside as the car kept moving. I kept wincing every time I heard them.
What the hell was that?
I felt the car stop and the sounds of people yelling. The voices were coming nearer and I closed my eyes shut. In the distance, I could hear more cars squealing, I assumed from stopping fast.
Something started pounding on the door.
I screamed in alarm. I was scared and trembling. My heartbeat was racing. “Holden!”
“Olivia, stay where you are. Oh shit! Where are you hurt?’
I looked up to see Holden crawling over the center console. He still had his gun in his hand and the look of alarm on his face.
Run (Lakefield Book 1) Page 5