The Complete Captive Heart Duet: Lost and Found

by Aarons, Carrie

  You get smarter, sharper. You have a different kind of control over your senses, you learn to read people more accurately.

  One of the best skills prison gave me was the sense to always be looking over my shoulder. Which is exactly how I began to spot the “average joe” who kept showing up in too many coincidental places. That’s the thing with detectives or private investigators. They’re always trying to think like a criminal, but they aren’t actually one. That’s where we have a leg up. And that’s how I figured out exactly what Mrs. Morsey was up to.

  About a month ago, I realized that the same guy I’d seen everywhere recently, with his jet black hair and crooked nose, was walking near my job sight. This sight was way out on the edges of town, there was no reason for that guy to be out there. It felt suspicious, and I could have sworn I’d seen him on Mother’s Day and also in the restaurant when I’d taken Charlotte out for dinner for her birthday. It was just too coincidental.

  So I mentioned it to Jane. She was happy I reported it to her, because when she had a friend look into it, tail the guy who was tailing me, we uncovered the whole scheme. Charlotte’s mother was trying to get me locked up again.

  And now the bitch stands here in front of us, that smug smirk gracing her wicked face. She thinks she’s won. Oh, I’m going to take such pleasure in proving her wrong.

  I pull my own phone out and punch in Jane’s number. “Hi Jane, it’s me. Yep … yep. How quick can you get here? Oh, perfect. Alright, see you then!”

  I cheerily hang up with my parole officer and turn back to Charlotte’s mother, who’s expression is faltering. Char is still tucked under my arm, but I can feel her straighten. She knows something big is about to happen. We can feel it crackle through our bodies.

  “Who was that?” Mrs. Morsey practically spits.

  I smile at her. “Oh, that? That was my parole officer, Jane Joval. Yeah, she was in the area so she thought she’d stop over and just clear all of this up. Oh! There she is now.”

  Jane waves as she comes towards us, the cocky grin on her face almost making me laugh. God, do we have this witch or what?

  “Oh, hello there! Hi, buddy.” She shakes my hand, and then leans in to kiss Char’s cheek. “Hi, lovely.”

  Then she turns to Mrs. Morsey. “And I know who you are, you cow.”

  I swear Char almost chokes on her tongue, and her mother’s face turns such a shade of red I think she might not be breathing.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

  I butt in. “Now, Mrs. Morsey, it’s not proper to curse. Although I’ve definitely taught your daughter how to do it. Anyhow, this is my parole officer. She just thought she’d be in the area in case I needed her. But not before she signed the correct paperwork allowing me to take this trip. Because while I have to remain in my jurisdiction, I am allowed up to a two week trip with my parole officer’s permission. She’s here to explain just in case you’re still feeling like calling the police.”

  I smile at her, victory singing in my heart. She looks like she might slice my face off.

  “Wha … how …”

  Jane touches her arm. “Oh, yes … we know all about your conniving ways. And hear me on this; if you ever try to interfere with either one of their lives again, I will report you to the police for harassment and stalking. The commissioner back in Lancaster is a dear old friend.”

  Charlotte’s mother is about to spit nails. It’s so amusing and satisfying.

  “You’re a bunch of ingrates! Scoundrels! Piece of shit criminals!”

  “Buh-bye, mother.” Charlotte finally speaks up, waggling her fingers sarcastically.

  Mrs. Morsey turns on her totally-unsuitable heels and scrambles for her car. At one point, she turns back to say something, but the words must get stuck. Or she glimpses the look on Jane’s face and thinks better of it.

  Only when she’s finally driving away and out of our lives forever do I fist bump Jane and pull her into a congratulatory hug.

  “We did it!” She hoots.

  “Okay, will someone please explain what the hell is going on!?” Char’s jaw is almost on the ground.

  “Yeah, we’d like to know what the heck just happened, too.” Willy and Melody come out of the mess hall, where they must have been eavesdropping.

  I start to crack up at the insanity of what just happened. And my soul feels so light it’s crazy. Here I am, surrounded by the people who mean the most to me in this whole world.

  “Let’s sit down and get some food, and I’ll tell you the story.”

  * * *

  “So you knew what she was up to all along?” Char gapes at me over the huge bowl of spaghetti and meatballs in the middle of the table.

  Jane scoops her third helping onto a plastic mess hall plate. “Well, he noticed the shady dude tracking him, so we put a tail on his tail. And he turned out to be right. You’re an intuitive bastard, you know that, Tucker?”

  “Thanks, boss.” I rip into a hunk of garlic bread, my appetite voracious after the battle with Mrs. Morsey.

  “So this running away, it was all a front?” Char looks hopeful.

  I turn to her, sorry to have to burst her bubble. “No, babe. I’m sorry. I really did feel overwhelmed, when I left I felt like doing so was the best thing for you. But Jane and I had a pre-approved trip pass all written out, just in case anything ever came up where we knew your mother could take advantage of it. I called Jane when I was on my way here to let her know, and she thought it might be best if she was in the area. Turns out she was right.”

  “But everything is alright between you two now, right?” Melody takes a sip of water as she smiles at us with a gleeful expression.

  I lace my finger’s through Char’s. “We’re more than alright. In fact, this lady has agreed to settle down with me. We’re moving to the burbs!”

  Willy laughs and pats me on the back. “Let me know if you need any help. I hear your handyman skills are shit.”

  Char still has questions though. “So … my mother is gone. Won’t bother us again?”

  Jane laughs. “Not if she knows what’s good for her. No, what she doesn’t know is that I already put in that call to my old pal the Chief of Police. He’s got some eyes on her, just light surveillance. If she gets within 100 feet of either of you, she’ll be in trouble. You’re free.

  Char looks at me, her brown eyes twinkling. “We’re free.”

  Chapter 38

  Tucker

  “I can’t believe it’s been two days. Doesn’t the world seem different now?” Char tilts her head back where it rests on my shoulder, and our eyes connect.

  “It does. Lighter somehow. More hopeful.”

  She nods and rests back into my chest. We’re hidden out here, under a tall oak tree on the other side of the lake from the campgrounds. My back scratches the bark as she rests in the cocoon of my body. The moonlight bounces off the lake, a huge reflection, as the fireflies light the air around us.

  “This is so perfect,” Char sighs.

  “It is.” I press my lips into the side of her forehead, smelling the woodsy, pine scent of her hair, and wrap my arms tighter around her.

  I can’t believe we’re here, that we have a fresh start in the place where I first got us into this crazy mess. We made it through, and we’re stronger because of it.

  She sighs and brings my fingers up to her mouth to kiss. “My mind and body feel like they’ve been through a hurricane and tornado, back to back. Like I’ve survived some huge natural disaster.”

  I dust my hand down her side, feeling the swell of her breast and the curve of her hip. “That’s because your mother is a natural disaster. Worse than a tsunami and an earthquake put together.”

  “Let’s never speak her name again, okay?”

  “Sounds good to me.” I reach to the left of me and grasp the velvet box I placed on the ground when we sat.

  My heart felt like it was bursting out of my chest, beating like I was a horse running the Kentucky Derb
y. And it’s just right this minute that I realize it’s because I never actually did this before. I’ve been married to Charlotte for over three and a half years and I wasn’t even the one who proposed. I never picked out a ring, never sweated through my suit jacket at some fancy dinner before lowering to one knee and asking her to spend her life with me. She was the one who’d proposed the idea of marriage, in a prison no less.

  She deserved this. After all of it, everything she’d stuck with me through. I’d been planning someday to give her the proper proposal, the big diamond. But when Willy had pulled me aside yesterday afternoon and told me I needed to buck up, I knew this was the perfect time.

  “Can you stand up for a second?” I shimmy so that Char can get to her feet.

  She looks at me, those big brown eyes puzzled, as she rises. She looks so beautiful in her lilac sundress, the moon shining down on her from above. It’s like she’s not even real, like she’s a glowing figment of my imagination.

  I know Char thinks I’m going to stand and meet her at her level, but instead, I scoot myself onto one knee, my arms outstretched with the velvet box in my hands.

  “Oh my god, Tuck …” She gasps, her hands flying up to her mouth.

  “I know, I know,” I chuckle. “We’re already married. Have been for a while. But … after everything we’ve been through these past six months, not to mention the last three years. And the eighteen before that. I never did this properly, baby. There haven’t been many traditional things about our life together; hell, we got engaged and married in a prison, have holidays with no other family besides us. Even the last Halloween we spent together was in the back of the canteen eating boxed candy and soft serve ice cream. We haven’t done it society’s way. Ever. And while I wouldn’t change a thing, because it got us to where we are right now, I do want to give you the things I can. You were always a traditional girl growing up, the one who everyone thought would be married with the perfect husband and the picket fence and the two kids. How I ever got so lucky that you picked me? I have no fucking idea. See, I’m even cursing in my proper proposal.”

  I shrug and she laughs through the tears coating her cheeks.

  “I want to give you the world, because you’re my world. The sun rises and sets with you. If you’re not happy, it’s raining on my head too. I love you, Charlotte Tucker. I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you come out onto your driveway in your leotard. I’ve loved you since you let me sit on your back porch on Thanksgiving. I’ve loved you since you rocked my teenage world, even though I didn’t rock yours. Which I’ve made up for, by the way, let’s not forget that. But … back to the point. I’ve loved you since you helped me find the real me three years ago, hidden away on these cold camp grounds. And I love you now. If it’s possible, I love you more every single day. So this isn’t a question, because we’re already way beyond that. This is a statement. I will love you forever. Through all of the good, bad and in between. And I know you will love me too, until our last dying breath. So, let’s live every day beside each other, in love.”

  I pop open the small ring box and present it to her. I don’t need to look at it, I know what the ring I’ve picked out looks like. Rose gold with a plain band, and a big fat oval diamond sitting in the center. Three karats and all of the money I’ve saved, plus a loan from Willy. The moment I saw it in the case at the jewelry store in town, I knew it was the one. Classic and elegant, just like my beautiful wife.

  No, I don’t need to see the ring. I picked it. What I watch is Charlotte’s face as she looks down at me, at the ring I picked for her.

  Surprise, love, delight and a thousand other emotions mesh together on her beautiful features like paints on a canvas. Her expression is a work of art, and the tears she cries are it’s appreciation.

  “Oh my god, Tucker! This is … it’s so beautiful. It’s exactly what I’ve always wanted!”

  I pull the ring from it’s velvet cushions and slide it onto her finger, where it sits above her plain white gold wedding band. I stand, taking her hands in mine and admiring the way the moonlight catches the classic ring on her finger.

  “It looks perfect. Like it was made for your finger.”

  “Tucker … it is gorgeous, but … can we afford this?”

  Leave it to Char to be practical. “Don’t you worry your pretty head about that.”

  I bring her face to mine and capture her lips so she can’t go on about the price of it. Her tongue finds mine, invades my mouth and turns what was a sweet kiss into a smoldering reverence. With each brush of her tongue against mine, my chest aches with the need to be closer to her. With each graze of our teeth on each other’s lips, my cock presses harder against the roughness of my jeans.

  Pulling back, I take a moment to admire Char before I undress her. She’s a vision, driving me to the edge of madness with her teasing. I bend down and grab the hem of her dress before pulling it up and over her head, leaving her fully nude against the night air.

  “No panties?” My voice chokes as my cock throbs in it’s cage.

  She thrusts her breasts against my clothed chest. “Well, I thought you were bringing me out here for some last night at camp fun. I didn’t expect the ring, although now I can thank you even more.”

  Her hands, small and dexterous with the ring glinting in the dark, easily slide my zipper down and reach into my boxers. She wraps her hand around me as she sinks to her knees. My cock springs free, the sensation of it connecting with the feverish summer air sends shivers up my spine.

  Char’s a siren down on her knees, a commander ready only to give me my pleasure when she sees fit.

  She leans forward, rolling her tongue around the sensitive tip of my dick.

  “Yes, baby,” I hiss, bucking my hips so I can fill her mouth.

  She takes me greedily, never making a sound about the way I’m thrusting in and out of her velvet wetness. I fist my hands in her hair, loving the feel of the soft silkiness sliding through my fingers. Char clutches me as she sucks me, and the sparkle of the diamond on her left hand makes my cock impossibly harder.

  With a pop of suction, she releases my head from between her lips. “I want to ride your cock.”

  Her eyes are smoky and mesmerizing as she looks up at me, and I pull my shirt over my head as she wriggles my legs free of my jeans. I join her on the ground, in our nakedness, and take her in my arms as we both kneel in the grass.

  “You’re the most magnificent thing I’ve ever seen.” I capture her lips roughly.

  We’re kissing so fervently I think I might bruise her lips. My finger delves between us, down to the place where I know she’ll be soaking wet. I’m not disappointed when I get there. I push one finger in, letting her arousal coat me, and then pull it back out as Char disconnects our mouths on a whimper.

  My finger, slicked with her lust, finds my mouth and I suck her sweet juices from it. “Always so decadent, baby. The best dessert I’ve ever had. Now get on top of me and ride your husband.”

  Her brown eyes are molten as she gracefully mounts me. The moment she impales herself on my cock, we both let out low, torturous groans.

  “You feel so big. Like you’re filling me up.” Char groans, the moonlight doing devilish things to her creamy skin.

  She looks like a fairytale, like a Grecian Goddess straddling my waist with her face turned skyward. Her hands are pushed into my chest, branding my torso. Her head is thrown back, her long brown hair falling in waves over her shoulders.

  She’s divine, holy even. I need to come up with a religion that only worships her. A devout Char parishioner.

  “It’s all yours. Forever.” I clutch her waist as she explores the sensation that comes after rising and plunging back down until my cock is lodged deep inside of her.

  Char consumes me, and soon we’re moving together, her undulating on me while I thrust my hips off of the ground. It’s intoxicating, the haze of love and passion driving us both mad. I palm her breasts, brushing and rolling her swollen
buds while she uses my dick as her tool, willing it to bring her to a mind-blowing orgasm.

  “Yes, Tucker … oh God, yes.” Char moans, the breathy gasps filling the silent night air and driving me insane.

  I reach down and press my thumb to her clit. She explodes. It’s like I see the orgasm detonate inside her, wracking her body with euphoric pulses. Her eyes find mine, and they mirror the ecstasy I feel. I pull her toward me and grab both of her plump cheeks in my hands.

  “You. Are. So. Beautiful. I. Love. You. So. Much.” I grit the words out and my release comes on the tail-end of the last one.

  I come apart, clutching Char to me as I spill myself inside of her. Fireworks go off behind my eyelids as I squeeze them shut, basking in the glory of my release.

  As I gulp in air, recovering from the number she just did on my body, she pushes up onto her elbows.

  “Let’s come back here, every year. For a couple of days, or weeks. I don’t care. But we should come back every summer. To our place. This is our place.”

  I look my wife in the eyes. “Only if we can stay in cabin four next time.”

  39

  Charlotte

  Six Months Later

  Buying a house is a lot of freaking work. You have to get tax documents and credit scores. It takes months for the mortgage and loan officers to file through your personal history, both as a singular person and as a couple. Add in the fact that your husband has a conviction record and that doesn’t make it any easier.

  You have to wait while they comb it all through, sitting and praying that you will get the house, that the sale won’t fall through. And then one day, they give you the green light.

  And then they take all of your money. Every single penny to your name. Gone.

  But that’s not the last of it. Oh, no. That would be too easy. Because when your husband says, “Let’s buy a fixer upper and I’ll give you the house of your dreams, baby,” you go all gooey and agree to it. Especially because your husband is a piece of hunky man meat. But what you don’t realize is that you just spent two months in mortgage purgatory, and that was nothing compared to renovation hell.