by Lucian Bane
She counted each step as she went, keeping her eyes on the front door. When she reached the bottom of the stairs just before the door, she turned and gazed up. She could just go up and wait in his apartment. Her gaze slowly lowered then turned to the front door. She could continue with her original plan and go to the hotel. But then she only had so much money saved.
She took hold of the door handle just as a burst of Daniel’s laughter hit her in the chest, stealing her breath. Her fingers tensed on the metal crossroad in her death grip. She closed her eyes, her breaths shaking as she fought the ache in her body. She realized as she stood there, suffocating, that she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t do the Daniel fast. She wasn’t strong enough. Not now, not yet. She needed distance.
She could go to the bus station and buy a ticket as far away as she could afford. Before Darius ended up finding her. He’d hurt her, and Daniel. And his Gramma. Daniel’s protection was the least safe place for all of them.
She listened one last time to the sound of his voice as he talked with ease with his Gramma and the woman. She closed her eyes, capturing it inside herself, never wanting to forget it.
She opened the door.
****
Daniel eyed the hall, wondering what was taking Nineveh so long. He wanted out of the conversation but since there was no way to end it without being rude, he at least wanted Nineveh with him. He was worried about her. She looked nervous and ashamed the few times she met his gaze.
He wanted to tell her who the woman was to him more than anything and that he had no intimate attachments to her other than saving their life and future. He’d remained silent about the entire crime because in their world, had they gotten caught in a rape they would’ve been stoned. Women were assumed guilty in many of those scenarios.
His silence was their protection and he’d planned on remaining quiet as long as it took to keep them safe.
Then, these three women manage to escape the war-torn country, come to America, and look up his grandmother—as he’d instructed them. He never really expected that to ever happen. Nor did he ever expect them to get his case appealed and testify in his behalf.
Because of them, he was now free.
His mind went back to Nineveh. Had she been jealous? Was that what he was sensing and seeing?
In his dreams.
God is my Dom. His heart ached with those words. Those precious words. He’d wanted to help her, but he never dreamed she’d get to a place where she saw God as her Dom. He couldn’t ask for more, and yet… he longed for more.
He was pretty sure she was taking way too long in the bathroom. “Excuse me,” Daniel said to his Gramma and Shahelle before making his way to the hall. He headed to the bathroom and knocked on the door, listening. At no answer, he opened it and peered in. He looked up and down the hall then headed to the kitchen. Empty. He headed to the stairs and made his way up to his apartment. Maybe she wanted to change. Finding the door locked, he knocked softly. He pulled out his key and let himself in.
With every room he found empty, fear gripped his muscles tighter. He hurried downstairs and went into the living room. “Have you seen Nineveh?” he asked Gramma.
“Oh, well, I saw her getting some things out of the car after she came out of the bathroom. She’s probably upstairs.”
“She’s not, when did you see her?” he wondered, his panic surging.
“Not long after she went to the bathroom. I guess you missed her coming out?”
Panic slammed Daniel as he hurried out the front door, fighting the urge to run. “Nineveh!” he called, looking around the yard, hurrying to the street and searching. He jogged back to the car.
“Daniel?” his Gramma called from the door as he got in.
“I’m going look for her,” he called. “Please pray.”
She stared at him with a worried brow, nodding. “Be careful,” she called as he backed out into the street.
He sped down the road, slowing down to search the yards left and right as he went. “Come on Nineveh, what the fuck are you doing?”
He eyed the rear-view mirror then turned around and went down the street the other way, searching the same. He circled around the block, looking for light pink and black hair. “Please God,” he whispered. “Please help me.”
****
Nineveh dug through her bags while standing behind the little store three blocks from Daniel’s. Her stomach sank at the realization. Her wallet. Her identification. She needed that to get a ticket. Fuck, where was it?
Her mind raced as she tried to remember the last place she’d seen it. Each time, her memory took her to Darius’s apartment and she averted, considering other options. Other places.
She finally leaned against the cement wall of the building, her arms burning from carrying the plastic bags with her new clothes. She looked right, feeling trapped. Fucking bastard. Stole everything from her and now, right when she had her ticket to freedom and the courage to take it, he steals that too.
Nineveh pushed off the wall, making her way around the store. Daniel was right, he couldn’t make her stay, he had no legal right to. She went into the store and asked to borrow the phone and phone book. She looked up the number to the local police department and called.
“Yes ma’am,” she said to the female voice that answered. “I uh… I need help.”
After explaining her situation, Nineveh hung up and eyed the scowling middle-eastern clerk. “Thank you,” she said, before beelining to the refrigerator at the back of the store and pulling out a coke. She returned to the front with it and purchased it along with a pack of cinnamon gum.
She left the store and waited outside for her police escort to come for her. It was the first time in a very long time that she felt good about herself. She was doing something smart for a change. Smart for herself. For her future.
Chapter Ten
“She’s about five foot one and a half,” Daniel told the deputy across from him at the station, fighting his panic. “She frequents Sodom and Gomorrah. She was in trouble there, trying to leave the man she was with. She said he abused her and she was afraid when I found her.”
The questions went on and on. Where exactly did he find her and when, and why didn’t he bring her to the police station, why didn’t he take her to a hospital. He answered as honestly as he knew how, but before long it became apparent that they were more about presenting obstacles than solutions.
“Look, Sodom and Gomorrah has a notorious reputation for drug traffic. It’s highly likely that she returned there for her fix. But we can’t just go in there with no just cause. She would need to file a report. When you see her again, you should advise her to take the legal steps to protect herself. We can’t do anything otherwise,” the man said.
Daniel left the police station, sick with panic. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, praying she’d call him again. “Please God…” He paused outside the station, pressing the edge of the phone to his forehead. “Please help me,” he whispered, hurrying to his car while dialing his grandmother.
“No word,” his Gramma said at pick up. “I’m sitting on the phone, and I’m watching at the window, honey. She won’t get past me without me knowing.”
“Please pray, Gramma.”
“Oh darling, I am, I haven’t stopped. Are you okay, Daniel?”
He turned around in circles next to the car, his eyes in a constant loop of searching. “I… I’m lost without her,” he finally whispered, losing strength in his legs. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” he gasped, leaning over.
“You keep searching,” Gramma said, her voice breaking with emotion. “And praying. God is big enough, young man, don’t you forget that, not ever.”
He nodded, sucking those words into his spirit. “God is,” he confirmed, opening his eyes, then the car door and climbing in. It had been four hours and seventeen minutes since he’d started looking for her. She could be anywhere now.
God, lead me to her. Just like you did the first n
ight I met her.
As Daniel sat there, his phone buzzed, making him jump. He looked at the screen and his finger shook as he typed in the password, opening the window. A message. His heart hammered as he touched the little speech bubble icon.
Help me. Can’t call.
Terror shot through him. He could only stare at the words, frozen. He typed back. Where are you? Who has you? He sent it and stared at the screen. Please God, please.
The bubble moved with incoming text. The police drove me. Needed my ID to buy ticket. Arrested me for trespassing. Darius drove to place. I smell gas. I’m in a small square. I feel tools car tools maybe. I hid my phone I can hear him talking to people 3 men. 5% battery.
Daniel fought to think quick, typing. Keep typing details. How long did you drive? What sounds did you hear?
… fifteen minutes? I think still n town. Sounds like a garage or mechanic. I think its Dades.
Where is that? he typed.
By champagn supermarket.
I’m on my way. Keep typing. Are you hurt?
I don’t feel pain. God is with me.
Hot tears flooded his eyes and he banged his fist on the steering wheel as he started the car and tore out.
And no cops. The cops were fucking dirty.
Daniel held the phone at the steering wheel, eyeing the screen and the road at the same time in case she typed again.
I’m sorry. she texted.
Those words filled Daniel with so much agony. She was probably sorry for causing him hassle. Because she was a fucking angel. “God, I’m sorry, I’m fucking sorry I fell. I fell for her, I fell so hard for her.”
****
Daniel parked his car half a block away and walked toward the garage, typing as he went. You still there?
2% Battery.
Fuck. He hurried through the cover of darkness, entering the garage parking lot near the junk cars, weaving his way toward the main opening at the back. His heart hammered, finding the area lit up. He lowered his upper body and crouch ran to one of the junk cars near the large doorway.
Pressing his back against the building, he looked all around in the darkness before leaning his head enough to see into the garage. He pulled his head back after getting a solid look at four men.
He pulled his phone out and texted her. Does Darius have a bald head with tattoos?
He fought to calm his breaths, watching the chat bubble move. That’s Dade. Darius had on a t shirt. Black. And jeans. He has black hair, wavy. Kind of long.
Shit, Daniel wasn’t sure and he needed to be. He listened, trying to hear them talking. He typed, Can you hear them talking?
Yes.
Type to me what you are hearing.
We have that shipment of ?. You still on to intercept that? Some mumbling. Laughing.
Daniel’s heart kicked into high gear as he typed. I’m at the right place. Hold on tight.
He shoved his phone in his back pocket, looking around for a weapon. He eyed a long pipe near the door and crawled near it. Once he managed to sneak it, he stood up and put it behind him as he walked into the garage.
“Hey, you guys open?”
They all turned as Daniel continued toward them. “Shop’s closed,” a small dude said on his right.
“Ah damn,” Daniel said lightly, swinging the pipe at the head of first dude near him. It hit with a loud thonk and Daniel spun around and batted the head of the dude now behind him. A third one charged and Daniel jabbed him in the chest then face before smashing it over his head.
Pain exploded in Daniel’s spine and he spun again, swinging his weapon. This dude was big and bald. If he didn’t take him down quick, shit could go real wrong. Daniel charged him, slamming him into the wall and shoving the pipe into his trachea over and over before he had a chance to react. The giant dropped to the ground and Daniel ran back to the three on the ground, making sure they were down for good. He sucked air into his burning lungs as he looked around. “Nineveh,” he called, keeping his voice down.
A banging sounded on his right, but before he turned, the tattooed dude came to. He swung the pipe one final time at his head. “Stay the fuck down,” he heaved, before whacking his legs until he heard bones cracking. He couldn’t risk being pursued so Daniel broke all their legs before heading to the far end of the garage.
“Where are you?”
“Here!” She banged again and he raced to a small metal door.
“Back up.” He used the pipe and banged on the lock repeatedly until the entire mechanism broke off. Pulling open the door, he nearly lost his shit at seeing her swollen, bloody face.
“Doesn’t even hurt,” she gasped, stumbling forward.
Daniel dropped the pipe and scooped her up into his arms, looking around again. They were all down still. He raced with her out of there and all the way out of the parking lot. Cover us God, please. Shelter us.
When Daniel made it to the car, he quickly looked around as he opened the passenger door and carefully set her inside. He couldn’t help but kiss her forehead before racing to the driver side of the car and climbing in. Leaving the lights off, he started the car and headed back home, taking the long way.
Parking behind the house on the street over, he carried Nineveh through his neighbor’s yard and into his back yard. Using the back door, he banged roughly on the glass, making it rattle loudly. He then pounded on the wood part of the house.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he heard his Gramma gasp. “Daniel?” she asked at the door.
“It’s me, yes, hurry.”
She opened the door and cried out in shock as he entered.
“Lock it back. Turn out the lights. Pack your bags, we’re leaving. You still have that camp in Paradise, right?”
“Yes, yes,” she cried, following Daniel as he headed up the stairs. “Is she okay?”
“I’m fine, Gramma,” Nineveh called.
“Pack now, Gramma. Pack for a couple of days. Take only what you need, we leave in fifteen minutes.”
“I’m packing, I’m packing,” she cried, her voice trailing down the hall.
****
Nineveh didn’t know how to tell him that she could walk. Part of her didn’t want to slow him down, and another part of her needed him to hold her. She’d broken her Daniel fast the moment he’d busted down that door and rescued her from hell again. And again when he’d put his lips on her forehead.
He climbed the stairs with her and kicked open his door, hurrying with her to the couch. He set her down and ordered, “Do not move!”
Her stomach tensed with those words. How did he have the power to arouse her right in the middle of catastrophe? There was something electrifying when he was angry and commanding. Something she loved and craved.
She watched as he ran into his room and listened to the sounds of drawers opening and slamming. A few moments later, he came out with a giant black duffle bag and a shotgun. He set the gun against the wall and stormed into the bathroom where clanging and clattering ensued.
He came out and put the bag on the floor and zipped it up. Nineveh didn’t fight her body as she hungrily took in every bit of him. Then he rose up and came toward her, making her brace for impact. She kept her head lowered, knowing her face looked terrible by the way he’d first reacted. But it didn’t hurt. Nothing on her did. There was nothing but a strange humming inside, she couldn’t explain it.
Daniel knelt before her and carefully took hold of her hands and pulled them to his lips. She gasped as he pressed his beautiful mouth to them. “Are you okay, baby?”
She couldn’t fight the tremble in her body from how he made her feel. She’d been brutalized, but his touch, his tenderness was tearing her apart. He gazed at her and fury and agony gripped his handsome face. “God is with me,” she whispered through her busted lips, her chin shaking.
He buried his face in her lap, his forearms holding her legs. “I’m sorry,” he cried. “Please forgive me. I’m sorry.”
She couldn’t contain her
shaky breaths as she raised a hand and caressed the soft hair on his head. Tears flooded her eyes when he reached up and held her hand in his. “I’m the sorry one.”
“Don’t,” he shook his head on her lap. “I’m taking you some place safe.” He raised his head and looked at her. “You want that?”
Her body went ahead of her, nodding barely. Her mind agreed and then she realized all of her agreed. She nodded more, firmer, faster.
“I’m going to go put this in the car with Gramma’s stuff then I’m coming back to get you.”
“I can walk,” she said, not wanting to be away from him. “God was with me,” she reiterated. She stood then and showed him. “I can walk. I’m fine.”
He suddenly wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight to his body. “I can’t lose you, I can’t fucking lose you,” he breathed in her ear, making her heart lurch and hammer all at once. What did he mean by that?
****
Safely tucked in the car, they drove out of Hell and headed to Paradise. The irony was bitter-sweet. Gramma directed him what back roads to take and before long, they’d covered enough miles to put them all at a peaceful silence.
Nineveh felt a sudden wave of fatigue hit her and she put the pillow Daniel had given her against the window and leaned her head.
Daniel’s finger stroked along her arm and she turned to him. “Put your pillow here,” he whispered, patting the seat next to him.
Her heart hammered in her chest then dropped to her stomach as she placed the pillow where he instructed and lay down.
He gently pushed the hair away from her face, stroking her skin with his finger as he did. The Daniel fast was completely gone now. She closed her eyes, her heart racing out of control. She felt him moving and suddenly he covered her with a light material. She realized it was his outer shirt and pulled it closer to her, wanting to put it next to her face and smell him.
She snuggled closer and dared to put the tips of her fingers on his leg. He took hold of her hand and moved it back on the pillow, igniting her fears. But he didn’t let go of her hand. He held it there, stroking his thumb softly over her fingers. Dear God, why was he doing this? What if it was pity and once she was all better, it would be back to before?