Forbidden Attraction: A Contemporary Romance Box Set

by K. C. Crowne

  He looked right at me, his pale gray eyes setting me on edge.

  "Get in," he said.

  I looked around, hoping there was someone around to help if I needed them.

  "I just want to talk to you," the man said as the car came to a stop.

  A second later, his door clicked open, and he scooted up his seat to make way for me.

  "Please," he said. "Just two minutes."

  "No fucking way!"

  I was about to run with one hand searching for my phone to call the cops when he reached out and touched my arm. It wasn't a threatening touch, but a caring one.

  "Please," he said. "I'm sorry if I scared you. It’s just very important that I speak with you."

  "I'm not getting in the car."

  He sighed and gave an accepting nod.

  "Of course not," he said. "What about that place there?"

  He motioned toward the coffee shop.

  "You can leave anytime you want,” he assured me. “Just please, two minutes."

  Any rational part of my brain should have told him to fuck off. I wasn't the type of girl who just wandered off with any random man in a car. But there was something about his eyes that drew me in. Something that made me trust him.

  "You just need to speak with me?"

  "Yes," he nodded and stepped out the car before addressing his driver.

  "Wait for me, Jones. I won't be too long."

  "Of course, Sir," replied the driver.

  I watched as the mysterious man drew himself up to full size and it was then that I realized I'd seen him before.

  " Aren’t you Senator Ogilvy?"

  "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to creep up on you like that," he said, sipping an espresso. "That must have been quite a shock for you."

  We had taken a window seat at the front of the coffee shop. It was usually my favorite seat because it was the best spot to people watch. But today, I wasn't looking at anyone but him. He was devastatingly handsome in a mature way and exuded power.

  "I think there's been some mix up," I said. "Or some mistake. There's no way it's me you're looking for."

  "You're Megan Saunders, aren't you?"

  " Yes I am."

  I wrapped my cold fingers around my mocha and shivered.

  "How the hell do you know my name? What is this all about?"

  He could sense my rising annoyance and said, "I'll get to the point. As you know, the Halloween festival is tomorrow, and I'll be in attendance. These events are always an enormous source of time and resources, but they're also a risk."

  "A risk?"

  "Of terrorism. Busy events like this can always be a risk of some sort of danger whether it be a protest, a shooting, or a bombing perhaps."

  "I'm sorry. I'm not following you. What has this got to do with me?"

  He took another sip of his espresso and looked out the window then back to me.

  "As you can imagine, as a Senator, I need a tremendously vigorous security detail for the event. In fact, I met one of the security agents the other day. Jared Maguire."

  "And?"

  He nodded and took another sip of his drink before setting it down and reaching into his pocket. He pulled out an orange pill bottle and popped a tablet into his mouth like a Tic Tac.

  "Acid reflux," he explained. "Anyway, onto Jared. I've been watching him."

  " Is he in some sort of danger?"

  "No. You are."

  Anger flickered in his eyes as he looked back out the window.

  "That piece of shit ruined my life. He'll ruin yours too, you know."

  "I don't understand."

  Anxiety began to rise within me. What was he talking about? First, I found out Billy was involved with the Mob, and now I was going to find out something terrible about Jared too?

  The anger in Ogilvy's face subsided and was replaced with an intense sadness that made his gray eyes darken.

  "I had a daughter," he explained. "Marie. She was so perfect."

  His voice broke as he spoke of her and he leaned across the table and lightly pressed his hand on top of mine.

  "She'd be a little older than you are now if she were still alive."

  "What happened?"

  "Jared, the cretin. He introduced her to pills. Got her hooked on hard drugs and... And..."

  He swallowed hard and looked down at his lap.

  "My little girl had a promising future until she met that lowlife bastard."

  Then it all came to me. The pictures under his bed. The funeral program.

  "Oh, God. I'm so sorry," I said. "That must have been terrible for you."

  He composed himself, drew back his hand and sat up straight.

  "Get out now," he said. "Stay away from him. I know it's none of my business, and you must think of me as a frightful, invasive person to have been following you like this. But the truth is that I care. I couldn't bear for another girl to die because of Jared."

  "But he's not some drug dealing low life," I insisted. "He was a Navy SEAL. He's one of life's good guys."

  "There are some things you don't learn about a person until it's too late," he said.

  He glanced down to his watch then out to the street where his driver waited for him.

  "I'm terribly sorry, but I must be on my way. Promise me you'll stay safe. I couldn't save my own daughter, but perhaps I could save someone else's."

  He lay a hand on my shoulder and squeezed to say goodbye. Then he was gone. I watched him walk down the sidewalk toward his waiting car, then disappear inside.

  There are some things you don't learn about a person until it's too late.

  Ogilvy was right. I had thought Billy was the right guy for me until it was too late. Could it be possible I was wrong about Jared too?

  Jared

  "Hi Megan. It's me again," I said as I reached voicemail again.

  I was leaning out the window trying to get a better signal and could see down the mountain to where Station Springs lay. Squinting to see where her practice was, I imagined her down there moving gracefully between patients in her cute little uniform.

  "So, I've got the afternoon off work," I said. "And I was wondering if maybe you could get a chance to finish work early? Maybe grab a few drinks with me? Oh, and I picked up my tickets to Red Cherry tomorrow if you want to come with Ruby. Okay, well, I'll call again later. See ya."

  I hung up and thought back to last night. I remembered the way she cried out as my tongue sunk itself between her legs and the way she trembled in my arms. Then I remembered how she had lain on my chest and slept sweetly, and how I had never been so happy in all my life.

  When I drove her to work that morning, I felt as though I was floating. It had almost hurt to watch her leave and enter the practice. I had watched her walk across the parking lot hoping to God she'd change her mind and turn back.

  But then I recalled the sound of the car speeding into the night, the sound of the banging on the walls. What the hell was going on last night?

  I wouldn't go as far as to say I was afraid of who it could be, but I was definitely concerned. More for Megan than for me. Whoever it was that came all the way up here hadn't arrived by accident. There were only two reasons why they were here. Me or Megan.

  I had to come back to the mountain to do some digging and find out who it was, which was why I was back on the mountain now setting off in the direction of old Silas, my nearest neighbor.

  Pulling on my padded coat, I walked around the back of my cabin to where my snowmobile lay protected beneath a sheet of tarpaulin.

  I climbed on and took off, driving in the direction of the old man's cabin. It was so secluded you would never find it unless you were looking for it. Even I almost missed it.

  Nestled among the fir trees with a makeshift chimney spurting out thick, black smoke, it looked like the kind of place I'd enter and find myself being cooked alive by an evil witch.

  "Hello!" came Silas' gruff voice from the doorway as I climbed off my snowmobile. "What a pl
easant surprise."

  "Here," I said, reaching into my backpack. "I brought you something."

  The old man shuffled closer. He was wearing nothing but a stained vest and holey pants held up by tattered suspenders, but he didn't appear to feel the cold. He scratched at his bloated stomach and looked down into my bag.

  "What the hell is that?"

  "It's a bottle of Jameson. Real whiskey bought from a store. It won't even make you blind."

  "Then what's the damn point of drinking it?" he chuckled, revealing a line of broken, brown teeth. "Well, I suppose you better come in then."

  He snatched the bottle out of my hand and staggered into his shack. If Megan thought my place looked like a museum, she had to see this place. I followed him in and felt the boards creak beneath my feet. A fire was roaring in the corner with what looked like a chunk of meat roasting on top.

  "You hungry?" he asked.

  "What is it?"

  "Oppossum."

  "Oh. No. I've just eaten."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Pretty sure."

  He took the whiskey and poured it into two metal cans before handing me one. I took it anxiously, worried I'd need a tetanus shot after drinking it.

  "So, what can I do for you?" he asked.

  "I've been wondering if you heard anything around here last night."

  He shook his head and drank his whiskey like it was water.

  "Last night I was drunk as a skunk," he said then let out a loud belch. "So just like every other night."

  He exploded into a fit of laughter and slapped his stomach.

  "So no. I heard nothing," he said, still laughing. "But maybe my CCTV saw something."

  "What?"

  "My cameras up there."

  He pointed to his roof as though we could somehow see through it.

  "You have CCTV?"

  He rolled his eyes and raised his palms to the ceiling.

  "Lord knows why. It was a Christmas present from my little nephew. He's all la-di-dah. Said I had to learn how to protect myself. I told him I protect myself just fine with this shotgun here but he don't listen. Anyway, he set them up. Said I had to enter the twenty-first century. That's easy for him to say. He's grown up in Station Springs his whole life. Doesn't know nothing about living up here and-"

  "The CCTV. Is it set up?"

  "Uhuh."

  "And it records?"

  "Yup! That's what my nephew tells me."

  "But how do you view the footage? You've not got a computer or a smartphone or anything like that."

  "I'm told it downloads onto some sort of card in the camera or some shit like that. But I don't know how these things work. Honest to God it was the biggest waste of money on Earth buying me those cameras."

  "I wouldn't be so quick to say that. Would you mind if I have a look at those cards in those cameras?"

  "Keep bringing me this golden nectar here and you can do what you like," he laughed, refilling his can of whiskey.

  I set my own drink down and hurried outside. The roof of the shack was only a little taller than I was, and I could easily reach up on tip toes to release the SD cards from the back of the cameras. There were four in total, each one facing out in each direction of the mountain. Hopefully, one of them captured our late-night visitor.

  “What you got there?” Jackson asked as I returned to the office and slammed the first SD card into my computer.

  “I'm not sure yet. Hopefully footage of the car from last night.”

  “From where?”

  “Silas.”

  “Get outta here. He got CCTV?”

  “Luckily for me he had. Not that he knows how to use it.”

  Jackson bent down toward the screen and shook his head.

  “I would have reckoned Silas thought technology was the work of the Devil.”

  “The smell in his cabin was the work of the Devil. Now let's see what we got.”

  I opened the video file for the last twenty-four hours and stared out at nothing but thick forest. Fast forwarding through it, the only thing I caught a glimpse of all night was a rabbit.

  “Urgh. Nothing. Let's try the next one.”

  The second SD card provided no greater insight apart from catching the back end of a deer as it ran at speed down the mountain. When the third card showed even less, and we were looking at little more than black screen, I almost gave up.

  “It's no use,” I said. “Don't think these cameras caught shit.”

  “Don't give up just yet. Try the last one.”

  I doubted it would pull up anything of interest, but I pushed it in anyway and opened the file.

  To my surprise, this one caught a decent view of the winding mountain dirt track that passed Silas' cabin before arriving at mine.

  “This looks promising,” Jackson said, leaning closer. “Run it on.”

  I flicked through the video, not expecting to see anything more interesting that what we'd already seen. That was until I saw the headlights of a car emerge through the darkness.

  “Bingo.”

  “Who the fuck is that?” Jackson asked.

  “Hopefully we'll find out.”

  “Wait... Looks like they're pulling up.”

  It was hard to make out the make and model of the car through the grainy footage and the meager light. But it looked far too small to be traversing the treacherous landscape of the mountain, and by the body language of the vehicle, I could tell the driver was inexperienced in the conditions.

  We watched as the car braked to a halt on the curve of the road, the trunk out of the camera's view.

  “This thing got audio?” Jackson asked.

  “Doubt it. Most CCTV systems aren't allowed to grab audio under the Federal wiretapping law.”

  Jackson gave me a sideways glance and looked at me as though I was stupid.

  “Do you really think Silas and his family are gonna give a shit about that? Turn the volume up.”

  I doubted we'd hear a thing, but I clicked on the volume button anyway. To my surprise, the sound of voices filled the room.

  “What you got over there?” Dylan asked as he wandered over.

  Lucas craned his neck like an inquisitive bird from his desk to see what we were up to. Then he jumped up and joined us.

  We all held our breaths as we listened to the unmistakable New York accent that filtered out through the speakers.

  “Billy what the fuck do I pay you for? You're a shit fucking driver.”

  “Boss, this road is crazy. I've never been up here before.”

  We all glanced at each other then back at the screen.

  “Billy and Mario,” Jackson said to himself. “Fuck.”

  We watched as the two got out the car to survey their whereabouts. Both were wearing scarves pulled up over their chins and woolly hats, but Mario's mannerisms were immediately recognizable. As was his voice.

  “We're fucking lost,” he said, looking down over the edge of the road toward the town. “I'm fucking sick of this place and its mountains. Whatever happened to living in the fucking city?”

  Billy walked over beside him and said, “Sorry, boss. We'll find his cabin soon enough. I wanna get that Jared asshole as much as you do.”

  I felt myself tense up with anger in my seat.

  “He thinks he's such a fucking hero,” Billy groaned.

  “Yeah well he wasn’t such a hero the last time I saw him. He was minutes away from death. And do you know what I did? Led him down to the bunker hospital. And how the fuck does his piece of shit security team repay me? They get me locked up. I swear to God when I find him...”

  “Shut up a minute,” Billy said. “I hear something.”

  In the distance, came the faint sound of my own voice echoing back at me.

  “Hey! Who's out there!” I yelled.

  “Aw, shit he's onto us,” Billy said. “Sounds like he's coming from down that way.”

  “Can you see anything?”

  “Nah, I can't see shit. A
ctually, shit... Hang on... He's running toward us. Looks like he's got a shotgun.”

  “Fuck this,” Mario groaned. “This has been a total fuck up. Tonight's not the night.”

  “I can take him on again. I ain't afraid of no shotgun.”

  “We'll get him later,” Mario said. “He'll be unpredictable if he's angry. Especially waving a gun. Besides, from what I heard he took you out twice without one. Get back in the fucking car and get me off this mountain.”

  The car sped off and, in the distance, you could vaguely make out the blurry shape of my body running out onto the road in the corner of the screen.

  For a second, we were all silent.

  “Jesus,” Lucas breathed out. “Do you know how close you were last night to getting wacked?”

  I was shaking. Not from fear, but from anger.

  “Revenge,” Dylan said. “That's what he wants. What do you think he's planning?”

  “Who knows?” Jackson replied, straightening up and blowing out a long exhale with his hands on his hips. “But we can't wait to find out. Send this footage to the cops right now. Let everyone know Mario's hell bent on getting back at us.”

  “But why was I first?” I asked the room.

  “Because you were secluded,” Dylan suggested.

  “And because of Billy's girl.”

  “Not to mention he seems to be under the impression you were indebted to him for taking you to the bunker's hospital,” Lucas added.

  Jackson lay a heavy hand on my head and said, “It's time to get the hell off that mountain.”

  Megan

  “Oh, my God! I can't believe this night is finally here!” Ruby screamed.

  She was in her favorite gig-going outfit; short leather skirt, knee high boots, and leather jacket. Underneath, her old Red Cherry t-shirt from her teenage years strained across her ample chest.

  “You look dynamite,” I said, pulling on my own leather boots.

  Ruby's apartment wasn't too far from the festival venue, and as I looked out the window, I could see hordes of people making their way down toward the park. Some dressed in Halloween outfits, others wrapped up tightly beneath puffy coats. Thankfully, the snow had stopped falling, but it was still bitterly cold.