Another dose of nerves hit me when I placed her in the passenger seat. Her eyes opened and locked with mine, fluttered, and then closed, sending her back to her comatose state.
“I’ll call you later and that’s all I have to say. Good luck.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I questioned, the thoughts of finding Jaq one of my shirts and maybe a pair of shorts leaving my mind.
“Nothing, I’m just going to jump on the plane and leave this to you. I know nothing.”
I shook my head from side to side, a frown directed right at his silly head. “We’re not going to get into trouble, Silas.”
“Trouble for what? I’ll catch you later.”
“Yeah, travel safe.”
I slid behind the driver seat and looked to Jaq, a sense of relief mixing with a bit of victory. “I did it, Jaq. I flew in a plane, and it was all because of you. You got me in a plane for the first time in years.”
Of course she didn’t answer, but I did stop before we left the private airport. With nothing but a cornfield on either side of me, I fetched a pair of shorts and a tee shirt. My favorite lounging around the house outfit.
I opened her door, staring at her briefly, wondering how the hell to do this. Undressing her was the easy part. I looked around to the empty and untied her gown, again staring. Her small breasts were hidden behind a white sports bra, and her panties were hipsters, plain white cotton. After wadding the gown up and stuffing it in my backpack, I slid my lucky four-leaf-clover shirt over her head and then grabbed the shorts. Putting them on her was a little trickier. Inching them up her hips little by little, I fought urges I didn’t feel, squashing the thought to slide her panties over, just once, just for a peek. She would never know. I could probably even touch her and she wouldn’t know.
“Jesus, Oliver, get a hold of yourself,” I grumbled under my breath, sliding them the rest of the way on with one swift pull.
I buckled her in and walked to my side of the car, trying like hell to ignore the fact that I had just resituated my half-mast dick a little to slide in. That wasn’t a good sign. Jaq wasn’t about that, yet she did something to me that I didn’t understand, something out of my control.
Chapter Nine
I swear I jinxed myself, but I was more pissed than anxious when I watched the car pull right out behind me. Maybe it was still the valium working, keeping the nervous energy from my blood; regardless, I did nothing wrong. I wasn’t speeding and I used my turn signal when I turned out of town. My eyes shifted from Jaq to the road and to the blue lights.
“Fuck,” I exclaimed, my hand flipping the lever to signal my cooperation as I pulled to the edge of the road.
My eyes met his badge first, Sheriff P. Jonas, and then his Hitler mustache. He pulled a toothpick from between his teeth and tossed it to the ground, bending at the waist to look at Jaq. “I thought that was you.”
“What do you want?”
“Who’s your friend? What’s wrong with her?”
“My wife, she took some valium for the flight, she hates flying.”
“She gonna be staying at the house with you?”
That pissed me off. “Why? What’s it to you? What is your problem?”
“No problem, son. I keep a tight ship around here, I—.”
I cut him off with that. “I don’t plan on being around here much. My house is seventeen miles from this town. I already told you, nobody’s here to cause problems.” I stopped with that, deciding I’d gotten my point across without lying about the lab I intended to setup in the garage. For all he knew I wrote text books. That’s all I had to give.
“Don’t forget about the spring festival,” he said, his hand coming down hard on the top of my car.
I felt my heart drop and fought like hell, trying not to show my nerves. My eyes jerked to Jaq when she flinched from the loud thump, the returned rush of nerves whistling through my veins full force. Incoherent, blue eyes looked to the sheriff and then to me, a glazed look right before they closed. Letting out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, I relaxed, the vison of her screaming and me going to prison replaced with annoyance. “We done here?”
“We don’t have to get off on this foot, son.”
“I’m not your son, and we’re not getting off on any foot. Good day, officer.” With that I raised the window, waited for him to step away, and pulled out, my heart barely remembering to beat. I’m not even sure what right this guy thought he had. Did he really think I would welcome him with open arms, shake his hand, and forget all about it? Forget the way he dug his elbow into my back when he held my arms? Fuck him and his fancy badge.
I used Jaq to drown out the thoughts I didn’t want to remember, thoughts I had a hard time forgetting about lately. She was becoming more and more alert, hearing noises and stirring from the bumps. That scared me. I wanted her to wake in her own, tranquil room, not in a car on a dirt road. She would lose a grip, no doubt.
By the time we made it to the dirt road I had relaxed again. Jaq hadn’t even flinched since Officer Dick had stopped me back in town. Another five minutes and she would be in her soft white bed where a spring breeze would touch her skin, lavender would fill her senses, and soft blankets would hold her close. I just hoped it was enough. What if she went haywire on me, too? What the hell would I do then? It wasn’t like I came prepared. I didn’t even have anything to calm her down. The thought of how much worse it could have been calmed my internal rant. At least she had a room, a clean room with pretty new things, her own bathroom, and a view like she had never seen. She had to wake up calm. She just had to.
After unlocking the door and turning her bed down, I opened her door. A breeze from an impending rain blew the sheer curtains across my face, offering a scent of lavender and fresh country air. I breathed in deep, trying to inhale the needed courage, worried sick about her reaction.
Once again, I scooped her into my arms and carried her, a sense of joy and hope warming me, like it was right, like I was supposed to take her. She fit into my arms like she was meant to be there, like she’d always been there. My lips touched her forehead and I carried her through the threshold of our house to her room.
Jaq breathed a deep, jerky breath as I laid her down, her body curled into a comfortable ball, and her hands went below her cheek, but she didn’t wake. Actually, she didn’t wake for two more hours.
What I really wanted to do was make her a nice lunch, have it ready when she woke. Unfortunately, there was no food. What had been there, was a hundred years old and now out with the rest of the trash. There was nothing there, three bottles of beer, and a bottle of wine Silas had bought. I may not have known much, but I was pretty sure Jaq’s first meal in her new life shouldn’t be alcohol.
I set her laptop up in her room, the dresser right across from her bed. She never moved, not even a little stir. Had I known she would sleep half the day away, I would have left her there while I ran back to town. That didn’t happen because I wasn’t about to leave her. Not until after she returned to consciousness and I knew what I was up against. Then again, it wasn’t like I could even do anything. I had nothing to calm her down, and from what Wallace had told me, that scared me.
Luckily, I had tea, but I wasn’t even sure she liked it. I, however, chose one of the beers for myself. Liquid doubt instead of courage. With my laptop in one hand, and the bottle in the other, I made my way to the front porch. Sitting on the front step overlooking the lake, I chugged away the doubt, hoping to replace it with reassuring strength. My eyes swept the landscape, darting back and forth from the dark waters to Jaq, sound asleep in the same positon I had placed her in.
I moved the laptop a little from a glare, feeling the chill in the air, the last bit of winter lingering into May. The curtains blew in her room, and I wondered if maybe I should have left the doors closed. If she was cold, she didn’t show it. She looked extremely comfortable, safe, and secure wrapped in white cotton. Once I’d finished my beer, I stood and walked to the corn
er of the house, the side where Jaq slept. The landscaping on that side left a bit of despair in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to do so much before she got here, I thought I had time.
There was no freshly painted porch with new patio furniture, no bench for her to sit on below the old oak tree, no pretty flowers surrounding her like I had planned. A bed of pink roses. That was my vision, a place for her to feel safe, where she could walk outside and not be frightened, stare out at the magnificent, calming lake. None of that happened. It was nothing more than a neglected field, where weeds and involuntary trees sprouted up, a briar patch.
After peering through her door, seeing her in the same position, I stepped off the porch, three steps to the work at hand. I pulled a few weeds and tossed them to the side, stomping and hissing at a stray cat.
“Get out of here. Go on,” I ordered in a loud whisper. That’s when I noticed the stupid thing was expecting. Hoping like hell she had them far, far away from here, I wandered back to the steps and fetched another beer. My nerves calmed with time, only to pop back up, waiting and wondering as minutes passed slowly by. I was on my third and last beer when my settled nerves took a dive, adrenaline mixing with excitement and fear. As much as I wanted to, instincts told me to stay put, not to go to her. Standing, watching her through my computer, I prepared myself to go in, only I didn’t have to.
Jaq sat up and looked around, her face confused, but not terrified the way I had thought it would be. Her head dropped and her hand clasped around the four leaf clover on my shirt. She tossed the covers from her legs and cautiously placed her feet on the new rug.
I grabbed my phone from the banister and dialed her number, unsure of what to even say to her.
“Ollie? I think I died.”
I smiled, happy she wasn’t losing it again. Then again, she was given enough medication to keep her calm for days, I hoped. “You’re at the lake, Jaq. You’re not dead.”
Jaq lifted her hair to the top of her head, using her hand to hold the makeshift bun. “Did the squad bring me here? I’m so confused. Where’re my clothes? Where are you?”
“I’m here. With you. At the lake.”
She stopped in front of her laptop, her face conveying a muddled state, and turned in a circle, trying to take it all in, I presumed. “I don’t remember anything. The last thing I remember is—wait. Did you take me? Ollie?” she called, eyes jerking around the room.
“Calm down, Jaq. You’re okay.”
The tension she felt showed with every spoken word, each one becoming more and more panicky. “Why did you bring me here? What are you going to do? I knew I shouldn’t have kept taking things from you. I knew it. What do you want?”
I walked to the corner, but not far enough for her to hear me, just enough to run to her if needed. “I’m going to go to the grocery store for you, that’s what. There’s no food here. This wasn’t supposed to happen yet. I wasn’t ready for you, but at least your room is mostly done. How do you like it?”
Her tone was still shaky, but calmer than it was. “I know what you’re doing. You’re counting Skittles with me. It’s not going to work. I’m not going to calm down. Tell me where I am. I’m never going to get out of here, am I?”
“You’re free to go anytime you want. Give it a chance, Jaq. I took you because I felt obligated. I don’t know why, but I did, and I swear to God, I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Yeah, well he doesn’t like me too much, so yeah. There’s that.”
I smiled at her feistiness, relieved it was actually going this smooth, but I wasn’t about to get into God with Jaq. Not now. I stayed on the ground, moving close enough for her to see me, but not too close. “That’s a whole other conversation. Did you look around? Look out the door, I want you to see the lake I’ve been talking about.”
Jaq walked to the door, her eyes peering from behind the sheer curtain, to the lake and then me. Instantly, she jumped back. “You’re here, too?”
I frowned at the door, knowing she had an eye on me, my hands waving in the air. “Did you think you I was just going to drop you off?”
“What are you going to do?”
My beer on the front porch took me away from the door, that and hoping she’d step out and take it all in. “I told you what I’m going to do. I’m going to run into town, get some groceries, and you some clothes. You could help me out with that. You know, size, style, color. Or…You could come with me.”
It was a long shot, but worth a try. I watched her disappear into the bathroom, bewilderment never leaving her face. “Where’s my clothes? I want my clothes.”
“The clothes you had on are in the hospital bag and Wallace brought a few other things. They’re in the green backpack by the bed.”
“I have to go.”
My eyes took a quick dive to my phone, the exact same time my eyebrows twisted into a frown. “Go where?”
“I have to pee.”
“Oh, okay. I’m going to town. Are you okay?”
“You’re just going to leave me here?”
I scratched my head, puzzled by what she wanted. “Do you want to come?”
“No.”
Again, I scratched my head, same spot. “We don’t have any food here.”
“What if someone comes?”
“There’s not another house for at least four miles.”
“Nobody will hear me scream.”
This wasn’t the reaction I had expected at all. I’d prepared myself to rush in, hold her in my arms and calm her down, make her feel how safe I was. Not this. I had gotten this since she dialed the wrong number. “Do you want me to stay on the phone with you the whole time?”
“Really? You would do that?”
I didn’t want to do that, but I would. People walking around in stores with a phone stuck to their ears always annoyed the hell out of me, everyone too busy to even buy a gallon of milk. “Of course I would.”
“Well, I have to go, but you don’t have to do that. Maybe I’ll have to call you though.”
A content smile appeared from nowhere, warmness emanating from my heart. “You can call. Come outside while I’m gone. The rain will be here soon. Sit on the front porch and listen to—.”
“Bye, Ollie.”
I looked to my phone and laughed, my finger checking the air. “Operation kidnap Jaq. Check.”
After setting up the camera on my own laptop, I placed it on a bookshelf, right next to Elementary Particles and Galileo and Einstein. I hadn’t really convinced myself that she’d come out, but I wanted it recorded if she did. The thought of my madness made me feel like a creepy stalker, but it didn’t stop me. I still did it.
I sped out the dirt road, adding gravel to my mental list of things to do and making it to the first county road before Jaq called.
“Did you leave?”
“Yes, I’ll be back in like an hour. Do you like your room? What about that bathtub? You can fill that thing up to your neck. I got you bubble bath. Lavender. Check out the lake, seven acres of peace.”
“You’re doing it again. You don’t have to count Skittles. I’m good.”
“You are?”
“Yes, very good, and very grateful. I just don’t understand why.”
The statement, not quite a question, took me off guard. I didn’t know why either. It just happened, but not really. Jaq landed on my path and I reacted. I don’t know why she landed there, where the hell she came from, or why. I didn’t care. She was there. I was there and not only did I have a chance to reinvent myself, Jaq could do the same. I knew she could. If I could just find those notebooks.
“I’m glad you like it. You’re going to be okay, Jaq. I promise.”
With plenty of doubt, Jaq replied. “We’ll see. Don’t buy me shorts. I don’t like them.”
Had this conversation gone on before I had just kidnapped her and brought her to a cabin deep in the woods, I would have pressed for more. I’d wait a minute on that one
“Do you want burgers for supp
er? The lake kind of makes me hungry for a grilled cheeseburger.”
“And salad.”
“Okay, and salad.”
“I hear something.”
“It’s nothing. Nature noises. That’s all you’re going to hear out there.”
“You don’t know. You haven’t been here for a long time.”
“Look at the place. Look how run down it is. Nobody’s been there in ages.”
Unfortunately, I was the annoying guy walking through Costco with my phone. Jaq totally forgot about not needing me to stay on the phone. At least, I had her voice to help pick out clothes. One hoodie, a pair of sweat pants, (gray and too big) a tee shirt. That’s all she wanted and she wouldn’t even talk about panties. I picked those myself. Cotton, but not the high kind she wore, and not plain white. They weren’t what you would call sexy, but the different colors and right fit had to make her feel prettier than what she had back in that dreadful apartment. I did get her a few pairs of shorts, flip flops, and tank tops. It was May, summer was upon us and if she planned on being outdoors, she wouldn’t want hot sweats or boy jeans. Getting her to wear them might be the difficult part.
Three-hundred-fifty-one-dollars-fifteen-cents and two hours later, I was pulling into the muddy drive, finally hanging up the phone.
“Hey, I’m back and I have a lot of things to carry in. You should come out. You can put groceries away.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Are you going to hideaway in your room, Jaq? Forever?”
“Maybe not forever, but for now.”
I shoved the car into park, feeling let down but unsure why. This had gone way better than I thought it would. At least, she was calm. At least, she was safe.
Chapter Ten
The first thing I noticed when I went to her camera was the door, closed with the accent chair Silas and I had carried in shoved against the door. Jaq wasn’t in her room, which told me she was locked in her bathroom. I shook my head, chanting as I stepped out to the porch, “Two steps forward, one step back.” At least, it was better than two steps back. She hadn’t flipped out on me yet, but just when I thought I was getting somewhere, she hid, and locked herself behind closed doors. I didn’t bother calling her back until after the groceries were put away and the washer was started with her new things. That took longer than I had planned, but one of the rubber hoses was dry-rotted and had to be fixed. Electrical tape gave it a quick fix, but I had to add that to my growing list.