“OK, I’ll be back in a minute.” Xena turns to go back inside.
“WAIT!” I yell, just loud enough to stop her in her tracks. “Meet me out front instead. Just get your keys and move fast before anyone notices you’re going the wrong way. I’ll call Kaden right now.” Xena nods her understanding and disappears through the door.
I pull up Kaden’s contact information and press the call button.
“Kaden Cross,” he says by way of greeting.
“Kaden, it’s Denise. I need you to meet me at the retirement community just outside of town, Peaceful Pines, it’s called. Do you know of it? Meet me at #3. My ex just sent me a photo implying he’s going to do something to the lady that lives there so bring as many of your cop buddies as you want.”
“Shit, Denise! I’m going to have to radio this in, but I will meet you there. DO NOT go in until I get there. Do you understand?”
“Yes, of course, Kaden. I’m not stupid you know.”
“No, you’re a control freak, and that’s worse. Promise me you won’t go in.”
I cross my fingers behind my back, even though there’s no way he can see me doing it. “I promise I won’t go in until you get there. Now go.” I hang up just as I get to Xena’s car. Moments later, Xena runs full speed out the front door. The car beeps as she presses the unlock button on the key fob.
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. They’re on to me. Run!” She’s panicking as she opens her door and starts the car. She’s backing up and buckling in at the same time. “Devon was giving me a look. He knows I’m up to something. I’m such a terrible liar.” She bangs her hand on the steering wheel, spins it so we turn to face the right direction, and then starts driving.
“It’s fine. I figured they’d find out, eventually. I actually expect your brother will call him after he radios for backup. Let’s just use your ‘my brother is a cop’ powers for good right now and get there as fast as possible.” I give my seat belt a tug and make sure it’s in the proper position just as she stomps on the gas pedal and sends the car speeding down the highway.
The city passes by in a blur as Xena expertly maneuvers her car through all the stops and turns necessary until we’re pulling into the parking lot at Peaceful Pines. As we’re getting out of the car, Kaden pulls up and blocks the path to the cottages with his police cruiser.
“I told you to wait until I got here, Denise. Looks to me like you were just about to go walking right in with no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
I pull out my phone and show him the photo and message from Andrew. “This lady needs help. Why don’t you and your little partner,” I wiggle my fingers at the blonde police woman who’s just gotten out of the passenger side of the police cruiser, “go make yourself useful. Cottage #3.”
Kaden looks at the photo and grunts a noise at his partner. They both draw their weapons and, using that crouch run that you sometimes see cops in movies use, run up to the Gran’s door and bang on it.
This would be exciting if I wasn’t on the verge of pissing myself with fear.
“Police. Stand back,” Kaden yells at the closed door. And then blondie takes a step back, gives the door a good kick, and it flies open. Kaden ducks in first and his partner follows.
Approximately ten seconds go by and I can’t stand the suspense anymore. I run toward the cottage and I hear the sounds of laughter. Correction,hystericallaughter. What?
“What the hell is going on in here?” I yell as I run inside. I take in the scene and see that Kaden is the one laughing hysterically while his partner rolls her eyes a little and hides a smirk. Gran and Gladys are sitting side by side on the couch, pretty as you please, drinking what I assume is whiskey out of her naughty teacups.
“Oh hello dear,” Gran says to me. “I didn’t know you were coming back already. What happened to your party? Can I get you some tea? Oh, who’s your friend?” She looks behind me to where Xena is standing.
“I’m Xena, and I would love some tea, if it’s not too much trouble.” She steps into the living room to move toward the kitchen when her foot bumps on the reason Kaden is laughing so hard.
Right there, in the middle of the floor, is Andrew. Hogtied in a beautiful pink rope with what looks to be an intricate series of knots. He looks furious, but he’s not saying anything. That’s probably just because he has a matching pink ball gag in his mouth, though.
“Do you like my handiwork?” Gran asks as she gets teacups out for me and Xena. “I’ve been learning the art of Shibari (you know, Japanese rope bondage?) ever since I saw a demonstration at the kink convention where I bought these cups.” She holds up the cups she selected for us. One reads ‘trollop’ and the other reads ‘tart’. “I was hoping I’d get to use that rope on a gentleman caller, though, and not an intruder. Maybe this sexy officer would like to stay after this and let me practice?” She asks Kaden with a waggle of her eyebrows.
He chokes on a laugh. “Sorry, ma’am. We need to get this guy down to the station as soon as possible. Thanks for the invitation though.”
“That’s… I have no words, Gran.” I go and hug her, quickly frisking her and checking her over to make sure she’s not hurt. “I guess we didn’t need to rush here to rescue you, after all. You had it under control.”
“Oh no, Gladys here gets most of the credit. This little fucker had a knife pointed at me and was saying something about making me pay for what my grandson has done when Gladys came crawling in from the back room and used her stun gun on him.” Gran toes Andrew in the side with a look of disgust on her face.
Gladys holds up a hot pink stun gun that Kaden promptly takes from her. “Got him right in the ballsack. From the smell, I think he’s probably as hairless as Ryder is down there now. Not that I would know that for sure, since he wouldn’t even show me.”
“I told you to stop trying to look at my grandson’s dick, you perv. You’re way too old for him. Plus, he already has this beautiful lady right here looking after his cockular needs.” She stops and points at me, waggling her eyebrows, as she’s so fond of doing. “How else do you think she got my great grandbaby in there?”
Andrew thrashes around on the ground at my feet, muffled words straining to escape from around the ball gag. I can’t make out anything resembling a word, but the cadence of his frantic grunting suggests he’s saying, ‘I knew it’, and ‘you slut’. So I kick him while Kaden and his partner are securing Gladys’s stun gun. And then I kick him again, for good measure.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Ryder’s stunned voice comes from the doorway.
Oh, shit. I didn’t think I’d have to explain myself until long after this mess was over.
Here goes nothing.
