I hurried into my walk-in closet and packed a small bag with a few changes of clothes, jewelry my grandmother had given me, my birth certificate and passport, along with some personal items. I also changed out of the flannel pajamas I’d been wearing—trying not to cringe at exactly how unattractive they were—and into dark, warm clothes and shoes.
“Ready,” I announced softly once I was done.
Vaughn took my bag from me and slung it over his shoulder. Another gun peeked out from under his jacket with the movement, and I shivered at the reminder of the risks he’d taken to break into my parents’ home to get me out. I’d always felt safe, knowing they had security looking out for us, but it had begun to feel as though the guards were there to keep tabs on me more than anything else lately.
“We can’t go out the gate,” I warned. “There’s a guard manning it.”
“You’re too damn cute,” he laughed. “The guards are a nuisance, but they aren’t good enough to be a real concern considering some of the places I’ve had to get in and out of.”
“Sorry, I forgot you were a super soldier for a minute there,” I grumbled as he led me to the largest window in my room.
“I’m also not alone,” he added before pressing a finger to his ear. “Confirm our exit is clear.”
The answer must have been what he’d wanted to hear because he nodded in satisfaction. Then he dropped my bag onthe floor, pulled off the pack on his back and unzipped it to yank out a red and white fire escape ladder.
“You really did think of everything.”
“I didn’t want to run the risk of having you rappel out, so this was our first option.” He helped me climb out the window. “Down you go. I’ll be right behind you.”
The next ten minutes were a blur of activity. Climbing down the ladder. Running across the back lawn with Vaughn. Having him hoist me over the wall like I barely weighed a thing. Racing back to his house in his Lexus. It felt as though I was starring in an action movie, playing the damsel in distress to Vaughn’s hero. Only this wasn’t pretend. It was real life. And I was ready for the answers Vaughn had promised me.
9
VAUGHN
“I’ll answer as many of your questions as I can, but first—” I lowered my head and captured her lips with mine, driving her towards the couch as I kissed her. Pressing her down against the cushions, I quickly followed. Raising her arms above her head, I trapped them in one fist as I pressed a leg between hers. The heat from her pussy burned through her jeans and mine, scorching my thigh. I couldn’t wait to feel her wrapped around my cock. Over and over again, for the rest of our lives if I had my way. And I damn well intended to.
The kiss turned wild, my tongue invading her mouth between nibbles at her lips. Carissa pushed against my hold, making me tighten my grip as a deep growl crept up my throat before I tore my mouth from hers.
“Three days,” I breathed against her throat. “It’s too long for me to go without tasting your lips. Without hearing your voice. Feeling your body underneath mine. It only took me one night, and I’m completely addicted to you.”
“Phones go both ways,” she panted. “You could have called me anytime you wanted. Or returned my text and asked me out again.”
“I did call, Carissa. More than once. Your phone went straight to voicemail each time, after only one ring. You sure you kept it charged?”
“Yes.” She pushed against my chest, and I reluctantly let her go. The thing with her phone could be a potential complication which needed to be resolved right away, as much as I’d prefer to take her to my room and fuck the hell out of her.
“Let me see your phone,” I asked her, digging mine out of my pocket to pull up my outbound calls so she could see the ones I made to her. She looked as confused as I was when she looked down at my phone. “The phone rang exactly once, and then there was an automated message telling me that the number called wasn't available. The call went to voicemail, and I left you a message each time.”
“I didn’t get a voicemail notification.”
I pulled up my texts and showed her the screen again. “Just like I didn’t get your messages. Someone didn’t want us talking to each other.”
“Probably my parents,” she sighed as she got up to cross the room and pull her phone out of her bag to hand it to me. “They’re trying to fix me up with a business associate of my father’s. The morning after our date, I made it clear I wasn’t interested in him. I needed a reason they’d understand, and you were it. Although, even if you weren’t in the picture, I wouldn’t want to be with him because there’s just something about him that creeps me out.”
“Your instincts are good. Alexander Bellamy isn’t a good guy.” I was distracted by my search of her voicemail box and didn’t realize what my response gave away. “Aha! Found ‘em. My voicemails are in your blocked messages folder. Your parents must have used a parental control of some kind to block my number from incoming and outgoing calls and messages.”
“I didn’t mention his name.” Her voice was shaky and had my head coming up quickly, only to find her staring at me in shock.She backed away a step, but I snagged her wrist to prevent her from going far.
“Don’t,” I whispered. The fear shining from her dark eyes tore me up inside. I knew I could be a scary motherfucker, but I never wanted to do anything to destroy the trust which had shone from them earlier. “I’m not the bad guy here, Carissa. Alexander Bellamy is. He’s the reason I’m in town. He’s the head of a human trafficking ring I’m hunting down.”
“Wait. What? No! That’s not possible.”
“It took me a while to find the trail to him because he’s good at hiding his tracks, but I have irrefutable proof. Payments, travel dates, communication with his lackeys.”
“But my parents—”
I couldn’t bring myself to tell her about the lump sum payments Bellamy had made to her father over the last year and a half, the last one on the day she’d returned home. It was enough that she was safely out of their reach for the time-being. She’d been put through enough already; I didn’t want to add to her troubles when I didn’t even know what the payments meant, yet. “Bellamy managed to fool everyone. He’s been tied to the trafficking ring for years, and there hasn’t been the tiniest whisper about it.”
