I throw her over my shoulder and carry her off the dance floor. People give us curious looks but no one interferes. I guess mydon’t-even-fucking-try-itface is on full strength tonight.
It’s only when I hear the voice that she uses with the kids who get out of line at the center that it registers I’m about to walk outside with her thrown over my shoulder, against her will, andshe’s obviously pissed off about it.
I reconsider my kidnapping idea since there may be cameras outside that capture my crime. The damn reporters have been following her everywhere lately. Mitch has done a good job of keeping the fuckwads out of the club.
I put her down but I don’t let go of her. I can still kidnap her and make it look like we’re holding hands. Once I have her at my place, I just won’t let her go until this is resolved. I’ll take good care of her for the next 40 or so years until she decides to forgive me. Then we’ll live happily ever after. She agrees to walk with me like a normal person would so I take full advantage of it by linking our fingers together and holding tight.
I lead her to my truck and help her into the passenger seat and lock her door before closing it. I quickly round the front of the truck, climb into the driver seat and buckle her in while she looks at me like I’m crazy. I may be a little nuts right now but it’s her fault if I am. If she’d just answered my calls, my texts or even her fucking door, I wouldn’t have to resort to committing a felony right now.
“Luke. What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She asks in annoyance as I start the truck and put it in drive.
Think fast. “With all the press coverage, I thought it would be best to keep moving so no one films us talking and twists it for another story,” I lie. I’m kidnapping her and the longer I can keep her from realizing it, the more likely I am to succeed.
She nods tentatively, like she’s considering my reasoning but isn’t completely sure of my sanity. I sneak a look at her when I check the adjacent lane for traffic.
“So, you’re just randomly driving then? No destination in mind?” She asks calmly, but I know that tone she’s using better than she thinks I do.
Shit. “Yes.”No. “I’m just driving the roads I know well. In case I need to make a sudden detour.”Sounds reasonable.
“What do you want from me, Luke?” She sounds exhausted now – weary with me. It suddenly occurs to me that I have to somehow get her out of the truck without her throwing a fucking hissy fit on me. That would draw way too much attention.
“I want to talk to you, Andi. And I want you to listen to me. And I want to help you,” I reply and even I can hear the pleading edge of my voice.
“If I agree to this, will you leave me alone then?”
“Yes.”No.
She sighs heavily again, telling me she’s pissed that she’s being forced into it, but I’ll take it any way I can get it.
“Fine.”
“Your house or my apartment?” I say casually. I really don’t care which one she chooses but her house would be easier because she doesn’t have close neighbors.
“My house,” she replies without hesitation or issue.
The kidnapping stars are aligned and winking at me tonight.
Her phone beeps and she pulls it out to check her text message. She quickly types a response back and I mentally note that all of her fingers are, in fact, not broken, thus she could’ve answered any of the hundreds of messages I’ve sent her.
“Your friends worried about you?” I ask with a smile, though I just really want to know if some fucker is texting her.
“Yeah, they asked if you kidnapped me,” she says pointedly.
I stifled a choke to avoid giving away my plan. I chuckled at their joke. “And what did you tell them?”
“I said that still remains to be seen,” she cuts her eyes at me, “but that I’m fine for the moment.”
I give her my best smile, “You know I’d never hurt you, Andi.”Kidnap you, yes. Hurt you, never.
“Maybe. But that’s not what they asked, is it now?” She cleverly replies. My little vixen is very shrewd.
“Here we are,” is my only response as I pull into her driveway.
I’ve never been so glad to reach a destination in my life. I jump out of the truck and rush to open her door and escort her inside, astutely cloaking my excitement at being at her house, with her in tow, and all without the need of chloroform to achieve any of this. All in all, it’s a good night.
We’re inside now and she’s walking towards the chair, but I want her to sit with me so I gently steer her towards the couch. She sits at one end and I know she expects me to sit on the other end, but when I sit I leave no space between us. She looks a little perturbed at this but she turns slightly towards me and waits patiently.
“I’m not really good at this, Andi, so first let me sayI’m sorryright now in case I say something wrong.” She nods but doesn’t say anything.
