Framed (20 page)

“We need to run off some of our pent-up aggression. Maybe after work, you, me, and Buttercup can head to the beach,” I told him as I ate up the miles between Renault and home.

Up ahead, I could see the small Amish town, so I slowed down. You never knew when one of the families would pull out onto the roadway in their horse and buggy. I’d no sooner thought that when an Amish man pulled out up ahead with his one horse cart, clip clopping along the road at a snail’s pace. Normally, I didn’t pay much attention to the town, but at this speed, I had time to look around. There were quaint houses and farms neatly kept with bearded men in their large black hats working the fields. About a block up, there was also a roadside stand with a large sign announcing they had fresh baked goods for sale and I smiled.

When I’m stressed, I like to eat, and nothing said stress reliever like a fresh baked cookie or cake.

“Are you hungry, Buck?”

His responding woof sealed the deal, so I pulled off to the side and parked, leaving my window down so Buck wouldn’t get hot. Two young women, wearing the customary bright colored shirts and black skirts of the Amish, were working the stand as I approached. My mouth started watering as I took in the assortment of baked goods. Cakes, pies, and cookies the size of pancakes begged me to buy them. Dad loved apple pie, so I picked out one for him, but the double-layer chocolate cake had my name written all over it.

I heard another vehicle approaching slowly as I checked out and looked towards the road. A large man, dressed all in black, with long blond hair and an eye patch, was driving a white van slowly behind another horse drawn carriage. I was struck when I saw that he had a Dread Pirate Roberts thing going on and chuckled to myself as I headed to my Jeep. It seemed everywhere I turned the past week I was seeing the characters from the book.

I was stuck behind the van when I pulled out; creeping slowly up the road until the Amish man pulled his buggy to the side and let us by. I followed until the lane widened, then shot past, heading for home. Forty-five minutes later, I pulled into the garage and waved at my dad as I took Buck upstairs. Then I made a second trip down for the pie and cake. I slammed my driver’s door and looked towards the road just as a white van drove past the garage. I couldn’t see the driver this time, but seeing a similar van like earlier prickled the hairs on my neck. I watched as it drove down the street. When it turned the corner and drove out of sight, I blew it off as my imagination and headed back up to my apartment.

I needed to change my clothes before work since I always smelled of dog after a training session. Remembering for once that I’d left my blinds open, I moved to the window to draw them down before I changed. Just as I was lowering them, the same white van pulled back around the corner and parked two blocks up. I watched to see who got out, but no one emerged. I continued to watch as my heart rate picked up and the same prickling feeling ran up my neck. After several minutes, with no one exiting, I pulled down the blind and bit my lip.

Shit. Am I in trouble or am I just paranoid?

Deciding I
was
letting my imagination run wild, I changed my clothes and headed downstairs. I looked out the window from time to time and noticed the van hadn’t moved, but it was too far away to tell if the driver had exited when I wasn’t looking.

An hour later, Jake and Davy, my dad’s mechanics, took off to pick up lunch and parts at the local auto supply store. Then a few minutes later, Dad had to run to the bank to sort out an error in his account. I was now alone in the shop. The quiet of the garage seemed to close in on me. The past few days had left my nerves ragged, and the fact that the van was still parked down the street didn’t help.

I should have told Dad.

“Well, you didn’t Harley, so you’re on your own,” I mumbled. “Maybe I should call the police? I could tell them there’s a suspicious van parked down the street.”

I stepped to the window and tried to see inside the van again, but I needed binoculars to get a clear view. If I could just see inside, I’d know for sure if I was freaking out for no reason.

“Maybe I should call Prez and ask him what to do.”

I needed my cell to get in touch with the boys and I’d left it upstairs. Deciding it was a good option if I wanted to keep my dad from knowing about yesterday’s activities, I locked the shop door, snuck out the back, and headed upstairs, so the van wouldn’t see me leave.

When I dialed the boys, my call went straight to voice mail. I left a message. “Um, I think I might be in trouble. Can you call me?”

With that done, I looked around my apartment for inspiration and saw the chocolate cake I’d purchased sitting on my kitchen table. Chocolate alleviates stress. I figured
possibly
having a killer after me definitely counted as stress.

“Cake it is.”

I poured a glass of milk, cut a slice of cake, and took a huge bite.

Heavenly.
I felt better already.

“The chocolate coating makes being chased by a killer go down easier,” I told Buck and Buttercup.

As I was taking another bite, the sound of footsteps pounding up my back stairs froze me in place. Buck let out a woof and we both stared at the door. I knew Dad would be gone at least an hour or more, so in my mind that left only one person coming up the stairs. The man in the white van.

“Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God,” I whispered as I moved towards my kitchen and a very sharp knife. Buck woofed again, then went to the door and started sniffing, his tail wagging like he knew the person on the other side. I was reaching for a butcher knife when whoever was outside rapped hard three times. Throwing my hand over my mouth to stifle the scream that threatened to escape, I froze in place again, hoping they would leave. They pounded again, causing Buck to jump on the door and start scratching. Buttercup decided to join in then, and she too began barking at the door. Then I heard it. Three words that I’d never forget as long as I lived.

“Harley! . . . It’s Kade.”

There are moments in my life I’ll never forget. Hearing my mother had cancer, saying goodbye to her for the last time, and watching my father break down as they lowered her coffin into the ground. Those moments are forever etched in gold; solidified in my memory and held close, protected, so I’ll never forget the bitter-sweetness of the moment. Hearing Kade on the other side of my door, pounding to get in, was now etched in gold and tucked away to keep safe as well.

It took a moment to sink in that he was really outside before my feet started moving. The white van and possible danger were completely forgotten as my shaking hands released the deadbolt and threw open the door. He was standing on my stoop, wearing a ball cap and sunglasses. I wouldn’t have recognized him if I didn’t know it was him. He pulled them off, revealing his face, as I stood stunned in my doorway. He looked exhausted and pale; his hair was a mess and his clothes were wrinkled. It was obvious he’d been given back the same clothes he was arrested in. I opened my mouth to speak, however before I could utter a word, he put a hand to my stomach, pushed me back into my apartment, and slammed the door, locking it. He tossed his hat and sunglasses on my table, then turned to me and glared.

We stared at each other as the dogs bounced around his feet. Buck jumped up on his leg, and instinctually, Kade pet his head as he stared daggers at me for some reason. I was tongue-tied. I’d dreamt about this moment since he’d come back into my life and now that he was here, I didn’t know what to say.

“I can’t believe you’re really here,” I finally choked out, reaching up to cup his face. When my hand ran across his stubbled jaw, he closed his eyes and tensed.

“Kade, what’s wrong?”

He reached out then and tagged my neck, pulling me hard into his chest. When I reached out to break my fall, I trapped my arms against his chest and couldn’t move. Looking up, I felt tears begin to pool and his face blurred.

“Why did you disobey me?” he finally asked. His words were clipped, controlled, yet I could feel he was anything but.

“Sorry?” I stuttered, confused. His anger was unsettling and it made my heart pound even harder.

His other hand came up, tangled in my hair, forcing my head back. Then he leaned in and hissed, “Why the fuck did you disobey me? I said leave it be. Jesus, you could have been killed.” That’s when it hit me he was angry that I’d risked my life to save his.

Tired of men making decisions for me, I felt my own anger ignite as tears began to fall. I freed my hands and shoved with all my might. I put three days of hell and fifteen years of frustration into that shove and he didn’t even blink.

“I wasn’t about to let you spend fifteen years in prison to protect me,” I shouted. “You don’t get to decide what happens to me, it’s my life.”

“The fuck I don’t,” he bit out, shaking me once like a child who wouldn’t listen to reason. “The thought of you running around half-assed, chasing killers . . . Jesus, Harley. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking you needed to be free, that you needed to be with me,” I shouted back, pounding his chest. “I’d rather die trying than leave you there to rot.”

“It wasn’t worth it,” he roared. “When I think about what could have happened, the risk you took was—”

Placing both hands on his face, I cut him off in mid rant. I ran my thumb across a cut on his brow, following the curve of the slice with my eyes. Then I looked deep into his eyes and tried to explain that not helping would have gone against every molecule in my body crying out to protect him.

“How could I not?” I told him as a tear trickled down my cheek. “We’ve been circling each other since high school, Kade. We’re connected by an invisible tether and it’s pulled tight, drawing me closer to you, don’t you see?” I whispered. “I could no more let you rot in prison than I could stop my heart from beating or the stars from shining in the sky.”

His dark eyes flashed with an emotion I couldn’t read, right before he swung me around, pinned me against the wall, and slammed his mouth over mine. The kiss was brutally emotional, full of anger and passion, yet nothing had ever felt so right. The moment our lips met, I felt our connection; a connection unlike any I’d felt in my life. I’d been drifting in the waters of this life, trying to feel something, looking for peace and contentment, love and laughter, to find and be found by someone who would fill me up and make me whole. With that one kiss, in spite of all that was swirling around us, I felt peace.

I felt whole.

I felt utterly alive.

“I’ve been searching for you my whole life. Wished upon a million stars that I would find my own slice of heaven,” he mumbled in between kisses so sweet they melted my heart and kisses so hot that I knew I’d self-combust.

Ripping his mouth from mine, he stepped back and pinned me in place with a look so passionate that it sent a quiver through my core. He scanned my body as he rose his shaking hands and tore the shirt from his body, exposing hard, chiseled pecs, carved out of steel, and veined muscled arms. Taking in his massive chest and the American eagle inked over his heart, my breath swept from my lungs. He wasn’t just toned, but had a body honed over years made for combat. He was beautiful, every inch of him. I scanned down as he kicked off his shoes and caught sight of his healing wounds. The red puckered skin, stitched together with black thread, made my heart ache all over again for what he’d endured.

“You saved my life,” Kade whispered as I stood frozen in place, in awe of this beautiful man. “That means your life belongs to me now. To watch over, to protect. I’m claiming it, Harley . . . and I’m claiming you. I ran from my past and missed a future with you once before because I was too damn stubborn to take a risk. I should have claimed you then,” he stated, taking a step back towards me, “the first night I met you. Prison taught me not to waste my life, so I’m not waiting a moment longer to make you mine . . . Completely.”

Hearing this amazing man wanted me as much as I wanted him, I couldn’t control myself any longer. After fifteen years of dreaming of this moment, I launched into his arms.

I claimed his mouth for my own.

His body for my own.

And his gentle soul for my own.

Our mouths tangled, fighting for dominance, hungry for each other and the connection that promised to consume us. Slamming me back into the wall, Kade buried his head in my neck and bit down, rubbing his erection on my stomach until my knees went weak.

“I need to feel your skin,” he grunted in my ear after tasting his way up my neck. “It’s haunted me for the past three days. Jesus, Harley. I thought I’d never get the chance to lay you bare and run my hands over you . . . You saved me,” he choked out suddenly. “I’ll never be able to express what that means to me, but I promise I’ll try every fuckin’ day.”

“Kade—”

He grabbed the hem of my shirt, cutting me off. Then he ripped it up and over my head before he went to work disposing of my shorts.

“You saved me,” he repeated. The words sounded like they’d been pulled from the depths of his soul. He stepped back and then dropped his jeans, laying his body, mind, and soul bare with me.

“Baby—”

“My own parents walked away from me, but
you
saved me,” he hissed, raising a shaking hand to my face.

He hesitated to touch me, as if he were afraid. When I looked into his tortured, bloodshot eyes, I lost my ability to speak. The control he’d held so carefully in check since walking through my door was slipping. That beautiful, stronger than anyone I’d ever met, man was on the verge of tears, and it killed me. So I did the only thing I could think of to help. I offered my body to him, to take from it what he needed to begin healing. I didn’t want him to hold back, though. No, I wanted him to let go of all the pain and move forward. I wanted him to take me hard and fast like he’d vowed to do the last time we were together, so he could purge his demons.

The only way I knew for a man to lose total control was to push him to his limits physically. So I grabbed his face and kissed him softly to ease his pain, then dropped to my knees before he could protest and grabbed his steel-like cock.