My Salvation (13 page)

“I need you too, baby.” Every time he moved
another orgasm built higher.

“I like when you say that,” he crooned.

She tried for the sexiest voice she could
manage. “Fuck me hard,
baby.
”

Owen growled and moved faster. “Touch yourself,
Caliana. I want you to come with me.”

She didn’t hesitate to rub herself. It didn’t
take long before she was yelling out she was coming and Owen came
at the same time.

His hands were braced on either side of her on
the desk. He slowly slid out and stood. Cali turned to face him.
She stood on her tip toes to gain better access to his neck. She
could taste the salt from sweat as she kissed the way to his
irresistible mouth. They were both sticky from sweat and she loved
the feel when their bodies touched.

She started out biting his bottom lip gently,
but he pulled her in tight and slid his tongue into her mouth. She
loved being able to feel the passion in him. He didn’t always
express how he felt, but she knew by the kiss along with the way he
touched her.

Staring into his eyes, she didn’t miss the
smirk. “Still want to delete the footage?”

She laughed. “No, let’s keep the video. But
don’t let anyone watch it.”

His forehead rested on hers. “Are we good?”

“Yeah, we’re good. But I meant what I said. No
more lying. Full disclosure going forward.”

“You got it. You had me a little worried when
you said we needed to talk. I couldn’t concentrate after seeing
your text.”

“You have nothing to worry about. I’m not going
anywhere. Well, except to my house for some clothes, but will be in
your bed tonight. And you’re going with me anyway.”

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Get dressed. I’m sure
dinner is waiting for us. We’ll run over to your place after we
eat. You need to give me your keys tonight so the guys can make
your home secure tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Her stomach decided to growl loudly
enough for Owen to hear.

He raised an eyebrow. “Let’s go eat.”

“I guess all of the
exercise
worked up
an appetite,” she said and winked before bending to gather her
clothes.

Owen laughed and smacked her bare ass. They got
dressed and she tried to fix her hair, but being sweaty wasn’t
helping.
Fuck it
, she thought.
Steven and Adeline
already know we have sex and we’re not teenagers anymore.
Although she did get the butterfly feeling in her stomach whenever
the man next to her appeared.

~ 13 ~

After dinner they drove over to her townhouse.
They decided to take his Mercedes E63 AMG. The car was a diamond
silver metallic and fast as hell. Owen didn’t think the Caddy was
necessary since they weren’t under a direct threat and she was only
taking a suitcase or so.

During the drive, Cali asked, “Owen, tell me why
you have all of the security. What happened that made you need
it?”

He knew he needed to tell her. They agreed no
more secrets. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Years ago I had a
client who asked us to build a large, high-end yacht. We worked out
all of the details, papers were signed, started building it as soon
as we were able. Well, the client kept coming by while we were
building to check on the progress. Stopping by is normal. People
drop in to check if they are in the area.

“This guy brought his girlfriend every time
which again, was normal. But she was always covered from head to
toe in clothes and had sunglasses on, even inside. The temperature
could be a hundred degrees and she would be in a long-sleeved shirt
and jeans.

“Avery caught on and mentioned it to me. I was
so engulfed in the business aspect I hadn’t taken notice. I know
Avery comes across as a bitch, but she’s very compassionate. It’s
all a front. Can she be bitchy? Yes, definitely, but bitchiness
isn’t her normal behavior.

“During one visit his girlfriend needed to use
the restroom. The guy looked angry, like he didn’t want her out of
sight, but she insisted she needed to go. Avery excused herself,
faking a call coming in on her cell. When she went into the
bathroom, the woman was looking in the mirror and had the
sunglasses off. She fumbled for them when Avery walked in, but not
before a black eye was noticed.

“The woman also had her sleeves pushed up to
wash her hands. Avery saw bruising covering one wrist, like someone
wrapped their hand around her wrist, hard. Avery tried talking to
her, asking if her boyfriend had hurt her. The woman kept saying no
he would never harm her, that she had fallen and the bruises came
from the fall.

“After the couple left, Avery told me and we
decided the next time they come we would involve the police. The
guy came pretty regularly so about two weeks went by and he was
back, but this time we asked him to call before coming. We said we
had a lot of meetings and wanted to be available to show him
everything.

“We get the call he’s coming by in two days, not
much notice, but better than nothing. We gave the police a call and
let them know we’ll call if the girlfriend is there and covered as
usual. We didn’t want the police to be on-site when he arrived
since their presence might scare him off. So, the guy comes, the
girlfriend is covered, sunglasses on, we nod over to the
receptionist and she places the call to the police.

“Ten minutes later the cops arrive and ask to
speak with her. He immediately becomes irate. Demanding to know
what is going on and what business the officers have with her. The
police state they want to ask her some questions outside.

“He’s yelling and the poor woman is visibly
shaking. She collapses to the floor sobbing. Luckily a female
detective was there and talked to her quietly in an office. A few
minutes later, a voice comes over the speaker on one of the
officer's handheld and the guy is handcuffed.

“He is ripping into us. Telling me it’s none of
my business, he’ll get even with me, I am taking away what is his,
et cetera. You get, the picture.”

Owen notices Cali had brought her hand up and
had unshed tears, but he continued on.

“They are both brought to the station in
separate cars. After she is questioned further and examined at the
hospital, a doctor finds out she is two months pregnant. The guy
didn’t know until after he was in jail, the woman never told
him.

“He gets five years in prison for not only
assault, but endangering a child. When he’s in jail he sends people
after me for getting involved. Apparently the guy had friends in
very low places who owed him some favors. I received death threats.
My house was broken into and my belongings stolen. I had to install
a security system. We already had one at the office, so the
building was secure.

“One day while I was driving home, my car was
sideswiped by another vehicle. And not just once, but repeatedly
until the car was forced into a ditch. After that, I hired a
security detail. I had two guys who would alternate shifts so I had
twenty-four hour coverage. One of the guys was Steven,” he said
nodding his head toward the front of the car where Steven was
seated.

“How did you get the threats to stop?” she asked
with a voice full of concern.

“Well,
we
didn’t. We heard he was
fighting with other inmates and during one of the fights he was
stabbed with a makeshift knife in the throat. The crowd of
prisoners near the fight was so large the guards had to fight
through the mob of people, taking down other prisoners as they
went. The guards couldn’t reach him fast enough and he bled out
onto the floor. Once he was gone, the threats stopped. He was
fueling the threats. Without him to order and threaten these
people, the threats stopped.

“But I didn’t drop my guard. I kept the security
on for a year after the threats stopped. Steven and I became close
friends. I asked if he wanted to stay on as part of the team. He
agreed and here we are. Now you know why I keep surveillance on all
of the properties and why one of the vehicles is armored. But also
why I will never take a chance where your safety is concerned.” He
stared into her eyes and said, “I will always protect you,
Caliana.”

“I know you will, Owen. Do you think my cabin
being burglarized is part of whatever happened to you years
ago?”

Shaking his head, he said, “No, I don’t, but I
can’t rule it out yet. We need more evidence.”

Cali lifted her hand to wipe the tear running
down her cheek. “That poor woman. Did you ever find out how she was
doing after her boyfriend was in jail?”

“Avery stays in touch with her. We helped her
move out of state and change her name. She kept the baby and lives
far away in the mountains. They are both doing really well now and
she even recently began dating. She is scared and taking it slow,
but getting there. We told her if either of them ever need anything
to contact us.”

She reached over and grabbed his hand. “What
you’re doing is very kind. And Avery, I had her pegged all
wrong.”

“Well, Avery can be a bitch,” he said laughing
lightly. “She’s a good person though. Just has her own issues she
is working through.”

Nodding, Cali turned her head to look out of the
window. She mentioned they were only a few minutes from her place.
He squeezed her hand and kept trying to figure out who was out to
harm her. He let his thoughts drift and run through different
scenarios. One, he thought could have been a drug addict looking
for money, but why slash the tires and what was with the red X?
Another, maybe the burglar thought a rich family was staying inside
and would get lucky when they broke in.

Her voice interrupted his thinking. “Make a left
into the development,” she said to Steven. “Then your second right
and my place is number two-forty.”

Steven nodded, but when he rounded the last turn
hit the brakes. Police and ambulance lights were flashing, blocking
the car from driving further. “Stay in the car.” Pointing to Steven
he said, “And you stay with her.”

Owen got out of the car and walked over to the
first police officer he could find. “What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, but we can’t divulge any
information. You’ll need to stay back.”

“My girlfriend lives here and is in the car
waiting to get inside. She lives at two-forty. What happened?”

The officer motioned his head for Owen to
follow. They walked off to the side, away from the curious
neighbors. “Go get her,” the officer said. “I need to see
verification she lives here, then I’ll fill you both in.”

He nodded and went to get both Cali and Steven
from the car. She showed the officer her license and he began to
explain what the police think happened. “Your home was broken into,
ma’am. Someone kicked in the front door and ransacked the home.
They also spray painted a red X on the front door.”

She gasped and started to sway. He reached for
her shoulders to steady her. “Unfortunately, that’s not all. One of
your neighbors heard the commotion and came out to see what was
going on. She walked to your front door and was hit in the head,
hard. Hard enough to knock her unconscious.”

“Which neighbor?” Cali asked.

“A Mrs.,” the officer looked at a slip of paper,
“Emerson.”

She turned and buried her face into Owen’s
chest, letting tears fall as her body shook. “Is she going to be
okay?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. She is on the way to the hospital
in the ambulance as we speak.”

“Can we get into her place?”

“You should be able to in a little bit. We are
dusting for prints and taking pictures of everything now. We’d like
to know if anything of value was stolen or if you can think of any
information that might help us capture the person responsible.”

Owen gave him a run-down of what happened at the
cabin and said by leaving the X on the door it had to be the same
person. They both agreed Cali was being targeted. He held onto her
tight as they went through her house. It appeared they only
destroyed the kitchen and living room. The neighbor must have
interrupted the person before more damage could be done.

Steven began cleaning the kitchen by gathering
the glass. Cali and Owen went to the bedroom and she packed as many
clothes as she could into a spare suitcase. “I ran out of
room.”

He went out to the kitchen, grabbing a large
trash bag to put the shoes and other items in. “It’s not pretty,
but will work.”

“I want to stop at the hospital on the way to
your house and make sure Mrs. Emerson is okay.”

“Of course.”

“I don’t know what I did to make someone come
after me.”

He crossed the room to her and pulled her in
close. “You didn’t do anything. We don’t know what this person is
after, but we will figure it out.”

“I want it to stop. I don’t have anything
someone could possibly want. No one knows I inherited the money and
even if they did, that was years ago. Why now?”

Rubbing her back he said, “I don’t know. This
doesn’t make any sense.”

* * * * * * * *

Cali finished in the townhouse and the men
boarded the door up the best they could. Owen said he would have
people out to fix it the next day as well as to install the
security system. Whoever was after her would not only have to deal
with the police when they were found, but him too.

They visited Mrs. Emerson every day. Her
condition hadn’t changed and she was still unconscious. The doctors
said she had bruising on the brain and she had to be monitored
closely. The police were also kept notified of her state. They were
all hoping she caught a glimpse of who the attacker was.

Owen thought it was best to hire on extra
security. Steven recommended his friend Erik who used to work with
him before becoming full time with Owen. Erik had dark brown hair,
was tall and muscular, but a little on the leaner side. He was very
friendly, but kept himself in work mode at all times. Not relaxing
much, always seeming to be on guard. Cali thought that made Owen
like him even more.