Playing with Fire (17 page)

Delphine nodded and smiled. “Yeah, I
know. You seem really good for him. And though I didn’t know you
before, I can tell he’s really brought you out of your
shell.”

“I feel like I can trust him, with
everything. He doesn’t judge me for staying so long with Lenny, and
he doesn’t expect me to be anyone other than who I am. He makes me
feel safe. Safe enough to let down my defenses.”

“Good. We all need love like
that.”

Noelle held up her hand. “Now, hang on
a minute. I didn’t say the L-word.”

Delphine winked at her. “You don’t
have to say it. It’s written all over those blushing cheeks of
yours!”

Noelle ducked her head, but couldn’t
stop the smile. “I’m almost scared to say it out loud.”

“Say what – that you love
him?”

Noelle nodded.

Delphine asked, “Well, do
ya?”

After a moment, Noelle nodded. She
looked up fast and reached for Delphine’s hand. “Please don’t tell
him though. I mean I’ve known the man for just a few weeks. What if
it’s me getting swept up in the moment? What if it’s just a lust
thing? I don’t even know how he feels!”

Delphine cocked her head. “Honey,
sometimes you don’t need words to know how someone else feels.
Sometimes it’s a look, a touch. I see the looks, I see the small
things he does with you. That boy is smitten.”

Noelle bit at the inside of her mouth
and whispered. “I know I am.”

Delphine patted her hand once more.
“Put some conviction in there! It’s alright to love someone and
trust they will love you back.”

Noelle nodded. “I know. It’s just
getting used to real love. I’d trust Trent with my life, and I’ve
never been able to say that about another man.”

Delphine shook her head. “If you want
any man on your side, it’s Trent. Like I said, he’d never hurt you
for the world. Just remember that.”

Noelle eyed her. There was that
forewarning again. “I’ll remember. Anyway, we should be getting to
work.”

Delphine laughed and got up. “Who is
the boss here?”

Noelle smiled and lowered her head.
“Sorry.”

Delphine threw her hands in the air.
“There’s that word again. Stop saying sorry! But it’s good to know
if I left you in charge you would make sure work gets
done.”

Noelle shrugged nonchalantly as she
grabbed another sheet from the bin and started folding it. “Yeah,
I’m reliable like that.”

Delphine nodded and started to push
the cleaning cart into the other room. Before she walked out, she
looked over her shoulder at Noelle. “I know you are. And I expect a
full report at lunch on what happened with lover boy.”

Noelle threw a small hand towel at
her, “I ain’t gonna kiss and tell, Delphine. Use your
imagination.”

Delphine gave a wink and walked away,
calling from the other room, “Oh I will. See you later.”

“Goodbye Delphine!”

Noelle shook her head and smiled. She
spent the rest of the morning getting caught up on the laundry and
made it half way through a romance novel.

Noelle stepped out of the shower and
wrapped herself in a plush pink towel. Her arms ached from all the
folding she’d done, but the romance novel from earlier had given
her some steamy scenarios to act out with Trent. His lovemaking was
bringing out the wanton woman in her!

She brushed her hair and caressed his
love mark again. A quick look at the clock told her he’d be getting
out of work soon. She still had more than an hour until he was
going to pick her up, but it seemed like an eternity.

An urgent knock at the door startled
her out of her thoughts. She jumped and let out a squeal before
cautiously walking over and looking out the peephole.

She pressed her hand against her
chest, trying to calm her racing heart and opened the door. “Hey
there, handsome. You’re early.”

Noelle smiled and leaned forward to
kiss Trent, but he rushed in and closed the door behind him. “You
gotta get dressed. We need to get out of here.”

Noelle stared at him for a moment,
then walked toward the small dresser and reached in the top drawer
for a pair of panties. As she put them on she asked, “What’s
wrong?”

Trent paced back and forth near the
door, occasionally stealing looks through the sheer curtains. He
pulled the heavy drapes closed, but still peered out the side. “I
think I was followed.”

She pulled a t-shirt over her head.
“By who?”

Trent gave her a look. He didn’t need
to answer. Her heart dropped and she clutched her stomach. She
struggled to find her voice, but finally managed to say, “Oh God. I
think I’m gonna be sick.”

She took a seat on the end of the bed
and tried to breathe. The fear was paralyzing. Her hands began to
shake uncontrollably; a few deep breaths did nothing to help. She
put her hands between her knees and rocked back and forth, trying
to get her shaking under control.

Trent was kneeling in front of her in
the next instant. “Hold it together, honey. We gotta get out of
here. I’ll grab you some pants. Where are your shoes?”

Noelle looked at him as if he spoke
Martian. She looked down and realized she was only half dressed.
“Oh God. He’s gonna kill me. He told me before if I ran and he
found me he was gonna do it.”

Trent shook his head as he
tossed things out of a dresser drawer and into her duffle bag.
“Over my dead body, I won’t let him near you. Babe,
please
, we gotta get
moving.”

She nodded and numbly put on the
sweatpants he handed her. As the seconds ticked by, the tension
grew. It was almost as if she could sense Lenny getting closer and
closer.

“How in the hell did he find
me?”

Trent was back at the window watching
the parking lot. “I forgot to close my computer after I saw your
Missing Persons’ Bulletin. Fitzer saw it and called it
in.”

The fear gave way to hysteria, making
her voice escalate with each syllable. “Why didn’t you stop
him?”

“I didn’t know for sure that he’d seen
it until this morning. Lenny and his dad were at the station when I
got there.”

Her eyes widened and she raced to
finish putting on her shoes. “You saw him? Did you talk to him?
What did he say?”

Trent swore. “They’re
here.”

He looked around and eyed the small
window over the towel in the bathroom. He let out another string of
curses. “How the hell am I gonna get you out of here
now?”

She eyed the window. “Are you sure we
can’t try to squeeze through there?”

He shook his head. “We can get through
fine, but it’s a straight drop down at least sixteen feet. I jumped
out of one of these windows once before and broke my arm. I’m not
about to try again with you.”

Trent took out his cell phone.
“Marshall, this is Torres. That guy and his dad from this morning
are here at Seaside Escape. I think they want to hurt the woman I
told you about. Can you send a car out right away? I don’t think
this is gonna be pretty.”

Noelle walked to the curtain and
peeked out as a large figure walked past the window. She dropped to
the floor and covered her head as the pounding began on the
door.

Tears filled her eyes and the
helplessness she’d tried so hard to outrun caught up to her. Trent
leaned over her and smoothed her hair. Her first reaction was to
jerk away.

She stared at him with wide eyes. “Why
didn’t you pay more attention to see if you were being
followed?”

He recoiled at the accusing tone in
her words. His forehead wrinkled. “My first concern was getting to
you. Sorry I wasn’t thinking clearer.”

The pounding continued to the point
where Noelle was waiting for the next hit to come breaking through
the door.

“Sorry doesn’t cut it. We could be
dead before help gets here. Why couldn’t you just trust me? If you
had asked me first before nosing around I would have told you
whatever you wanted to know.”

Noelle knew this wasn’t the best time
or place to start accusing him, but she didn’t know how much time
she had left. If she knew Lenny, he and his father were packing at
least one handgun, which meant the chances of them getting out of
the room unscathed were slim.

Trent started to get up. “I’m gonna
answer it. I’m not scared of him. You shouldn’t have to hide,
Noelle.”

Noelle lunged for him,
clinging onto his arm. “What? Why? God, he’s gonna get me. He’s
gonna get
you
!”

She couldn’t help the tears from
falling. The fear ripped through her and she had to run to the
bathroom to vomit. Trent was right on her heels.

“Noelle, focus on being pissed at me,
alright? Focus on that, don’t focus on Lenny or what may or may not
happen. Focus on me.”

She looked at him as if he’d grown
another head. “There is a homicidal man on the other side of that
door and you want me to focus on you?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Be pissed at me;
hate my guts right now if you want. If that is gonna help you stop
panicking then alright. I need you to be strong right now
Noelle.”

Strong? He wanted her to be strong?
Her anger grew. “Shut up! I’ll be strong when I’m done freaking
out.”

He nodded. “Good, that’s good. Keep
that anger. Stay here while I get the door.”

She slammed the bathroom door on him.
Where did he get off bossing her around? She paced back and forth
in the small room. She didn’t need him to fight her battles. She’d
faced Lenny before, and she knew if she stayed hidden that he’d
take pleasure in knowing she was so frightened now.

Without thinking, she opened the door
and stormed out into the room. Straight ahead, standing out on the
walkway was Lenny and his daddy. All that stood between her and
their guns was Trent.

Trent stared down at the two Colt .45
barrels pointed at him. His heart pounded harder than Lenny’s fist
had on the door just a moment before. The sound of approaching
sirens got louder, but Trent didn’t know if he’d be alive by the
time help arrived.

They were pissing him off and he
widened his stance in the door. “Now boys, do we really need to
start things off with violence. I think it’d be in your best
interest to put the guns down. The last thing you want is for my
buddies to show up and catch you in the act.”

“Where the hell is that
bitch?”

Trent eyed Lenny. Man, he wished he
was another foot closer so he could punch the bastard. “Who are you
looking for?”

“Don’t be smart with me. Noelle – I
want Noelle.”

Trent shrugged nonchalantly. “Don’t
know what you’re talking about. It’s just me in here. So you two
can run along and try to intimidate someone else.”

Lenny sneered at him. “Hey genius,
next time you’re gonna lie, make sure she ain’t standing right
behind ya.”

Trent heaved a heavy sigh. He wasn’t
about to turn around, especially with guns pointed at him. But he
heard Noelle’s approaching footsteps.

“Noelle, stay right there, don’t take
another step.”

“You can’t boss me around. None of
y’all can anymore. I’m tired of men telling me what to
do!”

Trent clenched his teeth and swore to
himself. He was all for Noelle standing her ground, but now was not
the time to call him out when he was trying to defend her
life.

“I get it Noelle, but I’ve got things
under control. Stay where you are.” He could almost feel the waves
of anger she was shooting into his back.

Trent let her anger build with his and
took a step closer to Lenny, until the gun barrel was less than six
inches from him. “You aren’t taking her out of this room. You
aren’t getting past me.”

Lenny cocked the hammer on the gun. “I
wouldn’t be too sure about that. This ain’t no toy gun.”

Noelle gasped behind him, but Trent
stood his ground, refusing to give Lenny the satisfaction of
backing down. He squared his shoulders and glared. “Oh, I’m sure.
Why don’t you and your daddy put those down and we can discuss this
like real men. We can let Noelle decide where she wants to be and
then you two can run along back to whatever hole you climbed out
of.”

Lenny turned red and his father cocked
his pistol. “You think you’re real smart talking like that. You
ain’t gonna be so smart in a body bag are ya?”

Trent held up his hands and widened
his eyes in mock fear. “Ooh, I’m shaking. You seriously think I’m
gonna be scared of two guys with guns? I’ve been a city cop for
over ten years, I’ve been in much scarier situations.”

“You’re asking for it!” Lenny was
shaking as he spoke, crimson flashed across his face.

“Leave him be, Lenny. It’s me you
want.”

Trent was surprised by the calm in
Noelle’s voice, especially after how she’d been moments ago. Her
words distracted Lenny long enough for Trent to push the gun away
and throw it across the room. It discharged as it bounced off the
wall, the bullet struck the front window and glass shattered out
into the night.