Pursuit of a Kiss (10 page)
Authors: Lola Drake
“Oh, I do?”
Jake wished she would go back to the grating
sugary voice instead of the painfully bitter one he heard now. What did she
want him to say? So they’d had one night together. A pretty incredible night. In
fact, if he was truly honest with himself, he didn’t think he’d ever
experienced anything quite like it before with any woman. But so what? They’d
had fantastic sex. It took more than that to make a relationship. With his job,
he didn’t do relationships. Surely she couldn’t be expecting some declaration
of love already?
At his continued silence, Juliet jerked her arm
free and continued toward the building. Feeling pathetic, Jake trailed behind
her to Wetherby’s office.
Wetherby rose to his feet instantly, holding out
a chair for Juliet. She flashed him a dazzling smile as she sat. Jake gritted
his teeth.
“Thanks for arranging all of this so quickly,
Michael. I really appreciate it.”
“Of course, of course. It’s no trouble. I’m just
sorry you’ll have to wait here for a bit until an officer can take you to the
safe house.”
Both of them glanced over at Jake, who hadn’t
moved from his stance in the doorway. Wetherby obviously expected him to
volunteer to drive her, but Jake didn’t say anything.
Wetherby quickly filled the awkward silence.
“Now, when you see the house, remember it’s just for the next week until the
preliminary hearing. Don’t get too used to the luxury.”
“You have a luxurious safe house?” Jake asked
skeptically.
“Yup. It’s in
recently, and we made a deal with them to use it for the next week. It even has
a pool,” Wetherby added with a wink. “After that we’ll move you somewhere else.
We just need the week to arrange for something more permanent.”
Juliet nodded, her eyes darting between Wetherby
and Jake. Jake couldn’t stand it any longer. “OK, then, I guess I’ll get
going.”
Wetherby seemed surprise by the announcement.
Then he took one look at Juliet’s face and mumbled something about getting a
file as he fled the room.
“Didn’t you tell Aaron you took some personal
leave from work so you could protect me?”
“Yeah, but you won’t need me now that you’ve
agreed to witness protection.”
“So that’s it? You do realize this is probably
goodbye for at least the next year or until whenever the trial happens.”
“It probably won’t take that long.”
Juliet didn’t even dignify that with a response.
With a sigh, Jake stepped forward, opening his arms to her. She remained
seated.
“I don’t know what you expect here, Jules.”
“I don’t expect anything.”
“That’s bullshit and we both know it.”
When she turned away from him to look out the
window, he could have screamed. Instead, he knelt down in front of her chair,
took her chin gently in his hand, and forced her to look back at him.
“I do care, Jules. But do you want me to leave
my life too and come stay with you for the next year after one night together?
I mean, that’s crazy. You know that’s crazy. Right?”
“Jake, I’m not asking for a proposal. I didn’t
even ask for the next year. Just the next week. Maybe a chance to see if
there’s something more here than a one-night stand.”
“I’d never think of you as a one-night stand.”
He reached up and tucked her hair back behind her ear, his fingers lingering on
her soft cheek. “You and I… We live really different lives. I don’t know if I
can give you what you want.”
“Isn’t that what dating is all about? To find
out if two people can give each other what they want?”
Jake started to answer, then paused. Had he ever
thought of dating that way? With most of the women in his life, he had known
from the beginning it wouldn’t last. Juliet watched him expectantly. Even
annoyed with him, she took his breath away. He kind of liked that she stood up
to him.
Unable to resist, he kissed her. It took a
moment of coaxing, but she responded, clutching his neck to bring him closer.
Even when he heard Wetherby return to the room, he continued kissing her for
another moment.
“Sorry, Michael,” Juliet mumbled when she
finally noticed him. Jake couldn’t resist giving him a smug look.
“No problem at all. Agent Parker, would you like
to drive Juliet over to the safe house?”
Jake took one look at Juliet’s big beautiful
eyes staring up at him and found himself saying, “Yeah, I can drop her off
there.”
Wetherby started to hand him the address and
directions, but Juliet stopped him.
“Don’t worry about it, Jake. I know you want to
get going. I’ll be fine.”
He raised an eyebrow. What was she playing at?
She’d been furious a second ago when he announced his intention to leave.
“I don’t mind driving you over there.”
“You’re just going to drop me off. It makes more
sense for me to go with one of the officers staying there with me. After all,
the fewer people who know the address the better, right?”
Jake had no idea what she wanted him to do. Was
he supposed to argue and insist on taking her? Did she really want him to go?
In some ways, he had preferred it when she was furious. At least then he knew
where he stood.
“Goodbye, Jake.” Juliet stood, going on tiptoe
to kiss his cheek. “I guess I’ll see you in a year, maybe. Or in another ten
for a reunion.”
With that, she turned and walked into the
bathroom, closing the door firmly behind her. Jake stood there with his mouth
open. What did he do now?
Chapter Five
I Need a Hero
Juliet stared at the clock. How could a simple
red digital number taunt her so? She knew the ‘3:51 a.m.’ flashed simply to
irritate her. Pulling a pillow over her face, she screamed into it, then threw
it across the room. After that nightmare she’d never fall back to sleep.
Closing her eyes, she saw
her over and over while she sat helpless on the witness stand.
Michael had told her to try to get a good
night’s sleep so she’d be alert for the preliminary hearing in the morning.
Somehow she had a feeling she’d be alert even if she didn’t sleep at all. Sheer
terror would take care of that.
Opening the bedroom door, she heard the low
voices of her two guards. Would
would this witness protection thing become permanent? Closing the door again,
she rummaged through her purse for the new pre-paid cellphone Michael had given
her. He didn’t know if the gang had her number to trace her cell phone signal,
but he didn’t want to take any chances.
She longed to call Jake, if only to hear his
voice for a few seconds. Remembering how he looked at her that last day in
Wetherby’s office filled her with satisfaction. He cared. It had shown in his
eyes in that moment before he kissed her. When she’d told him she’d see him in
a year or ten, he’d been absolutely dumbfounded. Still, she had thought that
might haved inspired him to contact her by now. It hadn’t.
Lying down again, she eventually fell back
asleep with the phone clenched in her hand. When it rang before her alarm went
off, she sprang out of the bed in surprise. Could Jake have gotten her number
from Michael?
“Hello?” she answered.
“Good morning, Juliet. Are you ready for your
big day?”
“Who is this?”
“My brother is Miguel Martinez.”
Juliet froze, her mouth going dry.
“Do not hang up. You see how easily we got your
new number. Our spies are everywhere. We can find you and kill you that easily
too.”
“You can go to hell.”
He laughed, a cruel sound that seemed to touch
her through the phone lines, piercing her bravado. “I could do that, but I
would have to take your friend Carly with me.”
“Carly?”
“She’s a hottie. I could have some fun with
her.”
“What do you want from me?”
“You’re going to get away from those protectors
of yours and come meet us. Then after you’ve missed court, we’ll let you both
go.”
“How do I
know you’ll keep your word?”
“You don’t. But what choice do you have? If you
don’t show up, we’ll have some fun with your friend and then kill her.”
Juliet closed her eyes, gripping the phone so
hard she heard some plastic crack. “OK, don’t hurt her. I’ll meet you. But I
want it to be in a public place.”
“You have some cojones on you. We’ll meet you in
public, but you can’t call anyone. We’re monitoring your phone. If you answer
any calls or make any calls we’ll kill her before you get here. We have someone
watching your FBI friend, too.”
“Fine. Give me a bit of time to sneak out. I’ll
have to get a taxi too, since my car isn’t here.”
“Call me at this number when you’re in a taxi
and we’ll tell you where to go.”
“Can’t you tell me now?”
“So you can tell those protectors of yours? I
don’t think so.”
With that, he hung up. Juliet stared at the
phone. Did they really have the technology to monitor her calls? Didn’t they
need to have a bug or something on the actual phone to do that? That’s always
how it worked in the movies. Unless they had traced the phone, and had someone
on the street with one of those high-tech listening devices or something? But
if they did have someone on the street, this could all be a trap and they could
kill her as soon as she left the house. Meeting them in public wouldn’t help
much either. After all, this whole mess started because she witnessed them
shooting three people right on a public beach. Not to mention they’d publicly
shot up her house and set it on fire.
Quickly getting dressed, she knew she had to
take the risk. She couldn’t let them kill Carly. Maybe once she was on her way
and knew the location of the meeting she could send Jake a text message. She
could even warn him someone might be following him so he took precautions. That
should work.
Silently, she opened her bedroom door. This time
she didn’t hear anyone, so she crept as quietly as possible down the stairs.
She had seen the guards use the security code when they first showed her around
the house, so she punched it in and slipped out the door.
Two guards stood at the end of the driveway near
the gate. How could she get around them? Juliet moved towards the side of the
house, crouching down to stay out of sight of any windows. One tree grew close
to the fence around the property. If she could climb high enough, could she
jump it?
Not knowing what else to do, Juliet sprinted for
the tree, grabbing some branches on the far side. She couldn’t use her broken
arm, but with her good arm she managed to swing her legs up onto the first low
branch. After hauling herself up, she could rely mostly on her left arm and
legs.
Branches scraped against her cheeks and
clothing. At last, she stood above the top of the fence. The closest branch
that would support her weight stopped about a foot from it. Scooting across it,
she tried to get her feet under her. Eyeing the ground with trepidation, she
realized just how much this could hurt if she messed up. But then what would
happen to Carly?
Pushing herself off the branch as hard as she
could, she managed to clear the fence, only to do a belly dive onto some bushes
on the other side. She let out a laugh of relief. Luckily the bushes had broken
her fall. About time something went her way. Other than her throbbing arm and a
few deep scratches, she felt fine. Running through the neighbor’s backyard, she
exited their driveway and prayed her protectors had stayed within their own
property line so they didn’t see her.
Without another glance back, she ran down
Rexford towards
Boulevard
the hell was she going to get a taxi in
Hills
on the corner. Maybe her protectors wouldn’t think to look for her near there?
Crossing the street, she decided to go toward the public library. It wouldn’t
be open this early, but at least it would give her an easy place to wait. She
took out her phone and dialed.
“You in a taxi?”
“This is
number of a taxi company.”
“Are you fucking serious?”
“What do you want me to do? You told me not to
call anyone so I figured I should check with you.”
She couldn’t help but enjoy pissing him off.
Jake had insisted Michael get her a smart phone, so she had Internet access and
could easily find the number herself. But she wanted to play terrified captive,
which wasn’t all that far from the truth, and annoy him with his own rules.