Chapter 20
Aspen
I don't think I'd be any more insulted if he leaned over, sniffed me, and scrunched his nose.
His suggestion of me needing a shower sort of crushed me a little, but I've never taken personal criticism very well.
I rerun the conversation through my head as I shampoo my hair. I didn't do a damn thing to bring on such a personal attack, but here I am, using a drugstore brand of shampoo on my hair. As I scratch my fingers along my scalp, I can hear Roxanne bitching at my next appointment about the damage I've caused, but that's not likely, is it?
I'll probably never see Roxanne again. She's connected to Damien and his organization, and going there would mean death.
I freeze when I hear a thump. I didn't lock the door behind Jericho when he left because I don’t know if he has a key and it's freaking winter in Massachusetts. I didn’t want him trapped outside. It's possible that it's him back in the cabin, but then I hear a whisper, masculine, but too low to understand the words spoken. I don't miss the fact that another man responds.
Fear lashes out at me, but before I can formulate any type of plan, the bathroom door is kicked open.
I scream when I see the flash of a shadow on the other side of the simple plastic curtain. It's thick enough that I can't make out any real lines but thin enough to know that there's someone in the small bathroom with me.
I freeze, knowing how much trouble I'm in when the curtain is ripped back and I see Hames standing just outside the lip of the shower.
"Hey there, sweetheart."
"He'll kill you if you touch me."
This man has harassed me every chance he's had, and I've wondered more than once if Damien hasn't asked him to do it, knowing he sets me on edge every time he enters a room. Even the house staff steer clear of him and that says a lot about the man's character and what he's capable of.
"How do you know that?" he sneers, his eyes sweeping up and down my naked body. "Maybe he's paying me extra to hurt you real bad."
"He—fuck," I snap, squeezing my eyes closed when soap begins to burn my eyes.
I squeal in fear when I hear gunfire outside, but then truly scream a second time when I feel his body pull me from the shower and place me in front of him.
Several more bullets are fired, and I manage to squint my eyes open just as Jericho steps into the doorway of the bathroom.
He stands tall, unconcerned about the gun in Hames's hand pointed in his direction.
"You okay, Peach?" Jericho asks me.
"I've been better," I manage to whisper, not really feeling the bravery in my voice.
"He wants you alive," Hames says to Jericho. "But I don't think I will get a chance to play with this sweet piece of ass with you alive."
I tremble even more. Every woman knows what men are capable of, and I know for a fact that Hames is the type of man no one would want to run into in a dark alley.
"He wants her back alive too, but he never said in one piece," Hames says, and I nearly vomit when he runs his nose up the side of my cheek.
He's staying really fucking close, using me as a shield, and I have no freaking clue how to react or what to do. I know this doesn't end with them both walking away and agreeing to call a truce. Someone dies here tonight, and if it's Jericho, then that means my life and possibly Eli's are next.
I swear I'm going to tremble right out of this man's hands with how terrified I am right now, but on instinct, when Jericho says "log" I drop every ounce of my weight to the floor without hesitation.
Gunfire rings out into the room, the deafening sound echoing all around and making my ears ring.
I scream when hands touch my body.
"Fuck, Peach. It's Nolan. Calm down, baby, are you okay?"
The warmth of a towel swarms me but in the next breath, my head is under the shower. "We have enough time to get the soap out of your eyes, but we have to get the fuck out of here. I don't know how they found us, but he could be sending a second team."
I swipe at my eyes, opening them to the rush of water, but they still burn when he shifts my weight to standing.
"Fuck," he growls when my towel slips. "Hold the towel. I've got you."
In the next breath, I'm swept off my feet and carried out of the bathroom. I count four bodies as he carries me out of there.
"I heard five shots. Are you hit?"
"I'm fine, Peach. Fuck, you're gonna freeze like this."
His words don't stop his feet from carrying me right out of that cabin and depositing me in the front seat of an SUV. Before I can fully orient myself, he's behind the wheel and slinging gravel as he flies out of the driveway.
I'm shaking so hard I don't know if I'll ever be able to stop. My teeth are chattering, and I know it has much more to do with what just happened than the cold.
"This motherfucker," he growls as he tries to drive and operate the controls for the heater.
"Pay attention to the road."
He glances in my direction, looking as if he's seeing me for the very first time. "Put on your fucking seatbelt."
I move quickly to obey him because the tone of his voice is nothing I've ever heard before.
"Put yours on," I manage after I click the seatbelt in place.
He huffs a humorless laugh but a minute later, he's pulling the strap across his body.
The lights from the console illuminate his face, and I choose to focus on it rather than think about what could've just happened.
After a few miles of distance between us and the dead men at the cabin, he pulls his phone from his pocket and places a call.
Surprisingly, the call connects to the Bluetooth in the vehicle.
"Hey," the guy who answers the phone says when the call connects.
"What the fuck is going on?" Jericho, or Nolan as he told me back at the cabin, growls. "I've got four down at the cabin."
"Fuck," the guy mutters. "Are you okay? Aspen?"
He darts his eyes in my direction. "We're safe. Did you cut Samuel loose?"
"He's been with us the entire time. Hasn't had a chance to reach out to anyone."
Nolan pulls in a deep breath, his jaw flexing as he clenches the muscles there.
"Jericho, we cleared the car and her belongings, but we didn't scan her."
"Fuck," Nolan grunts again.
"You have everything you'll need there in the SUV."
"I'll let you know what I find," Nolan says before hitting a button on the steering wheel, ending the call.
"What is he talking about?" I ask with a waver in my voice.
"There's a good chance you're tagged," he says.
"Tagged?"
"Damien probably had a tracker put inside of you."
My skin grows immediately colder, my hands trembling as I lift them to my stomach.
"So he can always find me," I whisper as tears stream out of my still-burning eyes.
"He won't find you again," he says. As much as I want to believe him, he just had to kill four men to keep me safe, and I don't know that I'm worth the stain on his conscience for having to do that for me.
I've begged every being others pray to more times than I can count to be rescued from the clutches of Damien Gaines, but it's coming at too high of a cost.
Although I've never felt sorry for the men who died defending Damien, or even when they died defending my father, Samuel's daughter being taken kept him compliant with the rules of the organization. Discovering that information changed everything. Men may be doing their job and dying for it to protect their children. Good, bad, or indifferent, prior to their life with Damien, I don't know that every man who works for him is inherently evil. It changes my entire viewpoint.
Hames should've died a long time ago, but I don't know the other three men or what their stories were. What if Damien has their children? What happens to those kids now that their father is no longer a pawn to be used and moved around the organization at Damien's whim?
"Don't get lost in your fucking head, Peach. We'll get to the end of this shitstorm eventually."
I turn my gaze from the side of his face, my internal battle raging inside of me.
I feel sick to my stomach to think that there's some foreign object inside me that allows Damien to know exactly where I am and when. It's no different from cancer and it's just as deadly.