Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
R eed managed to get them home without breaking any traffic laws. He may have gone a little over the speed limit, but he hadn’t run any red lights which he’d wanted to do when it seemed like he’d been stuck there for hours when it had only been seconds.
As he pulled into his driveway anticipation fired through him knowing that when he turned the car off, the relationship between him and Lauren would be changing. Changing in a way he was ecstatic about.
Living with her had been blissful along with being a task of self-control. Every night he’d gone to bed hard knowing that she was only a couple of doors away from him. And every night he’d taken matters into his own hands wishing it was Lauren’s body giving him pleasure.
She was in his bloodstream and he was more than happy with her occupying that space.
“Wait here,” he murmured, stalling her attempt to get out of the car. He adjusted his jeans as he closed his door. He was sure he would have an outline of his zipper pressed into his cock.
He rounded the front of his car, coming to a halt when he saw who was standing in his driveway, not five feet away from him—Patrick Stringer with a gun in his hand.
Thank fuck Lauren is still in the car.
Reed scanned the area to see if anyone was lurking in the shadows. It was all clear.
How the fuck did Patrick get past the motion sensors?
He couldn’t pull his phone out to check if he’d received notifications while driving. His attention was on the man with the gun as he worked through scenarios to disarm him without harming Lauren. He may not have a weapon on him, but he’d been trained to use his hands as effectively as a gun.
“What do you want?” he asked, while resting his hand on the passenger door. He could see Lauren out of the corner of his eye, and he gave an imperceptible shake of his head and hoped she’d got the message to stay still.
“What I’ve always wanted. Lauren.”
If he could keep the guy talking for long enough, he was sure his teammates would be here soon. This was the reason why he didn’t have an issue with his security feed being monitored at the office. At the first sign of trouble, Steve would get the team together and be out the door in a matter of seconds.
“I thought it was Charlee you wanted.” He relaxed as if he didn’t care he was being held at gunpoint.
Patrick scoffed and crept a little closer. “The kid means nothing, Lauren however, does.”
Why? Why did Patrick want Lauren after all this time? After basically tossing her away with yesterday’s scraps as if she didn’t mean anything to him.
He didn’t need to look at Lauren to know she was panicking. He could feel her fear through the car door. She would also be able to hear what he was saying and what Patrick was saying.
“What’s so special about Lauren?” Reed moved, trying to get a little closer. He may not have a weapon but he could distract Patrick enough so he could charge the man and relieve him of the gun.
“I’m tired of talking.”
Reed felt the burn as the bullet ripped through his thigh a second after the sound of the gun firing filled the air. Lauren’s muffled scream and Patrick’s maniacal laugh all blended together as another bullet hit Reed in the gut. He had a sense of falling, the world tilting sideways, and the force of his face hitting the cement of his driveaway.
Patrick’s booted feet entered his line of vision before the man bent down and stared at him. “You should’ve just given me Lauren and then everything would’ve been so much easier for you.”
Through the haze of pain and the black dots clouding his vision, Reed braced himself for the next bullet. He willed his body to move. To try and roll away, but nothing was getting through. His limbs were heavy and the effort to remain conscious was fading.
“Lauren,” he whispered as he was sucked into the blackness.
* * *
“R eed!” Lauren screamed, scrambling over the console as Reed fell to the ground.
I have to get out of the car.
She was an easy target if she didn’t. She jumped out of it and took off.
Her first instinct was to run to Reed to see if he was okay, but if she did that, she would make it too easy for Patrick to shoot her too.
Tears clogged her eyes but she blinked them away. She needed to escape so that she could get the help Reed needed.
Her heart lodged in her throat as she passed the back end of the car, her safety barrier gone.
Was she being too stupid to live by running?
Should she have stayed in the car? Neither option wasn’t perfect. Patrick could just as well shoot her in the back as he could’ve while she sat in the car staring at him.
Footsteps sounded behind her, and she put on a burst of speed. If she got out into the street she’d be safer than in the driveway.
A second later her head was yanked back violently as Patrick grabbed hold of her ponytail. Pain burst through her skull, and she couldn’t stop the cry of pain from erupting out of her.
“Bitch. You’re coming with me.” Patrick dragged her by her hair toward a white sedan. She tried to dig her heels in needing to escape, but Patrick tightened his grip. The tears she’d blinked away returned.
Maybe if she was compliant she could escape the back of the car before Patrick pulled away from the curb. She didn’t fight him when he shoved her in, just grabbed the seatbelt as if she was going to put it on.
“You can’t escape, if that’s what you’re thinking about doing. There are no handles.” He slammed the door in her face.
Is he lying? There has to be door handles .
Lauren looked to where a means to escape should be, except there was nothing but a hole in the lining.
As the car pulled away she glanced over her shoulder, desperate to see help coming in her direction. The people at Power Security must have seen what was going on. She knew Reed didn’t live that far away from the office. Surely they should’ve been there by now.
Except all she saw was Reed on the ground, bleeding. There were no cars flying down the street to save her.
Panic filled her, threatening to suck her down until she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. Couldn’t see clearly.
Whatever Patrick was going to do to her, wasn’t going to be fun. Wherever he was going to take her, she would need to find a way to get away from him.
You are strong, Lauren. I believe in you.
Reed’s voice sounded loud in her mind, as if he was sitting next to her.
Lauren took a deep breath, pushing the panic aside. If she was going to find a way out of this, she needed to keep her thoughts in check. Become numb to the fear that could paralyze her.
Patrick wasn’t going to be the reason why her life was going to end.
“Where are we going?” she demanded, pleased her voice sounded strong.
“I think we need a little someone else to join this party, don’t you?” Patrick smirked at her through the rearview mirror.
Shit, I know this road. No! He can’t do this!
Her stomach rolled over. “No! You don’t touch Charlee. She’s got nothing to do with this. You told Reed you wanted me not Charlee. You’ve never wanted her.”
Even though she didn’t have anything in place for her daughter should anything happen to her, which with her life on the line she really should’ve, Lauren knew that no matter what, Tabitha and everyone at Power Security would ensure that Charlee was okay.
“Your so-called fiancée is an idiot. I lied to him. Just like you lied to me about your relationship with him. None of it is real.”
Anger broke through her fear, and Lauren tugged it close, embracing it and letting it cloak her. Anger gave her strength and she was going to use it to help get herself away. “I was living at his house. How is that not real?” She pulled the chain from around her neck which had the ring still on it. “Does this ring look fake to you?”
“It’s not on your finger—that’s all I need to know. Now shut up and listen to me. If you do, then I may not have to hurt you.”
That was a hollow promise if she’d ever heard one. Patrick wasn’t going to let her get out of this alive. But on the off chance that her cooperation would make him complacent, she would take it. “Whatever.”
He slammed the steering wheel. “If I wasn’t driving, I’d backhand you for that insolence.”
Lauren bit her lip to stop from saying it again. She sat in silence as they got closer and closer to Charlee’s school.
Where help waited.
Andy was there. He had to know what happened at Reed’s. Once he saw her arrive with Patrick he’d be ready to take her ex down.
Maybe he’d already gotten Charlee to a safe place. Lauren clung to that thought, she couldn’t imagine having her baby involved in something like this.
“Don’t be thinking that help will be at the school when we get there.”
“What did you do?” she whispered.
Had Patrick killed Andy? God she would never forgive herself if he had. It was already bad enough that Reed could be dead. She hadn’t allowed herself to think or feel anything about Reed being shot since she’d gotten into the car. If she did she was afraid she’d fall apart, and she couldn’t do that. She needed to keep all her feelings buried because it was up to her to keep Charlee safe.
“I did what I had to.” They pulled up to the school and he got her out of the car. His fingers dug into her arm. “Now let’s go get our darling daughter. I think it’s time we became a family, don’t you?” He ran his finger down her cheek and Lauren swallowed down the urge to vomit all over his feet.
How had she ever allowed Patrick to touch her? To be intimate with her. Everything about him now revolted her.
“And don’t try anything sneaky to give the staff a message of what’s going on.” Patrick hissed in her ear. “Remember I have a gun and I’m not afraid to use it.”
No, she wasn’t going to risk Charlee’s life or any of the student and teachers in Charlee’s school.
“Then use it. On me. I’m not taking you in there, Patrick.”
Was she taking a huge risk and putting her life on the line? Yes, and if her life ended then it ended, but she would know her daughter was safe, because her being killed on school grounds would bring the authorities and Charlee would be safe.
Patrick laughed. “Very magnanimous of you.” He leaned close, his face millimeters from hers. “But I will still get her because in all the chaos little children go missing. You know I’m not afraid to use this. I have already. How many more lives do you want on your conscience, Lauren?”
Bile rose in her throat, and she swallowed it down. Did she have a choice?
The memory of Reed bleeding in his driveway was burned into her brain. What had he done to Andy? How had he got to him when, like Reed he had been a special forces soldier?
How had Patrick been able to do all this? Had he had some training?
Could she really live with herself if Patrick went into the school and killed more innocent lives?
She had to believe that help would come soon. It went against every mothering instinct in her to put her daughter in danger, but if she had her close, then she could protect her. All they had to do was hang on. Steve and the others would come and save them. She clung to that belief.
Forgive me Charlee for what I’m about to do.
“I hate you for making me do this,” she snapped at Patrick.
“Like I care. Let’s go and remember, one word and there will be more blood on your hands than there already is.”
The walk to the administration building was over far too quickly for Lauren’s liking. She took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face, hoping that it was convincing.
“Hi Lauren, did you have an appointment?” Sonya, the school’s receptionist smiled up at them as they approached the desk. Her gaze slid to where Patrick stood, her brow furrowing for a second before clearing up.
“Hey Sonya, no I don’t but I need to grab Charlee. I forgot I’d made a dentist appointment for her. The clinic called to remind me. Can you get her for me and I’ll sign her out?” How she managed to keep her voice calm was beyond Lauren. She wanted to think of a way that she could get a secret message to Sonya that nothing was okay with this situation. That she didn’t have to pull Charlee out, but she was doing it under duress. But she couldn’t think of a way without tipping Patrick off that that was what she was doing.
“Okay. Are you with Lauren or do you need something, sir?” Sonya directed her question to Patrick and Lauren tensed waiting to see what he would do.
“No.”
For half a second Lauren had hoped that Patrick would somehow slip. Announce that he was Charlee’s father. But, of course, he didn’t because he would’ve known that Lauren had told the school to be extra vigilant with Charlee’s safety. After all, he’d known Andy was watching the school and had done something to put him out of the picture.
“Okay, then, let me call Charlee.” Sonya looked at Lauren as if seeking her approval for it.
“I’d appreciate it.”
The minutes seemed to drag between Sonya calling Charlee’s class and the moment the little girl appeared, but it wasn’t that long at all. By the time her daughter skipped up to her, her body ached from the strain of keeping herself upright and not collapsing in a heap as the emotions and worry about Reed and Andy hit her now that she had a few seconds to think.
“Hi Mummy, what’s going on? Where’s Reed? Who’s this man?” Of course, her daughter would pepper her with questions. Questions she couldn’t answer because anything she said could cause Patrick to lose his shit and fire his gun.
“I forgot I made you a dentist appointment. Come on, we’re already late.” Lauren placed an arm around her daughter’s shoulder. “Thanks Sonya. See you soon.”
She held Sonya’s gaze for a second and, because she had her back to Patrick, she mouthed help and then turned around, hoping and praying that Sonya got the message. Or that when someone from Power Security turned up, Sonya could tell them what happened.
“Bye Lauren. See ya Charlee. Good luck with the…dentist.”
Lauren prayed that Patrick didn’t pick up on Sonya’s slight pause. Prayed that the second they left, Sonya would call the authorities.
Was Patrick aware that the school had security cameras in the office and around the perimeter? He had to be. Or had he done something that would affect their feed? Considering how he always found her and had been following them without their knowledge, she wouldn’t put it past him to do something to ensure everything that happened in the past ten minutes wasn’t recorded.
Charlee must be feeling her tension, or she knew something was going on that she didn’t understand, because her daughter wasn’t chattering like she normally did at school pickup.
God, she couldn’t cope with this. Couldn’t cope with the very thought that because of her, two men could potentially be dead. And she’d knowingly put her daughter in danger even if she’d had no other choice.
She was the worst mother on the planet but she didn’t know what else she could’ve done. No matter what she did, there would be bloodshed.
Somehow she squashed the sob that was threatening to erupt out of her so that it sounded like a half sob, half cry.
“You okay, Mummy?” Charlee asked.
“Yep. I’m fine,” she said dredging up a smile to reassure her daughter.
“In you get,” Patrick announced, not bothering to open the door for her like Reed would’ve done.
Could she make a run for it? Could she drag Charlee away from here and head back toward the school and the safety of their building? Her gaze darted around for potential escape routes.
As if he could see what she was thinking, Patrick touched his pocket where she knew he’d put the gun.
“Get in,” he repeated. “Don’t make me ask you again. Especially if you want your daughter to live.”
Lauren got in the car.