7. Dayton
7
DAYTON
“ I ’m not going to go anywhere, Dayton. Honest!” she protested as I cuffed her to the bed of the motel of the night.
“You certainly won’t, not when you’re locked up.”
“I promise I won’t try to escape. My wrist is starting to get blisters.” She turned her wrist so I could see the welts beginning to form.
“I’ll get you some cream at the store across the street. I won’t be long, I promise.”
“Fine. Can you at least get me some fruit while there? I’d kill for a couple of peaches.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Leaving the room, I locked the door behind me. I made my way on foot across the parking lot and then the highway, to the small grocery store on the other side of the road. I’d tried questioning her about what she meant several times throughout the day as we drove, but her lips were sealed.
What was she afraid of?
Was my original thought that she was full of shit accurate?
Or was there something to what she was getting at?
Reaching the store, I grabbed a handbasket as I stepped inside and began my hunt for food for the evening and snacks for tomorrow’s drive.
It was no secret that lots of the goings-on in Hollywood was sketchy as fuck. So how much of it was real and how much of it was complete and utter horseshit? I’d done my research on her and her cohorts before setting out to apprehend her. A number of the people she associated with led questionable lives.
Heading for the produce section I tossed a couple of peaches into the basket. Some sandwiches from the deli department. A cheese and crackers tray. She liked to eat healthy food, but this was a road trip to take her ass to jail, not a five-star resort, so she’d need to make do with what I got her or starve.
Finishing with my grocery shopping, I made my way to the checkout and got in line behind three other people. For the first time in my life, I scanned the magazines and tabloids. She was on several covers. The fashion magazine had her in some strange red and black garment that didn’t look the least bit practical or comfortable. Pretty sure they called it high fashion. In my opinion you’d have to be high to agree to wear such ridiculous outfits.
The other three were gossip magazines. Two had her mug shots on the cover and one had a headline advertising that she was on the run. The dangerous and cunning actress turned drug smuggler.
Just reading the headline, in conjunction with what she had said last night sprang doubts in my mind. Maybe she had been set up? Why? I couldn’t say.
I gave my head a shake, it wasn’t any of my concern.
My job was to bring her in—nothing more or less. The agency had already been informed that I had her in custody and en route. Her fate was sealed.
“She’s fucking hot, right?”
Lifting a brow, I glanced from the magazine that I’d been caught staring at and to the young man in front of me. He was perhaps twenty.
“Yeah, she’s quite beautiful.”
“Junkie or not, I’d give her a go,” he nudged me with his elbow. “You get me?”
Chuckling, I nodded. “Oh, I get ya. Couldn’t agree more.”
To my surprise, my dick jerked in my jeans at the thought of her handcuffed to the bed and me sliding into her warm, moist core. The dude in front of me would probably cream his pants if he saw her in my room right now.
The line seemed to take forever to get through, but once the groceries were paid for and bagged, I hurried back across the street and to the room. She’d be pissed. She’d wanted to come with me, but her out in public was a recipe for disaster.
“Honey, I’m home,” I announced cheerfully, knowing it would piss her off. I liked getting under her skin a little bit. A part of me loved seeing her get feisty, not to mention she was as sexy as fuck when she was pissed.
She didn’t reply. She was too engrossed in whatever she was watching on television.
My brow furrowed as I stared at her for another moment.
Her lips were slightly parted and she was staring at the screen as if she’d seen a ghost.
Placing the brown paper bag of groceries on the desk, I went to sit on the bed next to her. “What’s so interesting?”
Looking up at the screen, my mouth dropped open as well.
On the screen was arguably the most powerful man in Hollywood—a director and producer. He was in handcuffs on his knees with several Homeland Security officers standing over him.
Flashing on the bottom of the screen was the headline.
Live: The home of legendary director and producer, Aaron Ramsay raided by Homeland Security.
There were dozens of Homeland Security officers, all in full tactical gear, rushing across the grounds of his home. Several other people, unidentifiable from the camera angle, were also on their knees in the grass several feet from Aaron.
“Holy shit. Is that…?”
She nodded. “That’s Aaron Ramsay. Sebastian is also there, just to his left. It’s hard to tell, but it’s him.”
We both watched in stunned silence for the next half an hour until the coverage ended with all those arrested being piled into the back of a black van and being driven away.
Turning to look at her, I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts and make sense of it all.
“Jesus Elle, what were you wrapped up in?”
ELLE
What did this mean for me?
I didn’t know.
My mind was whirling with the possibilities.
Would this mean I was off the hook? Would they find evidence that I was innocent all along?
“Jesus Elle, what were you wrapped up in?”
I could hear Dayton speaking to me, but I was so caught up in my own thoughts and processing my emotions that I could barely register him speaking.
It may mean nothing at all for me. The drugs had still been in my possession. I had no proof that they’d been planted, or that they were someone else’s. And I’d run. That made me look as guilty as fuck.
“Elle,” He grasped my shoulders and gave me a gentle shake. “What is going on?”
Breaking out of my trance, I motioned to the television. “You know as much as I do.” My eyes narrowed at him. I’d trusted so many people in the past just to have them all turn their backs on me. If I confided in him would he turn from me as well? Maybe this was all a set-up? I didn’t doubt he was a bounty hunter, but bounty hunters could be bought off. I didn’t know who to trust anymore.
“You know something more than what’s being said on the television. You’d said last night.”
“I had a head injury.”
“Yeah, you did. And maybe that head injury was the thing that lowered your guard enough to open up to me.” He turned to face me fully. “I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me, Elle.”
I huffed. “You’ve said numerous times that your job is to take me back to California and deliver me to the cops to be put away for years. Nothing else is your concern. Now you’re concerned? Now you want to help?” I gave my shackled arm a shake. “You locked me to a damned bedpost.”
“Do you blame me? Are you telling me that you wouldn’t have taken off the moment I turned my back? You nearly broke your damned neck trying to escape through a shitter window.”
“I have nowhere to go,” I muttered staring down at the floor. I didn’t. I couldn’t go back to my sister. Even with the money she’d never risk taking me again. I didn’t have connections to people who could get me out of the country. Where would I go? Who would I turn to? I looked back to Dayton. Whether I liked it or not, he was the only person stepping up at the moment.
“You don’t trust me and I don’t trust you. What choice are you giving me? I sure as hell am not taking the chance that you’re playing me again.”
“I did some soul-searching on our drive here. I have nowhere to run off to Dayton. I really don’t. I don’t have any family. No friends. I have people after me. I don’t even know what this new twist in my life’s saga means for me. We’re three days from California. You’ve been clear that once there, I’m being dropped off and no longer your concern.”
“Okay.” His jaw clenched as he slid from the bed. Reaching into his pocket, he produced the key to the cuffs. “I’ll uncuff you. You need to eat and I bought you ointment for your wrist. But we need to get on the same page. You need to tell me everything.”
“And then what?” I asked as I watched him round the bed and unlock my cuff. Snatching my wrist back, I gave my arm a shake attempting to chase away the pins and needles feeling that had begun.
“Then we figure something out. I need you to be open and honest with me. I need to know everything if I have any chance of getting you out of this mess.”
With hesitation, I smiled. A genuine smile of gratitude. It had felt like an eternity since I’d felt some of the pressure coming off of my shoulders. Could he really be on my side?
“Okay, I’ll tell you everything. But just keep in mind, knowing everything I know means your life will also be in danger. These people don’t mess around. Right now, you’re just a guy doing a job and bringing me in, but once you find out what I know…”
He huffed. “Wouldn’t be the first time I put myself in the line of fire and surely won’t be the last. Help me, help you, Elle.”
The look in his eyes melted the hesitancy in my heart.
“Okay. But first.” I chewed at my lower lip as I looked up at him through my lashes. “Did you get my peaches?”