8. Dayton
8
DAYTON
I released a low whistle as I leaned back against the headboard of the bed. Elle was sitting next to me indulging in a bag of baked potato chips. She’d given up trying to convince me that we needed healthy food for the trip after indulging in the McDonalds.
“I don’t know what to do with this information,” I admitted. She’d rattled off a laundry list of offenses, some she knew of without a doubt and some she suspected.
She gave me a knowing look.
If what Elle was saying was correct—and after seeing one of Hollywood's biggest players arrested by Homeland Security on the news, I was inclined to believe her—then this was well above my pay grade.
Celebrities. Billionaires. Politicians. So many people were involved. I could see why she was scared and untrusting. Who do you trust?
“Have you told anyone?”
She shook her head. “No. The day I was arrested they sent a lawyer in to defend me. The lawyer was theirs and in on the entire operation. He told me to take the fall and keep my mouth shut. Otherwise, I wouldn’t make it to my trial date alive.”
“And the money?”
“I’d gone to a number of Aaron’s parties. I’d seen where his safe was a few days before I was arrested. I watched him press in the combination and caught a glimpse of the amount of cash he had in there. Not the exact amount, but a rough guess. He thought I was strung out on cocaine like the other girls. I pretended that I was, but I hadn’t been. I’d always pretended I was riding a high at those parties. But never actually took any drugs. They bought the act. I just watched. His parties were so full of drugs, sex, and alcohol that even if I didn’t pretend I doubt anyone would have noticed.”
“Or maybe you’re just that good of an actress?” I suggested with a chuckle.
She winked at me. “Anything is possible.”
“What do you think he’s been charged with?”
She shrugged. “Want me to make a list?” Running a hand through her hair she sighed. “Drug trafficking, sex trafficking. The list doesn’t end. It wasn’t until just before being arrested that I was let into the inner circle and the curtain had fully gotten pulled back. How I figure it all went down and I ended up getting framed, was that someone decided that it had been a bad idea to let me discover their dirty little secrets.”
“Why not just kill you?” It seemed to be that would have been the more logical solution.
“Your guess is as good as mine. For the past year or so I knew something wasn’t right. I couldn’t put my finger on it. But suspecting what was going on and then seeing it for yourself is another. But what could I do? The police are in their pockets. The FBI? Who knows. Before I could figure out a way to expose everything, I was arrested.”
“This could be enough to keep you out of prison. Maybe we could get you a deal.”
“We don’t even know what the charges against Aaron, Sebastian, and the others are yet.”
“No, we don’t.” Taking a deep breath in, I slowly released it. “How about this; we sleep on it. There should be more information about the arrest in the morning. Then we decide how we want to proceed.”
I swear to god, the look of relief and gratitude on her lovely features, as the hint of unshed tears shimmering in the corners of her eyes, was enough to bring any man to his knees. I don’t think there has ever been a time in my life when I wanted to wrap someone up in my arms and protect them with my life as much as I wanted to do with her at that moment. And I didn’t even know the woman! She was a criminal. Allegedly at least. That was the craziest part of it all.
“Okay.” I watched her as she slid from the bed and walked into the bathroom.
When she emerged, she stripped down and then pulled my claimed t-shirt on over her naked body.
Damn…
My dick sprung to life under the denim. I was softening toward her. This could be… dangerous.
Pulling back the blankets, she slid underneath, with me still on top, and then to my shock she skirted her way across the bed to me. Laying her head on my shoulder she wrapped her arm over my chest. “I hope this is okay?” She murmured, not looking up at me, but closing her eyes and relaxing against me. “I just need a little comfort for one night.”
Umm. I reached toward the nightside table on my side of the bed and started to grab the handcuffs. I needed to lock her up—just in case.
But when I looked down at her. She was already softly snoring. She looked so serene. I just didn’t have it in me to move her.
“It’s fine,” I grumbled, putting my arm around her and pulling her a little tighter.
I was in some deep shit and it wasn’t the people she was running from that I was worried about.
ELLE
Waking up, I was shocked by a couple of things. The first was that I was uncuffed, but even more shocking was the fact that I was wrapped in the embrace of a soundly sleeping Dayton.
He was still in full clothing, with the remote control in his hand. The television was playing a cartoon that I was unfamiliar with.
I’m free…
Slowly, I inched my way out from under his arm and slid from the bed. Standing in my bare feet on the dirty carpet, I looked down at him. He was dead to the world.
Looking over at the chair where he’d slung his jacket, I noted the holster and gun. Looking at the desk next to the television I could see my bag of money. The cuffs were on his side of the nightside table. I could easily cuff him, grab the gun, my money. Take the keys to the vehicle and get the fuck out of here.
Run again.
I’d run further. Hide better than the last time.
But I couldn’t seem to make my feet move. My feet were planted on the floor, my toes sinking into the worn carpet fibers—unmoving. He’d found me once, who’s to say that he couldn’t do it again? Or worse, the people who framed me to begin with? With Aaron’s arrest, a lot of people would be getting desperate. They’d want to tie up loose ends.
No doubt, in their minds I was one big loose end.
There was something more though. He seemed to have a strong sense of what was right. After last night; what he’d seen on television, what if he was the only one who could save my life?
It was at that moment that I realized that I trusted him.
My stomach growled. Looking into the brown paper bag that had the food he’d bought at the store in it, I crinkled up my nose. All junk. We needed nutrition, how he managed to look so damned good on his diet was beyond me.
After using the washroom, I threw on a pair of jogging pants and one of his oversized t-shirts over my otherwise naked body, slipped on my sneakers, grabbed a few bills from my duffel bag, and as quietly as I could exited the motel room and made my way to the supermarket.
Entering the supermarket by myself felt weird. It had been literally years since I’d gone by myself to a supermarket to buy groceries. It felt surprisingly nice to be normal again. We were on the outskirts of some random town so no one paid me any mind as I grabbed a basket and began to throw some items into it. To my surprise and delight, they made fresh smoothies in the deli. I grabbed a kale and blueberry smoothie for us both.
Satisfied with my selections, I went through the checkout. The clerk barely gave me a second look as I paid and exited making my way back across the street toward the motel.
Pulling the motel key out of the picket, I was about to unlock it when the door swung open and an infuriated Dayton came barreling out, barefoot and with his gun in hand.
I screamed as I stumbled backward. The only thing keeping me from falling flat on my ass and the tray of smoothies tumbling to the ground was his SUV behind me. “Dayton! What the hell!” I squealed.
Anger flashed in his dark eyes as they landed on me. “Where the hell were you? I thought you’d made a run for it!”
“And gone where?” Steadying myself, my eyes narrowed as I stared up at him. “You seriously think I would leave my money behind if I planned on running?” Rolling my eyes at him, I tried not to let his furious glare unsteady me as I strode past him and into the room.
“Where were you?” Closing the door, he trailed behind me into the room.
“The store. I’d have thought that was obvious considering the grocery bag.” Placing the bag and tray of smoothies on the desk, I decided that killing him with kindness was the answer to defuse this situation.
Grabbing his smoothie, I stuck a straw into the top, spun around, and smiled up at him brightly, as I passed him the drink I’d bought him. “It’s kale and blueberry with ground chia seeds. All the good stuff you need to get the day started right. We have a lot of work ahead of us if we want to get me off the hook for these charges.”
“I don’t want a smoothie, Elle.” Snatching the smoothie from me, he placed it back onto the desk and grabbed my upper arms. “Do you have any clue what might have happened to you if someone had seen you? Don’t you even think about the consequences of your actions?”
The happy fa?ade I’d been trying so hard to keep up fell as I pulled myself from his grip. “Of course I do. It’s my life! I’m the one that’s either going to end up in prison or dead! Of course I do.” I turned away from him only to have him grab my wrist and spin me back to face him. As I spun, I lost my balance falling against him.
Placing my palms flat on his strong, sculpted chest, I looked up and into his angry eyes.
“You’re going to get us both killed,” he growled as the tension between us began to crackle.
“Dayton…” I gasped as my heart began beating so quickly that I could have sworn I could feel it thumping against my chest.
“How am I going to protect you?” he rasped as his lips came crashing down onto mine.
Emotions overwhelmed me as I slipped my hands up the front of his shirt to his strong shoulders. This shouldn’t be happening. I knew this, but the warmth of his body, the power in his arms as he pulled me tight and the smell of him—a combination of the ocean and freshly laundered linen drew me to him.
I sighed against his mouth, a small smile spreading across my lips as my body relaxed against him. My lips parted as I nipped at his lower lip, before inviting him in.
There was a deep grumble within him as he deepened the kiss, his tongue demanding, forcing mine into submission.
A jolt of desire shot through me as his hands slid down my back to my ass. Grabbing my thighs, he easily hoisted me up onto his hips and carried me over to the bed. We toppled onto the bed, his heavy body over mine.
Bracing his body up with a hand on either side of my head, he pulled his lips from mine and looked down into my eyes. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
I nodded, my voice coming out as a whisper when I answered, “I know.”
“But God, I want to.”
The hard ridge of his cock as it pressed against my pelvis was evidence of that. Crossing my ankles behind his back, I pulled him tighter to me as I thrust my pelvis against his groin. “I do too.”
“We don’t even know each other, Elle.”
“We know what matters.” Pulling my lower lip between my teeth, I tried to simmer the desire that had begun to rage within.
“Dammit.” He closed his eyes and when he reopened them, the fire had faded slightly. Taking a deep breath in, he slowly released it and then pushed himself off my body. “We’re not thinking clearly.”
I was both relieved and disappointed. I didn’t have the willpower to stop what had started between us and didn’t want to. But he’d made the decision for us both. “You’re right.” Releasing him from my hold, I groaned as I sat up on the bed. “So what now?”
“I’m going to make some phone calls. We’ll go to another town and stay for the next couple of days until we can get more information and then proceed from there.”
“Does the agency that you work for know where we are?”
“Not exactly, but I’m not going to take any chances. We need to disappear until I can make sense of it all.”
“Good thing we have a bag of cash,” I couldn’t resist joking.
Laughing he threw his hands up in the air. “You got me there.”
“You know, that looks good on you.”
He frowned as he looked at his wrinkled t-shirt and jeans. “What?”
“That smile. You should do it more often.”
His smile returned, along with a faint rosy glow to his cheeks. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Walking back over to the bed, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. Dipping his head he placed a feather-light kiss on my lips before pulling away. “Do you think you can keep yourself out of trouble while I make some calls before we take off?”
Shooting him a pouty look, I replied, “We’ll just have to see, won’t we.”