17. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SASHA
I daydreamed as I got dressed, realizing the last two days had been a couple of the most intense I’d ever had.
I slept with Zeke. Not once, but twice.
Zeke. The guy whom I never thought would give me the time of day, had suddenly not only showed an interest in me, but also confessed to loving me from a distance for the last two years.
It was still early to think of it as a bad decision. Maybe he was right. Maybe Zeke was corrupting my mind and turning me into something I never thought I’d become.
Baris was gentle whenever we were together. He was sweet and kind but never spoke as dirty as Zeke had. Truth be told, I liked it. The way he spoke to me turned me on and the way he looked at me like I was his, someone he needed to protect and fuck at the same time.
“Once we get back home, we’re going to a safehouse,” Zeke’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. I’d just had a quick shower and gotten dressed before I sat down on the black chair by the desk.
“When are we leaving?” I questioned.
“We’re getting picked up tomorrow.”
I sighed, wondering how long this would keep me protected for. No matter where I’d be, no matter where I’d run to, I’d always have someone chasing me behind. I was deluded to ever think I’d be free. Really free. I’d gotten a small taste of it and now it was cruelly being taken away.
Zeke must have sensed my sadness. He wrapped his arm around me and tucked his head in the crook of my neck. “It’ll be okay.”
I knew he was trying to help me, but I still had this sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach that made me want to throw up most of the time. I was constantly on edge now, and sometimes the only thing that would ground me was Zeke.
He hugged me from the back, and I held onto his arm. Somehow, I knew I could trust him. I didn’t know what it was but my intuition was screaming at me that he was a person I could rely on, but the sad thing was, I shouldn’t have had to.
“Hey, is this yours?” Zeke straightened himself up and released me before looking inside the trash can. The cleaners hadn’t come by to empty it since we arrived. He’d spotted the bracelet that Nick had given me which I’d thrown out. Zeke picked it up and turned around to inspect it. “It’s yours, right? Why’s it in the trash?”
“Don’t remind me,” I said, snatching it from his grasp and tossing it back in the bin. “Nick gave it to me for my birthday.”
“He did?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I thought you knew. I mentioned it when we were at the airport before the jump.” Zeke bent down and grabbed it again, this time taking a closer look. “You know I threw it away for a reason. I want nothing more to do with him.”
He dumped it on the desk and grabbed the hotel pen holder before smashing it over the bracelet. I should have thought about doing that. It might have given me some kind of satisfaction. The bracelet was originally golden with a circular pendant that was engraved with the date of my birthday.
Zeke picked up the broken pieces and his face went pale. His jaw tensed and he gulped. He was taken aback. “Fuck.”
“What is it?”
“Look at this.” Zeke lowered the remains and showed me something small and black with a little flashing green light. “It’s a tracking device. The fucker put a tracking device in your bracelet. It’s how he found us at the cabin and how he found you at the motel. He was tracking you this whole fucking time.”
That sickening feeling caused the bile to erupt in my throat and I suddenly felt dizzy. “It means he can find us here, right?”
“We can’t wait for tomorrow,” Zeke said. He stormed into the bathroom and the toilet flushed before he emerged again. “We might already be too late. Pack your things. We’re leaving now.”
I didn’t have much to put in my duffle bag but when I did pack, I did so with shaking fists.
The bracelet was gone now, in the sewers getting mixed up with feces and urine, traveling farther away from the hotel with every second. “Won’t they know it’s been flushed down?”
“They’ll think we’re driving or something.” Zeke shook his head and threw a pair of shorts into his bag.” By the time they realize what’s happened, hopefully, we’ll be somewhere else.”
I hoped to god that Alice and Reece were okay and that Leo had conveyed the message. I didn’t want to scare them but they needed to be warned so they could be safe.
Once we were done packing, we went straight to the parking garage to load our bags into the trunk. I got into the front seat and Zeke went back to the hotel reception to check out. I waited with a trembling body and even started to bite my nails again which I hadn’t done since I was a kid.
I felt a sense of calm when Zeke returned. He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek before he fired up the engine and drove.
“We gotta get out of the country but we need to lay low until tomorrow,” Zeke said, tightening his fingers around the steering wheel. “I searched for another hotel but it won’t be as grand as the one where we just stayed.”
I didn’t care. I just wanted us both to be safe. “Could you ever do this to one of your friends?” Nick’s betrayal sunk into my chest deeper than before. “He was my friend, Zeke.”
“He was mine too,” Zeke replied. “It was nice to have a buddy since most of mine are still in the army.”
“Holy crap,” I gasped. “My work. What the hell do I tell them?”
“It’s okay.” Zeke placed his hand on my thigh. “I’ve sorted it out. Your management knows already that your vacation will be extended due to a family emergency. They’ve got your workload covered.”
I enjoyed working. I loved my job and that was just one more thing those assholes took away from me.
“Where do you think Nick is?”
“I don’t know.” Zeke bit down. “But I swear he’s dead if I see him again.”
The new hotel was about a twenty-minute car ride and I spent most of that time looking out the window feeling sorry for myself. Half my body felt my blood turn into hot molten when I thought about Nick, and the other half wanted to escape the car and never be found by anyone. Fear could really take you hostage if you let it and I was this close to becoming a victim.
The hotel was definitely not as classy or spectacular as the one we’d checked out of, but it was still better than that dingy cabin. Zeke and I went to bed early because we were going to get up at sunrise to make the trip to the Air Force base which was apparently a two-hour drive away.
When I woke up I was still exhausted. I had spent most of the ride with my head against the window, asleep, which had made my body extremely uncomfortable.
It wasn’t until I heard Zeke’s voice gently try and wake me, did I flutter my eyes open. “We’re here.”
I wiped the sleepy bits away from the corner of my lids and turned to Zeke, finally sitting upright. “We are?”
I looked out the front window and saw some very tall iron gates open. There were a few army personnel with very real guns in their hands, who stood and waved us in.
“Is it safe to be here?” I wasn’t part of the army and never had been but Zeke was.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” he responded, then rolled his car down the path once the gates were fully opened. “I’ve known these guys for years.”
There were a few more soldiers who guided us on where to go. I’d never been to a military airport before and it kinda made me feel like a celebrity, or the first female U.S. president, not that I’d be eligible since I wasn’t born in the country.
Suddenly, the car came to a stop in an open area and I gasped. “Holy shit.” Right in my line of sight, there was an incredibly massive gray military plane. It had the words U.S. Air Force emblazoned on the side. “That’s like the biggest thing I’ve seen.”
Zeke turned to me with a cheeky smirk and raised brows. “Biggest?”
“Okay, second biggest thing,” I playfully rolled my eyes. “The first was Christ the Redeemer.”
Zeke laughed and put the car in park. “Come on, let’s go.”
He got out first and I slowly followed him. I couldn’t take my eyes off the plane. The tail was raised and the back of the plane was completely open. There were about twenty or so people scurrying around to fill it with containers and wooden boxes.
Zeke ran up to some military guy. They embraced and clapped each other on the back. It was really nice to see him smile as brightly as he did.
“It’s good to see you,” the other guy said. His blonde hair was the same colors as Nick's. I hoped he wasn’t an ass like him.
“Come on, I wanna introduce you to someone.” Zeke pulled back and steered his friend in my direction. “Ethan, this is Sasha. Sasha, this is my friend, Ethan.”
“Nice to meet you, Sasha.” Ethan reached out his hand and I gracefully shook it.
“Nice to meet you too.”
“Zeke tells me you’re trying to escape the clutches of your fucked up family.” I nodded and he smiled. “Good thing you listened to your boyfriend, here. We’ll safely take you back to the US.”
Boyfriend. He said Zeke was my boyfriend. We hadn’t had that conversation yet but I guessed it wasn’t the time or place. A little more privacy would suffice for that discussion.
“Did you hear that, Zeke?” Ethan said, his smile widened. “I called you her boyfriend and she didn’t correct me.”
“No, she didn’t.” Zeke winked and I was a melted puddle of liquid on the floor. “I guess that makes us official, right, Ethan?”
“You stalked me for two years,” I countered. “You’ve gotta come up with a better way to ask me to be your girl.”
“Whoahhhh.” Ethan grabbed Zeke’s shoulder and pressed down. “You stalked her for two years? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Don’t act like you didn’t know.” Zeke turned to his friend. “You were asking for updates every month.” He looked back at me and Ethan dropped his hand. “As for you, let’s have this conversation privately. Ethan will explode if he hears us talking.”
Ethan laughed and walked away with a shake of his head. Zeke gently placed his hand beneath my elbow. Because of the noise of the plane and people talking over one another, Zeke hushed his voice to a whisper, “You’ve got a lot of things going on so I don’t expect you to answer right now, but I’m an open book. You know how I feel about you.” His eyes showed his vulnerability, especially when he couldn’t look into mine the moment he said his next words. “I’ve loved you for two years. You’re mine in my heart. I’ve wanted you to be mine for so long. You don’t have to answer right away. You can tell me whenever you’re ready, Sash; I just really hope it’s a yes.”
Zeke’s eyes were on the ground until I cradled his face in my hands. I urged him to look at me. Once we made eye contact, I leaned in and kissed him, almost taking his last breath away. His arms looped around my waist and he pulled me closer. Zeke’s heart was a fast drum beating against my chest and he almost stole my last breath too.
When I finally pulled back, Zeke muttered, “I take it that’s a yes.”
I shrugged. “Take it as a maybe.”
He pulled back, stunned. “That was a maybe kiss? If that was a maybe kiss, what the hell would a yes kiss be?”
“You’re lucky it was a maybe.” I twisted my lips into a smile. “You stalked me for two years, dude. Of course, it’s a maybe.”
“She’s right.” Ethan yelled from the bottom of the plane’s tail that was still being loaded with crates.
Zeke laughed and turned to him. “Shut up, pervert.” He waved his hand to shoo him away. “Standing there watching me kiss my girl.”
“Well, I can’t watch porno right now, so you guys are the best substitute.”
Zeke turned his head away from Ethan and our eyes met again. “Ignore him.”
“How can I ignore him?” I questioned. “He’s talking about porno with all these people around.”
“They don’t care. They’re too busy.”
“Hey, Zeke,” Ethan called out.
“What?” Zeke groaned jokingly before he looked over his shoulder. “No requests, bro.”
Ethan laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Did you tell Sasha that she’ll be jumping out of this plane too?”
I’m sorry. What now?