18. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SASHA
“ Y ou expect me to jump out of that goddamn plane?” I yelled. My stomach sank and I started to get dizzy.
“Ethan, you ass,” Zeke screamed back at him without turning around. He kept his focus on me. “Breathe, sweetheart. Ethan was being a dick. He was joking.”
An exacerbated sigh of relief left my body. I knew I’d look back on this and laugh one day but today was not that day. “I’m going to get you back for this, Ethan.”
“Sorry, Sash.” Zeke’s friend hollered. “You should still be pissed off at Zeke more. He’s the damn stalker.”
“Zeke Walker the creepy stalker,” I said out loud. “Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
“I changed my mind.” Zeke placed his hands up and took a few steps back with a smile. “We’re jumping off that plane.”
“You’re joking, right?” I asked, moving forward to get into his face. I gave him a playful shove. “Your ass better be joking.”
Zeke went to help Ethan and the rest of the crew fill up the plane. I stood back and watched until it was time to board.
There were gray seats lined up on either side of the plane. Olive green crates were stacked on top of one another and had been secured with netted rope. Zeke sat next to Ethan and I sat next to Zeke. We put on our safety belts and waited for the plane to take off. For some reason, it sounded louder than the other planes I’d been in. There were about twenty of us inside and Zeke and I were the only civilians.
It took ten hours to get to the Colorado Military Base and I spent most of the time resting my head on Zeke’s shoulder, snoozing away.
Once we arrived, Zeke’s friend, Ethan, arranged for an army vehicle to take us to the safe house. It took a bit to get used to the cool weather when we landed, but thankfully Zeke had thought of that when he grabbed my clothes from my room. I wore a sweater on the plane just before touchdown.
The safe house was small compared to the property. Some grassland surrounded the modest structure, while wooden fences circled the perimeter. It was a farm that hadn’t been used in a long time, despite the few cows and sheep that were roaming about. It was cold but no snow had touched the ground.
“If we go back the way we came, it’ll take a while to get out of the area, but if we go north to the other side, there are shops and a train station,” Zeke explained as we walked away from the military car with our bags in his hands. “We don’t have to leave though because Barrett, your handler, will supply what we need. Food, groceries. Everything. We need to stay here for as long as it takes. I’ll protect you here while your handler deals with your uncle's wife.”
“My uncle’s wife.” I paused and turned to him. “What about her? I didn’t know he was married.”
Zeke stopped to talk to me and dropped the bags onto the pebbled pathway. “I told you that your uncle wasn’t the main one I was concerned about.”
“I thought you meant you were concerned about me.” My mouth suddenly went dry. “What’s so bad about her?”
“Well, first of all, I killed her husband,” Zeke said casually. “I’m sure she wants revenge for that, plus she’s involved with all the shit that went down with you and Reece. She was hoping the two of you would get together because it meant her fortune would grow, but since everything went to shit, she wasn’t happy and started to look for you once she found out you were still alive. And here we are now.”
Zeke said everything like he was retelling a fiction novel. This couldn’t have been my life but it was.
“Let’s head inside.” Zeke collected the bags from the floor and we walked up the path to the entrance. It reminded me of the secluded cabin we’d found in the woods, except this one wasn’t breaking down. Zeke placed the bags on the tiles just outside the front door. “There’s a key somewhere here.” He looked around and noticed a pot plant hanging from a hook and attached to a thick wire.
“That’ll be too easy,” I said to Zeke. “He wouldn’t put it in there, right?”
Zeke smiled and focused on a brick underneath it that was slightly discolored more than the rest. When he pulled it out, some grains of sand fell down along with one set of silver keys. “There we are.”
“I wouldn’t have known,” I told him.
“Barratt texted me the location of the key,” Zeke said. “He said there’s also a car in the shed we can use. Hope we can trust him.”
Those words just cemented more doubt in my head and worry about who in my life I could trust. I could now count only a handful of people and that included Zeke.
When the door finally opened, Zeke took in the bags and I stood just outside briefly. A hint of vanilla and coconut drafted through the air and I closed my eyes. Two of my favorite aromas.
“Beats the mold and bacteria from the cabin,” I said before taking a step inside.
The farmhouse decor was exquisite. It had a rustic but modern twist with exposed ceilings and a large fireplace. The cream furniture complimented the woodwork and there were a few paintings hung on the wall. One was a huge dairy cow with the words Got Milk on the side.
I could see the large kitchen from the open-plan design. There were two islands as well an L-shaped benchtop that ran across what would be two regular-sized kitchens.
“This is where we’re staying?” My eyes lit up and I took in every corner of the room. “Like for how long?”
“However long we need. Now come on.” Zeke headed toward a long hall and I followed his steps. “Let’s find the bedroom.”
I t took a couple of days for us to settle into the farmhouse. We chose the ensuite bedroom on the second level, the largest on the property. It had an even bigger soaking tub than the one at the hotel and an ample view of the land.
Zeke took the time to show me his cooking skills. Our first night he made chicken and rice with steamed vegetables, on the second night we had leftovers. On the third night, I decided to cook something from my homeland. Turkish Gozleme.
After dinner, we cleaned up and lounged around on the couch. “I know a thing or two about you too,” I told Zeke. “Not as much as you knew about me of course, but I picked up a few things.”
“Oh, really?” Zeke turned to me and smiled. “Enlighten me.”
“I know your birthday is a month after mine.” I paused and my eyes tilted up toward my head as I remembered what else I’d learned over the last couple of years. “I hate dark chocolate but you on the other hand love it.”
Zeke tilted his head to the side before he shook it. “No, that’s where you’re wrong. I hate it too.”
“Really?” I questioned. “You swapped desserts with me at the restaurant when we were having dinner with the crew.”
His face relaxed like he realized what I was referring to. “I only swapped it because I knew you hated it,” Zeke said. Now he was enlightening me. “Nick the asshole wasn’t about to give you his crème br?lée so I gave you mine.”
I could have kissed him right there. He was sweet and thoughtful to me even back then when I was convinced he hated me. “You’re allergic to grapes,” I quipped.
“Now, that is true,” he said. “How did you know that?”
“I heard you tell Nick once.”
“Now who's watching who?” Zeke’s eyebrow cocked. “Got anything else, spy?”
“You love the classic music from the fifties all the way up to the eighties,” I said confidently. “You love animals, especially dogs.” I smiled. “I’m a dog person too so that works out well. There’s a country you haven’t visited but you’ve always wanted to go.” I paused again and tapped my forefinger against my temple. “I believe it was Australia. You’ve always wanted to go there, but you haven’t had the chance.” It was the first place I went on the cruise and Zeke wasn’t working at the time or even a guest then.
“I guess you paid attention to me more than I knew,” Zeke said quietly.
“Your favorite color is green, you’re always wearing those army type shirts on your days off,” I said. “I should have known then who you were. You hate tomatoes but never told the previous chef because he was getting older and forgetful and you probably didn’t want to make him feel bad. Cheese is your weakness and your favorite treats are jelly babies, especially the red ones because they taste like strawberry which is your favorite fruit.” I watched his shocked expression turn into awe.
“You know all that about me?”
“Yep.”
“Wow.”
“I knew all those things but that doesn’t really mean I know you, Zeke,” I clarified. “I can know someone’s favorite things in the entire world, but I still don’t know anything about who they really are. But I’d like to get to know you. You saved me, Zeke. I owe you everything.”
He blinked his eyelids and turned away from me. It was an intense moment that he seemed to want to withdraw from. “How about a movie?” Zeke cleared his throat and snatched the TV remotes from the side table. “Your pick.”
I wasn’t in the mood for romance so I suggested an action flick. As the main character popped on the screen and showed his wicked moves, I turned to Zeke and asked, “Do you know how to fight like that?”
“Yeah, but you gotta realize it happens quicker than what you see here,” he replied. “Notice how the other people are gathered around and waiting for their turn to fight him? I wouldn’t give them a chance to do that.”
“I probably should have gotten some self-defense lessons or something.” I tossed a popcorn at Zeke’s head from the bowl that was on my lap. “Hey, maybe you can teach me a few moves.”
“I’ve definitely got some moves to show you.” Zeke winked.
I rolled my eyes and giggled. “First thing’s first. Teach me to fight.”
“Sure thing, sweetheart.” He leaned over and pressed his lips onto my shoulder above my sweater. “But since I met you I’m more of a lover than a fighter.”
I laughed. “Tell that to the guys at the motel. Is that how they died? You loved them to death.”
Zeke slipped his hand against my neck and I felt my pulse quicken. “I’ll teach you whatever you want, just don’t ever leave me.”
It felt natural to be with him now, like since I allowed myself to like him, I felt my entire world open up to new possibilities.
I might not have been a free person yet but I was free to feel whatever came my way with Zeke, and I wasn’t going to stop it from happening.