Epilogue #3
Taking one last look at the gift of her tattoo, he gently lowered her to her side, then immediately followed, taking her into his arms.
Cora sighed against his chest. “I guess you liked my surprise.”
Pipe huffed out an amused breath. “You think?” he asked.
She chuckled and kissed his chest.
His breath hitched. Yeah, he definitely didn’t deserve this woman.
“I love you,” she said softly.
“I love you too,” he returned.
They lay there for a few minutes, before Cora lifted her head so she could see his face. “Pipe?”
“Yeah, love?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Everything. Loving me, believing me. Not being a douche. All of it.”
Pipe smiled. “You’re welcome.”
She sighed again and lowered her head back onto his chest. Several minutes went by, and just when Pipe moved his hand down her side to touch her, to start round two, Cora let out a small snore.
Smiling wider, Pipe sighed. His plans for a marathon night of sex would have to wait.
His Cora was exhausted. She’d been helping Alaska and the others prepare for tonight’s celebration and visiting with Lara every chance she could.
Pipe had a feeling she’d work herself sick trying to help others.
She had nothing to prove, the others already loved her.
She was truly a part of The Refuge. She’d learn that with time.
Until then, he’d watch over her and make sure she rested when she needed to.
Pipe pulled the blanket up higher around them and closed his eyes as he held the most precious and amazing woman in his arms. Life was full of twists and turns, and while he hadn’t understood why he’d had to endure the things he had in the past, he got it now.
He needed those experiences to be the man his woman deserved.
Without his past, he wouldn’t be who he was today.
Turning his head, he kissed Cora’s temple, smiling when she mumbled under her breath and burrowed into him. Being the man Cora deserved was his lifelong goal. One he took just as seriously as his military oath.
“I can hear you thinking way too hard,” she complained with a mumble. “Stop it. Rest, Pipe.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said with another smile.
Lara huddled in the corner of Owl’s couch and stared blankly at the television. She felt hollow. Numb. Earlier, she’d watched Cora’s FaceTime call with Owl, also without feeling much of anything…beyond a touch of guilt that she was keeping Owl from celebrating with his friends.
She wanted to shake herself out of the weird headspace she was in, but couldn’t figure out how.
She was letting everyone down, yet she couldn’t seem to care.
Her parents had come to visit her in the hospital in Phoenix, and even though they’d said all the right things, Lara knew they were relieved when it was decided she would go to The Refuge with Cora. They called Owl to check in, but Lara hadn’t spoken to them since arriving in New Mexico.
The detectives had pushed her to tell them what had happened in that house.
Lara couldn’t. She’d told them the basics.
That yes, she’d gone to Arizona of her own free will, and once there, she’d quickly changed her mind.
But Ridge had taken her phone. She’d been kept in the basement almost from the beginning, only dragged out occasionally for appearance’s sake.
But always drugged…and then that man, the one she knew as Carter Grant, had hurt her.
But she didn’t elaborate. Couldn’t. What she’d been through was embarrassing and horrifying and unbearable. And speaking of it would only make the memories more real.
She was ashamed that all too soon, every time he’d shown up with pills in his hand, she’d taken them willingly. Gladly. She’d needed them. Needed to enter that floaty world where she barely knew what was happening, and it didn’t hurt when Carter touched her.
Now that she was free of that house, she should be fine. Relieved. Should be getting on with her life. But how could she, knowing that Carter was still out there?
The last words he’d ever said to Lara echoed in her head, over and over.
You’re my favorite. I’m never giving you up. You’re mine.
She shuddered.
“Are you cold?” Owl asked, not waiting for her response, but standing to grab another blanket from the back of the couch. She was cold all the time. Owl had turned up the heat in his cabin, but she could still never seem to get warm.
Lara didn’t understand Callen Kaufman. He was the first person she remembered seeing when she was rescued, and she’d latched onto him like a toddler with separation anxiety.
He’d instantly represented safety for her, and while she’d gotten slightly better over the last few months, she still panicked when he wasn’t around.
There was something about the man that made her feel protected. Sheltered.
And that was all it could ever be. She was done with love. With the fantasy of happily ever after. She wished nothing but good luck to the men and women who’d been so amazing, who’d let her stay here at The Refuge, but her desire to be loved, to have a family one day, had died a spectacular death.
There was no such thing as happily ever after. Disney and Hallmark movies were a scam. Romance novels were nothing but fantasies.
Lara swore that as soon as she was able, she was leaving here and moving to Alaska and living in one of those off-the-grid cabins. She’d grow her own food, hunt for meat, use candles for light. That was preferable to being hurt over and over again by people. By men.
Owl draped the fuzzy blanket over her, and Lara forced herself to look at him and nod.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. As many times as you need to hear it. You’re safe here, Lara,” Owl told her gently.
Lara’s gaze dropped to her lap. It was obvious Owl believed what he was saying, and while she trusted him as much as she could trust anyone right now, and she was definitely using him as a crutch, she knew down to her soul that she wasn’t safe.
And anyone close to her wasn’t safe either.
She’d overheard Owl talking to one of his friends—she didn’t know which—at the door the other day. They’d kept their voices low, trying to keep their conversation from her, but Lara had heard.
Carter was still out there. The police hadn’t been able to find him. Ridge was dead, which she felt a smidgen of relief about, but the real danger was Carter. Had always been him. And he was free. He was going to come for her.
She needed to leave. Hide. Because no matter what, Carter wasn’t going to rest until he’d taken her back. He’d claimed her, whether she wanted him to or not, and he would make her pay for escaping his warped basement prison of humiliation and pain.
Lara would rather die than be back in his clutches again.
In the meantime, she’d regain her strength. Try to get better, try to endure longer lengths of time without Owl by her side. Once she was capable enough, she’d disappear.
Cora would be fine. She’d found herself a protector as well, which made Lara happy, but also sad. She’d miss her friend. But she’d be safer with Lara gone.
Lara took a deep breath. First things first, though—she needed to shake herself out of the pit of despair she’d fallen into, at least on the outside.
Needed to convince everyone she was okay, so she could leave.
She didn’t know where she’d be safe from a monster like Carter, but she refused to drag others into the horror that had become her life.
She looked up at Owl and smiled tentatively.
He tilted his head as he studied her.
“Can we watch a movie?” she asked.
“Yes! Absolutely,” Owl responded quickly.
It was the first time she’d asked for anything, and it was obvious Owl was ready and willing to give her whatever she wanted.
She didn’t like lying to him, and by pretending to be getting better, she was lying.
But it was for his own good. He’d protected her when she’d needed it the most, and it was time she returned the favor.
Owl settled on the other end of the couch from Lara and continually switched his attention from the movie to the woman sitting just three feet from him.
In reality, was miles away. Yes, she’d asked to watch a movie, the first time she’d requested anything since he’d brought her to his cabin after her discharge from the hospital in Phoenix.
But she wasn’t okay. She might’ve asked to watch a movie, but she wasn’t actually paying any attention. She was lost in her head, just as she’d been for most of the last few months.
Owl had tried everything he could think of to help her, but nothing seemed to work. She didn’t want to talk to Henley, didn’t want to talk to her parents the few times they’d called. Even Cora’s regular visits didn’t seem to make any difference.
So yeah, her taking the initiative and asking for something as simple as a movie was a huge step…but it wasn’t a genuine one. Lara still had that haunted look in her eyes. She was deeply traumatized by whatever had happened to her in that basement, and it hurt his heart.
He didn’t know what it was about the woman that had gotten under his skin so much. Maybe it was the look in her eyes when she’d briefly connected with him in that basement. Terror. Hopelessness. Resignation.
He’d felt the same way when he’d been a hostage. Every day brought new horrors, and he couldn’t help but feel as if he and Lara were two peas in a pod.
Looking over at her once more, Owl clenched his teeth. She was planning something. He didn’t know what. But he could sense it…and all he could do was continue to promise that she was safe.
This woman deserved more than just barely surviving. More than a life of living in fear. More than a broken helicopter pilot like himself as a guardian.
Owl would do whatever he could to release her from the clutches of whatever fears lived deep within her. Then he’d set her free to find the happily ever after that Cora said she’d been looking for all her life.
Owl himself was no prince charming, not even close. But if he could help this woman outrun the demons that lived in her head, maybe, just maybe, he could find a way to rid the ones that lived in his head too.
Carter Grant, aka Carl Glick, aka Connor Smith, aka Daniel West, aka a hundred other aliases, sat in the rundown motel on Albuquerque’s Central Avenue…and plotted.
His eye throbbed, which pissed him off. It was proving difficult to get used to having only half his vision. The patch over his ruined right eye made people stay the fuck away from him, which was a small blessing. But it also drew attention, something he hated.
In the months since his cushy arrangement had imploded, he’d picked up a few prostitutes who frequented the area, had drugged them and done whatever he’d wanted. It was mildly enjoyable.
But none of them were Lara.
She was perfect. Blonde, beautiful, delicate. And her skin was so soft. Unlike the girls on the streets. They’d lived hard lives, and it showed in their bodies.
No. Lara was the one. He wanted her back. And he’d get her too. He knew where she was. Up in the mountains near Los Alamos. But he couldn’t just walk into the fancy lodge where she was hiding and take her back. Not with the kind of men who ran the place.
They’d been professional soldiers, just like him.
He knew what he was up against because he’d had similar training.
The men who’d fought him in the basement of the Michaels’s estate had been good.
Really good. But he would’ve beaten them both if the bitch hadn’t jumped on his back and taken out his eye.
Carter would get his revenge. On her. On the men. And he’d have his Lara again.
His dick twitched in his pants as he thought about what he’d do to her when she was back in his bed, where she belonged.
Carter didn’t get off on rape. That was too easy.
He liked seeing fear in his women’s eyes.
Liked touching them, hurting them. Marking them with his fists…
with his come, so they knew who they belonged to. That was his kink.
And Lara was his perfect woman. His perfect captive. The terror in her eyes was intoxicating. The way her pale skin bruised…beautiful.
He unzipped his jeans and took out his cock, masturbating to the images in his head of the recent past. Of his Lara.
When he was done, Carter impatiently cleaned himself up and zipped his pants.
He had a lot of planning to do. Needed to find a hideaway, somewhere he could live the life he wanted with Lara.
He’d stolen plenty of money from Ridge Michaels throughout his employment, before he’d ultimately put a bullet in his brain.
He had more than enough to live comfortably.
Away from prying eyes. But before he holed up, he needed his Lara.
Needed revenge against the men who’d stolen her away.
Yeah, Carter had a lot of planning to do…but in the end, Lara would be his again. He couldn’t wait.
*