Chapter 4 - Lily
Lily
“You should slow down.” My bound feet pressed on the floorboards. Nothing happened.
“We’re in a rush.” Dean pulled up on a truck’s tail before jerking the wheel to the right and into the next lane.
He ignored several honking vehicles.
“You’ll get us killed.” I gripped the handlebars with both hands, desperate for any support.
“We aren’t in danger until tomorrow. I won’t do anything that risks your safety.”
He flew past an older SUV, crossing an intersection as the light flashed from yellow to red. The move reminded me of a racecar driver or a man prone to road rage. “You’re not in the military, are you?” I asked.
Dean flashed his eyes at me and sped through a red light.
I tried again. “What do you really do? Don’t lie this time.”
His hands shifted from their casual position, so one gripped the wheel hard enough to turn his knuckles white. “I’ve never lied to you, not once.”
Only a liar claimed he wasn’t a liar. “Uh huh.”
“Believe me or not, it’s still true. I shared parts of myself with you that no one else knows, not even Ryan,” he said. I doubted that. Those two were constant company growing up. “I spent six years in the army before leaving to take on temporary jobs.”
Temporary jobs? “You mean like gig work?” I knew that was incorrect before the words spilled out. Dean claimed he told the truth, but a sin of omission was still a sin, and they caused as much damage.
His jaw ticked. “Something like that.”
“Does my brother know?” Dean’s heavy silence answered my question. Ryan kept me in the dark, like a fragile child incapable of the truth. Did he know about our Thanksgiving fling? I thought we started that week, and it turned out all Dean needed was an itch scratched. “Don’t answer that.”
“Your brother helped me after I left the army. I think he’s in intelligence work. I never asked. That’s the truth.”
I thought Dean was a radio operator or drove some sort of vehicle, and instead he did… what? His behavior tonight was practiced and skilled. He knocked on my door with a plan and executed it with no care for my feelings. Like an object he could pick up and move around for his convenience.
My stiff legs, immobile from the bindings still on me, proved that.
His flattery amounted to empty words and emptier gestures, and I’d fallen for it, convinced my childhood fantasies weren’t a mistake.
That our shy stares weren’t random or happenstance.
I’d known Dean my entire life, and didn’t know him at all.
Despite all the years between us, a stranger sat beside me.
“I’m in a relationship. His name is Stephen. We have a date tomorrow night. He’s a teacher and a basketball coach. He has blond hair and blue eyes, and we talk about books and movies. I met his family. We plan to move in together soon.”
That was a lie, but I didn’t care. Dean kidnapped me, insisting his pathetic claim of honesty proved him worthy. I wanted revenge, or at least a way of getting some of my own back.
Dean ignored another red light.
I tried again. “He told me he loved me. I said it back.”
The car swerved.
Dean slammed on the brakes hard enough to jerk us forward. “Forget about him. I don’t care what he said to you. He’s not good enough for you.”
“And you are?”
Dean’s jaw twitched.
At least my pretend boyfriend said he loved me. My sigh changed to a scream. “Watch out. You almost hit that car.”
We ran through another red light as a siren started.
“You’re being pulled over. You should stop,” I said, as our speed increased.
Dean tried to pull the steering wheel off. His body stiffened as we jerked into the left lane.
“We’re going the wrong way!”
I screamed as headlights shone in our faces, blinding us. Horns sounded, and tires screeched. Dean slammed the brakes and swerved. We flew across the pavement as the back fishtailed through another quick turn.
The siren and the glowing red lights disappeared behind us as he took several random turns deeper into a residential neighborhood.
“What did you do?” I gripped my knees to stop my hands from shaking. “You went the wrong way on that street. We could have hit someone.”
We pulled up behind a dark sedan and stopped. The familiar tick of the hot engine roared in my ears.
“Stephen dies tomorrow. Good riddance. Wait here.” Dean double-checked my bindings and exited the car.
Where would I go? I pulled at the black pantyhose. The silky material didn’t budge.
“We’re switching vehicles,” he said as the back seat opened. Dean grabbed his collection of plastic bags, shut the door, and left again.
“You have two cars?” I asked when he opened my door. My cheeks warmed at the foolish question.
“This one is a rental,” he said, as if that explained everything.
Dean placed an arm under my legs and plucked me from the seat.
“We’re stealing this one.” Dean’s confident stance revealed what his oversized clothes hid.
I had gaped at him after he undressed for our first time.
“Do you remember the time I carried you to bed?”
It was an effort to forget. “It’s difficult to remember the unremarkable.”
He snorted. “Have it your way, darling.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Okay, sweetheart.” Dean set me down in the passenger seat and buckled me in.
“Tell me if you’re uncomfortable, and don’t bring up Stephen again.
He’s your past, and none of that matters anymore.
You don’t think about him. You don’t say his name.
” I gasped at his blunt statement. “There’s you, and there’s me.
Get used to it. Whatever you think you had with him is done.
Right here.” Dean pointed at his chest. “I’m all that matters to you from now on.
You are all that matters to me. Are you listening to me? ”
“Untie me, and I’ll never say his name again.”
“I’ll untie you when you acknowledge what I just said. You and me, sweetheart, and that’s it.”
He shut the door as I screamed his name.
“Do you think I’d allow some beat cop to pull me over?” he asked, opening his door and sliding in. Dean leaned down, fiddling under the wheel panel. “If you showed him your wrists, I’d be forced to do more than some driving, and I’m not in the mood to kill tonight.”
I stumbled for a response. I hoped for contrition or hurt rather than this icy rage. “You can’t frighten me.”
“Would you like me to try?” He chuckled and started the car, heading back toward the busy street. “The tank is almost empty. We’ll need to stop soon.”
Interesting. He directed us back to a more immediate need rather than respond. I studied him and replayed the evening in my head.
Dean’s statements made no sense on their own, but taken together, they did. Protect and take care of me. He cradled me against him, loosened my bindings to avoid my discomfort, and promised to keep me safe. If Dean meant me harm, why do all that? “You won’t hurt me.”
“I’d hurt myself before inflicting pain on you. No idea what’s in front of us, but I’ll shield you from as much as I can.”
I probed some more. “I won’t say Stephen’s name again.” Dean‘s shoulders relaxed. Interesting. Did jealousy motivate him? “In your hearing, and in exchange, you maintain a safer driving speed.”
“In exchange, I don’t cover your mouth with tape.”
So much for my probing.
I leaned against the window, staring out at the traffic. We passed a restaurant busy with people waiting their turn outside, while a jewelry store flicked off its lights.
If Dean told me the truth, they were all in danger.
They deserved the same warning we did, and instead, Ryan contacted Dean to retrieve me, like a little child unable to find her way home without help from a trusted older adult.
He chased off every boy my age, so I never dated until college.
The freedom to make mistakes and screw up, like young people everywhere, enchanted me.
He now continued that tradition by asking his best friend to kidnap me, rather than recognizing me as a capable twenty-seven-year-old adult.
“Did my brother ask you to tell me anything?”
“He wanted me to take you home. It was a quick call. Why?”
“No reason.”
I spent days summoning the courage to kiss Dean. Seventeen and na?ve, I found it the night before he left for boot camp. I leaned in, with my puckered lips and best dress, only for him to pull away. “What are you doing?” he had asked. “You’re embarrassing us both.”
I never told a soul. Is it any wonder my brother decided I required protection from the world?
Dean pulled into a gas station.
I winced at its bright lights, feeling exposed after all that had happened that night, twisting my feet to stretch my calves and increase blood flow. “I need to use the restroom.”
He stared at me.
Defeat set in. All I wanted was the bindings removed and a gas station bathroom. “I won’t run away or scream for help. You win.”
“We aren’t in a contest, Lily, and if we were, you’d win. Every time.”
I lost the moment I allowed him inside my apartment. It made me feel like he used me three times and left me doubting myself. “You’ve dominated and controlled since I met you. What else would you call it?”
“I’ve spent my whole life running from you, Lily Sutton. You’re the one who controls me.” Dean pulled a small knife from his backpack and took my hands. “Hold still. I don’t want to prick you.”
Freed, I rubbed my wrists and calves. “I’ll be right back.”
Dean gripped my shoulder, pushing me back against the seat, preventing my potential escape. “Don’t ask for help. If you do, our problem is their problem. There are innocent people inside, and they don’t deserve to be hurt. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
I wished I didn’t. “Not a word,” I said, meaning it, at least for now.
Refrigerators filled with cold drinks lined the gas station’s back wall. I licked my lips from a sudden thirst. I had planned to make some hot tea before Dean showed up. Thanks to him, I had no money to buy anything either.
An older woman browsed the aisles while a young couple joked together as they checked out the snacks.
The cashier, still in her teens, stood behind a tall counter.
An old television set’s bunny ears reached for the ceiling.
She stood enthralled by whatever it displayed.
After a quick visit to the restroom, I stepped back into the store to find the cashier and customers huddled around the old television.
I recognized the woman speaking on the TV screen despite the jagged line moving across the fuzzy screen.
“-all our efforts, the space shuttle mission failed. The following information comes from the greatest minds in the U.S. and around the world. Please listen closely to understand your level of risk and plan accordingly. The coma has split apart, with several pieces of rock projected to hit across the globe.”
Someone gasped. Was that me?
I blindly groped for sanctuary from the awful message and found well-worn cotton. His shirt. I pulled the material into my fists, dragging him closer. “Dean.”
“I’m right here with you.” His powerful arms pulled me against him.
The President continued. “We expect three direct strikes in the Pacific Ocean with impacts felt in Hawaii and along the western seaboard. Two more in the Atlantic Ocean. One off the coast of Florida, and a second along the northeastern corridor. Another in the Gulf of Mexico. There is no location that won’t feel the impact. I recognize this is shocking news.”
The young cashier cried. I wanted to join her.
“We are all terrified by the horrors of what’s to come.
This is a global disaster, but it is not the end of the world.
We will survive this. Please hold your loved ones close and make a plan.
For some of you, an immediate evacuation will be ordered.
For others, the safest course of action is to hunker down.
In a moment, your television stations will be turned over to local governments with further instructions.
Please follow them and heed their warnings.
“The first impacts arrive tomorrow morning, with several more in the hours that follow. Do not delay. Do not wait for further instructions.”
The screen turned black.
Snot poured from the cashier’s nose. She covered her mouth and backed away from the television set as another press conference started.
“Tomorrow morning?” Dean asked. He lowered his voice, whispering into my ear. “Your brother said the afternoon. I thought we had more time.”
“My husband just had surgery. He can barely move. What am I supposed to do?” The older woman asked.
“Go home to him. Emergency services will send an ambulance to you like they do with all the hurricanes,” I lied. A helpline flashed on the screen, lending credence to my words. “See. Go home and call that number.”
Dean pulled me against him once more, and I let myself indulge for a little while. Is it any wonder I fell into his arms all those months ago?
“I don’t know what to do.” The cashier’s red-rimmed eyes stared at me. “If I leave, they’ll fire me, and I need this job. My mom is watching my little boy. What do I do?”
She didn’t seem old enough to have a child. A strange pang hit my stomach. “You can always get another job. Right now, go get them and get as far as you can, as fast as you can.”
She wiped her eyes. “We have family in Ohio.”
“You’re an amazing mom. You can do this. Go.”
The cashier left, leaving us alone in an abandoned gas station.
“Dean, I….” My mouth didn’t cooperate. He’d told me the truth, and now I wished he’d lied.
“You and me, Lily.”