Above Protection (Imperfect Heroes Book 1) (10 page)

But hell, if she wanted to do the
cooking, I most certainly wasn’t going to object. I wanted to keep
her mind preoccupied and off the fact that someone was trying to
kill her.

As I stared at her from across the
table, I took in her soft features. The way her eyelashes cast a
shadow on her cheekbones as she looked down at her meal. The way
her mouth opened to invite the food inside. Her jawline so sharp
and smooth as it opened all the way up. But most of all, the soft
curve of her neck as she leaned forward to eat. I shook my head at
my own idiocy. Never in my life had I analyzed a woman eating
before. I’d had plenty of girls in my house, my bed, but never
before had I paid so much attention to detail.

What the fuck was wrong with
me?

Realizing I was acting like a chump
with these thoughts, I quickly shoveled the rest of my food in my
mouth, dumped my plate in the sink, determined to clean up later,
and went back into my room.

I didn’t bother to look back at the
vic, even though I could feel her stare on my back as I walked out
of the kitchen.

Sitting on my bed, I rested my
forearms on my knees and sighed. My leg was hurting especially
fiercely today and I tried not to acknowledge that, but it was hard
to ignore. I jammed my thumb into the scar on my thigh through my
pants and sighed. Would this pain ever go away?

Probably not.

Even though I had kept my injury
secret from the FBI, I had a sinking feeling that they knew. I
closed my eyes and remembered my days back in Quantico.

I’d been required to run miles in a
certain amount of time, and I’d done it, but it had come at a
price. Once back in my dorm the night of that test, I had done
everything in my power to fight back the tears of pain that wanted
to consume me.

In all fairness, I really shouldn’t
have been running miles like that on this leg. Sure, the huge chunk
of shrapnel had been removed from my thigh under the careful
scrutiny of a doctor, but that didn’t mean I was back to normal. I
knew I never would be, but I was stubborn and stupid.

I passed all the physical and psych
tests the FBI had thrown at me, but when I was alone in my dorm –
or later, in my house – there were demons that I had to flog back.
Demons that plagued me day and night. Keeping my mind on SSG Ellis
Anderson and his heroic events was the only thing that kept me sane
and human. That damn kid, with his dark hair and curious sky blue
eyes staring at me on that battlefield, willing me to stay
alive.

I’d heard he had a new girl. That they
were gonna get married and had a baby on the way. Grinning at the
possibility, I couldn’t imagine that dude being a father. But then
again, what did any of us – Ellis, me, my brother Mason – know
about being a father? Nothing, that’s what.

I massaged my leg again. I had some
ibuprofen and even some Percocet in my bag, and I wanted to take
some. But to do so meant I was weak and unable to cope, and that
was one title I was unwilling to live with. So I lay back on my bed
and thought of something other than pain or sex.

Chapter 12

Rayanne

I was going stir-crazy – just like I
knew I would. A little fresh air would do me good, so I thought,
why not… nobody would notice if I went for a walk in the massive
woods that sprawled out behind the cabin I was currently imprisoned
in.

Duke was watching a local football
game on TV and when I wandered into the kitchen, he didn’t even
turn his head in my direction. I knew he’d say no if I asked him to
go on a walk with me, or if I could go on one by myself, so I
simply snuck out the back door from the kitchen.

It was early fall so it wasn’t that
cold out, nor was it hot, so the sweater I wore seemed to be just
fine. I closed the kitchen door very quietly and set off to take a
long walk and clear my head.

As I began walking, the
colorful, dead leaves crunched under my boots. They weren’t loud,
but the sound kept me company as I walked. I was surrounded by Elm
and Spruce trees, which were still full, but I could see
bare spots in all of them, shafts of dotted
sunlight slicing through and bathing my face in warmth.

A few steps away, I spied a lone
purple flower growing tall and proud from the ground. There was
nothing else around it, and I went to it, crouching down to inspect
it. I had no idea what kind of flower it was, but I could see the
edges of its petal were beginning to turn brown. I decided it
needed to be picked, so I gently plucked it from the ground and
twirled it in my hands.

“You sure are beautiful,” I said to
it.

So I’d taken to talking to flowers.
Great. If Duke wasn’t such an ogre, I wouldn’t mind sitting and
talking with him. But he was just a big jerk.

I kept walking, twirling the flower in
my hand as I got lost in my thoughts. I wanted to talk to Duke, ask
him questions if for no other reason than to pass the time. I
wanted to ask him how he got that limp, and why he ate so healthy
and worked out but insisted on chewing tobacco. Which totally
grossed me out. I had a feeling the two were related. Had he been
shot in the line of duty and now he used nicotine to calm himself?
I figured he couldn’t self-medicate with marijuana like so many did
since he had a government job and probably got drug tested on the
regular.

We’d had clients at the law firm who
had sought legal help for getting fired from their jobs for testing
hot for drugs from their employer. We had basically turned them
down, telling them we couldn’t do anything for them. It was a state
law and they were out of luck. We had a couple government employees
seek our help in getting back their jobs, and we couldn’t help
them, either. Self-medicating or not, smoking marijuana was
illegal. Well, it was in Florida. I knew other states had legalized
it, but I didn’t think we’d ever see that in my home
state.

I sighed, thinking about my job. I
loved being a paralegal. I was hopeful after this mess was over
that I would find another job and get back to doing what I loved.
That was – if I survived this mess.

Thoughts of the threatening phone
calls I’d received for days still echoed in my head. They had
scared the shit out of me, and if I were honest, I was still
scared. I knew I had to testify at that trial in eight days, as
much as I wanted to just bury my head in the sugar white sands of
the beach. What George and Elmo had done was despicable and they
deserved to go to prison. The thought made me sad. The brothers had
been like uncles to me during my five years of employment there,
and once it sank in what they had been doing, I was just so hurt
over the whole thing. And to think they had paid someone to
threaten me not to testify. To call me and promise such hideous and
awful things if I went into that courtroom hurt badly. It scared
me, too. I hadn’t slept much in those days before the government
had taken over and sent agents to protect me. If I were honest, as
much of a jerk as Duke was, I was glad they had sent him to look
after me. It was clear he took his job seriously, and was acting
professionally – for the most part. Still, something inside of me
wanted to get to know him better.

Maybe it was the ‘fixer’ in me. My mom
had always told me I wanted to fix people, and she was surprised I
hadn’t become a nurse. Honestly, I’d thought about it, but I cannot
stand the sight of blood and I get queasy at the slightest thing.
Still, every boyfriend I’d ever had – all 3 of them since high
school – were broken men whom I thought I could fix. In the end, I
couldn’t, and I let them go. Or rather – two of them dumped me. All
of them were users and I was glad they were out of my life. I’d
been single now for two years, and as much as I longed for someone
to take care of me, and admittedly, someone I could also take care
of, I was mostly happy being on my own. I was proud I had bought
that condo and all the stuff inside of it by myself without going
into any debt, except the condo itself, of course.

Without thinking, I began twirling the
purple flower in my hand as I walked. How was I going to continue
to pay the mortgage on my condo without a job? The responsible side
of my brain had been niggling at me to job hunt so I wouldn’t miss
a payment. I only had enough in savings to make one payment after
my paychecks stopped from the law firm in which I was set to
testify against in just days. But I couldn’t return to St.
Petersburg and job hunt because my life was in danger.

I sighed in resignation, continuing to
walk, enjoying the quiet of the forest. The trees were beautiful
and the air was starting to turn cool and crisp. It was a nice
break from the stifling humidity of Florida that I was so used to.
I’d grown up there and would never live anywhere else. That got me
thinking about my parents. Supposedly, the government had sent them
a vague message about how I was being taken into protective
custody, but the Justice Department hadn’t even let me make one
last phone call to them to reassure them that I was safe. Which in
turn made me worry about their safety. Would this maniac who had
been threatening me with horrific things go after them now? I
wasn’t sure, but something deep inside of me knew they’d be safe,
but I still worried. I was glad my only sibling, my sister, and her
husband were in Hawaii visiting my cousin for the next few weeks.
If I knew anything about criminals, I knew they were lazy. I didn’t
think anyone would spend the time or money to fly to Hawaii to harm
my sister just to get to me. That’s if they could even figure out
who she was. She obviously had a different last name than
me.

As I trudged through the leaves and
trees, a movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention.
Whipping my head around, I saw a small brown jackrabbit hopping
through the trees. He was perfectly camouflaged against the forest
floor, and I smiled at the little creature. It stopped briefly,
parking itself on its haunches and staring at me with its beady
little black eyes. Its nose twitched in curiosity and I inched ever
so slowly toward it, hoping to get a closer look. When I got within
five feet, he hopped away, disappearing behind some
trees.

God, what was wrong with
me? Was I so deprived of any sort of interaction that I was talking
to flowers and hoping to touch a wild rabbit? I felt like
Snow
Freaking
White.

I kept strolling, laughing at my own
silliness. With the flower still clutched in my hand I continued to
twirl it, looking down at it as I walked. I marveled at the yellow
that spotted the inside of its petals, and began dreaming up ways I
would display it in the drab and outdated kitchen of that little
cabin I now found myself staying in with Duke.

Smiling a little to myself, I checked
the delicate wristwatch I wore and could see I’d been out here for
20 minutes. I’d purposely walked in circles, making sure I didn’t
lose sight of the little rustic cabin and wondered if the caveman
had noticed that I was gone yet. With my mind once again on Duke, I
continued to walk until my legs started to tire. I spotted a tree
up ahead that looked thick and sturdy enough to sit down and take a
rest against and I headed toward it. I kept my eyes fixated on its
trunk. It looked strong and impenetrable to anything. Smiling at
how I was obviously messed up to be attracted to something so
strong-looking, I shrieked in terror when I felt a set of warm arms
envelop me from behind.

“What the fuck do you think you’re
doing, Blondie?” I heard a gruff voice breathe into my
ear.

My calm, melancholy mood turned to
infuriation at the sound of his voice. “Get your hands off of me!”
I screamed.

Without saying another word, Duke
lifted me off the ground and threw me over his shoulder in a
fireman’s carry. My face was now quite literally bouncing up and
down against his rock hard ass. The one I said I’d love to bounce a
quarter off of. But now, I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to find
one of those thick wooden paddles with all the holes in it like we
had in elementary school and paddle him with it.

“Put me down, you ogre!” I yelled,
beating my fists against his hard butt that was definitely as solid
as it looked. I slammed my fists against his thighs and then his
back, which did absolutely no good. I even thought I heard him
chuckle as he carried me the short distance back to the
cabin.

My screams of protest went unheard. I
doubted the birds, flowers, rabbit, and deer gave any shits about
me being dragged back to my outdated cabin prison against my
will.

Chapter 13

Duke

With one hand secured around her slim
waist and the other pushing her legs down against my back to keep
her from falling, I walked with purpose toward the safe house. I
ignored the blows and shrieks she was throwing at me and just kept
walking, knowing I had no other purpose than to secure the vic into
the confines of the small sanctuary the government had provided
us.

Admittedly, I had dozed off during the
game I’d been watching. It was some lame local high school warmup
practice during their off-season, and a small part of me felt a
flick of shame that I had not stayed awake. When I’d awoken, I
shook off the sleep and got up and stretched. My watch told me it
was close to dinnertime, and I’d searched the small cabin for
Rayanne. For once, I’d planned on being nice and asking her what
she wanted for dinner.