Charlie's Angel (11 page)

“He was on the bus with me, all the way from Maine to L.A.”

She hadn’t thought much of it, but he was hefty and always wore a plaid shirt, and she disliked plaid. He hadn’t posed a problem, as far as she’d seen. She might not have liked him, but he hadn’t threatened her.

“That man has been in jail countless times for assault with a deadly weapon. He’s been searching for you.”

Roxie bristled. “He’s not who you say he is. He helped me with my luggage several times. If he intended to hurt me, then why hasn’t he?”

Charlie remained absolutely still, although his eyes were busy scanning the area over her shoulder. “I can’t answer that. I’ll explain in the car.” He began hauling her toward the end of the alley.

“You can show me anyone you want and declare he’s a danger,” she protested, dragging him to a standstill. “I’ve got to get to work.”

Glaring at her, he pursed his lips. His phone rang softly. “Yes?” he answered, his voice barely above a whisper. His fingers didn’t ease from her arm.

Roxie watched his sensual lips and craved to outline them as she had his eyebrows and his nose. His jaw was rigid and tense. She could meld her body with his, touch his cock, and play with the burgeoning hardness, to watch his gray eyes light up with pleasure.

A garbage truck rounded the corner, its gears grinding harshly. Roxie turned to look.

Without warning, Charlie pulled her in the opposite direction toward the dead-end. “We’ve gotta to get out of here. That’s Rowter, meaning to run both of us over.”

“How do you know?” Roxie dug in her heels. She wasn’t moving until she got some answers. Was Charlie being followed too? Was he in on this? Was that why he could get a call and figure out what was happening?

The truck driver ground the gears again. For all she knew, the garbage disposal vehicle could be picking up the trash in the alley and posed no threat to her whatsoever. Then she heard the engine rev up, and the vehicle sped forward. Metal crumpled against concrete in a horrendous, earsplitting sound. Charlie’s eyes bored into hers as terror took hold of her.

A quick glance at the driver through the darkened window told her that the man at the steering wheel was Rowter. His facial features weren’t set in kind lines either. His lips were curled in a vicious snarl.

Disbelief seized her. Rowter, if that was his name, had never been cruel to her. What had made him change?

Charlie hauled her forward, already at a dead run. “Explain later.”

This isn’t the way she’d expected to die.

Chapter Five

Panic, an unusual emotion for Charlie, threaded through him. His heartbeat accelerated. He could think of a number of ways to breathe his last, but this wasn’t one of them. For a flashing second, he’d seen Rowter up in the cab. His truck would flatten Roxie and himself against the solid wall, and the cops would have to use a spoon to retrieve their bloody remains. He didn’t relish the thought. If only he’d thrown Roxie over his shoulder and run after he’d seen the truck, they wouldn’t be here racing for their lives. He could only fervently hope that the back door of Woody’s diner, or any of the businesses along the alley, were open.

None were and when, panting, he reached the diner with Roxie in tow, he saw the door was firmly closed. He prayed someone on the inside had forgotten to lock it. If they hadn’t, Roxie and he were dead. There was nowhere to run with the heavy truck bearing down on them.

At his side, he saw Roxie’s chest heaving up and down in terror.

Praying as he never had before, Charlie pushed on the door with the scrawled
Woody’s Diner
. Roxie’s small hand was clenched in his, her nails dug painfully into his palm. The disposal truck was almost upon them. He could smell the oil from the engine, and its grill loomed large. There were only seconds left.

The entrance creaked ajar, and with a hard push, Charlie opened it. He threw Roxie inside, their bodies separating, then followed, his footsteps inaudible as the truck’s gears whined. The door flew off its hinges as the huge vehicle hit it. The sturdy wood cracked resoundingly. Then the big beast came to an abrupt halt past the diner.

The ensuing silence was deafening. Prosecuting many killers, Charlie sensed what was about to happen. Missing them once, Rowter would try a second time, with another, more portable weapon, like a gun.

Roxie pressed her lips together tightly. Her eyes were wide with fear.

His heart wrenching with pain for her sake, Charlie warned her, “He’ll try again, Roxie. We have to keep moving.” He seized her wrist with an urgency that belied his calm words. He felt her shivering, and her muscles tensed. She appeared lost and more frightened than he’d ever before seen a woman.

Tightening his grip, he hauled her through the kitchen. Several employees gaped at them with shocked expressions. “Sorry about the door,” he yelled at Gerry. “Send me the bill.”
If I get out of this alive.

Gerry yelled back, “Will do,” then to his employees, he cautioned, “Get down!” The man’s barking tone, which brooked no dissent, caused Charlie to think he might have been in the army at one time. Relieved that the boss would care for those who worked for him, Charlie fled with Roxie a step behind him. In the back of his mind was one persistent, nagging question. Why had Rowter waited so long to get to her?

Roxie hesitated at the kitchen doors inside the diner, which thankfully was empty then dug in her heels. Charlie and she had outrun the garbage disposal truck, but she knew how to take care of herself. Didn’t she? And Charlie seemed to know everything else. Well…she had a big surprise in store for him.

With her free hand, she dug into her duffel bag and retrieved the can of pepper spray she reserved for extreme emergencies. Charlie tugged on her arm, but she wouldn’t budge. She heard Rowter’s heavy footsteps behind her, still blocked by the wall. She gave a glacial frown in Charlie’s direction. “Remember I can handle myself?”

She noted from his frown that he was about to disagree with her, but she cut him off with a perky smile. She wasn’t prepared to run any longer. Rowter would be stopped.

Mutely, Charlie shook his head. She turned her back on him and fell into a crouch. If she didn’t conceal herself, the window glass might give her position away to Rowter. Charlie followed suit. His thighs and the heat of his body felt reassuring.

“I should be taking care of you,” he whispered frantically.

The hurried footsteps were coming closer.

“You did, in the alley,” she told him without turning her head. But now, she would stand up to Rowter. In the far distance, she heard the shriek of emergency vehicles. She’d deal with Rowter then she’d flee for freedom once again. Charles Vernon knew far too much about her. Still, she would enjoy making love to him again if she had the opportunity. Which she wouldn’t get.

Rowter was about to come through the swinging door. His heavy breathing and cumbersome tread tipped her off. She lifted the pepper spray higher, ready to spring into action. Her aim had to be right the first time. There wouldn’t be a second chance. The door crashed, swinging wide. Roxie leaped up and sprayed. The only sound in the diner was the hiss of the can dislodging its contents.

Rowter screamed. The gun dropped from his hand and clattered on the floor. Charlie pushed it aside with his foot as the injured man began to shriek, “Bitch! I’ll get you yet!”

Rubbing at his eyes with his knuckles, he fell and rolled around on the floor in agony.

“You have to find me first,” she murmured, intending to quietly slip away and hoping Charlie wasn’t watching her. With Rowter screaming in pain, and the diner’s employees fixated on him as if he were the most fascinating piece of news they’d seen, it would have been an easy task. But Roxie didn’t count on Charlie.

She ran outside the diner as a police car screeched to a halt on the already hot pavement. She’d run back to her apartment, get her scanty belongings and her bike, and get lost again, making certain no one would find her this time.

Hugging the wall, making herself as inconspicuous as possible in a throng of passersby, she found Charlie at her side. He’d followed her. He wouldn’t easily let her go. He swept her into a big bear hug, squeezing her slender frame. Sunshine lit his midnight hair, accentuating the dark blue strands. She would have pushed him away, but her arms were trapped against his muscled chest, leaving her helpless and unable to do anything more than return his seeming affection. Why hadn’t she slipped out the back? But the chaos in the alley would have frightened her even more, and she couldn’t face that her carefully constructed world was rapidly crumbling.

His voice, raw and harsh, intruded on her dismal thoughts. “Are you planning to run away?”

Every nerve in her frame hummed in resistance, yet, in Charlie’s arms, there was a moment of rest, even though the world around them was disintegrating. The lone police car was now surrounded by several others and an EMT. Roxie discovered her body was shaking, and despite herself, she sank against Charlie and the comfort he provided. Why hadn’t he remained behind to deal with the Rowter episode? Was he protecting her? Was he placing his career at risk?

“I feel safer when no one knows who I really am,” she murmured into his shirt. She sniffed the soothing scent of lemon on his skin. Roxie glanced up into his face for a reaction.

“You owe me.” His stance was as uncompromising as the muscles in his jaw.

“I thought we were even. You saved me in the alley, and I saved you in the diner. We didn’t get our heads shot off.”

He pulled himself taller. His arms wound around her tighter. “True, but I wasn’t thinking of the last few minutes.”

She gazed into his eyes and witnessed a glint of laughter in their depths. She was beginning to get the drift of his words. Escape from Charles Vernon wouldn’t be as easy as she’d believed.

“I owe you what?” she managed from a dry throat.

“A sixty-nine,” he said, as another police vehicle slammed to a halt at the curb.

Two officers jumped out and immediately dismissed them, quite possibly, Roxie decided, because Charlie and she appeared to be oblivious to what was going on in the diner. They appeared to be lovers who simply couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

“A what?” Her heart leaped in a dance of wicked desire.

He shook his head in obvious disapproval. “I want you, and you owe me a bike ride up into the mountains so we can make love under the stars.”

She waggled her eyebrows. “A sixty-nine and a bike ride to make love. I’d have thought you have other things on your mind.”
Like how to deal with the cops that are all around us, how to explain this early morning’s happenings, then get back to what you do best. Practicing law.

“This morning has been hard on you
”

Roxie interrupted, her perplexed gaze meeting his. “Won’t they want to question us?” she asked, nodding in the direction of the cop cars.

“Once they get the events all sorted out, they’ll come looking for us. But they can’t find you that easily, can they?”

The strength of his arms was like a protective shield around her, consoling, a haven from chaos. She shook her head. If Charlie hadn’t come upon her with his digital friend then he wouldn’t have known who she was. He would have eaten his burger, and left Woody’s without giving her a second thought. She was pretty much the one who’d thrown herself at him
for the sex.

“You don’t need to worry about your father. I’ll spirit you away to somewhere safe, so he won’t know where you are. And,” he emphasized, tucking his chin against the top of her head, “if you’re in need of money to get on with your life afterward then I’ll front you the cash.”