RANSOM (4 page)

Lynkin

This woman has me going in all sorts of directions. She can piss me off to the point where I am ready to erupt, but with just one look all that anger can be turned into pure arousal so heavy that my dick is unyielding and ready for its own combustion. The way she was watching me when I took my shirt off, the heat I could see in her eyes, was enough to send any man off the deep end. I try taking a cold shower. When it does nothing to ease the throbbing, I lower myself to something I haven’t had to do since I was a damned teenager and jack off.

   Before I open the door and walk out of the bathroom, I tell myself that I need to stay emotionless towards Sage. Any hate, resentment to her father, or lust I feel for her needs to be pushed way down so I can keep a level head and follow through with my plans. I take a deep calming breath and walk into the room. I don’t even look over to Sage in the bed. I grab my glass, fill it up, and take my post. I am completely zoned out when exasperated huffs and grunts start coming from the other side of the room.

   When ignoring them gets to be too difficult, I finally look see what the issue is. She is tossing and turning all over the place, but not really because of the cuffs on her wrist. She just can’t get comfortable. I remind myself that I just resolved to stay neutral with her, that I shouldn’t care whether or not she is cushy. The more I watch her though, the more that resolve falls. I grab the key, then walk over to her and undo one of her hands. In her almost asleep state she looks up to me and asks, “What’s your name?”

   “Why? What does it matter?”
             

   “I think I deserve to know my kidnapper’s name,” she explains.

   She has me there and I cave. “Lynkin. My name is Lynkin. Now get some sleep, Beauty.”

  
Within minutes, she is sound asleep. Hopefully, she will stay out long enough for me to get some help here. Jen should be awake in a couple of hours, and I will call her over here. For right now, I am going to close my eyes and take a power nap while I can. I put an alarm on my phone to vibrate in an hour, then lean my head back against the wall and sleep.

   Sage is still sleeping when I wake up and call Jennifer. She gives me up the road and back because I haven’t called her in over a month but lightens up a bit when I tell her the hell I have been dealing with. I let her know that I have gotten myself into a pickle, and she just laughs and tells me she is on her way.

   Ten minutes later there is a light knock on the door. As soon as the door opens, she jumps up and wraps her arms around my neck for hug. But, I get her fist in my chest when she lets go.

   “That’s for not calling me sooner, I could’ve been there for you,” she practically yells.

   I grab her shoulders and put a finger up to my lips, shushing her. Jen looks at me and mouths a silent, “Why?” I point over to the sleeping form in the bed and she nods as if she understands.

   “That’s my predicament,” I state, waiting for her to catch on.

   “What? Did you knock her up or something?” she jokes, but she looks back over to Sage and sees her handcuffed to the bed. “What the fuck did you do? Who the hell is she?”

   Again, I have to shush her. “
Shhh. Would you calm down?”

   She shoves me aside, walks a step towards the bed, and looks Sage up and down before turning back to me. “You want me to calm down when you have some strange woman handcuffed to a bed, in a hotel room?”

   “She isn’t some strange woman…that is Sage Donovan,” I tell her.

   Her hand flies to her mouth with a gasp. “Holy freaking Jesus Christ! You kidnapped your boss’s daughter? Have you officially gone insane?”

   “No I’m not insane. I have a…”

   Jen cuts me off. “Plan? You never have a plan. You act by the seat of your pants.”

   “You’re right. Normally, I don’t have a plan and this may not have really started off with much of one either, but I do have one now,” I tell her. She folds her arms over her chest and waits for me to continue.

   When I don’t answer her fast enough she jumps in, “Well, let’s hear it. What’s the plan?”

   “His plan is to hold me for ransom. What in the hell he wants though, is beyond me.” Jennifer’s and my heads jerk to where Sage now sits up in the bed.

   “Dammit, you woke her up, Jen!” I cuss at her.

   “No the both of you woke me up with your arguing,” Sage says, and takes her free hand to push her long hair out of her face. “So what, now you’re bringing your hussy into this kidnapping?”

   I turn and grab Jen to hold her back before she has a chance to pounce on Sage. Jennifer has never taken any shit from anyone, and I have witnessed her lay a few girls out for just looking at her wrong.

   “Who the fuck are calling a hussy?” Jennifer screams over my shoulder, while still trying to push me out of her way so that she can get to Sage.

   Sage just sits there looking at me expectantly. “Keep giving me that look and I’ll let her ass go.”

   She rolls her eyes then points to her wrist. “I have to use the bathroom.”

   I throw up a finger and say, “Hold that thought.” Then push Jen out the door. When I close it I tell her, “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to get you involved in this, but you have always had my back and I needed someone.”

   I barely can hold back my smile when I see her shoulders slump in defeat. “You know I will always be here for you when you do something crazy. This pushes the envelope, but I got ya!”

   I pull her in and give her a hug. “Thank you, Jen. You will always be my girl.”

   She pulls back with a half grin. “Not always, but I will take what I can get.”

   “Ha. Well, stay out here while I let her go to the bathroom. I will let you back in once she is in there.” I reach for the door knob and pause to look back at her. “I have a feeling you two will kill each other if I don’t keep an eye on you.”

   I walk in laughing, which earns me a hateful look and a smart ass comment. “Laughing with your whore about how you are going to kill me off once you get what you want?”

   “You really do think the worst of me don’t you? Have I hurt you at all? No. I have no intention to, either,” I explain.

   “Whatever. Can you undo this damn thing so I can go to the bathroom?” Sage huffs.

I reach in my pajama pockets and pull out the key. Once I unlock it and back up, she walks to the bathroom and slams the door. Not seconds later I hear, “Shit!” come from inside.

   “I could have told you there wasn’t a window in there, Beauty,” I laugh to her. Since both girls are on opposite sides of either door, I take this time to change into some regular clothes. I pull the clothes from a drawer and toss them on the foot of the bed.

   I kick off my bottoms and jump when Jen yells through the door, “Are you going to let me back in?”

   “Yeah, give me a minute,” I yell back and reach for my pants when I find that the bathroom door is wide open. A wide eyed Sage is standing right outside of it, her mouth agape. I stand up straight and turn to her. “Getting an eyeful?”

   Her eyes finally find mine and turn from lust to hate instantly. “Barely.” She doesn’t fool me though. I saw the way she was looking at me last night and just now. And I’ll be damned if my dick didn’t just jump at the sight of a blush rushing across her cheeks.
Fuck.

   I throw on my clothes before I do something even more impulsive. I take one more glance over at Sage sitting on the bed, still trying to hide her red face, before I open the door for Jen.

Sage

Shit. Again, I am caught freaking eating this man’s naked skin up like I was a kid in a candy store. When he asks if I am getting an eyeful, I nearly burst with embarrassment. “Barely.” I try to be serious and indifferent, but I am sure he knows the truth. I sit down on the bed and keep my face hidden.

   I hear shuffling around and presume it is him putting his clothes on. I hope. I am tempted to sneak a peek, but refrain. But when I hear the door open, I can’t help it. I scowl when I do. The bleached-blonde comes walking back in with a bright ass smile on. Lynkin catches her on the elbow, turns her to him, and whispers something to her. While they converse I look over his play thing. She is definitely taller than I am and her bright blonde hair is cut into a short bob. She is wearing cut-off jean shorts paired with a spaghetti strap top and cowboy boots. 

   They stay in the corner and exchange a few more whispered words, and then both turn to look at me.

   “What?” I ask when they don’t say anything.

   “Nothing,” Lynkin says.

   “It’s not nothing. We need to know when they will start to notice she isn’t around. That way we know how long we have to do something,” the girl corrects him and again they look at me.

   “You actually expect me to help you? Help you hold me for ransom? Against my father?”  I shake my head and laugh, “Now, I know you are certifiable.”

   “Ugh. What do you know about her, Lynkin?” she asks.

   “Other than she is an heiress, stuck up, and has a real asshole as a fiancé? Nope, that’s all I got,” he replies.

   “Ok, where is her stuff?”

   “What stuff?” he ask her with his eyebrows drawn.

   “Her purse, phone, license? I mean she did have that on her, didn’t she?” she questions him.

   Finally, having enough I stand and say, “I am right here.” They don’t even acknowledge me.

   “Yeah, she had a purse. I didn’t go through it to see what was all in it, though. It’s in the top drawer of the dresser,” he says.

   I watch as she walks over, pulls out my purse, and dumps its contents on the table. She shuffles things around until she finds my phone. I start walking towards her to take it away when she starts scrolling through it. “Stop that. That’s my phone.”

   Lynkin steps in front of me before I can reach for it and says, “That’s the point. You won’t tell us anything, so we will get what information we can off of your calendar and messages.”

“This pushes beyond the personal boundaries,” I explain. That phone has my entire life on it.

   “I think that ship sunk when I kidnapped you,” Lynkin says. Agreed, but he won’t get me to talk. My phone will.

   I don’t say or do anything else as they go through all my information.
My calendar, which holds all the appearances that my mother schedules out for me. All events I am to attend, appearances I have to make…blah, blah, blah. All the boring aspects of my life.

   “Do you know her fiancé’s name?” the blonde asks.

   “I think it is Ray, Ricky, or something like that,” he replies.

   “Could it be Richard?”

   “Yeah, Dick that was it!” he smiles.

   “You have no right to talk about him like that, you don’t even know him,” I defend.

   “I don’t have to personally know him to know that he does his name justice,” Lynkin says seriously. “Let me guess, since he is daddy’s princess’s future husband he has high rank status in daddy’s company, right?”

   “So what? He earned his rank up in the business,” I justify.

   “Oh, I am sure he did. He probably treats you like nothing more than the business contract you are, and on the nights he isn’t with you he is probably banging every slut he can score with,” he sneers back.