Untainted: (Crime Romance: The Photographer Trilogy #3) (8 page)

The smell of coffee beans hit him as he walked into the Java Jolt, bringing an instant smile to his face as he got into line behind a short brunette woman. He was surprised to find that her perfume overpowered the coffee grounds, bringing the slightest hint of vanilla to his nose.

The feminine touch and the way she slid her curly hair back over her shoulder had him intrigued, even though he had yet to see her face.

“Miss Kate, good to see you this morning, would you like your usual?” Derrick heard the young, pimply faced barista ask the woman in front of him as she stepped up to the counter.

“Thank you, Jimmy, yes please.” Her soft voice responded and Derrick felt a sudden impulse wash over him.

“Jimmy, add a large brewed coffee, with two creams, and one sugar to her order.” Derrick chimed in, reading the nametag off the barista’s shirt as he stepped up next to the brunette.

She whirled around to face him and he plastered a nervous grin on his face, attempting to look casual and nonchalant. Inside his nerves were humming and he felt his mouth go dry as he finally got to see the woman’s face. Her brown eyes were piercing into his, looking irritated, but sparkling at the same time.

“Excuse me? Do I know you?” She asked, stomping her foot on the ground lightly.

“Well you should if you’re planning on buying me a drink, or do you just make a habit of buying strange men their coffee?” He responded, shrugging.
 

Her pale skin flushed red and he smiled wider as he realized that she was just as taken aback by him as he was of her. She looked carefully at him under her thick lashes, then finally smiled slightly and nodded her consent to the barista.

The young boy behind the counter flashed Derrick an angry look, causing Derrick to raise one eyebrow in surprise before the barista went back to making their drinks.

“I’m Kate. Kate Jackson,” she said, extending her hand to him.

“Derrick Kane.” He grasped her small hand and smiled at her, his heart beating a little faster at the mere contact of her skin against his.

They stood that way for a moment, hands clasped, staring at one another, and it wasn’t uncomfortable. He saw in her something familiar, as if he had known her for years and was reacquainting himself with a good friend.

He could have continued to stay frozen in their silent trance, if it wasn’t for the barista coughing to interrupt them as he handed Kate her drink.

“Thanks, Jimmy.” Kate handed him some change to pay for the two coffees.

Derrick grinned at the young man, amused that he was allowing a woman to pay for his coffee. Well, more like insisting on it. He had never let a woman pay before, it felt strange.

“Sure, Miss Kate, it’s no problem. Anytime.” The barista said, beaming at her.

She turned around to get out of line, and Derrick was excited to see that she had paused and slowed to give him a chance to catch up to her.

“Hey, buddy, the coffee?” Derrick reminded the barista, who was clearly annoyed as he turned his gaze from Kate to Derrick, then handed him his coffee.

“Here you go, sir. One brewed coffee, three creams, two sugar.” He said to Derrick, dripping with bitterness.

“Uh, actually, that was supposed to be two creams, one sugar…” Derrick began to correct him until he saw the young boy giving him a look that could kill.

He decided it wasn’t worth the argument, he would rather spend his time getting to know Kate.

“You know what, that’s fine, I like it better this way, anyway.  Good call.” Derrick grinned and took a big chug of his coffee to prove
the poin
t. 

He turned away from the counter to follow Kate who had started laughing watching their interaction.

“I don’t think he’s my number one fan.” Derrick told her as he followed her to the door, grinning.

“I think you’re right about that.  How’s the coffee?” Kate
asked him, while he hurried to step around her so that he could hold the door open for her as they left.

“Sweet. Really sweet.” Derrick twisted his face in disgust which made
Kate laugh. 

“Well, Kate, which way are you heading?” He gazed into her brown eyes, hoping that she would continue to entertain his presence.

“Up toward
Michigan Ave.  I work a few blocks up.  Which way are you heading?”
She seemed shy as she asked, a characteristic he found unbelievably charming from this strong woman he had only just met.

“The exact opposite direction.  This is perfect, now I can walk you to work!” 
He started toward Michigan Ave, winking at her as he passed her and she turned to keep her eyes on him.

She looked confused and dropped one hip, placing her hand on the other with a bit of attitude.

“If you work in the exact opposite direction, then how is that perfect? You’re going seriously out of your way.” She looked strangely at him, but he just shrugged and kept walking causing her to jog to catch up to him.

“Because now I can talk to you the whole way there, and think about you the whole way back.” He knew he sounded like the worst Hallmark card in history, but something about Kate made him mean it.

He genuinely wanted to be late to work just so he could spend the time walking her, and he knew without a doubt that he would be thinking of her sexy smile and button nose the entire way back.

“So, what do you do, Miss Jackson?”

“It’s really boring. You don’t even want to know.  What do you do?”
she waived her hand nonchalantly as she switched topics.

“I just finished law school and started at a small firm a few blocks south of here with some law school buddies of mine.  If you ever need a lawyer, you know who to call. But I still want to know what you do, Miss Evasive.” 
She blushed as he reverted her back to his original question.

“Well, it’s nothing as impressive as a lawyer, but I sell the furniture you sit on most likely.” 
He burst out laughing at her reply, loving the feisty wit he was coming to expect from her
. 

“Out of all the things, I really wasn’t expecting you to say that.  Good way to phrase it.  Well, office furniture is an important job, I couldn’t do my job without a comfy chair.  Is it like an interior design job?” 

“I wish! It’s like a pay-the-bills job.  I graduated with a psychology degree, so this is a little out of my ideal field.”
That bit of news piqued his interest, he knew that there was more to this woman than met the eye.
 

“So, do you always go around getting poor, helpless women to buy your coffee for you?” Kate switched topics on him again, but since she was giving him a dazzling grin he decided to let it slide.

“Well, law school was expensive, so I have to get someone to finance my life,” he grinned back, amused at the look of exasperation on her face at his response.

“No, I’m just kidding. You are actually the first woman to ever buy me coffee. You should feel quite honored.” He reassured her.

“So lucky.” Kate rolled her eyes and he laughed.

“See, the secret trick is that now I owe you, so it would only be the proper thing to pay you back.  Say Friday night? Dinner?” Derrick
looked at her hopefully, mentally begging her to say yes.

He had to see her again.

“Oh, is that how it works, huh? Quite the scheme you have going there, Romeo. And tomorrow night? So bold, how do you know I don’t already have plans?” Kate teased him, sidestepping his question.

“Of course you have plans, you are going to dinner with me.” He tried to sound confident, pretty sure that he was pulling it off.

She let a few pauses go by and he felt a little nervous that she might say no, but
then she smiled and agreed. 
Within a few minutes, they had reached her work building and exchanged phone numbers before he watched her walk away from him through the glass doors.

Grinning to himself, feeling as if he had an extra surge of energy in him, he turned to head back the way that they had come. He was hoping he could manage to hold off texting or calling Kate, because his hand was already in his pocket itching to contact her again.

~~~~~~

Derrick pushed a lump down his throat as he tried to focus on the road and not on the memories of Kate. The excitement he felt when he first met her only hurt now, thinking he might never feel that way again.

He might never see his Kate again.

In less than a year, she had entered his life, stolen his heart, and become his fiancé. Not a moment went by that he wasn’t amazed by it all, he didn’t deserve it and he didn’t deserve her. He wasn’t feeling self-pity or dwelling on some cynical notion, it was a fact.

In the moment that she had needed him most, when he could have been the man she deserved, he had taken the coward’s route and left her. She was broken and bruised in a hospital bed only weeks ago and he had run the opposite direction in fear.

Now, she was broken again or worse, at the hands of the same man who had put her in that hospital room the first time. If he was so lucky as to be able to find her alive, he wasn’t ever going to make that mistake again. He would never leave her again and he would spend the rest of his life trying to become the man she deserved.

An approaching sign revealed the entrance to Fallen Oaks Stable coming up on the right, causing Derrick to break out of his thoughts and turn Frank’s car down the dirt road. He slowed down and carefully maneuvered the small trail, hoping to cause the least amount of disturbance to be able to arrive undetected.

As he was coming up to the end of the tree lines that currently surrounded him, he spotted the stable ahead with the car Annie had been driving blatantly displayed out front. He quickly pulled the sedan to the side of the road and turned it off.

Derrick climbed out of the car and took off quickly, but quietly, through the trees to come around to the back of the stable. He hoped that by leaving the car out of sight and approaching from the back, he would be able to have an advantage over whatever he would encounter inside.

His stomach was knotted in fear, but not for himself, for his girls. Kate could be in there, and he knew Annie was. He loved them both, they were his family now.

He had to protect them.

He finally made it to the back of the stable, having quickly cut across the field to spend the least amount of time in plain view. With his body firmly against the wall, he slid sideways toward a larger opening with a wooden door slid across it.

It was both tall and wide enough for horses to enter and he knew that it connected to the same entrance he had seen around the front, spanning a hallway in between, if it was anything like other stables he had been to.

There was a window he was passing, covered up so he couldn’t see what was inside, but he heard noises and saw cracks of light around the window’s edge. As he slid past it, about to enter the hallway, he heard a bone chilling scream coming from inside that he instantly recognized as belonging to Kate.

Every rational thought for safety and precaution left his mind as he rushed inside the stable and instantly followed the continuous screaming to an open door right by where he had come in.
      Bursting into the room, Derrick was confronted with a scene he had only pictured in his nightmares. His eyes first found Annie, laid out on the ground in front of him like a rag doll. Blood seeping from her head, her eyes closed, and her body limp.

Next, he saw Kate behind a large figure of a man who was on top of her. She was tied to a pipe and he had one hand all the way up her skirt and another around her throat.

“Get off of her!” He roared, anger firing him at Kate’s attacker who spun around in surprise at the sudden interruption.

“What the fu-” Frank started just as Derrick’s fist slammed into his cheek, knocking him sideways onto the ground.

Derrick didn’t stop. Next, he was kicking Frank in the ribs as the man moaned in pain and curled up to protect himself. Kate was still screaming, but it had changed from a tortured scream to panic.

“Derrick! Be careful!” He heard her, but wasn’t able to focus on her words.

All he saw was red, he wanted the man under his boot to die right then and there by his hand. His fists were back in on the assault as he jumped on top of Frank and landed punch after punch to anywhere he could make contact.

Blood streamed down his knuckles and he couldn’t tell if it was only Frank’s blood or if his own was mixing in with it. He didn’t care, he fed his anger on the pain in his fists and it only pushed him on. Kate’s screams turned to cries as minutes went by, or maybe it was just seconds, he had no way of knowing when he finally slowed to a stop.

Pushing off of Frank’s limp body, Derrick stood and looked at what he had done. Half of Frank’s face was indistinguishable under the broken skin and bones.

His arm was twisted at an unnatural angle and one leg was under him in the wrong direction. His tongue hung slightly out of his mouth and his eyes were swollen shut. Derrick took a deep breath, calming himself, and turned to look at Kate who was still crying.

“Kate?” He whimpered this time, the masculine fight in him having seeped out through his fists as he slid to her side and kneeled before her.

She looked so broken, he couldn’t stand it. Blood was dripping down one side of her face, her cheek swollen.
      “Derrick, you found me.” She whispered, he kissed her gently on the lips as his hands found her cheeks.
      “I never would have stopped looking.” He responded and then began tugging at the ropes around her hands, loosening them and quickly unraveling them.