I can't explain it either. Would I do this for every woman that seemed like she needed help, or is it something about her? I've been doing this nearly half my life, and she's the first hit where I didn't want to kill her, most of the women who get on the list are doing awful things. We ignore the ones that are revenge kills for affairs, those are normally obvious within a day of tailing, but those women never know what we turned down. Even if someone comes after us who doesn't have a problem killing them. I've never told any of those women someone wanted them dead.
But Gwen, I not only saved her from being killed by another hitman, I told her what I do and that I didn't want her dead. I don't want to tell her that there's just something about her that makes me want to help her. That will sound weird and like I want something from her when I don't expect anything. Sure, I could demand she give her body to me for payment, but I've never forced myself on a woman or made her feel like she had to sleep with me to return a favor, and I don't plan to start with her.
"I do at least one good thing a year. Consider yourself my good deed. Helping you be able to live your life like I told you before, will be enough for me."
She frowns, I can tell she doesn't believe me.
I shrug. As I grab some of the meat to put away. "The steaks are for when I come back. But if you feel brave enough to try it, you can cook the roast or chicken. There's a dutch oven around here somewhere, and a cookbook on the shelf that will tell you how long to cook things and how to do it. The burgers and chicken breast will be the easiest thing to cook and be able to add to ramen. I got you some eggs as well. There may even be some cooking shows on DVD over there. I can't remember. I bought some things like that with the intent to become a better cook, but it never happened while I was here."
A whisper of a laugh leaves her, and I glance over at her. "What?"
She shakes her head. "I was picturing you in a chef's hat trying to learn how to cook."
A smile pulls at my lips. There's something that's still innocent about her. It's good to see. I help her finish putting away the groceries and look to see what movie she puts on. The Amityville Horror, the remake. Not the best movie out there, but it's decent. Looks like she doesn't mind a bit of the horror genre. I'll have to pick up some more movies before I come back. I'm sure it won't take her long to make it through the collection I have, especially since she'll be here for a month or longer.
I tried to find out what kind of mission my brothers were on. It can't be just a hit, not if they knew ahead of time that it would be a month or longer. They do hits, but I also know that dad has them do other things as well. Since Beckett is gifted with anything to do with technology. He's able to do anything, along with producing our documentation when we need them to get in somewhere that requires ID. I'm sure he could even give us entirely new identities if we needed him to.
I'll have to call on him to help with giving her a new identity. And Silas can help with the makeup. I trust them more than I do Cason. But it's always been that way. I feel like Cason and I have always competed with each other. He’s family and because of that I would do anything for him, but at the same time, I also want to punch him in the face. I don't want to punch Silas or Beckett, but they also don't piss me off as much as Cason does. It's like he can get away with anything, but if Beckett, Silas, or I try to do the same shit, it would never go down as smoothly.
I pull the satellite phone out of the back of my pocket. I already set it up.
I look at her. "I got you this in case you need something and need to signal for help."
She comes over at me and looks at the phone. She frowns. "It's hard to call 911 when you can't speak. And even if I did manage to communicate, what would I tell them? Find me in a hole in the middle of the woods?"
I shake my head. "You wouldn't be calling them anyway. My cell number has already been programmed into it. If I get a call from this number I'll know it's you and that you need me to come here as fast as possible. You just have to hold down the one for two seconds and then hit this green button for the call to go out. It won't reach my phone now with me being down here. But I've already tested it above and it works. It should work down here, but if it doesn't all you have to do is poke your head out the hatch. Just try not hurt yourself down here to the point where you can't climb out of here on your own."
She nods as she takes the phone from me. "I'll try not to. I don't tend to be accident-prone. Can I go up to the surface when I need fresh air?"
I frown. "Yes, but don't wander far from the hatch. It's easy to get turned around in the woods and with it being in the ground, it might be hard to find again, plus you never know who's lurking. So please, if you do, be careful. Don't go far and keep an ear out for anyone. We're pretty far into the woods, the likelihood of someone being out here is slim, but not impossible. It's only for a month, and then you'll be a free woman, able to go wherever you want."
She sighs and nods. "I guess I'll just have to get used to being a mole person."
I want to pull her into a hug but restrain myself to a pat on the shoulder. "It's only for a little bit. It will be over in a blink of an eye. Trust me it will be worth it in the end."
She nods. "You should get going. It's a long trip back to New York."
I nod. I don't want to leave her alone after just getting her here, but I can’t leave for days on end with no notice to my dad or anyone else. For right now, she's a secret, my secret. Silas and Beckett will only learn about her once it becomes time to get their help in staging her hit and giving her a new identity. "You be well, and make sure to eat. I can't teach you to be strong when you have no muscles for me to work with, and to build muscle you need to eat more."
She nods. "I'll eat more. I won't have much else to do down here. I'll see you in a week?"
I nod. "I'll be here Friday night and stay until Sunday, that way I can get anything else you may need Saturday."
I head for the hatch. My heart hammers. Why does she make me feel like this? There's no reason for me to be so nervous to leave her alone. I haven't had a woman affect me like this since I was a virgin. What is it about her that pulls me so much? I just want to curl around her and protect her from the world and anyone who may hurt her.
There are things I need to do. She's a grown woman, she's safe down here. She'll be fine. It's probably better that I don't stay down here with her for days on end. She's too young for me, but I already know I would be tempted if I was around her long enough and that's not something she needs.
Chapter Seven
Gwen
I hearthe hatch close above and I let out a sigh. I knew he would have to go back and maintain his life after he got me food to survive on, but I guess I didn't think it would be so fast. I glance at the clock, it's not even nine in the morning yet. I'm glad for the fact that it tells whether it's AM or PM because if it didn't, it's going to be really hard to know the day from the night
I know he said that I could leave to get fresh air, but I already know I'm not going to be brave enough to wander far. I was kept in cities all my life, normally in run-down houses that were one step above condemned. They hardly ever kept me in the woods. Clients didn't want to come out to the woods. So being out in them scares me. I don't know what kind of wildlife is in this area, and it's not like I have a voice to be able to scream and scare something away. I'll honestly just poke my head out of the hole, get a few minutes of fresh air. Let it flood the place, and then come back down.
I turn my attention back to the horror movie on the screen. I'd seen the original when I was a kid and it scared the crap out of me, but this one doesn't seem as scary, though I haven't been paying attention to it for the last twenty minutes. I sigh and look around. This isn't much different than how I spend my days off. Now, I'm just going to have a lot of them. I'll probably get bored, but I noticed that the bookshelf has records and a player, so maybe it won't be all bad, and I'll have something to look forward to at the end of the week. It's Sunday now, so I just have five more days until Porter will be back
Grabbing the notepad and the pen. I set to work making a makeshift calendar. I can cross one off for every twenty-four hours that pass. That way I'll know how many days I've been here and on which ones Porter will be here so that I can make sure not to be doing anything I don't want him to walk in on.
