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Knight
Ihad made a lot of promises. Some I had kept well. Others I had offered, knowing they were lies. None of them mattered as much as this one. I promised to keep her safe. I promised her with everything I had she would be safe with me. Protected to the ends of the Earth. That no one would touch her. No one could take her away and hide her in the darkness.
I had looked in her eyes. I had held her and spoke the words to her. This was the ultimate betrayal. It was my betrayal. It has cost me everything.
Time didn’t want to move as I stood on the sidewalk. It felt as if there was thick oil pushing through my veins, instead of blood. My head pounded. My ears rang. Kennedy was gone. As the seconds ticked away, I didn’t know how to bring her back.
Fuck. I had to stop the paralysis taking over my body.
I started running. It felt as useless as screaming her name did, but I kept running around the block. I stopped a cab driver. I halted a man in a top hat, carrying a carriage full of tourists.
I was out of breath. “Stop. Stop!” I raised my hands, pulling on the bit of the horse. “Have you seen a woman? Maybe hurt? Or just out here?” I made no sense. Keeping the anonymity of the families and the secret world we operated in concealed what I wanted to ask.
“No. Now let go of my horse.” He drew a whip next to his hip and I immediately retracted my hold on the animal.
I shook my head and staggered away. My shirt clung to my chest and the jacket suffocated me, but I kept running and searching. Was I crazy or smart? I called her name, louder each time.
She didn’t answer. No one had seen a gorgeous blonde walk past. No one could fathom the kind of crime I was talking about happening in broad daylight. No one believed the mafia existed outside a television screen.
Someone had her. Someone else had taken her from me.
I walked back inside and took the elevator to the top floor. I paced between the sawhorses and exposed wiring. I kicked a paint can halfway across the room. I pictured Kennedy on the sticky floor of that basement. I imagined her begging for food or water again. Someone else’s hands on her body. I had to fucking think. I had to stop feeling. I couldn’t think about the what ifs. I grabbed a wrench and hurled it through the air. It smashed a light fixture and shards of glass scattered.
I buried my head in my hands. She had just been here. She was just here. I sank to my knees. The sawdust coated my pants. The bottle of champagne rested only yards away. Goddamn, why had I been worried about warm champagne?
Wondered about pissing away a thousand dollars-worth of booze when the woman I loved had been snatched off the street? What the hell was wrong with me?
It was unfair. I had found her again. After all this time, we were finally where we were supposed to be. This wasn’t right. It couldn’t possibly be real. It was another nightmare. Like one of the ones I used to have after the vineyard fire. I’d wake up drenched in sweat. My hands shaking. My entire body feeling as it if had been submerged in ice.
The worst one felt like this moment. It was the one that haunted me the most.
It always started the same way with a trip to the beach. A beach house I used to go to with Parker. The dream never detoured. It started when I pulled my duffle bag from the trunk and jogged up the stairs of the house. There was a note wedged into the screen door. I read the scrawling handwriting and smiled.
It’s open.
She signed it with a X. I tucked the note in my pocket and opened the door.
“Kennedy?” I called for her. I walked into the kitchen. There was music playing. I spotted a bottle of Pichon on the countertop and two glasses already poured.
“Kennedy? I made it. Sorry I’m a little late.” I took a sip of one glass and carried it with me while I explored the house she had chosen for our getaway. The door to the balcony was cracked. I could hear the waves rolling on the shore. In the distance there was a boat engine humming. The curtains rustled in the breeze. The sun was a deep amber hue. I strolled into the next room. With every step I began to relax a little more. Sink into the weekend ahead of us. We’d savor every second together. We always did. It was what made us so great together. Neither of us took time for granted.
The master bedroom was swallowed up by a huge king-sized bed. There were white sheets and at least ten pillows across the headboard. God damn, that bed was going to get a lot of use this weekend.
“Kennedy?” Why was she being so elusive? We didn’t have to play games any longer.
I glanced across the room. Steam billowed from the bathroom. I grinned. Finally, I’d found my girl.
I pulled the door open. She was wrapped in a towel. Her skin glistened from the shower water. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip when she saw me. Holy hell, how did I get so fucking lucky?
“Hi.” The steam swirled around her. I knew how warm her skin would be before I touched it. She loved hot showers.
I let go of the duffle bag. It hit the floor with a thud. I deposited the glass of wine by the sink. Her lips looked edible. Fucking kissable.
“Hello.”
Her fingers drifted toward the top edge of the towel. I saw the mischievous look on her face. She tugged gently on the tuck she had made against her chest. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
The towel dropped to the floor.
