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“I’d say maybe twenty minutes at the most.”
“Thanks,” I said quickly as I was running for the door. I was out and on my bike in a shot. If she left her car behind, there was only one way she could be leaving town. She didn’t have any friends to take her. I knew that from watching her. I headed for the bus station. I weaved through traffic. I knew I was riding recklessly, but I had to get to her before she got on a bus to God knows where. If she got to Knoxville, it was a bigger station and she could literally go to over a dozen places or more and keep going.
It didn’t take me long to reach the bus station. I parked my bike and ran inside. It wasn’t crazy busy, even though it was the weekend. There were enough people that I didn’t see her right away. I craned my neck and swept my surroundings as I worked my way through it. I eyed the ticket counters, but she wasn’t at any of them.
I was about to give up, having walked the whole thing, when I saw her come out of the bathroom. Her head was down. She didn’t see me. I didn’t waste time. I creeped up behind her and wrapped one arm around her waist and the other came up to cradle her jaw. I didn’t want her crying out, but a hand over her mouth would attract attention. This made it look like I was simply holding her.
Her body went rigid. I hurried to tell her it was okay. “Cassia, it’s me, honey. Don’t scream. I’m not going to hurt you. I need you to come with me. We need to talk. Running isn’t the answer.”
Her head turned to look at me over her shoulder. I saw sadness, fear, and resolve flicker over her face. She opened her mouth. I was ready to cut off her scream for help. I didn’t get the chance to, because out of nowhere, Jake appeared. He got in front of her so he was blocking her from sight.
“Cassia, I have to ask you to come with us. We have questions for you and only you can give us answers. Let’s not draw attention from these nice people. They don’t need to get involved.”
I was shocked to see he was dressed in his uniform. What the hell? He hadn’t been when I saw him earlier at the clubhouse.
“Am I under arrest?”
“You can be. We know that you’ve been living under a false name. Your social security number and everything about you seems to be a lie. I’d rather we did this someplace other than at the station, but if you insist, we can go there.”
I didn’t know if he was telling the truth that he could arrest her for that or not, but I didn’t care. If it got her to come with us, I’d go with it. I’d feel bad later. Her body sagged against me in defeat. I kissed the side of her neck. I couldn’t resist. “Baby, you’ll be alright. I swear it. Let’s get out of here.”
I gently nudged her. She began to walk to the nearest exit. As she did, she whispered, “Where are you taking me?”
I didn’t want to take her to the compound. Not after they had refused to help me. The last thing I needed was for them to be hanging over us while I talked to her. That left her place.
“We’re going to your apartment. Jake, what the hell are you doing here?”
“I heard what happened in church. I picked up a half-shift today. I thought I’d come see if I could help talk to her, only to find out she wasn’t at home. I went to the bakery and discovered she left and so had you. It didn’t take much to guess she was on the move and would come here. So, I came here.”
“Thanks for your help back there,” I told him as we reached my bike. She hadn’t said another word. When she saw the bike, she started to shake her head.
“No, I’m not getting on that thing. I…”
The fear on her face was what stopped me from trying to talk her into it. I’d face that battle another time. Jake pointed to his car. He was still driving his regular car, so I guess he wasn’t on the clock yet.
“I can drive you back. Come on,” he said politely. She gave me one more scared look before she followed him. I didn’t like seeing her rely on another man, even if it was Jake. I gritted my teeth and got on my bike. It didn’t take us long to reach her place. She got out of the car reluctantly. I took a hold of her arm.
“Thanks again, Jake. I’ll talk to you later.”
He nodded. “Do that. If you need me to check anything, give me a call. Cassia, I’ll see you later. Everything is going to be alright. I wouldn’t leave you with Blade if I didn’t trust him with my life. He’s not going to hurt you.”
She gave Jake a tentative smile. I wanted to growl. She should be smiling at me like that. He got back into his car and waved as he pulled away. Not wanting to delay any longer, I gently nudged her toward her building. She slowly walked to her apartment. When we got there, she took out her key, I took it and unlocked her door. Once we were inside and the door was closed, I led her to the couch and sat her down. I sat next to her. She was looking everywhere but at me. I grasped her chin and made her look at me.
“Cassia, what in the hell is so bad that you’re willing to run? Who’s after you? Why is your whole life a lie? What’s your real name?” I knew I should slow down but the need to know was burning inside of me.
“Blade, my name is Cassia Parrish. As for the rest, I can’t tell you. Please, just forget you ever met me and let me go. I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have stayed here this long anyway. You don’t need to get mixed up in my life.” The begging tone in her voice made me want to hug her. She sounded so lost and alone. I didn’t hesitate. I tugged her into my arms. She tried not to come, but I was stronger than her. After resisting for a few seconds, she laid her head on my chest. I ran my hands down her hair.
“I can’t forget I ever met you, Cassia. I told you before. I know that you’re meant to be mine. I need to know who has you so afraid that you think you have to run. What happened? I promise, I can make it better. You don’t have to live in fear.”
“Blade, I don’t think we’re meant to be. Maybe if things had been different, then we might have been together, but not now. I can’t open that door. If I do, it’ll consume me. I fought too hard to get away and to try and forget that ugliness. Don’t make me, please.”
I watched her as she spoke. Tears gathered and ran down her cheeks. I wiped them away. I placed a gentle kiss on her lips, then replied. “I won’t let it consume you. Answer me this. You’ve been here for three years. Why haven’t we met before? Is whoever you’re running from forcing you to do stuff you don’t want to do? What do you know of my club?”
She sat up straighter with a confused expression on her face. “I have no idea why we just met. I mean, unless you’d come into the bakery sooner, the only place we might have met would be the grocery store. Something tells me, you’re not someone who goes strolling through the produce aisle. I can tell you that no one is forcing me to do anything. I escaped that and I’m not going to go back. All I know about your club is what you told me and that I’ve seen you guys around town. Some people seem to be leery of you and others are friendly. That’s it. Why are you asking me such questions?”
I decided to go for broke. I blurted it out, and I watched her face closely as I did. Usually, if someone was lying, their eyes would give them away. They’d look to the left or blink rapidly. Their pupils would dilate. I was watching for any of those things to happen.
“Why are you spying on the Warriors and reporting back to someone everything you learn about us? What are you hoping to find? Who is trying to take over our club?”
