He looks at me for a long moment before he answers. “Home.”
Chapter Three
Homeward bound
Lily
When Nox said we were going home, I assumed he meant he was taking me back to my home. This is the reason I went so willingly. I practically skipped to the large, black van smiling like a fool and yelled out, “What are we waiting for? Let’s ride!”
So we’ve been driving for an hour now and I have no idea where home is. They won’t answer any of the hundred questions I’ve asked, and I’ve reached the point where I see Nox’s cheek tic. He scowls at me. “Don’t you ever shut up?”
Slumping in defeat, I mope. I’m officially peeved. I don’t have my cell phone to check on my parents or sister. I suddenly realize that I haven’t asked where they’ve been taken and my heart skips a beat. I’m panicked. “I know you said we’ll talk about this later but please, just answer one thing.”
He sighs then snaps impatiently, “What? What is it?”
“My family. Are they safe? Where is my sister? Is that the place where you’re taking me?” I rush out.
He looks annoyed. “Firstly, that’s three questions and the answer to those questions will result in a lot more questions. So the answer is no, I won’t answer any of your questions right now.”
With the windows still covered, I’m suddenly grateful for the dark. My eyes sting and my chest aches. I just want to know they’re okay. That’s all. I shut them tight but tears leak out of the sides of my eyes. I steady my breathing as much as possible, but out of nowhere, my breath hitches loudly and I know he knows I’m crying. And that sucks. I don’t want to be that girl. You know, the whiney, pissy cry-baby. That’s not normally me. Okay, these are extenuating circumstances, but I still don’t feel good about it.
This Nox guy isn’t doing a thing to make me believe that he’s protecting me, and I was so hoping it was true. When you face bad circumstances, you want to believe you’re going to get the best possible outcome. And that’s what I was wishing for. But I can’t trust this guy. Why else would he keep something as simple as my family’s safety a secret?
Maybe the guy’s just an asshole?
He is an asshole! No maybes about it. This is all too bizarre.
After my breath hitches a second time, Nox sighs. Shuffling closer to me, he tilts his head to the side, closer to mine and whispers, “Your mom and dad are fine. Your sister is fine. We’ve separated you for a good reason. They’re safe, okay?”
Unable to look at him, I nod into the covered window. It’s funny how a few simple words can alter your mindset. I’m feeling unexpectedly stronger all of a sudden. I read a lot, so I know that words hold power. They can bring you from the lowest low to an ultimate high in a matter of moments, and just the opposite, too. I’m thankful for Nox’s reassuring words. I force my tears down and remind myself that everything will be okay if I just go along with what they want. I mentally chastise myself. No more tears. I’m tougher than that.
I wonder how much longer it’ll take to get home.
***
The van stops abruptly. No one speaks. They move around without a word and it’s starting to freak me out. Feeling uneasy, I break the silence. “Are we there yet?”
Without answering, Nox releases my arm and slips the blindfold back over my head.
Son of a bitc-
Nuh uh. I don’t like it. The blindfold has got to go. Sighing loudly, I reach up and yank the blindfold above my eyes. “I think you know I’m not going to run. Where the hell would I run to?”
Nox’s glare is harsh and his lip curls. “For fuck sake, Delilah! When I put a blindfold on you, there’s a goddamn reason.” He leans closer to me and whispers, “Don’t push me, little girl. You don’t wanna see my bad side.”
I blink a second before my eyes widen and I lean back from him as I whisper hiss, “This is your good side?”
He says nothing but his cheek tics again. I’m thinking that might have something to do with me. I haven’t confirmed this yet.
Holding up my hands in surrender, I concede, “Okay, okay. Sheesh. I’ll wear the freakin’ blindfold. Don’t get your panties in a twist, oh captain, my captain. And don’t call me Delilah.” I see his jaw clench tighter and I bite my cheek to stop myself from smirking. Pulling the blindfold down, I hold out my arm which he grips tightly and leads me out of the van.
We start walking, and after a while, I do not like the silence. Just as I open my mouth to say something, no doubt crass and sarcastic, I trip over a jagged stone and stumble to my knees. Nox hauls me up not a second after I fall. “You ‘kay?” He says this in a way that could have been interpreted as ‘You are a burden in my life and I don’t like you’.
Currently blind, I push my arms out towards the sound of his voice and they luckily connect with his chest, pushing him back about a hairs breadth. My face flushes more from embarrassment than rage. “Goddamn it! Watch where the hell you’re going! This is why I don’t like the blindfold. Blindfolds are used in trust exercises, you moron, and I think it’s clear that I. Don’t. Trust. You!”
I’m shocked when he apologizes. “Sorry. Got distracted.”
This doesn’t placate me. Not one teeny bit. “And you’re meant to be protecting me? What the hell? Jeez, just feed me to the sharks, why don’t you!”
My knees sting like hell but I don’t utter a word of complaint, because let’s face it, Nox doesn’t seem like a giver of fucks. What I have noticed is that his grip on my arm is marginally lighter and he’s walking a lot slower, too. We stop and I hear footsteps, but no one says a word. Some loud mechanical whirring sounds start up and I jump back in fright. Nox squeezes my arm in what I’m sure was meant to be reassurance. It feels more like a threat, though. We walk another short while, then I hear a door creak open, and suddenly, I can see again.
Whoa! Where the hell are we?
This house is fab-u-lous. My mouth gapes and Boo appears by my side. “It’s the shit, huh?”
Eyes wide, I simply nod. I shake my head to clear it. My voice is low and shallow as I ask, “Where are we?”
Boo opens her mouth, but Nox cuts her off. “Safe house.”
More like safe mansion! I scan the room I’m in. It’s not as big as my house but it’s big. And nice. And open. At a glance, I can see a modern kitchen complete with marble countertops, a six-burner stove, and an oven big enough to fit to three Thanksgiving turkeys in it. The dining room has a sixteen-seater mahogany table with matching chairs.
Who the hell entertains for sixteen people? That’s not a dinner party, that’s a freakin’ fiesta.
The sparkling white walls confirm the owners of this house plan to have no children. The chandeliers in the main hall and dining area are large and gleaming. The ceilings are as high as high can be. The furniture is all mahogany and stunning. This place is timeless. This may very well be my dream house. It’s so homey and warm. I love it. But this place is huge. Spinning around, I risk a question that I’m not sure I’ll like the answer to. “Is my family coming here?”
Boo’s face falls and I know the answer before Nox says it. “No, Lily. You’re to remain separated. You won’t have contact with them until the threat we’re protecting you against is gone.”
My heart lurches.
How long will that be?
I don’t risk asking another question I may not like the answer to. Reaching up, I rub my temples with my fingertips. “Can you please tell me what the hell is going on? Why am I here?” Even to me my voice sounds tired and strained.
Silence. I open my tired eyes and look up at Nox. He searches my face. “Eat first.”
Too tired to argue, I nod, and drag my feet after him.
***
Nox
This is bullshit. This is not what I signed up for.
I sneak a glance at Delilah Flynn and I know, I just fucking know that she’s gonna be trouble. As soon as she smashed that vase on Ricky’s head, I knew I was fucked. When you lo
ok at her, you think the word pushover.
You see this pretty girl stuck in the body of a tomboy. She 5’8” and wears a pair of black loose athletic shorts that come just above her knees, a yellow football style tee that’s two sizes too big that comes just above her stomach showing her bellybutton and a pair of white sneakers.
Her choice of clothing doesn’t suit her face.
She’s pretty. And when I say pretty, I mean pretty. And she doesn’t even know it. Which doesn’t help me in the slightest. Her long, dark-reddish hair has half come out of its ponytail. It’s thick and has a wave to it. Her face is clear and her skin has a peaches-and-cream thing going on. She’s pale. Almost like she’s never seen the sun, but it suits her. Her bright-green eyes are encased by long dark lashes. She doesn’t wear a stitch of makeup. She’s naturally pretty. But that hair…that fucking hair. I haven’t seen anything like it. It’s thick and shiny. She’s got nice hair.
And that blows.
When you have a job like mine, you expect to come across contracts that you don’t like from time to time. Solution? Get it done quickly and forget about it. I’m being paid a lot, and I mean a lot, to babysit Miss Delilah Flynn for as long as it takes, so unfortunately, the quick and forget thing might not be happening.
I’m sorely regretting the decision I’ve made. I should’ve passed this job on.
Without a word, I place my hands under her arms and lift Delilah up onto the kitchen counter top. She yelps then growls, “Would you stop picking me up like I’m a freakin’ sack of potatoes!”
Leaving her, I open the cabinet above the pantry, take out the first-aid kit, and bring it over to her. She looks down at the kit with obvious confusion but doesn’t say a thing. I lift her leg and place her foot to rest on my thigh. It’s then she sees her scraped and bloody knees and mutters, “Of course. Great. Just great.”
Dear god, please give me strength to make sure that I don’t become the threat against the girl I’m trying to protect.
This little woman is grating my nerves something fierce. With her smartass comments and talking back, I’m gonna go nuts locked up here with her. Especially when I’m technically not allowed to let her out of my sight for as long as this thing takes. And I don’t know how long that’ll be. As far as I know, the threat hasn’t actually been confirmed just yet.
I tear open an antiseptic wipe, and as soon as I press it to her knee, she squeals then bursts into laughter while trying to kick me away. “No!” She quells her laughter and scowls, “No. Give it here. I don’t like people touching my knees.”
Shaking my head, I wonder why she didn’t just tell me she’s ticklish. I hand her the cloth and she carefully wipes her knees until they’re clean. I take out two square bandages and hand them to her. She places them on her knees and jumps down from the counter.
Shit. Now she actually looks like a kid. Skinned knees and all. And I feel like a prick for checking her out earlier. I know she’s not underage or anything, but firstly, it’s not professional, and secondly, I am not going there, so I shouldn’t even be thinking about her like that. I never get involved with anyone I protect. I distance myself as much as possible. It maintains a clear mind.
Boo carries over a plate full of sandwiches then excuses herself. She’s on watch until midnight, so we won’t see her again until then. As soon as Boo walks out, Rock walks in and jumps up on the counter, semi-glaring at Delilah. “You tried to knock me out, woman.”
Her eyes widen in acknowledgment. She swallows her mouthful of sandwich before she speaks. “I knew that was you in my room! What the hell was with the freaky-slow head shake? Of course I tried to knock you out, bonehead, you kidnapped me!”
“Hey now, we did that for your protection. And by the way, you might’ve connected with my face, but you’ve got a weak hook. All you did was piss me off, babe.” He grins.
“I am not weak. I’m badass.” She scowls at him. Her lips pout a little. It’s pretty damn cute. “And don’t call me babe.”
Fuck.
Rock lifts her hands high into a boxing stance. She watches wide-eyed with complete interest as he shapes her fists the way he wants ‘em. She stands taller and mimics his pose. “What you wanna do is hold ‘em high, but not right in front of your face, just high enough so you can deflect any incoming blows. You might not deflect ‘em all, but you will stop some of ‘em. So what you gotta do is…” Rock looks up at me smiling. His smile fades when he catches the look of disbelief on my face. Clearing his throat, he leans down to Delilah and says, “We’ll continue this lesson later.” And then he’s gone.
Delilah looks up at me while finishing her sandwich; she speaks around her mouthful. “Will you please stop fart-assing around and just tell me what’s going on?”
Picking up another sandwich, I bite into it and watch her. She rolls her eyes at me and nibbles at the rest of her sandwich. I have to show this girl that she can’t demand things of me. There are reasons I do things the way I do them. I do not explain myself to anyone apart from my superior, Mitch. A question sits upon the tip of my tongue, and I just can’t seem to stop myself from asking. “Why don’t you like to be called Delilah? It’s a nice name.”
She scoffs, “Yeah, right.” She swallows the last of her sandwich before picking up another. “Okay. So you know the Bible, right?” I nod. “Well, whenever we were in church and there would be reference to the story of Delilah and Samson, everyone would stare at me. And I mean everyone. Even the freakin’ priest. I didn’t like it then, and I don’t like it now. I prefer Lily.”
“What’s the big deal about that story?” I ask confused. I’m not religious but my mom is. She’d box my ears for not knowing. We were a church going family.
Picking at her sandwich and avoiding my gaze, she answers, “Delilah betrayed Samson. She was basically a nark. She used her sex appeal to her advantage and deceived Samson. She watched while they humiliated him, and that sucks because Samson was a good man. His only crime was falling in love. And she fucked him over…fucked him right up the ass.” She looks up at me, eyes blazing. “Delilah was a gold-digging whore.”
Still confused. “But that’s not you.”
“I know that’s not me. It didn’t stop people from looking at me like I was destined to become someone like her.” She yawns. “Please tell me why I’m here so I can go to bed.”
Since she doesn’t give any appearance of dropping the subject, I figure it’s time to drop the bomb.
“Well, Lily, someone’s trying to kill you.”
Chapter Four
A cell fit for a king
Lily
“What?” I shriek. Shaking, my chest heaves with every heavy breath I take.
Nox looks stunned by my outburst. He stands with his hands outstretched in front of him in a pacifying gesture. “Calm down. You asked, so I told, but you only heard one damn sentence. Let me finish, will ya?”
So many thoughts rush through my head but I can’t seem to voice any of them. I nod and he looks a little more relaxed. “Your father contacted us about a month ago. He asked for protection for your family after someone anonymously sent him a threat. The threat looked false to me so I declined the job, but something didn’t feel right. A few nights ago, I hacked into your father’s email and saw there were other things being sent there. Hate mail and more threats. I immediately saw a pattern regardless of the threats being sent from multiple email addresses. I declined the job because I thought there was nothing to it, but when I saw the other things he hadn’t told me about, I decided to make a snap decision and get y’all out of there quick.” There’s a twang to his voice I hadn’t heard before. “So that’s when we broke into your house, and as you like to call it, kidnapped you.”
I’m stunned speechless. After a few moments silence, I ask quietly, “Why didn’t I know about any of this?”
Nox shrugs. “I assume your dad didn’t want you to worry. I don’t blame him. Women tend to overreact.”
I blink a moment
before I screech, “Someone is trying to kill me! I think I have the right to overreact!”
He runs his hands down his face and mutters, “There she goes again.”
Shaking my head in disbelief, I ask, “What exactly were the threats?”
“One threat. Kidnapping and murder of Miss Delilah Flynn. Just one threat made multiple times.” He says this as if he’s reading out of a diner menu. No feeling. No emotion. Just cold.
I’m confused. “Why me? I don’t go out or anything. I’m at home ninety-nine percent of the time. It doesn’t make sense.”
Nox leans his hip against the kitchen counter. “Well, from the past few days surveillance I’ve had you under, it has shown me that your father is more protective of you than your sister. I think that has something to do with it. But I could be wrong.”
He’s right. My dad is a lot more protective of me than of Terah. I never really understood it. When I asked my parents if I could go to college, dad got angry. He said he expected that one of his girls would take over the business and Terah wasn’t interested. She was already at college. I was basically guilt-tripped into doing an internship at Flynn Logistics. I do all my studies externally in the warehouse office and send it off to a training institute to get signed off. It feels like I’m being home schooled.
I whisper, “Are you wrong a lot?” Holding my eyes, he shakes his head. I sigh, “I was afraid of that.” Then I remember something he said and glower at him. “You had me under surveillance?”
He nods. “Yup. Sure did, darlin’. And don’t look at me like that. You never would’ve known if I hadn’t just told you.”
He’s right again. Shit. Folding my arms in front of my chest, I ask, “How do I know I can trust you?”