“Did you get the package I sent you?”
“Yes, I got your package. The blood was a little dramatic though, don’t you think?” I felt Jones shift in his seat beside me but he still remained silent.
Devin chuckled. “It would be more dramatic if I used my own blood but alas, I did not.”
“Whose blood is it?” I asked, sitting up straighter.
“What would you say if I told you it was Parker’s?”
“What?” I croaked out.
“You heard me.”
I shook my head. “No. You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
“Devin, he’s dead. He—”
“Listen, you little bitch. I know that Parker is alive. Do not fucking lie to me.”
“You don’t know shit!” I screamed.
“I know that he came to see you a couple of weeks ago. I know he gave you a heart pendant. I also know that he loves you and that it will cost you both in the end.”
“What the hell do you want, Devin?” I asked softly, fingering the gold pendant on the chain around my neck.
“You’ll see.”
I let out a yell of frustration when the line was disconnected. “Jones, drive faster. Please.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He tipped his hat, his grip on the steering wheel tightening.
We drove in silence but my mind continued playing everything over and over that had happened over the past few weeks. Meeting Parker months before. Being with him in ways I never even knew existed. My body ached. For him. His touch. God, I needed him to just hold me. To tell me that everything would be okay.
“He misses you,” Jones said, breaking the nerve-wracking silence.
“I miss him,” I responded, my voice thick.
“I can’t see him staying away much longer.”
“He can’t come to me. No one knows that he’s alive, Jones.”
“Devin does,” he mumbled.
“Yeah,” I scoffed. “I don’t know how.”
“I’ve been with Parker since the beginning. He’s like a little brother to me, Keely.”
I swallowed hard and met his warm gaze.
“He’s doing this for you.”
I nodded. “I know and I’m doing this for him.”
“Both of you are strong but together?” He smirked. “You’ll fucking bring Devin down.”
My eyes widened. To my knowledge, Jones didn’t swear; it was a bit of a shock, to say the least. “Well, that won’t happen if I never see Parker again.” My chest tightened at that thought. To never see the man that I loved...we hadn’t been together for long but I knew that I wasn’t strong enough to deal with that.
I MADE my way up the steps towards the FBI building, before I was stopped by Agent Cross once I rounded the corner.
His jet-black hair was messy like he had been finger combing it all day. “Checking me out, Miss Price?”
My jaw clenched. Under normal circumstances, he and Parker would get along well. “I came to deliver this to you,” I said, ignoring his question.
His sparkling brown eyes glanced at the large box in my hands.
“It’s from Devin.” I handed him the package.
Cross frowned. “He knows where you’re living?”
“Yes.”
“And you still live there because...”
“Because it’s my home. Devin won’t show up,” I explained, crossing my arms under my chest.
“How can you be so sure of that? Look at what he’s done already.”
“Because I know him. Devin Tate is a sadistic fuck, but he won’t come back to me until he wants something.”
“Doesn’t he always want something?”
I searched Cross’ face. “You asked me who Devin is. By the questions you’re asking, it sounds like you already know.”
He kept a straight face. “I was waiting for you to tell me more.”
“So not going to happen.”
“Miss Price.”
“Goodbye, Agent Cross,” I said, spinning on my heel.
“Keely.” Cross grabbed my arm.
I looked at his fingers on my arm before meeting his gaze.
He cleared his throat, releasing me. “Listen. I want to help you but I can’t if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t even know what’s going on,” I cried, startling a few pedestrians as they walked by us.
Cross’ eyes softened. “We can grab lunch and chat in my office.”
I held back an eye roll. “Isn’t that a little unprofessional?”
“It’s just lunch.”
“Sorry. I’m taken.”
“Parker is dead.”
I glared up at him. “Not in my heart.” I turned and headed back to the limo, parked a block away.
Seeing Parker’s name and the tributes to him in the tabloids and newspaper made my heart clench. I knew he wasn’t dead. Jones and Colin Vain, Parker’s security guard, knew that he was very much alive. But no one else knew. It broke my heart seeing his friends and staff mourn their loss and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
Past
NEED you to help me die.”
“Excuse me?” I stared wide-eyed at Parker sitting across from me on the bed. “You want me to help you with what?”
He sighed and scrubbed his hands down his face a couple of times before meeting my gaze. “I need to disappear and the only way I can do that is if we allow the public to think that I’m dead. Devin needs to think that I’m no longer in the way.”
“But won’t that just make him come after me sooner?” I asked, my heart racing against my rib cage.
“No. You and I both know that Devin will never believe that I’m actually dead but we need to put the idea in his mind. It’ll drive him fucking crazy. And when he starts seeing it all over the news, he’ll have to believe it eventually.”
I jumped from the bed, pacing back and forth. “I can’t do this. I can’t help you die, Parker. That’s too close to home. It’s…no.” I shook my head. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. You’re strong. You can do this. For me. Please.”
I stopped pacing and glanced his way. “How can we do this? I’m a hacker. I know nothing about faking people’s deaths.”
“The CIA can make people disappear. Colin has already agreed to help me.”
“But you need me to help as well,” I finished for him.
He nodded slowly. “I could have done it without telling you but after everything you have been through, I didn’t want to do that to you.”
“You don’t think my fragile mind can take it?”
He frowned. “I never said that.”
I looked away. “You didn’t have to.” The hairs on my body tingled when I felt him come up behind me.
Parker placed his large hands on my shoulders, squeezing, pouring the strength from his very being into me. He was so strong. I couldn’t do this. I refused. But I didn’t have a choice, did I? If he did it on his own and then I would never know if he was alive or not. Or I could help him and know for sure that he was very much alive and breathing.
“Help me. Please,” he whispered in my ear.
“How are we going to do this?” I asked, softly placing my hands on top of his.
“We’ll set up a scene at my apartment. Colin will take care of the rest. The only thing I need from you is to act like it’s real. The media needs to see you break.”
I nodded, letting out a deep breath. Turning in his arms, I grazed my fingers over his hard abs. “When you come back to me, and I know you will, you’ll have to help me. I am fragile.”
“No.” He pinched my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “You are fucking strong. The strongest person I have ever met. We will get through this together. Do you hear me?”
“Parker.”
“I said, do you hear me?” he repeated, his voice firm.
“Yes. Sir. I hear you.”
“Good girl.” He placed a soft peck on my lips. “You won’t know when this will ha
ppen. There won’t be a body. But there will be a funeral.”
My eyes widened. “I have to bury you?”
“We need to make this as real as real can be.”
“Parker, this is fucking crazy. Let’s just go bang Devin’s door down and destroy him!” I cried. “I’ll do the hacking job he wants me to do. I’ll do anything. As long as you stay with me.”
“No!” he yelled. “I refuse to have you working for that bastard again. You give in once and he’ll be right back at your door, demanding you do another job for him.”
“But I can’t bury you!” I screamed, shoving out of his grip.
“It won’t be me.” He wrapped his arms around my shoulders as I fell to the floor. “It won’t be me, angel.”
Sobs wracked through my body. “I can’t. I’m not strong enough for this. I was just getting better. You were helping me get better. I need your dominance. I can’t do this without you.”
“Shhh…” he whispered against my hair. “You have me. You have my heart. My notes.”
“They don’t do shit,” I snapped, roughly wiping the tears from under my eyes.
“Angel, I need you here with me. I can’t do this if you don’t agree.”
Him begging only made me cry harder. If only we could have a normal life. A normal relationship. But no, I had to help my boyfriend die. The love of my life. The man who promised to take away my nightmares and replace them with dreams of him.
“I’ll help you,” I whispered.
His big body relaxed. “Thank you.”
I knew then that this would be the last time I would see him for God knows how long. Although his death was fake, I felt like I actually lost a piece of myself. My heart.
OW WAS your meeting with Agent Cross?” Jones asked as I slipped into the passenger seat.
I rolled my eyes. “He’s worse than a nagging five year old.” I turned to Jones. “But he knows stuff. So does Devin.” I scrubbed my hands down my face. “I don’t know how they know but they do. He was asking me how I helped Parker die. It’s all so…so…confusing.”
“Don’t worry, Miss Price.”
I scoffed. “How can I not? I’m going to go to fucking jail for this shit.”
“Keely.”
My eyes widened as a deep, muffled voice washed over my skin. The smooth vibrato that I hadn’t heard in so long made the hairs on my body tingle. “Parker?”
The window separating the front seat from the back lowered halfway. “Act natural, angel. Do not turn around.”
My body was vibrating with the need to see him but I listened. “I’ve missed you,” I said softly. It was an understatement. I felt like I hadn’t slept in weeks.
“I...” He cleared his throat. “I’ve missed you too. More than you’ll ever know.”
Tears welled in my eyes. “I ran out of hearts twenty-eight days ago.” The little plastic hearts that had been filled with notes were scattered around his cottage, reminding me of him.
“I know.”
“Where are we going?” I sat up when I noticed that Jones was turning onto the freeway.
“Do you trust me?” Parker asked.
“With all of me,” I said softly.
“Keely, please forgive me for the shit I’ve kept from you. Jones, tell her where we are headed.”
I frowned and waited for some sort of explanation from either of them.
Jones nodded once. “Colin Vain and I have known each other our whole lives.”
“Really?” I asked, curling my feet under me.
He nodded. “Our mothers are best friends.”
“Okay. So...”
“Patience, pet,” Parker whispered in my ear. He was close behind me and I could feel the heat of his breath caress my skin.
It took everything in me not to turn around. Not to jump into the back seat with him and wrap myself around his hard body but I had a few choice words to say to him first. “Patience,” I scoffed. “Do you realize how much patience I’ve had in the past couple of months, Parker?”
“Keely,” he said, his voice filled with warning.
“No! Cross is fucking with my head. One minute he’s asking where you are, how I helped you die and the next he’s calling you on the phone from my cell phone. Patience.” I shook my head. “Please.”
“Cross will pay for breaching your privacy.”
“I don’t want that.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. “God, I just want this over. I hate having to look over my shoulder. I hate that I can’t even look at you.”
“I know,” he said, softly.
“Colin and I have a cottage in the middle of nowhere, about seven hours from here. No one knows about it except for Parker.” Jones looked down at me. “You’ll be safe.”
“Are you staying with me, Parker?” I asked, bracing myself for him to tell me that he’s leaving once again.
“Yes.”
My head whipped around. “You are? What about Reed Industries? What about Troy?”
“I’m still going to lay low. You can run the company from your laptop.”
“I don’t have a laptop. Agent Cross seized it when they picked me up this morning.”
“That doesn’t mean shit. Wait until you see the piece of machinery I got for you,” Parker said, clearly proud of his present.
“What about Troy?” I asked again.
“You’ll tell him that you needed some time away.”
“Jones, please stop at the next service station,” I said, my voice firm.
Jones glanced into the rear view mirror. “Keely, I don’t think—”
“Please.”
“Jones, it’s okay,” Parker said, reassuring him.
I breathed a sigh of relief when Jones nodded.
“I saw you talking to Agent Cross.” Parker’s voice lowered, dripping with contempt at the mere mention of the other man.
“You did?” I sat up straighter. “Where were you?”
“Around. What did he want, Keely?”
I sighed, picking at the hem of my dress. “He picked me up this morning, as you know. He seems to think that he knows all of the answers.”
“Does he?”
“I don’t know. He asked me who Devin is but then he acts like he knows him. I don’t know. I’m so confused.”
“Devin sent you a package,” Parker stated, his voice cold.
“Yeah. It was a box of roses with…blood on them.”
“Shit.”
“Parker, he told me that the blood belonged to you. When was the last time you saw him?”
“Not since before we faked my death. But he must at least have a feeling that I’m still alive . The fucker isn’t stupid.”
I nodded in agreement. This whole situation was enough to drive anyone mad. A part of me wanted to just hand myself over to Devin to give him what he wanted but I knew that that would backfire. If only I could do the hacking that he wanted me to do from far away. Like in another country. But Devin would have none of that. He wanted to see me squirm. Right now, I just needed to spend as much time with Parker as possible. While I could. We would get through this together. We had to.
AS SOON as we stopped a half an hour later, I made sure to casually exit the limo and headed to the back. I took a breath and pulled open the door before sliding onto the seat. I swallowed hard when my gaze landed on Parker sitting on the other side of the limo.
The air around him screamed power and seduction. His emerald green eyes captivated me, pulling me in. “Come here, pet.”
Chewing my bottom lip, I rung my hands in my lap, looking down. I hesitated. I didn’t want to but what if he left me again? What if this would be it? The final goodbye?
“Keely,” his voice was firm but desperate. “Please.”
Tears burned my eyelids and I shook my head. “I can’t…I can’t do this without knowing that you are staying for good.”
His breath caught. The next thing I knew, his hands wrapped around mine. Parker knelt before me, kissing each of my k
nuckles, my fingertips and then my palms. “Every day I wake up, even more sorry than the last, knowing how much I hurt you. But I will spend the rest of my life, begging for your forgiveness.”
The tears flowed freely down my cheeks at that point. “I had every intention of coming in here and wrapping myself around you. But I…” I met his gaze. “I love you too much to let you go again. I can’t do that. Please don’t ask me to do that again.”
Parker pulled me down into his lap, his arms wrapping around me in a much-needed embrace.
My body relaxed against him and I allowed myself to just feel his warmth, his breath in my hair. His hands massaged and caressed my back. No words were said. We only held.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered against my neck. “How can I ever expect for you to forgive me?”
I leaned back and cupped his cheeks. “I love you; I will forgive you. I just need…I need you. I need to know that you won’t leave me again.”
Leaning his forehead against mine, he brushed his hand up and down my arm before linking our fingers. “I promise you with everything in me, I will not leave you again.”
Crashing my mouth to his, I licked between his lips, inhaling the scent of his breath deep into the pit of my lungs.
He groaned, placing me on the bench. “I’ve missed you. So fucking much.”
Scratching my nails into his thick neck, I wrapped my legs around his waist.
“Tell me you’re mine,” he said, pushing his hips into me. “Tell me that you’ll forgive me.”
“I’m yours,” I whispered against his mouth. “Always. Forever. And I will forgive you.”
“Say it,” he growled, digging his fingers into my hips.
“I love you. Parker. My love.”
He released my mouth and brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. “So beautiful.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks. “I can’t believe I’m kissing you again. After all this time.”
He placed a soft peck on my forehead. “I know.”
His piercing green eyes held the same heat that had captivated me from the very beginning. I knew we needed to talk but at that moment I needed his physical touch more than anything.
His eyes darkened, a slight smirk spreading on his handsome face.