Her father awoke at seven-thirty on a Tuesday morning. Dakota had found Adam sipping coffee and staring at the wall of security screens, dressed quickly and drove her to the hospital in record time. Her father’s eyes were tired, but they were open and when she walked into the room, he held his shaky hand out to her and she took it gratefully, kissing the back, unable to keep the tears from falling. He was finally awake, but he was not yet in any position to go home. He had to stay and she needed to be patient.
“Dad, this security thing is unnecessary. I’m staying at the house and no one has tried to hurt me. There haven't been any threats or anything. I think we can let Adam go.”
“No, no, no,” her father whispered from his bed. “You are the only thing in this world that I love, Dakota. I need you to be kept safe. I know you think it’s unnecessary, but do your poor, old father a favor and indulge me in this. Let us keep the security measures until the police know who attacked me. Then, we can talk about it.”
“So, this is a forever thing?” Dakota asked.
“It’s a shame that it has to be this way, but we live in a dangerous world. We could only remain untouched for so long. Now we must be careful.”
“I don’t like it, Dad. It’s smothering.”
“You’ll get used to it. I promise. You just need to be patient, give yourself time to adjust.”
She needed to be patient. Patience was the last thing she was thinking about. She didn’t want to be patient. Dakota would never have admitted it out loud, but she was sick of this hospital. It hurt her to see her father looking so grey and old in the hospital bed. And she was sick of Adam Mendel. He was always there, knowing where Dakota was going to be before she even got up to move. She couldn't open a door anymore without seeing Adam’s smirking face on the other side.
He was always around. He wouldn’t let her drive anywhere on her own; when she came to hospital, he did to. Her benefits, her board meetings, there was always some six-foot biker waiting in the corner. She wanted her life back. She wanted to go to a coffee shop and sip a latte without having someone there who needed to check the exits. She wanted to reopen her house. Seeing the darkened windows and locked off areas depressed her. She wanted to go out when she wanted and leave when she wanted. She was tired of being twenty-six and having a babysitter. She was tired of all her friends asking if he was single. She had no idea and didn’t care to find out.
The last time she had managed to relax was when she had danced alone at Scarred Angels. That was, until Adam had interrupted her and ordered her to leave. Her one chance to be free and forget everything and he had barged in and started giving her orders. She hadn’t been to the women’s shelter or the boys’ home since her father’s accident; she couldn't exactly walk in there with her tall, muscle bound, gun-toting bodyguard.
Waiting was driving her crazy. The police still had no idea who had attacked her father; they had no clues, no leads. Whoever had attacked John Kane had manually opened the gate, driven down the lane, shot up his bedroom, and left. They had no license plate number, no description of the attackers, nothing. One of the richest men in the country had been attacked and no one knew anything.
As Dakota left the hospital for the night, her phone rang and, looking down, she saw it was Elizabeth calling from the Kane Home for Young Boys.
“Hey, Elizabeth. What’s up?” Dakota asked.
“Have you ever heard of a Blinky Bear?” the frazzled voice on the other end of the line asked.
“Blinky Bear? No, what is it.”
“It’s a toy. We have a four year old who was just brought in. His parents were cooking meth in the house. They’ve been arrested and he was pulled. But he’s been crying non-stop for hours because he wants his Blinky Bear.”
“I can go to the house and get it.”
“No, you can’t. The house is covered in dangerous fumes and the bear has been admitted as evidence in the state’s case of abuse against the child. We can’t get his Blinky Bear and every store I’ve called is either closed or doesn’t have it. It’s the new hot-ticket toy.” She stopped and gave a long sigh. Dakota could easily picture Elizabeth on the other end of the line, she would be running her hands through her brown hair and biting her lip. “Do you think you know anyone who might have one?”
“I definitely do. I’ll be there in an hour. Tops.” She was still in her father’s room, but he had fallen back into a deep sleep. After hanging up the phone, she walked over to his bed and looked down at him. His face was ashy and grey, and incredibly still. Dakota laid her hand against his chest to feel his heartbeat, but it was so light and slow. She leaned over and kissed his forehead, turned off all the lights, and quietly closed the door behind her.
Adam was, of course, in the chair outside the room. There was a nurse with a chart looming over him, and giving a little giggle at something he said. It was impossible for Adam to go anywhere and not have some pretty young thing throw herself at him. When the nurse saw Dakota, she stood up straight and her face flushed red with embarrassment, but Adam barely moved, unashamed as always.
“Are you ready to leave?” he asked, standing slowly.
Dakota opened her mouth, ready to explain the trip she needed to make, and then she closed it again. He didn’t need to know, and it would be so nice to get out of the house and away from him. Just to have a minute to herself. She wanted to drive her own car and listen to Taylor Swift and sing along without anyone around to hear her. So instead, she just said, “yes, thank you.”
The drive home was quiet; Adam drove the speed limit, taking them through the darkening city streets.
“I’ll be taking the night off,” Adam said. “One of my associates, Mike, will be in the house all night if you need anything.”
“Of course, thank you,” Dakota said, she wondered why he would need a night off. What would he be doing with himself? Despite being in close confined quarters they had spoken very rarely, and nothing they said had any depth to it. She didn’t know anything about Adam and he, well, probably knew a great deal about her. But it was all stuff that could be found on the Internet. He didn’t know the real her, almost no one did. When you had as much money as Dakota Kane, everyone was suspect. Almost everyone she had ever met had wanted something from her, and most of the men she had been serious with just wanted to make a business contact of her father. Dakota knew Adam was just doing a job. She didn’t want to make friends with him just to have him disappear when the checks stopped coming in.
She looked up at him, at the parts of him she could see in the rear view mirror. His dark eyes were fixed on the road, there were little crinkles in the corners, and a stray lock of dark hair hung over his forehead. She had forgotten that she was starting and when his eyes flicked to the rear view mirror, the eye contact shocked Dakota and she had to look away.
Like a chaste prom date Adam dropped her off at the front door and drove the car around back. She went upstairs, but from her window she could see Adam and Mike talking near the garage. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Adam was doing most of the talking, pointing at the house and Mike was nodding. They laughed about something and Adam clapped Mike on the shoulder. She watched as Adam slung one leg over his bike and settled into the seat. Mike gave one last wave and Dakota heard the low roar of the bike and watched as Adam drove off down the lane.
Twenty minutes later and she was in the garage. She had told Mike that she was tired and was just going to read in her room and go to bed. She showered, dressed in a simple pair of jeans and sneakers, and tiptoed down the stairs. She passed the gym and heard clinking and the occasional grunt and figured Mike was making good use of the weights. At least someone was, her father had spent thirty thousand dollars on that gym ten years ago and had maybe spent ten minutes total in there since.
She opened the back door quietly and closed it. There were sensors on all of the doors, but they were meant to keep people out, not in. Dakota knew the codes and she rearmed the door before closing it behind her. She hurried to the garage and walked passed all the ridiculous cars her father had bought and never driven, and found her little Prius parked all the way in the back. The Prius was silent under five miles an hour, so she turned it on, left the garage, and slowly, silently, with the lights off, drove down the driveway and out into freedom.
One she was free of the gate, Dakota lowered all of the windows in her car, turned on the lights and sped up. The wind whipped her hair around as music blasted from the stereo. She let herself relax into the seat and drove down the lane, feeling like a bird who had finally managed to break free of its cage.
Adam had only made it about twenty feet off the Kane compound when he felt his cellphone buzz in his pocket. Annoyed, he pulled his bike over and turned it off. He figured it was Mike who had some questions about something in the house. He wanted nothing more than to ignore it; he had big plans to just drive. It was a beautiful and cool night and he wanted to take full advantage of it. He also thought it might be good to get away from Dakota for a night. He was watching her constantly, more than was probably necessary. He didn’t like Dakota Kane; spoiled party girls weren’t really his type, but he couldn’t deny how beautiful she was. The curve of her back, the swoop of her neck, the way her ass looked when she walked, he needed to stop thinking about it, about her. He just needed a break. Maybe if he saw someone else, it would make him stop imagining that she was standing in front of him wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her, her hair and skin still wet from the shower. She would stand before him and slowly drop the towel...
“Yeah,” he said into the phone. It was Joey, something about the club, nothing bad, just an update. But Adam wasn’t listening. His mouth had fallen open because he could have sworn he just saw Dakota Kane in her Prius drive past him.
“Joey, I gotta go,” he said ending the call and calling Mike in one swift movement. He felt something swelling in his chest; it was anger mixed with disbelief. Where was she going that she couldn’t tell him? Why would she sneak out of the house? Didn’t she know she was in charge, that he would have taken her anywhere she needed to go.
Unless...the thought hit him, and settled uncomfortably in his stomach. He knew there was really only place she could be going, one thing she could be doing. She was going to meet someone. A man, some secret fling she had on the side. Was Adam really so dumb to think that a woman like Dakota Kane stayed on her couch on a Saturday night? Did he actually think she was single and, therefore, might have had a shot? Obviously Dakota Kane wasn’t the type of woman who needed to work for a man’s attention. She could have any man she wanted with the snap of her perfect fingers. All she would have to say was “meet me” and any man would have jumped up to do her bidding.
“Mike, is she in the house?” Adam asked, cutting off any pleasantries.
“Said she wanted to read and stay in tonight. Haven't heard anyone leave, the alarms are set and nothing’s gone off.”
“It’s her house. She knows how to disable the alarms.”
“Shit,” he could imagine Mike walking through the Kane house, jogging up from the weight room to her bedroom. He heard Mike knock on the door and call out, “Miss Kane?” There was no answer.
“Open the door,” Adam ordered.
“Miss Kane,” Mike called out again. “Shit, she left. I was around, Adam. She knew where I was; if she wanted to go anywhere, I would have taken her.”
“It’s not on you, Mike. She clearly snuck out. I’ll track her down, you stay there and call me if she shows up.”
“Got it, boss,” Mike answered. Adam called the security company that handled the Kane’s mansion. He gave them the password and answered about a dozen security questions, but they told him the back door had been deactivated and then reactivated. The good news was that Dakota’s car had a GPS in it and the GPS was on. According to the security company, the car was parked at a lot on Market Street near the giant Macy’s in Center City. Shaking his head in annoyance Adam revved his bike as loud as he could and took off for the city.
He got to the parking lot and found the Prius, but no Dakota. He knew she was inside shopping, but she would need to get her car. She couldn’t leave it here overnight. He needed to talk to her, to convince her that he was on her side. He had arrived at the garage five minutes ago and had changed his strategy about five times. At first he was going to wait for her at the Prius. She would come walking up to the car shopping bags in hand and he would take her by the arm and remind her that they weren’t playing around. This wasn’t a game, someone had tried to murder her father, and she couldn’t ditch her security. He would tell her that if she wanted to go meet someone, Adam wouldn’t stop her; he knew how to be discrete. Problem was, every time he got the part about this hypothetical other guy, he had the strongest urge to punch the cement wall next to him. Was he really going to drive her to some guy’s house for a hookup? The answer had to be yes, he reminded himself. This was his job; he couldn’t be a jealous boyfriend. He wasn’t her boyfriend; he was her employee; and one she didn’t seem to like very much.
Then he thought about having the security company unlock the door so he could hide in the backseat and surprise her. But then he figured that as mad as he was, it would be incredibly cruel to do that to someone who had just seen their father brutally attacked. The best option was a female bodyguard for nights like this. But, while Adam had female bartenders and servers, none of them were trained to be bodyguards. He would have to remedy that, but that would take time.
When Dakota emerged from the elevator, Adam still wasn’t sure what his play was going to be. All of the sudden she was there and he had no ideas. He was lost in looking at her. This was the most relaxed he had ever seen her; she looked positively normal, wearing blue skinny jeans, a blue and white striped top, and black flats with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She could have been any woman shopping; she could have been Adam’s girlfriend, out buying him a gift. She was carrying a large Macy’s bag in her hand, but he couldn’t see what she had purchased. He watched as she got into the car and started the engine. She hadn’t seen him, had no idea he was there, so when she left the parking lot, Adam was following behind her.
She continued down Broad Street. She was a careful driver; she stopped at yellows and always used her turn signals. She let people in and didn’t cut anyone off. If there was anything Adam appreciated, it was good driving. He followed her for a few blocks and then wondered what exactly he was going to do. Was he going to confront her in the lobby of her hookup’s building? Sure, great idea; that wouldn’t be awkward at all. Maybe he would order her to go home, maybe he would demand to see this guy’s apartment, tell her he needed to check everything out. Yes, that was a great idea, get a real good look at whoever she was hooking up with, and really take the time to appreciate this guy’s penthouse apartment in the best part of town. This way Adam could easily compare it to his two-bedroom apartment in an “up and coming” neighborhood. For the first time, Adam began to wonder if this job was out of his depth.
But she kept driving south, past the high rises and the good neighborhoods. He kept expecting her turn signal, but she just kept going. The cars around them thinned out and Adam gave himself more distance even though it was the last thing he wanted. It shouldn’t have taken him this long to realize where they were going. He had the address memorized; he had lived there from eight to eleven, until his uncle had been released from prison and came and got him.
Before it had been turned into the Kane Home for Boys, the building had been an all-girls school – a finishing school where privileged young ladies learned the correct way to drink tea and send out invitations or do whatever it was that girls did with themselves back then. Dakota’s grandmother had bought it in the fifties when the city had been at one of its lowest points. She had turned it into a home for boys. It had been one of the first mixed race orphanages in existence. Adam couldn’t complain. When he had stayed there, the place had been as nice as a place like that could be. There had been TVs and computers, a basketball court, tutors to help with homework. But it was still an orphanage. The kids who stayed there had lost parents, or been abandoned by them. They had known too much darkness in their childhood to appreciate the light.
After Adam left, he never came back. He had lived with his uncle, helping in the auto-shop and joining the club when he was old enough to drive. He never thought he would come back here. He felt numb, disconnected, like he had been separated from his body, like he was watching himself watching Dakota. Then, things got weird.
Adam had parked on the other side of the street, and Dakota had no idea he was watching her. She jumped out the car and pulled a brand new teddy bear of its packaging. She took the bear and hit it against the car several times. She grabbed it by its arms and pulled on it, and then she was grabbing chunks of its fake fur and pulling, like she was trying to rip it off. She was unhappy with her progress; she kept looking at the bear and shaking her head and then abusing it again.
Slowly Adam got off his bike and walked towards her. Her back was too him and his boots were silent on the pavement. She was hunched over the bear, trying to further torture it when Adam calmly said, “Hey.”
“Jesus Christ!” Dakota screamed, jumping up and turning around holding the bear at arm’s length like it could protect her in some way. When she saw who it was, she breathed out and stared daggers at him. “Don’t sneak up on me like that. God, I think my heart actually stopped.”
“You know what helps avoid having someone sneak up on you?” Adam asked. “Having your bodyguard with you.”
“I was just running a quick errand,” Dakota said, allowing herself to relax. “How did you find me? Did you follow me?”
“You drove right past me. I checked the GPS location of your car. I’ve been following you since Macy’s.”
“Stupid, dumb technology,” she muttered.
“What’s up with the bear?” Adam asked. “Did it offend you or your family in some way?”
“It’s for a kid in there. It’s a long story. He wants his Blinky Bear, but the bear is currently being used as evidence in a criminal trial. I called in a few favors to get this, but it looks too new. He’ll know it’s not his.”
“You can rough it up all you want, but it won’t smell like home.”
“I was going to tell him the bear took a trip to the cleaners to look nice for him and that’s why it smells different,” she said using the back of her hand to toss a stray strand of hair off of her forehead.
“Sounds like a solid plan. You could have told me or Mike and we would have come with you. You really shouldn’t be sneaking off at night.”
“Look, no offense, but those kids in there have experienced some rough stuff. And I can’t have you bring a gun in there, or be looking at everyone with suspicion. It’s just not a good vibe for them, you know?” Dakota said.
And then Adam understood; she thought him tough and intimidating. She thought he wouldn’t know how to act around the kids in there. She had no idea that he had been one of those kids once, but why would she? He had never told her. She had no idea how ill he felt just standing next to the building, or how he had tortured himself by thoughts of her with another man. She thought he was just another hired gun.
“Yeah. I know,” Adam said, “And you know that I can leave my gun locked in the glove compartment and dial down the suspicious looks. You just have to talk to me and tell me what you want.”
“I want to drive,” she said staring at him.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” he answered with a shake of his head. And she couldn’t help but smile.
“Do you think this bear looks rough enough?” she asked. Adam took it in his hands; she had done a good job on it. The fur was thin in some spots, but he knew what this kid’s actual toy had looked like. There had probably been cigarette burns on it, beer spilled on it, it would have a musty smell from being left out on the porch in the rain.
“I think it looks great; give him the cleaners’ story. He’ll buy it.”
“Thanks,” she said. “Do you want to come in? You can leave the gun in my glove compartment.”
Adam finally allowed himself to look up at the building. In twenty years, it hadn’t changed. It was an imposing brick building about eight stories tall. There were bars on the windows, but, still, they had tried to make it look nice. Blue and white curtains hung from the windows and the lights were still on in many of the rooms. He wondered what the game room looked like now, if they still had the garden on the roof. He wanted to know and didn’t want to know all at the same time.
“I’ll wait out here, if you promise to come out this door when you’re done.”
“Promise,” she answered gently taking the bear back from him.
“You’re sure you’re okay to wait outside?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he answered, grateful his voice didn’t crack.
She turned slowly and walked up the front steps, using a swipe card to let herself in. When the door opened ,warm light spilled out into the street and over Dakota’s thin frame. It was winter when Adam had been moved to the Kane Home for Young Boys. It had snowed a few days before, and there was slush and dirty snow everywhere. The last time he had seen his family, they had been scrambling around the house, screaming at each other and flushing drugs down anything that had a drain: the sink, the toilet, the shower. And then a loud banging on the door. Adam had been crying to his mother; he had no idea what was happening. His last view of her had been her red face screaming at him to be quiet, her hair a mess around her head. Adam had gone to his parents’ room and hunkered down in the closet. Everything smelled like the menthols they smoked. It was quiet and dark in the closet, which Adam found comforting. When the police broke down the door and shouted orders, Adam had tried his hardest to make himself invisible. He hugged his sides and closed his eyes, and when a cop inevitably checked the closet, they found him curled up in a ball so tight he retained that shape as someone picked him up and carried him out to the car. His father had died in prison. His mother got out five years later and skipped town; he had never seen her again.
It was his Uncle Bill, his father’s younger brother that came and got him. Bill had been doing five for running coke; he was denied parole for fighting in prison, but when heard where Adam was, he cleaned up his act and got out. He got a job and an apartment and promised Adam would never have to go back.