SUMMER

 

THREE MONTHS LATER

The final school bell rings, sending shockwaves through my ears as I reach for the eraser to begin cleaning the day’s work off the oversized dry-erase board. The students rise from their seats, slinging their bags over their backs before rushing out of the room.

The weather is still nice outside though autumn is looming overhead. It’s always nice out here though, especially compared to other parts of the country. People are willing to spend ten times more in Los Angeles, and a lot of that has to do with the always beautiful weather.

Once the room is tidied up and all the students have abandoned ship, I sling my purse over my shoulder and exit out into the hallway. I prop the door open so the janitorial staff can mop the floors over the long holiday weekend and then I’m on my way.

My heels click against the tiled surface of the hallways. These days, I find that I walk with more confidence in my step. My sister says that I’m turning into her, which is the highest compliment I could ever receive. I had always lived in her shadow but due to recent events, I’ve begun to come into my own person.

I’m more confident. I glow more. I no longer live in the shadows, living alone in a house that I loved but never really left. Some people say they don’t recognize me, but I’m just assuming those people have never actually met me.

The soft autumn breeze curls through my straightened hair once I push through the double doors of the school and step out into the light of the sun. I take a hard right and head towards the teachers’ parking lot, digging my keys from my purse as I approach my car.

I unlock my car from a distance and just when I’m about to pull the door open, a shadow falls over me. I’ve been trying lately to escape the feeling of always being followed. I’ve been trying to understand that paranoia is oftentimes unjustified, but what happened to my sister and I can never be erased. It can never be changed. It’ll stick with me until the day I die.

I dig back into my purse and palm my hand around a canister of mace, pull it from my purse and spin around to face whoever it is behind me. I’m armed and dangerous and—“Jesus Christ, you scared the hell out of me.” I drop the mace back into my purse and shake my head in disbelief that she’d do something so stupid. I slap a hand across my sister’s chest. “What is wrong with you?”

“I was just in the neighborhood and I thought I’d come over and see my sister.” She cocks a wide smile. “Is that such a crime?”

“It’s just…” I sigh and comb one hand through my hair, exhaling sharply. “Most days, I’m good but other days… I don’t know. I was fine today until you sneaked up on me.”

She leans against my car and crosses her arms. “You know that I was the one who was kidnapped, right?”

“Those images never quite leave me, so I’m aware.” I drop my head and swallow, and then force a smile because a smile makes everything easier. “How do you do it?”

“Well, as you know I didn’t handle it very well for the first few days. But then I realized I had to be strong for Rick and his recovery, and while pretending to be strong, I just kind of became stronger and pushed it all away.” She reaches forward and pushes a long strand of hair out of my face. “We can’t live the rest of our lives in fear, otherwise that man will have won.”

“Yeah.” I nod and then move to change the conversation if for no other reason than I can go back to living in denial. It’s terrifying how quickly my mood can change anymore. Just a few minutes ago, I was on top of the world. All it took was a shadow passing over my shoulder for me to revert back into the same old scared little girl. “What brings you to this side of town, anyway?”

“Oh, I was just dropping something off to a friend.”

I cast a curious hook of my eyes towards her. “That sounds suspicious.”

“It’s really not.” She chuckles as she reaches into her purse. “And while I was doing that, I went to the mall and got something.” She retrieves a replica of the diamond pendant that still hangs around my neck, although I keep it out of sight and underneath my blouse at all times now. I never want to be a target again. “For some reason, it reminds me of the bond we have as sisters and since I never got mine back from those people, I figured it was time to go out and get a replacement.”

I stand there stunned, dazed and confused. “You went back to that mall?”

“God no,” she scoffs as she droops the necklace around her neck. “I’m not that strong.” She fondles the pendant in her hand and then looks up to me. “Maybe someday, but that day isn’t now. I can do a lot of things but I just can’t go back to that place right now.”

“I don’t think I ever will.”

“You will, someday.” She forces a smile, but my eyes are anywhere else.

I’m lost in the way her diamond sparkles underneath the early evening sun. She wears it for all the world to see like she’s not afraid it could paint a target on her back again. I wish I had that strength to be open and free. I make the choice right then to retrieve my own necklace from underneath my shirt and drape it across my chest.

“I really appreciate you stopping by to see me. The four of us should go get some dinner sometime this week and catch up.”

“Rick and I would love that.” She reaches her arms out for me and I fall right into her, allowing her to engulf my body in a tight squeeze. She raises her head slightly and whispers to me, “You’re stronger than you think. You always have been.”

“I wish that were true,” I say lowly as I retreat from the embrace. “Someday, I suppose I feel like it is, but other days… I just don’t know.”

“You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.”

“You’re just saying that because you have to, because you’re my sister.”

“I’m saying it because it’s true,” she says pointedly and shakes her head with a contemplative sigh. “You deserve everything in this world and I need you to promise me that when good fortune falls into your lap that you don’t push it away.”

“What? Do you think I’m going to win the lottery or something?” I punch her playfully at her shoulder and laugh quietly.

“Something like that.” She clears her throat and passes me a warm smile. “I should get going. I’m supposed to be picking Rick up from therapy in ten minutes.”

I cock a brow. “Isn’t that all the way on the other side of town?”

“Yeah,” she chuckles heartedly. “Good thing he’s patient.”

“I love you, Taylor.”

“Love you too, kiddo.” She paces backwards, her eyes leveling with mine. “I’ll see you for dinner later this week.”

“Can’t wait.” I wave goodbye and wait for her to disappear across the street before climbing into my car and turning the ignition. What should be cool air blowing through the vents is hot and heavy air, but I just sit in silence as I continue to watch my sister make her way to her car in the parking lot adjacent to me.

I wish I could be more like her.

That’s when I make the choice to be more like her. Everything in this life that is worthy is worth fighting for. I want to be strong so I’m going to be strong. No longer will it be an act. From this moment on, I will never be a victim again.

# # #

I park my car outside the Ford Security warehouse beside the rest of the company cars. There are no personal cars here today as Chase assured me everyone would be off duty. It’s been three months and I still get the feeling that I’m not exactly welcome here, but I come anyways, sometimes to watch Chase work, and other times to just chill out.

For whatever reason, I feel the safest inside the brick walls of the hideout buried deep beneath the ground. It’s the safest place on earth as far as I’m concerned and that includes being safer than whatever hideout the President of the United States uses in times of distress. But that’s also mostly because I know there’s no way I’d ever have access to that place.

I swing my feet out of the car and pry my heels off to replace them with something a little more comfortable and a little more appropriate—an old, worn pair of white sneakers.

# # #

Chase and I stand in the elevator side by side as the elevator descends down into the basement level. Once we reach our destination, Chase taps me on the shoulder.

“What?” I question him curiously as he points to the retina scanner. “Yeah, I know what that is. I’ve seen it a hundred times.”

“Just look at it.”

“I am,” I scowl. “I’m looking right at it.”

Just then, blue lasers flash over my eyes and the elevator door slides open. I roll my eyes over to him. “What did you do?”

He shrugs. “I had Marcus program your beautiful eyes into the system so now you can come here whenever you want.”

“Does Dom know?”

“Not exactly.” He grimaces and pulls me out of the elevator onto solid ground. The large open space is darker than usual with only emergency lights powered on. The computer monitors are jet black and there’s nobody to be seen. “He’s not going to be happy about it, but if he reacts too strongly about it, I’ll point the finger of blame squarely at Marcus.”

My eyes peel over to him. “I’m sure he’s going to love that.”

“Hey,” he throws his hands up into the air, proclaiming his innocence. “I have no idea how to do that programming crap, so technically I have nothing to do with it.”

“Whatever you say, babe.”

“Babe?” He stops dead in his tracks and turns to me. “Did you just call me babe?”

There’s a period of awkward silence where I try to reconcile saying that word out loud. It’s the first time. We’ve been dating seriously for the last three months, but those words had never passed over my lips until now. “Don’t gloat about it.”

“Whatever you say, babe,” he says with a flashy grin, repeating my own words right back at me. And I have to admit it feels nice and it feels natural. “So why did you want to meet here today anyway?”

I drop down into the first of two computer chairs and watch as he takes a seat beside me. He spins in his chair to face me with his long legs kicked outwards. “I ran into my sister earlier and she said something that got me thinking.”

“What is that?”

I lean forward and sigh, close my eyes. I’ve never been one to be openly vulnerable, but he makes it easy. When my eyes peel back open, he’s watching me intently. “She asked me why I was so jumpy all the time, which I would assume the answer would be obvious.”

“It goes away eventually, I promise.”

“Right, but I tried making sense of why I seem to be doing worse than her. She was the one who was kidnapped after all.”

“Some people handle things differently from others, and that’s okay.” He shrugs. “There’s nothing wrong with you for being afraid of the occasional shadow.”

“I don’t want to be afraid anymore.” I look him dead in the eyes. “I’m not going to be afraid anymore,” I say with enough conviction that I honestly believe that it’s the truth, that I can choose something as inane as controlling my feelings. “And you’re going to help me.”

His tongue caresses over his bottom lip as he cocks a curious look my direction. “And how am I going to do that?”

“Well, I was thinking…” I push my tongue against my cheek and rise to my feet, cut across the short distance between us and pull him to his feet by his hands. “We could start by you finally showing me how to use a gun.”

He jerks back, out of shock or something else. I’m not entirely sure. “You said you never wanted to see a gun again, much less hold one.”

I did say those exact words. It was me who was standing behind him back at that warehouse, begging for him to kill that bastard, Mason. Back then, all I could see was red. I needed to watch that man die in order to ever truly move on from what had transpired.

But when Dom pulled the trigger, something inside me changed. It wasn’t immediate. Hell no, it wasn’t. For the first few nights, knowing that he was dead made sleeping easier, it made sleeping possible knowing he could never hurt me or my sister again. But then the nightmares began. It’s not like it is in the movies. Watching someone die changes you in ways you can never truly prepare for. I think a part of my soul died that day, so I swore off guns for the rest of my life.

Because I was afraid. Afraid of turning into someone who’s okay with death. Afraid of having to make that choice to end someone’s life, no matter how much they may deserve it.

But I can’t be afraid anymore. I won’t be afraid. I’m taking control of my life and that starts with fighting my fears one by one.

“Will you show me?” I clear my throat. “Show me how to shoot a gun, show me how to be strong, not just some of the time but all the time?”

“Yeah…” He chews into his bottom lip. “I think that could be arranged.”

“Thank you.”

“No need to thank me.” He takes a measured step towards me and brushes my hair behind my head, leans down and kisses me while he lifts my chin with rough fingers. “There’s nothing sexier than a woman with a gun.”

# # #

Chase stands beside me with a hand on both sides of me. He holds me firmly in place as I aim a handgun squarely at a white silhouette target ahead, just down the way in the shooting range.

Both hands shake, hell my entire body is shaking. Guns make me nervous. Always have and probably always will, but this is something I need to do.

Heavy earmuffs cover my ears so I can hardly hear anything, certainly not oral directions from my protector behind me. He teaches me to use the gun with his hands, reaching upwards and turning the safety off so that I’m free to fire.

He pulls his hand back to hold my shaking arm steady as my finger flirts with the trigger. Closing one eye, I take careful aim at the target ahead. I’m aiming for the heart because Chase says it’s an easier target than the head.

I take one last deep breath before pulling the trigger, and while I definitely miss my intended target, I shoot a hole right through the fictional villain’s head.

# # #

Chase and I sit on the ledge of the second story, our feet dangling over the edge while we hold ourselves up using the rusted yellow railings. The warehouse beneath us is so empty and so quiet, and it’s the most peaceful place I’ve ever found in this world.

And I don’t know why.

Maybe it has something to do with him. Something to do with how wherever we are, whatever we’re doing, he has a way of making me feel safe and, more importantly, loved.

My parents always warned me about the pitfalls of dating a military man. They always said they were too hard and too difficult, but Chase Carter is the exact opposite of that. His body is as hard as steel but his heart is made of gold.

I’ve never loved someone before, but I think I love him. That word terrifies me because it means commitment of some sort, but again I’m not allowing myself to be afraid of anything anymore. Especially something as beautiful and pure as love.

We sit in silence and that’s okay with me. We don’t need to talk. We don’t need to make love constantly. His company is enough to keep me grounded, but when he parts his lips to speak, I don’t mind.

“Is there something on your mind?”

“Yeah,” I chuckle uncomfortably. “There’s always something on my mind. It never really shuts up.”

“Yeah, well there’s something on my mind too.”

“Really?” I turn to him as he rises to stand, his knees cracking when he does so. “What’s on your mind?”

“Come here.” He reaches for my hand and pulls me to my feet, but he doesn’t hold my hand for long. Instead, he breaks away from me and drops down onto one knee. “Summer Smart, I—”

“Yes!” I yell out, surprised but at the same time beyond happy. “Yes, I’ll marry you!”

“Well, that’s good to know.” He chews into his lip and looks up to me, his eyes boring into mine. “I mean, you could have at least let me finish what I was going to say.”

“Yeah, okay.” I wet my lips. “Do that and then I’ll say yes.”

He clears his throat, starts to speak but then changes his mind or something. He climbs to his feet as he pops a little black box open, revealing a princess cut diamond ring that glistens even underneath the limited amount of light. “Just put on this ring and we’ll talk about it over dinner.” He slides the ring onto my finger gently.

My eyes shift to the ring, but they only stay there for a second. I’m more interested in him, more interested in the way he looks at me with big, dark eyes. They threaten to swallow me whole.

He leans down, caresses my cheek and then kisses me, pulling me inside out as the world spins around me. When we part and all that’s left is his eyes affixed on mine, he begins to speak. “What I was going to say is that I know it’s only been three months, but you make me feel like the luckiest guy in the world and I love you and I want you to be mine for the rest of time.”

“And I love you too, more and more every day.” I exhale softly and caress my fingers through the hair on the back of his head. “I’ve been afraid to say those words and so many other things, but I’m not afraid anymore.”

“I’m going to kiss you again,” he says, his voice heavy and raspy before his lips are planted back against mine.

“Wait,” I say and push a hand firmly against his chest. “One question though.”

“Please make it an easy one.” His breath burns hot against my skin, burning with passion and hot desire.

“It’s very simple,” I promise him, one hand held firmly against his chest. “Did my sister happen to drop this off earlier?”

“How did you know?”

I roll my eyes and laugh heartily. “She made a comment that she had to drop something off, and she was being a little suspicious about it.”

“If it’s any consolation, I did pick out the ring myself, but she was the one who picked it up.”

“I don’t care about the ring. I care about you. I care about—”

He shuts me up with a kiss, his hands moving to the small of my back as he pulls me against his body. And I think to myself that this must be what heaven feels like. And if not, then it’s impossibly close. To know that there’s someone in this world who loves me as much as I love them, and to know that I have my family’s blessing in the matter.

There is still so much good in this world.

The love Chase and I have for each other is proof of that.

At this point, there’s nothing in the world that has the power to tear me down. Not anymore.

And I do mean nothing.