Chapter 7 - Lexi

 

 

I followed him to the door and out into the hall. He was strong. He was armed. Had he been armed the whole time? Suddenly he pushed me back inside. I stumbled, and he fell on top of me like a protective blanket. I heard the bullets and the open door showed signs of damage in a way that would have laid waste to the both of us had we been standing there at the time.

He was so close I could feel his breath on my neck. I’d never seen him look so serious. I didn’t have a chance to enjoy the close contact. He literally dragged me over to the adjoining door and pulled out what appeared to be a lock pick set. His hands weren’t shaking. He really did have nerves of steel. His shirt was still open halfway because he hadn’t had time to button it up all the way. He went through to the other side before pulling me in with a gasp of surprise.

There was no way that we could stay here. This would be the second place that they would look for us.

“Shit, Hudson, I don’t know how you feel about taking orders from a woman, but I have an idea and I need you to listen to me. There’s a way out, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

I ran through my plan, speaking frantically but hushed my voice. He shrugged his shoulders like it wasn’t the first time he had done something foolhardy.

I steeled myself and opened the door, sprinting for the other side of the hallway. I peered down into the laundry shoot. If I had thought about it, I’m sure that I would’ve second guessed myself, but instead, I disappeared with Hudson following right behind. I didn’t know what to expect but within seconds we hit the bottom with a soft thud.

“Oh, thank God. Are you okay?” Hudson crawled toward me and looked me over from head to toe.

Thankfully we landed in a large cartful of dirty laundry at the bottom of the chute. It would’ve been a daunting task otherwise. I could already envision broken bones or at the very least a sprained ankle. That would leave us pretty much open season for those who were looking to silence us for good.

“You really do know how to think on your feet. Those are the kind of instincts that you’re going to need to utilize in the next few moments, Lexi. I’m not even sure that’s going to be enough. Stick with me, stay behind me, and do what I tell you.” He grabbed my hand and helped me out of the cart.

“Is that blood on your shirt, Hudson? That wasn’t there before.” I should’ve known that escaping that way might injure him further.

“I get more blood on me from shaving. It’s nothing more than a superficial wound. It’s not like we can do anything about it anyway.” He was strong and confident and that combination was hard to ignore. I wanted to relieve him of his shirt and soothe away his pain.

There was a loading dock and some kind of delivery was being made.

“We need to get on that truck.” He grabbed my wrist.

When their backs were turned, we slipped quietly inside the truck and hid behind a few pallets of cargo.

They were going over a checklist. I looked at Hudson and couldn’t help but feel safe. Even if I was scared out of my mind, I was in good hands. He’d already shown me how good his hands were. It had only been hours since we’d been together. Yet somehow it seemed like forever. My body was crying out for more of the same. It begged me to run headlong into his arms and take what I wanted. Was fear getting the best of me?

One of the men, the driver, said, “I’ll see you in about a week, Jack. Tell Carolyn and the kids that I said hello. The next time that I’m in town, I might stop by for that beer that you mentioned.”

I was anxiously waiting for them to get past the trivial pleasantries. I couldn’t see his face, but I saw his hand as he reached up and pulled the sliding door down into place.

I felt a small sense of relief as the truck slowly pulled out of the parking lot. Although we were moving, it felt like we were sitting ducks with nowhere to go. I noticed the clipboard hanging and swinging back and forth with the momentum of the truck. I went to collect it and found out that the next delivery was an hour and a half away. They would pursue, but only if they knew that we were in here, to begin with.

“Shit, they must have seen you take that picture. Of course, they did, he was looking right at you in the image. They were in a shoot and ask questions later kind of mood. I think that you understand that. They’re not going to give up.” He was talking, but I could see that he was also trying to get a signal on his phone. I tried to lift the latch on the door from the inside, but there was something blocking it.

“The door must be locked from the outside. How stupid is that? What if someone got stuck in here?” I was trying my hardest to open the door.

“Relax, Lexi. At least this gives us a few minutes to think. Let’s just hope they aren’t following us.” He pulled me into his arms, trying to soothe the panic away.

“Holy shit, Hudson, what are we going to do? You coming back into my life was probably the best thing that could have happened. I wouldn’t have any idea why they were coming for me. Or why they were trying to kill me. Without you, I’d probably already be dead. Holy shit, I can’t even process this. You already saved me once, and here you are trying to save me again. How can I ever repay you?”

I felt his hands on my waist and it felt good to have him that close to me.

“Right now, we need to try to focus. We can’t get out of this truck, so let’s take a breath and try to come up with a plan. We have about an hour. Okay? Breathe. Breathe for me right now.” He grabbed my face and I did what he said.

“I can’t get a signal on my phone. There are no windows and we’re pretty much captive until he either gets to his destination or stops to get something to eat. Sometimes the drivers will check their load before they leave any kind of truck stop. That might be the only option that we’ll have to get out of here in one piece. We’ll need to find a car and get far enough away, someplace safe so that we’ll have time to plan our next move.” His words were calming.

He kissed my lips softly. “But for now, relax. Are you breathing, Lexi? Take a deep breath and kiss me. Don’t think about anything else. Just think about my tongue.”

It made my legs tremble and I almost collapsed like I had no control over my muscles. Maybe the adrenaline was wearing off, maybe it was his presence.

“I can’t believe we’re locked in this truck, Hudson. I’m so scared right now.”

“I know, you’re still trembling. It’s important that you calm your nerves.” He pushed my hair out of my face.

“There’s no telling how much time we have, Hudson. What if he stops? What if he doesn’t stop? What if they’re following us?”

“According to my watch, we still have almost an hour until the next stop. And I don’t think they’re following us. We haven’t heard any gunshots and the driver isn’t driving erratically. We’re okay for now. That laundry chute was the best idea ever. It put us in the perfect place at the perfect time. Now relax, beautiful girl. We’re in the best place that we could be.”

“That was a good idea, right? I’m so glad that I remembered that it was there. I saw the cleaning lady shoving dirty sheets down it the day before.”

“Yeah, it probably saved our lives. Good job, girl. Good job thinking on your feet. And I will have you know that I have taken orders from a woman before, but not in the way that you might think.” He winked at me.

“Oh my goodness, stop being dirty minded at a time like this.” I pushed him lightly.

“Do you want to give me any more orders, Lexi? Huh? Do you?” He ran his hands down over my backside. “We have time. Let’s relax. Let’s live in the moment. Remember living in the moment was your idea?” He nuzzled into my neck and sucked gently on my earlobe.

“I can’t believe you can still drive me crazy, even at a time like this.” I leaned my head back enjoying his warm breath on my skin.

“There’s no denying the chemistry between us, is there? I told you that you have a light about you. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that you were an angel sent back into my life to change my ways. You might be my saving grace. It’s written all over your face, the way you feel about me. I pray that light never fades away.” He was hitting me with more of his unique charm. I had promised myself that I would never fall in love again, but I had no idea that he was the one who would come back into my life.

“You’re everything that I need and more, Hudson. But I’m not the same woman I was all those years ago. I’m independent and stubborn. You consider yourself a protector, but I think I can handle things on my own just fine. I’ve been in dangerous situations before and I’ve gotten through. No, I’ve never been shot at, shit that was horrifying, but I still go rock climbing all the time with my sister and we take a kickboxing class together.” I thought about my sister and hoped that they wouldn’t go after her to get to me.

“You don’t think they’ll go after my sister, do you?” I gasped. “Shit, she’s all I have left.”

Hudson soothed a hand across my cheek. “I know what you’re thinking and there’s nothing we can do until we get a signal. Don’t panic. It will take them some time to find out more about you. There’s no point in going off ill-prepared. I know that you’re worried and you have every reason to be. But we have to remain calm and level-headed here.”

He still had his hands around me, but it was cold comfort thinking that my sister might get caught up in something that was inadvertently my fault.

“I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to Lynn. She’s my best friend. I can hear her now, cursing my name, after she finds out what I’ve done. She has always told me that I need to be more careful and that I would get myself into trouble someday. I’ve been in sticky situations before and I’ve always managed to scrape out relatively in one piece.”

His hands squeezed me and I could feel the heat between us. He told me to stop talking for once and pushed me up against the back wall. As his tongue swirled in unison with mine, I started to forget anything else. I felt an unyielding presence of something growing between us.

“She can’t blame you for something that was out of your control. You didn’t know that a crime was being committed. It’s not like you can go back in time and change things. Even if you decided to destroy the photo that would not deter them from wanting to make sure that you couldn’t tell anybody about what you saw. These men are evil.” Hudson was obviously very concerned and worried, but he wasn’t showing it.

“Don’t worry, Lexi. I’ll get us out of this by whatever means necessary. I won’t let anything happen to you. Will you let me help you relax?” His hand reached beneath my shirt and into my bra. He cupped me with the palm of his hand and lightly rubbed his thumb back and forth over my nipple.

I sighed into his neck. “As amazing as that feels, I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but I just can’t. I can’t even think about anything remotely sexual knowing that we’re in danger, or worse that my sister might be in danger. We have to find a way to warn her, to tell her to go into hiding until this is settled. We should do the same for my parents and maybe even for a couple of close friends who they might learn about if they check my social media.”

“I understand completely. I can wait. And I’m looking forward to it. But right now, pacing isn’t going to help.” He sat down and reached for me. I leaned my back against him and rested my head on his shoulder.

I still felt adrenaline coursing through my veins. I was trying not to panic. One minute I felt like I could run a marathon, but that excess energy quickly turned into exhaustion within seconds of sitting down.

“Hudson, it doesn’t feel right, sitting down at a time like this.”

“Listen, we’re not going anywhere. Sit tight and breath.”

I had to take solace that I was with someone who could ultimately protect me. His strong hands and the way that he moved had me swooning like a lovesick schoolgirl.

“I’m here with you and I’m not going anywhere. Close your eyes and relax. You’re going to need to be ready for anything once we stop. You have that skillful capability of improvising when necessary. Your quick thinking with the laundry chute is a good example of it. I hope you know that I won’t let anything happen to you. You’ve always been special to me, Lexi, even after we went our separate ways. There’s always been a special place reserved just for you. But we can talk about that later. For now, rest.”

His words swaddled me in comfort and had me nodding off before I had a chance to say anything more.