Sarah’s hands were sweating and her pulse wanted to beat its way right out of her body. Meeting people had never been her thing, especially when she needed those people to like her. How she made it through her book tours were beyond her, but the stress of them hadn’t done anything to help her prepare for meeting Reid’s parents.
She and Reid had just gotten off the plane and his parents were supposed to pick them up from the airport. Reid tried to tell them that he’d rent a car, but they, or at least his mother, wouldn’t have it. He’d told them that he was bringing Sarah with him and the squealing that immediately came over the phone that Sarah could hear a foot away terrified them both.
“It’s going to be fine,” Reid said as he squeezed Sarah’s hand.
Sarah had pretty much attached herself to his side as he carried their two carry-on duffle bags full of everything they’d need for the two days they were staying in town. Trying to condense everything she thought she’d need into those two bags was nothing short of a miracle in Sarah’s eyes. Reid had been kind enough to allow her to stuff her toiletries in his bag since she brought extra clothing in case something happened that necessitated a change.
“You can honestly say that after the cold shoulder my mom gave you? Dad says he’s trying to talk sense into her, but evidently she liked Aaron more than I thought and she’s sure you’re going to break my heart.”
“I don’t get that. No matter how much she liked him, the dude was using you to get his rocks off while he was committed to another person. No amount of ‘now he wants to marry you’ makes that okay. I’d rather cut off my left testicle than cheat on you.”
Sarah rested her head on Reid’s shoulders and briefly let the image he put in her head simmer. She didn’t fool herself into thinking that if the right offer came along, he wouldn’t change his tune, but he had proposed before being caught with his pants down, so that definitely put him ahead of Aaron. It was hard not to instantly say yes to the idea of marrying the man next to her. She was afraid it would ruin things if they jumped right into being engaged, so she wanted to give him a chance to take it back.
“Hold on. Let me get out my phone so I can record you saying that about cutting off your testicle just in case I need it as proof in the future.”
Reid playfully nudged Sarah away from him, but then pulled her back. They didn’t usually get to fly together, so the whole concept of walking off the plane hand in hand was something new, and something Sarah found she enjoyed immensely.
“If you ask for it, I’ll sign a contract in blood that I’ll never cheat on you, silly. How many times does Nico have to tell you about my horrible love life before you to make you realize how special you are?”
Sarah tapped her free hand on the side of her face as she considered the question. He seemed determine to make the nickname silly stick, so the weird answers he got to questions were his own making.
“Last I checked, English isn’t his first language, which means some of those words might not be what he’s actually trying to say.”
She’d spent enough time with Nico to know he understood English perfectly well, even if his speaking of the language was sometimes hard to put together. At the beginning, he’d seemed a little against Reid finding a girlfriend, but he was fully committed to them making babies as he called it one time when Reid had left them alone for a quick bathroom trip.
Sarah was focused on looking for Reid’s parents, even though she didn’t have a clear picture of what they looked like. They had made it by all the security and no one she saw in the crowd standing around seemed to be jumping up and down at the sight of their son. She was so busy looking that at she was caught by surprise when Reid decided it was time to carry her around like a caveman.
Squealing, she hit his back with her fists and wiggled in his arms. He was too fast for her, even when she was paying full attention to him. He was dang lucky that she liked getting an up-close smell of the woodsy cologne he wore.
“You better let me down, Reid. I am not meeting your mother with me hanging over your shoulder.”
“Why not? Your mom got to meet me in my warmup clothes. I think it’s only fair that my mom gets an equally odd introduction.”
Sarah growled, which she seemed to do a lot around Reid. He brought out the tiger inside of her.
“You looking sexy in a pull over and some skintight shorts, showing off all them leg muscles of yours, is not an odd introduction. Since you’re in that stuff hours of each day, it’s perfectly normal for you to be wearing it.”
“Yeah, well, when you meet your future in-laws, you kind of hope the impression will be a little better. I’m still blaming that red hoodie for turning your mom against me. If I would have just grabbed the blue one instead, she wouldn’t have seen me as such a threat.”
Sarah rolled her eyes and kneed him in the chest. Since he was carrying her, the impact wasn’t forceful, just a little nudge to let him know she still didn’t appreciate being carried around.
“Quit being so restless. You’re so tense, and you have absolutely nothing to worry about. We’re not even staying at their house or anything, so awkward sleeping arrangements and chances of someone seeing someone naked who they shouldn’t are going to be very limited. As long as Dad doesn’t show up in his boxers.”
There were times Sarah loved Reid’s sense of humor, but there were times, like then, when she felt like she’d been spun in a circle a hundred times and was getting ready to take a step for the first time, that the jokes didn’t help matters. He’d assured her for five days that his parents would both love her as much as he did, and that when it came down to it, he didn’t care about anyone else’s opinion, but that didn’t mean something unexpected could happen.
“I think that would be the only thing that would take people’s minds off the fact that you’re probably flashing my underwear right now. I know you remember how short my dress is because you hiked it up and fondled me for twenty minutes before you’d let us leave for the airport.”
“Fondled? Is that what the kids are calling sex these days? Because I know I didn’t just fondle you. And if you’re complaining again about me almost making us miss our flight, I’m not the one who decided they needed to take a shower after the fondling.”
Reid pinched Sarah’s butt and then made humming noises as he pulled at the edge of her dress. Sarah already knew from a lack of any draft that she was covered, but she was trying to find a way to convince him to let her down and she figured the flashing possibility was her best bet.
“My response to that statement is not meant to be overheard, so when we’re in our hotel room alone later, you can expect to hear an earful about your claims that I didn’t need a shower. Now, can you please let me down?”
Reid sighed. “Well, I suppose since you said please I have to. I’m not seeing our welcome party, so I need to check my phone for messages anyway.”
He walked over to a wall out of the way without anyone already claiming it and let Sarah glide down his body. He could’ve let her down without the full body touch, but they were in public and he liked showing off their relationship.
“If you have any indication that they’re going to be a few minutes, I’d really like to hop over to the bathroom.”
Reid spent a few seconds looking at his phone, and then rolled his eyes before tucking it in his back pocket. Rather than immediately filling her in, he leaned down and gave Sarah a kiss on the forehead.
“They’re picking up a surprise, which I’d wager means one of my brothers. The last message was five minutes ago and said they’re twenty minutes out, so that sounds to me like you have plenty of time to go freshen up. While you do that, I think I’ll go grab us a bite to eat. Is there anything specific you’d like?”
Reid had three brothers, along with a sister. Sarah had memorized everyone’s name and face with pictures she’d found on social media just in case they’d be around. His sister was still at home, so she was bound to be there, but the other three boys had flown the coop. Out of the stories she’d heard about the siblings, she hoped the brother showing up would be Connor. He seemed the most easygoing of the bunch.
“How about you surprise me. I think in the last two months you’ve figured out what I will and won’t eat.”
“Perfect. Anchovies and pineapple pizza it is.”
There was mischief in the blue eyes staring at her and Sarah very eloquently stuck her tongue out to let him know what she thought of the suggestion. Why anchovies were considered something to eat in the first place mystified her and pineapple just wasn’t her thing. The pizza part of the equation sounded good though.
“I’ll meet you back here. The lines don’t seem to be too long,” Sarah said as she looked to her left and right to verify. “If I happen to see you still standing in one, I’ll come see what havoc I can create on your order.”
After a quick kiss, Reid went off to the right and Sarah started her quest to find a bathroom. She hadn’t been particularly looking for one, so she wasn’t sure where the nearest one was, but it couldn’t be far. In fact, she only had to spin around the corner they’d been standing by and she ran right into one.
She made quick work of emptying her bladder and checked the minimal makeup she’d put on to make sure her mascara and eyeliner hadn’t teamed up to make her look like a raccoon. After washing her hands, Sarah decided she looked as good as she was going to and left the restroom to go find Reid. She was hungry, but didn’t know that it was the brightest idea to try to eat something.
Not paying attention to her surroundings as she retraced her steps, a forceful hand grabbing her arm caused her to miss a step and lunge forward. Her instant reaction was to try to pull her arm away from the person, but a quick yank did her little good.
“Careful now, Sarah. You don’t want to fall down in that pretty purple dress of yours. I’ve got a feeling there’s a fifty-fifty chance you’re not wearing any underwear.”
The idea of ice water running through the veins hadn’t been something Sarah had ever experienced before, but hearing Aaron’s voice made her freeze. She’d started to think the visit to the hockey game had really been some weird fluke, but there was no reason for him to be in the Duluth airport. She pulled her arm harder to try to get away from him, but his grip only dug into her flesh deeper.
“You’ll only hurt yourself, so quit trying to make a scene. We’ve got a few things to discuss and you and the brut don’t separate long enough back home for me to get you alone.”
“We don’t have anything to discuss, other than the fact that you need to let go of my arm before I start screaming.”
Aaron pulled on her arm and started walking in the opposite direction of where she wanted to go. Sarah wasn’t going to be led around like she had when they were a couple. She dragged her feet, but he was stronger than her.
“I’ll only say this once, so you better listen. We are going to have a long talk somewhere private and you’re going to come peacefully. If you don’t, I will take the gun I have tucked in the back of my pants and walk over to where your friend is getting you some dumplings and shoot him in his face. Got it?”
He didn’t bother turning around to make sure Sarah could hear him while he walked, nor did he keep his voice particularly quiet. There were people walking around them, but they appeared to be busy in their own little worlds and not paying attention to Sarah’s plight.
Sarah wished she’d had a chance to see Aaron’s eyes to get an idea of how completely crazy he was. When she’d realized it was him, she’d been too confused to look up, and with him guiding her away from Reid, she could only see the back of his head. She made note of his brown hair being cut shorter to his head than she remembered before focusing her eyes down to where his shirt covered the top of his jeans.
The bulge pushing against the navy shirt made it clear there was something there, but whether it was a gun or not was hard to tell. Sarah had to think the security around the airport would’ve noticed the bulge and stopped Aaron. Of course, she was being dragged against her will towards the doors leading outside and no one seemed to rush to stop it.
“You’re not a killer, Aaron. Just let me go and I’ll promise I’ll text you when I get back to New York and we can talk.”
Obviously, that talking would be all via text, because Sarah wasn’t meeting Aaron to have the in-person conversation he seemed to desire. She was confused as to why he hadn’t at least attempted to open up dialogue back home if he really wanted to talk. They’d gone from him reminding her that he loved her to complete radio silence up until the text at the arena, and then nothing since.
“You honestly don’t think I’d kill that jackass for stealing my girl and asking her to marry him? I know you haven’t said yes, yet, but he’s got you wrapped so tightly around his finger that it’s only a matter of time. You’re here meeting his parents, which wasn’t something you did with me until we’d been dating for five months.”
Aaron’s voice had been neutral, but as soon as he started talking about the proposal, a bite entered his tone that Sarah thought she could feel taking chunks out of her arm. She knew it was her imagination, but something hurt her from the words.
“How in the world do you know about him proposing?”
There were very few answers to that question, and since Sarah knew he wasn’t hiding under her bed, she assumed he’d somehow bugged her apartment. She’d considered the bed option, but there wasn’t room underneath it for a child to crawl around.
“I’ll fill you in on all the fun that I’ve been having during our separation once we get to the car. You’ve let your anger about finding out about Trevor take things way too far. I could have handled a short fling. Even after I explained things, you still had to deal with the fact that I did have sex with someone while we were together. It meant nothing, so your fling should’ve meant nothing.”
“Have you checked with Trevor about what it meant to him? Because I’m pretty sure he’s in the same boat as I am about what sleeping with someone means.”
They’d made it outside and Aaron picked up the pace as he headed straight for a black sedan parked at the far end of a line of cars outside of the door. Sarah continued to try to make eye contact with anyone around, but no one seemed to care she was being kidnapped.
“I don’t care what Trevor thinks. That idiot went running to you when I refused to return his calls. Now, get in the car.”
Aaron opened the passenger door and finally let go of Sarah’s arm. The only reason he let go was because he repositioned himself so he stood behind Sarah, more than likely so he could push her inside if she resisted. When she didn’t immediately move, she felt something press into her lower back.
“I’m not joking around, Sarah. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will start shooting people if you don’t get in that car.”
Sarah didn’t believe he would really go through with it, but she’d also been telling herself he wasn’t as crazy as Trevor had said and that she didn’t need the constant protection Reid wanted. Both of those seemed to be false, so she had no idea what Aaron was capable of.
Even knowing that, Sarah had trouble telling her body to get in the car. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but she also didn’t want to consider what would happen if the two of them were alone. Evidently the decision-making process took too long for Aaron and a deafening bang caused her body to seize as the sound of screams came from behind her.
“I warned you,” Aaron said as he put a hand on top of her head and pushed her into the car.
She tried to fight, but her brain was too slow to instantly react. When the door shut, she scrambled to try to open it. A sharp knock on the window next to her head brought her eyes to the very real black metal of a gun. Her eyes followed the gun as Aaron kept it pointed at her for his entire walk over to the driver’s side.
Sarah had been scared ever since she found out who had grabbed her, but the trembling of her chin didn’t start until she heard the sound of Aaron shutting his door. Being alone with a psychopath with a gun was a recipe for terror, and Aaron had no problem capitalizing on it.
“Buckle up. This is going to be a fun ride.”