Accepting Destiny (12 page)

Jackson’s phone rings and he looks at the ID. “I need to take this, will you be all right while I’m gone?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, and Chase will be back up here soon. Go ahead and do what you need to do,” I tell him, as he answers his phone and walks out of my office.

Gosh, he must think I have crazy written all over me. I wouldn’t be surprised
, if he ran far away from me and never talked to me again. I’ve brought nothing but problems into his life. Then again, he barged in to my life, not the other way around. He stepped in this big pile of shit and now it’s being dragged all around.

Maybe I should get out
, while the going is good. He has enough on his plate with the Set in Stone Foundation, the magazine and his law practice. Is he even practicing law? I suddenly wonder about that, since he doesn’t talk much about himself. Either way, he doesn’t need a silly girl dragging him down, especially one that is being stalked.

I sit down in my chair and try to work on this damned spreadsheet a little. I hate to leave without getting any work done, but I find myself staring at the box that Carly brought in here.

I’m staring at it, when Chase and Tim walk in to my office. “Jackson said a delivery came, you haven’t touched it, have you?” Chase asks, as he glances around my office. I nod towards the box.

“No, Carly brought it in just after I got here. Looks like a flower box, but Jackson said he didn’t send it.”

I watch Chase put on rubber gloves, the rubber snapping on his fingers as he stretches them to fit his large hands. He unties the black bow on the top and slowly lifts the lid. As he looks in, his facial expression doesn’t change, so I figure it’s nothing important. He tilts the box towards me,and all that’s in the box is one rose. On
e
dea
d
rose. The petals dried up and falling off of the stem, littering the inside of the box.

A chill runs up my spine a
s I stare at it, unable to move, but I feel the tears welling in the corners of my eyes. I’m on the verge of totally losing it, when Jackson walks in. He’s placing his phone in his pocket when he looks at the box with the dead flower.

No one says anything and the silen
ce in the room is deafening. Chase finally breaks the silence.

“Okay, well. I’m going to call this in. Jackson, we need to get her
out of here and somewhere safe,” Chase says, as he leaves my office, phone in hand.

He stands there and stares at the rose, then looks at me. I know he sees fear in my eyes, because I can see fear in his. His emerald eyes look almost black and is that his hand shaking? He’s having a moment and I just sit still and let him have it, Lord knows I’ve had my share of moments the last few days.

His phone dings with an incoming text and he frantically pulls it out of his pocket, glancing at the text. He looks at me dead in the eyes. “Let’s go.”

I’m ready to get out of here, so I don’t ask any questions. I know I should, but I figure I will have some time to ask questions later. I feel like this person knows my every move
and I only want out of this office before I lose any remaining patience.

I grab my purse and briefcase, but he shakes his head. “Leave that here, just bring your purse. You won’t be needing your laptop where we’re going.”

I set it back down and put my hands on my hips in an act of defiance. “Where are we going?”

“I’ll go over the plans with you in the car. Chase is waiting in the garage
, so we need to go. Don’t worry, it will all be explained.”

“Don’t worry?!! Are you fucking kidding me? How can I not worry? Some crazy person is.....I don’t know what they’re doing, but they’re messing up my life! And you tell me not to worry?” Okay yes, so the breakdown has begun.

Jackson pulls me in to his arms, wrapping himself around me. My body shakes in his arms and I lose all self-control. The sobs roll out of me uncontrollably and my body heaves against his, but he just holds me. His hands gently stroking my back and hair. “Shhhh, it’s going to be okay Ally. I promise.”

I pull back and look at him, “You can’t promise that. Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Jackson. No one knows who’s doing this
, or why, and we don’t know how to stop it. If Sally is doing this, then she really is crazy and who’s to say what she will do?”

“Come on, Chase is downstairs
. Let’s not keep him waiting,” He says as he nudges me towards the door, his arm still possessively around me. Ordinarily I would fight this possessiveness, but right now it’s comforting. The only comfort I feel right now.

The descent in to the parking garage seems to take forever, but I start to calm a little with Jackson pressed up against my back, his arms around me and his tender kisses to the top of my head.

The doors open and I see Chase, Tim and a slew of other officers, as well as several unmarked cars. There is an officer guarding the entrance to prevent anyone exiting or entering. It looks like a crime scene, without all of the blue lights flashing. Chase comes forward, meeting us half way between the elevator and the group huddled together.

He hands me a bag and tell me to get in the car and get changed. “What do you mean, get changed?” I ask
, as I look in the bag. I see a change of clothes, a wig and sunglasses. “A wig? What is this for?”

“It’s a disguise, in case this person is outside
, waiting for you to leave.”

“Great, now I have to pretend to be someone else, just to keep this freak away from me? What next?” I say as I drop the bag on the concrete floor and
fall beside it to my knees. My face goes in to my hands and the tears return with a vengeance. I can’t take this anymore.

“B
aby, come on. We have to go now,” Jackson says, as he sets his own bag of goodies down and gets to his knees, beside me.

I nod my head and he stands up, pulling me with him.

“We are going to put you in that car,” Chase says, pointing to a black unmarked police car, “All of these cars are going to pull out at the same time, so if anyone is watching, they won’t know which car you’re in. The windows are blacked out, so no one can see inside. The disguises are for when you arrive at your final destination.”

It sounds so permanent
.
Final Destination
.
Wasn’t that a movie? I feel like I’m in a movie and all of this will be over in about an hour, but this isn’t a movie. This is my life and I’m not happy with what it’s become.

“What about Sally? What did you say
, when you questioned her?” I ask.

Chase looks at Jackson and takes a deep breath
, before speaking. “We haven’t talked to her yet. She hasn’t been home and her neighbors haven’t seen her since the weekend. We have an officer watching her house, for when she comes home, but for now she’s on the run.”

I nod, “Okay. That means it’s her doing this then?”

“We can’t be sure until we talk to her. I’ll keep you posted. Now, let’s get you in the car.”

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“We’ll go over that on the way, right now, we need to move,” Chase says, as he directs me to the black car just a few spaces from my car.

“Oh,
Ally. I need your phone please,” Chase says, as he holds his hand out, waiting for me to hand it to him.

“Why do you need my phone? I need to call Heather and my parents
, to let them know where I’m going.”

“No, you can’t tell anyone just yet, and your iPhone has a GPS in it, so if it’s being tracked, the stalker can find you. We’ll give you a police issued phone at the safe house so you can notify your family.”

I’m not happy about any of this shit, but I want to live, so I hand him my phone and Jackson walks me to the car. I slide in the back and he settles in next to me. The bags are placed on the floor board, so we can change later.

Once we are settled, all of the cars line up like a funeral procession and exit the garage. Each car going in a different direction. Ours heads towards the interstate
, heading south. All of this is becoming very real now, that I watch the city disappear behind us. We hear the echo of airplanes overhead, as we pass the airport and then the more rural area, of the south side of the city come in to view.

“Can you tell me where we’re going now?” I ask Jackson, who is quietly staring out the window
, at the passing scenery.

“Cape San Blas, Florida. It’s a small, secluded beach and the house is hidden from the road. Very few people know where the Cape is, so we will be safe there. There isn’t cell service
, either so no chance of being traced there. And, I’ve hired a private security firm to patrol the grounds and the beach. Once we get the all clear, we can go home and get you back to your life.”

“We’re going to the beach? How can that be safe? It’s too wide open and easy for someone to get to us.”

“We’ll have plenty of security, please try not to worry. I know it will be hard, but once we get there, you’ll see, we will be plenty safe,” he says, as he pulls me close to him. His warmth is comforting and I start to calm a little, closing my eyes and listening to the whirl of the tires on the road.

We make a pit stop in Eufala, Alabama
, where the cop drops us off and we get in to another car, but this time, Jackson is driving. Now we’re on our own, no police to protect us. Once we are back on the road, I close my eyes again. I hate not getting enough sleep. Between that and the stress of all this shit, I can’t keep my eyes open.

“
Sweet girl, wake up. We’re here,” Jackson says to me, as I struggle to open my eyes. The bright sunlight reflecting off the white sand, blinds me. I finally get my eyes open and focus. “Wow. It’s beautiful.”

“Yes it is, this is one of my favorite places in the world. I
can’t wait to share it with you,” he says, as he pulls me out of the car.

“Wait. Aren’t we supposed to be disguised?” I ask
, as I search the car for the bags, that Chase gave us, before we left.

“No, security has already checked over the property, all is clear.
”

The home looks like its three stories, high on stilts with a viewing area on the roof. “Whose house is this?” I ask him
, as I scan the landscape, taking in my surroundings.

“Chase’s parents. They rent it out during the spring and summer months, but it was empty this week so they are letting us rent it.”

“Rent it? You’re paying for this?

“Yes, and paying for the security team. Don’t worry about that though, Ally. It’s just money and you can’t take it with you right?”

“But Jackson, it’s too much! You shouldn’t have to pay someone to babysit me. I’m a big girl. In case you didn’t notice.”

“Ally, no one can put a dollar amount on your safety, and until Sally is caught and stopped, we will stay here.”

“We don’t even know for sure it’s her,” I shake my head. “Personally, I find it hard to believe she would be capable of this. But then again, who knows what goes through people’s minds. You see someone every day, you think you know them and then figure out, you really don’t.”

“Exactly, and until she is either caught
, or ruled out, I will do whatever is necessary to keep you safe.”

“I could have gone to my parents’ house and stayed there. Then I could have continued to work. Tim is going to go crazy if I’m not there.”

“Relax, sweet girl,” He wraps his arms around me, taking a deep breath at my ear. “Tim will be fine. I’ve got a laptop here, that we can link in to Robertson’s network and you can work from here. We may not have cell service, but we do have internet.”

“Now, let’s get you inside and fed. Hilda will be here tomorrow
, to help out.”

“Hilda’s coming? Why? Wouldn’t she be safer back home?”

“Whoever this is, isn’t after Hilda, they’re after you, and she goes everywhere with me. She’s like my second mother and we seem to both be lost without each other,” he snickers. “She’s a good woman.”

All I can think about at th
is point, is that I am thankful I don’t have to cook this week. I know, crazy huh? But I hate to cook and I completely suck at it. That is one trait, I did not pick up from my mother, or my grandmother for that matter. I look down at my finger and think about my grandma. I thankful that the creep didn’t take her ring. I still can’t figure out what they could have been looking for, or why.

We walk up the front steps to the door and Jackson unlocks it. The door sways open in the breeze and we step inside. Creamy tile floors adorn the entry way in to a wide open space. Dark leather furniture centered in the middle of the room, facing the French doors
, that open to a large screened in deck. Beach themed prints on the walls, starfish and other shells scattered about. I turn to the kitchen. Stainless steel appliances, all top of the line. This is a designers dream.

I handle more commercial designs, but would love to get my hands on a home like this. Here I go again, thinking about work when I should be hiding under the bed. Speaking of beds, Jackson leads me to the Master bedroom and sets our disguise bags down. Light oak, four poster bed raised up off the floor. Yes, I could get my fat ass under that bed and hide
, if needed.

Light and breezy colors, a turquoise and pale yellow comforter. A large flat screen TV on the wall. Palm trees painted on the walls
, giving it a tropical feel. I’m in heaven. I haven’t been to the beach since I was a kid and I’ve already relaxed some, even though we’ve only been here a few minutes.

“We’ll go in to Apalachicola tomorrow and get some things. There isn’t much here on the Cape and we both need clothes and other necessities. But for now, we can get naked and have a shower.”

“Really? Is that what you want to do, Jackson?” I smirk at him and his dirty mind. “And what, pray tell, do we plan to put on after the shower?” I ask, as turn towards the large master bath.

“Nothing. I don’t plan on going anywhere and no one is due to arrive here until tomorrow...”

“Wait, what about security? You said.....”

“Relax, they’re already here. You won’t see them though, because they are dressed to blend in. They’ll just look like other beach goers.”

“Are you sure this is a safe place? The beach seems to be so wide open, that anyone could just walk up.”

“Come with me, I want to show you something.”

I follow him back in to the kitchen, where he pulls out a map of the beach. Since I slept most of the way, I didn’t see how we got here. “The Cape is a ten mile long stretch of paradise. St. Joseph Bay on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other side. There is only one road in and one road out, which can cause issues during hurricane season. At the tip of the Cape is St. Joseph Peninsula State Park. The main road is the only entrance to the State Park and the only other way in, is by boat. The Coast Guard has been made aware of our situation and will be keeping their eye out for anything out of the norm.”

“Plus, I have guys on boats both in the Gulf and the Bay
, posing as fishermen, but trust me, they are armed and loaded. The driveway to the house is also secluded, with a guard stationed at the entry. No one will get back here without someone knowing.”

“Wow, it seems like an awful lot to plan out, just for me. Surely these men have families and better things to do
, than watch over us,” I drop my head, grateful for the protection, but upset at the fact that it’s come to this.

“Nonsense, it’s what I’m paying them to do. Plus, they get to bask in the sun and fish!” He laughs, though I find nothing about this funny.

“Ha-ha, not funny,” I roll my eyes at him.

“Alexandra, I don’t expect us to be here
long. Let’s make the best of it. Try to enjoy ourselves.”

I start opening cabinet doors and the fridge, to find a fully stocked kitchen. I’m starving so
, I pull out the eggs, cheese and milk. I may hate to cook and suck at most things, but I can scramble eggs. “Put that up, Ally. I’m having dinner brought in. Oysters and other things,” He looks at his watch. “Should be here any time too.”

I put the stuff up and make my way to the screened in deck. The aqua water glimmers and the white sand shines brilliantly in the sun. I can see a shrimp boat off in the distance catching someone’s dinner. There are only a few people walking on the beach and I wonder if they are security. I hate that they have to stay outside
, in this oppressive heat, all day.

“Do they have water and sunscreen?” I ask Jackson.

“Who?”

“The security guys
, that have to stay outside all day. I wouldn’t want them getting sunburnt, or have a heat stroke,” I say, as I continue to gaze out towards the beach. Jackson is standing beside me now, his hair blowing in the gentle breeze. His musky scent is enveloping my senses and I lean in to his side. We both stare out at the water, watching the seagulls swoop down for their food and the shrimp boat cruising by. Neither of us speaks for some time, the silence almost giving me a head ache.

“I’m scared, Jackson” I whisper against his chest.

“I know baby, but I’ve got you. I won’t let anything happen to you. This place is crawling with security and Chase is back home, working around the clock. Once Sally shows up and she can be questioned, this will all be over,” He says, as he strokes my hair softly.

About that time
, someone knocks on the door, causing me to jump like a frightened kitten. Jackson chuckles as he kisses my cheek, then moves to the front door. He peeks out the curtain covering the side window, before opening the door.

A young kid steps in carrying brown paper bags of what I assume is food. The scent of fresh seafood fills the room and my stomach growls loudly as I enter the kitchen, bringing another chuckle out of Jackson’s throat. “Hungry?” He asks
, as he hands the delivery guy a stack of bills.