An Escape to Love (4 page)

That night, she tossed and turned in bed, her mind in turmoil over her feelings for Jake. She had enjoyed playing Scrabble with him and had loved the way his face softened to become almost childlike when he laughed.

She slid her hand down her thigh, and unthinkingly between her legs. Her mind was full of thoughts of Jake, and her panties were soaked right through with her juices. She wanted to feel his hand where her hand was and she clenched her eyes shut, pulling her hand away with a jerk. She had never masturbated in her life, and she wasn’t going to start now.

As she fell asleep, she knew she had to deal with this situation about Jake and her insane attraction to the man.

Chapter Nine

She awoke feeling groggy and tired and had an awful headache. Her whole night had been plagued by a barrage of dreams, which was very unusual for her; she had never been a torrid dreamer.

She wanted to get in the shower and freshen up, but instead just brushed her teeth and walked out in a pair of tights and an oversized T-shirt Jake had lent her for bed. “Hey,” she croaked blearily as she saw Jake and he turned towards her.

The sight of her long legs encased in black, stretchy tights made his pulse race instantly and he turned his back on her, trying to hide his bulging arousal from showing. He was wearing PJs because he still hadn’t showered, and his erection showed right through them.

“I’ve made some coffee,” he said through clenched teeth. “Let me have a shower before breakfast. I’m making pancakes.”

“Oh yum,” Leona said without any real excitement and Jake smiled to himself at her cute reaction to everything he said.

He walked into the shower and dropped his trousers, letting his cock spring out. It was hard and pulsing, the veins protruding in the desperation to empty their load. “You’re going to kill me, Leona,” he said as he turned off the steaming, hot water, and turned on the cold water to full jet before moving under it.

Leona fell onto the couch lazily with a cup of coffee and flicked on the TV. The channel was locked by parental controls, but the grid said it was FOX NEWS. She flicked through all the channels, looking for any news channel, and her heart started racing as she realized that all the news channels were locked.

“What the hell?” she whispered and her head started pulsing with adrenaline. She twisted towards Jake’s bedroom door and tried to unlock the parental controls, but it was a number lock which could be any four digits.

Everything suddenly felt surreal, and she felt as if she was having a nightmare. She was disconnected from the rest of the world with no phones, no internet, and now, no news channels. No one could live like this, and Jake with his intelligent sense of humor and up-to-date information about everything was definitely a regular news watcher.

She finally found a news channel which was unlocked, but it was a UK-based channel, and she doubted she would find anything relevant before Jake came back and found her. If he had locked the news channels on purpose, then it was obvious he didn’t want her watching the news. They were giving international headlines, and she heard the shower being turned off in Jake’s bathroom at the same instant his face flashed across the screen.

She didn’t breathe for the two seconds his picture was there. He looked different in the picture, younger, but it was mug-shot and the newscaster read aloud in the background, “Jake Hartford, convicted murderer, still at large and thought to have entered Canada through the border.”

Leona jumped off the bed, hitting the volume louder after switching the channel to MTV.
Convicted murderer
! her mind kept screaming, and she opened his bedroom door, instantly noticing the mattress slightly crooked on the bed. She lifted the edge of it, and there it was – the gun he had held when the helicopter had hovered last morning.

She checked the gun quickly – it was loaded. Having three brothers with vast gun collections paid off and she slipped out of his room with the gun, trying to decide what to do. If she left the house, she would die within hours because she neither had warm clothes nor a car. Even if she took his car, it would take ages before the little engine would start, knowing it had been parked there for the past several days in the cold.

She had no choice but to stay here, inside the house, and deal with whatever happened. The Jake she had played Scrabble with right there on the coffee table flashed through her mind, and she felt like she had dreamed up the entire episode.
Convicted murderer!
She had been living with a murderer!

Jake opened his door and stopped in his tracks, his eyes glued to Leona as she stood in the middle of the living-room, her feet set slightly apart, and his gun held firmly in her hands – directed at him.

Somehow, Leona knew about him and from the look on her face along with the unmistakable tremor in her hands, it was evident that she was terrified of him. “Leona, I can explain.”

“Okay. Explain why Jake Hartford, a convicted murderer, is keeping me hostage.” Her voice shook as she said the last word.

“You’re not a hostage, Leona,” he said softly, his eyes glued to her face. She refused to say anything, but watched him with an expression that made him feel like filth. She was scared and disgusted by him at the same time, and for a moment he just wanted to escape the haunting look.

“Are you going to kill me?” she asked bravely.

“You’re holding the gun on me. Maybe I should be the one asking that question.”

“I’m not the murderer here,” she said angrily, tears shimmering in her brown eyes.

Jake gritted his teeth. He was suddenly tense with rage. Leona was the only one who had seen him as a normal person in the last four years, and now she knew. He wanted to scream and throw things, break something, do anything to bring back the trusting smile on her face.

“I’m not a murderer, Leona. You’re a law student, you know better than anyone that sometimes, the wrong people get convicted of crimes they never committed.” Leona refused to reply, and just watched him, her chest heaving as she breathed.

“I was convicted of murdering my fiancée, Jessica. I loved her more than anything. She was killed, and I got convicted. I couldn’t even mourn her death properly. I couldn’t even attend her funeral. I have never been to her grave. It was her anniversary yesterday. I am not a murderer, Leona.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks. She wanted to believe him but she didn’t, and then his words from the previous morning flashed through her mind.
She was actually way more than a friend
, he had said. His expression had been so pained when he said those simple words. Jake hadn’t known Leona would ever find out about him, so he didn’t have to pretend or act. His pain had been real.

She was terrified, unsure, and her whole body began to shake with sobs. Jake’s hand covered the gun clenched tightly between her palms and he pushed the nozzle towards the floor, firmly but gently taking the gun away from her and sliding an arm around her shoulder.

Leona reacted as if she had been scorched and backed away, heading towards her room, her heart beating wildly with fright. They stayed glued to the gun dangling from his hand, and Jake felt disgust for himself rise like bile in his throat. He bent down and placed the gun on the floor, gently kicking it away from himself.

“I will never hurt you, Leona,” he said softly, and she bit her lip to keep it from trembling.

“I want to go home,” she said forcefully and Jake was so proud of her at the moment. Even when she thought of him as a murderer, she was strong and spirited. His heart clenched painfully at the expression of mistrust and hatred on her face.

“Not yet, sweetheart,” he said before he could check himself.

The endearment felt like terrifying acid on her ears, and she slipped into her room, purposefully locking the door loudly behind her. For the first time since she had come here, she noticed that the lock was one of those useless ones that could be opened with any hairpin.

Sweetheart
, he had said, and Leona was suddenly scared beyond her wildest imaginings. If he had murdered his fiancée, she was pretty sure he would have no qualms about raping Leona.

She glanced around the room desperately and tugged at the small chest of drawers. It was way too heavy for her to move by herself, so she gave up and collapsed onto the bed, tears of helplessness sliding down her face.

Jake stood outside her bedroom door and heard the unmistakable sound of her weeping. She muffled the sound so she wouldn’t be heard and he stared at the wall, his jaw clenching and unclenching. Loathing, pure, unadulterated self-hatred poured through his body like acid, and he was disgusted by his actions.

Leona was sweet, charming, and innocent, and as long as she didn’t know she was actually his hostage, it had been fine. Now that she knew, he wasn’t sure how he would look her in the eye. She wanted to go home and he would make sure she returned safe and sound. He would be damned if he hurt a hair on her head.

The sound of her sobbing slowed and he moved away, his feet feeling like lead weights. There was nothing he could do. Leona would have to deal with the situation, and he would have to deal with her disgust for him. Unfortunately, they didn’t have another option.

Chapter Ten

Leona awoke with a start and instantly glanced at the clock. It had been just forty-five minutes since she had fallen asleep, but her head felt like it would burst with heaviness. She pushed up to a sitting position and memories from an hour ago filled her mind. She clenched her eyes shut. “Oh god,” she whispered fervently. “What am I going to do?”

Sliding off the bed, she placed her feet on the carpeted floor and her blood froze in her veins as she glanced at the door. It was about six inches ajar, and she specifically remembered locking it securely and trying to pull the heavy chest of drawers against it. Jake!

Irrational, torrid anger flowed through her and she wanted nothing less than to smack him across his devilishly handsome face. She couldn’t believe she had been lusting after him, a murderer, and thanked her lucky stars that she hadn’t given in to temptation already.

A scuffling sound from the living room made her clench her teeth and Jake glanced into the room, his eyes locking with hers. He was shocked that she had caught him sneaking up on her.

“Uh,” he said, clearly taken aback by the naked fury in her gorgeous brown eyes. “I was just checking…” he trailed off.

“Checking what?  That I’m still here? Of course I’m here. You have the car keys, and there’s nothing but freaking snow around this stupid, crazy house. How am I supposed to leave without freezing my ass off?”

He quieted and knew that the best way to maintain some semblance of authority around the place was to keep fear instilled in her mind. “I’m glad you realize that, Leona. I won’t have to take any drastic measures to keep you here.”

Leona clenched her jaw but managed to keep silent, watching him angrily as he left the room. She got off the bed, heading to the shower and her head reeling with all the crying and stress. Her stomach rumbled and she wanted a big, juicy burger from McDonalds, which was obviously not an option. She just had to suck it up and pretend he was a normal man.

She could smell chicken cooking and the sizzling sound was loud to her starved senses.

“You must be hungry. The chicken is almost done. Help yourself,” he said coldly and Leona was amazed that a murderer would be so concerned about her state of starvation. She didn’t have the heart or the urge to turn down food, and hungrily took several pieces off the skillet, digging in.

She sensed him watching her while she ate and she glanced up to catch him staring at her. “Are you counting my bites now?” she said angrily and he couldn’t help but grin at her. She looked so pretty and her anger was so endearing he couldn’t control himself.

His gaze fell on her heavy breasts pressing against the sweater and he knew he had to give her something else to wear. “There’s a closet full of clothes that will fit you in my room,” he said casually and she ignored him.

“Look, Leona,” he said after a few minutes of silence. “Just pretend I’m the man you thought I was and stop this cranky-kid act. We’ll be here for a while and it’s best if you behave.”

“How long will I be here?” she asked quickly and Jake lowered his eyes, thinking wildly what to tell her.

“I’m not sure. At least a week.”

“Will you let me go? Or...” She couldn’t complete the sentence.
Or will you kill me
?

Jake’s hand landed on the side of the fridge loudly, ratting it, and Leona jumped as he vented his frustration. “Look, your father’s a freaking judge, and even if he wasn’t, I wouldn’t have let you go until I was out of this place. Just bear with me for a few days and I’ll let you go. And no, I won’t kill you,” he jeered, making Leona smile despite the situation.

“Great. I’m glad I amuse you,” he said and then shook his head to get rid of his anger somehow. At least she was seeing the funny side of things which was good for the mood around the place. “Leona, I’m sorry. I really am. I don’t expect you to believe me but I was framed for my fiancée’s murder. I’m not going back to jail. No matter what. I’d rather die. If the police find me, there’s going to be shooting until enough of their bullets make me stop breathing, but there’s no way in hell I’m going back to that place.”