Fantasy Attraction (Hidden Secrets) (22 page)

“Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you back to where you belong.  If this guy is as good to you as I think he is, I bet he is going nuts right now.”

“How long have I been there?”

“Technically, ten days since it’s after midnight.  We should get there about lunchtime.  Just lay back and get some sleep.  I’ll wake you when we get there okay?”

“How do you know where I live?”

“I told you, Colleen, I’ve been there even if you haven’t seen me.  Now please rest, I’ll wake you when we get there.”

I just nodded my head.  My mind was racing with all the information I just found out.  I needed time to process everything.  Could I let Geno into my life knowing the decisions he made that kept me in the life that I have lived?  Would he ever be my dad?  How could they both lie to me? Did I not mean anything to them?  Or did I mean that much that they felt they had to do this? My mind continued to race, but eventually I drifted off into sleep.

It had seemed like I had just closed my eyes when Geno was waking me up.  I opened my eyes and immediately shut them again.  The sun was bright and it hurt my head to see it. I sat up in the seat and rubbed my eyes.  Eventually I was able to open them.

“Come on.  Let me help you to your man.” He said as he stood up outside my door.

I looked around and we were at a park.  Carson’s house was nowhere around. I looked up at Geno and he smiled down at me as he helped me from the car.

“Why are we here?”

“Because your man is here.  I figured you wanted to see him and not wait outside his house.” He smiled down at me as he hooked his arm around my waist and helped me walk.

Realization dawned on
me, on what Geno has just done. “He’s going to come after you.” I whispered.

“I know.”

“Why?”

“Because you are my d
aughter. I have stood behind, stayed away and for what?  Just to have you brought back into that life anyway?  I’d rather have a chance to be in your life, than keep pretending it isn’t killing me by not being in your life.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

I kept my head down trying to focus on my steps.  When I lifted my head again, I was immediately drawn to Carson.  He stood leaning against a tree.  Carson looked like hell, but still as gorgeous as ever. My breath caught in my throat as his head turned in my direction.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

~CARSON~

Leaning against the tree, I watched my family enjoy themselves.  My parents were joking around with Jackson about how when he was little he always wanted to wear my mom’s shoes.  It was a story that will forever haunt him and brought a small smile to my face every time I heard it. 

I have been here a few hours and ate some food, I think I’m going to call my outing and head back to be in my heartache alone.  As I turn away from the tree, my eyes lock with the eyes that I can’t forget.  My heart stops.  Was it her?  I noticed then a big guy holding her up. She started to walk and stumbled a little, but the guy caught her. She turned and said something to him and turned back to me.

It was like slow motion as she clumsily walked toward me. My feet couldn’t stay there and my heart wasn’t waiting.  I began to jog toward her.  She tried to pick up her speed, but began to stumble.  Before she could fall, I wrapped her in my arms and held her tightly.  She started shaking in my arms and I knew she was crying.

“
Shh, Angel. I’m here.  I have you.”

“I love you,” she rasped out. “Oh god, I’ve missed you.”

“Me too.” I sighed.  “Me too.  Baby you feel like you’ve lost weight.”

“I don’t know when the last time I
actually ate anything was.  Or showered, so sorry if I stink,” she laughed sadly.

“Come here, eat.  We have plenty of food left over.  Who’s the guy?”  I couldn’t keep myself from asking any longer.

“His name is Geno and it turns out he’s my real dad.  Long story.  He saved me, can he stay?”

I walked over to Geno and stuck out my hand. “I’m Carson.  Thank you for saving my
Angel.  I’m forever in your debt.”

“I’d do anything for her.  I’m just sorry
that everything I have done hasn’t stopped this from happening.” Geno said sadly.

“Are you
hungry?  We have plenty of food.”

“If you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

I picked Colleen up and carried her over to the picnic table and sat her on my lap. 
Everyone rushed over to us spouting off a million things at once.  Colleen’s head sagged onto my shoulder, and I held her closer to me.

“Guys, please she needs to eat.  Give her some time.”

“She didn’t have much.  I brought her what I could, but I couldn’t get in there all the time or I’d draw attention.  I did the best I could for her.” Geno said sadly.

“Thank you for helping Geno. I’m sorry for some of the things I said. You risked a lot for me.  I won’t forget that.” Colleen said softly.

Gathering up some food and a drink for her, I held her while she ate.  She had eaten maybe a handful of bites before she jumped off my lap and made for the trash can.  I held back her hair and supported her until she finished.  My mom handed me a bottle water and I handed it to Colleen.

“Here
, rinse your mouth out.”

She did and tears fell down her cheeks.  She looked up at me. “I’m so sorry.  Will you ever forgive me?”

“Angel,” I pulled her into me. “There is nothing to forgive.  You came back.”  She continued to cry into my chest.

Picking her up, I stood and told my family that I was taking off to get Colleen home.  I told Geno
, he could come with if he wanted.  He followed us out and I drove my girl home.  She laid in my lap all the way back to my house, holding my hand as if it were her lifeline.

Once to the gate, I slowed to watch the gate close and continued down the drive and parked inside my garage.  I gestured him to pull in th
e empty spot next to my car, then carried Colleen into the house.

“Um, straight down this hall to the very end on the right are a set of stairs take them up and turn to your right the first door on your left is the room you can stay in.  If you need anything please let me know. I’m going to help her get cleaned up.”

He nodded his head and I made my way into my bedroom, straight into my bathroom.  While holding her on my lap, I turn on the tub and got the water just right and started filling it. She moved off my lap and over to the sink to start brushing her teeth.  I couldn’t keep my hands off her.  For ten days, I thought I lost her.  For ten days, my heart was broken.  Reaching down, I pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it in the hamper. 

Running my hands up and down her arms, I press tender kisses across her shoulders.  Removing her bra, I toss it to join her shirt
, then removed the rest of her clothes.  While she finished up brushing her teeth, I removed my clothes.  Once she finished, I picked her up and carried her to the tub.  Slowly lowering us both into the tub, I grabbed a wash cloth and began to wash her.  Once I finished, I began to wash her hair.  She moaned as I massaged her scalp, so I took my time massaging her scalp as I washed her hair and then rinsed it.

When she was all clean she leaned back against me.  Colleen hadn’t really said much since she showed up and I began to worry what had happened.  Curiosity eating at me, I finally had to ask.

“What happened, Angel?”

There was silence and I worried she wasn’t going to talk at all.  But finally, she spoke, quietly but she was talking.

“I went to pay off a debt that Harriet owed the Garcia brothers.”

“You did what?” I said shocked.

“Please let me finish.”

I nodded my head and she turned back around and cuddled back into my embrace.  Kissing her shoulder and then her neck, I silently urged her to continue.

“When I got to the meeting place, Geno shows up instead of Lenny.  I call Lenny and tell him I said to meet there if he wanted his money he’d show up.  Well, he called Geno and told Geno that he had to escort me back to him.”

“Wait a second Geno works for him?”

She goes on as if I didn’t ask a question. “He starts telling me all this stuff about Lenny, Benny and Harriet.  Long story short, he was trying to give me ammo to help save me. Lenny said he was going to put me in his circuit.”  She started to cry.

“
Angel,” I swallowed hard.  “Did he hurt you?”

“He hit me a lot and because I mouthed off
, he told me the first thing he was breaking in was my mouth.  I stupidly thought it was him hitting me, but I was wrong.  He held a gun to my head sat on my chest and pinned my arms to my side with his legs…he made me…he made me…” She started crying harder.

I held her tighter.  “It
’s okay, you don’t have to finish.  He made you blow him?”  She nodded her head.  My anger was boiling.  “Did he…”  She shook her head no and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Geno got me out of there real early this morning and drove non-stop here.  I just wanted to be free to be with you without having to look over my shoulder or move away.  That’s why I left to do it.  I didn’t want to lose you.”

“You are not going to lose me.  Do you hear me?  I love you and I’m not going anywhere.”

We sat in the tub until the water turned cold just holding on to each other.  She seemed to be able to move a little easier as we climbed out and dried off.  We walked out to the bedroom and I handed her some clothes.

“Will you lay down with me?”  She asked, setting the clothes aside.

“Of course,
Angel.”

Lifting her up on the bed, I crawled in next to her pulling her into me as I pulled the covers over us.
  For a whole ten days, I never thought I was going to have this again.  Having her in my arms, was a dream that I thought was never going to come true again.  Now here I lay with the love of my life in my arms.  Sighing contently, I start to fall asleep.

Waking a bit later, Colleen was still wrapped in my arms.  I feared I was dreaming, but I wasn’t, she was really here.  Lightly, I began to kiss her shoulder while running my hand down the length of her arm. Pulling her tighter against me, she moaned brought her arm up and wrapped it around my neck.  Turning her head, she looked at me with love in her eyes.  Our eyes lock as I slowly pushed myself into her.  Colleen gasped and tightened her hand behind my neck.

“Ahh,” I breathed.

“Mmm,” She moaned.

Slow, deep thrusts, I ran kisses across her shoulder and up to her mouth before taking her mouth in a passionate tender kiss.  She began to rock her hips with each of my thrusts and I trailed my hand to her breasts, tweaking each nipple before moving my hand down between her legs.

“
Ah, yes,” she breathed.

I could feel her building and I was too.  Putting more pressure on her clit, I began to rock into her faster.  Her soft moans filled the room and spurred me on faster.  She started to clench around me before arching her back and calling out my name.  I followed right with her
, pushing into her one last time before emptying myself in her.

Burying my face in her neck, I breathed her in.  “
I’ve missed you so much.  I love you, don’t do that to me again. From now on we face things together,” I whispered.

“Never again. I love you too,” she said sleepily.

I could feel her fall back asleep.  I laid there for a few moments longer before getting out of the bed and slipping on a pair of sweats.  Making my way into the kitchen, I was shocked to find Geno sitting at the counter eating.

“Hello,” I said in passing
, heading to the fridge.

“Hey,” He said cautiously. “I hope you don’t mind
, I got a bowl of cereal.”

“No, I told you to help yourself.  I’m just getting ready to start something for supper.”

There was silence for a little while.  Neither of us talking, but silently urging the other to start the conversation that we both know was on our minds.

“You love her?” He asked.

“With all my heart.” I stated without hesitation.

“He’s going to come for her.” He said sadly.

“I kind of figured.  What can I do?”

“We need to keep her protected at all costs.  She can’t be alone.  He is going to be pissed when he finds out.  I’ll have a ‘kill on sight’ stamp on my head, but I don’t care.  She needed out of there.”

“So you’re okay with me losing two dads then?” Colleen said from the doorway causing us both to turn.

I walked over toward her and wrapped her in my arms and held her.
  She wrapped her arms around me and let out a breath.  I leaned down and whispered in her ear.

“Give him a chance
Angel.  He’s trying to help.”

She nodded into my chest and I released her to go start preparing a meal. As I started gathering things to prepare something, I watched them out of the corner of my eye.

“How are you doing?”

“Better.”

“I can tell.
Did…”

The sound of the buzzer for the gate going off broke Geno off.  I walked over to the intercom and let out a frustrated sigh.

“What is it?”  Geno asked concerned.

“This trash that just won’t stay away.” I huffed.

“Oh my God!” Colleen said behind me and I heard the stool fall over.

Immediately I turned around to check on her and she had her hand to her mouth. “What is it?  What’s wrong,
Angel?”

“She’s the one that told Lenny where I was.  He was going to kill you if I didn’t go to him.  She is paying him to get rid of me.” She said through her hand before running to the trash
can and throwing up.

Mental note, I need to get Jack over here to look at her.

“She has plans for you, but Colleen keeps getting in the way.  So she is paying Lenny a pretty good sum of money to get rid of her. Lenny just wanted her alive, not dead like that girl there wanted. So I guess in a way we can be thankful for that.  She wanted one of his guns for hire.”

After thinking for a minute, I told everyone to be quiet.  I turned back to the intercom and answered.

“What?” I snapped.

“Come on baby.  We will be so good together.  She’s not coming back.  Just let me in.”

“How did you know she was gone?”

“I watched her leave and I haven’t seen her come back yet.”

“Are you stalking me?”

“Oh
, now, I’d hardly call it that. I’m watching over you.  Baby we are meant to be together.  I’m protecting what’s mine.  Now you had fun with your little whore, but it’s time to come back to me.” She cooed and I just wanted to punch her.

“Come back to you?  As if we were ever together.  I’m in love with Colleen.  No one else will ever measure up, especially not a chick that hurts her. Now get off my property before I call the police.” I hiss clicking off the intercom.

Making my way to the bedroom, I grab my phone. Holding it in my hands, I have no idea who I want to call, but I wanted to.  I began pacing the floor back and forth; trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do. How can I protect her?  I can’t be there every second.  How can I know she’s safe when I’m not around?  Colleen is stubborn at the best of times.  She is not going to want me hanging over and telling her what she can and can’t do.