Frozen Hearts (Beyond Reality Book 3) (11 page)

The group stumbled toward the van, laughing loudly and exclaiming the day had been the “best ever” and how they’d all be best friends forever. They were acting just like drunk college women. Kina and the manager somehow were able to get all the men inside the van safely. At least the guys were happy drunks. It would’ve been worse if they’d been mad or angry when drunk.

At the last minute, Kina remembered their cameras. Crap. It was a good thing she hadn’t left them at the bar. That would’ve meant another trip back to this awful part of town to retrieve them.

“Can you please stay here for just a minute and watch them to make sure they don’t do anything stupid?” she pleaded with the manager. She didn’t want to leave them there for even the two minutes it’d take her to run back inside and grab the cameras. Thank God she had the keys to the van in her pocket. At least they couldn’t drive drunk or leave her there stranded.

When it looked like he was going to decline, Kina sighed and reached into her pocket and brought out a twenty. “Would this help convince you?”             

Smirking, the manger pocketed the money and said, “This’ll hold me for five minutes. Better hurry, sweet cheeks.”

Ugh. Another jerk, in a long line of jerks she’d had to deal with that day. Running back into the building she’d hoped never to have to enter again, she rushed over the bar. The bartender saw her coming and lifted the little wooden door, granting her access to the area behind the bar.

              “Thanks Shirley, appreciate it. Have a good night.”

She and Shirley had gotten on a first name basis since Kina had been there all day, and she waved as Kina backed out of the bar area with a camera in each hand and headed back toward the front door.

Stepping back outside was like sucking in oxygen, after being underwater for too long. Even though the area of town they were in was crappy, the air smelled fresh and sweet. She loved Alaska for that fact alone. Kina fast walked toward the van. She could hear the men inside singing a song about a lumberjack. She smiled, thinking how ridiculous the entire situation was. She only had to deal with the drunken louts for another half an hour or so, then she’d be free.

Kina should’ve been paying attention to her surroundings and not thinking about the warm bath she wanted to take that night. She suddenly found herself sprawled on the ground, looking up at two men. They were tall, but not very muscular and they smelled horrible. Kina could smell them from her position on the dirty ground. They smelled like body odor and pee. Gross. She didn’t have the time or the patience for this. All she wanted to do was get back to the hotel and get clean and sleep. She sighed.

Kina hoped the cameras weren’t broken. She’d taken a hard tumble and had both hands full with the cameras so she couldn’t break her fall. One of the guys had shoved her hard from behind. She picked herself up off the ground and faced the men. She glanced quickly at the van, although she could still hear the drunken singing coming from the men, they weren’t paying any attention to her.

“You don’t want to do this,” she told the thugs honestly, knowing she could kick their butts. She hadn’t had self-defense training for nothing. Although typically in self-defense one was supposed to do just enough to get away, she had to get to the van and get out of there. These guys wouldn’t let her calmly open the van door and start up the engine nonchalantly. She had to convince them she wasn’t a pushover and to leave her alone.

“Hand over the cameras,” the taller of the two men growled.

“Like hell,” Kina answered, not thinking.

“Hand ‘em over,” the second man growled, not expanding on his threat.

Kina didn’t wait to hear anything else. She’d learned in her classes to use every body part she had to hurt the other person. Her head, her elbows, her knees, her feet. As the first man came toward her, she aimed her foot at his knee. She figured most men would think a woman would go for their family jewels first, so she aimed for another basic pressure point. She kicked him as hard as she could, not holding back in the slightest. Sure enough, as soon as her foot made contact with his knee, he went down, hard.

Seeing his buddy rolling around on the ground seemed to galvanize the other creep. He roared and grabbed Kina from behind. Kina took a deep breath, turned her head to the side and slipped right out of his hold, just like she’d practiced in class. He was so surprised at her quick escape, he didn’t manage to block the heel of her hand as it slammed into the fleshy part of his face. He howled in pain and staggered away from her. He blindly swung his fist in her direction and before Kina could duck, managed to nail her in the cheek.

Damn, that hur
t
. Holy crap. Getting hit in the face hurt. She’d never been hit before. On television, actors always made it look like it wasn’t that painful. Shit. She’d had no idea how much it would hurt. She blinked hard. She couldn’t break down now.

Kina ignored her throbbing cheek for the moment and reached down to grab the cameras and get the hell out of there. Before she could reach the damn equipment and head for the van, the first guy was on his feet again. Kina sighed. She was done with this, dammit.

              He grabbed Kina’s wrist and said confidently, “Try getting away now, bitch.”

Really? He thought holding her by her wrist was keeping her secure? That was the easiest hold to get out of, if someone grabbed you. Kina looked down and yanked her arm towards herself, right where his thumbs and fingers met. It was like slicing butter with a warm knife, her wrist came free so easily. She brought her knee up quickly and slammed it into his groin this time. He fell to the ground, swearing profusely.

She turned and delivered a roundhouse kick to the other guy who’d recovered and was coming at her. She hit him right in the femoral artery, which worked just as well as nailing him in the groin. He went down hard.

Not waiting for either of them to recover again,she snatched the cameras up and headed for the van at a dead run. Damn the other guys for not being sober enough to be aware of what was going on and come help her. An
d
doubl
e
damn that manager. He was leaning against the van watching her
.
Watchin
g
. Bastard.

Kina briefly thought about Jonathan and how there was no way he’d simply stand against a van and watch a woman, or anyone, fight. He’d be right there helping. It wouldn’t matter if he knew the people in the fight. She couldn’t think about him right now. She had to concentrate on getting out of there.

She snarled at the manager as he strolled away, but didn’t bother wasting any energy on bitching him out. She didn’t have the time. She practically threw the cameras into the van and vaulted up into the driver’s seat. She ignored the comments from the guys, who still had no idea what had just happened right in front of their damn faces, and jammed the key into the ignition. She cranked the engine over and slammed the gearshift into drive. She watched as the two thugs in the parking lot came toward the van, albeit slow because of the injuries she’d inflicted on them, but coming toward her nonetheless.

She slammed her foot on the gas and everyone in the van was thrown backward in their seats. Again, she ignored the drunken comments from the men and concentrated on getting out of the parking lot, without flipping the van. She enjoyed watching the thugs leap out of the way. She would’ve hit them without a second thought if they hadn’t moved. Assholes.

The back end of the van fishtailed as she turned onto the street. She regained control of the van and let out a sigh. Holy crap. That wasn’t fun. She reached a hand up to her face. She realized she was shaking, most likely from adrenaline. Her face also hurt. She figured she’d most likely have a black eye as well. That guy had gotten her pretty good when he’d hit her. She blinked her eyes rapidly, to keep the tears that were welling from falling. She wouldn’t fall apart. She wouldn’t fall apart. She wouldn’t fall apart.

“Wooooooo, Kina, you’re Mario An-An-An…whatever hish name ish,” Nash drunkenly slurred from the backseat.

“You go, grrrrrrrl!”

“Shit, I hit my head.”

Kina ignored the comments, concentrating on figuring out how to get back to the production house. Since Benedict had driven them out she wasn’t exactly sure as to how he’d gotten them to the strip club in the first place. After driving around for a bit she recognized one of the main roads she’d been on with Jonathan and turned.

Jeff was surprisingly quiet, sitting in the front seat next to her. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only around twenty minutes, Kina pulled into the driveway of the production house. Eddie wrenched open the front door and stalked toward the van. Kina almost wanted to laugh at the look on his face, when the four contestants tumbled out of the van toward the house. At this moment, in their shared drunkenness, they were the best of friends. Any disagreement they’d had in the past were only memories.

“Where the hell have you been?” Eddie demanded of the group of drunks.

“Schrip Club.” Darius slurred, not hiding anything. “It was aweshome!”

The others added their agreement and continued into the house, laughing and giggling like little girls.

Kina turned off the van and grabbed her camera that was lying precariously between the front two seats. She left Jeff’s for him. She’d had enough of covering his butt for the day. She stepped down out of the van and headed toward the SUV to put her camera up.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Eddie scowled at her. Since he didn’t have the men to yell at anymore, he changed his target to her. “Why the hell did you take these guys out without my permission?”             

“I’m putting my camera up, then I’m going to go back to the hotel,” she said without turning around. She’d had enough of annoying men for the day.

Eddie had come up behind her without her noticing and he grabbed her bicep and tried to turn her around to look at him.

Kina ripped her arm out of his grasp and whirled around to face him. “Keep your hands off me, Eddie. I’ve had a hell of a day babysitting your actors and Jeff. I don’t want to talk to you; I don’t want to look at Jeff. All I want to do is go back to the hotel and take a shower. You got a problem with that?”

Looking uncomfortable, Eddie stared at Kina’s face, noticing for the first time the bruise on her face. “Uh, are you all right?” he said awkwardly and belatedly.

“No. My face hurts and I’m pissed off,” Kina said shortly turning back around to place the camera in the SUV.

“Jeff,” she called out. “I’ll be in the car. Do whatever you have to do and I’ll wait for you, but I’ll only wait for five minutes. After that you’re spending the night here.”

Eddie turned to lambast Jeff, wanting to yell at someone, only to watch as Jeff stumbled as he climbed out of the van and tripped over his own feet. Kina and Eddie stared at the man, now lying in the dirt,as he laughed uncontrollably over his clumsiness. Kina sighed, and ignoring the man trying to climb to his feet, went back to the van and grabbed Jeff’s camera. If she didn’t take it with her, it would sit in the van all night. Jeff was in no shape to even remember h
e
wa
s
a cameraman, much less remember to pick up the camera and bring it with him.

On her way back toward the SUV, she said, “Eddie, help him into the backseat. I’ll take him back to the hotel and get the tapes from today back to you tomorrow.”

Eddie, knowing by the look on her face that she was at the end of her rope for the day, amazingly did as she asked. He stood back after he’d closed the door on his drunk cameraman and watched as Kina pulled away from the house without looking back.

Kina pulled up to the hotel, dreading trying to get a drunk Jeff up to his room. As soon as she pulled into the parking lot, she saw Jonathan waiting for her. Crap. She had no idea how he knew when they’d be back, but maybe he’d just been hanging out in the lobby waiting for her. On one hand, Kina was glad he was there so she didn’t have to deal with Jeff on her own, but on the other hand she knew he was going to lose his shit over her face.

She’d checked it out in the car mirror before she left the production house. She was right, she had the beginnings of a black eye and the cheek would definitely bruise. Luckily, the guy hadn’t hit her nose. The last thing she wanted was to deal with was a broken nose. Kina didn’t think she needed to go to the hospital, nothing was broken, she’d just be sore for a while. It definitely could’ve been a lot worse. All in all, she’d been lucky. 

She parked the car and rested her head on the steering wheel for just a moment. That moment was long enough for Jonathan to open her door. She raised her head and turned to look at him. She knew the moment he realized something was wrong. The look in his eyes turned from gentle and welcoming to hard and angry.

“What the hell?”

Kina held her hand up and closed her eyes. “Can this wait?”

“Hell, no!” She felt his hand brush against her bruised face lightly. “Talk to me.”

“Can we please get him to his room, first?”

Jonathan looked in the back seat at Jeff, who’d finally passed out on their way to the hotel. “No. I need to take care of you first. He can wait here,” he told Kina resolutely.

“I’m fine, Jonathan; we have to get him upstairs.”

Since the SUV had high seats, Jonathan was able to block her from getting out of the driver’s seat simply by stepping closer to her. “What happened?” he said, holding on to his temper, by sheer force of will. “Tell me.”

Kina sighed. She decided to give him the condensed version so they could get out of the parking lot. She also needed his touch, to feel connected, so she leaned her forehead against his chest, and grabbed hold of his T-shirt at his waist. She needed the connection with him, even if he would be mad at what she told him.

“The guys decided they were bored and wanted to go out. Since we were tasked with filming them, we went too. They found a strip club and spent the day drinking and having fun. On the way out of the joint, I was asked to give up the cameras by two ‘gentlemen’ in the parking lot. When I declined, they tried to convince me. I beat the crap out of them, we left, and here I am.”

Jonathan had so many questions racing through his mind, he almost couldn’t decide where to start. He stroked her hair from the top of her head down to the middle of her back where it ended, then brought his hand back up to her head to do it again. “Where were the guys when those thugs tried to convince you to give up the cameras?”

“In the van.”

“Did they see what was going on?”

“I have no idea.”

“Give me the keys.”

Kina was startled by his request. She raised her head and looked at his face. What did he think he was going to do? “Uh, no.”

Jonathan held out his hand again. “It wasn’t a request, give me the keys.”

“No, Jonathan. I don’t know where you think you’re going, but, just, no.”

Jonathan leaned in close to Kina. “You don’t get it. They should’ve taken care of you. You never should’ve been in that position.”

“You’re right, I shouldn’t have been,” Kina agreed but at the same time trying to reason with him. “But I was. And you know what? I took care of it myself. Just like I’ve been doing for most of my life.”

“No
,
yo
u
don’t get it. You’re mine, now. If someone doesn’t treat you the way you should be treated, it’s my job to take care of it.”

Kina was pissed now. “No, it’s not. Jeez, Jonathan, I can take care of myself. Look at me! I took on two grown men and I’m just fine. They’re hurting more than I am!”

Jonathan was still pissed, but his hand was gentle as he cupped her cheek and ran his thumb over her bruised cheek. “No, you’re not fine. They touched you. They never should have touched you. They hurt you. I’m just going to have a word with the men at the production house and explain.”

“No!” Kina yelled, smacking his hand away from her face and not wanting his gentleness while he stood there and metaphorically beat his chest like a caveman.

“You’re not! Listen to me, Jonathan. You can’t do this. I can’t be with you if you’re going to do this. What are you going to do when I trip over my own feet? Beat the crap out of someone standing next to me? What if someone accidentally elbows me in a store? You gonna knock them off their feet, yell at them? It’s ridiculous. You knew I could take care of myself before you met me. What makes you think now is any different? You’re acting like Matt. He used to beat the crap out of people he imagined looked at what was his too.”

Jonathan tried to tamp down the hurt and fury her words caused him. “You’re shaking, honey. You’re hurt. I can’t ignore that and not do anything.”

“It’s the adrenaline, Jonathan. I’m fine. Seriously. All I want to do is go upstairs and take a shower and lie down.”

“Give me the keys and you can go and do that. I’ll be back later.”

Kina couldn’t think of anything else to say. He wasn’t hearing her. He was going to do what he wanted to do, just as Matt always did. She’d thought he was different. It was breaking her heart, to know he wasn’t. She handed Jonathan the keys and waited for him to get out of the way. When he finally stepped back, she jumped down and opened the back door. She got the cameras out of the back.

“Will you please help Jeff up to his room before you go?”

Without waiting for his answer, Kina turned toward the hotel doors.

“I’ll let you know when I’m back and maybe we can get something to eat?”

Kina ignored him and entered the hotel without looking back, blinded by the tears coursing down her cheeks.

* * *

Jonathan knew Kina was pissed and upset, but she was asking too much of him to ignore what had happened to her. He was damn proud of her for being able to get herself out of the situation, but she shouldn’t hav
e
ha
d
to do it. And that was the crux of the matter. The other men were right there and were too drunk to help her. She could’ve really been hurt.

He wanted to be with her, to help her clean up and take care of her face, but it was more important to him to go to the production house. He had to talk to the men. They had to know what they’d done. After Jonathan was done with them they wouldn’t let a woman face two thugs on her own again, that was for sure.

After dragging Jeff up to his room and leaving him passed out on his bed, he’d deal with him later, Jonathan drove to the production house. Eddie and Shannel weren’t around anywhere. He went up the stairs to find the men still on the show. He’d teach them a lesson on how women should be treated that they’d never forget.

* * *

Kina heard Jonathan knocking on her door. She ignored him. She was broken by his refusing to listen to her. She knew he was an alpha and felt the need to be protective of her, but she’d begged him to let it go and he didn’t. She wasn’t sure she could spend her life with him watching over her like that, ignoring her wishes.

She couldn’t go through it again. It had taken her months to get over the pain Matt had inflicted on her, she wasn’t sure she’d ever get over it from Jonathan.

Jonathan knew Kina was in her room. She was obviously pissed at him. She couldn’t seriously think he’d just leave it alone. No man in his right mind would ignore what happened if it had happened to his woman. He thought about what his brother would’ve done if this was Becky. He’d have lost his ever-loving mind. The only reason the two men who attacked his wife were still alive and breathing was because the police caught them before Dean did.

“Please let me in, Kina,” Jonathan said softly at her door.

Kina bit her lip. It took everything she had to not answer him. He sounded so sad, but she couldn’t give in. He’d hurt her. No, he’d devastated her.

“Did you get some ice for your face?”

God, why did he have to be so concerned and so dar
n
nic
e
?

When she still didn’t answer him, after a while she finally she heard him say, “Okay, I’m right next door, hon. If you feel like talking later, please don’t hesitate to come over. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She turned her face into her pillow so he wouldn’t hear her cry. She was so disappointed in him. She’d had such high hopes for their relationship and now she didn’t know if she’d be able to trust him again the same way she had before.

* * *

              The tension in the SUV was ratcheted high the next morning on the way to the production set. Kina had skipped breakfast so she didn’t have to talk to Jonathan. She knew he was waiting for her and wanted to talk to her, because he’d stopped by her door on his way down to breakfast.

              “Kina? Are you awake? I’d like to talk to you before breakfast.”

              When she didn’t answer, she’d heard him sigh. “Okay, you’re still mad at me. You know what happened to Becky. I couldn’t let this go. If the same thing happened to you, I’d lose it. I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I’d hoped to be able to talk to you and explain what happened when I went over to the house yesterday.” When she didn’t answer him after several moments, he said, “I’ll talk to you downstairs.”

Kina sat fully dressed on her bed and listened to him walk away. She’d started to second-guess herself. Was she overreacting? His bringing up Becky’s experiences had made her think. She knew how devastated Jonathan had been when Becky had been hurt. Sh
e
knew
.
He’d opened himself up to her and told her everything. Had yesterday brought on flashbacks for him? Did he sleep all right last night? Oh, crap. She had a bad feeling she’d done him a disservice. She hung her head and closed her eyes. This was too hard. This was why she wasn’t good at relationships. She tended to only think about what she felt, what she wanted. Knowing she had to face him at some point, she took a deep breath and made her way downstairs.

Jeff obviously wasn’t feeling well that morning. He was hung-over and hurting. Kina didn’t have any sympathy for him. He’d definitely overstepped his bounds as a camera operator yesterday. She wondered for a moment if he’d regretted it, then decided he probably didn’t. For the first time since they’d gotten to Alaska, there was silence in the car on the way to the set. Taylor and Carl had no idea what was going on, but with the bruise on her face, they knew something was up. They stayed silent, but gave her concerned looks as they traveled toward the set.

Eddie was there to greet the SUV as they pulled up to the house. As soon as Jeff stepped out of the vehicle, Eddie asked to speak with him. Kina, Taylor, and Carl looked over at them with curiosity, but Kina noticed Jonathan seemed to be ignoring them altogether. Eddie and Jeff were still talking, as the four of them walked into the house.

Not too long after that, Eddie entered the production house and closed the door. “Jeff won’t be joining us on the rest of the show. It’ll be up to the four of you to cover the competitions and to finish the filming. I understand, Kina, that what happened yesterday wasn’t your fault, but I do expect in the future that if something like this happens again, you’ll notify me immediately. You shouldn’t have been put in that position and the men shouldn’t have left the house, no matter how bored they were.”

Kina could only nod. She was shocked. She’d never thought Eddie would’ve been that cool about the entire situation. If anything, she figured he’d be a jerk about it and either fire her or at the very least scold her. It was hard for her to believe he’d actually fired Jeff. Why had he fired Jeff and not her? It didn’t make any sense.

She looked sideways at Jonathan, he wouldn’t meet her eyes. Hmm. Kina wondered if he had anything to do with it. Maybe she should’ve talked to him this morning, after all. She looked at Jonathan carefully for the first time that morning.

He had no outward cuts or bruises that would indicate he’d gotten in a fight the night before. That didn’t necessarily mean anything, though. The other four guys were pretty drunk and they most likely couldn’t defend themselves very well.

She looked at Jonathan’s hands. If he’d decked any of the men, his knuckles would be bearing the marks. Nothing. They were as smooth as they had been the last time she’d seen him.

Eddie continued talking to the camera crew. “As you know, there are four contestants left. We’ll begin having single-elimination contests from here on out. We’ll obviously have two more competitions before the final event. The single eliminations will be handled with short challenges, and the final, for the ‘Extreme Alaskan’ title, will be another overnight assignment. I’ll explain what that is when we get to it. In the meantime, I’ll assign each of you to film one of the men. Stick with them, film everything they do. After recording today, I expect you all to check out of the hotel and stay here. The pressure will be on and I want to get all of their reactions on film. If you have any problems with that, you can talk to me later, but I expect no one will. You’re all professionals here, make sure you act like it.”