PS02 - Without Regret (46 page)

When she didn’t move to go to him, he sighed heavily as he sat up and reached for her, but she wasn’t having that. She moved

back, still within reach, but he got the got the message that she wasn’t happy.

“We don’t have much time, Munchkin,” Chris said, letting his hand drop in his lap.

“You shouldn’t be doing this, Chris. You’re hurt,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion as she remembered the way he

looked only hours ago. He should be getting checked out by a doctor, not running around doing god only knows what.

He reached for her and this time she let him pull her down until she was straddling his lap. “Shhh, Munchkin. It’s fine. I’m just

going to go for a little run in the park. I’ll be fine,” he said, giving her a lopsided smile as he kissed the tip of her nose.

“Isn’t there another way?” she mumbled as she traced the large pink scar on his neck.

“Are you worried about me, Munchkin?” he asked softly.

“No,” she lied, but she was. She was absolutely terrified that he’d do something stupid and she’d never see him again. Of

course he didn’t want to see her again after this and the reminder should have her shoving him away, but she couldn’t. She was

too terrified to be mad at the moment.

“It will be fine, Munchkin, but I really need your help, because if I don’t do this a lot of people could get hurt,”

he explained. “I need to be able to draw attention away from the compound so that we can get you safely inside, Munchkin.”

“And from there you’re planning on sending me away,”

she whispered softly.

He pushed back her hair and gently cupped her chin and pressed a tender kiss against her lips. “It’s the only way I can keep you

safe, Munchkin,” he said against her lips.

“I don’t want to go,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face against the curve of his neck. She didn’t

want him to go either, but she wasn’t so selfish that she would willingly risk someone else’s life.

People, demons, shifters and whatever else was out there were looking for her, because of something she’d done and she

couldn’t risk anyone’s life. She couldn’t.

“I’m cold,” she mumbled against his neck.

“I’m sure we can find you something to wear,” he said, gently pulling her off his lap.

She watched nervously as he searched through several small metal cabinets that lined the left side of the van.

After a moment he handed her a pair of black sweat pants, tube socks, and his shirt. She didn’t waste any time pulling the

clothes on. The shirt of course was snug around and breasts, but too big everywhere else.

She had to roll the legs of her pants up several times and the socks were thick and made it difficult to pull her damp shoes on,

but somehow she managed.

As she sat there getting dressed, she did her best not to look at the small black button just above the backdoors.

It hadn’t taken her long to figure out that that button was an override switch to unlock the backdoors. The next time they stopped

she was going to make her move.

If Chris really thought she was going to be able to sit back and let him risk his life for her again then he was in for a rude

awakening. He said he was going to run to draw the attention away from the compound, well, she could do that. She could. He

might not believe her, but she was pretty fast. Granted, she didn’t really know Boston that well, or rather at all, but she as long

as she kept to the busy streets she should be okay, more than okay. In fact”What the hell are you doing?” she demanded as Chris

snapped a handcuff around her right wrist and attached it the mesh metal side of the cabinets.

“Just making sure you’re safe,” Chris said brightly.

“Let me go,” she bit out, practically seething with anger.

He let out a long suffering sigh. “I would. I really would, Munchkin, but I’m afraid you’re planning on doing something stupid

and I just can’t allow that.”

She scoffed at his dead on accusation. “I was not.”

“Yes, you were,” he said, chuckling and any other time she’d be pleased to hear him laugh and see him smile, but this was not

one of those moments. He was going to do something incredibly stupid and she was helpless to stop him.

“No, I wasn’t. I was just cold, very, very cold,” she said, glaring at him and then of course added for emphasis a little shiver.

“See?”

His smile turned sad as he reached over and cupped her face. “You don’t know how badly I wish things could be different,

Munchkin.”

Dread filled her when he couldn’t quite meet her eyes.

“Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye?” she asked, nearly choking on a sob.

“Because I am, Munchkin,” he said, leaning in to kiss her, but she turned her face.

“Why?” she demanded, feeling her heart break. “You said you were going to take care of me until I was put on a plane. Why

the rush?” she asked, not pointing out the fact that she didn’t plan on letting anyone do that.

“Once I leave this van, Munchkin, everyone after you is going to associate my scent with yours. If I’m with you when you’re

transported to the airport it will make it easier to find you and I can’t have that.”

“Then don’t do this!”

“I have to, Munchkin,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “It’s easier this way.”

“Easier for who?” she cried. It sure as hell wasn’t easier on her. This was hell. This was the worst kind of pain she’d ever felt.

“For both of us. I’m sorry I let things get so far between us. I never should have touched you, Munchkin,” he explained softly.

His words felt like a physical blow, one that had her struggling not to lose it. “You regret everything that happened between

us?” she asked, her voice barely above a soft whisper.

“Yes,” he said with absolutely no hesitation.

She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to be sick as she asked, “What about the baby?”

“A mistake we need to have corrected before you leave.”

Her eyes flew open. “No,” she said firmly. “You may not want me or the baby, but I want this baby and I’ll be damned if you

take it away from me,” she said, pressing her hand against her stomach as if she could shield the child from Chris’ words. She

couldn’t believe the kind sweet man that made her feel alive, whole and happy for once was this cold bastard in front of her.

He sighed heavily as he moved away from her and picked up the bullet proof vest and looked at her.

Without a word unclipped the sides and moved to put it over her head. When she tried to shove him away he doubled his

attempts and got it over her head and clipped to the sides before she put up a real fight.

“If you’re so damn determined to go out there then you need this more than me,” she said as she struggled to pull it off one-

handed.

“Keep it on, Munchkin,” he said, moving towards the back door. For a moment he didn’t say anything and she was glad

because she didn’t think she could handle another word from his mouth.

The privacy door slid open and Joshua moved to join them. He looked from her to Chris and opened his mouth to say

something, but apparently decided against it as he sat down and waited.

“One minute out,” Ephraim said tightly and she wondered if he’d been able to hear what they talked about, because the man

certainly didn’t sound happy.

Chris nodded firmly as he crouched by the back door and put his hand on the handle. He didn’t bother looking back at her as he

spoke. “For what it’s worth, I’m truly sorry, Isabella. I never meant to make this harder on you or to put you in this situation.

I…..I can’t force you to get rid of the baby obviously, but I just want you to think about what kind of life a child will have

where you’re going. It wouldn’t be fair to the baby.”

“I’m Not. Going,” she bit out angrily at the fact that apparently she was no longer his little Munchkin or the fact that he was

leaving her, she didn’t know and didn’t care. “If you leave, Chris, then this is goodbye. There will be no second chances,

Chris.”

“No, there won’t,” he mumbled softly as he threw the door open and jumped out.

“Chris!” she screamed.

The door slammed shut with a sickening finality as her breath stilled in her throat and the van started to move again. Oh,

god…………

He’d left.

“Let’s get you ready,” Joshua said with a forced smile as he reached over and released the cuff from the cabinet.

She was so shocked by Chris’ departure that she barely paid attention. When he attached the cuff to her other hand, she tried not

to feel disappointed that he either didn’t trust her. That was just insulting, she thought as she shoved him away with her

shoulder, shocked that she actually managed to knock him hard on his ass, but she didn’t have much time to celebrate her little

victory. She needed to move her ass and get away before they could ship her ass off.

She felt the van come to a stop as she quickly made her way over to the back doors on her knees and reached up and pressed

the button. Ss quickly as she could she grabbed the handle and shoved the door open and nearly groaned.

“He said you’d be difficult,” a large man with short curly golden blonde hair mused as he signaled to four equally large men

wearing black fatigues to step forward and grab her.

“Where do you want her?” the man with a shaved head asked as he reached for her.

She tried to move back, but he wasn’t having that. He grabbed her and yanked out of the van and over her his shoulder and she

promised herself that if he so much as accidentally brushed against her ass that she was going to kill him.

“Put her downstairs with the other one. They can wait to be transported together.”

This wasn’t happening. She needed to get away or have more time. She couldn’t let them ship her off. Chris was right, she

didn’t want to raise her baby girl on a island.

She wanted to give her the life she never had. She’d have to escape that was all there was to it.

She moved to raise her head to get an idea of her surroundings when a black cloth bag was placed over her head.

“Hey! I’m not a prisoner, you jackass!”

“Then why are you cuffed?” someone asked in a bored drawl.

“Because I’m a pain in the ass! Now let me go!”

Several of them laughed, but she didn’t care. She needed to get out of there, she thought as she began her assault.

“Mother fucker!” the man beneath her hissed out as she landed a punch to his lower back.

“Let me go!”

“Go with them, Izzy,” Joshua the traitor said. “It will be okay.”

“Go to hell!” she snapped.

“I’ll check on you after I look in on the injured,” he said, sounding sad, but she didn’t say anything else as his words hit home.

People were hurt, because of her.

“Hurry up and get her down there and then come back up and go protect the south side,” someone ordered. The man beneath her

grunted and she decided to give up her fight, at least for now. They were busy fighting a problem that she created and she

wouldn’t make it any more difficult for them.

Well, she wouldn’t fight them, but she fully planned on escaping. She remained quiet as she was carried up a flight of stairs,

placed in an elevator and traveled down to wherever the hell they were taking her. Just when she didn’t think her stomach

could take another minute over his shoulder while the elevator dropped them at a nauseatingly fast rate they came to a stop.

Five minutes later she was dropped on her ass onto what felt like a thick mattress and her hood, handcuffs and vest were

quickly removed. While her captors were slamming the thick door made of thick, really thick, metal bars behind them and

leaving, she took a moment to look around.

The door they’d just left through was made of metal, but the rest of her cell was different, a little odd. She was still surrounded

by metal bars on ever side of her, but those metal bars were incased in thick glass-like material, but she didn’t think it was

glass. She looked around her threadbare cell and frowned. She had a metal toilet/sink combination in the corner, her bed

consisted of a solid metal frame bolted to the floor and her really large, pissed off looking neighbor was watching her from his

cell.

Worrying her lower lip, she raised her hand and gave him a tentative wave. “Hi.”

He didn’t wave, didn’t say hello, he just stared at her.

She frowned as she looked him over. He was large, probably almost as tall as Chris, but leaner. He was also very handsome

with shoulder length black hair that looked finer than silk, beautiful bronze skin, Native American and couldn’t be older than

sixteen.

“They’re moving me an island apparently for my own good, what about you?” she asked, sounding like an idiot, but didn’t care.

He was actually starting to frighten her a little bit. Should a kid really look that menacing? She didn’t think so.

When he only continued to stare at her, she shot a nervous look towards the white desk across from them where she was

guessing a guard should be, but wasn’t.

She heard a loud creak and looked over in time to see her neighbor walk out of his cell.

Was he supposed to be able to do that? She really didn’t think so. She didn’t know why the hell they felt the need to lock him

up, but judging by his rather scary glare she was guessing there was probably a really great reason.