The Thief Redeemer (25 page)

He nods his head in approval and stands. I stand and watch
him leave. I want to ask about Claire, but she is the white elephant in the
room. He didn’t mention her, and I didn’t ask.

I’m led back to my cell, and as I sit on my bed I decide to
do what I do best. I take out a pen and paper and start to write Claire another
love letter. It’s all I know to do in this situation. In my past letters, I’ve
asked her why she doesn’t visit and I’ve been inquisitive about her lack of
interest.

In this one, I only focus on her and her beauty. I focus on
how proud of her I am for graduating law school and then I end the letter with
a sappy love poem. I seal the envelope and slap on the stamp. I write her
address from memory and signal the guard. He takes the envelope from my hands
and as I watch him walk away, I get an idea.

I plan to write her a letter each and every day until I
leave. And once I start work and have some money, I’ll start sending her
flowers. Girls like flowers, right? I know Claire loves my sappy love letters.
At least she did. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I will win her
back.

I have to.

I’M A FREE man. The parole hearing
went as planned and I’m walking out a free bird. I have to see my parole
officer once a week for the next three years, but that I can handle. My
brothers are here to greet me, and as I walk out of the jail, I’m a little
shaken to be actually leaving. Surely there’s been some sort of mistake and
they’re going to make me return.

Mark and Luke walk beside me as we head to their car. It’s a
red Honda Civic and I’m already checking out the exterior. I need to stop. I
left that life behind, and I need to see things for what they are, not what
they would have meant in my past.

“Nice wheels,” I say as we walk to the door. I have no
luggage or anything, so I open the door to the back seat and slip inside. The
only items I’m taking with me are the cross necklace, the picture of my family,
and some letters from my brothers and Claire. All of these items fit in my
pockets.

“Sounds like you’ll be perfect for the mechanic job,” Luke
chimes in as we slip inside the car.

“Yeah. My interview is tomorrow. I’m hoping he’ll hire me and
that I can start as soon as possible. I need some money to help pay rent and
send Claire flowers.”

“Don’t worry about rent money yet, Brandon. Get going on
your feet first, and then we can talk,” Mark says as he cranks the car. We
drive away from the jail. The feeling is surreal. After five years, am I really
leaving? I never thought this day would happen. If it hadn’t been for Philip,
I’d probably have been looking at life behind bars.

I watch the scenery change as we leave the countryside and
move closer to the city. The twin’s apartment is downtown and surrounded by
everything teeming with life. The thought is both accelerating and frightening.
All I have known for the past five years is jail and before that my life was
full of nothing legal. This is phase three of my life, and I intend to make it
count. I’ve been given a second chance from a few select people, and I intend
to make them proud.

We pull up to an older apartment complex and Mark parks the
vehicle. I step outside, still in denial that I’m free. I walk over to the
grass and remove my sandals. I step into its greenness and let the crackling
feeling beneath my feet soak into my soul. This is nice. I haven’t felt grass
beneath my feet in five years. Before jail I could have felt this sensation anytime
and anywhere, but since that freedom was removed, this now feels amazing.

I turn around and see my brothers’ looks of confusion. “I
haven’t felt grass in five years,” I explain.

Through their laughter, Mark walks to my side and throws his
arm around me. “Big brother, we’re here for you and we’ll help you acclimate
back into the real world.”

I sigh because really, they have done more than enough. “I’m
going to need a lot of help. I haven’t ever been part of the real world.”

“That’s what we’re here for,” Luke adds, and I look at my
brothers in awe.

“Yeah. Thanks.” I can’t say much more. Luke leads the way to
our apartment. I walk inside and see it’s fully furnished.

“Your room is back here,” Luke says as we travel down the
hallway. I open the door and see a bed and a small dresser. It’s actually nicer
than the room I had with Tommy and Sally.

“Where did you get this furniture?” I ask.

“We asked around. Some of this is from Dayna’s family,” Luke
answers.

“I appreciate it.” I walk to my bed and sit on the mattress.
Having a bedroom of my own feels weird, and it will probably take me a while to
get use to the privacy again. Privacy in jail doesn’t exist.

“We’ll give you some space, Brandon. We’ll take you the
places you need to go, like to your meetings with your parole officer. Also,
you’ll want to renew your driver’s license and go purchase clothes. We didn’t
know what to get you, but you can borrow some of our clothes for now.” Luke is
right. I need to get my shit together before I get back to Claire.

“Yeah. All that would be great. I’ll borrow your clothes for
right now, and I’ll need some help getting to the parole office. I have to be
there tomorrow, and I have my interview, too.”

“Okay, we’ll leave you alone for now,” Mark says and they
both walk out of my room. I want to pick up the phone and call Claire. She has
to know I’m out of jail. Suddenly I’m angry that she hasn’t even attempted to
get in touch with me. We told each other we were in love and then when the
going gets tough, she ditches me. I lay on the bed and let the anger roll off
my back. I can’t be angry at her. That’s a sure way to
not
get her back.

I walk into the den and see Mark and Luke watching
television. “Hey, can I borrow a phone?”

Mark hands me his cell and I look through the contacts. I
see Claire’s number is one of his favorites.

“Are you calling who I think you’re calling?”

“Yep.”

“Good luck.”

I give him a tight smile and walk back to my bedroom. I
close the door and hit send. The good thing is she’ll think this is Mark
calling and possibly answer. She answers on the third ring.

“Hey!”

I hear her perfect voice and freeze. This is reminiscent of
when I tried to contact my brothers all those years ago. I want to hang up, but
I don’t.

“Claire.” My voice is hoarse. I hate how vulnerable I am
around her. She obviously doesn’t want me anymore, and here I am about to make
a fool of myself in front of her. She’s silent on her end and when she speaks,
it’s like an exhale.

“Hey.”

“I’m out. I’m at Mark and Luke’s apartment. I’m staying here
for now.” I pause but she doesn’t speak. “I just wanted to let you know…if you
were interested.” This is the most awkward phone conversation I’ve ever had
with her or with anyone else for that matter. She continues the silence and I
decide to ask her a question. This might get her to speak to me.

“What happened between us, Claire?”

She pauses again, and I’m starting to wonder if she’s
dropped the call, when she speaks. “I just…I just felt disconnected Brandon.
Your time in jail was hard for me. I’m sorry. I just…” She doesn’t finish her
sentence and I decide to jump in for the kill. Why not?

“Is there somebody else, Claire?”

Silence continues on her end, and then I hear her sigh.
“Brandon, it’s much more complicated than that.”

“Can we get together? So we can talk?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Her voice is soft and angelic, just like I remember, and
she’s breaking my heart one beat at a time.

“I’ve got to go, Brandon. I’m sorry.”

Just like that, she hangs up the phone. I’m left staring at
the screen and wondering what the hell just happened. I want to squeeze the
phone to pieces and throw it at the wall, but I refrain. One thing I learned in
prison is that my temper doesn’t get me anywhere. It used to bring me power,
but when I’m dealing with Claire, I’m completely powerless.

I’ve got to get my shit together or I’m going to lose her
entirely. I refuse to believe that has already happened. I’ll continue sending
her love letters each day but first, I’m going to work on myself. I need to get
in a good place financially and then I can start pursuing her. Maybe she needs
me to have money and a stable job before we can try this again.

I’ll have Mark and Luke keep tabs so that she doesn’t do
something crazy like get engaged. Then I’ll start to work my charm. I’m forcing
myself to focus on something else for the time being, with my top priority
being to find a job.

Then I’ll start sending her a rose each and every day. If
she thinks I’m going to give up that easily, she’s wrong.

Brandon Wilson doesn’t give up.

CLAIRE LOOKS AT her reflection in
the mirror. What is she doing?

I’m doing nothing wrong.

So why does she feel like she’s cheating on Brandon? She is
meeting Nathan for drinks and that is all. Nothing else. The past five years
have been trying for her. She has finished law school, passed the bar, and now
works fulltime for her dad. She is a successful lawyer and had plenty of
accomplishments.

So why did she feel herself drifting from Brandon?

Now Nathan has come into her life with his polite ways and
perfect charm. In fact, he is the total opposite of Brandon. And for this past
year, she has
craved
normalcy. Her life had been far from normal since
the moment she met Brandon Wilson. Once she was returned, she was the object of
media scrutiny. Even though she tried to keep Brandon and their relationship a
secret, the media still caught on and made a spectacle of her dating her
kidnapper.

Claire chose to ignore the media and instead, focus on
Brandon, but as the years wore on, so did her emotions. He wasn’t able to touch
her, wasn’t able to take her on dates, and wasn’t able to be there for her. By
year three, her commitment had started to diminish, although she had put on a
good show, but by year four, she couldn’t hide her feelings anymore.

She loves Brandon. She doesn’t doubt that for a second, but
she has needed his arms around her. She has needed him there for her at night,
and she has wanted nothing more but to call him up on the phone after a hard
day. For the past five years, she hasn’t had that. Then she met Nathan.

Nathan Lang is a successful owner of a marketing firm in
Atlanta. They met while she was legally representing his company. It started
with a smile, which turned into drinks, which turned into dinner. And the deal
with Nathan was he was
normal
. No baggage, no criminal history, no
skeletons in the closet. Only normalcy. Bliss.

As guilt invaded her system, Claire had quit visiting
Brandon. She didn’t know any more if what they had could survive in the real
world. Their relationship had grown in the three-month bubble during the
kidnapping and in the artificial environment of prison. Claire was starting to
think maybe love
wasn’t
enough. She desired touch, feelings, and someone
there physically to accompany the love. And over the past five years, Brandon
hasn’t been fulfilling that need. It’s not because he hadn’t tried.

He has written her enough love letters to fill an entire
box. Once she stopped visiting, the love letters sometimes arrived daily. Due
to the guilt she had felt for abandoning him during his darkest hour, she quit
reading the letters. Even his brothers have backed off from asking her about
Brandon.

She continues to ready herself for her date tonight. She and
Nathan aren’t official. They have been together only a few months and have never
really discussed their relationship. As far as Claire is concerned, she and
Nathan are simply a little more than friends.

She doesn’t love him, but she does like him. What she and
Brandon had shared was crazy love, quick and all-consuming. They were only
really together for three months, but she still knew that he was someone
special. She had been able to see past the temper and past the anger to
visualize a man with a good heart.

Not that Nathan doesn’t have a good heart, because he does.
Nathan is secure and easy. Brandon is a wild card, which means an unpredictable
future. She isn’t sure if being with him would ever secure her a normal life.
Brandon’s past will haunt him for the rest of his life, not to mention what the
media will do if they venture out in public together.

Claire’s heart is torn between love and reality, and she
can’t decide which to choose. She has tried blocking Brandon out by not
visiting him and not reading his letters. Life is easier when she focuses on
Nathan and tries to cut herself off from the past five years.

That is until Brandon called.

He called her from Mark’s phone a full week ago, and of
course she answered immediately. She had known he had a chance of parole, but
she chose to exclude herself from all the legal proceedings. Her father had
given her space when it came to Brandon. He let her make her own decisions, and
because of this, she had no idea that Brandon had already been released. His
voice stunned her and she raced to hang up the phone before the illusion of her
perfect world became unraveled.

After that phone conversation, she had needed Nathan to
remind her of normalcy. She had called him that night to ask what he was doing,
but he had been busy with work all week. Tonight is the first chance for them
to be together. They have decided on dinner. As she applies her lipstick in the
mirror, she briefly wonders what on earth she is doing.

Is she running from her feelings? She had known Brandon
would try to contact her, but she also knew that, if she pushed him away, he
would slowly start to back off. He is a gentleman, and won’t force himself on
her. She has to make up her mind what she wants, and she has to decide soon.
Brandon will come for her, this much she knows. She will have to decide what
she wants and choose between safety and unpredictability.

She glances over at the box of unopened letters. She knows
they probably contain poems. If she opens even one, her heart will melt into a
puddle. She knows all Brandon will have to do is kiss her, and she will return
to him. He has a crazy power over her that has so much to do with her knowing
him fully. She has seen the good, bad, and ugly sides of Brandon Wilson and
because of this, she feels an unexplainable connection to him.

The doorbell rings as she stands wrapped up her thoughts.
Nathan is here, and it is time to move her mind away from Brandon. For the
night, at least, she decides to ignore her heart and move to what she knows is
the logical answer. She glances once more at her long blonde hair and takes a
deep breath.

She leaves her room and walks down the hallway of her and
Sarah’s apartment. Sarah is out for the night at a study session, leaving the
entire apartment to Claire.

Claire makes enough money to afford her own place, but she
wants to live with Sarah. She and Sarah have developed a bond since the
kidnappings five years ago, and although Sarah is younger by almost five years,
Claire feels like she is a best friend and a sister. Their families are friends
and they have kept in touch after all this time. Living together is easy and
carefree. They each do their own thing but, they see eye to eye on so many
different issues.

Claire walks to the door and throws it open without looking
through the peephole. “Ready…” Her voice trails off when she sees Brandon standing
in front of her. Neither speaks as the seconds tick by. Claire studies Brandon
and his form. He looks older and wiser. There is something different in his
eyes that she can’t quite decipher. She realizes she hasn’t seen him in over
eight months.

“Claire.” His voice is almost a whisper, causing her body to
slightly melt. She longs to run into his arms, but knows she shouldn’t. She
hasn’t made up her mind yet, and if she decides to be with Brandon, there will
be a long road of recovery ahead of them. Is she willing to travel that road?

“Hi Brandon. What are you doing here?” She manages to find
her voice as she struggles to swallow. She has forgotten how great he looks
with his shaggy brown hair and perfect hazel green eyes. His eyes remind her of
a storm, and his hair is slightly more unkempt than usual. His body speaks
volumes of a man who has worked out. How long he spent working out each day had
been a joke of theirs when she would visit the prison.

“I borrowed Mark’s car and thought I would come visit. I
wanted to talk with you.”

“Brandon, now’s not a good time…” she responds, hoping
desperately Nathan won’t arrive while Brandon is here. Brandon is a topic she
hasn’t discussed with Nathan, and she doesn’t want to have to explain herself
tonight.

“When is it a good time Claire?” His voice is pleading, and
Claire can feel him chipping her walls away, piece by piece.

“I don’t know.” Her voice is once again a whisper as she
looks away from his eyes. They continue to stand in the doorframe as his
presence shadows her body. “I have a date,” she blurts out.

He inhales and exhales fiercely, as though she has thrust a
dagger into his heart. His fists are clenched at his sides.

“I’m sorry, Brandon. I don’t know what else to say.”

“This isn’t the end of us, Claire. This isn’t the end.”

The conversation is cut short as they hear footsteps
shuffling behind. Brandon turns his head. To Claire’s dread, Nathan walks to
the door, sizing Brandon up and down. Nathan is almost Brandon’s height and
build. Claire isn’t sure who would win in a fight, but she would bet her money
on Brandon. She knows how fierce his anger can be.

Nathan doesn’t say anything at first, so Claire decides to
be the one to ease the tension. “Brandon, this is Nathan Lang. Nathan, Brandon
Wilson.” The two men don’t shake hands as they continue to stare into each
other’s eyes.

“So, you’re the guy on the news. The one who owned the car
theft ring and kidnapped Claire.”

Brandon winces. Claire knows his past will haunt him till
the day he dies. How can they be together when he is known as her kidnapper?
Claire grabs Nathan’s arm and pulls him inside, fearful of a fistfight breaking
out at her apartment door. If Brandon gets in legal trouble now, he can kiss
his parole goodbye.

“Brandon was just leaving,” she says, removing her gaze from
his. She has to get him out of this situation before he does something he’ll
regret.

“Claire…” His voice is once again pleading, and Claire’s
heart is close to shattering into millions of pieces. All he has to do is kiss
her. That would be all it took for her to sacrifice everything inside of her to
be with him. His kiss is a secret weapon he doesn’t even know he possesses. It
is a weapon so powerful, she is sure he could have everything he ever wanted if
he used it on her. But she isn’t ready for that; not here and not now.

“We’ll talk, Brandon; just not now. I’ll…be in touch.” She
still can’t look into his eyes as she leans against the door. Her body is
shaking. She knows she’ll have to face Brandon eventually. What’s more, she’ll
have to do some explaining to Nathan tonight. She doesn’t want to do either.
Instead, she wants to climb in her car and disappear down I-75, leaving all
these problems behind.

Brandon opens his mouth to speak, then stops. She watches
him run his hand down his face, a sure sign of his frustration, as he turns
around and walks away. She watches him walk down the sidewalk and continues to
watch even after he has disappeared from sight.

She isn’t sure how long she stands there, staring into the
darkness, when she feels Nathan’s hand on her shoulder.

“Are you going to be okay? Did he try to hurt you?” Nathan’s
voice is soft, and Claire turns her attention to his beautiful face. He looks
different from Brandon, but beautiful just the same. He has sandy blonde hair
with crisp blue eyes. She is sure Nathan has women standing in line to date
him, and here she is, in love with an ex-criminal.

“I’m fine. Let’s get out of here.” She knows she will have
to explain the situation to him at dinner, but as she stares at his face, she
has only one desire. She walks over to him and pulls him into her arms. She
crushes her lips to his, and he responds by kissing her back and wrapping his
arms around her.

They have kissed plenty of times before, but never like
this. The intensity is deep and fierce. She deepens the kiss, trying to wipe
the memory of Brandon out of her mind. Nathan is a good-looking man, and the
one she knows she should be with. Any girl in her right mind would see this for
what it was. She feels his tongue in her mouth and feels his hands slipping up
her back. Then, suddenly, it’s over. He pulls away, resting his forehead on
hers.

“What was that, Claire? You’ve never come onto me like that
before. Does this have something to do with that guy?”

Claire opens her eyes to see Nathan’s clear blue eyes
looking right into her own. She doesn’t have any words to say to him as the
guilt starts to flood her body. What has she just done? Nathan is a good man
who doesn’t deserve any of this.

“I’m sorry. I’m not sure what that was,” she lies, knowing
the truth is as evident as a neon light flashing over her head, screaming of
her selfishness.

“Let’s go then,” he says, but his tone is flat. Claire grabs
his hand and follows him out of the apartment. She realizes she will have to face
this head-on soon, but at the moment, she wants to delay the inevitable.

Maybe it’s because she’s weak, or maybe because she’s
selfish. She doesn’t know what the answer is, but she will have to figure it
out soon. The weight of the problem is causing her anxiety to kick into full
gear.