Yield (17 page)

Joshlin turned out to be a big fat wuss of a kidnapper.  He left.

“Where are you?  Emma.  Scream again dammit.”

I followed orders.  Joshlin was leaping off me and Ames face was above me now.  I have never been one to cry, but the second I saw him, I did just that.  As if in a drought, I poured it all out.

“He took it, Ames.  He took it,” I bumbled out the words between sobs.

“Are you okay?”  His voice and body shook all over as he half laid out beside me.  His hands were patting and checking under clothes.  I should have been embarrassed, but coming from Ames and his protective nature I loved, it was a peace I needed to see.

Turning down my top, he had a wide view of my bra on the left side.  He didn’t seem the least bit preoccupied with anything but searching for injuries. 

“Did he hurt you?”

That was always his first question.  My heart swelled.

“No
, Ames.  I did this myself first with Randor and then with Joshlin.”

His face turned dark and thoroughly scary looking.  He was still imagining the worst.  And Lord, he was checking my pants and all my parts over.

“No.  I mean getting away from Randor in the woods,” I showed him my fingernails receiving another flashing red look.  “The tree was debarked worse than my fingers, I promise.  My shirt however, was ruined.  And when I bit Joshlin, my shirt tore trying to do it again.”

If his face blinked red before, now it was a burning flame.  Not a blushing effect by any means.  “Why would you need to bite the fleabag?”

Refraining from descriptive retellings of how Joshlin sat straddled on top of me I just said, “He held me down, so I bit him as he tore my painting and stole the treaty.”

“And that
’s all?”

Gulp.  “Yep.”

He didn’t believe it, I think.

“If I find out he hurt you, I will kill him
, Emma.  Make no mistakes about what I can do.”

This Ames scared me senseless.  I
’d learned he’d never killed a man other than what Joshlin put in his way, but now he seems so wrapped up in saving me that I think he might just do it out of inner hatred if I didn’t counteract the situation.

“I know you are a better man than that.  You prove to be honorable and just all the time.  Don
’t tell me you’ll kill a man for holding down a screaming girl and taking her toys.  He is pure evil, I know that now.  But I don’t want to be the reason he is dead either.  It would hollow out my heart as well as yours.”

“He held you down?”  His fist hit the wood tabletop as he stood me up. 

Didn’t he listen to a word I said?  I tried to hide my inner girl screaming fit. 

“He wasn
’t the least bit interested in
me
Ames.  He wanted the treaty.”

He huffed.  “You don
’t know a man’s mind, Emma.  Scarred or not.”

He didn
’t want to listen. 

“You
’re not to be alone,” he said then added, “Ever!”

No, he wouldn
’t listen.  When his mind was made up, there was no changing it.  For now. 

I understood the protective alpha side of Ames, I just didn
’t agree with it.  But I’m coming to learn as a woman, you have to overlook the parts of a man that are engrained in them and act on pure instinct.  It was a valuable character trait, but a deadly one if they really meant what they say.

Ames, i.e. Florence Nightingale, started doctoring me back to normal aiming for the bathroom above the cave.  With only a few cuts and bruises that wasn
’t much, he acted like they were death wounds.

“Are Trigger and Caydon okay?” I held onto Ames while he squeezed various parts of my arm as part of his doc routine. 

Ames snorted.  “I wouldn’t ever say they are okay by any means, certifiably insane maybe.”

“Agreed on the Trigger part.  Caydon has his good moments.”

Ames gave me a severely dirty look, but didn’t let me go.

“I just mean he is really trying to help us.  Trigger
’s nutty as a fruitcake, but sweet.”

“I didn
’t come here to get insulted or to see you get mangled into a ball of yarn.”

My arm backhanded the second I felt a body behind me feeling a little less like myself. The familiar grunt made me turn to make sure I didn
’t hurt him. Against the bathroom door, he cradled his stomach with one hand and the other to his jaw.

“And I certainly didn
’t come rescue you so that my beautiful face could be warped into a Mona Lisa.  I am quite proud of what my momma gave me to work with,” Trigger informed me.

“Your Mona met Lisa and ran away screaming.”

“Rethink that again, woman.  I am the sex god of men.”  Trigger stood taller and knocked on his chest like Tarzan.  He was just that off sometimes.

“What about Wicker?” 
Caydon asked deferring Trigger’s idiocy.

“His text said he was hot on his trail.  No worries.  Wicker has a stronger revenge plan than even mine.”

That earned him a dirty look from me, but I wasn’t sure what else I could do about it.  Revenge never ended well in my opinion.

“That bas—piece of crap won
’t stop and you know it.”

I gave Trigger a weird look for stopping his cussing that I was very well used to in him.  Not until I tilted my head in Trigger
’s direction did I remember that Caydon was standing with us.  I gave him a humble smile and faced Ames again.

“Well, unfortunately he
’s right.  Joshlin’s Napoleon complex will keep him coming back.”

“Ames, he isn
’t short,” I rolled my eyes and walked to the kitchen for a glass of water.  I held my shirt across the front of my chest for concealment hating I lost
this
shirt.

“Not in height sweetness, in ego.  He just wants to be in charge.”

Oh.  “But without the responsibilities.”

“Exactly,” Ames said checking to see if I was okay again.  He followed me too closely and I noticed now he was blocking me into the counter with his huge body.  I was starting to wonder if he used that excuse to look me over on purpose.  “Let
’s get going.”

Ames seemed satisfied with his survey of my parts so I threw my barely contained excitement out.  It
’s not like I felt really kidnapped altogether.  Joshlin was a wuss and I knew it now.

“I have some news,” I said wanting to release my great find.  Ames face changed as he darted his eyes straight to my shoulder.  My shirt was a mess.

“In the car.  First, you need to get out of those clothes.”

"We all agree on something finally," Trigger said amused.

I gritted my teeth and looked to Trigger hoping for help.  “Tell him to listen, Trigger.”

Trigger pointed to Ames and said with a wry smile, “Listen
, Trigger.”

I banged my fist into Trigger
’s arm.

“Ow, woman.”

“Ow, weakling.”

Emma saw the treaty.  It was in her grasp.  The long buried facts were so close I could taste it.  I just knew it was something good.

I let the gritty truth of what was to come wash over her, bathing her in thought.  I could have easily left the others standing there and headed to the back bedroom, pulled her under the covers, and held her close.  I was still shaking from the sight of her torn and bleeding. 

“Let
’s go back to the bathroom.  I’ll get you taken care of first before we go anywhere.”

Her eyes lit up and her cheeks blossomed giving way to an unwelcome comment from Trigger. 

“Well, that was one I haven’t tried.  Ladies and Gentleman, let’s see if it’s a go.”

She rolled her eyes at Trigger instead of me and did the opposite of what she should have done.  “Let
’s go get to it then.”

Drop mouthed was something rarely seen on Trigger, so I enjoyed it as much as Emma.  Away from the others, she tapped my shoulder and leaned into my ear, “So what are we really doing?”

Oh, but I couldn’t help myself.  “Whatever you insinuated back there is great with me.  Feel like a shower, sweetness.”

Her body froze in midstep.  I held her timorous look and felt instantly ashamed of myself.  “I
’m teasing you, Emma.  I just want to clean up your hands, change your shirt.”

Her body relaxed.  I couldn
’t help but let my mind wonder why she would be so opposed. 

“
I don’t have a shirt here anymore.”

“I do.  You can wear one of mine.”

“No way.  You’re huge.”

Once again, I couldn
’t resist.  “Thank you, doll.  Glad you approve.”

She coughed.  “Ames.  You are such a...a...guy!”

Oh, this was fun.  I candidly looked side to side and whispered close, “I could show you just how much.”

Another cough as the lock to the bathroom door closed behind me.  With my mind focused on making her squirm, I was less likely to go take out Joshlin like I would have if left alone.

“Oh, no.  You leave that door open.  I’m uncertain what I might have to endure if I stay in here alone with you.”

I could have done it again, but I didn
’t.  I just laughed and washed her hands to the point she made me stop.  The blood was all gone, but the cuts were still there.  Randor would pay for every one of them.  I counted seven.

“You
’re hurt too.”  She touched my eye where the cut was starting to heal.  She turned me around apparently knowing I was hit from the back too.

“I
’m fine.  I’ll heal.  You’re all that matters.”

“Not if I have to doctor every scar for every time you bust someone
’s face.”

“Is that an invitation?”

She burned with longing and shyness all in one.  And maybe her body told me this, but her mouth came out with something altogether different.  With half lidded eyes she said all breathy and quiet, “Maybe.”

Man, she didn
’t know how sexy that was.  If I could only read her mind.  No man will ever know what secrets she hides or how she reacts in moments like these.  I didn’t intend to ever share it.

I left her for less than a minute to find a shirt and returned.  She complained, but I won.

Wanting a stolen kiss before we left the privacy of the small bathroom, she asked me to wait while she changed.  She slipped something out of her back pocket.  She tapped her fingers on the letter she’d copied.  Caydon would flip a gasket.

Her eyes looked past me into the tiled wall.  “Why are you lost in thought?”

“What?  Oh.  I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.  You
’re tapping,” I pointed to her swollen fingers.  Randor would get more than seven hits from me. 

Her eyebrow rose skyward. 

“You always tap when your mind is elsewhere.  Or when you’re pissed at me.”  Besides, she’d noticed my habits.  So I was only pointing out hers.

“When did you get so observant?” she asked.

Easy!  “The day I came to kidnap you.”

“More like a rescue.  You just didn
’t know it yet.”

True. 
“Glad I was dumb enough to follows those orders, if not the rest then.”

She laughed.  I loved making her laugh.

“Yeah,” she doubled over bumping my chest.  “The only mission you NEVER completed.”

Story of my life.  And very thankful for it.  I closed the door again and kissed her anyway.  Who cares what they thought? 

Questionable looks came at us in the living room.  I ignored them all while Emma bashfully avoided them altogether by going straight for the door.  However, I did see her take a glance at Caydon and that made me just a little uneasy.

He would be more honorable than me about this and I didn
’t care. Lily was still in misery and I could never let Emma be that way.  I
won’t
let her.  We will fight till the end.

Trigger snickered.

“Can it or I’ll chop off your favorite appendage,” Emma snapped at him.

“You hear that, Ames.  S
he is talking about my
a-ppend-a-ges.
”

Man, she was feisty.

“It might just tone you down, my man.”

Horrified, he stuttered out. “That
’s so not cool man.  You’ve lost your friggin’ touch being around her.  No one jokes about losing their wanger.”

God, he was right.  “Good point.  Sorry
, man.  I’m off my game.  Just leave her alone.  Okay?”

He nodded but I swear he swallowed his own tongue when Emma hissed at him.  We were all kind of messed up.

It was two in the morning when we finally went to bed.  I refused before to let her be alone and I refused it then.  In her room, I slept fully clothed head to toe because she said it wouldn’t be any other way. 

I asked her before she fell asleep if I was right about the tapping.  Being a song that is.  They were too rhythmic sometimes.  She tapped me out the words to a song I knew well, “
Hotel California” on the back of my neck as she nodded off right at the part where they danced in the courtyard.  That song was playing in the Jeep at least once a day. 

With the inability to sleep pending the coming fate, I hatched a plan for tomorrow night.  Love sick puppy junk wasn
’t my thing, but previous to meeting Emma, settling down with one girl wasn’t either.  Things change.

Tomorrow would be Thursday, the day before she has to go with Caydon.