-Caleb-
The first thing I noticed was that the door wasn’t opening. At least not much. This made the guard next to me scowl.
What I saw next made my heart beat fast. Jacey. My Jacey was in my apartment.
Sitting on the floor. Duct taped, in her lingerie nightie, with her mouth covered.
Rage simmered in my gut. “What the hell, guys? Who left her duct taped on my floor, huh?”
The guards just chuckled.
“Jacey, love, let me in,” I murmured, trying to reduce the fear in her eyes.
She finally recognized me, and her eyes welled up with tears.
“Jacey, honey, you n
-Jacey-I put my hand over Caleb’s as we sat in the fourth row of the church, toward the middle. Caleb had done a wonderful job with the flowers, blues and whites, and Will’s baseball memorabilia was sitting on and around the coffin. All in all, everything was beautiful.The priest had been paid a large sum of money to ignore the fact that Will wasn’t Catholic. According to Masterson, they weren’t anything, really. But it was the only space large enough in a thirty-mile radius of their home with enough space to accommodate the big to-do Masterson wanted.Well-wishers came to a grieving Masterson in a line that extended out of the church doors and into the street. The who’s who of business were all there to pay their respects, to Masterson and not Will. But Will’s old baseball team was here along with his coach. And
-Caleb-I brought up the information I had on Jacob Ramacher and handed my phone to Masterson. “He’s the son of Gregory Ramacher, head of Ramacher Industries.”Masterson grimaced. “What are they worth?”“Enough to be expensive to buy, but not impossible,” I said reluctantly.“Good. Call the lawyers and tell them to make it happen,” Masterson responded. He looked Jacey up and down in a way I did not like. Not that I would have liked any way he looked at Jacey. “You certainly are a miracle worker, young lady. It used to be like pulling teeth to get this one to do anything.”Jacey swallowed uncertainly. “Thank you, sir?”
-Jacey-“Spend lots of time pissing him off,” I told Caleb as I hugged him before he went to work.The guard waiting in our doorway rolled his eyes. “Come on, let’s be on time.” He tapped his watch.“I could start by coming in late,” Caleb teased.The guard did not take kindly to that and dragged Caleb out of my arms and out of the apartment. “He’ll be back later,” he said.I scowled at him, but it didn’t stop him from marching Caleb away.When the door closed, I was left alone in the apartment. Again.I walked around, noticing several cameras discreetly placed around th
-Caleb-I stroked Jacey’s hair gently in the morning hours before I had to go work for the devil incarnate.She stirred then snuggled into me more and tried to go back to sleep.“Baby,” I murmured, my hand moving down her back. “If we want to be together before I go to work, we have to start now.”Jacey grumbled and popped her head up off my shoulder. Her face was scrunched and adorable, so I kissed her nose.“I love you,” I said.“Mmm, love you, too,” she yawned.I tickled the small of her back, and she giggled.“It’s not fa
-Jacey-It was when the smoke detector went off that I realized something was wrong.I sat up in bed and blinked at the darkness. Caleb wasn’t home yet, and I’d decided to take a little nap before he arrived just in case he was in the mood for rigorous after dinner activities.Confused, I went to the door, but the handle was hot. My third grade fire safety knowledge came rushing back to me all at once, and I knew not to open the door. Smoke began pouring up from under the bottom of the door, however. Panicking, I reached for one of Caleb’s sweaters and rolled it up on the carpet to block the incoming smoke.Then I backed to the window. I tried to open it, thinking I could at least get the smoke out of the room and maybe be in position if a firefighter c
-Caleb-Wade was not my favorite person right now.As he laid Jacey carefully down on the sofa and checked for even pupil dilation, I paced the rug anxiously.“Sit down, Caleb,” Darren said after a while.“She’s fine. Maybe a very mild concussion, but she shouldn’t need to see a doctor,” Wade muttered, putting his penlight away. He got out a needle and some thread-like substance. “Dissolving stitches,” he explained to me when I opened my mouth to ask. He concentrated on Jacey’s grazed arm, carefully sewing the wound shut.“Look at her legs! What the hell happened?!” I demanded to know.Jacey, Darren, and Wade all lo
-Jacey-I spent most of the evening crying into my pillow. How could Caleb have said that? He made it sound as though I didn’t care about our family at all.The only times I left my bed were to go to the bathroom. Luckily, I had an en suite, so I didn’t have to go out into the hall and risk running into Caleb.At some point, I heard a scraping sound near my door, but Caleb did not try to knock or come inside. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed.I crept to my door and opened it. No one was there. I was just about to close the door when I saw a food tray lying on the floor.Grilled cheese, a glass of milk, some potato chips, and carrot sticks.Tears we
-Caleb-“You’ve decided what now?” Darren gaped.“We’re going to get pregnant,” I replied. “So, please have the gyno come to make sure she’s well, but…”“... I won’t be needing an IUD,” Jacey said, leaning her head against my shoulder.Darren closed his eyes, his lips moving as though he was counting to ten. Maybe a hundred. “You’re just kids. Jacey, you’re nineteen. And you’re in witness protection. I think it might be best if you waited.”“We feel differently,” I insisted. “I mean, we’re going to be in witness protection forever, right?”Darr