Page 15 of Protecting What's His

I reread the note several times. It was short, but it made me wonder many things. I tried to figure out what she had in mind. I didn’t know what was going on with her, but I hoped that it wasn’t something about how I had taken advantage of a situation. I shouldn’t have touched her like that, but I was so wound up and she wanted it so badly, it was harder to say no than it should have been. I tried to keep my mind off of it, but damn I wanted to do it again. She was innocent, that mattered to her and me, but the temptation was there, stronger than it had ever been before.

Since we were supposed to meet later tonight at an old place we used to go, I set about getting a few things to take with, like snacks, drinks, that sort of thing. I was doing anything to keep busy. I had no idea why I was letting it all get to me like I was. This was meant to happen for a long time. How could it go any better?

What if she had in mind something different? Here I was thinking that we were going to go all the way, naturally, but what if that wasn’t the case at all? I had no idea what she had in mind. She had been doped up when she pressed herself on me, probably still half-baked when she came to. I had decided that was why I couldn’t have her then. I didn’t want to be wrong and now I was concerned that I was. What if touching her was too much? She’d loved it, but… I was at a loss. All that preparing could be a bad thing if she wanted to talk to me about what happened. Here I was assuming. I really wished I knew where I stood.

I read the letter again, looking for clues for my new fears, but if there were any, I still didn’t see it. I tried to clear my head of thoughts, but it really wasn’t easy. I just wanted things to be right. There was a lot riding on how I approached Lara. It didn’t help that I was best friends and staying with her brother. If I messed up, Ashton was never going to forgive me. The pressure was piling up and it was to the point that I could barely breathe. How would I have known coming home would bring about so much trouble and possibility?

To say that I was nervous to go meet up with Lara would be an understatement. I was very aware that I had no idea what sort of temperament she was in. Lara was volatile, or at least she used to be. I always thought that it was the creative side of her coming out. She was just like she had been before in all ways, so that was probably something else that was still with her. I liked to think that it was. Her spirit had always been a big turn-on for me.

Now, it was the moment of truth, and I had to let it all pass. Whatever was going to happen, would. It wasn’t quite dark yet, but it wouldn’t be long. My expectations were that this was to be a good meeting. I knew that other situations could be the actual result, but I didn’t want to believe that. I wanted to believe that I had some time, real time was what I needed.

I got out and went to the old park that everyone seemed to have forgotten about. The paths that used to be worn in were gone, and I felt a sadness that this place hadn’t been kept up by the youth in the area. Where did they go to get away from it all?

It was a little spooky looking, the old playground toys were rusted and stood alone in the mist. I looked around, still not seeing Lara. We used to always meet up at the merry-go-round. She wasn’t there. I didn’t know where she was, but I had a bad feeling that she was messing with me. Was it because I had as she put it, “messed” with her? I really hoped not. I had worked myself up so much with the idea that we were going to be together. I didn’t want that feeling to go away.

There was no one here. I looked everywhere, and it was clear that she had never been here. I checked for car tracks and there were none beyond my own. I was at a loss because I didn’t get what she was trying to do here. What was the point? Why would she ask me to come out here and then not be here? Why did she write the letter that way to begin with? She could have told me where to go, but instead she left it at something that only the two of us would know.

I walked back to my car and that was the question that kept coming back to me. Why wouldn’t she just write it out? It’s not like we were really worried about her siblings or anything. It made no sense. I sat in my vehicle for a while, waiting to see if anyone came, knowing that no one was. Why was I sent out this way? It made no sense to me and if something didn’t make sense, there was a reason for it. I wanted to know what that reason was.

Eventually I had to leave. Lara was not showing up and I felt like I was pushed to the side, and now I didn’t know why that was. There was a certain part of me that was convinced that Lara would show up, but she didn’t. Something had happened, what else could have made her write the note and then not show up? But, if she didn’t want me to find her, why write the note at all? There had to be something more to it, and I was going to figure out what it was.

It wasn’t long after I got back to Ashton’s place that I asked him as casually as I could what sort of enemies Lara had. Did she have any? All that did was get me a look.

“Why are you asking things like that?”

“Well, do you know where she is?” I asked as nonchalantly as I could. I hadn’t done a good job before, so I was hoping that I would get better at it. I wanted to know if he could easily end my suffering. If I knew that she was okay, I would be able to properly breathe again.

Ashton looked at me again with a strange expression. “I got a note telling me that she was with you. I thought that you knew where she was.”

My heart stopped. Lara wasn’t one to leave notes. I should have known something was off. If I got one that sent me to the middle of nowhere, why would he get one telling him that she was with me? The only thing that I could come up with was too painful to think was true. “You got a note too? Can I see it?”

Ashton could pick up on my worry and he asked me what was going on. I didn’t know what to tell him. I didn’t know if what I was thinking about was true or not. All I could think was how this was all so messed up. I asked him again if he knew of her having any enemies, and he just shrugged. “She really didn’t stay in touch. We don’t know what she was doing in Paris, something with clothes, but I don’t know much else about her life.”

None of that was what I wanted to hear. I hated the idea that we were walking in blind. She could have gone and ran out with her friend to go shopping, there was a million other things that could have happened besides what my mind was going to, but I couldn't shut down the feeling. My gut had kept me alive ten years in the military and saved my ass more than once. I was going to have to listen to it, even if I didn’t like what it had to say.

“Do you really think something has happened to her?” Ashton wanted to know. He was starting to pick up on the reality of the situation, and I told him then I was nervous.

I reached into my pocket and handed him the note that I had received. He looked at me weird and then asked where she was talking about. It gave me some validation, because now the note was suspect. “Exactly, why would she say it like that?”

Ashton said that he didn't get it and I tried to explain. “I know what she's talking about, and I went there. But you wouldn't have known where to go and nobody else would have known, so why would she have said it like that?”

“Maybe she didn't want me to know.” Ashton was grasping for a reason and we both knew it. None of it made any sense. The fact that she was gone, and the two letters were both too strange for me not to consider. “I need to talk to Ashley. If she was going somewhere, she would tell her sister, right?”

He agreed with me, probably because we didn't have any answers and Ashton would like to find the person that did. While I was already imagining horrible things being done to her, Ashton was more chill about it. But, he hadn’t seen what I’d seen, and he still had a positive look on life. I had been chasing after bad guys for over a decade, I did not have the same sunshiny outlook on the human race as he probably did. This was all just some big misunderstanding as far as Ashton was concerned. I knew better though. Somewhere deep down, I knew that something had happened to Lara. Something had happened to her, and it was my duty to save her.

Problem was, I had no idea where the danger was coming from. I was going in blind.

12

Lara

Everything happened so fast that I think my mind still hadn't caught up with the reality of my situation. Instead of having the night that I was hoping for with Nicholas, I had other things to worry about. Jean Luc, a guy that I was dating when I was in Paris, had showed up out of the blue. I had opened the door, thinking it was Nicholas and not dressed fully because I was trying to entice him. I found Jean Luc instead, and he immediately got jealous and upset, wanting to know who Nicholas was and why I was dressed like that.

We dated for over a year, but he always pressured me to do things that I didn't want to do, and eventually I started seeing him less and less. He wanted to get married, make things serious, likely because he wanted to get me in bed, and when I left at last, I wrote him a letter and told him that I didn't think it was good for the two of us to be together.

He naturally did not take it so well and the next thing I knew, he was dragging me from the twin’s house and taking me with him. I couldn't even believe that he was here, he never was much into traveling, so why did he come for me? It wasn't a question of love, I was pretty sure of that. It was maybe a response of if he couldn't have me, nobody could. That's what it felt like, some kind of ownership. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't love.

It was more surreal than I could have imagined. For the fact that Jean Luc could even come here was one thing, but that he had gone so far was another. It wasn't enough that he took me away with him. I didn’t know what he thought, like I was going to marry him or something. He really seemed a bit chaotic in mind. I didn't know how I was supposed to handle it, but what he thought was going to happen and what happened in reality were two very different things. There was no way that I was going to marry this guy. He had obviously lost his mind.

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