Page 223 of Deep Cover

21

Annie

"Aren't we going to the plane?" I could hear the whine in my voice. I didn't sound like anyone's submissive. I didn't sound like myself, either. I sounded like a spoiled, whiny child.

The car was passing through the Paris streets, picking up speed and not heading to the airport.

"We're going to a hotel," Cole said.

Hours had passed since I’d killed Vincent Geddes, since I found out that Kie had killed herself. A tiny part of me wanted to see Kie's body, to know for certain she was dead. She had hurt me badly, twice, and even now pain throbbed up from between my legs, seeming to echo through my belly, down my thighs.

But two men had told me Kie was dead by her own hand, and I trusted both of them in different ways.

Vincent I trusted because he'd been in tears over her death. For how insanely fucked up he had been, he had loved her. In some sick, inhuman way.

It didn't make me feel sorry for him for even a second. Or for her. If there had been anything at all about Kie that felt like she was trapped, that she needed help - and I was so glad there wasn't - I might have gotten killed over trying to help that bitch.

And it was because of her death that Vincent had come after me as distracted as he’d been and Cole and I were able to take him out. For that reason only I was grateful to Kie. Her killing herself had allowed me to kill her master.

Cole I trusted because in the entire time I’d known him, he had never lied to me. Not once.

Being outside and free felt enormous. It felt like I'd been trapped years in that damn house and years since my rescue before Cole finally, finally said he was finished and we could go.

Cole had been thorough in questioning everyone involved and making sure all stories were straight before contacting the police.

Testimony to the perks of being a billionaire – the police asked their questions one time, took transcripts of reports, spoke kindly to me and offered me water, coffee, or wine. And then it was done. They were done.

And we headed somewhere in a limo.

"We're not going to the plane," he said, sitting back on the seat.

There was champagne in the limo. I wondered if it had been headed for some other destination than picking us up and Cole had hijacked it.

Billionaires did things like that.

Or maybe he'd thought to celebrate and then changed his mind because of my recovery. That seemed far fetched, though.

Maybe the limo just came with bubbly.

I would have been more relaxed in a police car or a chopper or a motorcycle. Anything but a limo which reminded me much too much of the last time I'd been in a limo. My one-time therapist would have called it exposure therapy but the shaking started when I got into the car and didn't stop again until we got out in front of a five-star hotel.

"You don't have to come in. I'm just registering." Cole was halfway out of the limo.

I opened my mouth to say Wait. And closed it again without saying anything. He was Cole St. Martin. If he wanted to leave and desert me in France, he didn't have to come over here and clean up the whole mess. If he wanted to leave me here he could do it in a heartbeat. If I tried to protest and cling, there were literally hundreds of people he could hire in a second to pry me off him and keep me from following.

That was nerves talking. The idea that I wasn't worth anything after everything I'd gone through. That he might not want me anymore. That he might leave me when I needed him.

All my own fear. He'd shown no inclination to do anything like that. I might have to start trusting. Or understand that it didn't matter if I did or not. He did what he wanted. Right now it seemed that what he wanted was to be with me.

I sat back on the seat and waited, not meeting the driver's eyes in the mirror. It felt like forever until Cole came out again.

There was a bellhop with him, though the only baggage we had was me. That's how I felt. Extra. Baggage.

"Annie."

He offered me his hand, which was little practical use in getting myself free of the car but felt terrific.

"If you'll both come with me."

---