Page 12 of Laying it Bare on the Run

So I could ignore the tingles his comment and look had elicited, I shifted my focus to sharing about the journey that had brought me to his doorstep. “My sense of direction is pretty sad so I’m sure I didn’t really go in much of a straight line like I had hoped. I’m fairly certain I headed north quite a bit and into Missouri and maybe a little part of Kansas before I got myself heading west again. So I think it took me a bit longer to travel the distance I had than it would have taken someone else. What month are we in anyway? I can tell it’s summer.”

“We’re in the middle of July.” Cannon dropped some pads of butter into the skillet before pouring in the batter.

“So I’ve been on the move for about two months. I don’t know if I made good time or not.” I shook my head. It didn’t really matter at this point. “I would walk for as long as I could before searching for somewhere to sleep. I wore my hooded sweatshirt as much as possible to keep me hidden and then I’d find the darkest places to crash to sleep. I ate at shelters too when I could or I stole what people were throwing out at restaurants.” I shrugged my shoulders. I did what I had to in order to survive. “I tried to shower once a week. If I came across a campground with the accommodations I’d use them. Sometimes I would sneak into a gym to use their showers. I even lied a couple of times, telling them I was running from an abusive relationship so they’d feel bad for me. I did offer a few bucks when I was caught. But I had to ration my funds as best I could. When I left that night, I figured I’d be running for a very long time and would not be able to access my bank accounts. What I left with was all I could count on unless I stole it.”

While I talked, Cannon flipped our pancakes and fried up our sausage. But his eyes would only divert from me for seconds at a time. Even though he was busy preparing our food, he hung on every word I shared.

I picked at the napkin he had placed beside my plate. “I didn’t steal much but I did have to once in a while. And I also ‘borrowed’ peoples’ towels without their permission. I had never been a dishonest person in my life and look where it got me. On the run and scared to death. And then you have utterly dishonest evil monsters out there like Waik who don’t have a care in the world.”

When my napkin was a shredded mess, Cannon placed his hand over mine, stilling my movements. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out. I’m going to help you. That’s the first you’ve said his name. Do you know his last name?”

“It’s Fincher. But his ties run so deep, I don’t know if anyone can stop him.”

Cannon locked his eyes on mine, determination pouring from their hazel orbs. “I’ll be checking into things when I get back to work and I’m going to see if the sergeant can lend me a hand too.”

“No one else can know.” Panic seized my chest and made breathing difficult. “I can’t risk being found.” I didn’t know how I expected anything to be solved without getting help but I was so afraid to do anything that would alert Waik to my whereabouts.

Removing his hand from mine, he placed both of his on the sides of my face and held me. “I won’t do anything to jeopardize your safety and Sarge can work on things without anyone else in our department knowing about it. I won’t even tell my buddies. But I’m going to need some help digging up dirt on him and finding even the smallest thing he might not have covered up completely.”

“But if he gets word that someone is snooping around him, he’ll send someone to check it out or he’ll come himself.” I pleaded with my eyes to make him understand the severity of this.

“I’m a cop, Harper. I will protect you and it’s my job to bring criminals to justice.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. When he leaned back, a stunned expression crossed his features briefly. But that hadn’t been the first time he had done that. Then he busied himself with the final flips for our pancakes and sausage. Then he fixed the two of us plates, grabbed condiments from the refrigerator, and sat down beside me. “Dig in. You have to be starving. You have a lot of catching up to do.” He drowned his pancakes and sausage in syrup before taking a bite. “Mmmm, breakfast is the best meal of the day.” He smiled around his mouthful.

After drizzling a small amount of sticky goodness onto my cakes, I took a bite. Flavor burst across my taste buds, making me want to moan. I wouldn’t have had even a clue as to where to start with what spices he had added. “Wow. These are delicious. I will have to find a way to get the secret from you. Maybe I can con you.” I released a short giggle. “Although, I guess that’s not really all that funny. I mean the first time I had to be deceitful, it made me sick but I wasn’t harming anyone and yes I did steal a few things. And man did my stomach twist up into knots worrying about getting caught. He would have found me for sure if I had been arrested for petty theft. And I did feel bad about what I was doing. But after that, I couldn’t allow it to bother me. It was survival for me and that was all I could concentrate on.”

“I don’t believe you have a deceitful bone in your body. You were in a constant state of desperation. Yes, you broke the law but sometimes things aren’t always black and white.” He raised his fork at me before scarfing down another bite.

“And man did I miss simple things like taking a decent shower. I tried to wash as best I could but I was always in a hurry. But last night’s shower was absolute heaven. Warm water for as long as I wanted and pretty smelling soap and I could use conditioner in my hair. And shaving, who knew I would miss doing that. That was always my least favorite thing to do. But I felt like I was pampering myself last night and it was just a normal shower. But don’t worry, your sister left a razor too and I put it to really good use. And I’m not even a little bit ashamed to say I’m not embarrassed at all about using her deodorant or razor.”

He stared at me, a cross between intrigue and admiration making his handsome features even sexier.

“What?”

“You’re amazing.”

“What, that I had managed to steal and trespass without getting caught until this last time?” I smirked. I had succeeded in bringing myself this far without detection or close calls.

“Well, the cops weren’t as clever as me.”

My lips pulled down into a frown.

“Do you want to tell me about the dirty cop?” He took my hand in his and entwined our fingers, giving me an encouraging smile.

I wasn’t sure if he was trying to show me support or something else. But I tabled those thoughts to deal with later. I had a really tough time believing it was anything but his overwhelming need to help someone since he was a cop. “It was my last ditch effort to try to get someone to look into Waik’s activities. Another girl had gone missing from the club he owned and everyone kept saying it was part of the business. Girls who were looking to escape something went there to disappear from their reality and make some money. I didn’t buy it. He was selling those girls. I knew that deep in my soul even before he threatened to do the same to me. I overheard him while I was hiding.”

Cannon growled. “We will have to sit down with the sergeant and share all you know sometime soon. Unless you feel up to talking to him now? I don’t mind going in on my day off for you. But I promise you this, he won’t get his hands on you.” Fury laced his vow.

“No. I need a couple of days to just feel safe. And I do feel safe here.” I gave him a small smile. “But that cop told me he would take me to the station to fill out a report and he would start looking into it and find out why no one else had before. I shouldn’t have trusted him. But I thought someone was going to finally start digging and get evidence on him. However, instead he drove to the outskirts of town. I couldn’t jump from the backseat because you can’t unlock those doors in a police car. That’s why I didn’t want to sit in the back of yours. He had said that no one other than an officer was permitted up front. I had no reason not to believe him. After he pulled in at an abandoned warehouse, he ripped me from the car and tossed me into the back of another one. He locked the doors and ran inside. I was guessing to get someone else. Luckily, I didn’t have to stick around to find out. I managed to pry the old car window down as far as I could and the fact I had lost some weight dealing with the grief of losing my parents and sister helped me squeeze through a space I normally wouldn’t have fit through and then I took off like my life depended on it. I’m pretty sure that’s why Waik and his goons came looking for us then. I shouldn’t have opened my mouth.” I shoved my plate away in disgust.

“I’m sorry. I keep making you talk and it’s upsetting you. It’s the cop in me trying to obtain all of the information I can. I’m sorry, now you can’t even finish your food.”

“Surprisingly, it’s not making me sick again. It’s pissing me off. Maybe now that I have an ally, I can push my fear aside a bit. But I pushed my food away because I worried I was going to pound the table or something and launch food everywhere. So I moved it out of my way.” I took a quick inventory of my mental state and was rather stunned to discover fear was nothing more than a slight blip on the spectrum. Pure anger at the injustice of it all was at the forefront and it caused my blood to boil.

“Try to finish eating. I feel bad making it so you don’t want to eat. And don’t you dare blame yourself for what happened to your brother. The blame is all on Waik. Your actions did not cause his criminal deeds at all.”

“It’s hard not to blame myself, at least partly. Vincent did everything he could to protect me and I couldn’t return the favor.” I pulled my plate back to me so I could finish the delicious meal Cannon had made for me and took a small bite.

“He did what any awesome older brother would have done. I would have done the same for my sister. He loved you and I’m sure is very happy you got away.”

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