Page 30 of Unloaded
“He knows me too well,” the woman giggles, “I can be a bit much when things aren’t going my way, but he loves me anyway.”
“That I do, my darling.” The man kisses her temple. “Here is the agreed upon sum for the event with a little something extra for everything going so smoothly.” He hands Rachel a plain white envelope.
She takes it from him. Her hand trembling before closing around on it. “Thank you,” she utters. “We had better be going. Lots more work to be done when we get back to the restaurant.” She lets out a nervous giggle. I’ve never, in all the months I’ve known her, heard her giggle in such a way.
“Ah, yes. The restaurant,” Laurance says. His eyes rove over Rachel again, stopping to stare at her breasts. Ire rises in me. I’m about to say something but hold my temper. I can’t risk Rachel’s safety. “You do most of your preparation and clean up there?”Why’s he so interested in the details?
“Yes, usually,” Rachel’s reply is clipped. Lawrence narrows his eyes briefly, but his friendly demeanor quickly returns.
“Again, many thanks for such a great event,” he says after a beat.
“Time to go, angel,” I urge, tightening my hold on her side. Gently I guide her out of the library and back through the large house to the kitchen where the rest of our staff have gotten everything packed up. She remains stiff and silent, only giving short responses when one of the staff asks her something.
“Where’s the fire?” Enos asks the second he lays eyes on me. “You were in an all fired hurry for us to get here, but the event is over. Why did you need us?”
Making use of every bit of training I’d had in service I manage to keep myself calm so that I don’t end up killing my little brother. “I needed you here,” I bite out through gritted teeth, “because I couldn’t keep an eye on Rachel and all the other servers.
“She disappeared for nearly thirty minutes. During that time something happened that frightened her, but I can’t get her to tell me what the hell happened.”
“I don’t blame her,” Enos retorts. “I wouldn’t tell you shit either. You’re always being an asshole whenever she’s around. Let me talk to her. She’ll tell me.” My jaw hurts from how hard I’ve been gritting my teeth to keep from saying or doing something I shouldn’t.
I want to tell him to fuck off. If he’d been here when he was supposed to be, Rachel wouldn’t need to tell anyone anything, but he hadn’t been here. We need to know what she’s afraid of, so I’m going to have to do what’s best for her and not myself.
“Fine,” I agree reluctantly. “See what you can find out and let me know.” Enos heads over to where Rachel is helping to load the van. I watch him approach.
I don’t even bother to hide my grin when less than a minute later Enos is strolling back toward me after Rachel sends him packing. “She said, and I quote, ‘You tell him that I’m not talking about this until we are far from here. If you want to know, help pack up so we can leave’ end quote.”
Rachel glares at me over her shoulder before turning back to the van.Well, fuck!
It doesn’t take very long to get the vans loaded. I direct Rachel toward my truck as we prepare to leave. While she seems to be a little calmer, now. I can tell she is still anxious. Her eyesdart around as if she’s expecting to be attacked at any moment. Her anxiety has bled into my own, feeding my need to protect her. I find my senses are on a higher alert than when we arrived.
After settling her into the passenger seat, I round the truck and slip into the driver’s seat. My truck rumbles as I fire it up. At the end of the driveway, I check both ways for traffic before entering the highway.
Once we are on the main road, I spare a glance at Rachel. She’s staring straight ahead. Her face is still paler than usual, and she doesn’t appear to be ready to talk, but I need answers.
“You going to tell me what the hell happened?” I ask, sounding harsher than I intended. Inside I’m seething but not at her.How could I have allowed her to wander off and get in to trouble?I should have been paying closer attention to her, but I’d been focused on checking in with Enos instead of watching her every move. She’s now another woman I’ve allowed to be harmed by my failure.
“Please, don’t be angry.” Rachel’s voice is so soft and low, I can hardly hear her. “I…I’m not ready.”
“You promised,” I gently remind her.
“I-I don’t know how to tell you,” she whispers.
“Just spit it out!” I growl, losing patience. I’m not angry with her, but she doesn’t understand. Rachel cringes, scooting closer to her door. Breathing deeply, I force myself to calm down. No good will come from me blowing a gasket and pissing her off. I need answers. Answers only she can give me.
“Rachel, baby.” I try again in a calmer voice, reaching out to take her hand in mine. “I need you to tell me what’s going on. I can’t protect you if I don’t know what I’m protecting you from.” She doesn’t respond. I spare her a glance, shocked to see tears pouring down her face. “Okay, angel. I’ll let it go for now, but when we reach the restaurant, youwilltell me everything.”
“NO!” she cries hysterically, surprising me again. “W-we can’t g-go to the restaurant! They’re probably following us right now! Please!” She sobs, covering her face with her hands and mumbling into them, but I can’t understand what else she’s saying.WTF?
“Who’s following us?” I ask, but she doesn’t remove her hands or answer my question.
I slip my ear piece into my ear waiting for it to connect to my phone. At the tone, I say, “Call Enos.” It begins to ring in my ear.
“Enos,” he answers after one ring. The company SUV he and Kelvin are in is right behind us.
“Have you noticed anyone following us?”
“No,” he answers after a brief pause. “You expecting trouble?”
