Page 18 of Chains: Unchain My Heart

Tomorrow was a new day, and they would have plenty of time to explore the possibilities. For now, she was just happy to be lying in his arms, feeling safe, secure, and satiated.

10

Zaiden leaned casually against the fence that bordered Juliette’s property, his eyes scanning the yard as if looking for something specific.

Juliette had had a renewed sense of purpose and was working in her garden. She noticed him and approached hesitantly.

“Can I help you with something?” she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion.

Zaiden flashed her a disarming smile, his voice smooth and charming. “I’m sorry to bother you. Juliette?”

“Yes,” she said. Then she looked at his bike. It was the same model Harley as Chains rode. Even the coloring was similar. She immediately thought he must have been Chains’ friend because why else would another biker visit her out of the blue after having never known one in her life before. “Are you Chains’ friend?”

Who the hell is Chains?“Yeah.” He nodded his head and smiled. He didn’t want to say too much, hoping instead that Juliette would be the one talking, and he would find out who Chains was. It would make his job of getting the box back a little easier.

She seemed to be waiting for him to introduce himself, so he said, “Zaiden.”Damn, why did I tell her my real name.He had been so enamored with her that he hadn’t thought to lie, to cover his tracks if need be.

The initial wariness she had sensed seem to dissipate, replaced by a hint of curiosity.

“You’ve got quite a collection here,” he said as he surveyed the yard trying not to look like he was searching for anything. She looked embarrassed, so he said, “It’s a lovely property. Must be quiet out here.”

“It’s a good area. I’ve got good neighbors.” Zaiden seemed like he wanted to be invited in as he stood back from the fence.

“Would you like a drink? It’s a mighty hot today,” she said.

“I’d love one, thanks. Do you mind if I bring my bike in? It’s my baby and I don’t like to leave it out of sight. I’m sure it would be safe out here from what you’ve told me, it’s just that I have this thing about it.”

Juliette knew exactly how he could feel protective over the bike, like she was with everything. “Sure…yes, bring it in.” She looked back at her property then and said, “I’ve been moving stuff around, trying to find more space for everything. You can park it over…” She looked around again and pointed. “There.”

He smiled, then started his bike and idled it into the yard.What a fucking mess. She’ll be working from asshole to breakfast to find more space amongst all the crap she’s got around here.

When he got off his bike, he said, “I heard from some folks around town that you have quite the collection of items here. They weren’t wrong. I bet there’s some real gems in all of it.”

She looked around when he said that, nodding her head slowly.

Zaiden didn’t have a formal education. His schooling was on the streets where he’d learnt to adapt on his feet, becoming as intelligent and resourceful as a gutter rat. It had served him well in dangerous situations where he had escaped with his life when most people would have run out of options. But his biggest asset was his ability to manipulate people with his skill of twisting situations to his advantage using charm and deceit. He was about to pour it on now, and he could sense that someone like Juliette, living like this, didn’t get a whole lot of that bestowed upon her.

He noticed an old forge. It was well rusted, but it looked like it was still in working condition. “Well, look at that,” he said. He could see her eyes light up. He had her…now he just needed to string her along long enough to get what he wanted. “My father had a forge just like that. We’d crank the handle for him to stoke it up hotter than all hell, and he’d hammer up any shape in steel you could imagine.”

She looked so pretty with the smile on her face and the light shining in her eyes as he was making up the story. “That’s something,” he said. “You wouldn’t want to sell that one in a hurry.”

“Oh, no…I’d never sell it,” she said.

What the hell have you got it for?“Yep, there are some things you just don’t want to let go of,” he said. “I bet there are few of them you know you could get good money for that you’d find hard to part with.”

She looked at him with an expression he couldn’t quite place…then it dawned on him. He’d seen people in places just like this. She wasn’t a trader; she was a damned hoarder.This isn’t going to be easy. I’ll probably have trouble getting her to part with the weeds in the garden.

“So what brings you here?” she asked. “Did Chains send you for some reason?”

He knew he had to gain her trust. If Chains turned up, Zaiden could probably talk his way around the fact that he wouldn’t be known to him. He’d used tricks in the past for times like this. Zaiden would be the guy that Chains just couldn’t remember after he found out enough about Chains to create a false connection. But he couldn’t say Chains had sent him, because all it would take to lose her trust would be the lie that she couldn’t forget…and it would be that one.

“No, not him,” Zaiden said. “I’m actually looking for a lost family heirloom, and I thought maybe you might have come across it in your... acquisitions. Or know where I might be able to find it. It’s special to me otherwise I wouldn’t bother looking. You know how it is.”

She was nodding her head. He was hitting all the right notes with her. Her initial wariness seemed to dissipate, replaced by a hint of curiosity. “What sort of heirloom?” she asked.

“It’s a small wooden box with intricate carvings,” he explained, his eyes never leaving hers. “It belonged to my grandmother, and it holds great sentimental value to me.”

The moment he mentioned the item, he could see a spark of recognition in Juliette’s eyes, giving him hope that he would be able to retrieve whatever was inside and escape with his freedom. However, there was something about Juliette that intrigued him, and he found himself questioning whether he wanted to leave at all. Perhaps he could get what he was looking for, destroy it, and then explore the possibility of a connection with her. He hadn’t had a steady girlfriend in so long, and the idea of being with someone who had her own house and financial stability was alluring.

---