Authors: Ashley Corke
When I woke up, I started to panic. I didn't
know where I was. After a few moments of looking around, it came back to me. On
the nightstand to the left of the bed was a picture of Detective Royce with his
four kids next to a telephone. There was a lamp on the stand as well.
The bedspread was a plain blue color and was
unbelievably soft. I snuggled deeper into the blankets, smelling Oliver's
cologne on it. It was kind of woodsy, but kind of fashionable too. I smiled
softly. There wasn't much else for decoration in the room. Just a dresser with
what looked like the contents of his pockets on top of it. At the moment, there
was a knock on the door before it opened. I looked up as Oliver came in,
wearing a smile on his face.
“Good morning,” he said, coming over to the
bed. “Or should I say afternoon?” I yawned.
“What time is it?”
“2:30. I've made some sandwiches if you're
hungry,” he told me. I nodded and climbed out of bed. I found myself in a pair
of sweat pants and a tee shirt. I looked up at Oliver. “It was all I had to
dress you in.”
“Was I sleeping when we got here last night?”
I asked him. He nodded as I followed him downstairs. When we got to the
kitchen, I found two plates and two cans of soda waiting for us.
“I figured you could use something other than
water this time,” he said, smiling. I couldn't help but smile back as I sat in
the chair he had offered me. Opening my can of soda, I looked at the sandwich
he made me. Turkey and cheese happened to be my favorite. We ate in silence,
but I knew he watched me most of the time.
I could feel his eyes burning into me.
After we ate, he led me into the living room,
waving to the couch for me to sit. I sat down and he sat an arm's length away
from me. Oliver handed me the remote and I turned the television on.
“I'm sure you'll find something good on,” he
said. I flipped through the channels silently. I didn't know what to say to Oliver.
He saved me and had opened his own home to me, just to make sure I was kept
safe.
“Thank you,” I whispered. Oliver looked at me,
meeting my eyes with his.
“You're welcome,” he replied.
“I mean it, Oliver. You’ve saved me. I owe you
my life,” I said. He shook his head.
“Just stay with me and help me catch Tylon.” I
looked at him hard.
“I can't promise to help you catch him,
Oliver. He's my husband,” I reminded him.
Oliver stood up then and went over to a table
that stood next to the door. He picked up a bag and came back over to me,
handing it to me.
“Some of your things Detective Bronson and
Detective Bensley confiscated from your hotel room,” Oliver explained. I opened
the bag and looked inside: my black plastic-frame glasses, two contact cases,
cell phone, one pair of jeans and one tank top. I sighed.
“Looks like I'll have to do some shopping,” I
said. Oliver snickered.
I grabbed the contact cases out of the bag and
proceeded to take out my green contacts, which I had slept in, and put my clear
ones in. I put the cases back in the bag and took out my cell phone. I opened
it. There were ten missed calls from Tylon. I froze for a moment.
“You okay, Kar?” Oliver asked me. I slapped
myself mentally and nodded, closing my phone. Oliver's fingers touched my chin
and turned my face towards him. “Are you sure?” I looked into his eyes. His
gaze was soft, but concerned. He smiled. “I'm glad I finally get to see your
blue eyes again after all this time.” I could feel myself turn red and I looked
away. Then, without thinking, I kissed Oliver hard.
He seemed to be surprised and just sat there
for a moment, before wrapping one of his arms around my waist. I straddled him,
deepening the kiss. After a few moments of sitting on top of him, I broke the kiss.
“Would you mind if I took a shower?” I asked
him, breathless. Oliver shook his head slowly, trying to catch his own breath.
I smiled. I climbed off of him and he got up to show me where everything was.
A few hours later, Oliver had me out shopping
for some new clothes. While we were driving to another store, my phone rang.
Oliver looked at me and I looked at him, a little scared.
“It's Tylon,” I told him softly. He quickly
pulled into a parking lot and turned off the car.
“Answer it,” Ol demanded. I scowled at him,
before doing as he said.
“Hello?”
“Karma! Where the hell have you been? Where
are you?” Tylon was already yelling at me.
“I'm actually out buying clothes, because they
didn't get any from the room for me,” I told him.
“Who didn't? Who was in our room?”
“The detectives!” I cried, adding,
You
idiot!
In my head. I couldn’t say that to him.
Where are you? Tylon asked me again.
“I told you. I'm out shopping,” I told him
again.
“You're with your boyfriend, aren't you?” he
screamed.
“No! There's only you, Tylon!” I screamed
back. Oliver sat in the driver's seat watching me, his eyes wide.
“Bullshit.”
“Where are you, Ty? I can come back to you,” I
said, glancing at Oliver, who was scowling now.
“Yea. Like I'm going to tell you where I am,”
Tylon snapped, laughing harshly. “What do you think I am? Stupid?”
“You know I don't think that, baby,” I replied
softly. “I love you, Tylon.” Oliver climbed out of the car, slamming his door.
I winced.
“What was that?” Tylon asked me.
“I just got back into my rental car,” I lied.
“You swear to me that you're alone? That
you'll come back to me and not tell anyone where I am?” Tylon questioned
slowly. I hesitated. “Karma?”
“I swear, Tylon.” I lied again.
“Fine,” he said before telling me exactly
where he was. I started to cry softly. “I love you, Karma.”
“I love you, too,” I whispered before hanging
up. I sat in the car alone for a few moments before Oliver got back in. He wore
a scowl on his face and his eyes were hard. I turned away and closed my eyes as
tears streamed down my face.
We rode in silence for about half an hour,
before pulling into the mall parking lot. Oliver parked the car and sat there
for a moment, not looking at me. I had my arms crossed over my chest, as I
looked out the window, afraid to even move.
Finally I mustered up the courage, and I
quickly took off my seat belt and started to open the door, when Oliver grabbed
my wrist. I gasped. Oliver wasn't hurting me; he just surprised me. I froze where
I was and slowly looked up at him. His eyes were soft, despite his scowl.
“Did he tell you where he is?” Oliver finally
asked. I hesitated before nodding. “Where?”
“He's two hours away from here,” I replied
softly, not looking at Oliver. He let go of my wrist and took out his cell
phone. “Not now, Oliver. Please?” Oliver looked at me, his eyes holding mine.
He put his phone away and climbed out of the car. I sat where I was, afraid I
had done something wrong. Ol came over to my car door and opened it, reaching
in for me. I cowered. I thought that I was about to be punished.
“Karma. I'm not going to hurt you. I was just
going to help you out of the car,” he told me softly. I looked up at him, blushing.
I had just made an idiot of myself in front of Oliver. He reached down and took
my hand, helping me out of the car, shutting my door behind me. Then he wrapped
his arms around me, hugging me tight. “I would never hurt you, Karma. I
promise.” I pulled out of his embrace and started walking to the mall entrance.
I just wanted to go home.
That evening, back at Oliver's house, we sat
in the living room with Detective Harris, Detective Bronson and Detective
Bensley. I told them about Tylon calling me and I told them where he told me he
was.
“We'll go after him tomorrow,” Detective
Bensley said. She looked at me. “You go to him like you told him you would and
we’ll follow you. We won't be recognizable.”
“But he knows Oliver!” I cried. “If he sees
him, he'll kill me!”
“You'll be safe, Karma. I promise,” Ellie told
me, reassuringly. I looked at Oliver and he nodded. I rolled my eyes and sat
back against the couch. Detective Harris was studying me.
“You really will be safe, Princess,” Terrance
said. I sighed heavily, staring at the floor.
“You guys don t know Tylon. You don't know
what he's capable of! If he sees any of you, I'm dead!” I cried again. My eyes
flew over to Oliver's, scowling at him. I hoped my eyes were icy and hard. I
was beyond angry at this point.
“You’ll be safe, Karma,” Detective Bronson
spoke up. I glared at him and he put his hands up.
“I'll do it, but if I get killed, know it's
your fault,” I snapped, looking at each of them. I stood up then and went
upstairs. I sat on the bed that I slept in the night before and thought about
what the detectives were making me do.
About half an hour later, there was a knock on
the door. I was silent, but Oliver walked in after a few moments anyways. He came
over and sat on the bed next to me without saying a word. We sat there like
that in silence for a good ten minutes or so, before he moved his hand over to
mine. I finally looked up at Oliver and his eyes looked pained. I scowled
slightly.
“What?” I asked, still a little angry.
“I'm sorry, Karma. I know you don't want to do
this tomorrow,” Oliver started.
“You're damn right I don't! My life is at
stake here!”
“I'm sorry. I don't want it to be. I don't
want to lose you,” he whispered. I glared at him, standing up.
“Well, you're about to, Oliver. You're losing
me,” I snapped. While I paced at the end of the bed, Oliver watched me. I
should just walk out that door right now and go back to him! Oliver
looked so hurt. I just rolled my eyes.
“Karma -” I cut him off.
“Don't, Detective Royce,” I snapped again. I
realized then that I had started to cry. “You did this, Detective! You made
everything worse for me!” I was sobbing.
“No, Karma! Tylon did! Tylon killed Korbyn and
Keegan! Tylon took you on the run with him! Tylon wouldn't let you have a life!
Tylon beat you and raped you! Tylon's the one who's threatened to kill you!”
Oliver was yelling at me now. I flinched noticeably and sat on the end of the
bed. He got up and came over to me, crouching in front of me. “I'm the one who
saved you, Kar. I want to keep you safe.” Ol reached up and wiped the tears
from my face. I couldn't help but nuzzle his hand. Slowly, he moved in and
kissed me.
The next thing I knew, Oliver was making love
to me in his bed. He was gentle, but powerful. I had waited for so long for
this. I came over and over again, lying beneath Oliver, melting in his hands.
He cried out my name as he gave one last thrust and collapsed on top of me,
kissing me like I had never been kissed before.
After he fell asleep, I started to cry. I knew
this would all be gone after tomorrow. I would be gone. Either Tylon would take
me away again or kill me. I didn't want to leave Oliver any more than he wanted
me to. I realized that I had fallen in love with Oliver Royce. That just might
be my downfall.
I called Tylon the following day, telling him
what time I was leaving to come to him. He was seriously paranoid and that
honestly scared me. I told him everything was going to be okay; we were finally
going to be together again. Tylon told me that if I wasn't alone, he'd kill
everyone and I reassured him that I would be alone. It broke my heart to lie to
Tylon like that, but I still loved him so much.
That night, I took off in the car Oliver had
rented for me. He and the other detectives followed in a car that Tylon
wouldn't know. I was scared to death. Oliver had kissed me and reassured me
everything would be okay, before I got into the car. I hoped he was right.
I pulled up to the hotel Tylon told me he was
staying at and got out of the car. I saw the detectives drive past as planned.
I walked to the hotel room that Tylon had given me the number to and glanced
back to see the detectives pulling in from the opposite direction. I knocked on
the door and Tylon opened it slowly. It had only been a few days, but Tylon
looked like a train had hit him. His chin-length hair was matted and unwashed.
Tylon s eyes were wild and bloodshot. His clothes were ripped and dirty.
“Karma!” Tylon cried, pulling me into the
room. He looked frantically around outside, but didn't see the detectives.
Quickly, Tylon closed the door and spun around to hug me. He smelled horrible.
“Tylon? What happened to you?” I asked him
slowly. He let me go.
“I had to run when the cops came. I don't have
any of my things. And I haven t had you,” he explained. I blushed. “I’ve missed
you, Karma.” Tylon kissed me hard and starting kissing down to my neck.
Suddenly he stopped and sniffed me.
“Tylon?” I was confused.
“You whore!” he cried. “You've been with that
detective haven't you? You smell like another man!”
“No! I've been faithful to you, Ty!” I cried
back. Tylon hit me. Just as he went to hit me again, there was a knock on the
door. Tylon froze and glared at me.
“You're not alone, are you?” his voice was
calm and eerie. Ty dragged me to the door with him and looked out the peephole.
Without warning, he took a gun out of his
waistband and put it to my head. Tylon then opened the door and there stood
Ellie. She quickly took out her gun and pointed it at Tylon.
“Put the gun down, Tylon,” Ellie told him. I
stood there scared and confused. What was I supposed to do?
“I don't think so, Detective. I'm getting out
of here and Karma is coming with me,” Tylon retorted through gritted teeth. He
slowly maneuvered around Ellie and headed towards the car I came in. I also
noticed that there were now several other cop cars sitting in the parking lot.
Oliver stood next to the car, his gun also
aimed at Tylon. I looked at him, my eyes begging him to help me. Ellie nodded
at Oliver and he took a shot, shooting Tylon in the leg. Tylon stumbled a
little bit, but kept a hold of me and kept the gun to my head. In retaliation,
he lowered his own gun and shot me in the leg. I screamed and Oliver screamed
at Tylon. The other detectives all had their guns pointed at Tylon as he
dragged me to the car. He opened the passenger door and forced me to crawl
through to the driver's seat with a wounded leg. Tylon took a shot at Oliver as
he shut the door, but missed him.
“Start the car, Karma!” Tylon screamed at me.
I was sobbing as I started it. “Drive!” I then put the car in reverse and
backed out of the parking spot.
When I went to take off, I felt something hot hit
both shoulders. Then there was something hot in my back too. Despite the
burning pain, I felt calm and almost euphoric. I couldn't believe this was
happening.
“No! Stop!” I heard Oliver screaming as Tylon
started shooting out his open window. For a moment, it felt like I had no
control over my own body. I seemed to watch myself slam on the brakes and yank
my steering wheel to the left. For a moment I thought I heard something
cracking in the difference, but I soon realized it had been really close. It had
been the sound of Tylon slamming against the side of the door before flying
out. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. I was pretty sure I had broken
some bones, but Tylon quickly stood up, being shot by the cops as he did so. He
turned to me. There were tears streaming down his cheeks, but his eyes were
wild.
“Why Karma?” Tylon asked me as he fell against
the side of the car.
I sat in the driver's seat, speechless, still
feeling distant. I thought I felt something wet on my own cheeks, but the
burning sensations in my back were pulling me further away from the situation.
“I loved you!” Tylon screamed at me. “You said
we were in this together, forever!”
With that, he aimed his gun at me and shot.