Cajun Protection (19 page)

“Zoey?”

Whisper, I answer, “Please tell me the guys
are at the apartment and it’s them banging around.”

“No, we just saw them leave to go there, why
what’s going on?”

Okay, so panic is starting to seize me, it’s
someone else. I don’t answer just yet, but make my way to the
bathroom, shutting the door as quietly as possible.

“Damn it, Zoey, answer me.”

“Someone is here,” I say, doing my best to
hold myself together, because now was not the time to freak
out.

“Fuck.” That was all I heard and someone
turned the knob on the bathroom door. I couldn’t help but keep a
whimper from escaping. “Baby, hold on, were coming.” Just as the
words escaped, someone starts banging into the door shifting it.
Looking around the bathroom, there is nothing to defend myself with
but the toilet lid. But just as I make to grab it, the door
shatters and a large frame fills the doorway.

“Little birdy can’t hide forever.” I don’t
know the voice, but he grabs my arm. Spinning, I strike him with my
fist. Although it doesn’t do any good but make him grunt. He
releases me quickly and a flash comes out of nowhere. Thinking
someone has turned on the lights, instead pain starts to emulate on
my cheek. He slapped me. Falling backwards, the tall figure kicks
me in the side making me cry out. I do my best to kick and get
away, but he grabs my foot and starts to pull. “He never said you
were a wild cat. Might be fun to clip your claws later.” I grab the
doorframe while he tries to tug me out of the bathroom door. I’m
not going without a fight. I got enough leverage to kick him in the
balls, making him double over. Using that to my advantage, I stand
and run to the kitchen, where Wolf showed me a gun was kept.
However, I never make it as the asshat grabs my hair making me
scream and fall back into him. “Don’t fucking piss me off, bitch!
I’m already in a bad fucking mood.” His nasty hand clamps over her
mouth. Unable to stop the tears falling from my face, he struggles
as he tugs me to the door. “Stupid fat bitch, why can’t you be
smaller, I can’t fucking carry your large ass.”

But in the stillness of the dark, I see two
more figures standing there.

“Let her go and maybe we’ll let you live,”
Wolf growls. Oh thank God, but the guy holding me tightens his hold
on me.

“Don’t think so, fuckers, she’s coming with
me. She has been nothing but a pain in our asses since day one.
Don't move, or I’ll snap her neck!” To prove his point, he slides
his hand around my neck squeezing. Damn, he isn’t kidding. He
applies more pressure and as he does, I see both men move slowly
forward. His grip gets tighter as everything starts to sparkle with
bright dots and bright flashing lights fill the air. Wonder what
those are? But before I can figure anything out, I fall into my
techno colored dots and fade away.

My heart stopped when Hawk took the call from
Zoey. I have never been so scared. Sure, we have had some scraps,
but it was normal for our line of work, and when we were in the
Corp, but it was nothing like this. This was different. And to add
insult to injury, the punk kids who broke in and spray painted our
office was a decoy. But as we enter the apartment, I see Zoey,
still in her sleep clothes, but her top is ripped at her shoulder.
The apartment is dark, but I can see her through the small light
from the kitchen stove. My blood runs cold and instincts take
over.

Looking down at Zoey as she lay unconscious
doesn’t sit well with me. Hawk and I both end up firing at the
fucker, one shot in the leg, one in the shoulder. He will live, but
not without a permanent reminder of what he has done. But right
now, my mind is on the woman in his arms. She has a nasty bruise
forming on her cheek, and other scrapes and cuts.

Hawk leaves the asshat bleeding while he
walks over to us and speaks, “They’re coming. Damn her cheek looks
bad.”

Hawk responded, “Yeah, you know it was a trap
right?”

“Kind of figured that out when the kids
looked too smug for my taste. We can’t dwell on that now.” I can
tell he is pondering something in his mind, but I get a chance to
say it before he does.

“We need to take her somewhere.”

“Yup.”

“Really that’s all you got, yup. Come on,
Hawk, she was fucking—oh hey there,
chéri
,” her eyes start
to flutter open and my heart starts to leap with excitement.

While trying to sit up she asks, “Is he
dead?”

“No, just hurt a little.”

Her eyes got large looking around the room,
“Did you miss or something. He should be dead.” Hawk snickers.

“See, there’s my girl.” The cops and
paramedic come in and things proceed into a flurry of activities.
The EMTs come and take the fucker, who Hawk found out is Andrew’s
cousin, as are the kids at the office. Zoey refuses to go to the
hospital via ambulance, thinking it would get her out of going, but
I’m driving her.

Hawk plans to meet us there. Sitting in the
exam room, the doctor orders x-rays of her cheek and ribs. So far,
she is in good spirits despite what she just went through.

“Well, young lady, your lucky nothing is
broke. Just some bruises and scrapes. Your jaw should feel better
in a few days, ribs however will hurt longer. I’m gonna give you
some pain medication, but take it when you need it. Ice your cheek
and ribs. Are there any other questions you have for me?” I wait to
see what Zoey says, but she shakes her head as the doctor pats her
leg. Handing me her prescription and what to watch out for
information, we wait for Shay to arrive. When Shay does show, ten
minutes later, she doesn’t hesitate to lay into me about not
leaving someone behind to look out for Zoey. I just smile and
listen, knowing that her concern for her friends were that
important to her. I look at Zoey waiting for her to defend me, but
Zoey is more excited about Shay bringing her some clothes. Soft
fluffy blue pajama pants and one of my sweatshirts. Zoey had worn
them at one time and said she liked wearing something that made her
feel small. Needless to say, she was spanked for that comment, but
I admit I love seeing her in them. Now that we are dress and ready
to go, we check out of the hospital and make it to the truck. Hawk
is standing there with coolers and a bag in the bed of my truck,
and two cups of coffee.

“It’s all set up. We’ll leave my Jeep here
and take the truck until he’s caught. Called in some people to
help.” Hawk hands me a cup and takes a drink from the other. I look
at Zoey to see if she is going to object, but she just looks,
tired. It’s now closer to five thirty in the morning, and I know
she is dragging from the stress of the possible kidnapping, the
break-in, and no sleep along with the pain medication.

“Come on,
chéri
, let’s get going.” Not
trusting her to climb into the cab, I help place her inside while
Hawk jumps into the driver seat. Once everyone is buckled, we drive
off.

Hawk

She looks like shit, and I hate it. Her
normal perky personality is gone, and now I’m looking at a zombie
of a person. Right now, I’m blaming the happy pills Wolf picked up
before we headed out of town. So much for getting close to finding
him quickly. I know some people are crazy obsessed, but the fact
Andrew has the resources to set up a distraction and try to take
her just pisses me off. While Wolf took Zoey to get checked out, I
did my best to ask the dipshit where Andrew is, but no luck. Leave
it to Wolf to hit something that actually needs surgery. Idiot. The
punk kids at the office don’t know anything, just what they were
told to do. So again, we are back to square one. Now we are on our
way to a small cabin that Wolf and I use when we need to take a
break from all the shit around us. Only a few trusted people know
the location, and those I consider my brothers. In the back of the
truck, I made sure to pack her things. I make a quick stop at the
store to get some food, because unless we want to eat everything we
catch, we need something more. Not that I have an issue with
catfish, frogs legs, shrimp, and mudbugs but we needed other things
too. I am really hoping it is only going to be for a day or two.
Gunner and Snake are working on trying to get more information out
of the stupid twins and the fucker who grabbed Zoey.

As the road starts to turn into swamplands,
and houses are few and far between, I know we are getting there.
Taking a left turn on a side dirt road, I look over and see Zoey
covered in a blanket, sound asleep on Wolf. The drive isn’t bad,
only an hour, and being the time of day, no one is on the road. The
truck however, bumps and jolts us around, waking Zoey up. Damn,
really wish it hadn’t rained the last couple of weeks. But now that
she is awake, she can take in the surroundings.

“Wow, it’s so quiet and pretty out here.” Her
eyes get huge and take in the large trees and dirt road. I have to
agree, nothing better than being out of the city sometimes to
recharge our batteries.

“Almost there. This place is hard to find
unless you know exactly where to go. We will be safe and maybe just
relax some until he is caught.” From the corner of my eye I see her
still. Shit, maybe I should have kept that to myself. “Baby, you
know we will get him. He is pushing, but we will get him. It’s not
just for the bounty now, but it’s personally. No one takes what is
mine.” Making sure she knows I’m serious, I squeeze right above her
knee, making her smile some.

Standing by the water covered in large trees
is our cabin. It’s high off the ground, and is perfect for when we
get floods. A large outside porch with a small swing sits outside.
A small dock with our boat still tethered shows that no one has
been here since we had been.

“This is your cabin.”

“Yup.”

“Its, wow. This is like a giant tree house.”
I laugh at her excitement and grab some of the bags from the back,
as does Wolf. Reaching the top, I set down the cooler and unlock
the door, letting her in. Inside was very simple. The house is both
mine and Wolf’s so there is no need to decorate. A couch, two
recyclers, a TV that doesn’t have cable and a small lamp. Kitchen
is small with only a stove, fridge, and a counter. No washer or
dryer, and two bedrooms. Zoey looks around and Wolf starts to
unload the items in the cupboard.

I shout to Wolf, “Gonna lay down,” and take
mine and Zoey’s stuff to the back room. She stops and looks at
everything along the way.

“We’re gonna sleep in here,” I open the door
and wait while she walks past. I shut it, and set things down. I
can tell she is still tired and hurting, but I need to make sure
she is okay. “Let’s go take a shower, baby. I want to check you
out.” Her big brown eyes look haunted or my comfort. Taking her
hand, I pull her into the bathroom. One thing I made sure this
place didn’t have was a bath, which now that I see her, a bath
would have been better. But there’s a large shower that could fit
my size and still have room.

Taking the hem of the sweatshirt, I tug it up
and off her. As much as I want to admire her tits, I can’t help but
see the big bruise on the side of her body. Right now, it’s dark
and purple, but I’m sure in a couple days it will get worse.
Tugging her pants off, she is standing before me naked. Damn, even
banged up she’s beautiful. I leave her standing while I start the
shower, making sure it gets nice and warm. I help her in and leave
quickly and rummage through her bag to find her girly soap and
shampoo. I hold myself back and I hear small sniffles. Shit, she’s
crying. I hate chicks that cry, normally that is because they annoy
me, but with her, it just breaks me in half. Stripping quickly, I
make my way inside and set the soap and stuff on the small rack.
Opening my arms, I stand still and she walks into them.

“It’s okay, you’re okay, baby. I’m proud of
you. You didn’t give up and fought back. I’m sorry for not being
there.” I soothe her while rocking slowly and holding her. Zoey
starts to slow down and looks up at me, her brown eyes rimmed red
and puffy. Reaching up, I wipe the rest of the tears off her face,
even though water was covering her.

“I was scared, Hawk. You know a few weeks
ago, I wouldn’t have cared, but now, I have something to fight
for.” Unable to stop myself, I seal my lips over hers, trying to
comfort her. Or is it me. I really don’t know, but I need to
connect with her, to know she is safe and okay. Keeping the kiss
light, I release her lips and step back.

“Let’s get you cleaned up.” Zoey offers me a
small smile while I take her soap and start to wash her. For the
most part, she’s in pretty good shape, but it’s the ribs and jaw
that bother me. Her neck is still a little red, but he didn’t hurt
her too badly, just long enough to put her under.