License to Love (41 page)

“Yeah, he talked to me about that.” Cora saw a clearer
picture now, one where Alexander ran the show. The Holloways sounded like some
kind of mob family to her, and she wondered if Nick got the same impression. If
he did, why did he work for them and risk going to prison?

He intrigued her, really intrigued her. She wanted to know
more about him, but warning bells rang in her head. She tried with a simple,
off handed, “And you?”

“I’m someone who didn’t want to have any connections with
those people.”

And yet he did. His strange answers didn’t tell Cora much of
anything. He could be a criminal just like Alexander, who, after all, could be
handsome if he wasn’t so angry and self-centered.

She knew next to nothing about this man driving her to an
unknown destination. She couldn’t guess one way or the other if he was carrying
a gun, or if he’d pull it on her. Either way, her short frame couldn’t hold its
own against him.            

He glanced at her as the dash lights gleamed in his brown
eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know my family could actually go this far.”

Her mind stopped listening at the word
family.

“Excuse me?” She sat up straight and glared at him. “Those
people are your family?”

His glance was much longer this time, and she could see the
mental gears turning as he re-evaluated her.

“I’m Nick Holloway, Keith’s son.” Nick’s eyes weren’t hurt
by her outburst, but he looked confused. “Didn’t you know?”

“But Keith’s so ugly…”

He laughed, although it was short and tense. “I hope that
means you think the opposite of me.”

That explained a whole heck of a lot. No wonder he worked
for Keith – he wasn’t working for the family, he was a part of it. She bit the
inside of her cheek so hard she tasted blood.
Keep calm, stay clear.
Cora needed her brain working to get her out of this. Blinding anger had to
wait. “I’ve never heard a word about you. Not your name, not that Keith even
had a son.”

“Jerry never mentioned me?”

She gave him a slight shake of her head before dutifully
adding, “Though he didn’t talk about anyone from his job, or their family.”

He studied her again, something he did too much. She wanted
to tell him to keep his eyes on the road before he got them in a wreck. He
said, “To be fair, I’ve been out of the picture since I left for college in
California. Keith and I hardly spoke since then. I went straight to work after
graduation, and I wasn’t planning on coming back, but my cousin asked me to get
involved. So I went to Keith and asked for a second chance.”

Cora wondered why Keith would let Nick get involved after
that slap in the face. This seemed to be getting more tangled by the minute.
“So Alexander and Terrance are a part of your family?”

“Not Alexander. Terrance is my cousin. He’s fresh out of
high school. It’s sad…he was this chubby little kid that followed Adam and me
around.”

He sounded wistful. It was hard to picture being a part of a
family like that. “So how did you get involved again? You were out and free of
them.” She certainly wouldn’t have come back.

“Adam called, worried, and said this started over money, but
it involved a lot more than that this time. He said people’s lives are on the
line. I left, but he was here and living with this.”

Adam…another player. She’d get to that one later.

“So you rushed back to help Keith?”

“No, I want to help you.”

Where did he get off saying that? “How did you even know
about me? I didn’t have to be involved in this. Wait, you’ll just have another
outrageous explanation for that one, too.”

He thumped on the steering wheel. “No, you didn’t need to be
here, but Alexander advised Keith from the beginning that Jerry puts you first.
They knew he’d do about anything to keep you safe.”

Great. She hated Alexander, and she had a long list of
reasons why, including the fact that he was still following them. Too bad his
car couldn’t hit a deer and run off the road.

Nick glanced at her before saying, “I’ve heard a lot about
you, that’s why I assumed you’d know about me.”

Cora didn’t like the fact that he knew anything about her.
She especially didn’t like people knowing how poor she’d been throughout her
childhood. His family carried a lot of weight, while her family consisted only
of her and her father. The two of them had tried their best not to be noticed
at all. Sometimes she still felt like hiding. Jerry had been very supportive
when she chose journalism as her major in college, but he’d also been surprised
when she decided she wanted to be a reporter and be on camera. To be honest,
she’d been in a small stage of rebellion then. She felt like she’d overcome all
and wanted to show the world. Cora could still remember that
on-top-of-the-world feeling. If only she could feel it again.

“I turned on the news the other night so I could put a face
with the name.”

Something gave her the feeling that wasn’t anything close to
the full story. Wondering about Nick’s opinion of her unnerved Cora, and she
didn’t know why she cared. His good looks sure didn’t help. She wanted to buy
into his story, but his actions went against it
. Face the facts
girl
,
Cora thought,
he’s doing the leg work for Keith Holloway
.

Outside, the moon chased them through the tall evergreens.
Strange worries plagued her: unfinished to-do lists, tasks left undone at work,
and worries about her apartment. “A lot of people will look for me you know,
and my father.”

“I think Jerry’s going to lay low, for your safety. This
cabin is way out in the sticks, way back on an overgrown road. I’m sorry to say
but no one will go out as far as we’re going.”

“Sorry?” she asked. His voice suggested he regretted taking
her out to this middle-of-nowhere cabin, but it also sounded like he was
promising that no one could find them.

“I’m sorry about all of this. Really, Cora.”

Yeah, well, actions speak louder than words. They could be
headed east into the Cascade Mountains or west toward the coastal mountain
range, and she had no clue about how to tell. No one would ever think to look
for her out in the Oregon wilderness. She was on her own.

*** 

He heard her sigh just before she crossed her arms and
turned toward the window. What could he say to make her feel safe with him? It
pained him to see her so scared and angry, but he couldn’t make any promises
about her father’s safety.

This wasn’t going as planned. He had stepped in because it
was right… and because he wanted to help her and have her on his side. There
had been something there from the beginning, even before he had seen her in
person. Not only had he gotten pictures from Adam, he’d watched the news quite
a few times lately just to see her. She was bigger than life, with a gorgeous
smile and an enthusiastic personality. He had pictured her smiling at him and
imagined how all that soft, shiny hair would feel in his hands. She was sleek,
classy, and energetic, a nice mix.

He was out of words and explanations, but not any closer to
getting her to understand. And why should she?

Cora hadn’t moved in a few minutes. He knew better, but he wanted
to touch her. He touched her arm with the back of his hand, just a slight touch
of reassurance. When she didn’t react at all, he wondered if she could have
fallen asleep. She could be faking it. He decided not to pester her anymore
either way.

Guilt and other mixed emotions buzzed in him, keeping him
jumpy. He checked the rear view mirror once more, and when he didn’t see
Alexander’s headlights he thought he could make a break for it. He’d have a few
days to find Jerry before Keith discovers he left the cabin with Cora, unless
Alexander checked on them sooner. Nick had no way of tracking Alexander, or
knowing when he’d show up and spy on them.

Damn it!

He kept the car on its course. Alexander could track Jerry
anywhere, and put a bullet in him if Cora didn’t stay right where Keith wanted
her. If Jerry didn’t check in every twelve hours, Alexander was ordered to
provide extra incentive by sending back one of Cora’s fingers. Not with Nick on
watch. Whatever it took, he was keeping her safe.

Branches swept over the car as Nick drove down an old,
narrow gravel road. Cora thought it’d been about two hours. It was hard to
guess the distance because he’d driven in circles and had to slow down for the
twisting roads (especially for the gravel ones). He pulled the car into a
small, worn out garage (or maybe it was a shed), and turned the ignition off.
She was glad the headlights stayed on for a minute. 

Her stomach growled in the silence. She almost wished she’d
eaten dinner, but the growling was partly from nerves too.

“There’s a path leading up to the cabin. I’ll grab the
flashlight.” He also grabbed her bag and came around to her door and opened it.
“You can get some rest inside.”

Sleep? At a time like this?

When she hesitated, he squatted down in front of her and
held the flashlight to the side so it wouldn’t shine directly on her face. “We
can talk inside. I don’t want to risk Alexander listening to us.”

“He would follow us all the way out here?”

Nick stood and pulled her up; he wrapped a small blanket
around her shoulders. “That man doesn’t stop for anything. Here, you’ll want to
change your shoes to walk up there.”

She didn’t want to go to this cabin at all, but she didn’t
want to be out alone in the darkness either. She pulled her tennis shoes from
the bag and switched into them.

The path was there, but barely there. They had to walk
through the ferns and briars up a hill, in the dark, with Nick’s flashlight
lighting the way ahead of them. She couldn’t see anything outside of the circle
of light, so she couldn’t say if there really was a cabin up the hill. It
seemed more likely that they were hiking into the deep, dark forest. Although,
there had been a shed to park in, so there had to be a house to go with it. Her
teeth started chattering from nerves.

“Are you cold? Are your legs okay?” he asked, turning and
shining the light down on her.

“I have much bigger problems to worry about than scratching
my legs up.”

He paused and swung the light around, almost as if he felt
the same eerie sensation as she did. She tried to see into the blackness and
considered racing off into the trees. Nick took a hold of her blanket and
gently pulled her along. He was guiding her. It wasn’t menacing at all. She
began to soften toward him. No. She had to hold onto her anger and keep the
distance between them.   

The trees opened and he shined the light up towards a small
wooden building. Really, it was a tiny shack trying to hold its own against the
forest.

“I’m sorry about this dump,” Nick said, looking the place
over.

The wood structure looked like a building from an oil
painting: lots of character, but not good for much. Instead of a porch or
steps, just a plain wood door marked the entrance. Nick put his arm around her
and led her inside. He shut the door and walked to something – a table maybe.
His shadow blocked the light.

“I can’t see anything,” she said, panicking. Why did he
bring her here?

She heard something, and then a light came on. He had a
propane camping lamp that hissed as it burned. “Let’s look around and make sure
everything’s okay.”

What could he possibly mean by okay? This was not okay.

The dark interior contained a stove, a table, two wooden
kitchen chairs, and a worn brown couch. There was a tiny bathroom in the
corner. A wall extended from the bathroom to create a semi-private space for
two twin beds. It was just a one room cabin. Cans of food sat stacked next to
the stove. No pictures hung on the walls, no carpets padded the uneven wood
floor.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” she said and glanced at him.

“Oh, here, take the lamp.”

She grabbed it, and her workout bag, and left him standing
there as she went into the bathroom, which was the only room in the cabin with
a door. It had running water, at least, but it didn’t have a window. That killed
that idea. She changed into cotton shorts and a tank top and stuffed her other
clothes back into the bag.

When she opened the bathroom door, she saw Nick trying to
light the cooking stove with a match. She set the lamp on the table and walked
around the wall over to the beds. There was a tiny window, but it had boards
nailed across it from the inside. If they were nailed form the outside, she
might have been able to push or kick them off. They also looked newer and
sturdier than the rest of the cabin.

She could hear Nick making noise by the stove, and she
peeked toward the door. She soon realized he was close enough to easily grab
her if she ran.

Who would have built a cabin so far out in the country? It
was hard to picture a couple or family living here and being happy. Maybe it
was an old hunting cabin. That made more sense. Now the Holloways used it to
hold people hostage.

She sat on the bed. The plan was to think up a plan. 
Instead she let the tears come, and it felt good to let go. She had every right
to be upset, mad and scared.

She fell across the bed, covered her nose so she wouldn’t
smell it, and let the tears run down the sides of her face. How could her dad
have gotten into so much trouble? Why hadn’t he just quit that job?

“Cora?” He stopped by the end of the bed. She hadn’t heard
him walk over. “I have some dinner on the table. Nothing fancy, but you have to
be hungry by now.”

Cora didn’t want him to see her wrecked emotional state, so
she just nodded. She had her arm over her face and it was dark, so he wouldn’t
see. She couldn’t find her voice.