Safe (34 page)

“I don’t want to tell you,” I whispered, looking away from his gaze. A lone tear streamed down my face, hitting my shoulder.

“Please. Sadie, trust me.”

He knew that I didn’t trust people easily. He’d learned that over the course of our relationship. Did I trust him? Yes. Without a doubt.

This was bad. Really. Really. Really bad. Landon’s hand came to my chin, and he moved me to look at him. I let it all out.

“I found a slip of paper.”

“Okay, what was on the paper?” Landon was patient.

Tears began falling, and I looked down at my hands. Landon put his hands on my legs. I didn’t know if he was trying to be reassuring, but it was.

“It was an order form—for a girl. Long brown hair, green eyes, young, long legs, beautiful—no scars on face, no freckles or any marks on her face, dressed in hot pink heels, short skirt, and a bra for a top.”

I waited for Landon to say something. Anything. But he didn’t. I looked up at him. His eyes were shut tightly, and his breathing deep, but no words.

“Landon, say something.” His eyes shot open.

“He sold girls to men?”

“No, he pimped girls to men.”

“What?”

“That’s what I found out later. I didn’t know it at the time.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I couldn’t. That was the first time that he beat me to the point I was in the hospital, and he threatened my family. I couldn’t.”

He placed his hands on my cheek, kissed me, and put his hands back on my legs. “Tell me.” I knew what he wanted to know. I just didn’t want it in his brain.

“He likes to hit across the face, punch ribs, back, stomach, head, and of course kick everything. I ended up in the hospital because I was in an accident, which everyone bought. When I got out, I went home to him.”

Landon shuddered. “I stayed with him for quite awhile, but then I knew I needed to get away. When I told him I didn’t want to see him anymore, it did not go well. I ended up in the hospital again, this time because of a break in.”

“Why didn’t you go to the cops? I mean, I know he is one, but they could help.”

“I couldn’t. Landon told everyone who would listen that I liked rough sex, which included being hit to get off. They all believed him.”

“He covered his ass, didn’t he?”

“Yeah.” Landon began rubbing my legs; his touch giving me comfort and strength.

“He told me that I was his, and he would never give me up. That’s when I moved in with my folks, but he always found me. Wherever I was, he knew. It was like he had a thousand eyes watching me.”

“Didn’t your mom know?”

“No, I never told her anything. She believed the accidents, or well I thought she did anyway.” I shrugged.

“What happened then?”

I couldn’t stop the flood that came out of my eyes. This was the hardest part to tell. “He would find me, beat me up, tell me I was his, threaten my family, have his way with me, and then leave.” My voice didn’t even sound like my own. The sobs broke it up and turned it inside out.

“Have his way with you … meaning rape you.” Landon’s voice was hard and laced with anger. I looked at him, and the vein in his neck was throbbing. I needed to calm him.

“I’m okay now.” I smiled at him.

“You know I want to kill that bastard right?” Landon gritted through his teeth.

“I know. You’re not alone, but he has lots of friends. Not just on the police department, but in his other business.”

“How were you able to deal with his ‘business’?”

“I never knew anything about this ‘til later. He never took calls around me, and I never saw another piece of paper again. I never asked or said anything about it … ever.”

“Why exactly didn’t you say anything to anyone?”

“Rob is scary. He threatened to kill my mom, Seth, and Macy if I ever told anyone. I believed him. I knew what he could do with his hands; add a gun or other weapon into the mix—who knows what would happen.”

Landon pulled me close to him and wrapped his arms around me tightly. “So, he’s the reason that you moved to Georgia?”

“Yes,” I said, muffled from my head being lodged in his neck. I inhaled him, and he smelled so good.
Safe
.

“You’ve been through a lot baby.” I sighed.

Landon pulled away, and I instantly missed the warmth. He looked into my eyes, and I saw his caring and love in them. “You know I would never raise a hand to you, right baby?”

I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I saw the pained expression on his face, as if he thought I was going to say no. I reached up and cupped his face with my hand, feeling his light stubble from not shaving yet today. “I know you would never do that to me. I trust you.”

Landon crushed his lips to mine and proceeded to make love to me … on the island.

“Landon, I don’t know if I’m up for a big party.”

Sitting on Landon’s couch watching some reality show, Landon decided to spring a party on me. Not that I didn’t love them, it had only been a week since I got back to Georgia.

I was learning so much more about Landon and falling even deeper in love with him as each day passed. The smile he put on my face washed away all those bad memories; hopefully soon they’d all be gone.

This week had been chaotic, visiting everyone and catching up with what had been going on. I even told Lauryn, Aunt Maggie, and Uncle Jim about what happened. Aunt Maggie seemed to understand my pain so much that I felt very connected to her and began spending a lot more time with her.

I’d practically moved in with Landon. Most of my stuff was still at Lauryn’s, but I stayed every night in his arms—the best place on Earth to be. “You don’t need to do anything. Mom and Dad just wanna have a little get-together to celebrate us.” He smirked.

“Us? What about us?” I laughed.

“I think they’re just happy that I’ve found someone and want to celebrate it.”

“You mean that you’re not jumping from bed to bed to bed to bed, right.” I rolled my eyes. This was not something I wanted to remember.

“The only person in my bed is you, baby, and will be forever.” My heart seized. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I pulled him close, breathing him in.

“Same here, baby,” I whispered in his chest.

“So, are you okay with it?”

I could do this. “Yeah.”

Landon grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me to him. His lips felt as good as the first time they touched. I would never get tired of them.

“What!” I heard Sadie scream into the phone. I turned and she was visibly shaking.

I knew that she was talking to her mom, but I had no idea what about. And the fear in her eyes was scaring the shit out of me. For the past couple weeks, her smile had become my mission in life. I wanted to bring happiness and comfort to her. I wanted her to feel loved, wanted, and accepted for who she was.

I still wanted to kill that bastard.

Sighing, I walked over to the sliding glass door where she was standing and wrap my arms around her, where I could now feel her shaking. I squeezed her tighter.

“Are you sure, Mom, like really sure?”

I listened.

“But Mom, you don’t know him, he’s capable of anything.” He … Rob. My anger rose, but I kept holding her.

Sadie began rapid fire questions to her mom.

“You’ve seen a picture?”

“And you’re 100% sure that it is him.”

“All the ID on him said it was him?”

“Was the car he was driving registered to him?”

“In the picture, did you see the scar above his eyebrow?”

“I know, Mom. I just need to make sure it’s him. I don’t trust him at all.”

They must have caught him and obviously Sadie didn’t believe it.

“Send me the picture.”

“No.
Now
.”

“Fine, get on the phone with them and have it faxed here
now
.”

“No, Mom, I have to see it.”

I rested my chin on the top of her head, beginning to sway a little back and forth. I didn’t know what I was doing, but she didn’t push me away so I thought I was doing something right.

“Fine, Mom. Love you, too. Bye.”

Sadie pushed the button on her phone and threw it on the table. She didn’t say a word, and neither did I. After a few long minutes, she spoke. “They caught Rob. He was in Missouri, going to a cousin’s house, but I don’t remember him ever saying anything about a cousin there.”

“Maybe he knew someone else there and just said his cousin.”

I knew that bastard probably had connections all over from being a cop, but also from being a pimp. So who knew where he was going. “Maybe.”

“What’s wrong? You don’t think it’s him?” I knew she had to be concerned.

She let out a deep sigh. “I just don’t think he would let them just catch him driving down the road. That’s what Mom said happened. She said the cops in Missouri ran his plates as he was driving through, and they matched the warrant. So they pulled him over. Apparently, he gave a pretty good fight, tried to run away, tried to knock the gun away, but there were two cops and they overpowered him.”

“Well, the fighting sounds like him.” Fucking asshole.

“I know. I just can’t believe that he would pull over for them.”

“I don’t have an answer for you.”

Sadie turned around in my arms, and I gazed into her beautiful blue eyes. “Mom is faxing a picture, then I’ll know for sure.”

“What picture?”

“Apparently, the cop car had a camera on it and got a clear picture of him.” Sadie closed her eyes, and I kissed her on her forehead. I loved doing that.

“You don’t believe it.” It was a statement not a question. I knew she didn’t. He was too sneaky.

“Not ‘til I see the picture.”

The wait for this fucking picture took five hours. Yes, five long, horrible hours. Sadie was a nervous wreck. Nothing I said or did calmed her for long. I would rub her back, and she would be all right for a few minutes, then tense up and need to move away.

I tried making love to her, but she wasn’t having it.

I tried feeding her, but she just picked at her plate.

I tried watching TV with her, but she couldn’t sit that long.

She just kept pacing … and pacing. Shit, she was going to wear a hole in the carpet, but if it helped her, she could make as many holes as she wanted to. There was just nothing I could do in that moment.

When the phone rang and Sadie ran to the fax machine in the office, I followed her. I didn’t say a word—just watched her. She pulled it off and began to look at every little peck on the paper. If she had a magnifying glass, she would be Sherlock.

She stared and stared at the paper. Wrinkles formed on her beautiful forehead that I just wanted to kiss away, but knew I couldn’t. “It’s him. It really is him,” she whispered, looking at me.

“Can I see?” She handed me the paper.

Dark hair, dark eyes, dark stubble growing for a beard, Rob, the fucker. He wasn’t a bad looking dude, but whatever he had in the beginning caught Sadie’s eye, which pissed me off even more.

I wanted to rip him from limb to limb and show him what it was like to be beaten and hospitalized. I wanted to show him how it felt when I cut his balls off. I wanted to have justice for Sadie.