Secret Love Page 16

  Anger boils within me but this isn’t the place to lose control. I dial a number from memory. It only rings once.

  “Iowa, Fox? Really?”

  “Where are they?” I ask.

  “Oh…” Mercer chuckles. “I see you got my message.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Patience. Patience. All will be revealed soon.”

  I exhale. “What do you want?”

  “I want you back,” he says. “Was I not clear enough before?”

  “This is extreme, even for you.”

  “Desperate times. Our boss is getting a little impatient over this whole ordeal and she wants results, so you understand my desperate ways.”

  “She’s your boss, not mine.”

  “You can keep telling yourself that all you want, but it won’t change the outcome. Go right ahead and do what you’re gonna do with that file, but I will kill them myself.” He stops to laugh. “What’s little Dani going to think of you then if you let her daddy die for… nothing?”

  Dani. She’ll never forgive me. Hell, I’ll never forgive myself.

  “I swear to god, if you hurt them—”

  “Your mother is very pretty, Fox,” he says, stabbing every word. “And you know what I like to do to pretty women.”

  “Don’t, please. Just…” I reel it in. I save it for when I kill this fucker. “You want a trade?”

  “You and the file for them. Simple and clean.”

  “Where?”

  “It’ll take a few hours to get out there to corn cob country,” he mutters.

  “There’s an old farm outside of Iowa City,” I say. “Look up Larry Clark, you’ll find it. Meet me at noon. Bring them with you or no deal.”

  “Secluded.” He chuckles. “I taught you well.”

  I say nothing.

  “Sure, we can meet there,” he says. “Both of you. Together. I don’t want you prone in a tower somewhere with your rifle. That’s no way to treat your friends.”

  “I won’t be.”

  “Good talk, Fox.”

  I slam the phone down and an officer eyes me as he passes by.

  My concrete box will have to wait.

  * * *

  I drive back to Mrs. Clark’s farmhouse.

  Dani steps outside onto the porch as I arrive. I spot Mrs. Clark lingering through the screen doorway behind her. Neither of them seems too happy with me. Hell hath no fury, as they say.

  I walk across the driveway and Dani steps off the porch to meet me halfway. Her eyes are puffy and red, shooting a twinge of guilt through my gut. She stares at me for a moment in silence before reaching out and slapping me in the face.

  I wince. The pain fires up my cheek, staying only for a moment before disappearing completely. “I guess I deserve that,” I say.

  She doesn’t disagree. I’ve left her twice now without saying goodbye but, in my defense, I never thought I’d see her again both times.

  Her hard eyes soften, and she lunges forward to wrap her arms around me. I smile as that faint apple scent invades my nose.

  “Dani, I’m sorry,” I whisper. “Something’s happened…”

  She raises her head. “What?” she asks, her voice breaking.

  I wipe a tear off her cheek, though I know there’s more to come. “Mercer, he…” She stiffens and my heart breaks. “He has Bennett. And my mother.”

  Dani’s eyes fill with fear. “What? No…”

  “He said he’ll kill them if I don’t go back with the file.”

  “Fox, you can’t…”

  “I have to.”

  She shakes her head and another tear falls. “There has to be another way,” she says. “Right?”

  She looks at me like I have all the answers, like I’m a real man of action.

  I wish I could tell her I did. I wish I could look into her eyes right now and be the man she thinks I am, but I’ve lied to her enough.

  “No,” I say.

  “Fox.” She steps forward. “I am not letting you go back. That’s not who you are.”

  And just like that, I believe her. I remember why I fell in love with Dani Roberts in the first place. Those soulful eyes. That stubborn determination.

  She was right there all along.

  Little Miss Perfect.

  I wrap my arm around her waist and rest my hand on the small of her back. She leans into me and offers her lips, just like she always did before. I kiss her once, just once. Any more than that, and I’ll lose myself in her all over again.

  “I have an idea,” I say. “It’s a bad one.”

  She nods, ready for anything.

  I glance over her shoulder at the old barn across the field. “That training you did with the LAPD, did they teach you rifles at all?”

  “Yes,” she answers.

  “What kind?”

  “Umm…” She closes her eyes as she tries to remember. “A Reming 7-something…”

  “Remington Model 700?”

  “Yeah, that one.”

  “Were you any good?”

  “So-so. Why?”

  “That’s good enough.”

  I study her face, taking in every detail of her. Scarred cheek. Red lips. Short, black hair.

  “We’re going to need some help, but I really need you to trust me, Dani.”

  Her eyes shake, but she doesn’t hesitate. “I do.”

  “Come on.”

  I release her and walk back to the car.

  “Where are we going?” she asks.

  I ignore the voices in my head telling me this is a bad idea.

  “School,” I answer.

  A very bad idea.

  Chapter 32

  Dani

  Fox reaches out and knocks on the door.

  I look up and down the hallway from behind my sunglasses. College. Dorm life. Dining halls and mid-term exams. This is a world entirely foreign to me. My father put me in front of cameras before I even graduated from high school. I never went to college, but I always wondered if I would someday.

  Can’t say I expected it to be like this.

  The door opens on a petite, blonde girl. She looks at Fox and she gasps. “Oh, god, it’s Channing Tatum!”

  Her red-headed roommate spins around in her chair. “What?”

  “Never mind—” She steps forward and slams the door closed behind her, nearly knocking herself over in the process. “What are you doing here?” she asks Fox.

  Fox holds up a plastic grocery bag. “We need your help,” he says.

  She takes it from him and her face falls as she looks inside and spots the pair of scissors, the comb, and the box of black hair dye we picked up on the way here.

  “Oh, hell no,” she says.

  I study her familiar features closely. Her resemblance to me is more than a little uncanny at first glance.

  “Fox, who is this?” I ask.

  “Fox?” she repeats. “Is that your real name?”

  “Yes,” he answers her.

  I pull my sunglasses off and she gasps again, recognizing me with eyes full of confusion. “Why is Roxie Roberts in my hallway?” she asks.

  “Darla, we need—”

  “Wait — how did you know my real name?” she asks quickly.

  I raise a brow. “How do you two know each other but not each other’s names?” I ask.

  Fox exhales hard. “Is there somewhere more private we can talk, please?” he asks her.

  The girl nods. “Come back in a few minutes. My roommate has a class soon.”

  “Thank you,” he says.

  She tries to give him the grocery bag, but he pushes it back to her. She takes it with reluctant acceptance before closing the door on us.

  “Um…” I say, “Fox?”

  He grabs my arm and pulls me with him down the hall. “She’s a friend, Dani.”

  “Okay, but—”

  “I said you’d have to trust me.”

  I bite my lip, pausing to watch the subtle movements on his face. Mercer was
right about one thing. My life is full of people who lie to me, but I don’t sense that in Fox right now.

  “Okay…” I say.

  Fox exhales slowly. “She’s a…” He pauses, choosing his words. “She’s an escort,” he says.

  “An escort?” I repeat, blinking twice. “You mean, like a… prostitute?”

  He swallows. “Yeah.”

  I feel a jealous twitch in my stomach. “And you know her because you and her…”

  “Yes. I mean, no, but we have spent time together because…” he hesitates, “she reminded me of you. I needed someone to talk to and she was…”

  The red-headed girl passes by with a backpack and taps the call button on the elevator. I quickly slide my sunglasses back on and we wait until the doors close and we’re alone again.

  Fox clears his throat. “She was a reminder of what I lost and what I never had,” he says. “Somewhere in-between, I found comfort.”

  “Because she looks like me?” I ask.

  His face falls even more. “Yeah,” he says.

  I study his expression, full of pain and shame. He went through hell to escape Snake Eyes, but he never really came back. He made a home in the darkness. I can relate, in a way. I can understand the need for human connection, no matter how superficial it is.

  “It’s all right,” I say. “I get it.”

  “Do you?”

  I nod. “Whenever I’d see some guy who looked like you, even just a little bit, I’d turn my head so I could only see him out of the corner of my eye. I’d just… pretend it was you. I don’t know why, but I guess it gave me…”

  “Hope,” he finishes.

  I smile weakly. “Yeah.”

  Fox turns up his hand and I take it. We entwine our fingers, looking so deeply into one another. Two hearts forever linked no matter how hard others try to tear us apart.

  “Do you really think she’ll help?” I ask.

  Fox squints. “It’ll take some convincing, but I think so.”

  “Good.”

  A smile fights my lips. I manage to keep it steady.

  “What’s so funny?” he asks.

  “You told her your name was Channing Tatum?”

  He rolls his eyes and tugs my arm to lead me back down the hall. “Come on.”

  “I can’t wait to tell him about this,” I joke.

  Fox glares at me out of the corner of his eyes before knocking on her door again.

  It opens instantly and Darla glowers at both of us. She gestures us inside and closes the door, locking it with a swift flick of her wrist.

  * * *

  “So, I just have to stand there?” Darla asks with her head hanging down into her bathroom sink.

  I stand over her with plastic gloves, running my fingers through her hair as black dye water spills down the white, porcelain drain.

  “And don’t speak either,” Fox says from the connected dorm room. “Your voices are pretty different…”

  I catch him glancing inside, but he quickly looks away, pretending that he wasn’t just sneaking a peek at her tight, push-up bra. He probably wasn’t, but I don’t mind teasing him about it. The shame on his face is just too adorable for words.

  “Are we sure this is going to work?” I ask. “Mercer isn’t stupid.”

  “No, but it’s the only idea I have.”

  I turn off the water and Darla wraps a towel around her hair. “And you weren’t kidding about it being a bad one…” I peel the gloves off and toss them into the trash below the sink.

  “Dani…”

  “I mean…” I step into the dorm to face him and point back at Darla. “This part will probably be fine. It’s the other part that’s got me nervous.”

  “You can do this, Dani.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “You’ve done it before.”

  “I’ve shot targets before,” I argue.

  “It’s the same thing. I know how that sounds, but it’s true.”

  I take a deep breath, but it does nothing to calm my nerves. “Think she knows any boy prostitutes who look like you instead?”

  “I am not a prostitute!” Darla shouts from the bathroom. “I’m a call girl.”

  “Sorry,” I say.

  She pokes her damp head out and her short, black hair falls over her eyes. “It’s okay. And to answer the question: no, I don’t know any.” She flicks on her hairdryer and disappears again.

  Fox lays his hands on my shoulders as I heave a thick sigh. “Dani, look at me.” I do as he says, peeling my eyes off the floor. “You can do this. I trust you.”

  “What if I miss?” I ask.

  “Then, try again.”

  “But what if—”

  “Dani—” He moves his hands to my cheeks, making sure to be gentle with my bandage. “I know you’re scared.”

  “Understatement.”

  “I will not let anything happen to you,” he says, holding my eyes. “Say it.”

  “You won’t let anything happen to me.”

  “Or me!” Darla shouts from the bathroom.

  “Or you,” he says, his eyes flicking toward her once before coming back to me. “You just have to slow him down. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  “Let’s just pretend all this goes well,” I say, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “We haven’t really talked about what happens after…”

  He drops his gaze for a brief, but noticeable, second. “No matter what happens, I will get you and our parents home alive.”

  “That’s not what I’m asking you.”

  “I know.”

  The hairdryer shuts off and Darla steps into the room. “How do I look?”

  She throws up her arms and poses in the doorway. Jet black hair. Cherry red lips. A white bandage across her left cheek to hide the lack of stitches.

  I nod and force a smile. “You look like Roxie Roberts,” I say.

  She snatches my sunglasses off her desk and slides them up her nose, looking smug and satisfied.

  “We should get going,” Fox says.

  I exhale, disappointed that he won’t answer my question. I’m not sure why I ever expected him to in the first place.

  I’m not even sure if I’m prepared for his answer.

  Chapter 33

  Dani

  I lie down on my stomach and press the butt of the rifle into my shoulder.

  “Look through the scope,” Fox says in my ear. I feel him shift down to the floor beside me on my right side. “You should be able to see the bottle pretty close.” He lays a hand on my back and warm goosebumps break out on my spine.

  “I see it,” I say, squinting through the scope. The empty beer bottle sits in the middle of the gravel driveway across the field.

  “Put your finger on the trigger.”

  My knuckles twitch as I lay my right index finger against it.

  “Line up your shot,” he continues, his voice smooth as butter. “Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Fire at the end of your breath.”

  The bottle shakes back and forth in the scope. I remember his words and take a long inhale to calm my quaking nerves. I push it out—

  “Slowly.”

  I halt my exhale halfway and force it to back in to try again. His hand moves up my back an inch, shooting fresh warmth throughout my body. I breathe in and slowly exhale until it’s all the way out.

  I pull the trigger. The bullet strikes the white gravel several feet away from the bottle.

  I frown. “I missed.”

  “Reload.”

  I grab the bolt and pull back. The empty casing flies free and I push the bolt back in to load a second round. “I remember being better than this.”

  “You’re nervous,” he says. “You don’t have to get it perfect.”

  “I just have to hit a moving target from across a cornfield. Yeah, no problem…”

  Fox grips my shoulder and rolls me onto my back to face him. “Dani…” he whispers, hovering over me. “There is no doubt in my
mind that you can do this.”

  A gust of cool wind strikes my pink face from the open window of the barn. “I feel sick…”

  “I know, but you’re going to be okay.”

  “I’m not worried about me.” He raises his brow. “Okay, I’m a little worried about me — but I’m more worried about you.”

  Fox sighs and traces a finger along my right cheekbone. “I’ll be all right, Dani.” He leans closer to me.

  “Fox—” He pauses above me, our lips barely touching. “Don’t kiss me if it’s the last time you ever will.”

  He does it anyway. His lips press against mine, firm and passionate. Desire still lingers on his breath, the same kind I felt last night in his bed.

  “Dani,” he whispers, “be brave. For me.”

  I close my eyes, focusing all my energy on his voice. It’s easy to lose myself in it and it’s all I want to do right now. “I just have to slow him down.”

  “That’s right,” he says. “We have the advantage. They won’t know you’re out here until it’s too late.”

  I take another long, deep breath. “Okay.”

  He glances across the field toward the farmhouse. “I should get over there. It’s almost noon.”

  My breath knocks around my chest. I’m not ready to let him go yet. “Fox—”

  He takes my hand and brings it to his lips. “Be brave,” he whispers, his breath tingling my fingertips. “And, you know, don’t shoot me.”

  I laugh even though I shouldn’t. “I make no guarantees.”

  Fox pushes off the floor and slides down the ladder to the ground. He walks out of the barn and looks back at me with a smile.

  Be brave.

  He says it like it’s so easy, like it’s just flipping a switch. I never considered myself a courageous person. I’m an actress. I have stunt girls and special effects to make me look cool, but none of it is real in the end. It’s all just make-believe.

  I lay my hand on my heart. It thumps against my palm like a pair of hummingbird wings, never ceasing for a moment. It’s all just a machine in there. Machines can be studied and controlled. I’m the master of my machine. I have the will to say whether I’m scared or brave.