“No, you can’t have the key so you can look too. You’re going to have to trust me. I’ve done as much as I’m willing to. Look, I’ll agree to talk again about this tomorrow, but that’s it for now. Bye.”
When he hung up, he leaned back against the wall. “So. Now you know. You’re not getting out. I have to say, I’m in awe of Klaus.”
I didn’t care anymore. I was so worn out I just wanted to curl up in a corner and pretend he wasn’t here. Except there was one last question—why was he here?
The boat ride back with that damn camera screen blacked out whenever I checked was one of the worst experiences in my life. If it was Kat and Chris who’d done this it was bad for us, but if not? I imagined her dead or assaulted or terrified, when I should be worried about a team of cops waiting for us at the house. If I’d wondered at the depth of my feelings for her, now I knew. I was besotted. Stupid but true.
Police… Okay, that worried me also. As the car wound up the road toward our house I tried to shake off a feeling of imminent doom. Despite the heat, I had to tuck my hands under my armpits to stop my trembling. “Do you think,” I swallowed, “It’s Kat and Chris?”
“I don’t know.” He reached and tugged my hand out then squeezed it. “Wait, please. Wait until we have facts.” Then he held my hand whenever he wasn’t changing gears.
The familiar shadow-dappled drive up the winding road had never taken this long. I wanted this over. I wanted our life back without all this drama. Only I wanted her in it too. I wanted to tell her she was mine, just like Klaus had to me. Which was so crazy. All those ebooks I’d read with capture fantasy stories had warped me somehow, irreversibly. Why else did I want to keep someone I adored by my side by tying them up and telling them to sit and stay?
I sighed. Eyes unfocused, I recalled how she looked when repentant. So many possibilities.
Snap out of it. We’re here.
The gravel under the tires popped and crackled as we rolled to a halt. There were no cars here before us. The engine cut out. No noise. I listened hard again, noticing Klaus doing the same.
“There’s no cars.” I ventured a smile. “Maybe it is a false alarm? If there were police, we’d know by now.”
“Probably. But I saw Chris’s car farther down the road. He parked it mostly out of sight. He must have come over on the ferry.”
“Oh. Fuck. Then…” By now, he’d found her. This was still bad.
Klaus shook his head. “I’ll go in and see. I imagine he’s inside. He’s a friend. Maybe we can get time from him before he tells anyone. A few hours.”
I frowned. “You don’t think he’ll have told the police yet.”
“If Kat’s here, yes. But…” He tapped the steering wheel. “We don’t know who’s in there. There could also be police. We may have to face up to what we’ve done. If we do, sweetheart, I’ll try to take most of the blame. So follow my lead. Okay?”
I did not want to go down this path. “Klaus…”
“Okay?” he insisted.
“Yes, but I’m coming in with you.”
His sigh was so long and wrought with tension that I sniffed and put my hand on his shoulder. “Please.”
He patted my hand. “Sure, but if there are cops, or any signs of violence, stay out of the way. Do as you’re told. We aren’t fighting this.”
“Of course not. I know.”
With sadness and fear plucking at me every step of the way, I followed Klaus into the house, watching his broad back muscles move under his shirt and wondering if soon I might not be able to touch and kiss him or draw comfort from him when I needed to.
The back door was unlocked. The webcam in the hallway had black paint sprayed over the lens. Simple yet effective. The police wouldn’t do that, would they? My heart pounded faster. We wound down the stairs to the room.
As we neared it, the door opened.
“Hi.” Chris smiled suavely. “Only me. I’ve been waiting for you.”
After the first frightened lub-dub of my heartbeat, I inhaled, resurrecting some calmness. Only him? What had he been doing?
Past him, I saw Steph sitting on her mattress in her cream dress, small, vulnerable, her feet tucked under her, her eyes glassy. I nudged by him, doing a swift check of the room as I walked to her. No one else was here. Thank god. I kneeled and ran my hand over her hair then down to her nape where I cupped my palm on her. “You okay, pet?”
“Yes.” But her voice shook.
“He hasn’t done anything to you?” I didn’t know why I asked that. Chris was a Dom and had always been a gentleman at all times to me.
“No. Nothing. Nothing really.”
I leaned in until my nose brushed on her neck. I breathed in. “You smell so good.” Then her hand came up to my face and she gently pulled me close so she could kiss me once.
“I’m so glad you’re here.” She blinked, owl-eyed. “I’m sorry. I told him things. He said he was your friend and that he might let me go if I did.” Her focus darted about for a second or two before she settled on just looking into my eyes. “I know I’m a fool, but he scares me.”
“It’s okay.” I smiled. “I’ll make sure Klaus understands.”
I sat down next to her, putting my arm about her shoulders, and turning to the men who’d been watching us. “Well. What’s this about?”
Klaus looked from Chris to me then he strolled over, saying, “Yes, why are you here, Chris? I assume Kat is involved?”
“She is. The woman’s suspicious of you. Convinced that you have something to do with this girl’s disappearance. I don’t mind telling you everything.” He held out both palms. “Full disclosure here. I came here because I was intrigued by her theory. I figure I know you pretty well, Klaus but I’d never have picked you for a man who would kidnap her.” He nudged his chin toward where we sat huddled together. “Anyway, I agreed with Kat to investigate.”
“You did. Huh.” Klaus squatted beside us and studied Steph. “You okay?”
Quietly, she nodded, but behind my back, her hand tightened in my shirt.
“Good.” He patted her leg, squeezed. “Chris wouldn’t have hurt you, but scared was pretty much engraved on your face when we came in. You two stay there. I’ll sort this out.”
He rose and went back to Chris. “What have you told Kat?”
“That there’s nobody here.”
Oh thank god.
“She knows I copied your keys—I got them from work. You leave them on your desk sometimes when you go down the street for lunch. Sneaky of me. Sorry.” He pulled out a key ring, unlinked some keys and gave them to Klaus. “Here. I don’t have other copies. I admit I was torn for a while when I discovered her in this room. But…” He sucked in a deep breath, shook his head slowly from side to side while meeting Klaus’s gaze. “No. No way. I couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t what? Give us up? Why?”
“Why?” Chris asked.
I glanced at Steph and melted at the way she’d cuddled in and laid with her head in the hollow of my shoulder. She peeked up when she realized I was looking.
“Thank you for being so sweet,” she murmured.
“Me?” I kissed her forehead. “It’s nothing. Only, my heart was in my mouth when we arrived here. I was worried about you.”
“Oh.” Her smile warmed me then she wriggled to look at the men. “Klaus is so sunburnt.”
“Yes, he is. It’s a side effect of beach cricket.” Wow. With all this, she’d noticed that. It made me wonder about how she regarded him.
“Yes, Chris, why the hell are you risking yourself helping us?” Klaus’s shoes scraped the floor as he shifted his stance.
“I don’t know exactly.” Wonder flooded Chris’s words. “Fuck it. No, I’m lying. I’m lying to me as much as you.” He clasped both hands at the back of his head for a moment. “Give me a second.”
I’d never seen this man so discomforted.
“Okay. I guess I admitted this to her—your little captive girl. I’m in awe of you, Klaus. I know why this whole kidnapping thing happened, but I’m still in awe. I…I would have done…the same thing, beyond any doubt. I might have hesitated but once I decided to do it, zero to a hundred. If not faster. Respect, man.” Chris frowned. “Not sure it’s right to say that, but I do. I am.”
He was really on our side. I realized I’d been holding back. Worried. Tightness left my muscles.
“Respect?” Klaus rubbed his face. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with getting respect from you for this. You know we plan to let her go? I’m just waiting for the time to do it.” He looked over. “For when we trust her enough.”
“I see. You’re waiting for that? Trust? If I was a cop, you’d be in trouble. She did just spill it all to me. Though I have to admit I showed her our business card with my photo. That swayed her. Plus I’m a bloody good interrogator—I’ve practiced on way too many subs. The curious and cute thing is—she described what you did in a way that made it seem almost sensible.”
“She did? That’s good then.” For a second, he eyed Steph as if he’d found an unexpected treasure. “Let’s go upstairs. We’ll all go up, the girls included, and we can have coffee while you tell me what Kat’s doing.”
After arranging the coffee for them, and one for me, I sat on the floor rug in the living room with Steph and listened to them. After Klaus had Chris repeat what Steph had told him, he asked about Kat. It had been the phone call on the night of the party that first made her suspicious, but whatever had kept that hunch ticking over, Chris wasn’t certain. It made me wonder if even he knew everything.
“Bottom line.” Chris slapped the table next to his coffee mug. “She’s not giving up easy and wanted to come snoop for herself when I said the room was empty. I told her she couldn’t have the key, though. I’ll say I no longer have it. Stands to reason I’d not keep it if I was honorable, and I am.” He looked at me and at Steph where she lay with her head in my lap, getting stroked. His gaze sharpened. “Except maybe when it comes to this. I never thought I would be okay with this, even though it’s a scene I love to role play with subs when I get a chance.”
That wasn’t the first time he’d looked at us that way. Chris was more than a little attracted to this, maybe to Steph herself. But, really, that was good, wasn’t it? It meant we had him on our side. Meant he was unlikely to go the police, or to Kat.
“So she’s going to chase us about this still then.” Under the table, Klaus’s feet were ever-moving, just the tiniest bit. He was worried. “If it had been her and not you… I think I may need to take the option I didn’t want to and go overseas.”
“She’s probably going to chase it, yes. I have an idea. You need time to sort things out and time away from here where no one can see what you do, or who is with you. My brother has a rundown house on a private island in the Whitsundays. Just a spit of land. But no one goes there. He can’t sell it and you can’t live there all year. Cyclones have wrecked the bungalow a few times. Right now it’s safe enough. Take some equipment and you can sit there away from any snooping that Kat might do, and you can think about where to go from here. At seven knots it’s about ten hours’ sail from here. If storms come you can duck into the coast.”
“Interesting. If I can get internet access, I might do that.”
I looked down and, to my amusement, Steph had fallen asleep on my arm. If nothing else, I could enjoy this moment and so, mindful of not waking her, I caressed her soft skin, rearranged her hair strand by strand, and just by being with her, I inhaled her scent. I took pleasure in the feel of her body as she breathed the unworried sleep of the innocent. It was us who were to blame now. She’d done her penance. We owed her. We owed her freedom.
What a pity, though. My eyes moistened at the thought of that day which must come soon.
I raised my head. The men had decided something. Klaus was thanking Chris while shaking his hand.
“Let’s go with Wednesday. We’ll get packed and wait for you to arrange it. Thanks for this.”
“Sure. It won’t take more than a phone call. You have to get a boat to get down there. I can’t do that part.” Chris pushed back his chair, looking ever so tall as he rose to his full height. “Happy to do this for you. If it’s okay I might join you there on the weekend if I can get away. I could leave Friday night if I can take Saturday off?”
“Do that. Take Saturday off. You need to think about if you want the place. Maybe I can sell it to you somehow. I don’t know. It might implicate you if I do.”
“Uh.” He rocked back on his heels. “Sure. I’ll have to think.”
Selling the accounting practice? He was thinking of really leaving here then.
Suck it up. Put on those big girl panties.
If we had to leave, we had to.
I watched Chris walk from the room with some relief. We were going to his brother’s island? Yet whatever they’d arranged it was far better than the scenarios that had played out in my head when the door downstairs had opened to the room.
There might have been violence. We were messing about with a very important law that governed people’s freedom. Historically, when laws like this were broken, people got hurt.
Chris was a martial arts expert and had beaten Klaus at least once. As much as I hated to admit it, I thought Klaus would lose in a fight. I didn’t want to see a face-off between them, ever. Watching my Dom get the shit beaten out of him would be sickening.
I thought back on what had just happened. The way Chris had looked at Steph bothered me. It was partly why I’d stayed on the floor with her. I couldn’t shake the feeling that she needed my protection.
It made me think about how I felt about her. Last night I’d been talking to Klaus about our relationship—me and him. He’d been worried he’d been neglecting me and vowed to pay me more attention from now on. He had been neglecting me, but it was obvious why. Besides, we were in love. I knew it even if he didn’t. I’d trust him to the end of the world. He’d thought I might be jealous.
Only now, I was cuddling Steph like he had me a few hours ago, and the feelings I had for her were almost as strong as they were for him. I adjusted where my nose rested, inhaling her pretty scent, and wishing I could keep her like this, forever in my arms.
Like Chris had said, the entry to the one safe place to anchor in the lee of Rat Island was difficult to navigate, but I managed. With the sea calm, I wasn’t concerned but in a choppy sea it’d be difficult. Though going outward looked to be a little easier, I’d need to keep an eye on the weather. If I had to leave in an emergency, the port at Bowen wasn’t far away. The whispering of the hull slicing the water lessened then silenced. Once Jodie and I tossed the bow and stern anchors overboard and cinched them in, I straightened.