Khan (5 page)

Getting out of bed, she moved toward one
of the dressers and opened a drawer at random. Taking out the first thing she
touched, she pulled the t-shirt over her head and grabbed up a pair of boxers. She
hurt like hell, but she wasn’t staying in this house another minute. As soon as
she stepped out of the door, she realized that this was not the same house.

Moving down the stairs, she was opening
the kitchen door when someone was pulling into the driveway. Flagging them down,
she saw it was Corrine.

“I want you to take me to town. I don’t
have any money, but I won’t stay with that lunatic another moment.”

She looked at the house then back at her
before nodding.

“Thank you.”

Once she was in the car, she noticed
that she didn’t have any shoes on and she had no idea where she had left them. Corrine
turned the heat up and kept glancing at her, but didn’t say anything. By the
time they were pulling in front of yet another strange house, Monica knew she
was never getting away from these people. But Corrine spoke before she could
tell her she was calling the police.

“I’ll have George take you into town. I’m
stopping here to get you something more to wear.” She got out, came around to
her side, and opened the door. “He won’t know you’re here until you’re gone if
we hurry.”

She did hurry. And was sitting in a
hotel room forty minutes later with her things from her apartment as well as
fifty dollars from George. Lying back on the bed, Monica burst into tears. She
couldn’t take much more of this.

“What do you mean you won’t tell me
where she’s at? I want you to tell me right now.” Khan paced the spacious
kitchen while he waited for one of his parents to tell him what they’d done
with Monica.

“I told you that you don’t deserve to
know. When I pulled up to the house to check on her and she came flying out…she
didn’t even have any shoes on. Not even a coat. It’s nineteen degrees outside. What
if I hadn’t come when I did? Would she still be out dressed like that? She’d be
dead.” His mom wiped at the tears that had been flowing since he stormed in the
house over an hour ago.

He’d come out of the bathroom ready to
talk to her. He’d taken a cold shower and had jerked off twice, trying to get
the sight of her naked and under him out of his mind. But it had done nothing
but frustrate him more. He made a decision that he’d fuck her, but not come
inside of her, nor bite her. He had to or he’d never let her go. He started
pacing again when he felt his cock jerk in his pants.

“Son,” his dad started, and he looked at
him. “You’ve made it perfectly clear that you don’t want her, and when you hang
around with her, it’s only going to make it harder on you.”

Khan didn’t think his cock could get any
harder. “I need to make sure she’s all right.” His dad was already shaking his
head at him. “Dad, I can’t be a mate to her. She’s married and human.”

“No, she’s not.”

He looked up at his mom.

“She’s not married. And the man who beat
her is a stalker, not even her boyfriend according to Caitlynne. He’s run her
out of other towns by going to her place of business and trashing her
apartment. The poor girl does not need you sniffing around her if all you want
is a good screw.”

Khan felt his face heat up. His mother
had been getting more and more blunt all the time and he blamed it on
Caitlynne. She was a bad influence to her. He started to tell his mom he did
not want only a good screw when he had a sudden vision of him looking up at
Monica’s face while he drank from her body. He was in major trouble here.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re to stay away
from her.”

He glanced at his dad and wanted to tell
him to fuck off. But he’d seen that look before. As a child when he’d been
disobedient. He didn’t remember what he’d done, but did remember the trip to
the shed. He hadn’t been able to sit down for a few days.

“I’ll find her on my own.” He stood up
and went to the door. “I want you to stay out of this. Please. I have to explain
why we can’t be mates and show her that I’m not out of my mind.”

He was pretty sure he was for even
thinking about this, but went out into the afternoon cold. She was out there
somewhere and he didn’t have a clue. He looked toward Reed’s house and saw his
car parked in the drive. He started there, knowing that Reed could do his
computer magic and find her for him. Khan was smiling by the time he was
knocking on the door.

They couldn’t make him do anything he
didn’t want any more. And he wanted to talk to Monica. He wasn’t going to have
sex with her, but there was no reason he couldn’t have a long talk with her. He
just hoped that she’d not made good on her promise to get a gun just yet.

Reed was helpful to a point. He wasn’t
thrilled about helping him until he promised to not tell Mom his secret. He had
a job. A very good job and was working with Caitlynne on some very high profile
cases. But he couldn’t get his desk in the house and needed help building it.

It took them nearly three hours and a
case of beer to bring in the heavy boxes and put the sucker together. It might
not have taken quite that long had they not gotten sidetracked talking about
the current case.

“There are supposed to be bodies all
over this property, but with the equipment they’re using, I can’t track it on
my computer. It’s not compatible. And since I’m not allowed to go out on sites
with them, I have to rely on the information they send me.”

“Where is this place?” Reed told him
where it was. “That’s within flying distance. Why don’t you just fly out there,
shift, and have a look around.”

That had been the perfect solution for
his brother, but not for him. There wasn’t anyone registered in any of the
local hotels by her name. While Khan was pulling on his coat to leave, Reed
yelled that he’d found her.

“I just searched for checkin times. You
told me when she left your place and when you got to Mom and Dad’s. It had to
be within minutes of you getting there because Dad pulled in when you did. So
she had to be close. So I found her under the name Preston Monte. I think her
last name is Preston.”

More than Khan knew. He got into his
truck and started for the hotel. He had no idea what he was going to say to her
once he saw her, but he wanted to clear the air. He may not want her as a mate,
but she didn’t have to think he was a bastard either. He pulled up in front of
the hotel just as someone was peeling out. He ran to the door she was supposed
to be in. It was standing ajar.

“I’ve called the police. And they said
they’d be right here. I mean it. If you don’t get out of here, I swear to you I’m
going to hunt you down and kill you.”

Khan looked back at the open door then
at the bathroom door where her voice was coming from. It was the prick that
hurt her. And he’d found her again. Khan walked to the door and knocked. She
screamed and it was everything he could do not to break it down again and save
her.

“It’s me. Khan Bowen. He’s gone.” She
didn’t make any more threats, for which he was grateful. “Are you hurt? Did he
hurt you?”

“What do you want?”

Fair enough question, he supposed, and he
turned when someone stood at the door.

“I heard her scream. I have my children
to think of, so she has to leave here now. I don’t want to have to call the
cops.” The woman had a ball bat in her hand and looked out at the lot. “That
other man, you know who he was?”

“No, ma’am. But I’ll take care of any
damages he did. And Miss Preston is going to come home with me. I’ll make sure
she’s all right.” The door behind him opened, and he turned to Monica. She looked
terrified and pissed.

“I’m all right now. Thank you. I’ll be
on my way as soon as this man leaves.”

He didn’t say anything, but nodded to
the woman.

As soon as she shut the door, Khan
pulled Monica into his arms and held her. When she started shaking, he picked
her up and held her while she cried. Her sobbing made him hurt in more ways
than he could imagine. But he didn’t let her go even when she struggled against
him.

“Why do you keep showing up and dragging
me to you only to push me away? I’m not a yo-yo, you know.” He let her go, but
when she moved toward the door, he didn’t move. “I would very much like for you
to go. I have to…I have to find somewhere to go.”

“Come back to my place with me and I’ll
take care of you. I’m not particularly fond of doing it, but you are my
responsibility. So gather what you need and we’ll be on our way.” He leaned
back in his chair and waited for her to do as he’d told her to.

~~~

Monica closed her mouth with a snap. He
actually thought that she would simply do as he told her after that comment. She
waited for a full minute to see if he would tell her he was kidding, and when
he didn’t, she moved to the bed and picked up her few things. Including the
cell phone George had given her just in case.

Going to the bathroom, she turned on the
shower. She didn’t want one, but it would cover the noise of what she was
really doing. The window had opened easily enough earlier when she thought she
was going to have to leave that way. Tony had forced his way into her little
area, and she’d barely made it to the bathroom and locked the door before he
came in. She tossed her bag out the window and then stood on the toilet.

Moving out the window hurt, but she was
suddenly on the other side. Picking up her bag, she moved down the alley and
behind two buildings. Every few minutes, she would look to see if Khan was
following her, and when she was able to slip into a vacant building, she pulled
out the cell phone and dialed the first number she came to. Unfortunately, it
wasn’t George. But she thought maybe Caitlynne would help her anyway.

“I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m
Monica Preston. Your husband helped Marc when I was hurt.” She wasn’t assured
by the laughter, but decided she might be her only hope. “That Neanderthal man
that claims to be related to Marc has ordered me around for the last time.”

“What the fuck has he done now?” There
was still humor there, but also a bit of steel. “Where are you, Monica? I’ll
come and beat the ever-loving shit out of him and make him behave. Has he
talked to you about anything yet?”

“No. I don’t think he knows what the
word talk means. He can order just fine, but I don’t take them well.” She wiped
at the useless tears and looked out the window to see if he was coming yet. “I
left him in that hotel that your father-in-law took me to this morning. The
landlady said I can’t go back because Tony showed up and tried to get me to go
with him. Then Khan shows up and tells me that while he’s not particularly fond
of me or his responsibility to me, he’ll allow me to stay at his home. I want
to kick his nuts up around his ears.”

There was silence on the other end, and
Monica was sure she’d gone too far. When Caitlynne started talking, she sounded
like she was speaking a foreign language; it was full of words that Monica was
sure would make a sailor blush. When she finally slowed down, Monica thought
maybe that she’d like this woman if they had met under different circumstances.
The woman was a lot of fun.

“I’m going to come and find you. I don’t
suppose you know where you are, do you?”

Monica told her the name of the street
she’d been on when she’d entered the building.

“Okay. About four blocks to the south is
a restaurant. It’s called Mild Pepper. Do you know where that’s at?”

“Yes. It’s on Sandalwood. I know where
it is.”

She told her to go there.

“But what about Khan? What if he comes
looking for me and finds me there?”

“He’ll be coming home soon. I’m going to
talk to his dad and tell him what I know. George won’t be happy, but he’ll help
us. I’m going to take you with me, do you have a problem with that?”

She did, but wherever they went, she was
pretty sure that neither Tony nor Khan would find her. “No. I don’t have a
problem with that. I don’t have any money, though. Is that going to be a
problem for you?”

Caitlynne laughed. “No. I have enough
for this trip. You let me handle things here and I’ll meet you at the Pepper. If
you see Khan, which I highly doubt you will, I want you to find Mr. Shaver. Tell
him that I sent you and that you love baseball. Tell him that you love
baseball. He’ll know what to do. And, Monica?”

“Yes?” She was afraid of what she was
going to say, of what she was going to demand of her, and she waited, holding
her breath.

“I like you. I think you’re going to do
just fine.” The line went dead and Monica stared at the phone for several
seconds before she put it in her pocket. What on earth was that supposed to
mean? She had no idea, but made her way out onto the street and headed toward
the Pepper.

It took her longer than she thought it
would to get there. Her ribs were hurting, but that wasn’t all of it. She was
afraid she’d be seen. Twice she saw Tony’s car, and another time, she thought
she saw Khan, but knew at the last second it wasn’t him. That man was much
shorter and fatter than Khan. But Tony, she knew.