Craving Her Curves (9 page)

~*~*~

I
woke up from a terrified blink of sleep, daylight finally streaming through a small square window there in the basement.  I didn’t hear any noises coming from upstairs, so I tried to use the dim light to see what was in the basement with me.  Well, what was there that I could reach, which wasn’t much.  Nothing that would help me get loose. Instead, I watched forlornly as the light from outside cast its beam from one side of the room to the other, before beginning to fade altogether.

He hadn’t brought me food or water.   I hadn’t been able to use a restroom or even stretch my legs.  I’d called out a few times but gotten only silence in return. I’d finally given up in the day, and slumped back against the wall behind me, my eyes closed as I tried to rest.

I hoped that he hadn’t gone back with the intention of doing something horrible to Joey.  I felt a lump well up in my throat at the thought of what that horrible and obviously in need of psychological attention man could do to him.  He deserved better than that I thought as tears began to run down my face yet again.

“Hello... HELLO! SOMEBODY!” I screamed. I didn’t expect a response, but sitting there doing nothing was maddening. But, to my surprise, I did get a response. A loud crash and several sets of heavy footstep on the floors above me.

“Hello! I’m down here, please help me!” I screamed with everything that I had left in me at that moment. There were muffled voices, more footfalls, and then the sound of a door opening and light spilling down the stairs.

“Hello?” a man’s voice yelled.

“Down here!” I yelled back.

“I think I found her!” the man yelled, obviously to someone upstairs as he ran down the stairs.

“Oh, thank God,” I whispered as his face came into view.  It wasn’t the crazy man who’d taken me, and he was wearing a SWAT uniform.

“Ms. Rivera?” he asked. I nodded.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Don’t you worry about a thing, we’re going to get you out of here,” he said, his smile warm and inviting as he began to untie me.

“Joey?” I asked. The man smiled again.

“He’s fine, don’t worry,” he said. I sighed, tears of relief running down my face.

“A
re you sure that you’re feeling up to this?” Officer Nichols asked.  She had been the officer to take my statement and had stuck around afterwards.  She’d told me that she knew what had happened to the man who had kidnapped me, but she wanted to make sure that I was ready before she told me.

“Yes, I’m sure,” I said with a nod.  Officer Nichols sighed.

“After he left you there in the basement, he went back to Mr. Parker’s apartment building.  We believe that his plan was to kidnap him, as well, but it turns out that Mr. Parker left the apartment a few minutes after you did, due to an emergency with a friend that needed to get to the hospital quickly.  He ended up being here at the hospital with the friend all night, and went straight to practice from here instead of going home.  A neighbor noticed someone suspicious going through the trash that Mr. Parker had set outside of his door the night before and called the police,” she said.

“How did you all know that I was there?  The officer who untied me seemed to be looking for me,” I asked.

“Your friend that you were talking to after leaving your date with Mr. Parker, Ms. Smith, said that your call seemed odd, that you stopped talking and she heard a grunt and then the sound of shuffling.  She wasn’t sure what to do, so she called your phone back but got no answer.  She knew that you’d been at Mr. Parker’s for dinner, so she drove over and found your car without you in it, and your phone on the ground.  She woke up your boss, got Mr. Parker’s agent’s number, woke her up, and had her call Mr. Parker, who stated that you’d left an hour ago by then and that he wasn’t at his apartment anymore.  That was when she called the police,” Officer Nichols explained. 

I nodded slowly. “Wow,” I said. 

Officer Nichols nodded, “Your friend’s quick thinking was very helpful to us.  She knew everything that we needed to know and had done a good bit of leg work herself.  Once we talked to Mr. Parker and confirmed what he knew, we questioned the man who’d been arrested going through his trash on a whim.  All he would talk about was how Mr. Parker was ‘his’ and ‘that woman’ that he’d been seeing.  That was enough to get the warrant to search his house for you,” she said.

“I’ll have to remember to thank Isobel,” I said softly. 

Officer Nichols smiled kindly. “I believe she and a few others are out in the waiting room,” she said, standing.  I nodded and smiled weakly.

“Thank you so much, Officer Nichols.  I really appreciate it,” I said.  Officer Nichols nodded her goodbye and left.

“C
an we come in?” Isobel’s voice said softly as the door slowly inched open.  They’d waited until Officer Nichols had left to knock on the door softly.  I smiled and nodded at the eye that peeked at me through the crack.

“Sure,” I said.  Isobel pushed the door open and came inside with Jacinta right behind her.

“How are you feeling?” Jacinta asked.

“I’m fine, it was only one day.  They’re just keeping me here to be safe and make sure there aren’t any injuries that no one saw right away,” I said.  Izzy and Jacinta nodded together.

“I’m so glad Izzy was able to put two and two together like that.  I don’t think I’d have been able to; I wouldn’t have known what to do,” Jacinta said.  I grinned.

“You’d have done just fine.  I am really glad that I called as I was leaving, though,” I said, more to Izzy at that point.  She smiled and nodded.

“So am I.  Joey was so upset when he found out that you were missing,” she said.  I smiled, thinking about dinner that night, about his lips on mine.

“Was he?” I asked.  Izzy nodded.

“He probably called the police more than I did.  He was almost frantic,” she said softly.  I laughed.

“It was only one day, guys,” I repeated.

“The doctor said that he’s afraid it hasn’t quite hit you yet, and that you might be more traumatized than you think about this,” Jacinta said.  I frowned slightly.

“Meaning?” I asked.

“Meaning the shock hasn’t fully worn off yet, so your brain is being spared the trauma,” Izzy said.  I sighed.

“I was hoping I was just handling this really well,” I said with a soft chuckle.

“You are handling this really well, shock or not,” the doctor said as he came into the room.  I smiled up at him as he started flipping through my chart, like he did every time he came to see me.

“Hi, Doctor Lance,” I said.  He smiled and took my hand in his gently.

“Hi, Charlotte.  How are things since our last visit?  Any new aches or pains?  Any new bruises?” he asked.  I shook my head.

“Nope, everything looks the same,” I said.  Dr. Lance nodded.

“Good, that’s very good,” he said, writing something on a sheet inside my folder.

“But, what if what you told Izzy was right?  What if this is all just shock still?” I asked, worry starting to settle in.

“I’m going to refer you to a therapist who specializes in PTSD.  I want you to go see her once a week for a month.  At the end of that month, she’ll make a recommendation based off of what she sees as to whether you should continue to see her, or whether you’re really okay,” he said. 

I sighed and nodded. “Okay, I can do that,” I said softly.

“I’d rather be safe than sorry on this one,” he said.  I smiled and nodded.

“Right,” I whispered.

“I can go with you, if you need me to,” Isobel said.  I smiled at her.

“Thanks.  I might,” I said with a soft laugh.

“One more night, alright?  If everything still seems okay tomorrow, I’ll give you your walking papers,” Dr. Lance said.

“Thanks,” I replied.  He nodded, smiled, and left.

“The police said that guy had been stalking Joey for at least a few weeks.  Since before he’d even met you,” Jacinta said.

“Really?” I asked.  She nodded.

“They think he just happened to be camped out there the night you two had dinner, and when he saw you coming out of the building, he just grabbed you on a whim,” she continued.

“That’s terrifying,” Izzy said.

“Tell me about it.”  I said softly.  We sat in silence for a few moments.

“The office has been flooded with calls asking how you are and if there’s anything you need.  People you’ve interviewed in the past, other media people, everyone!  It’s been all over the news, too, but the media outlets seem to be keeping their distance, letting you heal before they try to ask you anything,” Izzy said.

“That’s odd.  Usually they don’t really care,” I said with a laugh.

“You have a lot of people in the industry that respect you, Char.  Even the Bullet’s Coach made a statement saying that he really liked and respected you, and that he hoped to see you out at the facility when you felt up to it,” Jacinta said.  I giggled.

“Wow.  I feel special,” I said.

“Jade planned to come up here with us, but she’s been so busy managing the media hurricane that’s circling
Pinks
, she’s almost afraid to leave right now,” Isobel said, which made me laugh.

“Tell Jade thank you for that.  I’m not looking forward to it,” I said.  Izzy nodded.

“I will,” she said softly.

“Do you need anything?” Jacinta asked.

“No, but I’d love some egg rolls from that place across from the office, if you want to bring me something awesome,” I said with a pout for effect.  Jacinta laughed and leaned in to hug me tightly.

“I’ll grab them on my way back up here after work,” she said.

“Thank you.”  I replied.

~*~*~

A
few hours later as Izzy and I sat playing Uno on the rolling tray table, the door to my room creaked open slowly.  Izzy and I both turned and looked up into Joey’s face.  It was slightly red, and he had that same sheepish smile he’d had the night we had dinner.  One that said that he was embarrassed for something that kind of wasn’t his fault and he couldn’t change, but he was embarrassed anyway.

“I’ll go get some coffee.  Or something,” Isobel said, standing as Joey slipped into the room and she slipped out.  I sighed and put my cards down.  Then, I waited.

“How are you doing?” he asked softly.  I glanced up at him briefly.

“Fine, considering,” I said.  He shuffled his feet.

“I really wish I’d just walked you to your car instead of letting you walk away,” he said. 

I nodded, “Yeah.”  I couldn’t really think of anything else to say, so I didn’t.

“I don’t really know what to say, this isn’t really something I have experience dealing with,” he said with a nervous laugh.

“Stalkers?” I asked.

“No, I have those all the time.  But they’ve never...” 

I put my hand out to stop him.

“You have stalkers all the time?” I asked.  He paused, but nodded, his eyes careful.

“We all do.  It happens to most celebrities pretty frequently,” he said.  I sighed.

“I see,” I whispered.

“But it’s kind of like the over-zealous media thing, I can’t really do anything about it,” he said, a bit rushed.  I nodded.

“Right, I get it.  Did you know that he took me because of you?  Because I was with you?” I said.  Joey’s face crumbled just a bit.

“Yes,” he said softly.

“You can’t do anything about it because of who you are and what you do for a living.  I get that.  I get that your job puts you in the national spotlight, which comes with some disadvantages.  But I can do something to make sure that this doesn’t happen to me again,” I said.  Joey’s eyes felt like they were boring into my skull.

“Don’t leave me,” he said softly.  I sighed.

“I can’t do this, Joey.  I can’t fear for my life whenever I set foot outside of my door.  I’m a journalist, I have to go places, meet people.  I can’t do that if I’m constantly looking over my shoulder,” I said.

“Charlotte, please,” he said, taking a step toward my bed.  I tensed and he stopped, staying where he was.

“I was right before, Joey.  I’m not the woman for you, regardless of what your gut says,” I whispered.

“I don’t believe that,” he replied.

“You not believing it doesn’t mean it’s not true,” I snapped.  He frowned slightly.

“You believing it doesn’t make it false,” he countered.  I sighed.

“No, it doesn’t.  But it takes two people to make a relationship work, and this person is bowing out.  I can clearly see the signs, and one kidnapping is enough for me,” I said. 

Joey ran his hands through his hair.

“I don’t want to be without you, Char,” he said.  He looked so emotional, so fragile as he stood there.  I made myself push that thought from my mind.  I was doing the right thing for both of us.  I had to stay the course.

“I’m sorry, Joey.  I can’t see you anymore.  Not after this,” I said.  He looked at me like I’d just kicked his puppy, and inside, I wilted a bit.  Then, without another word, he simply turned and slowly left.  It was almost like he was in a daze as he slipped through the entry way and the door slid shut behind him.

Tears stung my eyes; I hadn’t expected him to look so hurt.  I’d thought that he’d maybe try and convince me not to leave, like he had before, and then let it go.  I hadn’t expected that hurt in his eyes.  It made my chest hurt, honestly, like my heart was breaking.  I guess it was a bit... I really liked him.

“Damn it,” I hissed as my eyes began to tear up, and I wiped at them roughly.  Maybe I’d liked him a bit more than I’d admitted to myself.  It didn’t matter, though, did it?  I’d ended it.  I’d hurt him.  I was a horrible person, wasn’t I?  Was I being selfish?  I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them tightly as I heard the door to my room open again.

“What happened?  Joey just brushed past me in the hallway like I wasn’t even... Are you okay, Char?” Izzy said, quickly coming further into the room.  I shook my head and sniffed.

“This will pass, right?  It won’t hurt like this forever, will it?”  I asked.  Izzy sighed and wrapped her arms around me.

“You little idiot, you broke up with him, didn’t you?” she said softly.  I nodded against her.