Rocky Mountain Mayhem (18 page)

After a few minutes he pulled the sheet up to
her shoulders, then flipped it off of her feet and legs. He pushed
it high, all the way up to the top of her thighs.

Don’t they usually do one leg at a
time
?

He squirted oil onto her right leg, then
began kneading her calf, working his way up.

I hope he comes back to my feet. That’s
one of my favorite parts
.

He went up over her knee, both hands around
her thigh, his fingers getting a little closer than professional
boundaries dictated.

This is gettin’ weird. I didn’t take this
for a happy ending kind of place
.

She was about to say something when he
started on her other calf.

He has the roughest hands I’ve ever felt
for a masseur
.

As he began to work his way up past her knee,
she knew she was going to have to say something. His touch had
become even more sensual.

An “mmmmmmmm” escaped his lips as his hand
moved up her thigh, moving the sheet and exposing her ass.

That’s it
!

She sat up and flipped over, grasping at the
sheet to cover herself.

What the
…

HOLY
shit
what are you doing here?”
Vivian yelled.

He put his hands up in defense. “Take it
easy, take it easy.”

Vivian jumped off the massage table and
tugged the sheet around her. “Craig, get the hell out of here.”

“Vivian, I need to talk to you. Don’t you
know how much I love you?”

“You are a maniac. Get
out
of here!”
She made a break for the door.

He stepped in front of her and grabbed her
arms. “Run away with me. We can be in another country in a matter
of hours.” His eyes pleaded, wild and intense. “Grab your things
and let’s go.”

“You are crazy! My kids! I’d never leave
them!”

“We’ll start our own family. Vivian, I love
you.” He shook her a little. “We’re meant to be together!”

“Oh my god! HELP! HELP ME!” she screamed,
trying to loosen his grasp.

Craig shoved her against the wall, covering
her mouth with his hand. “Shhh, I have money, Vivian. I can afford
anything you want. We can live on a beach somewhere. It’ll be
perfect. Just us.”

Vivian continued to struggle, turned her head
away from his hand and screamed again. “HEELLLLLLLLLP!” Her sheet
had fallen to the floor, but she didn’t care. All she wanted was to
get away.

The door burst open. “Hands up!” Agent Nelson
rushed into the room followed by a security officer. They ran
around the table on either side. Nelson reached Craig first and
grabbed his left arm, trying to wrap it around his back. Craig
twisted and punched him in the face. Nelson hammered Craig with a
fist to the nose and another to the gut.

Craig answered with a double jab to Nelson’s
right kidney, who recoiled, dazed.

“Craig, stop it!” Vivian yelled.

Craig spun and gave the security officer a
right hook that knocked him back into the wall. He slumped to the
floor.

Vivian screamed again. Craig grabbed her arm
and ran for the door, dragging her with him.

Nelson jumped over the table onto Craig’s
back, causing the connection between Craig and Vivian to break.
Nelson wrapped his arm around Craig’s neck, choking him. Craig
twisted and threw an elbow back into Nelson’s face. Crack! Nelson
staggered. Craig ran out of the room. Nelson recovered, then got up
and charged after him.

Vivian scooped up the sheet, shielding
herself, and ran into the hall. The security officer had recovered
and ran out behind her, yelling into his walkie-talkie. “Confirmed
assailant, Craig Pearson, Caucasian male, wearing black T-shirt,
black pants. Running in spa corridor. Request police backup. Need
medical assistance.”

At the end of the corridor, a masseuse
stepped out of a therapy room, right in Craig’s path. He shoved her
out of the way. She yelped in pain as she slammed against the wall.
Craig flung the exit door open and hauled ass up the stairs into
daylight.

Wendy ran out to see about the ruckus and
Nelson smacked right into her, both of them falling to the
ground.

“You okay?” he asked, jumping off of her.

“I think so,” a startled Wendy answered.

Nelson took off, back in pursuit.

Lucy and Kate rushed out of their therapy
rooms to Wendy and helped her up.

Vivian reached them. “Oh my god! Are you
okay?”

“Holy shit! What’s going on? Was that Craig?”
Wendy pointed in the direction the men had run. Her face was
covered in bright orange goop.

“Yes,” Vivian said. “Are you bleeding?” She
pointed to a red smear on Wendy’s neck.

Wendy touched the spot and looked at her
blood-smeared fingers. “It’s not mine. I think Wade was
bleeding.”

“Where are the police?” Lucy asked the
security officer.

He held up a finger as he listened to the
information being relayed. “Subject just ran out west spa stairwell
exit. I repeat, subject exited west spa stairwell. Request police
backup and medical assistance.”

Lucy and Kate’s masseurs checked on Wendy’s
aesthetician, who was holding her shoulder, whimpering.

The security officer lowered the
walkie-talkie and instructed everyone to go into the ladies lounge.
“Stay there. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He hustled down the
hall, toward where Craig had disappeared.

Wendy fanned her face. “I gotta wash this
shit off. It’s starting to burn.”

Her aesthetician got back into Ridge mode.
“Oh yes, I’m so sorry. Let’s get that off you.” Still holding her
shoulder, she turned to Kate’s lady. “Please go into my room, get a
hot towel and remove her peel. Afterwards, please apply the
papaya-infused whipped moisturizer. Liberally.”

Kate’s masseuse took care of Wendy while the
rest of the group went into the lounge and had a seat.

A bloody-nosed and beat-up Stefan sat in a
chair, ice pack to his forehead.

Vivian sat down on his ottoman. “Oh my god,
Stefan, I’m so sorry you got caught up in this. Are you okay?”

Stefan lowered the ice pack and squeezed
Vivian’s shoulder. “I’ll be okay. I’m just glad to see that you
are, too.”

“What happened?” Kate asked, gently. “Where
did Craig come from?”

“I don’t know,” Vivian said. “All I know is
that he pretended to be Stefan. I was about to tear into him for
getting too handsy, then I turned over and saw it was Craig.”

“I would never get too handsy,” Stefan said.
“I was about to knock on the door to the treatment room when I was
ambushed. Craig, you called him, grabbed me and forced me into the
electrical closet on the connecting hallway. He covered my mouth in
duct tape and hit me in the face a few times until I passed
out.”

“Oh, Stefan, how horrible!” Lucy had sat down
next to him and now leaned over, hanging on all the details.

Wendy came into the room rubbing cream on her
face and sat in the other chair next to Stefan. They got her caught
up on the events, and she said, “Stefan, how did you manage to get
help?”

“Thankfully he didn’t knock me into next
week, but I’m not sure how long I was out. It was hard to move, but
I knew I had to get help, so I crawled out of the closet and
managed to stumble to the spa’s front desk.”

Vivian’s hands shook as reality set it. Tears
spilled from the corner of her eyes. She sniffled and Lucy handed
her a tissue. It wasn’t until Kate hugged her that she started to
really lose it.

“I can’t believe that just happened. He
wanted me to run away with him! To leave my kids!”

“Oh, Viv,” Kate said, giving her a squeeze.
“He’s obviously crazy if he thought you’d do that.”

“Yeah, you’d never leave them. Ever,” Lucy
said and grabbed more tissues out of the box beside her.

Stefan patted Vivian’s back. “They’ll catch
him.”

“Thank goodness Wade busted in when he did,”
Wendy said.

“Yeah, Viv. God knows what he could have done
to you in there,” Lucy said.

Two medics arrived, each carrying portable
medical kits. “We had a call that someone needed medical
attention,” the first one said.

“Over there.” Wendy pointed to the
aesthetician.

The security officer came through the door.
“Is everyone okay?”

They all nodded, and he walked over to the
medics. After a few moments he turned to Vivian. “Are you
hurt?”

“No, I’m okay. Did y’all catch Craig?”

The security officer looked down, then said,
“As of right now the suspect is still at large. However, the Avon
police have arrived and are searching the hotel and the grounds. I
expect Agent Nelson will be back soon and will want to talk to
you.”

“At large?” Vivian asked.

WENDY smacked her hand on the end table
beside her. “Dammit, that is so not good.”

Vivian threw her tissue into the trash. “I
can’t believe Craig got away.”

The security officer glanced at Vivian, still
wrapped in a sheet. “Perhaps you would be more comfortable if you
met with Agent Nelson upstairs?”

Vivian glanced down. “Yeah, I’ll go get
dressed.”

“I’ll be waiting at the spa check-in to
escort you.”

With that, the girls said goodbye to Stefan
and made their way to the locker room, changed and then met the
security officer. He shuffled them into the elevator and led them
to a private boardroom on the main floor. He disappeared when
Nelson walked in a few moments later.

Nelson had a scrape on his cheek and a fat
lip. He motioned for them to sit down. “Craig got away.”

“What happened?” Vivian asked.

“He had a motorcycle hidden in the trees,
just on the other side of the road. He was able to evade the Avon
police. We don’t know his whereabouts.”

“Damn.” Wendy summed up the situation.

“So what do we do now?” Vivian asked. “We
thought changing hotels would keep him from finding me, but clearly
that didn’t work.”

“I suggest you pack your bags and head back
to Denver International. Catch the next flight home.”

“What makes you think he won’t come after me
there?”

“Yeah, and what about the kids?” Kate asked.
“She can’t risk putting them in danger.”

Nelson didn’t answer right away.

“I will
not
put my children at
risk.”

“Stay here in the hotel for the rest of your
vacation. The staff and security officers are all aware of the
situation.”

“Would you give your sister the same advice?”
Wendy asked.

Nelson considered the question for a moment
before answering. “I can stay another night.”

Vivian looked at Nelson. “I’m not going home
with Craig out there and risk anything happening to my kids.”

“Understood. I have to consult with Agent
Cervantes, but the first thing right now is to keep you safe. Since
I’m staying, and with your permission, I will arrange for us to
have adjoining rooms. You girls need to stick together, and I need
to know where you are at all times.” He glanced at Wendy, then
quickly away.

“Permission granted,” Vivian said.

“How did Craig know where we were?” Kate
asked.

“I’m going to figure that out. I will need
access to all of your belongings.” He stood. “I’ll be right back.”
He went just outside the door, leaving it cracked behind him.

“It’s Mexico all over again, but with our
consent this time.” Lucy shivered with the heebie-jeebies.

“I don’t think he’s got cooties,” Wendy said
quietly, winking at Lucy. “But if it makes you feel better, we’ll
get you some Lysol.”

Trey walked up and conferred with Nelson for
a moment, but Vivian couldn’t hear what was said. Nelson took a
call, and the girls sat silently until he opened the door for Trey
a few minutes later. He handed everyone a new room key. “Ladies,
you are now in the two-bedroom Presidential Suite, with an
adjoining room for Agent Nelson. We’ve arranged for your belongings
to be moved once you’ve packed. We’re horrified at what occurred
and want to do everything in our power to ensure the remainder of
your stay is pleasant. We’re taking care of the room upgrade, and
obviously there’s no charge for today’s spa services. Plus, we’ve
arranged for you to have lunch at the Timberline, if you’d
like.”

“Thank you so much,” Vivian said, standing
up. “I appreciate y’all looking out for us, and the
generosity.”

“It’s our pleasure and the least we can do
after what happened.”

Nelson approached with an Avon police
officer. “Vivian, this officer is here to take your statement and
help you file a restraining order.”

The officer stuck out his hand. “I’m
Lieutenant Martin.” He led her to the far end of the table, away
from the girls. In addition to some documents, he pulled out a
small notepad and pen. “Tell me what happened.”

Vivian described the events from the moment
her masseur picked her up in the ladies lounge to sitting in the
boardroom.

The lieutenant tapped his pen on the table.
“Do you have any idea how Craig could have known you were
here?”

“No, we changed our hotel reservation at the
last minute. We were supposed to be in a hotel in Vail.”

“I want to be clear. You jumped off the
table, he held you against your will, grabbed your arms and slammed
you against the wall?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“We’ll be filing assault and battery charges
against him. Would you like to file a restraining order?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

He pushed the paperwork to her. “Fill this
out and sign at the bottom.”

She did.

Martin handed her a business card, his cell
number written on the back, then took statements from Lucy, Wendy
and Kate. He spoke to Nelson briefly, they shook hands and he
walked out of the boardroom.