Forgive Me...But You're Mine Ch. 02

Jared heard the muffled sobs from his bedroom. Though he felt for her he had no intention of letting her go and even less intention of trying to offer comfort. Many people had cried in his wake men and woman had sobbed over his choices even his ex-girlfriend had shed many tears because of him over the years. He did not fool himself to think she was crying over him. Nobody ever did, just what he had to do to them to repay a debt, keep a promise or make ends meat. He knew what he was, though he had spent much of his life trying to run from it. One call from his brother sent him right back into this world, though he had vowed never to visit it again. This week would be testing if he had to look at the little captive in his guestroom. Best to lock her away and when Friday falls hand her back to Tracy. What Tracy did was harsh. The scum work of the underworld. He had heard many a story of Tracy and his victims but helping a damsel in distress was not his foreplay...not anymore. Rolling over on his side of his bed he hoped she would quieten down. If her sobbing woke the whole house he would have a lot of explaining to do to someone he knew he could never lie to. He sighed shutting his eyes to the world. Once again the memories of why he had left this life overwhelmed him. He hoped this boyfriend of hers knew what he was doing or the girl tucked up in the other room, Jared knew, would soon meet her maker.

The small hairgrip snapped in half with the pressure she was exerting on the tip.

'For God's sake.' Nicki fumed leaning away from the door lock; that was the last of her grips. She could no more pick this lock than blow the door of its hinges with dynamite. The intricacy of this lock astounded her. She had not that much of a reason to suppose she could pick the lock of this bedroom but the optimist in her recalled her favourite heroines in the small collection of crime books she owned slipping a hairpin into a lock, practically stumbling into the door and falling through the other side as the lock clicked open, FREEDOM, why couldn't it be that easy now.

She had to get out of here. She knew Steven wasn't going to stump up the money. During her restless night in her roomy prison she had come to realise her mistake. To put her life in the hands of the very man who had thrown her in harm's way. She had begged him not to take the money of a mobster lord as he couldn't even be trusted not to gamble away a child's piggy bank if he got his hands on it. He had snuck out one night high on enthusiasm and met with a dam loan shark. Accepted fifteen thousand dollars happily and been at the pool tables by dusk. She had woken to a sobbing Steven on the floor of the bathroom, drunk and unashamedly weeping from his financial loss. She had never even got to see the money, didn't even know how much he owed until he confessed it to her. She had slapped him so hard across the face it hurt her hand.

Now in a moment of stupidity she had taken the fall for him. He could be half way across the world right now, leaving her to die at the hands of thugs. She sank to the floor behind the door and tucked her legs into her chest, her tears had been flowing like steady streams all night making her feel dehydrated and tired. She hadn't really slept for longer than an hour, after she had sank to the bed she had cried out her pain then finally pulled herself up by her shaking hands and crawled to the bedroom door, where she had sat for the last several hours bending the three grips she had in her hair in half and prodding at the lock.

Finally the last one snapped jamming the lock. Searching around the room for any help had proved useless and sure to Jared's words the windows didn't even open an inch. Even if the window could prove an exit the mountain high drop to the ground would surely hinder her escape.

Movement on the other side of the wall unnerved her; she gathered the broken hair pin pile into her hands and scrambled away from the door and onto the bed covering the loose pins with the palm of her hand. The handle to the room trickled down with the force of a hand. Anxiety charged her, readying for a fight if this was to be Jared or worse Tracy coming to beat her senseless. God knows what these roughens were capable off. Would they just torture her for fun until Friday came and Steven never showed up with the money? She had to face it she was on her own and no way was she going to take anyone hurting her without a fight. Clambering to the far side of the bed Nicki readied herself for a fight. The door swung open on its hinges.

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Jared fixed eyes in her direction, cautiously stepping into the bedroom with one objective in mind. Give her something to eat and be out the door in thirty seconds. He noticed her apprehensive expression as he slowly entered the room and found himself daring to lift the corners of his mouth. Was he smiling? What the... he instantly looked as perplexed as she did. Choking down his embarrassment he realised he just couldn't help that the overly terrorized expression she offered amused him. He was not the one she should be fearful of. He had no intention of talking to her let alone harming her.

'What is that?' Nicki muttered, drawing Jared from his thoughts.

He looked down at the tray filled with fruit and toast, even a glass of milk on the side. He wasn't sure if she was a milk drinker but it was all he had. Why he thought to ponder her dietary requirement he did not know but her disgust at his offering provoked an equally irked response.

'Food'

'I can see that, I mean what are you doing? I thought you were locking me in here for the week?'

'Without food...? Do you want to die of starvation before the three days are through? I don't know about you but I don't fancy having a corpse on my hands at the end of all this.'

Nicki folded her arms feeling the fatigue of a petrifying evening and sleepless night hit her. A bad temper always followed a poor night's sleep for Nicki and apparently the threat of death did nothing to check her exasperation.

'Are you asking in place of a bullet to the head?'

Jared ignored her comment placing the small tray of food down on the chair in the room. In that moment Nicki noticed the bedroom door had been left open and Jared had dismissively walked to the other side of the room leaving it empty and a clear path for Nicki to run. Jared turned back just in time to see the light in Nicki's eyes change and her decision to run become clear. Where she didn't know, she knew the lock on the front door could not be open in two seconds and the room she was in last night held no means of escape. No matter if she didn't make it out the flat perhaps she could find a room with a phone at least call the police. Her blood thumbed in her veins drawing blood to her heart. The heart she wanted to keep beating. She glanced Jared's way and saw him tensing to run after her.

Now or never, she moved with all the power in her body and swung round the bed towards the door. Jared leaped for her, scrapping the fabric of her top but missing something to hold.

'STOP' He shouted after her as she ran through the open door, Her trainers felt heavy as they heaved her down the corridor. She could hear Jared rushing up behind her and with mere moments ducted into a room at the far end of the hall. Thank god there was a latch on the other side, in seconds she had locked it and backed away. The hammering of the door alarmed her. Was he that angry to have her run? She could hear the wood cracking under his powerful hands and she imagined the muscles of his torso working with full strength to break down the door that protected her.

'NO, not this room! Let me in.' Demanded Jared. Not this room? Nicki thought. Maybe there was a phone in here she could use was that why he didn't want her here? She turned in search of a desk with a phone even a mobile would be handy. As soon as she stopped spinning the room came into clear focus. Pale blue walls filled her vision. In the corner of the room she noticed the light streaming through a softly light window. Suddenly cuddly toys littered the floor, a toy train set and miniature bed forced her to step back. What the hell was this?

'Daddy?'

Daddy! Nicki trained her eyes on the thin ray of light reflecting on the small bed to one side of the room. Shuffling from the covers, a tiny face appeared panicked from the commotion outside the room. A little boy! As Nicki looked upon the tiny boy she was sure he could be no more than four or five years old. His pale cheeks looked flushed with nerves. The young boys fear wrenched at Nicki's heart. No matter what situation she was in she couldn't bring a small boy into her trouble even if it was his thug of a father who put her here.

'Um...No I'm not your daddy.'

The little boy looked aghast at Nicki almost draining colour on his face.

'Can you get my daddy?' He whispered, fear taking the sound from his words. As the look of panic set across the young child's face, Nicki lost control. The thundering on the door got louder as Jared began to lose control of his senses and Nicki believed she was dead for sure. She sank to the floor in dread curling her feet into herself. She dropped her head into her hands and felt for the hundredth time tears flow down her cheeks.

'For Gods sakes let me in,' bawled Jared pushing at the lock on the door with every ounce of his strength.

'Let me go!' Nicki cried back to tired and terrified to mince her words.

The pounding on the door surprisingly seized, Nicki could hear ragged breaths coming from the other side.

'You know I won't do that.' The words sounded mechanical as though he had been using them for years. How many people had he held prisoner and did he always do it with a child in the house.

The child?

Nicki looked up to see an adorable boy clutching the sides of his where's Waldo duvet.

'I...I'm not going to hurt you.' She found herself whispering.

'Dam right you won't!' demanded Jared from the other side of the door. Nicki rolled her eyes, not everyone was a murderous kidnapper, certainly not her she would never harm a child, she loved them too much, their innocence and sense of life. The world could grab you and beat you to the floor if you were not raised well as a child. Childhood meant everything to her and she would never hurt a baby and risk handing them an emotional scar to carry for the rest of their lives, she herself carried way too many.

The tears began to trickle from his eyes and soak his softly fudged cheeks. The worry on his face shook her into action; she could not carry this on at the expense of a child's fear. The game was up.

Swiping her cheeks with the backs of her hands Nicki rose from the floor.

His little eyes followed her.

'It's fine honey, look I'm not going to come near you.' The words sounded so foreign in her ears, in her life she was the first to run and scoop up a laughing child in her arms, she could play for hours at the little nursery she used to work at not far from where she lived. Now the position she was in left even that part of her life abandoned. She felt scalded by life; everything she enjoyed was soon to be gone. No more smiling faces looking up at her, appreciating her, the fact she was there, the fact she was alive.

'Let...me...in!' Jared ordered slowly as though trying to coax the pig to open the door to the wolf.

Nicki exhaled then turned and unlocked the door. Jared burst though causing Nicki to stagger back. He pierced ice cold eyes in her direction but didn't dare to speak. Nicki looked to the floor like a chastised child. Tears forgotten she felt... emotionless. If death was about to befit her she was glad of the fort building round her heart, at last.

Jared scooped his son into his arms checking him all over for any harm. He knew deep down she didn't seem the type to hurt a child but his heart had almost stopped the second she set foot through that door. He had not gone through everything in his life to lose his son to an incensed woman practically on death row. His self-control had screeched to a halt the moment he had heard his son call his name; daddy. If she had touched a hair on his sons head she would have been dead, not in a week, that second.

'Get to your room.' Jared muttered. He smoothed the tears from his son's eyes with the pad of his thumb, holding him so tight he wasn't sure if he was choking him.

Nicki stumbled from the room like a broken rag doll back into her prison and shut the door. Surely the death blow would come soon, not many would forgive an enraged woman scaring their son. No matter how much they regretted it.

The hours ticked by in her solitude. Time used to reflect, speculate and regret. The most burning questions in her chaotic mind still remained centred around the moment she had just gone through, the hatred that speared Jared's eyes as he had entered his child's room. It affected her that someone would think her capable to harm a child. Hostage or not she would never bring herself so low but the question still remained in his line of work clearly having a child where you keep your victims was not the intuition of a sane man, how could he?

Many more hours passed before Jared eventually entered her room, the sun had fully risen in the sky filling the guest room with a soft glow of light that slowly managed to sooth Nicki's mind, just as light always did. From her childhood days Nicki always sought the light. Lying in her parents overgrown garden in the summer as a child felt like heaven, Playing in the suburbs of California, where she grew up with the heat melting her skin brought back so many wonderful memories however more recently the only chances Nicki had of playing in the sun became running from one job to the next trying to pay off the unending debt Steven had brought to her door. Many times a hot summer day could pass her by without her ever making it outside. Many of those days she had been holding Stevens head out of a toilet as he threw up the last of her earnings. Alcohol and Steven didn't mix, though he never thought so after another big loss at the casino. Nicki pulled herself from her reflections just as Jared stopped in the doorway.

The rage he had struggled to control had soothed somewhat with time and though he wanted to throttle her for scaring his son clarity had reminded him what he was forced to put her through. She had tried to escape, any sane person would do the same, and it was mere chance that she had chosen his son's room to run into. He understood that.

Jared stared into her apologetic eyes. He couldn't help but feel a slither of shame that he could not offer her one back. Surely she was going through hell waiting on the money. He found himself thinking it actually was a shame she found herself here at all. Jared was never going to just let her walk out of here but he at least owed her an explanation for why she was here in the first place.

He shut the door behind him quietly. 'I want to explain to you why you're here.'

'I know why I'm here.'

'No, you know why you're in trouble with the Las Vegas Gangs not why you're here?'

Nicki had not considered why they had chosen Jared and a high rise apartment for her jail house. She had presumed they hadn't thought it out to well and he owed them a favour. Tracy hasn't seemed to know what to do with her when he had her.

Jared took a seat on the corner of the bed where she sat in the middle surrounded by the plump cushions she had yet to sleep on. His closeness made her draw back. Jared noticed.

'I'm not about to hurt you Nicki.'

The tension between them started a palpitation through her body. For the first time staring at him in the stark light of her room she could see his true features, up close she could make out the even planes of his face, his chiselled jawline made him look somewhat handsome even beautiful so much so that she could be mistaken for thinking him an attractive man, not the thug who held her life in his hands.

He had been quiet for a long time watching Nicki unconsciously scan the lines of his body she had travelled her eyes further down noticing the slight flexing of his broad shoulders and strong biceps. The flat contours of his torso. She instinctively veered further noticing the surprisingly large package he hid beneath softly fitted jeans.

Jared couldn't help himself 'See anything you like sweetheart?'

Nicki's face flushed. She glanced away flustered but unsurprisingly hot.

'I was just sizing you up. Seeing if I can take you?'

Jared chuckled 'I hope you didn't find me lacking in any places.'

Nicki's felt the fire surge down her throat and tickle her breasts igniting them. How could she, he looked very well endowed. As that thought drifted through her brain she couldn't help notice his sudden turn in character. Only moments ago she had been ready for a death blow, a strong retaliation to her previous defiance yet as she sat across from him he offered her a slightly warming grin.

'Jared...' The use of his name tasted hostile on her tongue and she reminded herself to stay guarded.

'Hmm' he muttered distracted in his own thoughts.

'What are you going to do? I mean because of what happened earlier with your...son?'

Jared eventually lifted his gaze from an obscure point on Nicki's body. She couldn't be sure where but her breasts suddenly felt surprisingly heavy and hot.

Last night they had little of a chance to analyse each other in the dark and hazy events that had passed. Now with the light forcing its way in the large room, a sudden realisation of the true people in this situation caught them both strangely off guard.

'I'm... going to apologise to you.'

Nicki glanced down fingering the thin cotton of the sheets.

'Nicki look at me when I say this,' Nicki kept her eyes trained on the bed.

'Look at me!' Jared insisted.

Eventually Nicki looked up 'I want to go home.' She pleaded the words filtering through her mouth before her brain had a chance to engage. Was it the time to beg for her freedom?

For the first time her words really affected him. His brief appraisal of the one he held prisoner had very instantly humanised the situation. He was not a mindless thug anymore and if the choice were up to him he would happily send her on her way. But loyalty gnawed at him.

'Maybe you will go home?' I'm not so sure. His heart strangely twitched at the sobering thought.

'You think so?' she whispered desperately holding back the tears.

'Maybe, as long as your boyfriend stumps up the money there is no reason you shouldn't be home by Friday evening, back doing whatever you did before Tracy scooped you up and brought you to me.'

'Jared?' he locked eyes with her. 'Do you think Tracy will hurt me if Steve won't pay him the money?'

Jared swallowed the baseball size lump in his throat. 'We will see.' This conversation was losing track, he couldn't be any more sympathetic without getting emotionally involved and Jared vowed never to let his heart back in this world.

'Anyway I came here to talk to you about why you're here Nicki.'

She nodded her head.

''My name... is Jared Laylan.'

'Laylan?' Nicki sat up in alarm, 'you mean, as in the mobster Steven owes money to Laylan?'

'I mean as in his younger brother, yes. Richard Laylan is the mobster you owe.' He didn't know why he wanted to clarify that he wasn't the one doing this to her, he was merely an accessory, however the revelation didn't go down as well as he thought.

Nicki instantly leapt off the bed reaching for the blue overlay she had come to think of as a comfort blanket.

'You mean you're related to that thug of a man? He's planning to have me killed do you know that? Of course you do...' Nicki started pacing the laminate floor, concern washing her face, 'because you're his God dam brother!'