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I saw Samuels push himself off his one-knee crouch, let go of the wrist he was cradling, and train his gun on Annie.
Barry and his team raised their weapons.
"We need him," I said, very fast. "Need her more."
Barry took one step to the side so Annie wasn't in his line of sight.
Then he shot the gun out of Samuels hand. And shot a big hole in the hand. So we still had Samuels. Just now he was unarmed. Good deal.
Annie catapulted into me.
48
Annie
It had only been days since I saw him. But I was convinced I was never going to, ever again.
And then he was here. With the – "Those are not FBI," I said.
He wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my hair. "You sure about that?"
Pause. "No."
He smiled into my hair.
49
Cole
There was a back room where she could change. I'd brought her sweats to bundle into. It was a warm day. Didn't matter. Annie would want warm and soft.
I guided her back there while Barry and his men called for the real police, handed her the clothes, let her go in alone. Went in after her when she took too long and I found her shaking and crying, sweating in the fleeces.
I scooped her up and sat down in the chair she'd been using and rocked her on my lap.
Somewhere someone was tearing up my imaginary Dom card.
50
Annie
Cole gave me three days. He contacted my school, told them he was a friend, gave them a story about my family going through some trauma or another I never bothered to learn. Just enough to know he'd gotten me a pass on some tests that couldn't be retaken and some time off. I could test out of the classes or retake them. I'd decide on a case by case basis.
Not that I wasn't busy being the best student I could be when I was on campus but I suspected part of this agreeableness from the University had more to do with a sizable donation from "my friend" who had contacted them, than with my wonderfulness as a student.
On the fourth day he came in where I was sleeping and stripped the covers off me. I'd been sleeping more and more, bundled into the sweats he'd brought me that now seemed safe. I didn't want to take them off.
Cole did. He pulled them off me while holding me with one hand and undressing me with the other. Then he placed me on my knees and, tired of posing me like a doll, said, "Lace your hands behind your head and keep your eyes down. Present your boobs. Spread your legs. Now listen."
And I did. But a growing pulse between my legs was making it difficult. Cole wore a button-down work shirt and jeans, boots and a thick belt I kept watching when he wasn't looking. My ass tingled like he'd already started in on it.
"It's time to make a decision, Annie. Are you going to stay or go? Because it's not going to work for you to live somewhere else. You know that, don't you?"
"I already made a decision, Sir," I said, which wasn't answering the question, but Cole stopped pacing so suddenly it seemed he really wanted to hear.
His voice when he turned back to me was softer than I expected. "What's your decision?"
I took a breath. "I want to stay with you."
