Chapter 4

The police were waiting for me when I woke up. They took my statement and told me Marcos was in custody. Just as they were leaving, my mother and Carlos entered the room.

"Oh my god, what did that man do to you?"

"Mama."

It"s the only word I can say before I start wailing like a small child. Am I allowed to do that? Yes. But I don"t like feeling this vulnerable and this hurt. My mother tries to comfort me, but right now, I ache everywhere, so she can"t really hold me.

"This will pass, my little princess."

My mother takes a paper towel and dries my tears. She"ll have to keep doing it because I"m nowhere near stopping. We sat in silent companionship for a bit, and then I noticed Carlos had left.

"Mama, I"m scared."

"You"ll be safe now, he"s behind bars."

"He"s very powerful and resourceful. He could get off or send someone after me. I don"t want to go back to the restaurant."

"You don"t have to. Whatever you decide, I"ll back you up."

I"m glad my mother is here and I"m finally able to get a little rest when suddenly my room is invaded by the entire Lee family. My mother is the first one to object.

"Carlos! You and your big mouth." My mother says. "Cassie needs quiet right now."

"I"m sorry, mama, but I couldn"t keep something like this from the family."

My father walks up to my bed, and he looks pale. He checks me up and down to see the damage. I flinch at this scrutiny.

"I"ll kill him."

"No, Papa."

"Why didn"t you tell us he was hurting you? Is that why you had Harris's security guys running around behind you? Where were they tonight?"

"He hid in the car. Waited until Tuck left."

"He assaulted her a few weeks back, but your sons did not banish this man from the game," Mama says.

My dad looks towards Brandon, knowing he"s the one who let Marcos keep playing. Dad"s fists open and close like he wants to hit someone but is trying to talk himself out of it. He takes one step towards my brother, and Brandon jumps.

"Papa, I thought Jason Harris was taking care of it."

"Your sister, your responsibility. I thought I taught you better than this!"

"I know, I"m sorry."

Then all hell breaks loose and all my family is tossing accusations and insults all over the place. I sigh and look at my mother. She"s as resigned as I am, but I"ve made another decision and none of them is going to like it.

"Enough," Mama yells. "We"re in a hospital, and your sister needs her rest."

Seeing the seriousness in my mother"s face, my father relents. He takes my hand gently and looks me in the eyes.

"Get some rest, sweetheart. You won"t have to deal with that man ever again."

My body trembles at the mere mention of Marcos Solis, but I just nod and squeeze my father"s hand to tell him I"m doing okay. I"m not really doing okay, but I want everyone to think that I am so that they"ll give me some time to think, to plan.

"Thank you, Papa."

"Let"s go, boys."

My seven brothers wave to me and file out of the room silently. I think Brandon"s business is over, and he"s not going to like that. Will they blame me? They make a lot of money from those card games they play in the back of the restaurant.

"Do you want me to leave, too?" Mama asks.

"No, mama. Stay, please."

"I"ll read you from my book."

I finally fall asleep with the soft cadence of my mother"s voice making me feel safe.

I"ve been in the hospital for two days now. The pain is bearable, but I"m desperate to get out of here. I haven"t heard from Jason since that night, but I know he"s been keeping tabs on me. My constant companions are Mama and Carlos, and they keep making plans for when I"m going home. The doctor comes in as usual and I"m suddenly hopeful that I"ll get discharged.

"Good news, Miss Dalton. You"re well enough that I can finally release you. The nurse is writing up instructions on medications, and she"ll also give you referrals for physical therapy for your arm once it"s healed. And she's lining you up with a counselor. Do you have any questions?"

"Not right now. Thank you, doctor."

"Then I"ll have your discharge papers in about an hour."

Mama and Carlos are smiling encouragingly. Now is as good a time as any to tell them.

"Mama. I"m not going home."

"What? What do you mean you"re not going home? I can take care of you there until you heal enough to go back to work."

"I…"

The door opens, and the police detectives who took my statement the day I was attacked come inside my room. The look on their faces tells me they"ve got some bad news for me.

"Miss Dalton. Mrs. Lee."

"Detectives." My mother answers.

"Miss Dalton, we came here to inform you that Marcos Solis was released from custody this morning on bail."

A chill goes through me. He"s going to come here to kill me. I"m sure of it. I start panicking, but then remember I"ve got a protector. The detectives finish their report and then leave. So I turn to Carlos.

"Carlos, get Jason."

He is already on the phone contacting him, so he just nods and moves to the side of the hospital room so he can fill Jason in on what"s happened. Twenty minutes later, Jason enters my room and I can finally breathe easier. My mother"s demeanor changes, and I worry about what she"s going to say.

"Mr. Harris, are you going to take care of this problem?"

Jason just looks at her, his eyes the only tell of the anger that is brewing inside him.

"Mama, no! I don"t want that. I"m sure Marco will be convicted. We just have to wait for the trial."

"It"s not safe for you, Cassie. Not until he"s gone," Carlos says.

"Jason, they"re releasing me today. Take me home with you." I plead. "It's the only place I'll feel safe."

For a moment, he looks conflicted, but then he squares his shoulders and whispers something to Carlos.

"Are you ready to go?" Jason asks me.

"I"ve got to change."

When I"m finally ready and the nurse gives me my papers so I can leave, I carefully hug my mother and whisper in her ear.

"Jason will take good care of me, Mama."

"Protect your heart, little one." She whispers back.

An orderly comes to pick me up in a wheelchair, and we all walk together to the entrance where Carlos"s car is parked waiting for me. Carlos and Jason trade keys, and he ushers me into the vehicle. The drive to Jason"s place is quiet, and I worry when Jason finally addresses me.

"Why did you want to come to my house?"

"Marcos is…"

"No. Tell me the real reason."

"I want you to teach me how to defend myself."

Jason shakes his head. "It"ll take weeks for you to heal."

"We can start with a gun."

"I don"t think…"

"Are you going to deny me this? You can"t always be there for me, Jason. This attack just proves how defenseless I am. I need to get strong, and I need to be able to protect myself from Marcos or men like him."

Jason"s jaw tenses, and his lips form a thin line. He doesn"t want this.

"Fine, if you don"t want to do it, find someone who can help me. But in the meantime, I"d like to stay somewhere safe, and I think with you is the best place."

"It"s not that. Cassie," he hesitates, "I"m so sorry. You"re right. I wasn"t there when you needed me the most, and the guilt is consuming me."

"Jason…"

Suddenly, he veers off track and takes a different route altogether.

"I have a better place to take you. It"s one of my safe houses, and it has exactly what we need for me to teach you how to use a firearm. But you"ve got to promise to follow my directions to the letter."

"I promise."

For a few minutes, there"s just silence between us, and then his features soften.

"Why didn"t you take the Lee"s surname when they adopted you?"

"I still had good memories of my parents, and I wanted to keep them with me. Mama and Papa didn"t mind, or at least I hope they didn"t mind, but several of us have our original surnames."

"Was it difficult? Being in the system?"

"It was tough, not having a say on where you go and who takes you in. When the Lees fostered me, I knew they were different, and I begged them to adopt me. I know I shouldn"t have but I was so alone and so scared."

"What did they say when you asked to be adopted?"

"Papa said, "Consider it done." Next thing I know, I"m part of their growing family."

"How many of the brothers had they adopted already by then?"

"Carlos, Cody, Mark, and Jim came first. Peter, Brandon, and Jared came a bit later. They wanted more, but Mama said she wanted to be able to be there for us. I overheard the conversation and was a bit in awe of how Mama could say something, and Papa would accept it as already done. They are good together."

We drove in silence after that, and I felt a little closer to Jason because of our conversation. He"s never asked me anything personal and I"m hoping this means he wants to know more about me. About thirty minutes later, we take a turn onto a deserted road and drive for about fifteen more minutes. At the end is what looks like a ranch house with a barn next to it.

Jason gets out of the car and opens the barn doors, then parks inside it. Once we"re outside he closes the door, hiding the car from plain view. Then we move to the house. It looks old but the lock is controlled by a keypad and Jason inputs a long number before the lock opens. The house is cozy and clean but it"s a bit cold inside.

"There are some blankets in the closet over there."

"I…"

"You need to rest, Cassie."

"Can you get me a gun?"

"I will. I need to go get some food for you."

"You"ll be staying here with me, right?"

"I need to assess the situation with Solis."

"Your team can do that," I point out.

"Why is it so important that I stay with you?"

"Because you make me feel safe. I know it"s selfish of me to ask for this, but…please, Jason."

"Will you take it easy while I"m gone?"

"Yes," I answer eagerly.

"Okay. No one knows this location. No neighbors for miles. You"ll be safe."

"Thanks."

When he leaves, I go to that closet and get a couple of blankets. Some are crocheted by hand, and I wonder who this house belonged to before Jason appropriated it. I sit down in the middle of the sofa and drape one of the blankets over my body. There"s a remote for the TV, and I turn it on and choose a random channel to watch. This entire trip has exhausted me, and now that I can finally feel safe, I"m starting to relax.

It doesn"t take long for me to fall asleep, but the nightmares come quickly, making it hard for me to get any rest.

It"s almost six when the sound of the door opening wakes me up. Jason comes in with several packages in his arms, and I enjoy looking at his arm candy wrapped around them. He"s taken off his jacket and is wearing a tight black t-shirt that does everything to hug every single muscle of his chest and arms. I can't help but ogle him a bit until he puts the packages in the kitchen and comes back to check on me.

"Are you okay, Cassie?"

"Yes."

"I got us some groceries that should last for a couple of days, but your mom sent some food that we can eat right now. Are you hungry?"

"I"m more tired than hungry."

"You need to keep your strength up."

"Heat it up, and we"ll eat it together here on the couch." I pat the seat beside me.

I watch him as he heats up several containers of Chinese food and then brings them to the table in front of the couch. Then he brings some plates and plastic silverware for us. He places two bottles of water on the table as well.

"Jason, after all this time, you haven"t learned how to use chopsticks?"

He sits down next to me and lowers his face. His cheeks turn a light shade of pink, and I know I"ve embarrassed him. I put a hand on his arm to settle him.

"It"s okay," I say.

"I"ve never bothered to learn. Okay, I'm just too impatient." He looks at me. "Will you teach me?"

"Of course."

He brings the chopsticks that I"m sure my mama included with the food and puts them on the table. I unwrap his pair and give it to him, and then I open mine. I show him with my hand how I place the chopsticks, and he imitates me, catching on really fast. I touch him gently a few times to correct what he"s doing, but in less than fifteen minutes, he"s a master at it, just like he"s a master at everything he does.

"Jason."

"Yes?"

"If you have information on Marcos, you"ll tell me, right? Don"t hide things from me because you think I"m weak."

The look on his face turns incredulous.

"You"re the bravest, strongest woman I know, Cassie."

The compliment, along with his nearness, turns my cheeks tomato red. I flick on the TV to distract myself, and Jason gets up and puts the leftovers on the fridge. When he looks like he"s ready to turn in, I decide to take a shot.

"Will you watch TV with me for a while?"

He looks reluctant but comes back to the couch and sits beside me. There"s a heat radiating from him that pretty much engulfs me, and I exhale in contentment. The channel I"ve been watching is playing a military movie, and that gives my brain some ideas.

"Did you enjoy being in the military?"

Jason tenses next to me, but he doesn"t answer. I see his jaw twitch, but I don"t wait.

"Was it something you wanted to do since you were young?"

"I don"t like to talk about it."

"Please let me in. That"s all I ask. I want to get to know you. It's just us here."

He sighs and looks down at his feet, but at least he starts to talk.

"Both my grandfather and father were in the military. It just seemed the right place to be. Once I was in, I liked the discipline, the training, the certainty of knowing where you were on the food chain."

"You were special ops, right?"

"Did Carlos tell you that?"

"Carlos is a vault. But I know his secrets, so it"s easy for me to get information out of him."

"I didn"t know that side of you."

"I"m not the goody two shoes everyone believes I am."

"I"m starting to see that."

He gives me a strange look that I can"t really decipher. I hold his gaze and almost lose myself in those deep blue eyes of his. If he would only grant me a smile, I"d be happier than if I"d won a million dollars.

"What did you see in Solis, Cassie?"

That sobered me. "He was charming—acted like he cared, and I only saw what I wanted to. Didn"t hurt that he was bringing tons of money to our family business."

"When did he start getting violent?"

"Not—not until I dumped him. That night that he burned me was the first time I saw a truly dark side of him."

"I got you the gun."

"You did?"

He nods and just looks at the TV as if he"s watching the show, which I know he"s not.

"Thank you, Jason."

"We"ll start practicing tomorrow."

His tone indicates that the conversation is over. I guess he has reached his quota of words for the day. So, I resign myself to just having his company. After thirty minutes or so, I start nodding off and place my head on his shoulder. He doesn"t pull away and lets me doze on and off for about an hour then he picks me up carefully and takes me to my room.

He places me gently on the bed, and I open my eyes to see him watching me. I smile up at him and reach to touch his face, but something keeps me from doing it. It"s like he"s got this force field around him and he"s not letting me in just yet. It"s fine. I can wait. I take my hand back and lie carefully on my uninjured arm.

Jason pulls a blanket on top of me, and I close my eyes. He is my protector, and his presence makes me feel safe and a little bit loved.

"Goodnight." He whispers, and then he leaves the room, gently closing the door after him.

I had hoped to fall asleep right away, but I can"t. I keep wondering if falling in love with a dangerous man like Jason isn"t doing the exact same thing I did with Marcos Solis—except Jason would never hurt me. I ask myself if one can really love a cold-blooded killer. Is he still a mercenary? Can I live with myself if my partner in life is living a life of sin?

The night grows long between my overactive imagination and the discomfort all over my body. My bruises are still healing, and I can"t lie on my left side because that arm is in a sling. In the early morning hours I give up and go sit in the rocking chair that is in the bedroom. Finally, I doze off, but Jason is a freaking morning person, so I hear knocking on my door.

"Come in."

"I"ve got breakfast ready for when you"re up to it."

"Thanks, I"ll be there in a minute."

He leaves the room, and I"m left wondering how on earth I am going to shatter that force field around him.