~Archer~
The sound of my heart beating clouded my senses for a moment. In that instance, I wasn't aware of anything, but my heart thumping as if it would burst out of my body at any moment. All was quiet except the lub dub of a heart receiving massive sympathetic stimulation.
And then I heard it, the sound of my daughter crying. She couldn't possibly know what was going on, but somehow she knew something was wrong. They said babies could tell when their parents were in distress. Could she hear my heartbeat?
"Make her shut up or I'll blow her tiny brains out!"
The massive sympathetic stimulation had increased my sweat production, making my hands hot and clammy. They left their place on the leather seat I was perched on and reached over next to me. I picked Marie into my arms and sat her on my lap, comforting her. It was hard calming her down when I couldn't calm myself down.
I reached over into the baby bag on the floor.
"What are you doing?! Hands where I can see them!" a rough voice said.
"I'm just getting her a pacifier", I said with my voice trembling slightly. "If you don't want her screaming all the way, I need to get her pacifier", I said, a little confident this time.
"Okay okay. But don't try anything heroic. I am not afraid to die as long as you die with me", the man said.
One hour & 30 minutes earlier
"Are you sure you guys will be fine getting to the doctor without me?"
"Felix, we'll be fine. This is not the first time I take a cab".
"This is the first time you take a cab with my almost-one year old daughter".
"It will be a good experience for her. She'll probably get into more cabs in the future to get away from you".
It was just a little over 11 pm. Felix and I were in our house, discussing plans for the day. Marie –soon to be a year old – had an appointment with the doctor for her 12 month check-up and to get her vaccinations. Felix wanted to be there, not that it was necessary for him to. Unfortunately, he had a meeting at the gallery, which would end at approximately the same time as Marie's appointment. That meant he couldn't drive us to the hospital, but he promised to be there.
Although Marie was well-behaved and didn't throw many tantrums, I couldn't drive us to the hospital either. I had sprained my ankle just a few days earlier while chasing Felix. My ankle was healing properly, but I couldn't yet drive even though I was now able to walk on it. Felix would have a fit if I even suggested it.
At that moment we were in the kitchen. I was making Marie's bottle and Felix was on the other side of the counter, going through some documents.
"Why on earth would she get away from me?" he asked, looking up at me.
"Um...you'll only allow her to date when she's 25?"
"Which is a reasonable age", he protested.
"So...why didn't you wait until I turned 25?" I said, putting the bottle of milk I had just finished making into a small bowl with cold water.
"Me? You are the one who jumped into my bed", he said.
"Hmph", I muttered. "As if you would have waited".
"I have restraint".
"Sure", I said. "Explains why you bedded me while I was your hostage".
He gave me a shy smile and looked down into his book. We'd never talked about that night in his house directly, but rather referenced it. We talked about everything from the kidnapping to why he let me go, but never why we slept together. It was interesting to see his reaction. I definitely had to prod.
"About that night...what was it that made you...I mean, what..." I said and gave up finishing the sentence. I hadn't thought about exactly how I was going to prod. So far I wasn't doing a good job of it.
He looked up and shrugged before returning to his books, scribbling something.
"And here I thought I was just irresistible", I said in fake hurt, complete with a pout.
He stopped writing. "You want me to admit that somehow in the moment I found myself immensely attracted to you? And that afterwards I wanted to spend more time with you?"
I gave him a smug smile.
"And you Mr. innocent? You were a very willing participant", he said.
"I did it all so I could escape", I said smoothly and smirked at the end.
"But instead you fell for me, eh?"
"No!" I said dragging the word. "Okay okay. I for some reason that makes no sense to me started liking you even when you promised to kill me. I mean, you are smart and have this calm demeanor and you were mysterious yet let me read your mind a bit. You challenged me. And well, you looked so hot with strong arms and sexy torso", I said.
"Hmm"
"I didn't fall for you that night", I firmly told him. "I just...gave in to instant temptation, and well afterwards I just couldn't get you out of my mind".
"I looked hot?" he said in a seductively low voice.
I rolled my eyes.
"You looked hot too", he said.
"Don't you have somewhere to be? You are going to be late for your meeting", I said.
"I can be late. I'm the boss", he said.
"Felix, go. Bye. Marie and I will see you at the hospital in an hour", I said.
Felix packed his books into his bag. He went to kiss Marie who was playing on the floor goodbye.
"Which cab service will you be using?" he asked after he kissed me.
"Cab connect. You are not calling them. I'll do it myself", I said.
"Okay okay. Take care of my princess", he said. "Bye Princess", he shouted to Marie.
"Bye Papa", she mumbled one of few words she could say and waved.
I watched as Felix left the house. Minutes later I could hear the sound of his car roaring to life.
"Okay Strawberry, time for you last formula milk, hopefully forever", I said.
I had given her the nickname Strawberry because she loved strawberries. Just seeing them made her go crazy with excitement. At first I'd fed them to her pureed, but eventually got to cutting them into small pieces so she could still see they were strawberries. She could even eat those all by herself, making a mess of course.
She stood up and walked towards me excitedly.
"We'll have strawberries after the milk, okay?" I said.
She nodded.
About an hour later, Marie and I were both full and clean. She was dressed in grey leggings and pink t-shirt underneath a grey jumper with pink hearts. I spotted a faded blue denim shirt and khaki chinos. We were ready to go to the doctor, though Marie had no idea where we were going. She would surely bolt if she knew.
I called the cab service and they promised me a cab. I thought it would take at least 15 minutes, but the cab was there in less than 5 minutes. It was certainly convenient; at least if we got stuck in lunch hour traffic we had a chance of making it at the doctor's in time.
I was just finishing packing Marie's bag when I heard hooting outside.
I put the pacifier in the outside pocket of the bag and closed it, slinging it onto my shoulder. I picked up Marie and walked towards the door. I enabled the house alarm before stepping outside and locking the door.
"Hi. Hi. Sorry for the wait", I said to the driver who had parked next to the sidewalk.
He was a man in what I concluded was his late forties. He had an untidy beard and beady eyes, but his smile at my words was warm so I wasn't alarmed.
"No problem".
I opened the back door and threw in Marie's bag, then followed after it. I set Marie on the seat and put the seatbelt around her so I could tie my shoes properly. It was probably inadequate to protect her, considering that I'd had to adjust it just so she seemed a bit protected. Marie's car seat was in Felix's car and the whole effort to remove it and move it somewhere else was just too strenuous. Anyway, I intended on holding her the entire ride.
The engine roared and the car came to life. Houses moved backwards as the car moved forward.
"Lakeview Memorial, right?" The driver asked.
"Yes", I said. Marie mumbled something.
"Beautiful one you've got there. Yours?"
"Yeah", I said smiling, moving my eyes from my shoes slightly to look at him.
"Such an unlucky child", the man said.
"Excuse me?"
"Well for one, she has two dads. Such an abomination. Two, her daddies have secrets, secrets that have come back to haunt them".
I felt a chill run down my spine. It felt as though someone had run an ice-cube directly against my nerves.
"What...what are you talking about?"
I heard the sound of the doors locking.
"Hi Archer, it's nice to finally meet you".
The sound of my heart beating clouded my senses for a moment. In that instance, I wasn't aware of anything, but my heart thumping as if it would burst out of my body at any moment. All was quiet except the lub dub of a heart receiving massive sympathetic stimulation.
And then I heard it, the sound of my daughter crying. She couldn't possibly know what was going on, but somehow she knew something was wrong. They said babies could tell when their parents were in distress. Could she hear my heartbeat?
"Make her shut up or I'll blow her tiny brains out!"
The massive sympathetic stimulation had increased my sweat production, making my hands hot and clammy. They left their place on the leather seat I was perched on and reached over next to me. I picked Marie into my arms and sat her on my lap, comforting her. It was hard calming her down when I couldn't calm myself down.
I reached over into the baby bag on the floor.
"What are you doing?! Hands where I can see them!" a rough voice said.
"I'm just getting her a pacifier", I said with my voice trembling slightly. "If you don't want her screaming all the way, I need to get her pacifier", I said, a little confident this time.
"Okay okay. But don't try anything heroic. I am not afraid to die as long as you die with me", the man said.
I managed to get Marie's pacifier and put it in her mouth. She was reluctant to take it at first, but eventually started sucking on it. I wiped the tears off her face with my hand.
My gaze slightly returned to the man in the driver seat.
"Who are you and what do you want?!" I asked.
"Vengeance", he replied with one word.
I was about to prod further, but Marie started crying again.