The Handsome Mystery

Chapter Three

The next morning I reached over to touch Jake to wake him up, only he was not there. I quickly sat up and started calling for him, but no answer. Oh no, he didn't leave me did he? Of course not. He said he would keep me safe, he wouldn't leave me here for those people to find me would he? No. Melissa get those thoughts out of your head now. He would never leave me. At least I hope not. Gosh, I sound like we are together which we are totally not.

Grabbing my phone I called June.

"Hey girl what's up?"

"Not much, just woke up."

"So, how is Mr. Hunk? Is he getting you breakfast in bed? Is he taking care of you?"

"June, we aren't together. He is just trying to keep me safe. And to be honest I have no idea where he is. He wasn't in bed and he isn't in the room. I don't know where he could be."

"Maybe he just went to get you guys coffee."

"I don't know, maybe. All I know is, is I feel weird without him here and I feel weird with him next to me."

"That's because you are falling for the man Melissa! Remember the message you sent me last night? You even admitted you are falling for him. Honestly, I am happy for you minus the whole being tracked thing. But seriously, if something were to happen between the two of you, I would not care at all. I would congratulate you because you deserve someone who will treat you like a princess."

"Thanks June. I know I am falling for him but I doubt he feels the same way at all. I mean yeah he said he finds me attractive but I have heard that from other guys before. For once I would just like a man to actually mean it and want something real with me. You know?"

"Yeah I know. I haven't had that special someone either. But why don't you just ask him how he feels?"

"Because we are in the middle of something right now and I can't just randomly ask him if he likes me. You know I suck at that." I heard her sigh.

"Yeah I know, but just give it a shot at some point okay?"

After she said that, I heard someone clear their throat and I turned around. Jake was standing right behind me smiling.

"Hey June, I have to go. I will talk to you later."

"Okay, bye."

When I hung up I noticed he had a bag in his hand and two coffee cups. He really did go get coffee and breakfast. Wow June is good.

"So, how much did you hear?" I was hoping nothing except for maybe the last part but his smile grew bigger. "Oh, only that you are falling for me and you are scared to ask me how I feel about you. And the fact that you were pretty much worried this morning when I wasn't next to you. Other than that not much at all." Oh. My. God. I cannot believe he heard the whole conversation. How did I not hear the door open? Am I that deaf? I am going to die. "It isn't what it sounds like Jake-" He sat the stuff down. "So you don't like me? You aren't worried when I am not around? And you don't have weird feelings when I am next to you?" Oh shit, it is what it sounds like.

"Okay, maybe it is what it sounds like." He placed his hands on my arms. "It's okay, really it is. I do like you. You are one special girl. Honestly you are the most attractive girl I have ever seen. All I want to do is keep you safe, I feel like it is my responsibility to keep you safe." Am I hearing this correctly? He likes me? Say what? Then there was a knock on the door. Of course someone had to go and ruin this perfect moment. Jake was too busy looking at me to realize there was someone at the door. "Jake?" He snapped out of it. "Yes?" I motioned towards the door. "Someone is knocking." He quickly removed his hands from my arms and I felt cold. He motioned for me to stay quiet as he looked through the peephole. "It's just the cleaning lady." I felt relieved when he said that, I thought we were about to die.

"Come back later." He walked away from the door after he saw her leave. "I hate to ruin the moment Jake but I feel like we should hurry, eat, and get out of here. I don't feel safe here anymore. I have an uneasy feeling."

"Okay Melissa. We will get out of here." We grabbed our things and just decided to take the food with us in the car. He checked us out and we left. We have one thousand miles left until we are out of Ohio. He drives a little over the speed limit but not enough to get pulled over. I looked out the window as I ate my cinnamon roll that he got for me. He really is the sweetest. We aren't together and he bought me breakfast and coffee. A complete stranger. "Melissa?" I looked over at him. "Yes?" He looked at me when we stopped at the red light. "I think we need to know a little bit more about each other if we are going to have each others backs through all of this." I nodded in agreement. "Okay."

"So, what made you want to become an author?"

"When I was little my mom was always busy and my dad was never home so I was always by myself. I started keeping a journal of my thoughts and feelings which grew into poems. My teachers always thought they were good. When I got to high school I had so many different papers to write for every single class. My teachers told me I had a talent and that I should think about becoming an author. After that I started working on my book which is the one I am still trying to write to this day. I know it is sad but I have been working on this since my junior year. That was two years ago and I couldn't figure out what to write until I met you."

"Wow, all of that led you to writing?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Anyways, what did you want to do before you got into all of this?"

"Before I got into all of this, I wanted to be a photographer. When I was ten years old, my parents asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told them I wanted a camera and the type I wanted with the stand and everything. My dad didn't like that idea so he decided to get me tools and stuff like what he had. He wanted me to follow in his foot steps and become a carpenter. He felt like guys need to do the manly jobs and leave the cameras for the women. So when my birthday came around I got tools and my dad started having me help him with small jobs like shelves and things like that. A week after my birthday my dad left for a month because he had a big job with his company so my mom took me to Best Buy and told me to pick out the camera I wanted and anything else I found. I picked out the exact camera with the stand and a strap so I could wear it around my neck. When we got it my mom took me around to different places so I could get some good pictures of different things. When my dad came back from his trip, he found my camera and was not happy about it. He grabbed my camera and broke it. My mom was so mad at him for breaking it she hit him and then they got into it. They ended up getting a divorce and I went to live with her. I haven't seen my dad since."

All I could do is look at him. I can't believe he went through all of that. "I am so sorry Jake, I can't believe you went through all of that."

"It's okay. I can't do it anymore anyways."

I feel so bad for him. We both just stayed quiet for about an hour and then he said something. "I need to tell you something." I turned towards him. "Yes?" As soon as he was about to say something I noticed someone was really close behind us. "Jake, I hate to interrupt you but uh look behind us."

Jake looked in the rearview mirror and noticed the black SUV behind us. "How long have they been there?" I looked at him and back at the car. "Now that I think about it, they have been following us since we left the hotel. I just didn't think anything of it."

"Fucking great!"

I am scared now. Are those the people who are now after the both of us? "Are those the guys that are after us?" As soon as I said something, they were on us immediately. "Yes it is. If they have been following us since the hotel like you said they have, then there must be a tracker on your car because there is no possible way they would know where we are going unless they know me well enough to know that I am going back to my hometown. When we lose them we need to switch vehicles." I cannot believe what is happening. Switch vehicles? This is the only car I've ever had since I moved out on my own. This car was the first thing I bought for myself before my apartment. Now all of that is gone. All I have left is my writing and...Jake. "Okay. I trust you."

Roughly one-hundred miles later we lost them. Jake turned onto a gravel road and traveled for a bit until we found a car. We put our things in it and drove away.