High Stakes Hideout

Chapter Two

Ivy stood from the car after Jake opened the door for her and surveyed the surroundings. Jake had refused to tell her where they were going. The only thing he would say is it was somewhere safe and with someone he trusted with her life. That made her feel a little better about being whisked away from life as she knew it. Jake didn't trust many people, and trusted even fewer with her. He'd run away more of her boyfriends than she could count over the years. Maybe she should take a page from his book and stop trusting so easily. Maybe then she wouldn't be in this mess she'd gotten herself into.

As she looked around her, she thought to herself that this might not be so bad. If she had her choice, she would have picked something a little more peopley and a little less rustic. Jake had assured her that the less people who saw her the better. She had been praying ever since the incident happened for the strength to get through this. She knew she just needed to relinquish that control she had fought so hard for and trust His will.

Ivy heard the door to the ranch house open behind her and she turned to greet her new host. Maybe she could treat it like she was a foreign exchange student. That might be fun. She had always wanted to be one when she was in school. She pasted on a smile, going for bright and cheery, and quickly felt it fall from her face. The suitcase she had been holding fell from her hands, breaking open beneath her when it hit the ground. She didn't notice. A bomb could have gone off next to her and she probably wouldn't have noticed. So much for the thought of this being fun.

"Ivy," the man greeted her as he walked toward them with his hands in his pockets and a hesitant expression on his handsome face. Ivy had no qualms about think g him handsome whatsoever   It was an opinion she had held of the man in front of her since her first inkling of a crush on him when she turned twelve. Her host was Oliver Murray?

Oliver held his hand out to her in greeting and she stood and stared at it. How could Jake do this to her? Of all the people Ivy most wanted to never see again in her life, Oliver was at the top of that list. Well, that was both a truth and a lie. He was also at the top of the list for people she most wanted to see again. That was a secret she had planned to take to the grave, though. She turned to glare daggers at her brother who was rubbing his hand over the back of his neck and looking anywhere but at her.

"How could you?" she asked him, hating how her voice shook. "Jake, look at me and explain, right this minute!"

"I take it you didn't tell her where you were taking her," Oliver surmised. Once again, it looked like everyone was in the know on things concerning Oliver except for her.

"Take me somewhere else, now," Ivy exclaimed to her brother, throwing a foot stomp in for good measure. She saw Oliver smirk at that gesture and felt her cheeks heat in embarrassment. She realized she was acting like a petulant five year old. How did they expect her to act when she found out her babysitter for who knew how long was the one who broke her heart thirteen years ago.

"Ivy, don't be difficult. Please?" Jake pleaded with her.

"Oh, don't be difficult you say? How's this for difficult?" With that said, she stepped over her open suitcase with all the dignity she could muster and got back in the car. She slammed the door behind her and folded her arms across her chest. Jake rolled his eyes at her and shook his head. Ivy noticed that he had left his keys in the ignition and she quickly pushed the lock down. If she had any idea where she was at, she would have started the car and taken off. With no cell phone, she had no GPS. She knew she was stuck unless Jake was willing to take her somewhere else, but that didn't mean she had to be cooperative about it.

Jake walked around to the window and knocked on it. "C'mon Ivy. Unlock the door or roll the window down so we can talk," he said, raising his voice to be heard through the window.

Ivy looked up at him, seeing the concern for her on her brother's face. Her eyes drifted past him to where she knew Oliver was standing. She gasped as her eyes met his clear blue ones that were full of a storm brewing. That storm in his eyes used to hold the weight of his love for her. It couldn't mean that now, could it? He was the one who dismissed her all those years ago. There was no way he could still love her.

She forced her eyes away and looked back at Jake. She stubbornly shook her head at him and looked away. In her periphery she  saw Jake's shoulders droop and him walk over to meet Oliver. She really did hate being a pain to Jake like this when he was only trying to keep her safe. She wasn't sure her heart could take the fallout of spending time alone with Oliver Murray, though. It still bore the scars of being crushed by him the first time.

Ivy turned her eyes back to the two men now that they weren't paying attention to her. Jake said something to Oliver and he shook his head before storming off. He let the door slam behind him as he went back into the house and Jake flinched at the noise.

Jake moved back to the driver's side of the car and motioned for her to unlock the door. She didn't think Jake would forcibly pull her from the car so she pushed the button on the door. When Jake heard the lock click he opened the door and got back inside, shivering as he started the car and put his hands over the vents to warm them.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I should have told you. In my defense, I wanted to be sure you didn't accidentally let it slip to anyone. And, I was worried you would have said no."

"Of course I would have said no! Jake, how could you think I would be okay with this? I know you two made up when you went in the service with him. I don't resent that, but he broke my heart. Why on earth would I want to be locked up with him?" Ivy swiped angrily at a tear that had escaped. She had worked hard to forget about Oliver and move on. Now, seeing him here, it all came rushing back. The hurt, the questions, the feelings of inadequacy.

"Maybe I can just go back. I mean, do we really have any proof that this guy is looking for me?" Ivy secretly crossed her fingers. She knew it was a long shot though. She had seen enough of the man to have been able to identify him from a lineup. She had no criminal record herself, though. She felt looked pretty average, with no unique features that he would be able to use to pick her out of a crowd. What were the chances he would have been able to track down who she was?

"I'm sorry Ivy. That's not a chance I'm willing to take. I love you and I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a gentle pat. Ivy reached up to cover his hand with her own. It had always been her and Jake against the world. They were only a year apart in age and had grown up basically as twins would due to their close age. She could understand his fear for her. She shared some of that same fear of she thought about what could happen if Ricardo were able to identify her, to track her down.

"Ivy, I'm not asking you to trust Oliver with your heart again. I would never do that, not after I had to pick up the pieces last time," he said with a grimace. She flinched at his words, remnants of that pain threatening to break through her carefully controlled surface. "I'm asking you to trust him with your physical safety. There is no person on this earth I would trust with that more than him. Deep down, I think you know that too. But, if you really don't want to do this, I will find something else."

Ivy looked away from Jake's pleading gaze and back toward the house, back toward Oliver. She closed her eyes and worked to settle the fear. Yes, she knew she could trust Oliver with her physical safety. There was no doubt about that. What she wasn't sure of was whether she could keep her heart out of it. She took a deep breath, prayed for guidance, and made her decision.