"There you go one caffe macchiato, the best money can buy" Travis placed the cup down on the table in front of Taylor and began sipping at his own very hot, very overpriced drink.
When the girl picked her drink up and walked towards the door that lead out to the pool he smiled in victory but as she poured the drink from the container onto the patio he groaned in defeat
"I'll be sure to tell your dad you said thanks" he called as she exited to house and headed to a sunlounger, the middle finger she held up to him the only proof she had heard what he had said. "What the fuck is her problem?" he asked to no one in particular as he sat down on the seat Taylor had just vacated
"Her mother and brother were brutally murdered" said a heavily accented voice from behind him. He twisted to see who had spoken and was met by a girl, probably mid to late twenties, her hair black, poker straight and cut off at the chin, her eyes dark and warm like chocolate and her skin the colour of his morning coffee, she was beautiful but he was on duty, the thought couldn't even cross his mind... OK it could cross his mind but he couldn't act on it, his self discipline wouldn't allow it, he was on duty, he couldn't allow himself to be distracted
"So she wasn't always like this?"
The girl just shook her head and got back to cleaning the kitchen benches.
"You know, the more information I have, the easier it will be for me to help her"
"Miss. Taylor was the sweetest girl, always so sweet. She used to run freely around the house and the grounds, constantly singing, she has voice como la voz de un angel, but the day they killed her mother and her brother the music stopped, the laughter stopped, Taylor stopped being Taylor, it was like her soul died with them"
"I wish I had known her before, her soul sounds beautiful"
"She's still in there Señor Kelce, just waiting for the one that will dig deep inside and bring her out of herself. Will that be you? She looks at you differently"
Travis paused, unsure what she meant and unsure if he wanted to ask. A teenager with a crush was the last thing he needed
"Meaning?"
"Like she wants to trust you but is afraid to trust anyone. No one knows what she went through, what she heard, saw, suffered through. You can't carry that sort of trauma in your head, eventually you need to share the weight" and lowering her head she got back to her chores and Travis sat in stunned silence.
She looked at him like she wanted to trust him??
He had never witnessed that, most of the time she looked a him as though he was something she wanted to clean off of the bottom of her shoe.
"Travis" Alejandro Swift entered the kitchen through the same door Taylor had left, his loud voice filling the room the same way his intense personality did. "Is Taylor in her room? I want to talk with her about tomorrow evening"
"No she's out by the pool" Travis answered whilst sipping his now luke warm coffee
"The garden is empty"
Four words and Travis was on his feet and out of the kitchen door in a heart beat.
His eyes surveyed the garden and pool area, there was no sign of the 18 year old and his heart descended into his stomach
"She was just here" he said almost to himself "Seal the parameters" he barked to Alejandro as he ran towards the front of the house. "Taylor!!"
Within seconds the entire staff of the Swift compound was mobilised, all automatic gates and doors were locked, men with guns stood at every entrance and exit
"Taylor!" Travis' heart hammered in his chest as he ran, searching the entire grounds of the compound, there was no sign of her, no sign of a struggle "Taylor!" he pushed into the front door and found staff members doing a sweep of the house from bottom to top and then top to bottom, no one reported seeing or hearing anything. Her room was empty, she had seemingly just vanished.
"FUCK!" Travis bellowed as he ran on to the roof and gazed down on the grounds below him. There was nothing to see, nothing unusual, nothing that seemed out of the ordinary, the only thing that was different was that Taylor had gone and his blood ran cold in his veins as he realised he was the one to blame.
He was supposed to be watching her, keeping her safe but instead he had been indulging in conversation whilst she was being...
God what was happening to her?
Who had taken her?
where had they gone???
He reached up and pulled at his hair as the images he had viewed of the Swift crime scene replayed in his brain.
Alexis Swift lying face down surrounded by a halo of blood and matter, completely naked and then Austin... 13 years old...
"Fuck!" And then he spotted something. The familiar, shiny blond hair walking down the sidewalk towards the locked gates of the compound "I'm going to fuckin kill her myself!" Travis seethed as he ran from the room and down the stairs, taking three at a time in his haste to be the first to get hold of her
"She's there!, she's outside! " he told each panicked staff member he passed as he flung the front door open and then punched in the code to unlock the gates
"Hi Travis" Taylor smiled innocently and he immediately knew she had known what she was doing, the panic she would cause and his normally controlled temper snapped.
Grabbing her arm he dragged her into the driveway and across the gravel to the garage, placing his fingerprint on the access pad he waited for the door to open before pushing her inside and closing the door behind him
"Well, well, well" she looked at him seductively but he was in no mood for her games.
Backing her up against his car, he took, deep heavy breath after deep heavy breath whilst never breaking their eye contact. She tried to meet his intense gaze and hold it but eventually she broke away first
"If you ever do anything like this again I will..."
"You'll do what detective? That's what you were in Canada right, a detective? When you had a proper job, before you came to work for criminals"
"Yes, and I was also in the special forces, do you know how many ways we learn to inflict pain on the human body?" he stepped closer so their chests were almost touching and he saw her breath catch in her throat as she looked at the naked skin of his chest that was on show due to the buttons he had left open on his shirt
Placing his hands gently around her throat he lowered his lips till they hovered just above hers and when she licked her lips in preparation he knew he had won
"I could snap your neck faster than I could kiss you right now" his voice was low and cold. When you join the army you leave your softness at the door, do not push me Taylor. I do not appreciate being made to look bad in front of my new employer, do it to me again... " he tightened his grip as his lips dropped even closer to hers
" Travis..." he didn't respond, he simply stared down at her, hoping she realised how serious he was about his job and not being made a fool of but she ran her tongue over her lips once more and then blew a breath into his mouth "You're turning me on so bad right now" She chuckled as he pushed his hand roughly into her hair and pulled her away from him
"Do not provoke me Taylor, you won't like what happens next" releasing his grip he stepped away from her, his jaw and features tense, his eyes dark and matt
"Actually detective, I can't wait to see what happens next. Things just got very interesting" and with that she dropped her eye lid into a wink before blowing him a kiss and walking out to face her father wrath
