Running to Declan

Chapter Two

I stretched my body and yawned before opening my eyes. As soon as I realized I was not in my bed I jumped up and looked around. No one was in here with me and the room looked like a spare bed room. It only housed a bed, dresser and closet. I searched for my backpack and it was nowhere to be found. I caught a glimpse of myself in the dressers mirror and was surprised at how good I looked. I was clean with my dark brown hair shiny and my blue eyes sparkling. There was no trace of the wreck on my body but a small scar on my knee.

I panicked and threw open the bedroom door. I had to find my bag and get the hell out of here. I must have been out of it for weeks.

I heard someone in the kitchen as it came into view and I peeked around the corner to see who it was. A young girl maybe my age or younger was standing there making food. It smelled amazing and my stomach growled to let me know it noticed.

I didn't trust her though and searched for a weapon to scare her into telling me where my bag was. I picked up a glass candle holder on the table beside me and walked in the kitchen.

The pretty blonde girl twirled around gracefully and smiled like she knew me. "There you are! I was wondering when you were going to wake up!" She said perked up.

I held the holder out in front of me like it was a knife. "Where's my bag?" I demanded.

Her pretty smile faded as she looked at my hand. "I don't have it, my brother does. Let me call him and get it for you." She said as she went for the phone. I couldn't let her do that. I didn't know who had me and how I even got here.

"Don't! Where am I and how did I get here?" I demanded.

She stopped half way and sighed. Her green eyes locked with mine and she sat down at the counter. "All I know is that Declan dropped you off here late last night and told me to take care of you. I don't usually ask a lot of questions so I cleaned you up and put you in my spare room."

I was confused. How long did he have me until he decided to drop me off with her? And who was Declan?

"Who is Declan?"

"My brother," She said lovingly. "And I'm Mena."

"Well Mena, I need to get out of here. Could you give me a ride to town?" I asked as I dropped the candle holder to my side. I realized she was no threat to me and I wasn't getting my bag back.

Mena smiled and jumped up excitedly and nodded. I followed her outside and got into her small Honda. Nothing looked familiar so I felt better that I wasn't back in Richland. That was Calvin's area and he ran everything in it. I heard his family is the one who bought the whole place and turned it into a well-developed town after a couple centuries.

Mena never spoke to me in the car and dropped me off five minutes later in the middle of town. She seemed overly excited about bringing me so I chopped it up to she couldn't wait to get rid of me.

As she pulled away, she waved. I stood there on the curb and watched her leave until she was out of sight. Behind me was Highlands Diner. I was starving and regretted not eating before we left. I walked in and no one payed me any attention as I sat at the counter.

A nice older lady smiled brightly and grabbed a menu as she approached. "How can I help you sweetheart?" she asked putting the menu in front of me.

"Oh, a cup of water and a small stack of pancakes, please," I said sweetly. I had no money and hated that I was going to have to walk out on this one but I planned on returning one day to pay them back.

"Coming right up," she said as she turned to the cook to give him my order. As I waited, I took in my surroundings and the place started to look packed. People were coming in and still no one paid me much attention. I felt safe. I wouldn't be for long though. Not after I was going to run after I eat.

Lost in my thoughts, a man sat right beside me taking up a lot of space. I thought about moving down one space but another sat on the other side of me. My heart began racing as I took a quick glance to my right, then left. I had never seen them before but I was taken back by their looks. It was like they stepped off the cover of GQ magazine.

The waitress smiled at them brightly and brought me my pancakes and water. "Well good morning, Declan. How's everything since you just finished your house? She asked standing in front of him.

I stiffened. Declan? Oh hell! Things were about to turn ugly. I scarfed as much as I could down as he explained to her the pain of hiring outside help. I got up and asked her where the bathroom was.

"Just to your right sweetly, down the hall."

I walked to the door and looked back before going in. All three was staring after me and Declan had a slight smirk on his face. I was screwed now unless there was a window in this bathroom. There wasn't. I fell to the bathroom floor exhausted. What was I doing? I had nowhere to run and no money to help me. I was reduced to stealing food and taking advantage of a kind lady. But my life depended on this.

I walked out and went straight for the front door. The kind lady waved bye to me and I was confused. Why wasn't she yelling at me and where did those men go? I found out as soon as I got outside. There he was standing there leaning up against a black SUV. His golden hair shined in the morning sun and half expected a halo to be there. His green eyes were piercing and watching me as I checked him out.

"You have my bag?" I asked bluntly, waiting on him to move. I knew there was no chance I was getting away if I ran. I don't even know if he would chase me but I was too tired to run.

"I do," came his simple response but nothing else. He wanted me to keep talking.

"Can I have it back, please?"

He opened the back door of the vehicle and motioned for me to get in. There was no way I was doing that! I shook my head. "Are you crazy? Just give me my bag back!" I demanded.

He sighed and started coming at me. "Don't move, River. I'm not going to harm you." He soothed.

And that's the first thing I did. I took off but only made it a few steps. He had me so fast that the next thing I knew I was in the back seat of the vehicle and he shut the door.