Way Back into Love ↪ Owen Grady

fourteen ↪ evacuate

    I quickly grabbed my phone and dialed my brother's number first thing. He picked up right away. "Elle, where are you?? We're evacuating, what's going on?! Is some dinosaur loose?!"

    "What? No. Where are they taking you?"

    "I have no idea! Wait.." he huffed. "Visitors center"

    "Okay, just stay there and follow orders" I demanded.

    "Elle, one more thing!" Nick hurried. "Tell Owen not to get too close, Dyson is looking for him and he's not exactly happy"

    I glanced up at the raptor trainer in confusion but he was already in serious mode. Question for another time. I followed him closely and helped him evacuate the area. I guided a bunch of kids, couples, and families, still wondering how the heck the visitors center was going to fit them all.

    InGen squads were wearing military equipment, belts filled up with any kind of weapon, both lethal and not. I hurried to the door and let more people into the facility. I spotted Claire running in my direction with some more, so I held the door open for them.

    "Thank you" she brushed her hand against my arm, clearly out of breath for running around too much.

    "What now?"

    "They take blood samples from our dinosaurs and use it for their sick researches"

    I frowned. "And we let them?"

    "Of course not. You're standing with us?" she dropped a backpack I didn't even notice she was carrying and took out some navy blue long-sleeve shirts.

    "Count me in"

    The redhead nodded with a small smile and threw both me and Owen a shirt each. She then pulled me by my arm and carried me behind a souvenirs shop so we could change into it. After I shoved the shirt over my head, Claire frowned at me for some reason. — "I'm sorry I kissed Owen" she blurted out randomly. "I don't know what came over me. I was over the line."

    "Why are you telling me?" I wasn't planning on meeting her gaze, so I kneeled to the backpack and placed my sweater in.

    "Because you.."

    I looked up and raised an eyebrow. She was not going to say what I thought she was going to say, now, was she?

    "I mean, you know" she shrugged awkwardly.

    "I don't"

    "Hey!" Owen called from the main street. "We're on!"

    Claire and I followed him to the meeting spot, which was basically just the rounded area by the Mosasaurus' exhibit. The two of us were exchanging info about the mission when Owen randomly took off his shirt without any notice whatsoever. I widened my eyes and involuntarily sucked in a sharp breath, I fought really hard to look away. Seriously, dude?!

    "Maybe we should talk about important stuff, you know, just in case" Claire rambled nonchalantly.

    "What important stuff?" Owen asked, struggling with the new shirt. Was he for real?!

    "You know what important stuff"

    "You mean how we're going to stop those armed guys from shoving a big-ass needle in our dinosaurs?" I asked confused.

    "Our dinosaurs, huh?" Owen smiled smugly, his teeth showing. At least now he had the damn shirt on.

    "What are you going to do about it?" I teased before noticing how I was so shamelessly flirting with him.

    "I'm coming up with some things" he continued with the same vibe.

    "Get a room, you two" Claire unnecessarily said with a chuckle. I looked away real quick and coughed nervously.

    "Claire Dearing?" an unknown voice asked. The redhead eyed me for a second before the InGen squad stopped in front of us, five of them.

    "Present" she confidently answered.

    "Owen Grady?" the same man, James said the name tag, asked. Owen nodded so he drew an x on his checklist. He then glanced up and locked his sight on me. "And you are..?"

    I instantly froze, not knowing what to say. Technically I didn't even work there. I opened my mouth to say something that never came out. Owen jumped in right away, stretching his arm out in front of me for protection. — "This is Elle Jonas, my assistant"

    "Hold on until we confirm your info" James informed us before walking away.

    Saying I was starting to get really scared would be an understatement. These people were an actual military force. They knew their facts. They were going to find out about our bullshit in less than five minutes. Was I going to get arrested? What about Owen? False statement or something.

    "It's okay, we've got this" Claire's tone softened as she unexpectedly held my hand in hers.

    "But I-" before I could finish my sentence, James walked back.

    "You're good to go" he just said with a nod, going back to the rest of the military squads.

    I furrowed my eyebrow confused, what had just happened? Claire grinned and shrugged, pointing at Owen. I waited for her to go up to Roger and Lowery, their hands full of non-lethal gadgets, probably exchanging strategies or something.

    "What was that?" I shifted my attention to Owen, who was now down on his knees lacing up his boots.

    "Oh, I didn't tell you? I hired you earlier today" he kept his head low but it was clear he was low-key smiling.

    "You what? You can do that?" I gasped.

    "No" he let out a throaty laugh as he stood up straight and glanced down at me in the softest way. "But I can't not do it either"

    "Wait, Roger-"

    "Roger is a pain in the ass" he shrugged. "I filled his office with documents and they legally couldn't say no, so.."

    I genuinely didn't know what to say, but there was this one thing I wanted to do so badly. I locked my gaze upon him and literally threw myself at him. I wrapped my arms around his torso and hugged him tightly. Owen wrapped me up right away and held me even tighter, his chin placed on my head.

    "You're welcome, shorty" he let out a muffled chuckle.

    "Yes, thank you" I mouthed against his chest, not even sure if he could hear it.

    I was the first to let go of the hug. I didn't want to be inappropriate. I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable because I was making it too long. Owen softly glanced down at me one more time. — "Let's go kick some butts"