The Chase by Amber Riel (love story books to read .TXT) 📕

          “First down on your new feet?” he asked with a smile.

          I looked at him and kind of blushed.  He was as attractive then as he was now but he didn’t seem like such a jerk.  His hair was long then and I believed that was why I had recognized him.   I was kind of embarrassed because of my clumsiness with the shoes but as I looked at him, he just smiled.  I wanted to melt into that smile of his it was so beautiful.  “I guess you can say that,” I replied.  “I’m not big on high heels or dresses for that matter.”

          “Here…. I’ll help you.”  He led me out of the room as we smiled at everyone who I felt like wanted to laugh at me for my moment of clumsiness.

          Louis walked with me to the buffet.

I was so confused at reading the names I just decided to grab a plate and take whatever had looked good. 

“Need any help with the names?” Louis asked.

“No,” I replied.  “I know what I’m going to do.”

“Okay.”

I went to grab for what seem to be like a sandwich when Louis stopped me.

“Do you like sea food?”

“No,” I answered.

“Then you won’t like that.”

“Okay.  Then what will I like?”

Louis looked around then back at me.  “Give me your plate.”

I handed him the small round plate, kind of confused.  The next thing I know he was filling both my plate and his plate up with all kinds of things.  Some of the stuff didn’t seem too appetizing but I wasn’t going to say anything if Louis knew what he was getting.

Lainie walked up next to me and stared at me.  She held a plate of mac ‘n’ cheese and some bread crumbs sprinkled on top.  “Aren’t you going to eat anything?” she asked me.

I smiled at her question.  “Yea but your uncle is working on getting our plates because I don’t know what I would like.”

“Oh…. Uncle Louis knows food,” Lainie replied.  “Sometimes when he’s not working he signs up to be a food critic….”

“Really?”

“Yea.”  She nodded.  “He does it at random times for the newspaper company.”

“Wow…. I didn’t know that.”

Lainie nodded again.  “Can we go sit down?  It’s probably going to be a little while knowing Uncle Louis.”

“Yea but hold on.”  I looked up and Louis had moved a few tables down, examining the food and deciding what would be good to try.  I worked my way over to him, trying not to run into anyone.  “Me and Lainie are going to sit down okay.”

“Yea that’s fine go sit down.  I’ll be there in a minute.”

I kind of smiled as I backed into someone.  “I’m sorry,” I said as I turned around to see the creepy cab driver from the day before.

He smiled creepily as he seen me.  “Hello again, baby.”

I back quickly looked back to see that Louis was still behind me.  In a way, I was relieved but at the same kind fear started growing.  “Louis,” I whispered.

Louis looked up at me and he could see the fear in my eyes.  “What’s wrong?”

“That…. Uh…. I….” I couldn’t speak the fear was keeping the words from leaving my mouth.  I pointed to the cab driver who had turned his attention away from us.  “That guy…. He was the cab driver who drove me and Lainie back to the mansion…. He’s very strange and creepy.”

Louis eyed the man and even though the man wasn’t facing us he seemed to think that there was something off about that man as well.  “I’ll talk to the waiter about giving us something for the food…. We need to get out of here.  We need to get to Lainie fast.”

I nodded.

Louis took both plates and I followed him back to the table where Lainie had found her way.  She had started eating when she looked up at us with a wide smile.  “Hey.”

“Lainie, we need to leave,” Louis replied.

“But I’m eating,” the child sounded disappointed.

“Lainie, look,” Louis dropped down on both knees as he spoke, “this is an emergency.  We need to leave, now.  I’ll talk to the waiter about getting us bags.”

“How are you going to do that?  This is a buffet they don’t do doggy bags.”  I was kind of confused.

“They will if they know that we need to leave.”  Louis spotted the waiter and motioned for the boy to come over to us.

When the boy was standing at our table, Louis had explained the situation to him and the boy nodded as he understood.  The boy left and returned with containers filled for the food. 

“Thank you.”  Louis took the containers and stuffed the food into them in a hurry and we left as soon as possible.

          Louis sat with us in our room as we ate.  He kept glancing out of the window and I was assuming he was keeping an eye out for that creepy guy.  “I’m probably going to stay in here with you tonight,” he said as his eyes stared out of the window.

          “We’ll be fine,” I told him.

          He raised an eyebrow as his beautiful blue eyes locked with mine.  “That guy could have followed us back here…. Are you really that stupid?”

          “I’m not stupid,” I retorted.  “I just think that you’ll probably get better sleep tonight if you were in your room…. I don’t think that you’ll get any sleep in here.  Besides, I can defend us if needed to.”

          He kept staring with his brow raised.  “I won’t get any sleep, knowing that guy is out there.  I have to protect you and Lainie at all costs…. I’m not going to leave you two alone knowing that guy could break in here and do things….”

          We both knew what he meant but he was keeping his words clean for Lainie’s sake.  We both knew what could happen but I felt better if he was in his room instead of in there with us all night.  “Look we both know what could happen but we have to risk it.”

          “Risk it?”  Louis shook his head.  “You have no idea what I have to deal with…. If something happens to you or Lainie, how am I supposed to tell Ron?”

          I stared at the table, knowing he was right but I didn’t want to admit defeat.  I kept quiet for the next few moments.

          “How would I be able to tell Ron that I listened to you because you wanted to risk it?  I wouldn’t be able to do…. I wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye if something happened.”

          I sighed.  “I understand that but come on do you really want to deal with me for the night?”

          He looked away as if he had considered that thought.  “I just don’t want anything to happen to Lainie….”

          I looked at him feeling that there was more to his sentence that he couldn’t bring himself to admit, dealing with me.  “Please just this time?”

          He took a deep breath then turned his gaze back over toward me.  “Alright…. Just this time but if anything happens, your accountable…. Got it?”

          I nodded in agreement.

          I stayed up a little bit laying in one bed while I let Lainie sleep in the other.  I had the little light on next to my bed as I thought about everything.  So far nothing had happened so I was glad that I was proving Louis wrong.  No one came in who didn’t belong and nothing odd had happened.  I took a deep breath and released a sigh as I turned out the light.  I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep when I heard the door open and close.  “Everything things fine, Louis, you can go back to your room,” I said, kind of yawning.

          “Your boyfriend’s not here,” another man’s voice replied.

          My eyes fluttered open and I had a feeling I knew who the man was.

          The man kind of laughed evilly as I watched the dark figure move closer to my bed.

          Fear crept through me.  I didn’t want to wake Lainie up because I was afraid that she would be his next target if I said anything.

          “Hey there, baby.  Did you miss me?” the creepy cab driver asked as he climbed on top of my bed and worked his way above me.

          Crap, Louis was right, I thought to myself.  I went to open my mouth to let out a scream but the man quickly covered my mouth his bony left hand.

          “Ssshhh, baby,” he whispered into my ear as he leaned in to kiss my cheek.  “There there, that’s a good girl.”

          I felt tears streaming down my face as he leaned closer.  Our faces where practically touching.  I wanted to scream my head off but the fear of what the man might do flew through my mind.  His breath smelled like alcohol and drugs and the touch of his skin felt like I was touch a living skeleton.  He removed his hand from my mouth and I clamped my lips under my teeth as he leaned in and kissed me.

          “Aww come on, baby, now what kind of kiss is that?” he asked, eerily.

          He moved his hand down to my thigh and started to slide his hand under my shirt when….

          “Get off of her,” Louis demanded as he stood in the door.

          “Aww looks like your boyfriend caught us…. That’s okay, I’ll get rid of him.”

          “I said, ‘Get off of her,’” Louis said as he knocked the man down on the floor.  He fought with the man as they rolled off of the bed.  “Sam, get Lainie and go into the main office.”

          “But---”

          “No buts,” Louis replied as his fist went into the creepy man’s jaw.

          I nodded and moved over to Lainie’s bed.  I hadn’t realized that she was even awake.  I could see tears and terror in her eyes as the confusion made its way into the room.  I felt worse than I ever had, knowing it was my fault and I should have listened to Louis but by my own stupidity I didn’t want to believe it.  “It’s okay, Lainie,” I whispered to her as I picked her up and had her hide her face in my shoulder so she didn’t have to watch the fight.  I was surprised how light she felt as I hurried out of the room.  She wasn’t big but I had figured that her weight would be a bit heavier than I thought.

          I ran to the main office, opening the door and rushed Lainie over to a small little brown leather couch.

          “Is everything alright, ma’am?” the clerk asked, worried had been in his voice.

          I looked over at the