He looked at her now.
“If I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t be naked in your bed.”
Her own vulnerability stared back at her.
She kissed him, trying to tell him with her body that he had no reason to worry.
Later, after making love to him again, Karen drifted off to sleep nestled in his arms.
The sound of angry voices outside the hotel door jolted her awake, and the door to their room was kicked open.
“Police. Hands up.”
Zach covered Karen with the blanket and placed himself between her and the flashlight peering in on them. From beyond the door, he heard Becky screaming, Nolan cussing.
“What the hell?” he yelled.
“Hands up.”
The black barrel of a gun stared down at them, a uniformed police officer held it.
“Karen Jones?”
Karen held the covers to her chest with one hand while the other was half in the air. Zach kept his hands visible as he shielded Karen the best he could.
“Yes?”
“Zach Gardner?”
“Yes?”
The officer spoke behind him. “It’s them.”
Another officer pushed into the room and swept his arm in an arc with his pistol pointed at them.
“What’s this about?”
“You’re under arrest.”
Zach’s heart kicked in his chest. “For what?”
“Kidnapping.”
“Kidnapping?” Karen yelled. “What are you talking about?”
The second officer walked through the small room, appeared to conclude there wasn’t any threat, and holstered his gun.
“No! Leave him alone!” Becky’s frantic voice outside the door reached Zach’s ears.
“Becky?” Karen yelled from beside him. “Oh, God…her parents. Zach?”
The realization that those rough waters they’d talked about earlier were crashing all around them settled over him. “You have this all wrong!” he told the cops.
“Save it for the station.”
“Out of the bed,” one of the cops said.
The closest cop waved his gun between Karen and him. “Step out of the bed slowly,” he instructed Zach.
The fact they were both naked and clearly not a threat didn’t seem to dawn on the officer.
Zach didn’t move. “Can you give Karen her clothes?”
One of them picked up her shirt, held it in his fingertips. “You, out.”
With his hands in the air, Zach slid from the bed. “We’ll straighten this all out,” he told Karen.
Only Karen didn’t seem to be listening to him. Her attention was beyond the door of the hotel and on Becky’s receding voice as someone obviously led her away. The sheets had fallen along Karen’s waist, her br**sts exposed to the men in the room.
The primal need to shelter her rose up in him.
“Give her the shirt!”
His words snapped the cop out of his thoughts, and Karen’s shirt sailed through the air. She swept it on. “How about my pants?”
“Step from the bed.”
Their guns were still drawn, which made Zach’s brain itch.
“We’re not armed. Jesus.”
“That’s not what we were told. Step from the bed Ms. Jones.”
“Dammit.”
“It’s OK, Zach.” Karen kicked the sheets away and stood before the police half-naked. Her cheeks flushed. “Happy? Can I have my pants now?”
Nerves fired over every inch of Zach’s skin.
To the cops’ credit, they weren’t staring at Karen, and one was already reaching for her pants and patting them down. Once he was convinced there weren’t any hidden weapons in the clothing, he tossed the pants to Karen.
Only when she was clothed did Zach address his naked state. He pulled on a pair of jeans, stood by, watched as the officer twisted Karen around and slapped her wrists with metal cuffs. Never mind that they were doing the same thing to him. It was Karen and the look of horror on her face that would stay with him.
A third cop entered the room and started stripping the bed, dumping the overnight bags. “Where’s the gun?”
“What gun?” Zach asked. “We don’t have any weapons. You have this all wrong.”
“Don’t let Becky’s parents take her. She’s not safe with them.” Karen’s voice wavered.
The police exchanged glances.
The police officer closest to Zach grabbed his arm. “You have the right to remain silent…”
He didn’t hear anything the man said. His focus was on Karen.
Karen’s focus was on the door. “Her parents beat her. Please. Don’t let them leave with her.”
Becky screamed from outside.
Handcuffed, Karen started for the door. The officer closest to her grabbed her arm and swung her against the wall. The crack of Karen’s face against the hard surface had Zach pushing against the cop holding him.
“Karen? Fuck, leave her alone.”
“Get him out of here.”
Two cops grabbed each of Zach’s arms and shoved him out the door and into the night. He struggled against them, looking over his shoulder to witness them leading Karen out behind him. A small trickle of blood ran down her face from a cut above her eye.
Outside, police cars were parked everywhere. He saw Nolan in the back of a squad car.
Bystanders were surrounding the scene, flashes of light filled the night as someone took pictures.
His eyes saw stars as he tried to adjust to the flashing.
Karen continued to yell at the police to keep Becky safe, even as they were shoving her in the back of a waiting car.
Right as someone pushed Zach in to a separate car, his eyes fell on a lone, familiar figure in the crowd.
Tracey?
A strange satisfied smirk played on her face.
Her head throbbed, and her heart ached. How had this happened?
Nolan was in a holding cell, probably separate from Zach, and the police were shoving her fingers on a computer screen and telling her to hold still for the camera, and Becky wasn’t anywhere in sight.
A female officer handled her from the time she entered the police station. With her, Karen thought maybe she could get through. “I don’t care what you do with me, but you have to keep Becky away from her parents. She’s not safe.”
“Ms. Jones. Right now, you need to think about yourself. Kidnapping, resisting arrest, harboring a criminal.”
“Harboring a criminal? What are you talking about?” As for resisting…well, she couldn’t argue that without a lawyer.
“Turn to the right.”