TWISTED MATES

Episode 12

Freya thought hard and good to call Jake and apologize for running off. Tried to say something to him. She just wanted to hear his voice and get some kind of comfort from him. Freya knew that talking to Jake will exchange her anger and give her lots of support. When that happened, she'd lose it completely.

She'd attempted to go see her boss's wife. With her, Freya could pour out her heart and find sympathy, but also sage, clear-eyed advice. She knew the world, and she'd tell Freya what to do. Except she hadn't been home. If Freya had stopped to think about it, she would have realized that. She was at the gallery helping her husband because Freya wasn't there for the big exhibit opening. Her boss was probably even now firing Freya. Even with her refuge, she couldn't tell her the entire truth. And Freya didn't care. Her past was a huge secret that hunted her.

Nothing mattered right now. Not her sitting in her driveway in a car that wasn't hers, not her mascara-blotched face, not the black lines that dropped from her cheeks to her pretty and expensive dress.

She'd been so sure that Dante and his people wouldn't find her. Her future was certain until this happened. Jake was a reflection of what she wanted her future home to be; peaceful, loving, carefree, fun and attentive. She found completion in Jake. Financially, emotionally and sexually. Freya questioned herself most times if she truly deserved a man like Jake.

Freya before she settled down moved around constantly, trying not to leave a stable trace of her existence to the wolves. She always had that feeling that they were after her. Often, she would wake up at midnight and take off. She has moved to the highs, lows, and unthinkable. For every part that people found unbearable, Freya had fright, anxiety, trust issues and sleeping disorders. All these ended when she met Jake. Now, she was risking it all and putting everything she loved in the middle. If they could have found her, then, she was no longer safe anywhere.

Jake represented stability, and ambition, a man who wouldn't lose everything on the next turn of a card or on a horse that had long odds to win, who wouldn't leave a wife high and dry. Freya's dead family was a vacuum and Jake was a source that filled it.

But now that pillar and stability was at risk and about crumbled, plunging Freya into pain and uncertainty.

Jake has never endangered her in any way, but she has done so now to him. She betrayed him and stabbed what they stood for.

How long was she going to keep secrets from him? From day one, she knew that Jake felt the withdrawal from her but gave her time and understanding, wishing that she will open up. Had Freya been so blinded by her need for Jake's stability that she hadn't noticed that one day, her past would catch up with her?

And to have such an innocent, awesome person endangered before a man she would give everything to see his end.

"Oh no." Freya scraped tears from her eyes with an already sodden tissue. "The poor guy. I left him abruptly." her innocence blamed her for doing so to Jake.

She'd have to go back. This was Jake's favorite car anyway. Much as she wanted to run it off the road, or maybe push it into a deep, muddy creek, she had enough sense to know that it wasn't the car or Jake's fault that such happened to her. Doing so made her no different from her tormentors. She has let out her anger enough in the open that if she continued dwelling on the negativity of today, she wouldn't stand to her feet and restrategize.

Freya dragged her foot back into the car. Surely, Jake would be worried sick and frustrated about her whereabouts. She needed to go back to him, despite how difficult.

Freya started the car.

"Are you Freya?" a male voice said almost in her ear.

Freya bit back a scream. A dark-haired man peered in through the open driver's-side window at her, regarding her with a pair of very blue eyes. Behind him stood another man, just as tall but without as much bulk, younger. A flash of strong muscles showed above the T-shirt of the man staring at her. They looked like bodyguards.

"Is there a problem?" Freya asked him, wiping her eyes again. She had no way of knowing how the bodyguards knew her, but she was worried about them and was already fidgeting. At the moment, she couldn't trust anyone.

"Am I in some kind of trouble?" she asked again.

The men blinked once in surprise, then he masked that surprise like a master.

Freya had worked for a while now in the art business, which involved selling high-dollar goods. Those who bought and sold learned to school the faces and words of customers to make the most profit or spend the least amount of money. And most times, body language spoke volumes. This man was telling her he knew all about body language but could manipulate it to serve his ends.

"I'm Edward," the man said. "You need to come with us back home. The boss is worried, and sick about you. He has to see you."

"Boss? Come with you?" Freya gasped. "By boss, do you mean Jake?"

"Yes, ma'am," the man said, his British accent becoming more pronounced. "He has been throwing a fit that he wouldn't be at peace until he sees you."

"And who are you," Freya asked in astonishment.

"Oh, forgive my manners, ma'am. I am Edward and this," pointing to the man behind him, "is Lucas. We are your new guards."

"Guards." She bent her head against the steering wheel. "Jake and not discussing things with me," she mumbled.

Too exhausted to even disobey or throw a fit, "sure. Let's go back home. Today has been a terrible day," she muttered the last bit to herself.