The Chase - Amber Riel (books for 5 year olds to read themselves txt) 📗

around my shoulder, pulling me back with him.  “We stopped at a couple of hotels before but the second night some guy broke into Sam and Lainie’s room so I had to teach him a lesson…. I got ahold of George and it turns out that guy was part of the whole break into your house deal…. He ratted out the other guys so there’s three still out there….” He sighed.  I knew what he was going to tell Ron he didn’t really want to tell him but he knew he had to.  “Someone had set your mansion on fire…. We’ve a feeling that it was one of the guys who broke in but not quite sure…. Also Kathleen was in the mansion at the time of the fire….”

          “Kathleen?  Is she okay?”

          Louis looked at Ron and shook his head.  “She pasted away yesterday.”

          Ron rubbed his head and leaned back as he thought about it.  “That’s horrible…. I hope she didn’t have to die alone…. She was such a sweet and caring person.”

          “I’m sorry man.”

          Ron shook his head as Annie walked into the room.  “What’s going on?” she asked.

          “Just talking,” Ron replied.  “Um…. If you two don’t mind can we change the subject?” he asked Louis and me.

          I nodded.

          “Go head.”

          “Good…. Look at the two love birds, honey,” he said as he tilted his head toward us with a smile.

          Annie returned the smile as she looked at us.  “I know…. I’m so happy for them.”

          Ron nodded as he gestured for Annie to walk over to him.  She laughed and worked her way next to him as he pulled her down in his lap and kissed her cheek.  “When this is all said and done, I think the four of us should go on a double date…. What do you think, honey?”

          “I think that would be amazing.”  She looked over at us and kept her smile.  “Have you two had the chance to go out yet?  Just the two of---”

          “Yes,” Louis replied with a nod.  “We stopped by Carmen’s right before we actually started dating and well you know how Carmen…. She’s just like you…. The day after we told her she had planned for us to go out and even dressed Sam up for me….” He shook his head as he laughed.  “She kept an eye on Lainie for us.”

          “That sounds like Carmen,” Annie replied with a laugh.

          “Sounds like you, honey,” Ron replied.  “I wouldn’t be surprised if you and Carmen had them preparing a wedding….”

          Annie’s mouth dropped at the idea with a wide smile.

          “It’s too soon for a wedding, Annie,” Louis replied as he watched the excitement grow on her face.

          I shook my head and covered my face with my hand as I tried to keep myself from laughing.

          “I know but in the future…. Awe…. You two are so amazing together…. See I knew it but you two wouldn’t listen to me…. So when did it happen?”

          I looked over at Louis with a worried look.  We had told Ron that we would change the subject but the first kiss we had shared was at the mansion while it was on fire and that was when we had actually moved our relationship to the step.  How were we going to get out over?

          “You don’t want to know,” Louis replied.

          “Oh come on…. Tell me….”

          “You really don’t want to know, Annie.”

          “Oh come on just tell me…. I’m curious…. Please.”

          Louis sighed.  “Okay but you’re not going to like it.”  He locked eyes with me for a moment then turned his attention toward Annie who was waiting eagerly for an explanation.  “Well while we were at Carmen’s, Carmen had taken Lainie out to get some new clothes but that’s another story for another time though…. Anyways….”

          Annie nodded.

          “We talked for a little while but that’s not when we moved our relationship to the next level….” He sighed.

          Annie smiled as she bit her bottom lip.

          “Later that day I had gotten a call from my boss, he told me that the mansion…. The mansion was on fire….”

          Annie’s smile turned into the frown at the sound of what had happened to the place she had called home.

          “Anyways I was going to go alone but Sam talked me bringing her with me…. I’m going to jump through some parts because it’s horrifying and I don’t think you want to know everything right now…. Well, Sam had watched me run into the burning building…. When I came back she was covering her eyes because of whatever she had seen…. I let her know that I was there and of course she was crying and mad…. I wrapped her up in a hug to help her calm down but she wouldn’t shut up so we kissed and we’ve been together ever since….”

          “The mansion was on fire?” Annie’s eyes filled with tears as she looked up at us.  “Was anyone hurt?”

          Louis dropped his head.  “Kathleen was the only one…. At least the only one I know who was there at the time….”

          “Is she okay?”

          Louis shook his head.  “She didn’t make it…. She fought for two days but died yesterday.”

          “Oh my gosh…. I’m happy for the both of you but to know…. I’m sorry.”

          Ron wrapped both of his arms around Annie and pulled her toward him as he wiped tears from her eyes.  “It’s alright…. She’s in a better place now,” he spoke softly.  Those were the same words Louis had spoken to me when he told me the news or about the same words.

          I could only imagine what they were going through.  She probably had treated them like family.

          “I’m sorry, Ron, but she wanted to know and there was no way of getting around it like Carmen would.”

          Ron nodded.  “I know…. Hey it’s been a long day and now that everyone’s finally here why don’t we all just get some sleep…. How’s that sound for everyone?”

          Louis and I both nodded in agreement while Annie stood up and Ron followed her out of the room.

          “Good night you two,” he told us as the left.

          “Good night,” Louis and I replied.

          “Oh and, Louis, Sam’s room is next to the one that you usually sleep in can you show her where it is?”

          “Yea.”

 

          Louis held my hand as he walked me down the long dark hall and pointed to the doors telling me where each door led as we walked past them.  He had me stop when we come to two doors on the left.  “This is my room,” he said he opened the door to show me.  It was a deceit size room with a couple of dressers and a bed in front of the wall with a window at the opposite end of us.  He then had me move over as he opened the door next to it.  “This is your room.”

The room looked about the same as his room had although there was a window on the furthest side wall to us.

“If you need me for any reason, I’ll be in my room.”  He kissed my forehead.  “Good night, Sam.”

“Good night, Louis,” I replied as I walked into my room.  I closed the door behind and looked around.  It was dark except for the moonlight which shone in through the window.  I sighed and walked over to my bed and removed my shoes.  I climbed in bed and my tired eyes closed.

I sat in some kind of freezing cold small jail cell.  My hands were tied together by some kind of rope.  I looked around dazed and confused.  Fear was working its way into my heart as tears filled my eyes.  I had no clue where I was or how I had even found my way into the room.  The metal tall door opened and three grown men walked in.  Two of the men were the bikers from before and the third man was the taxicab driver.  My eyes looked around wildly as they circled around me.

          “Hey there, baby.  Did you miss me?” the taxicab driver asked in that evil eerie tone.  He began laughing.  “It looks like your boyfriend isn’t around to save you, baby.”  He sat next to me and touched my face with his dark dirt filled fingers as I tried to turn my head away from him.  “If he really cared, he wouldn’t have let you fall into our hands.”

          “What do you want with me?” I asked, tears crawling down my cheeks.

          “I just want you,” he said as he leaned in and kissed my cheek.  He placed a hand on my waist and slid it down to the opening of my shirt.  “This time he isn’t going to be able to stop me.  I’m going to get what I want, baby.”  He kissed me as he began to slide his hand up my shirt like he had the night at the hotel.

          I quickly sat up and looked around the room.  My heart was racing from the nightmare.  I closed my eyes for a brief moment and stood up.  I worked my way out of the room and walked over to the room Louis was in.  I knocked lightly so I didn’t wake anyone else up.

          “Come in, Sam,” I barely heard Louis’s voice from the other side of the door.

          I twisted the door nod and walked into the room.  I had closed the door behind me.

          Louis was just starting to sit up on the bed as he looked at me.  “Another nightmare?”

          “Yes,” I replied.

          “Come here.”

          I walked over to him and sat next to him on the bed.

          He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead.  “You’ll be alright.  What happened?  And you still haven’t told me about the other nightmare you had last night as well.”

          “Well, the one from last night the biker with the scar on his face was going to try to force me into….”

          “Oh you don’t have to say any more,” he replied as he understood what I was going to continue to say.  “What about the one just now?”

          I sighed.  “Both of the bikers and the taxicab driver were in it…. I was their prisoner and the taxicab driver was going to pick up where he left off that night in the hotel…. It felt so really, Louis….”

          “I can tell…. You’re shaking from fear,” Louis replied.  “Lay back down and get some sleep…. But don’t get use to this too much now…. I’m not going to let this happen every night,” he said, kind of laughing.

          “I’ll try not to.”

          “Good.”  He had his left arm resting under my waist and I placed my right hand in his left hand.  “Good night, honey.”  I felt his soft lips kiss my right temple.  He placed the comforter and the sheet over us to keep us warm.  He wrapped his right arm around me and grabbed my left hand in his so that I was locked in his arms.

          I slowly drifted off as dreamland began to move me out of reality and into another world of the unbelievable.

 

          “Louis, Sam,” I heard Ron’s voice reach into my dream as I slowly opened my eyes.

          “Huh?” I barely spoke as my blurry vision became clear.  I sat up in the bed and looked over at Ron who was raising his left furry brown eyebrow.

          “Look…. I probably wouldn’t say this if it wasn’t for Lainie but I’d prefer if you two didn’t share a bed while you’re not married.”

          I opened my mouth to speak but Louis was up and began talking instead.

          “I understand…. We understand that, but Sam had a nightmare last night and I let her come in here to talk about it…. We must have fallen asleep