Shuttered Truth

Fionn

Monday morning rolled around and Lee was due to meet with our marketing team to plan out what photos and videos she needed to shoot. I was glad she'd be around in person today as I'd been bleary-eyed watching screens all weekend. There were no more sightings of the guy we thought was our target but he was likely just planning, setting things up and getting to know her movements and the like.

She arrived promptly at ten and I trailed their group from room to room as they bounced ideas off one another. Sharon, our marketing guru seemed impressed with how Lee was able to translate the club's selling points into visuals almost instantly.

In the rigging room where the suspension play happened my heart almost leapt up my throat when she swiftly climbed up into the gallery above to check out spots for cameras. I watched with raised blood pressure for more reasons than one. She was wearing skin tight leggings in an electric blue that made her eyes pop with a black silk shirt that swung lose around her upper body and just covered her backside.

She slipped it off before she made her climb so that it wouldn't catch in anything and underneath she had a cropped top over her bra. The skin of her midriff was smooth but there were three tattoos that I wanted to get to know up close and personal.

She'd been eyeing up our body art any chance she got so I supposed it figured she might have ink herself. They wrapped up just before one o'clock and my stomach was growling.

She saw Sharon out and then jogged over to where I was pretending not to be watching them.

"I have to go pick up a new camera, fancy getting some lunch with me?" she asked and I nodded like an enthusiastic school boy.

We took the lift down to the private underground carpark. I strode out and headed for my Porsche. She cleared her throat and so I turned. She gestured in the opposite direction.

"We can take my ride. Thanks to Ryan's contact she finally arrived this morning and I can't wait to take her for a spin."

I couldn't see any vehicle but I nodded and followed her around the corner.

"That's your ride?" I asked as she opened the storage container of the Harley-Davidson Street Glide Ultra and took out leathers. The bike was a mix of deep blue, chrome and black leather seats. There was a special passenger area in the back with its own backrest but I wasn't sure I was gonna fit.

She pulled on leather over-trousers and a fitted jacket and my crotch tingled. She was transforming before my eyes into the coolest biker chick I'd ever seen. She left me a for a few minutes and from an old beat up locker she pulled out two helmets and a pretty tattered leather jacket. She could obviously see my reservations about this plan written on my face.

"Looks like it's time for you to trust me. Here put these on."

She hesitated for a split second before she held out the jacket.

I shrugged into it and tears sprang to her eyes but she blinked them away.

"Did it belong to someone special?" I asked quietly and she nodded.

"My Opa. It looks good on you. He'd approve, I think."

She thrust the helmet at me and grabbed hers. She pulled on thick leather gloves the same color as the bike.

She swung her leg over the bike and kicking it off the stand she gestured me on. I swung my leg over the back and settled into the passenger seat. I placed my feet where they were supposed to rest and found my knees almost under my chin. She laughed and pointed to the foot rest further forward. There was room for both of us to use it as her biker boot clad feet were tiny compared to mine. My legs and hers ran flush to one another especially now when she had her feet on the ground, holding the bike steady. How the hell was she doing that with my weight added?

She looked back at me and I gave her a thumbs up.

She revved the engine and vibrations shivered through my body. She eased the bike into movement smoothly. Instinctively I placed my hands on her hips for balance and she tensed for a second and then relaxed.

She wove the bike effortlessly through the city traffic and soon we were pulling up outside a camera shop. I waited outside while she picked up what she needed and me and the bike seemed to attract attention.

I wasn't sure where else she had planned to go and so I fired a quick text to my brothers making my location available if they wanted to keep track of us.

When she came out, stowed her purchase in the storage compartment and then climbed onto drive several male heads turned in our direction with expressions of surprise. I gave them an extravagant wave, swung onto the bike and wrapped my arms around Lee.

She leaned back into me for a few seconds and then we were on the move again, heading for the motorway. As soon as she could she opened the throttle and we sped along. My hands were quickly becoming numb with the cold and so I slipped them into the pockets of her jacket and squeezed just a little.

I watched the road signs and realised she was taking us out of Dublin county and north east into Meath. Before long we were back on smaller roads bordered by hedges, fields and sometimes trees and she pulled back on the speed but she seemed to know where she was going. Finally we came into Trim town and Lee navigated us to a side street and some parking. We stowed the helmets and her gloves but kept the rest of the gear on.

"Where are we going?" I asked and she pointed to a small café across the street. It was quaint and yet modern at the same time but we drew a few worried looks when we entered. We found a table for two in a corner and we ordered the full Irish Breakfast even though it was four in the afternoon. As we ate we chatted and although I knew Lee's background very well having researched it in detail it was lovely to hear her speak about her parents and grandparents, her Opa especially.

The love they'd shared was all too evident in how she remembered him and I envied that a little. While my mother was a loving woman she was the wife of a Mafia member raising three sons and so she never interfered when our strict but fair father needed to teach us a lesson. He wasn't a cruel man but he knew life would be difficult for us and he wanted us to be strong. He did show love, I supposed, in his own way.

At six pm we were gently evicted by the staff who wanted to close up and so we rambled through the town until we reached a river walk. We strolled along in silence for a while and then she began to ask me about my family and upbringing.

It was strange to talk about myself without being able to be fully frank with her so I kept my childhood and teenage years for the most part. When we couldn't see the path any longer we turned and headed back to the bike. As we approached, Lee seemed to be stalling and then her cheeks flushed pink and I wondered what was going on in her head.

"Would you..." she began, glancing up at me, the confident strong woman missing for the moment.

"What?" I asked, lifting her chin with my finger.

"Would you like to find somewhere to stay the night? It's nice being out of the city...I'm not sure I'm ready to go back yet."

I bent my head and pressed my lips to hers and she leaned into the kiss. Her tongue flicked out and ran along my lips and suddenly it wasn't enough. I ran my hands into her hair and held her head slightly to one side so that I could plunder her mouth. She slid her hands under the jacket and up my back over my tight t-shirt, gripping clumps of it in her fists and moaned deep in her throat. A slight flash startled us apart and I glanced up along the dark alley. Lee leaned against the bike and ran her fingers through her long hair.

I pulled out my phone and searched for nearby hotels. I sent the location to her phone and to my brothers at the same time. Lee programmed it into the bike's navigation system and then looked along the street. She pointed to an open shopping center.

"We can pick up some overnight stuff...toothbrushes, fresh underwear and the like," she suggested so we walked hand in hand across the street. I loved the feeling of her smaller hand in mine. The way I surrounded it completely and she held on tight.

The hotel was close by and so we reached it quickly and she parked in the open car park out back.

Lee hung back in the foyer as I went to the reception desk to see if we could get a room for the night. We hadn't discussed it so I asked for a twin room so that at least if she needed it she could have her own bed. She was shifting from foot to foot when I came back to her and I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and guided her to the lifts.

She was such a study of contrasts. A strong independent woman, world-travelled, highly respected in her field of expertise but when it came to personal stuff like say asking for sex she was all shy and unsure.

I let us into the room which was a good size with two beds and an ensuite bathroom.

"I'm gonna grab a quick shower, ok?" she asked and I nodded, not suggesting I join her although I really wanted to.

I kicked off my boots and lay onto the bed nearest the windows. After a few minutes I heard the water come on in the shower and then the most awful out of key singing I'd heard in a long time. Lee was obviously tone deaf but I loved it.

I linked into the hotel wifi making sure it was secure with safeguards on my phone and then I brought up that day's security footage from the club and around Lee's apartment. I was just about to call a halt when I noticed a figure in the same doorway as before across the road. It was definitely our guy and he'd been there around the time we drove off on Lee's bike. He moved quickly out of shot and then a car passed the camera and I was sure he was driving. I tried to enhance the license plate and once I'd snipped it I sent it to Pavel. It wouldn't give us the guy's real identity but it might give us enough to find out where he was staying in Ireland as he'd likely use the same false ID to enter the country, hire a car and book accommodation, hopefully. I put my phone down put one arm behind my head and closed my eyes.

Something jolted me awake and I realized I must have dozed off. I glanced at the bathroom door but it stood open, obviously empty. The bed beside me was empty also. Fuck, where was Lee? I walked around the room and found her phone on the bedside locker. Shit, no way to track her if her phone was here.

"Ok, calm down. Maybe she went for food or drinks or something," I said aloud but the sound of my voice in the empty room only made things worse.

The second room card was missing so I took that as a good sign, that she'd left of her own accord but what if he'd followed us? What if he'd seen her leave the room and snatched her?

I ran the length of the corridor and then took the stairs in jumps of four or so crashing out into the foyer.

"The woman I was with, have you seen her?" I called to the receptionist but it was a different girl.

"Sorry sir, I've just come on."

I strode into the bar which was small and so easily scanned for her black hair in a few seconds.

I turned back into the foyer and was heading for the revolving door when two figures entered. Dónal spotted me and gave me a wide grin.

"Surprise, brother. We decided we'd take a road trip of our own..."

"I can't find her..." I blurted out and ran my hand down over my face. "She isn't in the room but her phone is, so no way to track her. Fuck...I fell asleep..."

Ryan grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me close.

"Calm down. How long ago since you saw her?"

I glanced at my phone.

"Thirty minutes but if you factor in her shower, getting dressed probably fifteen."

"Ok, that's good. Not long. Let's look outside first and then take it from there."

"You don't understand he might have followed us. I saw him in a car on the footage from earlier today."

"Fuck..." Dónal took off towards the doors and we followed. Ryan called to the two-man security team they'd brought along to search the area and I ran around the building to the carpark where we'd parked just in case she'd gone back for something. I almost fell to my knees at what I saw.

"Lee, what the fuck are you doing?" I roared and she turned from the bike.

"What does it look like? It started to rain."

The wind had come up with the rain and it was battling her as she tried to put a waterproof cover over the bike.

"Don't ever do that again," I shouted, spinning her towards me, causing her to lose her grip. The cover blew for a few feet but Ryan caught it and he and Dónal covered the bike. She glanced past me at them with surprise on her face.

"Do what?" she shouted back wriggling out of my grasp.

"Go off without telling me where you are. You scared the shit out of me."

She looked at me like I was insane and I supposed from her perspective where she knew nothing about the danger she was in I could understand but every protective instinct I had was screaming.

"Why would you be scared?" she asked and I lost it. I got right up into her face but she didn't back away.

"Jesus fucking Christ, woman. You've got a fucking stalker...that's seriously dangerous shit. What if he'd been out here, waiting?"

All the color drained from her face and she took a step away from me. Dónal came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. She was drenched from the rain and I didn't know if the shivers running through her was because of that or the fear I'd just provoked.

Ryan stepped between us and grabbed my head in both of his hands.

"Stop. Let's go back inside. She's safe...ease up."

Without letting me look at her he turned me around and began walking me back to the hotel. I could hear Dónal talking softly to Lee as they followed. We all took the stairs back to the room and once we were inside the silence became overwhelming.

I paced along the window on the far side of the room to Lee while Dónal and Ryan dried the three of them off. They wrapped her in a hotel dressing gown and she sat on to the bed right up at the headboard with the pillows hugged to her chest.

"I'm sorry," I said, breaking the silence.

"Was that because of what happened to Callie?" she asked and I sat down on the bed with my back to her and put my head into my hands. My hair dripped onto my jeans.

Ryan and Dónal sank into the available chairs.

"We can't help but feel responsible," Ryan finally answered.

"Why?"

"Because we were supposed to be with her that day. She'd received some nasty threats over social media and we'd agreed to come along to her next speaking event just to keep an eye on her. The night before, though, our mother fell ill and needed to go to hospital. Callie didn't want to let the event down so she insisted that we be with Mam while she attended alone. He snatched her when she was leaving to come to the hospital."

"Guilt...it's a fucking bitch," Lee proclaimed. I remembered how she'd spoken in the documentary about the soldier who had died getting her to safety and I knew she understood.

"No amount of people telling you you're not responsible, it wasn't your fault, there was nothing you could have done or even that shit just happens can take it away. The best you can do is learn to live with it whatever way you can."

I heard rustling behind me and then her arms came around my chest and she pressed her cheek into my back. I covered her hands with mine.

"I'm sorry I scared you but I can't live my life barricaded in because of him."

She moved around me on her knees and then she climbed over my lap and straddled me. She held my head in her hands and leaned back a little so that we could look at one another.

"He's just a stalker, Fionn."

I glanced over my shoulder at Ryan but Dónal shook his head. We had to tell her. We couldn't let her risk herself like this. I turned back but before I could speak her mouth found mine and she ground down into my lap.

"I want to forget about him. I want a few hours when there's nothing scary out there," she leaned around me and reached for my brothers.

"You three can do that for me, can't you?"