Awake

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Slow down.  Slow down. Slowdownslowdownslowdown….

She kept trying to calm herself, forcing her legs to slow down as she made it into the thick crowd of patrons flooding the park for a late fall festival.  She chose this city to disappear into because of the lack of technology with a high population density.  She was a stranger, but she didn’t stick out like a sore thumb like she would have in a smaller town.  Population 48,252 – Mishawaka, Indiana was on the St. Joseph River and nicknamed ‘The Princess City’.  She didn’t really care; she just wanted to blend in till she figured out where to head to next.

Beutter Park was dead center of the city and the main focus of the celebration that late afternoon.  It boasted elliptical-shaped overlook weirs and fiber-optic underwater lighting, which was all well and good, but as she slowed down to a quick walk along the river, the man from before popped up in her peripheral vision.  Turning her head to the right, she watched him rush toward her direction, pushing through the crowd.  Forcing herself to look away, she was fairly certain he hadn’t zeroed in on her just yet.  But if he was there, then someone was flanking her left and she didn’t dare look to see if she was right.

Moving further into the crowd her eyes were drawn to a tall, dark haired man wearing a cargo jacket with a dark blue hoodie.  He was looking around, standing on his tip-toes, when his eyes casually locked with hers, then moved on again.  His eyes were hooded with a concentrated look, but it was his sparkling blue eyes that caught her attention.  That with his short, dark hair, she made her decision and  pulled at her pony tail that hung low over her right shoulder and walked up to the man, wrapping her arm around his, making him give her a startled look.

“Hi, do me a favor?”

The man looked at her with crisp, blue eyes.  “Excuse me?”

Cait pulled on his collar, forcing the taller man down and kissed him.  The man gave a shocked grunt as she deepened the kiss, and after a moment, willingly kissed her back.  Reaching up, she pulled on his hoodie and covered his head, along with the front of hers, and hid herself inside his jacket, pushing her arms around his chest.  He was warm and felt hard with muscles, most of which she felt as he wrapped his arms around her, successfully hiding her within his large jacket.

Opening her eyes, she risked a look to her right and watched with baited breath as the man who followed her walked passed quickly, talking to himself.  Another appeared to her left, but again she did not look and he brushed by them, nudging her closer to the man she was kissing, rather deeply.  Slowly their kiss broke and then a curious thing happened.  The man licked his lips slowly, looking at hers and then she found herself pulling him closer, kissing him again.

His hands ran up her back and up to her face, cupping her cheeks with his long, chilled fingers.  He smelled clean, like Ivory soap, that for a moment she lost herself in him and deepened the kiss.  In the back of her mind she told herself that she needed to kill about twenty seconds anyway, so this was purely professional.  Yeah, that’s her story and she was sticking to it even when she felt a soft mew escape her lips when he pressed her body against his, caressing his tongue with hers.  Her stomach twisted into a thousand knots as she absolutely indulged herself, tasting this man’s full lips, almost moaning when the kiss became more aggressive and certainly more feral.  She found herself grabbing the back of his hoodie and pulling him closer.  Her mew was clearly outdone by his as he took her bottom lip with his teeth, almost making her knees buckle.  Their kiss was incredibly deep and far more intimate than she had intended, but when he ran his hands up into her hair and tangled it with his fingers she lost all train of thought.  She moved her hands up the curve of his back and pressed her fingers against his hard muscles until she literally ran out of breath.

Finally, albeit reluctantly, Cait pulled back, opening her eyes slowly and looked into his light blue ones.  He stayed close to her, letting his lips hover over hers.  She felt his thumbs brush her cheeks and his breath bathed her face, sending chills up her spine.  Biting her bottom lip, something in the back of her mind said, ‘Oh hey – you should probably run now,’ then filtered in her brain and right back out again as she felt her fingers grip his hoodie.  His blue eyes searched her face and a small smile tugged at his lips, making her stomach tighten.

“Thank you,” she said meekly and took a step away from him, releasing her grip.

“Wait-”

“Yeah, sorry about this.”  Her main goal refocused, Cait moved back in the other direction and let out a deep breath.

“Wait a minute.  Are you in trouble or something?” he called after her.

“Uh,” Cait said, her eyes darting back and forth, “yeah, you could say that.  Listen, guy…I’m sorry-”

The man came up beside her and walked quickly, pulling her along.  “I don’t mind.  Let me help.”

Inwardly Cait groaned – while avoiding attention, she managed to gain more than she needed.  She looked at the man:  about six foot three or so, short hair that fell naturally forward, dusting his forehead, light blue eyes and full lips.  He looked back at her and smiled.

“Ex boyfriend?”

Cait snorted as they took the steps back up to street level.  “Not exactly.”  The crowd thinned out as they moved away from the festival.

“This way, Caitlinn.  Corner of West Front and North Main.”

She had started to move south toward Mishawaka Avenue when she stopped.   “Mother fucker,” she grumbled.  The barrel of a gun poked her ribs and she grimaced with an eye roll.

Leaning in close, the man asked, “Are you going to run?”

“Every fucking chance I get.”  And she meant it.   Granted the element of surprise would have been a fantastic advantage, but she would not hesitate to make like a banana when the opportunity presented itself.

“I wish you wouldn’t.”  His fingers wrapped around her arm as he turned her back toward the park.  Standing slightly behind her left shoulder, he pushed her forward with the gun.

With an exasperated sigh, Cait slowed and stopped.  “Do me a solid first, will ya?”  Turning, she looked at him, forcing him to stand close to her to hide his gun.

“Want me to kiss you again?”  The hint of a smile he had made her toes curl, even if he was pointing a gun at her.
Slowly Cait raised her hands and then reached out to touch his chest, pulling him forward.  He moved the gun slightly out of the way as Cait wrapped her fingers around the collar of his jacket and kneed him with everything she had.

“No, just breathe.”

The man doubled over onto his knees as Cait turned to run, only to feel a bee sting just above her breast bone.  It was the first man again, pointing a gun at her chest.  Strangely enough, being shot didn’t hurt near as much as she thought it would.  Immediately she felt her head cloud as she fell to the concrete sidewalk on her knees painfully.  The shooter was nice enough to catch her before she bounced her face off the sidewalk, completely out.