Lights, Action, and Hidden Cameras (Marisa & Swordsman18)

[Swordsman18]

Jacob Cannes walked in the door without anything in his backpack, when he had left earlier it had been full. So whatever had been in it had used or was gone somewhere. His mother had no idea what her son was up to but he had been very supportive of her when she had left his father. Jacob had even been the one to pay for the move as well as give his uncle 800 dollars for four months worth of rent while she went out and about to find a job.

It had been a couple of days since they moved in and everyday Jacob seemed to be leaving and then coming back towards the end of the day with his backpack empty, though today there was this gleam of satisfaction on his face as he walked in and laid his backpack on the ground with him laying on the couch.

"Sarah, are you home? I am bored, do you want to go do something? I know there is a couple movies out if you want to do that or we could always do something on the ranch like giving me a tour or something." He said out into the air in higher tone to see if his cousin could hear him so that he would not just be in his room for the rest of the afternoon.

This little request would be somewhat odd since he had rarely been seen since the time he had moved in but now he was starting to take interest in his family that he now lived with. Most people would have done that in the first or second day but it seems that he had been distracted with other things that he had to do. On the couch, he just laid there, looking up at the ceiling waiting for his cousin's reply to his inquiry.

 

[Marisa]

Sarah Rush was busy in the kitchen preparing the food that would become tonight's dinner. Up to her wrists in flour she heard Jacob yell out to her. She thought it odd that now of all times he would want a tour, when he hardly spoke two words to her since they moved in. Being the older brother she never had, though they were cousins, she decided to pull a prank on him. She took two good handfuls of flour and came over to where he was laying down and place both hands on his cheeks at the same time.

“I would love to take you on a tour, or horseback riding Jacob, as you can see, I am busy making your dinner. Oh, but look at you, such a mess!” she laughed and jumped back away from him. “Now you can help me finish since you have flour on you too, then we can go do something more fun,” she laughed again.

Sarah was eighteen and fresh outta high school. She was bored with the same daily chores and Jacob would be just the escape she needed. If her father hadn’t forbidden her to see Andrew she would be with him instead of stuck at home making dinner for everyone. Only one more day to go and she would be able to sneak out and go see him. Her father would be out at the bar or playing poker with his friends, he was always gone on Friday nights until very late in the night.

Andrew was twelve years older than Sarah, too old for her, according to her father. She didn’t care she only had eyes for him, and no one not even her father would stand in her way of having him. She had begun to experiment with kissing and touching, then Andrew took her virginity three weeks ago and she wanted more of the same. Somehow with Jacob around she would have to convince him not to rat on her if he saw her sneak out.

 

[Swordsman18]

Jacob basically jumped up when he felt her place her hands on his cheek covering him in flour, he looked at her with a bit of a grin before he put his hands on hers before she pulled back from him. His hold on her hands were tight, "Well Sarah, I see you want to be playful, well then so do I." A little smile popped on his face before he did his best to pull her on the couch with him with his hands going to her sides in an attempt to tickle her so that he was going to get her back somewhat for the flour that now coated him and the couch. But before long he stopped and then floored off the couch to land on the floor to go head into the kitchen to see what exactly Sarah was working on so that he could possibly help.

"What do you need done? I am decent in the kitchen as I have cooked for Mom for awhile now." He looked to see if there was an apron that he could use, not seeing one all he did was shrug. "I must admit I am a person that follows a recipe more than I am a person that makes their own stuff though I do experiment from time to time. So just let me know what you are doing." A text alert played and then he looked at his phone where he then smiled at it before he moved over to counter to lean back and let Sarah instruct him as to how she wanted to proceed with dinner.

it would be somewhat interesting to note that though he had friends from back home, there was no real report of him having a girlfriend or anything like that. No one suspected him of being gay or anything like that but still it did seem odd that a kid his age was without a girl especially with all that cash he seemed to wield even though he was unemployed.

 

[Marisa]

Sarah lifted the light towels off three loaves of dough. “For starters, you can grease those loaf pans and gently place the dough in each one of the pans. The oven is already on. In roughly half an hour we can bake them.” She opened a drawer and handed Jacob an apron to put on. Smiling she said, “You would look cute in this, just be glad I didn’t give you the frilly one.”

She opened the fridge and pulled out a large bowl of marinated chicken and placed it on the counter. “You have two choices, shake most of the marinade off the chicken, flour them then roll them in the herbs and spices and put them on the trays, or you can peel those apples and make the pies.”

Busying herself doing odds and ends around the kitchen mainly cleaning the flour she had spilled then went to the living room to vacuum the flour off the floor and sofa. When she came back into the kitchen she pulled out the pie tins and took out 3 boxes of pie shells.

“So, tell me Jacob, what do you do for a living? You sure surprised my dad paying in advance for living here. He accepted it, but if I know my dad, he wouldn’t have charged that much for you and your Mom. You are family after all, and family look after each other. You will be like the brother I never had, and I will be your bratty younger sister, that will drive you crazy, if I can.”

 

[Swordsman18]

Jacob listened to her instructions and then went about his way of preparing the chicken as she had asked him. He was sure that she had much more experience preparing food around here than he did since she was bound to be the one that cooked for her father. With her being the one who had more experience with baking she was going to be the one that was dealing with the pies. Jacob had spent time with his father who was an avid griller and the main preparer of meat in his old home so he knew how to deal with the chicken following her instructions.

While he was going about his task, all seemed to just be focused on the task all the while the he was studying her and what she was doing through the corners of his eyes. "I used to do Technical support, and I have watched way too much Judge Judy to understand that it is best not to abuse familial privileges. I have the money in savings so it was no big deal to have to give it to him for us to stay here." For a moment he just stayed quiet moving the chicken in the herbs and spices as he thought about the next thing to say.

"You can take that role, but I can also take the role of the stern older brother that attempts to rein you in and get you on the better track. The contrast will be fun to work with." he told her with a smile as he continued to go about his task.

 

[Marisa]

Sarah, smirked, “You can try, Jacob dear, but it won’t work!” She gave some thought to his prior job, the fact that he was thinking ahead, with the Judge Judy thing. "I take it you are very intelligent Jacob. Good for you, I am glad you take life seriously.”

Wiping her hands on a towel she put everything away that wasn’t needed, and wiped of her side of the long table. “For me, I am a girl in a place of going nowhere fast. It is okay, as long as my dad is alive, I should to be around for him. My mother hated this place and ran off with some high handed salesman. She was a great example of being a woman is all about. I will more than likely run off and leave dad, it is written in the stars you see, my destiny of life awaits me.”

She placed all the sliced apples in a large pan with her special seasoning and nodded to him, “Open the oven door for me please. I need to bake these for 30 minutes before adding them to the shells. When you have finished adding the seasoning to the chicken cover them with that foil over on the counter and place them in the big storage cooler. After these apples have baked, they need to cool a bit. Then if you want we can go check out my horses in the barn, maybe go for a short ride if you are savvy?”

 

[Swordsman18]

"You leave under those circumstances, I will find you and bring you back here. I can promise you that." Jacob stopped what he was doing to respond to her word seriously though she likely said it as a joke, he was not taking it as such. Many people out here in the country believed in the following of their parents footsteps, so he was going to disillusion her of that now rather than let her think something that he was going to need to fight harder to break later. Once he felt that he had spent a good enough time to make her understand that his response to her joke was not a joke, he continued on with the work.

The oven door was opened for her to place the food inside before he closed it after she had done what she needed to do. After telling her that he was not going to let her fall down the wrong path it was hard to think of something else to say. So he said nothing and then began to clean the kitchen so that it would be basically clean when they were done with the cooking. Pots and pans, not to mention the plates and silverware that were going to need to be cleaned after the meal.

Soapy water and rinse water were then put in their respective sides for the dishes that he was putting into them. "I did the dishes now to lessen the load later." Jacob commented on his work to get the conversation on less serious terms. With that opening the door for other conversation he decided it be best to reply to her horse riding proposition. "As for the horses, I will gladly watch or take pictures of but I am no rider. I can drive a wagon but that is about it."

 

[Marisa]

"Why would you even bother Jacob? Up until this past week, I doubt you even thought of me. Seriously, have you looked around this town? There is nothing here for me. I will probably become trailer trash as my father calls the east enders, or a stripper. What difference is my life to anyone? Personally I am shocked you and your mother wanted to come to this dump town. You are welcome to stay, of course.” She stared at him for a moment, shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why you would bother with the likes of me.”

She looked around the kitchen satisfied everything was done, heading towards the back door. “I am going for a ride, we have a couple of hours before the parents are due back here. If you aren’t doing anything, come on to the barn and help me saddle Matilda and Jeff. Jeff is the tall bay and Matilda is the spotted mare.”

Sarah laughed at his comment, "okay, you win this round, I'll saddle the rocking horse for you, and I'll take pictures."

Sarah didn’t wait for his answer she opened the door and headed down the steps towards the barn. She thought Jacob was a little too much like a bossy big brother would be. Muttering under her breath, “there ain’t no way he is going to get inside my head or tell me what is what. No siree.”

 

[Swordsman18]

"You are blood and if your father had told me that you had run off with some guy, I would come get you regardless of whether my mother and I were here or not. Yes this town does not have many prospects but there are ways out of that such as college or finding a job that is in demand somewhere else or hell even the military if you really feel so trapped. You have opportunities Sarah, good ones. Do not just settle for a bad one." Jacob was not just going to accept the fact that she was going to resign herself to such a sad state of affairs but he wanted her to be happier and not just be satisfied or regretful of whatever life she eventually lead.

After finishing the dishes he walked behind her, "I have been told that I have good hearing, Sarah." He told her as he had heard just the fact that she was muttering and knowing that it was likely something about the fact that he had just lectured her. Jacob was doing what he felt was best.

Out of his left pants pocket, he pulled out a small camera that had a decent lens on it. "I will get some decent shots of you on the horse, just whatever you do, do not fall. I really do not want you to end up like the late Christopher Reeves."

 

[Marisa]

Sarah stopped in her tracks. “Okay smarty pants, tell me what’s in it for you?” she asked sarcastically. “The fact that we are blood kin, means nothing. My mother was blood, and look where she is. She has no desire to be a mom to me. So why do you care? You and I aren’t even close, I don’t get it.”

She turned back around and started walking faster towards the barn. For some odd reason she thought she was going to cry, and that was not going to happen in front of her cousin. Again, he made a comment that made her cheeks bright red.

“For your information Jacob, I have been riding horses since I was barely able to walk. I won’t fall off and break my neck, because I learned how to fall a long time ago!” she shouted.

She was frustrated and didn’t even know why, Sarah through her hands up in the air balled her fists and screamed. The next town probably heard this scream. It wasn’t a ‘help’ scream is was a scream of nothing but pure female emotions rising to the surface that had been bottled up inside her since her mother left five years ago.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into me, Jacob, I’ll meet you at the barn.” She took off running as the tears stung her eyes, not even knowing why they were.

 

[Swordsman18]

Seeing and knowing just how frustrated she was, he was not going to go after her immediately as she likely needed some time alone. So he went back into the kitchen to monitor the food and to look at his phone to see if all was going well with his revenue stream. Everything was in order and was stable, so there were no worries there. Jacob leaned against the counter of the kitchen and then smiled as he monitored things. After about a minute or two, he went into the bank and then made a savings account where his cousin was set as the beneficiary. Going into his own account, he placed 5,000 dollars in the account.

Sarah's little savings fund was going to grow with the success of his business in this town. Eventually she was going to learn of it but he was not going to have that just yet, he would tell her when she least expected it or when she needed it most. All of that setup with calling the bank and such had taken about fifteen minutes or so. Jacob looked over to the timer on the oven seeing that there was not all that much time left till he was going to be needed to pull stuff out.

So he stayed to handle that so he could switch them out and get dinner on properly, but by then he was going to need to stay just to make sure that all was going to cook well. He figured that Sarah was going to return in due time. Jacob went to his room and grabbed his laptop, setting it on the counter as he opened a program he had made just a couple of months ago. With it open, he plugged his phone into his computer with USB, the program registered that it was his phone and then he proceeded to call Sarah on her cellphone.

 

[Marisa]

Sarah ran into the barn and up to the hayloft. She let out a blood curdling scream a few times yelling at her mother who had left her. She had never confronted the woman who gave her life concerning the way she treated her father or herself. Sarah finally collapsed on the hay and cried for quite a while. She was thankful that Jacob had the common sense to leave her be. Still she wasn't sure what brought on the emotional outburst.

She sat up angry at herself for allowing such a display to happen in front of her cousin. Climbing down from the loft she saddled Jeff and put his bridle on him and took off out of the barn on his back. She and Jeff flew past the kitchen window at a full gallop and instead of opening the gate she sped up and Jeff jumped it. They landed beautifully on the other side and headed down the old dirt road that would take them to the large lake, if she decided to go that far. The breeze that blew in her face from his full gallop felt great. She heard her cell phone ring and let it ring, She was in no mood to talk to anyone. They could leave a voice mail message if they so desired.

She slowed Jeff down to a soft trot then a slow walk so he did not overheat. Her thoughts released into the scents of the pine forest just beyond the crest of the woods. If she continued to the forest she would be late for putting dinner on the table, a grumpy and angry father and no way would she be able to sneak out of the house tonight if her father missed the opening to his poker game.

Sadly she turned Jeff around and headed back to the barn. Sarah slipped into the back door and went directly to the sink. She washed her hands and face and towel dried. No mention of earlier was said, the table needed setting, drinks set out and the food put in serving dishes. “My dad will be here soon, Jacob. I hope you mom arrives soon too.”

 

[Swordsman18]

He had put his phone away by the time that she had arrived, he had not gotten the trace that he wanted. Jacob could easily get that later. So he was just playing some classic rock on iTunes as he helped her to get dinner set out. "My mom will likely be late, she had like 7 different appointments that she needed to get through today for a job out here. She is really trying her best." He replied to her about wondering if his mother was going to be home on time. "She could surprise us though and be here on time." There was a bit of a shrug given as he was uncertain about it.

It took them another couple of minutes but the dinner was made and set out. "Your father will enjoy this as he does with all of your cooking." Jacob told her as he moved to sit at the couch with his laptop. "Your mother is in Canada by the way. And from the looks of things she is not with that other guy anymore. She is likely afraid to come back just because of how she felt she hurt your father and you." He had been doing a search on any information that he could get about her mother since he had called her, it was not that hard when he did a name derivative search as well as facial recognition.

"That is all I am going to say on the subject till I get more concrete information." The sounds of him typing at speed were heard as he was working on gathering more information about her runaway mother.

 

[Marisa]

Sarah looked up at Jacob. It was going to be one of those nights, she could tell just by the conversational direction. There would be no meeting her boyfriend Andrew in secret tonight. He hated tears and would be angry at her if he saw any sign of emotion. All he wanted was her for sex and nothing more. She wasn’t stupid but she didn’t care as she loved the way he made her feel.

Jacob was pushing some buttons now that only she could feel. “We have hot boxes in the pantry if your Mom is late her food won’t be ruined.” Sarah was hit by another wave of emotion as Jacob told her about her mother’s whereabouts. “Why do you look for someone like her Jacob? I mean, why is it important to you. She won’t be welcome here. Dad doesn’t need a cheating wife, and I will never trust her with my love again.”

She sat down next to him on the couch, and placed her head on his shoulder. “You haven’t spoke to me all week, and now you have made me cry twice.” She sniffled as the tears welled up in her eyes. Sitting up she shook her head and went to her room shutting the door. Sarah laid down on her bed with her pillow over her head to muffle the sounds of her crying.

 

[Swordsman18]

"I am sorry." It was all he could say to her as she headed off to go handle things. Jacob was not one that particularly enjoyed hurting people's feelings. He had not meant to hurt Sarah like he had, his goal had been to help her and to inform her about things. Yet he now knew where his barriers now stood. He packed up his laptop in his bag slinging it over his shoulders while he finished setting dinner out. Since he was likely going to be hungry later anyway he put some in a container for himself and then headed out into the cool night breeze before Sarah got back downstairs.

No note had been left behind. Just dinner was set up the way it was supposed to be though it was just between her and her father rather than for three or four. It was setup much like it would look like as if her cousin and aunt did not live there, very reminiscent of just being a father and his daughter. There were a few flaws in it. Such as it seemed like it was a configuration that they had about 2 years or so ago when Jacob had been over last for just a visit.

He had gone to the Starbucks in town ordering himself a Venti black coffee before sitting at a table at the farthest corner of the shop. Soon the light of his laptop was reflected in his eyes as he went to work on a couple of things and just got lost in his own world.

 

[Marisa]

While Sarah was upstairs she opened a small locked box that she kept hidden in her room behind some boxes of clothes that she had set aside to go to the Goodwill store. Clothes and shoes in perfect condition that were here two years ago. She had them all vacuum sealed until she had enough to take instead of making a lot of trips.

The box was really special. It had been given to her on her fifth birthday by her Mom at a time that she felt loved. Inside the box was a picture of Sarah, her mom, dad, and Prince. Prince was her first pony a shetland, that her dad had given her to learn about harnesses and basic horse skill. She had him a long time until she became too old to ride him. She raffled him off to a nice family a couple of mile away and gave the money to the children’s hospital in Marysville.

Sarah knew Jacob was only trying to help, and he set in her mind memories of better times. After her tears dried she knew she would eventually talk to Jacob about her feelings, if he wanted to talk about them with her. She picked up the picture and the box and set them on her desk. Sitting down she wrote a note to Jacob.

“Dear Jacob,
I know you meant well. I don’t hold anything against you for trying to help out in a bad situation. Inside the envelope you will find a key. Guard it with your life. It is the key to my heart. It is a memory that has been dormant for a long time.

your cousin,
Sarah”

Wrapping the box in gift wrap and a bow, she placed the card and the box in a bag and knocked softly on his bedroom door. Thinking he might still be downstairs, she opened his room and set the bag on his bed near his pillows then shut the door behind her and headed downstairs.

The phone rang in the livingroom and it was her dad. He decided to go to Marysville with the guys after work have some fun, food and hit a few bars. Jacob was nowhere around there was no note, no one to have dinner with. She just shrugged her shoulders, and put everything in proper containers, left a note for her aunt and cousin and went to the barn.

She saddled up her horse, filled two saddlebags with some fried chicken, a couple of bottles of water, then grabbed a couple of blankets and the lantern. On the chalkboard in the barn she left a map of how to find her if anyone missed her. She showed the stone cabin in colored chalk and called it ‘Grammy’s Place’. It was a shamble of a place that was left over from the civil war days. It was where she went when she needed to be at one with nature or better yet, with her special Grammy.

Sarah would sleep under the stars tonight and her horse would have his freedom to roam. She has been coming to Grammy’s Place for two years. She pretended the old ghost lady was her Grammy from her past life. She would sit with her eyes twinkling and talk to her until she would grow sleepy, then dream about Grammy and how she would cover Sarah with a blanket in the cool night air and hum a loving song to her while she slept.

 

[Swordsman18]

Her father came home at around 12 am, having ended the night early to see if Jacob and Sarah were getting along since he figured that were the only two people were at the house though he did not find either of them when he had arrived home. Sarah had left a note like a good girl and he knew where she was exactly. He knew she was going to be back in the morning so he was not going to worry about it too much. Jacob on the other hand was Catherine's issue to deal with. That boy seemed to be oddly protective of his mother and his family but the way he went about it was odd.

For one, Jacob had him lying to both his daughter and his sister. Jacob had not just paid rent for a couple of months, he had paid him enough to cover rent for approximately 18 months and that even included their part of the utilities. He had explained that it was better that Catherine think it was only a couple of months so that she tried to get everything together without falling into complacency. Logan understood that was a good idea but only had one question in return. Where Jacob had gotten the money from.

His brain was too fuzzy to think of the response but it was believable and Jacob showed him blood tests taken from just before the move to prove her was not on something or selling drugs. So that was one relief, but still Logan felt it odd to protect your family from the shadows like that and to that degree. Logan headed to Catherine's room to find her fast asleep on her bed, he then put the blanket over her and tuck his sister in before heading to bed himself.

When Jacob returned later on that night, he found her note and then the key. He nodded and understood that this was important. It at least gave him a plan for the morning. After reading it, he placed the key in his wallet took a shower and then went to bed. At 7 am, he was gone once more. He went to the town bank, where he opened up an account for their most secure safety deposit box. In it, he placed the key and note that she had given him.

The teller locked it up looking at him curiously, "Just something important needs to be kept safe." He told her. "I understand, people keep all kind of things in safety deposit boxes." He smiled at her, "Yes they do, but this thing is not really for me, it is to keep hope alive for a relative of mine. Anyway, can I pay for the next decade for the box?"

"Why yes of course but it is a little unorthodox." She told him as her heels clicked along the vault floor next to him while his steps were pretty close to being silent. Jacob was beaming inside at her little comment on it. "Well when you have the funds and something is really important it is always good to get these things done." A small laugh came from the teller as they walked out of the vault and back to the regular business counters where he promptly paid to keep it safe for at least the next ten years.

"Thank you Sir for your business. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No that will be all Melanie, have a good day. I may be back next week or so."

Jacob exited the bank to head over back to Starbucks where he had breakfast and then got to work on his computer playing some computer games and doing other business to make sure all he was doing was financially sound.

 

[Marisa]

Sarah slept wonderfully. She got up and folded the blankets and started a campfire to reheat the chicken from last night. Being quite chilly last night the air was cool enough to keep the chicken from spoiling. She heated it in the coals and gave out a shrill cat call whistle to Jeff. She heard him snort and whinny to her, he wasn’t too far out. She had no reason to rush back home, nothing special was going on so she decided to take a long trail ride. It had been a long time since she had been out for an all day ride. There was plenty to eat in her locked food box she kept at Grammy’s Cabin. Her Dad had taught her at a young age to be prepared for any such emergency, including the stored non perishable food she kept a first aid kit, scissors and bandaging tape. She also had a first aid kit for Jeff or Matilda if one of them were to be injured on the ride.

Watching the wood turn to red embers she thought about last night and her cousin. She hoped he would let her teach him to ride Matilda, she was gentle and would never do anything to any rider. She had proven herself many times over when Andrew would come over for lessons before he took her into the barn for her own riding lesson. She smiled. Her first lesson was more forced than a give and take thing but by the end of the evening he taught her about rhythm and riding on top. It really was much like riding a horse other than it brought a whole new idea to the word pleasure. She was 16 years old the first time he took her in the barn only 3 years older than Jacob. Her Dad was playing poker as usual and Andrew stayed until 2am leaving only an hour before her Dad was due home.

Sarah changed her mind about the long ride and decided to ride Jeff over to Andrew’s place. She was in the mood now and she knew he was going to be home. Once she was closer and in range she would call him on his cell phone to find out if he was alone. She knew he slept around with other young girls, but she didn’t care, she liked having sex with him and he knew how to make her squeal. She also like the fact of being 12 years older than her. He was mature and he knew what he wanted and took it. He told her when she was 21 he would teach her more and she could make good money for them both selling herself to his clients. As much as Sarah loved him she wasn’t too sure about the prostitution part. He told her if she wanted him she would let him have his way. She finally agreed. Her thoughts had drifted so much she was cross and irritable again. Whistling for Jeff she saddled him and headed home.

When she got home there was a note left for her, gone shopping and out to dinner, catch you later, sweet pea. love, Dad. “I can’t win, this summer is going to suck."

She ran upstairs and quickly showered and changed. Grabbing her cash stash she got into her beat up old Volkswagen and headed to town. She pulled in the parking lot in the back where it was the shadiest and went into Starbucks. She spotted her cousin who seemed to be intently studying something on his laptop. Quietly she sat down across from him and smiled softly. “Hey, got a minute?”

 

[Swordsman18]

Jacob took off his head phones and hit a single button on his laptop and all of his programs closed to show just his desktop. All of that done, he then lowered the screen to look across at his cousin that was looking back at him. "Good morning Sarah. Do you want me to buy you a coffee or some breakfast or something?" He asked with a smile as he clicked the shutdown button on his laptop with shutting down in about fifteen seconds with the usual Windows sound playing as it completed.

Quick and careful hands placed it in his padded backpack so that it would not act as a barrier between him and Sarah nor would get in their way. Jacob gave his cousin a smile even though he knew that there was something going on in that head of hers.

"By the way, how did you found out I was here? You have not been here in at least nine days since we did not see each other all week. And if you were going off places that had an internet connection you likely would have gone to the library first. But other than that there are at least four other places with an internet connection. So the only other thing I can conclude is that you did not come to this immediate area for me, but for someone else. But no matter, I like seeing you dear so what's up?"

Working in computers for so long he became very logical about things and when things called for it he was very open about his logical reasoning much as he had done just now to point out that he was not the reason that Sarah was there, merely a coincidence.

 

[Marisa]

Sarah smiled back at him. “Good Morning Jacob, a cheese danish and a small milk would be nice. I hope you don’t mind taking some time with me to listen to something I feel is important.” She shrugged, “I didn’t know you were here. I just came in to see if they had a cheese danish. I am going to the mall to window shop and hunger pains hit.” She smiled and looked towards the long line at the counter.

“Jacob, did you look inside the box? I need to know if you did, it is important to me that you understand why I well, ….I don’t know. I don’t want you thinking I hate you or anything for what you did. In fact that is not the case. But for you to truly understand me, you need to see what was in the box. It means so much to me. That is why I gave you the key. It is something I can’t explain in words without getting emotional.”

She looked out the window and her smile faded.

“Jacob, I am no good. Really, I am not good in any way. I have signed a contract with Andrew. He is going to be my pimp when I turn 21. I have been one of his girls since I turned 16. It is all I know.”

She looked down at her lap and starting fidgeting. “I am nothing but trash, and for you to care, blows my mind. I am sorry, but you think I can get a job or go somewhere that I might be like you, successful? I will never be that.”

Sarah stood up her face flushed. “Now you know what I am. Worthless, not like you so successful and happy. I have to go before I ruin more of your day.” She turned and headed to the exit. Looking back at him with sadness in her eyes.

 

[Swordsman18]

Sarah did not give him much time to answer her original question before she had continued on to tell him the gravity of things. And they were definitely grave as he found out that his cousin had seemingly threw her life away into a contract that no court would enforce. But it was not even that they would never enforce it, it was more that she was believing that they would. A horrible belief but it was one that he was going to free her from.

"Sarah Irene! You are coming with me, now." He yelled to her as he stood up and crossed the room to where she was. "You are not going to leave my sight for the rest of the day. If you try to do so, I will tell your father."

Jacob knew that was going to stop her somewhat or at least it was going to make her hesitate. "I will have Andrew in jail by tonight, now we need to go to an electronic store." Jacob told her as he started to walk with her out the door. He was already dialing a number on his phone. "Enterprise? Yes, I need an SUV at 5621 Main Street please. It will arrive in fifteen minutes? Good , John has all my paperwork and just charge it to my card."

He hung up his phone and looked at his cousin. "While we wait on the SUV, I need Andrew's full name, address, if he is armed, any vehicles he owns and any other property he may have." Jacob grabbed at her arm to make her look at him as they stood in the parking lot of the Starbucks with him looking very calm as he pieced his plan together.

 

[Marisa]

“Jacob No! No, you can’t do that. Andrew is all I have. And for your information, my father doesn’t care anything about what I do. Every time I have tried to talk about personal stuff he puts up his hand and says not right now.”

She was shocked he spoke to her like she was a little kid or something. “Why did you rent a car, mine is here in back. Granted it isn’t new, but it works. Where are we going anyway?” Sarah couldn’t believe the questions Jacob was asking. For one, she didn’t know his full name.

“Why would he be armed? He isn’t a criminal. Look Jacob I don’t know all that about him, he drives a beat up green truck. A Ford or something. I don’t know his address, we went there through the trails on horseback the night after he took my virginity in the barn. I have been sneaking over ever since.”

She looked up at him shaking her head. “I thought you would understand. Now you want to arrest the only man that treats me good? I don’t get it.”

 

[Swordsman18]

"I told you that we are going to an electronic store." Jacob said to her as he was dialing yet another number, "Ma'am, I think I saw someone steal my friend Andrew's truck. It is an beat up green Ford F-150, I do not have the license plate number. Thank you, Ma'am." He hung up the phone and then looked to his cousin who was acting like he was killing her prince charming or something. "Sarah, he is a jerk that is using you no better than a sex toy. I treat you better than he does. I valued your key so much I put it in a safety box that will be useable for at least the next ten years."

"I am not going to let him continue hurting you girls the way he is. I will put his ass in jail today. Cops will be on the lookout for his car. And so I will catch just where they find it on my police scanner application that at the moment is set for the mention of the truck. That will tell me where he lives. But to narrow my search down so I do not have to wait, what is his phone number?" Jacob was doing all kinds of things on his phone as he waited there with her, his one hand holding her so that she was not going to walk away. The other was busy clicking away.

 

[Marisa]

“He isn’t a jerk. You just don’t know him. He was lonely until he met me and I was too. I like what he does to me. It makes me feel good. Don’t you like pleasure, or is that toy box you carry around all you know about having fun? Does it bring you pleasure? Please don’t tell me it does. I will barf.”

She shook her head then stopped, “You did what with my key? Why? You didn’t even look in the box did you? Why would you put it in a safety deposit box? When I wrote that note, I said it was important, to guard it with your life. Not the key, the contents of the box. Oh Jacob, don’t you see? I can’t even write a note right. I am such loser.”

She gave up at that point, convinced she would never be half as smart as he was. “Andrew’s number is 816-443-9900.”

 

[Swordsman18]

"I know plenty of men that would treat you better than he does and could give you much greater pleasure." Jacob said getting just a little bit frustrated with her attitude, two cars arrived in the lot one was the SUV and the second was a white car with enterprise written on the side to give the employee who was driving the car back to the office. Jacob walked up and took the keys from the employee. "Thanks man, I will be renting this for at least three days." He told them as he opened the door for Sarah and was handed the keys.

"That is fine Jacob. You know where to bring it back to." The man said as he walked away, "Give me your phone real quick and then call Andrew, I do not care what you have to do to keep him on the phone but I need him on the phone for at least a minute." He told her as he made sure that the enterprise people were out of sight.

"I know he has you blinded but do realize that I can very easily call your father to tell him what I found out today, so do it."