Chapter 54

As we left the cafe Hana stopped and texted someone, Wictor I would guess, as I continued kissing her neck and enjoying being close to her. To be honest, I had become addicted to the softness of the skin on her neck. I also enjoyed being able to show my feelings for her openly. I was grateful she didn’t object or feel uncomfortable.

“All done,” Hana said as she put her phone away. She sounded happy. I liked to think it was at least partly because of me.

“We have some time before the movie starts, what do you want to do?” I asked her.

“I know what I would like, but that will have to wait. How about a walk? I could use some fresh air,” she told me. It was the second time she had alluded to their sexual plays. It had the same effect on him this time, he got instantly hard.

“I think that is a good idea. But you will have to give me a moment here,” I said. She looked up at me like she didn’t know what I was talking about. I pulled her closer to me and she smiled as realisation hit her. “It’s all your fault so you have an obligation to help me out,” I added. She reached up and kissed me.

“And you think this will help?” she asked. I chuckled. I liked that she was comfortable enough to tease me like this.

“Maybe. We will just have to try and see.” I said. I did manage to get my hormones under control and took her hand in mine and we walked towards the park that was close to the movie theatre. It was a nice summer evening and there were plenty of people in the park. We stopped to watch a little girl play with her dog. The two of them tumbled around while the girl giggled and the dog let out happy barks.

“I always wanted a cat,” Hana told me.

“Not a dog?” I asked.

“They are cute too. But there is something about cats that always fascinated me,” she said.

“Please tell me you don’t want one of those naked ones.” She giggled.

“They look kind of weird, in a cute way. But no, I would like a fluffy one, but maybe not with long hair, but definitely fluffy,” she told me. We had started walking again and I looked at her.

“Why haven’t you got one?” I asked.

“When I lived in foster care they wouldn’t let me. Then I moved into the dorms in college and there were no pets allowed. Then Simon forbade me to get one, he didn’t want something to get the house hairy. I was thinking about it when I got my own place, but I was afraid I would work too much and the cat would be lonely,” she said. My heart ached for her, she had been denied so much in her life and yet, she wasn’t bitter about it. I told her about the dog me and my father had when I grew up, Buster. I made her laugh and felt better.

“Ready to head for the movie?” I asked her. I wanted her to have plenty of time to peruse the candy selection.

“I am. I’m looking forward to it,” she said. I took the opportunity to kiss her. It was a long, sweet kiss. It left her with a soft smile and a slight blush on her cheeks. I loved the look on her.

“Then we better get there,” I told her and placed my arm around her shoulders. I didn’t miss the looks Hana was getting from some of the men. I wasn’t usually the jealous type, but it couldn’t hurt to make sure they knew who she was with. We walked to the movie theatre and I got our tickets and took her to the concession stand. “Pick anything you like,” I told her.

“I think it will be enough with a small popcorn and maybe a small soda,” she told me. I raised an eyebrow. I knew where this was coming from and I needed to get her out of her own head.

“Sweetness, you are allowed to eat both a piece of cake and movie candy. You are perfect no matter what. And with what I have planned for when we get home after all your teasing, we will work everything off,” I whispered to her. She blushed again and I wanted to trace the redness down her neck and explore where it ended. But we were in public so I made a mental note to explore that train of thought later.

“Okay,” she agreed. I ended up with my arms full of butter popcorn, twizzlers, Swedish fish and milk duds. Hanna was holding our drink, we decided to share a large one. We got to our seats and tried to arrange everything as best as we could. I insisted I needed one arm free to put around her shoulders and she didn’t argue. It was fun being at the movies, I never went on my own. But I came to the conclusion I preferred it when we had movie night at home. Then we could pause and do other things if inspiration hit. Hana leaned closer to me and placed her head on my shoulder as the movie began. As the movie ended most of the candy was eaten and the soda was empty. “Did you like the movie?” she asked as we walked to the restaurant I had booked a table at. She looked nervous.

“I did,” I told her honestly. When I had seen what movie she had picked I had been worried it would be a romantic one that would require my complete willpower not to snooze off. But I was surprised to find it had action scenes strewn across it. Making it fun to watch.

“Good,” she said and exhaled.

“Did you like it?” I asked. Suddenly worried she had chosen it just for my sake.

“Yes, it had a little of everything and was fun to watch,” she told me.

“I agree,” I said as we walked to our table at the upscale chinese restaurant. We ordered and enjoyed the food as we talked about the movie and other movies we liked, or didn’t like. As I had paid and we left the restaurant we were both laughing and I couldn’t remember having a more perfect afternoon in my life. I could see myself spending the rest of my life like this. With Hana everything fell into place. Not everything was easy, but things like this were worth putting some effort into. I had ordered a cab home and had told it to meet us at the end of the promenade. It was late in the evening, the sun had set and there weren’t as many people out and about. My instincts told me something was wrong before I saw the first man. When I spotted him walking towards us with purpose it didn’t take me long to spot the others. I could see eight of them and I swore to myself.

“Hunter?” Hana asked. She had been talking to me and I had been focused on the men.

“There are men surrounding us,” I told her quietly and felt her tens up.

“What do we do?” she whispered.

“Just follow me and do what I tell you,” I reminded her. She nodded and I set off at a quicker pace towards our goal. The three men on that side of us, spread out, making sure we would have to pass between them if we wanted to go that way. I changed our direction and headed towards the closest restaurant still open. When that path was also cut off I took out my phone and pressed the speed dial to Jason and put it on speaker.

“Sup?” Jason lazily answered. I gave the phone to Hana.

“Just give her to us,” one of the men said. He was loud enough for the phone to pic up what he was saying and Jason was silently listening on the other end.

“Not going to happen. I am armed and I know what I do when I use it. Back away and tell whoever your boss is that she is off limits,” I told the man. There was scoffing from the men around us.

“We aren’t exactly new on the job. The boss wants her, we will get her. We can put you into the hospital while we do it, or you can just go home. I don’t give a fuck about which way you chose to do it.” The way the man talked, he knew what he was doing and I calculated my chances of subduing eight skilled men while keeping Hana safe. My odds were low. I slowly pushed Hana behind me. She didn’t object, she just placed a hand on my back and I could feel the slight tremor in it. It pissed me off that these men just walked in and thought they could take Hana from me and on top of that scare her. She had been through enough. I knew Jason was getting people to our location, I needed to stall for time.

“You are far too well trained to have been sent by my son. Who are you working for?” I asked. The man I was talking to just smiled and flexed his hand. I saw the tattoo of a skull in black and white with red flowers. “Aksakov,” I said out loud. What the fuck did he want with Hana this time? Her debt was settled and he had given his word to leave her alone. “Has your boss become an oath breaker? He promised Hana was to be left alone.”

“Shut the fuck up. The boss has honour. I don’t know why he wants the bitch. It’s not my job to know. My job is to know that he wants her and to get her to him. And that is what we are going to do,” the man said. I realised we had run out of time, there was no more stalling. I made an assessment of the situation, I drew up a couple of tactics in my head and tossed everyone out just as quickly. As I saw it there was only one way to keep Hana safe and give her a chance to get away.

“When I say, you will run as fast as you can down that alley, it comes out on the main street and you know what to do from there,” I whispered to her.

“You told me not to go into alleys,” she objected.

“Now I’m telling you to do it. Just this one, no others. Just this alley, when I tell you.”

“What about you?”

“I will be right behind you,” I told her and sent up a prayer of forgiveness for lying to her. She nodded. The second I knew she understood and was ready, I drew my gun. I shot the two men standing between us and the alley. “Run!” I shouted and as she ran down the alley at a speed that surprised me, I followed until I was standing at the entrance of the alley. I took my stance there, the narrow street giving me an advantage. I took cover as best as I could as they returned my fire. My only goal was to block their way to Hana until the men Jason had coming would arrive. I took down three more men, leaving only three left standing. I was starting to feel hopeful when I felt the bullet hitting my shoulder. I cursed out loud. It wasn't the worst hit I had taken. But it did make it difficult for me to fire my gun with accuracy. I did my best but the blood loss made me dizzy and my right arm didn’t obey my commands as it should. The last thing I saw was the man I had been talking to, run up to me. He raised his hand and everything went black. My last conscious thought was of Hana. I hoped I had bought her enough time to get to safety.