Chapter 31 Tracking her
JASON'S POV
For three days straight I followed Caitlyn everywhere she went. I knew it was obsessive and probably creepy, but I didn't care. After what happened with the Vipers, I needed to make sure she was safe, and the only way to do that was to watch her myself.
Her routine was depressing. She left the house three times a week to go to the church school where she taught. The rest of the time she stayed home, no friends visiting. No trips to the store alone anymore. Hayes had her on total lockdown and it made me sick to watch.
"You have been at this for three days," Marcus said on the phone. "You need to sleep man."
"I will sleep when I know she is safe," I said.
"Hayes has his own guys watching her," Marcus pointed out. "If the Vipers try anything his people will handle it."
"Hayes does not care about protecting her," I said. "He cares about protecting his property. There is a difference."
I was parked down the street from the church school waiting for Caitlyn to come out. It was Wednesday afternoon and she always left around three thirty. Like clockwork, she pushed through the doors at exactly three twenty-eight carrying her bag.
But something was different today. She moved more slowly than usual, and she was holding her side as it hurt. When she got closer to her car, I could see her face, and my chest tightened. She had a bruise on her cheek, a bad one that makeup could not quite cover.
"Son of a bitch," I muttered.
"What?" Marcus asked. "What is wrong?"
"Hayes hit her," I said, and felt rage burning through me. "She has a bruise on her face."
"Are you sure it was him?" Marcus asked. "Maybe she fell or something."
"I am sure," I said. "I know what bruises from a fist look like and that is what this is."
I watched as Caitlyn got in her car. She sat there for a minute with her head down on the steering wheel like she was trying to pull herself together. Then she started the car and drove toward home.
I followed at a safe distance. Hayes's guy was following her, too, in his black SUV. Both of us were watching her, but for completely different reasons.
"I need to talk to her," I said to Marcus.
"That is a bad idea," Marcus said immediately. "Hayes will find out."
"I do not care," I said. "He hit her, Marcus. She is pregnant with my kid, and he put his hands on her. I am not going to sit back and do nothing."
"So what are you going to do?" Marcus asked. "Storm the house and drag her out? That will just get you killed."
"I am going to find a time when she is alone," I said. "And I am going to tell her the truth about Hayes. Give her a reason to leave him."
"She already has plenty of reasons to leave him," Marcus said. "If she has not left by now she is not going to."
"Maybe she does not think she has anywhere to go," I said. "Maybe she needs to know there is another option."
Marcus was quiet for a second. "You are playing with fire Jason. If Hayes finds out you talked to her he will make her disappear, you know he will."
"Then I will make sure he does not find out," I said.
Caitlyn pulled into the gates of the Hayes estate and I stopped down the street. I could not follow her in there without being obvious. The black SUV followed her through the gates, and I watched until they both disappeared.
"I need to find a way to get her alone," I said. "Somewhere Hayes's people are not watching."
"Good luck with that," Marcus said. "The guy has her on total surveillance, she does not go anywhere without someone following."
"There has to be a time when she is alone," I said. "I just need to watch her long enough to find it."
"You are not going to find it," Marcus said. "Hayes is too paranoid; he probably has cameras in the house, too."
I thought about that and realized Marcus was probably right. Hayes would have cameras everywhere to make sure Caitlyn was not doing anything he did not approve of. The guy was a control freak.
"Then I will create an opportunity," I said.
"How?" Marcus asked.
"I do not know yet," I admitted. "But I will figure it out."
Over the next few days, I kept watching and waiting for my chance. Caitlyn's routine never changed, home to school to home. Sometimes she went to the grocery store but always with Hayes's guy following her. She was never truly alone.
On Friday afternoon I was parked near the school again when I saw something different. Caitlyn came out, but instead of going straight to her car, she walked over to the small park next to the school. She sat down on a bench and just stared at nothing.
Hayes's guy in the SUV stayed in the parking lot watching her. But from where he was parked he could not see the other side of the park. Trees were blocking his view.
This was my chance. Maybe the only chance I would get.
I waited until Caitlyn got up and started walking along the path that went behind the trees. Then I got off my bike and followed on foot. My heart was pounding because I knew this was risky but I had to talk to her.
She stopped at another bench on the far side of the park where the trees were thick. She sat down and put her head in her hands; from here, the SUV definitely could not see her.
I approached slowly not wanting to scare her. When I was about ten feet away I said her name quietly.
"Caitlyn."
She looked up fast and her eyes went wide when she saw me. For a second I thought she might scream. But then recognition crossed her face and she just stared at me.
"Jason," she whispered. "What are you doing here?"
"I needed to talk to you," I said and came closer. "Are you okay?"
"You need to leave," she said and looked around nervously. "If Collin finds out you were here he will kill both of us."
"I know about the Vipers," I said. "I know they threatened you. I am sorry about that. They should not have involved you."
"They think I am with you," Caitlyn said. "They said they are going to kill me when they come for you."
"They are not going to touch you," I said firmly. "I will make sure of that."
"How?" she asked and I could hear the desperation in her voice. "How can you protect me when I do not even know who you really are? When you show up at my wedding and follow me around and now gang members are threatening to kill me because of you?"
"I know this is complicated," I started.
"Complicated?" she repeated. "My life is falling apart because of you.”