Running To Him - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 6

28| Ollie Ollie Oxen Free

I was in a groove. There was one week left before my art show and I was making amazing progress. Yes, I've had good streaks like this where I've been able to get quite a few paintings done in a short time, but in this case the only thing I could chalk it up to was Jamie.

As Rise Against's Paper Wings filled my studio, I dipped my brush into the water again to clean it before brushing my forearm across my cheek. I was probably covered in paint. Wouldn't be the first time. Hazards of the job.

The painting I was working on now was inspired by a place that I saw on my last trip to Paris when I came with my parents. It was about five years ago and my mother planned a family trip to celebrate their anniversary. We ended up finding this rundown abandoned church.

Even though no one has probably attended a service there in decades, you could still feel the energy radiating off of it when you stood before it. I was never a religious person, but it was beautiful. Any photographer, painter, or anyone with a creative eye couldn't help but admire such a structure like that.

It was currently about ninety percent done. All I had left was to finish the steeple and a part of the tire swing that hung from a tree outside of it. It was going to be a great piece when it was finished. The whole show was going to be an experience I was never going to forget. Not only was I finally going to showcase some of my work professionally, but I was going to have a beautiful woman on my arm to share it with.

Speaking of, I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket. The music silenced automatically and I pulled my phone out to see who it was. Since Jamie was usually a texter, I assumed it was one of my parents or my boss. I could not have been more wrong.

"Shit."

It was Harper again. She called me a little bit ago too but I didn't answer. I promised Jamie that I wouldn't tell them where she was and that I would keep her secret. If I answered, I felt like I would be obligated to tell Jamie that I spoke to her best friend. The last thing I wanted to do was keep a secret from her. But then again, what if there was some kind of emergency going on with one of the people she loved and they were calling to tell me in case I had seen her or spoke to her.

Feeling like I didn't have another choice, I hit the accept button.

"Hello? Harper?"

The voice that came through the phone was definitely not Harper. It wasn't even female. It was heavy with a British accent and it was angry.

"Not quite, mate. Been a minute since you and I had that little conversation over beers."

Oh shit. I remembered that conversation. Jackson went all 'big brother' on me about Jamie. Basically threatened to kill me if I ever did anything to hurt her.

"Jackson," I said lamely. "Yes, I remember. Is, uh, everything okay?"

That's when I finally heard Harper's voice in the background.

"Give me the phone, Jackson! I'm handling this."

Clearly her man was not letting her take the reins on this one. "So, Ollie, do you have anything to tell us?"

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. It was obvious that they somehow figured out she was in Paris, or even worse that she was with me. But if I opened my mouth and admitted it, I felt like I would be betraying Jamie's trust.

"Nope," I answered, digging my own grave. "Not a damn thing to say." Dig, dig, dig. "It's good to hear from you guys though." Six feet should be good for my grave right?

There was cussing and rustling on the other end of the line before another voice came through.

"Yeah, hi. This is Lanie. You know the Lanie. Jamie's best friend. We know she ran away to Paris and we know she's with you! Do you have any idea how worried we've been?" I had to hold the phone from my ear a little as she continued to shriek into the receiver. That woman had a set of lungs. "I should get on a plane right now and fly over there to beat yo—Ayden Sawyer, don't you dare take this phone from—"