Flashback

As they pulled apart from what seemed like a lifetime of kisses, silenced stood in the air. Jarod spoke out first.

"Catch me if you can, Miss Parker."

She took steps towards him. He stood still and he waited for her next move. She laid her hands on his chest, then slowly grabbed hold of his triceps.

"Gotcha!" She spoke in her sultry voice.

He whispered in her ears. "Don't think you have control over me, Parker. "

"Maybe I do," she whispered back.

"My heart is not for you to tug at and tear into shreds."

He remembered her treatment of him filled with bitterness, coldness and hatred. What caused her to have hated him with a passion? Yet, her heart-felt emotions had begun to surface in her.

Her crystalline blue eyes had a hypnotic affect on him. She cocked her head unsure of what had just happened. Always on her guard, she has never quite trusted anyone. She questioned her actions to herself, yet she watched him with a yearning sensation.

End Of Flashback

Miss Parker flopped herself onto her sofa after what was nothing but a habitual routine day for her at The Centre. Gently she rubbed her neck to ease out her tension when she felt his strong arms massaged her shoulders.

"Harder," she moaned softly. "What would I do without you?"

"You'd probably stay late at the office, trying to locate my whereabouts and thinking of several different ways to capture me." Jarod kissed the top of her head.

She laughed, which she hardly ever did. "Only "daddy" doesn't know I've already captured you."

Jarod sat down next to her. Miss Parker straddled on him, her hands held his face, he snaked his arms around her back, she pecked his lips lightly before they kissed passionately. She jumped off of him, when he pulled her back.

"No, Jarod, wait. I need to talk to you." He released her. She interlocked her fingers with his. "How long have you been here?"

"Not long. Hey, what's going on?" Jarod was concerned.

"I'm sorry."

"For what, Parker?"

"Situations here. You come over when it's dark, you leave every morning before the sun comes up. I don't like this arrangement."

He looked down at their hands pressed together. "You know, there was a time when I held your hands and you pulled away from me."

"On the island, in the car," she whispered.

"And now, you're hanging on so tight, as if not wanting to let go."

She kissed his fingers. "I missed you as my best friend when we were young. But, I loved "daddy" so much that I resented you. He had no time for me. Mama was gone and he might as well have died himself. He was never around."

"Parker," Jarod interrupted.

"Let me finish."

He nodded. She continued. "I hated the attention you got."

"Alright and you hated me."

"And I hated you. At least I thought I did. "Daddy" was always busy at The Centre with Raines and you, their boy genius. Then he sent me away to boarding school. There was college. He promised me a job and when you escaped, you were my number one assignment. I took it just to get back at you for all the times "daddy" had no use for me. Do this for "daddy", he had said. He needed me. I wanted him to be so proud of me. I guess you could say I tried to buy his love. When you've been lied to for so long, you start to believe in them. I hadn't realized that you were a victim, that The Centre made your life a living hell. I made your life a living hell. You were The Centre's subject which was no choice of your own."

"And what made you stop believing in his lies?"

"It took awhile, but I grew up. You were never cruel to me. But, I was to you. You were always compassionate towards me in times of need. You're all I'll ever want. I'm so sorry that I hurt you. The hell with you "daddy"!"

"Come here." Jarod held on to her.

Miss Parker rested her head on his shoulder as she caressed his stubbled face. "You need a shave."

She felt his smile. "I don't want that life anymore. Can you just hold me tonight?"

Jarod embraced her and she hung on to him as tightly as she could. "Just stay with me forever, Jar."

Together, they felt the sadness of their lives, but the biggest thing they felt was their love.

TBC - Chapter 3