I dove into my Mercedes and drove as fast as could towards the raptor paddock. A picture of Owen and Maisie flashed on my phone as Owen called me. I didn't answer. I was not having a conversation with him over the phone.
My tires dug into the gravel as I slammed on the brakes and threw the car in park.
Owen immediately started walking over towards me. His eyes cautious.
"You stupid, arrogant, man!" I yelled, closing the space between us. My lips covered his as if it was my only lifeline.
Hesitant at first, Owen slowly brought it hands to my hips and pulled me harder into him. I didn't care we were working. I didn't care about the audience we were probably attracting.
Owen broke the kiss as we struggled to catch our breath. "Thought you were mad at me."
I brought my hands to his chest and shoved hard. "I'm furious!" I growled.
Owen chuckled. "That's a funny way to show it."
"I can't believe you did that!"
"You weren't supposed to see. I told you those security cameras were a bad idea."
I paced back and forth in front of him. "You have a daughter, Owen." I paused to look at him. "What was I supposed to say to her when those animals tore you apart?" The tears in my eyes threatened to spill over. I blinked them away. I was too angry to cry.
Owen saw the pain and fear in my eyes and reached for me as he took a step in my direction.
I backed away. "Don't," I demanded. "Don't try and make me feel better."
He stopped moving but his arms stayed outstretched towards me. "I'm fine, Claire. Not a scratch on me."
"You're lucky." I answered.
"Luck isn't part of it." Hoskins interrupted. "Owen knows he has complete control over them." He shrugged and clapped Owen on the back, "At least you can control some of the women in your life." He snorted.
I took a step towards him, "Excuse me?"
"Ok…" Owen grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back. "Let's take a walk."
I shook his hands off my shoulders and glared at Hoskins for a moment longer before pushing passed him.
We walked in silence, Owen staying a pace behind me. He was giving me space he knew I needed.
I looked down at the ground. "You could have died," I spoke softly, "I could have watched you die."
He reached forward and his fingers laced with mine. I squeezed tightly. He took one large step so we were walking side by side. I couldn't hide the sob that crept up my throat.
Owen reached across me with his free hand to stop me from walking. "Hey, hey," he whispered. "I'm fine."
I stepped back when he tried to pull me into him, but his arms were stronger. I closed my eyes against his chest and breathed in deeply. My arms slowly rose from my side to snake around his waist. "I hate you for doing that to me."
He dropped his head to my hair and gave a light chuckle before pressing his lips to the top of my head. "I love you, too."
I smiled against his chest. Though he was holding me, my heart ached for him. I needed to be closer. My breathing deepened and Owen picked up on it right away. As if reading my mind, he brought his hands to either side of my face and pressed his lips hungrily against mine.
My fingers worked clumsily at the buttons on his shirt at the same time he effortlessly removed my blouse. His hands roamed over my lavender tank top and I moaned into his mouth.
I let my hands roam inside his open shirt, knowing we were outside I didn't remove it.
"This isn't a good idea," I whispered against his lips.
"Then stop me." He let his hands slide down my thigh's and gripped the hem of my skirt and slid his hands back up, this time touching skin.
I shivered.
He hooked both pointer fingers into the waistband of my underwear and in one swift move they were gone. I lost all desire to stop him.
"White dress," I warned when he lowered us to the grass.
He rolled us so I was straddling his hips. "Better?" He asked with his famous crooked smile.
I nodded and brought my lips back to his. I was done talking.
I dipped my head into the crook of his neck and laughed. "That was a first." I pointed out and stood to straighten myself out.
Owen raised an eyebrow. "Guess I should almost get eaten more often." He zippered his jeans back up.
I rolled my eyes. "I'll kill you myself."
Owen laughed as he got to his feet.
"Now I need something from you." I started. "I need you to come to the indominus paddock."
Owen shook his head. "No," he narrowed his eyes, confused. "Why?"
I took a deep breath. "Mr. Masrani wants you to evaluate the paddock for vulnerabilities." I answered.
"Why me?" He started walking back towards the raptor paddock and I followed, combing my fingers through my hair.
"I guess he thinks since you're able to control the raptors…" I paused when he stopped walking and I smacked into his back. As I stumbled backwards he spun to look at me.
"It's all about control with you. I don't control the raptors. It's a relationship. Based on mutual respect." His shrugged and moved a stray piece of hair out of my face. "You know, like us."
I snorted. "Glad you base our relationship off the raptors."
He turned to continue walking. "You know what I mean."
"Can you just come with me, please. I'm not asking you to be friends with the thing. I just need you to check on the structure."
"I guess," he grumbled as we made it back to the paddock.
"Barry I'll be right back." He called out, getting in the drivers seat of the car.
Barry waved and went back to what he was doing.
"That way." I pointed out when he pulled onto the dirt road.
My phone rang and I was almost afraid to look at it.
"You're sister," Owen said placing the phone on my lap.
"She's been trying to call me all day." I informed him and hit the talk button on my phone. "Hey, Karen."
Karen's voice was flat. "Hi, Claire. How's it going?"
"Yeah," I tried to sound chipper. "Everything's great. The kids are having fun…"
"Really?" She interrupted. She knew I was lying. "Cause I just got off the phone with Zach and he said you weren't even with them."
I sighed heavily, "Yeah, look, today turned out to be a really bad day for me. Owen and I have to do one more thing and we will go meet up with them. They are in great hands. They're with Maisie's nanny. She's great with kids."
I heard Karen start to cry.
"Hey," I soothed. "Wait, are you crying?"
"This was supposed to be a fun, family weekend, Claire. You guys haven't seen the boys in forever and I know how Zach is when they are by themselves and he can be so mean."
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "Ok, I'm sorry. "Tomorrow, I'm going to spend the entire day with them. I'm going to take off work and I won't leave their side. I promise."
"Well," she sighed, "a promise tomorrow is worth a lot less than trying today."
"Ugh," I groaned. "You're using mom's lines now?"
"They work, right?"
I shrugged. "I guess… Bye mom." I joked.
"Bye," she whispered.
I dropped my phone in the center console. "Great," I grumbled.
"She'll get over it." He said and reached over to squeeze my leg reassuringly. "I'm sure the boys are having a great time. I bet Maisie is yapping their ears off with facts about the dinosaurs."
I reached for my phone again. "Maybe I should call and check on them."
"Do it after we get this over with." Owen said as we pulled up to the paddock.
"That's huge," he breathed, looking up.
I nodded, taking the lead up the stairs to the viewing room. "We've been pre-booking tickets for months now." I informed him.
"I don't want to know details, Claire."
"The park needs a new attraction every couple of years to reinvigorate the public's interest. Kind of like the space program. Corporate felt that genetic modification would up the wow factor."
"They're dinosaurs, wow enough." Owen answered. "And besides, I really don't care."
"Fine," I huffed and opened the door. He followed me in and looked around.
"What do you think?" I asked after I watched him walk along the glass, studying the paddock.
"Has she been in here all her life?" He asked, not looking at me.
"Yes."
"Never seen anything outside these walls?"
"No," I chuckled. "We can't exactly walk it."
Owen ignored my joke. "And you feed it with that?" He asked as the crane dropped a piece of meat to call her over.
"Is there a problem?" I wondered.
"Animals raised in captivity aren't always the most functional." He stated.
I shook my head, confused. "But your raptors are raised in captivity."
Owen nodded. "With siblings," he pointed out, "they develop social skills. And I imprint on them when they're born. There's trust. The only positive relationship this animal has is with that crane. At lease she knows it means food."
"So she needs friends?" I questioned. Confused at where he was trying to get at. "Schedule play dates." Owen glared at me. I continued without hesitating. "That sort of thing?"
"Not sure that's a good idea," he humored me.
I smiled and turned my attention back to the glass, tapping on it impatiently. "Where is it?"
"Is it in the basement? Is there a downstairs? Maybe it's in the rec room," It was Owen's turn to make jokes.
"We were just here," I mumbled, ignoring him.
I walked over to check the computer and it flashed red. No thermal radiation detected.
Owen reached for me instinctively.
"That doesn't make sense." The care taker said as he glanced at his computer. "These doors haven't been open in weeks."
"What is this thing made of?" Owen whispered, taking a step towards the glass.
"The basic genome is a t-rex and the rest is… classified." I didn't know what the rest was.
Owen turned slowly, eyes wide. "You made a new dinosaur, but you don't even know what it's made of?"
"The lab delivers us—" I defended, but Owen's hand shot up to silence me.
"Forget it." He turned back to the glass. "Were those claw marks always there?"
I stepped beside him. My hand reaching for his, "Do you think it… Oh, God." I gasped, backing away from the glass.
Owen's eyes were wide with panic as he watched me.
I moved towards the door. "She has an implant in her back. I can track her from the control room." I opened the door and realized Owen wasn't behind me.
"Go," he nodded.