Page 72 of Bodyguard By Night

Ransom

Two Truths and a Lie

I was surprised this was all she had, but her lack of possessions made the stop even quicker.

I resisted the urge to bundle her up and stick her in one of Roth’s safehouses in the city. I even knew of one right here in Brooklyn that I could break into—or call Aidan for a code to get in if I wasn’t feeling adventurous.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t help anyone. Rachel would lose her damn mind and then Clay would kill me.

So, that was out.

I’d already planned on checking in with Roth before we left Brooklyn, but the minute we pulled up to her apartment, I’d realized we were in the exact spot that matched the feed Poe had found in her search.

Was it bright to kiss her on camera?

Nope.

Would it move this along? That was a good question.

I’d always been impatient when it came to recon. Why I hadn’t lasted long in the bodyguard game. That and I didn’t like people.

Too bad that didn’t seem to apply to Chaos. The urge to get her in my arms was getting harder to deny. But I’d told myself giving in to my impulses had a two-pronged benefit in this case—keeping her close and also possibly pissing off this idiot.

Add in the fact that she would be under my roof for the foreseeable future, and I might be able to use this…whatever it was between us to my advantage.

I rubbed my chest at the idea of using her, but the end result would be as good for her as it would be for me.

Maybe the guy watching her would get bored when she wasn’t as available. It would be easier to keep tabs on her at my house and at the orchard and handing the wedding details would provide a distraction for her from her usual videos.

Would that cause him to escalate? Or lose interest? Or he could be patient enough to just wait us out/ I didn’t have enough details on the man behind the keyboards and drones.

Instinct told me this was a guy.

The power trips felt more like what a man would do, including the control aspect to the videos and gifts. His moves were designed to put her on edge.

I could almost guarantee the shithead was watching to see her reaction to his little game. But what he’d do when he got me as a buffer was still a wildcard.

Right now, I just needed to get her back to Turnbull. Oh, and convince her that us getting together would be a good thing.

Doing a one-eighty in my reactions to her was pretty suspicious and she wasn’t stupid. But maybe it would put the focus on me instead of her.

I gripped the edge of her mattress. We’d wrapped it in a tarp, but it was small enough to fit under my truck bed cover. The rain had let up long enough to get us packed and let the girls do the hug it out thing with a bonus batch of tears.

I didn’t know if I was itchy because I knew we were on camera—yes, I’d gotten a confirmation text from Poe—or due to all the emotions flowing between the two women.

Probably both.

Merry grabbed Chaos in another hug. The two of them swayed back and forth as if they’d never see one another again. “I’ll be there for the wedding.”

“Oh, you will?” Chaos shrieked and the hugging intensified into another round of giggles and tears.

I jammed my fists into my pockets, wishing I was anywhere but here.

“C’mon, Chaos, it’s going to be a long drive home.”

“Right.” She brushed away tears with the cuffs of her obnoxiously bright sweatshirt. “I’ll see you in a few weeks then.”

Merry nodded before she pinned me with a surprisingly scary look. “You make sure my girl is safe.”