“Ready?” he asks, while placing his phone in his pocket and grabbing his duffle bag. Apparently, he packs light while on assignment.
“Yeah, are you calling Slade while we’re in my room?” I reply. Leo nods his head before he places a warm hand on my back while escorting me to the room.
It doesn’t take us long to arrive there. The door is open slightly. I guess there’s nothing you can do about that when it’s in the middle of the night, but I’m glad he’s here with me just the same.
“Stay here. I’ll check everything out, then you can take a shower.” He’s in work mode, and I know there’s no way to lure him into the shower with me. Talk about being forward, Tinsley. Leo makes it back in a few moments. “It’s all safe. I’ll be here when you’re ready. Pack as light as you can.” His lips are against my ear, causing a full-body shiver.
“Okay.” I reluctantly leave Leo, not because I’m scared. He makes me feel safe. Leo is fast becoming my safe harbor in a storm that’s rolling through with the rain and wind surrounding us.
Five
Leo
I watch as Tinsley heads to her bedroom, waiting until I hear the water turn on before I walk to her balcony. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but something is going down. My thoughts are ranging from video feeds to a bug being placed where I can’t see anything, and let’s face it, I don’t have the luxury of Nighthawk Security around the corner.
The balcony is probably the safer of the two compared to the bedroom when it comes to listening devices. I call Slade knowing we’re hours behind him, but I’m hoping he talked to Tinsley’s dad.
The phone rings twice before I hear Slade let out a breath. “You never call me this much. Do you miss me?”
“You fucking wish. You talk to Sutton?” I counter.
“Just got off the phone with that jackwagon. Things are changing. He’s cancelling the contract. He said it was a mole inside his company sending the threats.” Slade isn’t buying whatever it is that Robert Sutton is selling him.
“That’s interesting. I walked Tinsley back to her room about two o’clock this morning. I was barely in my room long enough to sleep before she was coming through my door letting me know her door was open, and I know for a fact it was fucking locked when I left. Turns out someone was trying to get inside. The tumbler is broken, and the key area is scratched to hell. I’m thinking your client is full of shit.” I grunt.
“You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Slade’s voice is showing his annoyance.
“Yep, I’m not leaving, and if I do, she’s coming with me,” I tell him. Even if I need to take time off. I have more paid time off coming than the rest of the guys as it is.
“It’s like that, is it?”
“Yep.” I don’t elaborate. He gets what I’m not saying.
“Where you going? I wouldn’t suggest her apartment. Her folks pay for that. You want to come back here or get a place somewhere else?”
“Somewhere else. Let me get her out of here, round some things up, then I’ll call you back.” I don’t want us saying too much over the phone. Who the hell knows what’s going on here, but shit is not adding up.
“Gotcha, keep me posted.”
“Will do.” We hang up, and I walk back inside to wait for Tinsley. This shit is giving me the creepy fucking crawlies.
“Hey, are you okay?” Tinsley comes out of the bathroom. I’m standing at the door to her bedroom, my arms crossed over my chest.
“Yeah, can you be ready in ten minutes or so for your class?” I wink, getting her to play along.
“Of course.” She nods. Her hair is up in a clip, soft tendrils falling down around her face, highlighting her delicate features. The white oversized sweater covers her shapely legs that are wrapped in black leggings. I had them wrapped around my body and had to stop her from going further, those soft fingertips of hers so close to the waistband of my shorts, my cock hard as nails. If we were anywhere but here, I never would have stopped her. We would have ended up in a sweaty tangle of limbs. Yeah, I’m definitely going after Tinsley. There’s no way around it.
She turns around. That ass of hers, even with the sweater covering her, it still highlights her curvaceous body. I watch her the entire time as she packs her purse and laptop bag. I’m really fucking thankful she understood what I said between the lines, or this could have blown up before I got a chance to talk to her.
“I’m ready.” She appears with her laptop strapped to her back, purse in her hand. My hand molds to her lower back as we head for the door, end in sight of getting us out of here unseen and unheard. That’s all I would need—Robert Sutton to appear. That or Dumb and Dumber. It wouldn’t shock me if those two idiots played some kind of part in this. Shit just isn’t adding up in my eyes.
“Are we okay?” Tinsley whispers the moment we make it into my rented Suburban. As soon as I landed, Slade procured the wheels for me, knowing full well I wasn’t going to use a client’s vehicle.
“We will be. I’m going to take you to your place, have you pack a weeks’ worth of clothes, and go from there. I promise everything’s going to be okay though.” My hand finds hers on the center console. I hold it in my hand, not letting her go as I drive to her place.
The traffic in the state of Washington is a nightmare on its slow days. I miss the ease of the backwoods of Lodgeview the longer I’m away. A part of me wonders if she’d be interested in going back home to Virginia with me. Maybe she could take her courses online for the time being.
“I believe you, Leo.” She shocks the shit out of me while I’m pulling into the parking lot of her apartment. You’d think for the amount of cash her parents doled out for this place, the parking would be more secure. It’s another fucking thing I don’t understand.
“Thanks, beautiful. You ready to rock and roll? This will have to be quick. Slade is going to have a place for us by this afternoon, but we need to get on the road soon.”
“Yeah, am I coming back?” she questions.
“That’s up to you.” I barely conceal my need to say, “No, I won’t ever allow you to step back into the hell you’re in right now,” but I don’t. Tinsley doesn’t say anything. I know I’ll need to tell her everything and bare my soul in the process, but for the first time in a long time I feel at peace. I’m settled, not chasing after what comes next in life.
Six
Tinsley
It took us no more than thirty minutes for me to pack up what I needed. We were in and out of my apartment that fast. I grew up realizing things are materialistic, and I’d rather have less things and more memories to make than the latest fashion trends or the newest handbag. Basically, I’m nothing like my parents. It often makes me wonder if I was adopted. That’s how night and day we are.
The weirdest thing is though, I’m not upset even knowing that Leo hasn’t told me everything that is going down. I trust him as much as I trust my granddaddy. He and Leo are the only ones I’ve ever felt who had my best interest at heart. The way his jaw was set, the firmness in his tone, the clenching and unclenching of his fist that was slung over the steering wheel, I knew Leo didn’t like what Slade had to say when he called earlier.