I look down at the towel wrapped around me and laugh. “Uh, no. I guess I’d better put something on.”
I grab leggings and a teal blue sweatshirt and throw my wet hair up in a messy bun. I’m no fashionista, but it’s an improvement.
“Better?”
“Much. Okay, let’s go.”
We walk downstairs together. Everyone else is already waiting in the family room off the kitchen, dressed in casual clothes and laughing at something Carmine said.
“There she is,” Nadia says with a smile. “How are you doing, sugar?”
“Better. I’m done sleeping, I think. Now it’s time to kick ass.”
“Good girl,” Rafe murmurs as he sidles up next to me and takes my hand.
I want to pull it away.
Not because I don’t want him touching me. Exactly the opposite. It feels too damn good, and I don’t want to get into the habit of feeling him close.
But I’m too weak to pull back right now.
So, I give his hand a squeeze and smile at the others.
“Okay, friends, what do we know?”
“The kid who brought you the envelope was hired by the catering company to be a server. We talked to him, and he said that someone passed it to him. He can’t remember who because it was busy at that time.” Shane leans forward and takes Ivie’s hand. “We do have footage of a car coming and going, but when Ivie ran the plates, she found it’s a rental.”
“So, I did some hacking,” Ivie picks up. “Of course, the name of the person who rented it is John Doe.”
“Seriously?” I take my hand from Rafe’s, immediately feeling the loss, and prop my hands on my hips. “The rental company allowed someone named John Doe to take their car?”
“They probably did everything online,” Rafe points out. “Didn’t even have to see a live person to pick it up.”
“Technology doesn’t always help,” I mutter. “Were you able to figure out who John Doe is?”
“No.” Ivie bites her lip. “Sorry, it was a dead end.”
“So, we’re back to square one.”
“Not square one,” Carmine says. “We’re aware of what’s happening, and we can be on the offensive. They’re going to try to reach out to you again. It’s just a matter of when and where.”
“I’m not going to simply sit here and wait.” Rafe starts to interrupt, but I shake my head. “This is ridiculous. Maybe they just wanted to scare me. Who knows? I have a life to get back to. Patients. A clinic to run. So, I’m going back to my life, and all of you should, too. While keeping an ear to the ground, of course.”
“She’s right,” Shane says before anyone can object, surprising everyone in the room, including me. “We don’t know when or if they’ll contact her again. I believe they will. I think it’ll be sooner than later, but not as long as she’s in this fortress, and we’re all on the lookout.”
“See? I’m right.”
“She should go back to Denver. Back to her life. We’ll go with her and strategically protect her.”
“Wait. That’s not what I meant.”
Shane shakes his head. “You need to get back to normal, so to speak, to make them think that you’re not worried about what they’ll do. But you know as well as everyone else in this room that we won’t just drop you off and wish you well, Annika.”
“Hell, no,” Rafe agrees. “We all go.”
“This is really annoying.” I rub my forehead in frustration. “The most annoying part is that you’re probably right.”
And I don’t want to admit that it makes me feel better, safer, to know that they’ll all be close by. The thought of going back on my own is terrifying.
“Can we go tomorrow?” I ask.
“The plane will be ready anytime you are,” Rafe assures me.
“Looks like we’re going to Denver,” Nadia says. “I like it there.”
“Ivie and I are going to the ranch for a couple of days to check in with Curt and make sure everything is good there,” Shane says. “But we can be back in Denver within an hour if something goes wrong.”
“I’ll be back at work with you by Monday,” Ivie assures me. “Thanks for all the time off.”
“You’ve more than earned it.” It’s the absolute truth. Ivie hasn’t taken a vacation from being my office manager since we opened the Medi-spa’s doors two years ago. “I’ll check in with Deidre when we get there to make sure the office is ready to reopen next week.”
“I already did,” Ivie says. “She assured me that everything is good to go.”
I nod and suddenly feel eighty years old. The past year has aged me. I’m exhausted.
But I’m not going to lose this fight. Someone is dicking with me, and I’m so over being the pawn in other people’s games.
We’re going to finish this.
And then I’m going to start rebuilding my life and live it exactly as I want.
With no excuses or apologies.
Chapter 3
~Rafe~
“Okay, so Nadia and Carmine are just a mile away,” I say as I help Annika into her house with her bags. It’s late in the evening. Annika wanted to come earlier in the day, but Carmine had some things to see to, and one thing led to another, so we didn’t leave the city until well after dinner.
But we made it.
I follow her to her bedroom and set the suitcases on the bed so she can easily unpack them. “You’re not in the master?”
“Hell, no.” Her grin doesn’t reach her eyes. “I’ll never set foot in that room again. I’d rather not be here, but it’s not for much longer.”
She doesn’t meet my gaze as she unzips one bag and starts emptying dirty laundry into a basket.
“How can I help?” Jesus, I want to touch her. I want to pull her to me and kiss the fuck out of her like I used to. It used to be that I didn’t have to ask to be near her. We were like magnets; we couldn’t keep our hands off of each other.
I used to know every little detail about her.
And now, she might as well be a stranger.
It makes me fucking crazy.
“Rafe, you’ve gone above and beyond,” she says with a small sigh. “I’ll set the alarm after you leave. Everything should be just fine here.”
I scowl and can’t hold back from reaching for her. I take her hand in mine, and she looks up in surprise.
“I’m not leaving.”
“Of course, you’re leaving.”
“Annika, I’m here to protect you. I can’t do that from some hotel room.”
“Listen, Rafe, I appreciate that you want to help, but—”
“Is that what you think this is? That I’m just here to help like I’m some fucking Boy Scout, A?”
“You’re my friend.”
I push a hand through my hair and have to clench my jaw so I don’t yell that I’m here because I’m in love with her.
I’ve been in love with her for almost a decade, goddamn it.