Page 48 of Unguarded

“Tonight.” I glance down at my phone, noting that it’s two thirty in the afternoon local time.

We’re escorting Monroe to dinner at a fancy Michelin-starred restaurant tonight. I’m antsy with Danny being the only one on the detail until then, but guarding her in a hotel room is the easiest it gets. I have to ease up, or I won’t be able to get on the plane next week. The uneasiness building in my gut makes me stand and start pacing in front of the bay window.

“Have you talked to Ember? Is she with her?”

Brooks is smiling at his phone, but it fades as he looks up at me. “Uh, she texted me earlier, saying they were just unpacking.”

I nod, staring out the window again as rain pelts the glass. I can’t sit still. My skin feels tight.

“Something feels weird,” I muse.

Brooks’s eyebrows scrunch together. “Like what?”

I scan the street below. “I don’t know. Text her again. Get an update.”

My muscles are cramping up. My heart rate is quickening with each passing moment.

Something is wrong.

“Did she reply?”

“Not yet, but she read the text.” He frowns at his phone.

Another two minutes crawls by as we wait in silence.

“Still on Read?”

“They’re probably just getting ready, man. You know how women get when they’re doing each other’s makeup and shit.” Brooks stands to look out the window with me.

“Call her.”

He sighs, but I hear the phone ringing as he puts the call through. It rings five times before going to voicemail.

“Why don’t you call Monroe?” he asks.

“I don’t have her number. Let’s go.”

She rarely has her phone anyway. My steps are quick and determined as we exit the room and march toward the elevator.

“What do you think the problem is? Let’s just call Danny. He’s on detail.”

“Call him then,” I bark out.

That fucker had better have eyes on her.

I hear Brooks’s phone ringing the call through as the elevator rises to the top floor. It goes to voicemail.

“Motherfucker,” I swear under my breath.

Something isverywrong.

As soon as the doors ping and open, I run. I pull the key card to her room out of my pocket and slide it into the door. It beeps before the light turns green. The handle twists open before I have the chance to grab it, revealing Danny on the other side of the door. His eyes are wide, and his face is pale.

“Is she with you?” he asks.

My mouth runs dry. “What the fuck happened?!” I shove his chest back into the room.

For once, he doesn’t get defensive.

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