Page 94 of The Attraction

“Understood, and I’m man enough to say in this room that I am more scared of Harper than I am of you.” I hear chuckles from all the men around me.

“Me too, just saying. And that’s how I know how much she means to you.” Ashton gives me a look of understanding, like he knows what that same kind of love feels like.

“And my last instruction is for you to provoke him with your words, but don’t you dare lay a hand on him until it’s necessary. We need him to get a few good strikes on you so we can claim self-defense. But this is non-negotiable—if he pulls out a gun or any kind of weapon, you immediately pull back and let us handle it. Because let me assure you, if you love Harper like you say you do, do not, I repeat, do not let her live a life of hell knowing the two most important men in her life were killed by the same man, and one of them was doing it to protect her.” Ashton’s glare and words hit me hard. I hadn’t looked at it like that. “Understood?” His stance and the way his hands are in balled-up fists beside him show me how serious he is right now.

I just nod at him as my mind starts racing. I was too busy worrying about protecting Harper that I didn’t even think about what it would do to her if something serious happened to me. I thought I would be saving her, but instead, I could be condemning her to a life of torment greater than she already lives in now. I need to be smart about this. Smarter than I thought I was being, and make sure it happens the way we planned it.

“Right, thirty minutes, everybody, before we move out.” Ashton’s voice snaps me back out of my thoughts. Everyone moves out of the room from around me, and then it’s just me, him, and Ghost still on the line.

Ghost’s voice echoes through the room. “Hey, Forrest, just remember there is more than one way to get this guy. We’ve got your back, and we will get him, but if this starts to go south, you walk away, and we’ll regroup and try again another way. We’ve never lost a man yet, and we don’t intend on you being the first, okay?” I feel the brotherhood that exists between these guys that work in this kind of job. I know Ashton is ex-military, and although I don’t really know Ghost’s story, I’m sure it’s something like that too. I mean, a guy that working in security with a nickname like Ghost, there has to be a story there.

“Thank you for all that you are both doing to help me. I know having a stubborn English businessman show up on your doorstep, not prepared to take no for an answer, was not what you were expecting this week. But I appreciate that you heard me out and are giving me the chance to do what I came here to do. I know I can’t rest until Harper is truly safe, and the only way that can happen is if I do this, so thank you.” I feel a little vulnerable as the reality of what I’m about to do settles on top of me. Ashton steps forward and places his hand on my shoulder, squeezing in reassurance.

“The only thank-you I need is you standing at the end of this with a few bruises for evidence—oh, and of course, payment for my services.” To which we all start laughing because he has already told me he won’t accept money from a relative, which I told him is bullshit. And no matter what he says, there will be money arriving in his account whether he likes it or not, because that’s who I am.

For the next thirty minutes, Ashton is busy working on other things, and I’m sitting here just waiting for the go-ahead to move when a text message comes up on my phone.

Flynn: I’m still angry at you, but please be careful. I don’t want to be the one to have to tell our parents that their son is dead because he was stupid.

A typical Flynn message. When emotions are hard, he uses humor to cover it up. But I get what he is trying to say.

Forrest: I love you too, Brother. I’ve got this.

Flynn: Yeah, love you too. And I believe you. You’ve always had it handled, for all of us, and I don’t think I’ve ever said thank you for that.

“Fuck,” I mumble to myself. Now is not the time for him to say mushy shit like that. I need to be focused and hard, not thinking about him saying things that tug at my heart.

Forrest: Thank you.

I can’t say any more, and luckily, Ashton gives me the nod from across the room that it’s time to go.

Taking a deep breath, I pocket my phone in the inside pocket of my coat and head for the door. As we all start exiting the building at different times and walking separately, it’s starting to feel more real now. I’m just glad Chester took the bait we set and immediately started googling about me and all he could find about my wealth and my job. How long I had been with Harper, and then once he was finished, he again started his search on her. Which we expected, but the golden egg was when he started to search up the event we had said I was attending tonight and the start time, where the entrance to the building was, and bus times to the nearest bus stop. We know he is getting on a bus, and it gives us the clue to where we think he will get off and what time. But we have back-up plans if he varies from that plan.

I make it to Garret’s Bar and sit at a window seat nursing a beer. I’m not even drinking it but ordered it because I just want to just blend in. I’m now getting all sorts of nerves racing through my body. The only thing keeping me focused is scrolling through my photos again, reminding myself why I’m doing this. The black-haired and brown-eyed woman in the photo staring back at me with that spark of fire in her eye that is full of trouble and love all at the same time. I’m doing this for her and her family. Time to put this fear to bed for all of them, even though her family doesn’t even know about it. I’m making sure they never have to know the fear that Harper lives with every day.

Ashton is sitting at the table next to me but with his back to me. But close enough I can hear him when he speaks.

“In five minutes, stand and leave, turning left as per the route we discussed.”

“Understood,” I reply and am thankful that I’m someone who can memorize things quickly. There will be one of Ashton’s team walking in front of me, at a distance, and I can just follow him as well, but that wasn’t enough for me. I have to be in control, so I have the routes totally committed to memory, all of the ones that we discussed.

* * *

My heart is beating so hard in my chest as I approach the last turn into the street where we anticipate running into Chester. I have what he looks like imprinted in my brain. It’s like it has a red haze over the image which comes from how I feel about him putting so much fear in the woman I love.

As I turn the corner, I can see the street isn’t busy, but there are plenty of people still walking around, either coming home from work or on their way out for the night. There are different smells in the street coming from a few restaurants down this strip and the normal stench of traffic. Cars are parked by the curb, and I see the bus stopping down the street ahead of me on my side of the road. People start exiting, and even from a distance, I see the man I’m here for, which makes my blood boil.

Dark curly collar-length hair, unshaven, but also unkept. Wearing jeans and a hoodie with a hole in the elbow that was facing me as he exited the bus. He turns and starts walking toward me but head down, which is not helpful, because he could easily walk straight past me. Trying to think quickly, I grab my phone from my pocket and pretend to be having a conversation on it as he gets closer. Then as soon as he is about four steps from me, I start talking.

“I miss you too, Harper.” And the moment he hears her name, his head flies up and we lock eyes. “Love you. Bye.” I pocket my phone as he gets level with me, and as he takes one step past me, I hold my demeanor. Then I hear him stop just behind me and call out loud enough for me to hear.

“Hey. You!”

I stop and steel my expression before I turn to look at him, just out of arm’s reach.

“You talking to me?” I say, pretending I’m a little confused and have no idea who he is.

“Yeah, man. You Forrest Taylor?” I scan him standing there with his hands in the single big pocket across the front of his hoodie, and I can tell he has something in his hands in that pocket. What that is, I have no idea yet. But he’s fidgeting and looking around nervously.

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