Page 42 of Forged in Peril

“Okay, and?” she demanded.

He cleared his throat.

“I tripped and hit my face against the corner of the table. Not my smoothest moment, I’ll admit. While I was distracted, the guy got away.”

He sighed. His brothers were not going to let him hear the end of this one.

Bristol’s face, however, revealed only concern.

“Did you get a look at him, at least?”

“Not really,” he admitted. “He was wearing a ski mask and a hooded sweater, and I didn’t get enough of a look at his hands or his eyes to determine his race. All I know is that he had a medium build and height. I couldn’t even see if he had a weapon, not that he got a chance to use it before the table attacked me. It could have been the same guy from the parking garage footage, but it could also be someone totally different. I wish I had something more concrete. I’m sorry.”

The cut on his jaw smarted beneath the bandage.

Had he been out in his Jeep where he should have been, the guy wouldn’t have gotten inside the house in the first place. He had to be more careful. He couldn’t let his feelings for Bristol put her at an even greater risk.

“I’m just thankful you’re okay,” she said, shaking her head and pulling her knees into her chest. “I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if he’d come just a couple of hours earlier, when my mom was here by herself. I can’t let her get hurt because of me.”

“None of this is your fault,” he said, reaching over and resting a hand on her shoulder. “You need to know that.”

She gave him a weak smile, and he let his fingers fall away.

She’d been so close to telling him more about what was going on with her. He could feel it. But the moment was gone now, and he wasn’t about to push the issue.

Not for the moment, anyway.

Not when there was something more important he needed her to cooperate with him on.

“Anyway, we need to regroup,” he said, ignoring the aching of his tailbone as he got to his feet and pulled out his phone. “I’m calling our home security guy in the morning to have him figure out if and how we’ll be able to secure this house. In the meantime, at least until I can wrangle up a safehouse, you’re staying at the FBS offices where we can protect you.”

For once, Bristol didn’t argue.

BRISTOL

“Okay, sounds good, mom,” Bristol said, pressing the phone against her cheek. “I’ll explain more in the morning, I promise. Okay. Love you too.”

“How’d that go?” Cameron asked.

“She agreed to stay with a friend after work, but I’m not sure she realizes just how serious the situation is.”

Cameron said nothing, his attention focused on the dark highway stretching in front of them as he drove toward the city. Bristol had grabbed pajamas, a tooth brush, a change of clothes, and a few things that she needed for work the next day, but that was it.

All she’d wanted to do was to get out of that house, and away from the prickly feeling that someone was watching her, waiting to catch her alone.

She shivered in the passenger seat.

“You cold?” Cameron asked, reaching for the dial that turned up the heat.

“A little. Thanks,” she said, wrapping her sweater more tightly around herself as she waited for the vehicle’s interior to warm up.

She was safe now.

So long as Cameron or his brothers were close by, she knew that whoever was after her wasn’t going to be able to get to her.

And even if she didn’t enjoy being dependent upon them, she’d rather set aside her pride, at least for now, than end up dead.

As she peered out at the twin pools of light in front of the car, she couldn’t help but to be drawn into more pleasant memories. They had taken so many drives like this as teenagers in the Forge family’s old farm truck, arguing over what to listen to on the radio. Bristol would always complain about the coffee cups Cam left behind, and he’d pretend to be mad about the hair ties she always left wrapped around the gear shift.

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