Page 21 of Mess With Me

“His name is Vincent Creelman, and you need to stay away from him.” Griffin, obviously gauging me as able to stand on my own, lets go of my arms.

“Thanks for that. Didn’t notice he was a fucking criminal who attacked me.”

Griffin softens. “Sasha, I know you’re not going to go out with him again, I—”

“I didn’t go out with him. I was doing a favor for my brother.”

“Don’t do any more favors.”

I clench my jaw, pressing my hands to my temples. I forget about the hand again, though, and pain rips through me at the new angle.

“Fuck!”

“I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“I already said no, and I mean it, okay?”

He looks like he very much wants to ignore me. But his eyes don’t leave mine. I can tell he’s assessing me, seeing how stable I am.

I narrow my eyes. “I don’t need your permission. Would you please excuse me now? I just want to go home.”

To his credit, even though I can tell just from the way his whole body remains tense that he wants to throw me over his shoulder and haul me to the nearest ER, he gives me a begrudging. “Fine.”

But he doesn’t move out of my way.

That’s because he’s not finished. “You shouldn’t go home. Can you stay with your family?”

I briefly close my eyes. “Let’s see. I could take a train to Connecticut, where my parents will open their door to find me wet and bedraggled, thus fully realizing their theory that I’m a lost cause only ‘in want of a husband.’” I use my bestPride and Prejudicevoice, because yes, I am losing it a little. “Sure, I could go there. Or I could ask to stay on the couch of my two normal siblings, who’ve moved across the country to get away from Sam and the shitstorm that seems to follow him everywhere. But wait, I’d have to go to the airport first. Oh, I know! I could stay at Sam’s place! The man who sent me into the fucking lion’s den to get murdered or kidnapped or…” I trail off, feeling hot tears brimming. He really did that to me.

I lift my chin and shake my head so hard my wet hair flaps around my face. “No. I’m going home. Not just because I have nowhere else to go, but because I refuse to let fear rule me.”

I spent enough time doing that. Over too many years.

“I’ve got a doorman and a security guard. There are cameras at the front of the building and alarms at the back. I’ve got three locks on my apartment door, a cell phone that I managed to hang on to that has this amazing feature callednumbersthat dial 911, and a fire escape if it comes to it.”

I skip over the part where that paparazzo managed to evade all of that and knock on my apartment door that time.

“I’ll be fine. Now, are you going to move out of my way?”

Griffin’s been silent this whole time, and I see something like real worry flash across his face. Is it for me? Or my sanity? Either way, as he stares at me with concern in his chocolate brown eyes, it’s like I’m seeing him for the first time. Or seeing…more to him. He’s not just the scruffy, rude, bossy-as-hell brother of my best friend’s boyfriend. He’s someone who showed up here for me.

“What were you doing in that restaurant, Griffin?”

He doesn’t break eye contact. He doesn’t even blink. But his eyes seem to shift somehow, like the color’s changing. I feel it dance across my skin.

At first, I’m not sure he’s going to answer me. Then he says, “We’ve been keeping tabs on Creelman.”

“Who’s we?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Are you a cop?”

“No.”

“A…spy?”

His lips twitch. “Not quite.”

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