Page 140 of Capturing You
“No. Sorry. I was looking to see if Grant texted back. I mean him, my cousin.”
“Oh. Right.” Forbes hated that idea, but not because it was a bad one. He hated the thought of her leaving. “I can drive?—”
“No.”
“How else?—?”
“No, I mean… I can’t do that to Grant and Summer. They can protect me, but their baby’s due any day. I can’t just barge in on them.”
“You think they’d mind?”
“I think they’d take me in and never tell me if they minded.” She sighed. “I hate this. I hate being a burden, a nuisance.”
“You’re neither of those things. You’re a…you’re a blessing.” Those were words he’d never said to another human in his life, but it was true, even if it felt weird on his tongue. “Just come back to the house with me.”
“But those guys?—”
“They might assume I was the one who helped you. If they come to look for you, you’ll hide, and I’ll take care of it.” Which was easy for him to say. Easy for him to ask her to trust him. “I get it if you don’t want to, but you need a real plan.”
Maybe it was time to stop putting off the inevitable and let her go.
“If not your cousin’s house,” he asked, “then where? You must’ve had a plan before they followed you to the library.”
“I was going to get my car and drive to Alyssa’s in Augusta.”
He opened his phone’s map. “Address?”
“I-I don’t want to go there.”
Did that mean she wanted to stay with him? He couldn’t help the flash of hope her words brought.
“I’m afraid I’ll put her in danger, and she’s been through enough lately.”
“Then where?”
“I don’t know. There’s nowhere safe. There’s nowhere I won’t put someone I love in danger. I just… I can’t think straight. I’m not used to being chased by men who want to kill me, and… This is all so…” Her voice shook again. “I guess a hotel? Or maybe just the bus station. I’ll go to Boston.”
On a bus?
To the city, by herself?
Forbes rubbed his lips together, hating that idea. “No.”
“What do you mean?—?”
“You’ll come home with me. When you make a better plan, I’ll help you follow through with it. But I’m not dropping you off at the bus station and sending you out on your own. I can drive you to Boston if that’s what you want. Do youwantto go to Boston?”
“Not really.”
“Okay, then. Tomorrow, I’ll take you anywhere. For now, you’ll stay.” He did a U-turn and returned to his driveway. As before, there was no sign of intruders.
They’d be safe here. And if they weren’t…
Then she’d hide, and he’d take on the killers.
* * *
All the blindswere closed in the kitchen, all the drapes pulled shut.
