Page 4 of Breathless
“Hank Patterson sent for us,” the other one said making eye contact with her and for a moment Chaney lost her breath. He had the deepest dark brown eyes she’d ever seen.
“But more importantly, Asher and Liberty filled us in on where you’d be today and thought you might need us here to watch over you as you left the building,” Rafferty said.
The elevator doors opened again to the lobby and the Grainger brothers carefully escorted their detainees out, keeping an eye on the surroundings before motioning the all clear before Liberty led the girls out.
Chaney hurried ahead of Liberty and Justus to catch up with the protectors as they led their captives to the security checkpoint. “Pardon me, but I didn’t catch your name.”
“Rawlins,” he drawled and it sounded like he was saying New Orleans if he had been from Louisiana, but she was studying Linguistics and her ear picked up a clear Texas dialect.
“Rawlins. That’s an unusual name. Just like Rafferty. They’re more like surnames than first,” she said.
“That’s right. We were named for our parent’s grandmother’s families. Luckily, they both started with Rs,” he said.
“And you’re from Texas?” she said.
“Correct.
“Nice meeting you. I’m Chaney Daniels.”
“I know. I’ve been assigned to protect you.”
“Me, specifically?” she asked.
“That’s right.”
She chuckled. Things were looking up for her. “I already have a driver that my parents hired who is keeping tabs on me. Do you think you can get rid of him?”
Rawlins shrugged. “That depends. Why do you want to get rid of him?”
“I just told you. He’s keeping tabs on me and reporting back to my parents,” she said. “I feel like I’m a prisoner. I have no freedom to do what I want. They can’t be bothered to be here for me, yet they have hired a stranger to watch me and report back. I don’t think they have that right. All I want to do is be able to see Justus when I want, but they don’t want me to do that.”
He nodded. “And why don’t they want you to see Justus?”
“They blame her for my abduction. If she hadn’t met Kurtis, none of this would have happened.”
“True,” Rawlins said. “They do have a point. But she had no idea Kurtis would turn out to be a human trafficker mule whenshe started seeing him. At the same time, it isn’t fair to keep the two of you apart either.”
“A mule? Is that what they call what he was doing?” she asked.
“Not sure. But to me, it’s the same as a drug mule who facilitates the passage of drugs from one point to another,” Rawlins explained. “He did that when he took you and Justus to the ring leader.”
“Hey, Rawlins, I need your help here,” Rafferty called.
“Coming.” He looked at her apologetically. “Sorry. I need to…”
“Go.” She watched him walk away, appreciating his walk as much as she had looking him up and down. Realizing she was gawking, she mentally shook herself and went back to Liberty and Justus who looked to be in a heated conversation.
“Hey, the other one is named Rawlins. They’re named after their grandmother’s families. Isn’t that sweet,” she said rejoining them. She looked between them and paused. “Uh, did I just interrupt something?”
“It’s nothing,” Liberty replied.
She didn’t believe that for a second, but she wasn’t going to press the issue. She had her own family problems to worry about without disrespecting their boundaries and prying.
“Are we ready to go then?” she asked, instead.
“Not so fast,” Rafferty called as he and Rawlins handed over the two men to the police that had arrived. He left Rawlins to deal with it and came over to them. “I’m sure you’re anxious to get out of here, but I’d prefer if you had an escort to make sure there are no other obstacles in your way.”
“Do you think they’d be bold enough to go after the girls a second time today?” Liberty questioned
