Page 34 of Intangible
“I don’t think it’s cheesy. I think it’s pretty cool. My question is, how did you get a tattoo while still in high school?”
“No idea. I never asked. Based on the place we got them, I guess I should be thankful I didn’t contract a raging case of hepatitis.”
Memphis took her empty bowl, placing them both on the coffee table. Turning, he braced his back against the arm, pulling her to his chest. Arranging the blanket over both of them, he motioned toward the TV. “We should probably watch the movie.”
She laughed to herself, wondering how he thought she was supposed to focus on a movie when she was pressed against his naked chest, feeling every muscle when he shifted into a more comfortable position.
Memphis eased a little farther down the couch, slowly running his hand idly up and down Thayer’s back until she had to fight to stay awake. She knew they should move to the bed so they could both get some sleep, but she couldn’t resist staying there for a few more minutes being held against him.
Knox had texted earlier to let them know he made it to the hotel in town. Tomorrow he would show up early to take her back. Thayer wasn’t exactly sure what they were going to do, but she decided to think about it tomorrow.
Right now, she was happy just listening to his heartbeat.
Chapter 13
Knox layon the bed in the same room he had stayed in the last time he was in Minnesota. Lately, every time Thayer had disappeared, this is where he had wound up.
He understood why she had run to Memphis. Her father didn’t understand that a chapter in her story had been left unfinished when he sent Memphis home from the hospital. He had given her the time he thought she needed to heal some before reporting to her father that she had run away. It took some quick talk to convince him that she was safe.
He had observed how Memphis looked at her when he brought her out of that cellar, how tightly he had held on to her. Knox understood the need to protect her, but with him, it was more of an older brother feeling. With Memphis, he wasn’t so sure.
Her father hadn’t asked Knox where she had gone. When he had informed the senator that she had run off this time, he had simply sent Knox to retrieve her.
Knox had argued for better security, but she had been furious at being shadowed by a guard every moment. Naturally, she had used the evasive maneuvers he had taught her when she was young to sneak away from her bodyguard. He wasn’t sure if he should be pissed or impressed.
Rolling over, Knox grumbled at the double bed the hotel insisted was all they had left. Was there that big of a rush for hotel rooms in this tiny town? Even turned diagonally, his feet still hung off the end.
He had spent most nights awake since Thayer had been kidnapped trying to come up with any lead on who would want to hurt her. He was still no closer to figuring it out than he had been before. Whoever it was simply left no trace of himself.
The first thing he had done when he had returned to Washington, D.C. was to pull files on everyone staffed by the senator. He had combed through the household staff in Connecticut, office staff in Washington, campaign staff, he had even put together dossiers on her college friends and professors, to no avail. There was simply no one who stuck out as a threat to her that he could find.
With a sigh, he tried once more to find a more comfortable position. At least he had the feeling that, for a couple of days at least, Thayer had felt safe.
Knox had met Thayer while she was still in middle school. She would come to her father’s office after school to work on her homework until they went home for the day. Knox had served under her father in the office, so he had a front-row seat to her struggle with math. When he couldn’t stand it any longer, he began to tutor her.
After he left the Navy, he decided to stay in Connecticut while he searched for a job.
The senator helped him get hired as a math teacher at the private college preparatory school she attended. Her father quickly employed Knox to continue tutoring a very math- challenged Thayer.
The year she entered his math class in high school, her father won the race for the Senate. Not wanting to uproot Thayer from her life, the senator started splitting his time between Washington, D.C. and Connecticut. He had hated leaving her behind with the household staff when he had to be away.
Soon, Knox was offered a very generous salary to play babysitter to Thayer. He moved into the basement of the house, taught at her school during the day and watched over her during the evenings and weekends when her father wasn’t able to come home.
It had seemed odd to be an older single man spending most days with a young high school girl, but he tried not to smother her constantly. Besides, with the rest of the household staff constantly around, he was rarely alone with her. It only took a month together before the big brother/little sister relationship set in.
When the senator had insisted that Knox shadow Thayer at college, he had refused. She was going to Amherst for Christ’s sake, not some university in the middle of the gangs of Los Angeles. No college student should have to put up with a babysitter, especially a giant, terrifying one. Besides, the idea of suffering through even one sorority party made him physically ill.
But that was before she had been kidnapped out of a seemingly safe dorm room. He had personally checked out the campus before she started there, it should have been safe. The dorm had the latest safety practices in effect, the campus police were competent, and she was rarely alone. He had even given her lessons in self-defense.
Rolling onto his back, Knox scowled up at the ceiling. So what had happened? He knew he was missing something, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He had to figure it out soon. Thayer wouldn’t be truly safe until he found the fucker who had turned her over to a team of rapists to be disposed of.
“What am I missing?” he asked no one. Looking at the clock beside the bed, he growled, seeing it only read three fifteen. He had laid here most of the night trying to figure it out. He had to get at least a few hours of sleep if he hoped to function tomorrow. His eyes had finally started to drop closed when his phone on the nightstand rang.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Grabbing it, he stared at the display, panic lacing through him when he saw it was Thayer. “Thayer?” he barked into the phone springing off the bed.
“Knox!” He jumped when he heard a gunshot.
“Thayer!” he yelled into the phone while pulling on his pants with one hand. Quickly tying his boots, he listened to a confusing concoction of noises coming through the phone. Thayer had obviously dropped the phone with it still connected.
