Page 69 of On the Chase
“He wasn’t trying to ask me out, Noah.” Shankle’s silent presence was the only thing that kept her from thumping her forehead against the table in frustration. Grace had expected some disbelief, probably some yelling, but she hadn’t predicted this obtuse refusal to see the truth. How could he have grown up with Logan and not know that the guy wasn’t just “awkward,” but actually capable of killing on Martin’s orders?
“This is all so crazy,” Noah exclaimed after a long moment of silence on both ends of the call. “After you disappear for weeks, I get a call out of the blue, and you tell me that you ran because Uncle Martin—my uncle Martin, who’s like a dad to me—is torturing guys during a dinner party. Not only that, but he sent Logan to kill you. Sorry, but this is a little tough for me to wrap my brain around.”
“I know it’s hard.” She felt a tiny spark of sympathy. After all, she had a tough time believing everything that had happened, and she’d lived it. “It’s true, though. Why would I make this up?”
“I have no idea.”
Grace wasn’t sure how to take that. She grabbed a pen and notepad lying next to Shankle’s computer and scribbled “meet?” on the paper before turning it toward the agent. He studied her for a second before nodding in a sideways motion that Grace interpreted as “yes, as long as you’re okay with it.” She wasn’t okay with meeting Noah, a guy who was either criminally naive or just…criminal. Before she could decide, Noah spoke again.
“Why are we having this conversation over the phone?” he asked, sounding calmer. Grace wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. “You never told me where you are. Give me your address, and I’ll pick you up. I want to be able to see with my own eyes that you’re okay.”
Her brain raced. This was it. She could turn him down and hope that Shankle’s program worked and that Noah wasn’t able to track her. If so, she could hide in Monroe for the rest of her life, spooking at shadows.
Even as the thought passed through her mind, she rejected it. How could she endanger her new friends, her new…Hugh, whatever he was to her, by keeping that target on her back? Martin Jovanovic had contacts everywhere. He’d find her eventually. Even if the meeting was a mistake, if Noah was lying through his teeth and couldn’t be convinced to help them find evidence of Martin’s crimes, at least she was doing something, trying something to fight her way out of the fake life she was living.
She took a deep breath and blew it out, meeting Shankle’s serious gaze.
“Okay,” she said, proud that her voice didn’t shake at all. “Let’s meet.”
* * *
“You’re doingwhat?”
Grace winced, more for Hugh’s concussed, newly released-from-the-hospital head’s sake than for her own ears. “I’m meeting Martin Jovanovic’s nephew in Denver tomorrow to try to convince him to help us find evidence against his uncle.”
Hugh glared at her, and she gave a tiny shrug in response. She knew it had been a rhetorical question, but her answer was the truth, and no amount of bellowing was going to change anything.
“I need to do this, Hugh.” Grace met his gaze evenly. “You know exactly what it’s like when someone’s gunning for you, putting other people in danger. I can’t just hide and do nothing.”
He paced his living room, and she watched him. It had only been a day since she’d been trapped beneath him, terrified that he was dead, and she couldn’t get enough of just looking at him. He’d caught her staring several times and teased her about checking him out. Instead of rising to the bait, she’d just smiled. Hearing him joke and laugh was a gift, and she was going to enjoy every second.
Listening to him bellow wasn’t quite as enjoyable, but he was alive, and that’s all that mattered. Hugh stomped across the floor and then pivoted around. When he saw her smile, he stopped and demanded, “What’s funny about you meeting up with some ex-boyfriend who just happens to be related to the guy who wants to kill you?”
“Nothing.” The reminder sobered her somewhat, although she couldn’t help but smirk a little. “You reminded me of Theo just now, with the pacing and the frowning.”
She walked over and grabbed his hand, pulling him down with her as she sat on the couch. “Sit. Your Theo pacing is making even me tired, and I’m not the one who just got out of the hospital.”
He allowed her to tug him down. When they landed, he immediately reached over and hauled her into his lap. Startled by the quick movement, and by how easily he manhandled her with only one fully functioning arm, she stiffened for a moment. Soon she relaxed, leaning against his chest. It was much more comfortable to sit that way on a couch than in a car. Her head fit nicely between his shoulder and neck, and his hand stroked her back, releasing tension she’d held on to fiercely for the past stressful weeks.
“It’s kind of weird being here after the deck…incident.” She stared across the open lower level at the sliding glass doors that had opened to the now-destroyed deck. The doors were still strung with police tape.
He tensed. “Yeah.” After a short pause, he asked carefully, “Are you okay being here? We could go to Otto’s instead. Or Jules’s. Or Theo’s clown car of a house.”
“No.” Her reply was immediate and honest. “I feel safe here. It’s just odd to see empty space where your deck used to be. Will you rebuild it?”
“Yeah. I’ll use concrete and rebar this time instead of wood. Make it harder on any bastard who wants to kill me.” She flinched, and Hugh’s arms tightened around her.
“You smell good,” she said, snuggling more tightly against him. “I think I’ll stay here forever. You’re like aromatherapy in a strong, warm, mouthy package.”
He did his usual post-explosion laughter that was quickly capped, and Grace frowned, reaching up to stroke the side of his head. “Still hurts?”
“I’m fine,” he said, and she rolled her eyes and pinched his belly, making him yelp.
“Liar.”
“Sadist.”
“Please,” she scoffed, although her hand was stroking instead of pinching now. She couldn’t help herself. He was just so…washboard-y. “You love my sadist tendencies. Weren’t you begging me to tie you up?”
