Page 83 of To Bring You Back
“Tegan isn’t the target.”
The phone vibrated, signaling Tim’s response.We’re short-staffed as it is since we’ve taken on watching her house. If I send someone else away, this place will burn next.
Gannon typed a reply.A house can be replaced. Adeline can’t. You have twenty minutes to figure it out.“They’ll pick you up out front at twelve thirty.”
Matt approached the door, returning from the patio with John and the dogs close behind.
Gannon wouldn’t leave it like this, but Adeline was already exiting, unwilling to stay and talk. “Adeline?”
She turned, her dress swaying with the movement.
“Please come back.”
She studied him until the patio door swung open. Bruce ran up, tail wagging. She greeted him and John without responding to Gannon’s plea.
“Come on, dude.” Matt pressed Gannon toward the studio.
Gannon shrugged him off.
“You sleep okay?” John laid a hand on Adeline’s shoulder. “Need anything?”
She gave him the grateful smile Gannon had been wishing for all morning. “Yeah, slept great. I’m getting a ride into town to figure some things out.”
That sounded ominous.
“I’m here if you need me.”
After Adeline nodded, John turned to Gannon, made eye contact, then silently proceeded to the studio, the message clear enough: if she had been able to reach Gannon when she’d needed him, she wouldn’t have nearly so much to figure out.
22
Adeline waited on the red stone step outside the front door and gazed up at the gigantic beams that supported the carport high overhead. Under other circumstances, she’d happily hide away in a place like Havenridge. The property was peaceful, the building luxurious. How many bedrooms must the place have? A dozen?
Too bad Gannon had filled so many of them.
She’d never imagined what his life was like behind the walls of his own house. Not only was Harper a surprise, but she also hadn’t put enough stock into the rumors of Matt’s drug addiction.
Did she truly know Gannon? And did she have what it took to live in his world? Yesterday, she would’ve insisted yes to both. Today, her attraction to him had been replaced by uncertainty, and this trip into town wouldn’t be long enough to sort it all out.
A black car with tinted windows came down the drive, turned under the carport, and stopped before her. Adeline pulled her purse over her shoulder and stood as a man in black pants and a gray polo got out. “You must be Adeline.”
“Hi.”
He came around to her side of the car, and Adeline saw the gun holstered at his waist. Armed security? Another surprise.
“I’m Michael.” He opened the back door for her and waited until she was in before returning to the driver’s seat. “Where are we headed?”
“My house.” Since talking to Gannon, she’d gotten a call that the fire inspector would be arriving in half an hour to determine the cause of the blaze. She’d texted Chip, and he’d also promised to stop by to advise her on whether she needed to open a claim with her insurance company for the damage.
After those meetings, she’d pack more belongings to take with her, but where should she stay? Was it necessary to remain at Havenridge and have an armed guard driving her around?
The car slowed as the gate came into view. The crowd had multiplied to about twenty people—five of whom were Olivia and company. Most onlookers didn’t hold fancy cameras, but many did have cell phones. At the sight of the car, they strained to see around each other.
The gate rolled open, and Michael steered through much the way John had last night, slowly progressing, though a couple of women, probably in their twenties, came right up to the windows. So did a man with a camera.
Michael accelerated.
The window tinting would’ve prevented any photos, but Adeline would be fair game when she got out at her house. Good thing she’d chosen to bring the dress and had taken time with her hair and makeup.
