Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
ALEX
When I agreed to this group date thing, I’d been expecting a night out at the pub or something else equally low-key. The whole point was for them to get to know me and decide whether I was good enough for Ciara, right? I knew better than to say yes to a mission with insufficient intel, and I was having deep regrets about not asking more questions.
It wasn’t that The Tartan Terrors were bad—though punk rock wouldn’t have been my choice. It was that I was trapped amid throngs of writhing bodies at an outdoor venue near Inverness with no clear route of egress and no means of performing an accurate threat assessment. I wasn’t as bad as I’d been when I first separated from the Royal Marines, but the uncontrolled crowd was loud and rowdy, and my entire system was on hyper alert. Despite the cool evening air, sweat beaded along my back. It was taking every bit of my control to keep from gluing Ciara to my side and spiriting her away. I hadn’t taken my hand off her since we got here.
For her part, she’d stayed close, hooking a finger in my belt loop, keeping her arm wrapped around me. It didn’t escape me that she was grounding me now, much as she had that day on the train from London.
Did she know I needed it? Or was this simply performative, to keep up the ruse that we were together?
I was glad we’d at least stopped off for an early dinner at a pub on the drive up, so there’d been an opportunity for conversation. I liked Ciara’s friends. They were a disparate group who’d come together intending to start a book club, but they’d been mostly too busy to do the reading and had decided they didn’t need the excuse of books to start hanging out. From what I gathered, Skye had moved to Glenlaig to be with Jason McKinnon, who’d been her years-long penpal. He was The Tartan Terrors fan, and I’d heard tell that he was front man himself for The Kilt Lifters, a band that performed bagpipe covers of boy band songs. I couldn’t imagine, but the women had assured me they were very popular locally. As a whole, I’d gotten the general impression that they approved of me, which had been the whole point of this excursion. Of course, I’d been on my best behavior, and I was positive Ciara hadn’t told them about our past. If she had, they’d have set a much higher bar. Or possibly hit me with it.
On stage, the band reached a fever pitch that had the crowd chanting en masse. As the decibel level rose, I tensed, thinking how easy it would be to use this racket to cover up an attack. Not that there was any reason whatsoever to expect an attack, but this was the legacy of my training. I always expected danger. I wished the concert was closer to over. It was too dark for me to really see much, but that didn’t stop me from scanning, searching for trouble.
Ciara turned into me, lifting her arms to my neck as she rose to her toes. For just a moment, the feel of her body flush against mine blotted out every other source of input, and I wanted to hold her here, just like this. She tipped her mouth close to my ear. “Are you okay?” Her fingers kneaded my shoulders as she searched my face for an answer.
“Aye. Why?”
“Let’s step away for a bit. Get some air and something to drink.”
I didn’t know if the request was for herself or for me, and I didn’t care. I’d take the opportunity.
She stepped away just long enough to tell the others where we were going, then tucked herself close again as we navigated through the chaos toward the refreshment vendors on the outskirts. Once we reached them, she kept walking another few dozen yards, until no one was within earshot. Then she paused and laid a hand on my chest. “I’m sorry.”
I frowned at her. “For what?”
“You’ve been taut as a bowstring since we got here. I didn’t think about how this might be hard for you. All the people. The crowds.”
Even in the dim light, compassion shone on her face. Of course she’d understand, at least a little, because of her brother. She’d seen him during his adjustment to civilian life. And she’d been close enough that she’d have felt my body language.
“We can go. We’ve done what we set out to do. The others would understand.”
It meant something to me that she’d look out for me. I hoped it was a sign she was edging toward actually forgiving me.
Resisting the urge to pull her close, I simply laid my hand over hers on my chest. “I appreciate that, but I’m okay. Let’s just get something to drink, aye?”
“If you’re sure.”
“I am. If that changes, I’ll let you know.”
We moved back to the line for one of the burger vans. Ciara still had her arm around my waist, and I tried to keep my focus on the feel of her against me instead of the low-level anxiety over the crowd. But I couldn’t stop myself from scanning my surroundings.
That was when I saw him.
“What?” Ciara asked. “What is it?”
I swung her around into an embrace, pulling her close so I could both look over her shoulder and murmur into her ear. “Brodie’s here.”
“What?”
When she would’ve turned, I tightened my hold. “Don’t turn around. He doesn’t know he’s been spotted.”
As I watched him in my periphery, he ducked behind a row of porta-loos.
I nuzzled her ear and almost got distracted by the coconut and lime scent of her hair. She hadn’t changed shampoos since Edinburgh. “Does he like this kind of music?”
“I… don’t think so. I don’t actually like this kind of music. This was all Jason’s doing.”
“Did you post online somewhere that you were coming tonight?”
“No.”
I growled low in my throat. “The idea that Brodie just happens to be here is far too convenient for my taste. I think I’ll have a wee word with him.”
When I started to let Ciara go, she held tighter. “No. Just leave it. I don’t want to make a scene. You’re with me. I’m safe. It’s fine.”
It wasn’t fine. Particularly in light of what I’d uncovered in my first wave of snooping. Brodie Drummond was obsessed with her. He was a threat. I felt it in my bones. But I didn’t yet have enough intel to go against a direct order.
I pulled my focus back to Ciara, stroking the hair back from her face. “Fine. But you have to promise to let me know if he says or does anything else. I’m serious. Anything else.”
Distress flickered in those big blue eyes, but she nodded. “I promise.”
We needed to have a more detailed discussion because I suspected there were other things that had happened over the past few months—things she’d dismissed as nothing—that actually showed a pattern of escalation. But that could wait until we got home. Tonight was for friends. As she’d said, I was with her, so she was safe.
I’d make sure she stayed that way.