24. Clementine
CHAPTER 24
Clementine
I thought there was no way my stickler, by-the-books, truth-and-justice-above-all Agent Grayson Bentley would accompany us to break into a safe and steal $50 million dollars.
“This is very illegal,” I warned him, crossing my arms.
“I’d be more surprised if you said it wasn’t,” he retorted.
“Stay here, then,” I tried.
He ground his teeth down audibly. “How about I lock you in your bedroom?”
“How about I kick you in the balls?”
“What about all the babies we’re going to have?” he objected.
“I can have babies with anyone,” I said, biting my lip as Grayson pulled his white polo shirt off to grab a black T-shirt.
His chest was thick with corded muscle.
“You will not be having babies with anyone else,” he shot at me darkly.
“And who is going to stop me?” I retorted, putting my hands on my hips, but I wasn’t in the strongest position with him towering over me, my release still dripping out of my pussy.
“Me,” he said. “I’ll chase and stalk every other man away from you.”
“That’s toxic,” I said severely, but I couldn’t help the little flickers of heat that went through my body at his words and his set, possessive jaw as he looked at me.
“Let’s go,” he said.
All clad in black, we went to the docks. You could see why Rocky used this marina. It was little-used and run-down. A perfect place for a fraud kingpin to use as his base.
“These boats are all crappy,” Dad said indignantly. “I don’t trust any of them to be seaworthy. We better just take mine.”
“Since when do you have a boat?” I cried.
And here Dad pointed to one of the most dilapidated boats of all. “Your Uncle Sebastian loaned me this one.”
“If Rocky uses this dock,” Grayson put in. “He probably stores the actual good shit in a shed somewhere. Follow me.”
And sure enough, after we had all circled the marina, there was a big shed with a heavy lock on it.
“Grayson,” I hissed, putting a hand on his huge muscular forearm. “Once you do this, you can’t go back. You’ll be a dirty criminal.”
He turned to look back at me, his stern face transformed by the flash of a smile.
“Sweetheart, I’ll do anything for you. Up to and including second-degree breaking and entering.”
“We’re just borrowing the boat,” Dad put in unhelpfully.
“I’m only doing this for Clementine,” Grayson warned him. “And because this will get you out of my hair.”
He didn’t even bother with the lock, just ripped at both doors, and they tore open.
Inside were several new boats, gleaming bright in the moonlight.
We all got in and Grayson motored us carefully over, following Dad’s hasty whispers.
Fog began to roll in, covering the choppy waves as we moved from the bay into the open ocean.
I began to fear, not for the first time in my life, that my Dad had no idea what he was doing, but then the fog parted, and I saw it.
A small island, densely covered with pine trees, with a little dock on the side next to a high sheer cliff.
“That’s it!” Dad cried.
“Sit down!” Grayson said sharply. “You’ll tip the whole boat over if you jump about like that.”
He pulled up to the dock and let Dad and I out, then he eased the boat back a bit.
“For easier getaway,” Grayson said.
Then he took a huge leap and landed easily on the pebbly shore beside us.
Together, we climbed a shallow ladder.
At the top and through the trees, we could see the house for the first time, a big, neo-Gothic mansion.
“Clementine and I will wait near the treeline for 20 minutes,” Grayson warned. “If you aren’t back by then, we’ll leave without you.”
Dad looked indignantly at me. “Are you going to take such cheek from this big ox? If you were 10 years older and maybe two feet shorter, boy, you’d really be sorry.”
“I don’t see any way of stopping him,” I admitted. “I’ve done everything I can to get him to go away. Hit him with a baseball bat, made him go to open mic night at the coffee shop. Nothing has worked.”
“Correct,” Grayson said. “I’m not giving up until you let me have a second chance.”
“Bah,” I lied. “Just because we’ve had sex a few times doesn’t mean you get a second chance.”
“Consorting with the devil!” Dad said unpleasantly, but as usual nothing would change Grayson’s mind.
“If you’re as good as safecracker as you claim,” Grayson retorted. “Twenty minutes should be more than enough for the caliber of safe you’re going to get there.”
Dad nodded, patted my cheek affectionately and melted off into the fog.
Together Grayson and I waited.
The minutes seem to tick by painfully slowly, and my anxiety increased with each one.
Finally, after glancing at his watch, Grayson spoke.
“I’ll give him 5 more minutes,” he said.
“No!” I cried in agony. “We can’t leave without him. Rocky and his boys might kill him if they catch him.”
“Clementine, your s afety is the most important thing to me.”
“Please, Grayson,” I begged, clutching his arm. “Please.”
He put a big hand on mine.
“10 more minutes.”
And it was almost that when I finally saw him.
Dad came out all right, but as he pelted headlong across the lawns, I saw that several security guards and Rocky himself were following close behind.
“Shit,” Grayson said succinctly. “Stay here,” he hissed, and then he was gone like a flash, his big body moving swiftly through the darkness.
My eyes straining to see, my heart in my throat, I watched Grayson draw up silently beside my fleeing father.
I almost screamed with terror when Dad tripped, tumbling down onto the ground.
My heart was in my throat, biting my lip so hard I tasted blood.
Suddenly Grayson moved, his fist crashing into the face of the closest man chasing Dad, sending him sprawling flat onto the ground.
Then he picked my dad up by the scruff of the neck and started to run.
My legs tensed, ready to move as soon as they got closer, and then I heard the sharp, horrifying crack of a gun and in the light of the moon I saw Grayson flinch as a puff of blood exploded off his right shoulder.
The island spun around me and I had to dig my hands into the dirt and ground to steady myself.
No!
Grayson tried to duck lower as he ran, but he was so big.
I was afraid my legs weren’t going to move as terror pulsed through my veins.
How were we going to escape?
It would take way too long to climb carefully down the steps or use one of Rocky’s boats to reach our own.
Fuck! We were trapped.
As they drew closer, I wanted to ask Grayson if he was OK but my lips were parched and frozen in horror.
When Grayson drew even, he simply scooped me up, cradling me tightly under his injured arm, and he began to run.
What the hell was his plan?
We were heading directly to the sheer cliff drop!
But Grayson didn’t stop, his strong legs propelling us rapidly toward the precipice.
Dimly, I heard the angry shouts of Rocky and his men behind us.
Pure panic pumped through my veins, and I would have opened my mouth to shriek a warning if Grayson hadn’t been holding me so tightly against his chest.
I heard more shots, but luckily since it was pitch-black night they seemed to miss us.
But what if the next shots hit him?
Grayson was so big, such a huge target.
Please no not him was all my panicked mind could think, and we reached the edge of the cliff.
And then Grayson jumped, down the sheer cliff side, and we were plunged into the cold, choppy waters of the sea.