Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“I’m in good hands. I promise. But I have to save Nick, and?—”
“Wait, what? This isn’t about saving Nick. This is about saving you.” Jesse lightly gripped Savanna’s arm as if she’d lost her senses.
“I have to,” she whispered around the tight knot in her throat. How could she explain this without crying? “Marcus died without ever forgiving his brother. And that hurts me to think about. If somehow, I can help Nick find redemption, I feel like . . .”
“Marcus is gone, Savanna. You can’t repair that relationship by trying to change Nick’s ways,” Shep spoke up in a terse voice. Worry lines formed on his forehead at the idea she was more focused on helping Nick than protecting her own life.
“I don’t expect you to get it. I barely understand it myself. But there has to be some good in him. He’s been sending me money to help me every month since his brother died. He cares, maybe not enough to exchange his life for mine, though. He may be a criminal, but?—”
“There are no buts. This is pretty black and white,” Jesse said. “If Marcus refused to forgive him, he had a damn good reason. He would kill his own brother for what he’s done by endangering you. Believe me when I say that.” He hung his head as if hating his choice of words, and he released her.
“I’ll be okay. Griffin won’t let anything happen to me.” She looked Griffin’s way as he exited the bathroom holding their shared duffel bag, and her chest squeezed at the sight of him.
So much had happened today.
So. Damn. Much.
They started the day with a baking lesson and ended it by running for their lives, again , after being tracked down by a group of PMCs who thought she was a traitor. Throw in Jack accusing Griffin of cheating with his wife and the news about Nick hiding a key in Marcus’s Mustang that possibly opened a mysterious safe-deposit box in Greece, and she was ready to call it a night.
That was the definition of a long day.
“Trust me when I say you want me going with you,” Jesse said in a deep voice. “There are things you don’t know about me. Skills I have and?—”
“Yeah, so I’ve noticed. You going to tell me about what you’ve been keeping from us?” She crossed her arms and pointed her attention back on Jesse once Griffin was out of sight and inside the jet.
“Let’s focus on one problem at a time,” Jesse replied.
Problem? What kind of problem did Jesse have? That’s what he’d implied, right? “I need you to stay with Ella.” Savanna looked back and forth between Jesse and Shep, but she knew Shep wasn’t going to join her side on this. “Think about this. These people are willing to go through me to get to Nick. It’s only a matter of time before they decide to target someone I care about to get to me in order to get to Nick. I can’t have anything happening to Ella or Beckett’s daughter because of me.”
Jesse frowned, but she could tell he was coming around to giving in to her request by the way his shoulders fell.
“Carter has some of his men keeping watch here, but I’ve seen you in action, Jesse. Who do you think I’d trust to protect our friends and family more than you?” She unfolded her arms and reached out for Jesse and Shep, placing a palm on each of their forearms. “Please.”
“Fine. But I want updates. Like every hour,” Jesse grumbled. He pulled her in for a quick hug and then strode up the steps into the plane. Probably to issue threats to the guys about guarding her with their lives.
“I don’t like you alone with him,” Shep said, gently placing his hands on her shoulders.
“I won’t be completely alone,” she reminded him, knowing full well what he was referring to. But where was this jealousy coming from? Savanna was pretty confident that’s exactly what it was. But Shep had admitted their oops-moment was a big mistake. Said they could never be more than friends not only because of Marcus but because he was a self-proclaimed asshole. Playboy was more like it.
“Savanna, maybe I . . .” Shep’s eyes thinned, and his words appeared to get stuck in his throat.
“Maybe what?” Thinking better of it, she held up a hand, having decided that right now wasn’t the best time for proclamations of any kind. “Tell me when I’m home. Okay?”
He drew her into his muscular frame for a hug, and when she untangled herself from his embrace, she spotted Griffin standing by the steps of the jet waiting for her, his eyes on the ceiling instead of them.
“I’ll see you soon.” She patted Shep’s chest before turning away to follow that inexplicable magnetic pull guiding her to a man she barely knew. A man who, for reasons she’d yet to figure out, she wanted to know everything about.
“Hi,” she breathed out. Now that they were face-to-face and about to board a private jet to an exotic Greek island, she could almost convince herself she was living out one of her romance novels with Griffin as her hero. He’d certainly played the part when he pinned her to the wall at the cabin and acted out the steamy scene she’d recited at his request. It was a moment she’d relive for the rest of her life.
She trusted that life would be a long one, and Marcus seemed determined to watch over her to ensure that.
“You ready to go?” Griffin asked.
Savanna followed his gaze to Shep, who’d given them space while he waited for Jesse to exit the plane. Shep was a kind, considerate man, a good friend, and she cared about him deeply, but that was as far as her feelings went. And she was pretty sure he felt the same toward her. His hasty maybe I was an impulsive reaction to Griffin.
Griffin, on the other hand, made her come alive in a way she hadn’t known was still possible. And he’d be lying through his teeth if he denied the potent connection flowing between them. His responses to her were more telling than he wanted to admit. That baloney he’d handed her about not allowing himself to fall for her because he’d break her heart before she could break his made her wonder if he was more familiar with romance novels than he let on.
“Yeah, I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” she said softly. She exchanged one last look with Shep and another hug with Jesse, who’d just stomped down the stairs looking grouchy as hell, then boarded the jet.
The plane was spacious and, from the looks of it, even had a bedroom in the back. She didn’t know what kind it was or any specific details, but it had to have cost a fortune.
She settled into one of the leather reclining chairs and buckled in. Griffin sat across from her instead of next to her, leaving the window chair empty on her right. “I can’t believe this is my first time leaving the country.”
“Why haven’t you traveled?”
Savanna looked over to where Gray and Jack were sitting closer to the cockpit. Oliver and Carter were talking, sitting not far away from them. She had no idea why she’d chosen to sit on the far end of the plane, near the doors leading to the bedroom, but based on Griffin’s weird mood, she hadn’t expected him to want to sit near her.
“Because I, um, got my passport in 2014. And then it just didn’t feel right to use it after, um.”
So many ums. So many uncomfortable pauses whenever she spoke of her late husband around Griffin, worried that any mention of Marcus would give him more ammo to avoid her, which she was pretty sure she didn’t want to happen.
“Oh,” was all he said, then remained quiet until they were coasting at cruising altitude. “I’m glad Marcus was able to be an open book with you. That’s not easy to find, especially in a serviceman.”
Savanna took a minute to absorb his unexpected words. “He used to tell me that every chapter of his life brought him one page closer to his epilogue.” Her eyes welled with sudden tears at that memory, at how poetic Marcus was at times. “He said I was his epilogue. His happy ending.” She sniffled and swiped a hand beneath her eye at the realization she was crying. “And then I . . . I used to say . . .” Her voice cracked as she spoke, and she hiccupped, emotion swelling in her chest from out of nowhere. “I used to tell him he was my prologue. He was only my beginning. That my life started once we met.”
Griffin quickly unbuckled his seat belt and slid his large frame into the chair beside her.
With watery eyes, she looked over at him, knowing damn well she was most likely closing the door on anything more happening between them. The ring didn’t need to be on her finger for this man because he still saw it as if it sparkled in the light.
Griffin looked to the front of the cabin as if checking the location of the rest of the team, then he set his hand on top of hers, which lay on the armrest between them, and gently squeezed. “If he was your prologue,” he said, his voice still gritty, “then you still have a lot of story left.” His brows tightened as he held her eyes. “Many more chapters. And I believe he’d want you to experience the best story possible.”
More tears fell down her cheeks, faster this time. “I felt stuck on the same page for the longest time,” she whispered, worried her voice would break again. And maybe her constant book references were a bit much, but for some reason, Griffin seemed to understand her and her connection with reading more than she’d anticipated most men would. “And then a stranger came into my life and called me Sugar.” She closed her eyes. “And the page turned.”