Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Elizabeth
K enny stiffened next to me, and I instantly moved.
“I’m Elizabeth. Can I take your bag?” I asked the woman, looking her squarely in the eyes and not letting my gaze wander to the bruising under her left one and across her cheek.
“I’m Evie. And um, no. It’s okay. I’ve got it.” Her eyes dropped.
“Evie, let them help. They’re carrying my bag, too,” Jack said, catching my attention with his serious expression.
I nodded, understanding at least part of what he wanted. Evie needed help, and she wasn’t likely to take it unless she wasn’t getting special treatment.
Evie swallowed and released the handle to her roller bag without looking up.
Interesting. What was the dynamic here ?
“If you’ll give us just a minute, we’ll meet you by the elevators,” Jack said, his voice soft.
“That okay with you, Evie?” Kenny asked.
She startled. “Yes.”
Kenny studied her a moment, then took Jack’s bag and waved me forward. I exited first, and he let the door close softly behind us.
I had hardly turned back toward him before he spoke.
“You need to talk to her. We need to make sure she feels safe with Jack.”
I blinked, not entirely shocked by his vehemence, but a little surprised he’d suspect Jack. I’d gotten the impression everyone at Saint knew and loved the man. They’d even hugged when Jack greeted him. Still, Kenny didn’t assume it meant everything was okay.
This raised him several degrees in my esteem, and it’d been rising consistently since the first time I’d seen him again. He wouldn’t trust that Jack wasn’t the one who’d hurt Evie, even if he was a wealthy, powerful celebrity millions of people adored.
“Of course. As soon as I can.” Not that she’d feel safe being honest with me after knowing me for approximately thirty seconds, but I had to ask.
Jack exited then, Evie following behind.
“Elizabeth will take you down first, Evie, and then I’ll follow behind with Jack.”
Kenny met my gaze, and I nodded.
Normally, we would’ve all gone together, but this would give me a chance to check in.
“That okay with you?” Jack asked Evie, his voice softened.
She nodded. I moved, wheeling her bag and holding the duffle I’d seen by the door into the elevator, then watching as she stepped in. She nestled into the farthest corner, shifting on her feet and hands pressed to her belly.
“Evie, I need to ask you something.” Maybe not the smoothest entrance to this conversation, but there was no time for easing in.
“Okay.” She looked over at me, head still ducked slightly.
I hesitated for a second, wondering how best to put it. Ultimately, because we had seconds before someone joined us or we reached the bottom of the elevator’s route to the lobby, I went for point blank. “Did Jack hurt you?”
Her mouth dropped open. “No. Oh, gosh, no. He’s done nothing but help me.”
I waited, knowing that denying someone was being abusive unfortunately often came with the territory. If it was Jack, someone with his status wielded incredible power and resources. She might feel trapped or?—
“Really. It was my fiancé or, uh, my ex-fiancé. I work for Jack, and he’s been trying to help and when he saw me two days ago…” She exhaled, her lips trembling before she spoke again. “Well, I know it’s hard to believe, but it actually looks a little better today.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and met my eyes.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you. You can tell me if anyone at any point makes you feel unsafe while we’re traveling, okay? We’re here to get you to Silverton, but we’re also here for you. I’m here for you. And not even Sexiest Man Alive out there is going to stop me from doing whatever I can to help you.”
Her lips pressed together before an amused smile hit. “I’m okay with Jack. And the guy seems nice but I don’t feel super comfortable with men I don’t know…”
“No problem. If we need to divide and conquer, we’ll do it like this, as long as you feel okay with me.” It wasn’t a given despite my being a woman, though she’d opened up enough to make me hope she felt okay.
“I’m okay. And… thank you. For asking.” She swallowed hard and blinked rapidly before continuing. “I know it’s awful to ask but honestly, it’s so much worse when I think about how many times someone didn’t.”
I nodded, heart twisting for her and a strange satisfaction flashing through me. “You’re safe now, Evie, and soon enough, we’ll get you home.”
While Jack and Evie got settled in the car, I had a moment to reassure Kenny Jack wasn’t the one who’d hurt her. I couldn’t imagine how tense their elevator ride was, but the way Kenny’s shoulders sagged told a story.
Also, why did this whole interaction make me like him a little more than I already did? Maybe it was his willingness to ascertain a woman he didn’t even know was safe, even in the shadow of a man he already knew and who had so much fame? I’d navigated many ethically murky situations in my years in the agency and maybe I’d grown cynical—maybe part of the drag I felt when thinking about returning to work was exactly the absence of this.
Kenny was a good man. It appeared most of the Saint Security staff were upstanding, but I wasn’t someone who could just take that as a given. It was why Adam was still working on gaining my approval, even though I’d mentally given it to him the minute I saw how he threw himself in front of Jo when her stalker had her at gunpoint. A man who would sacrifice his body for someone else, what could’ve been his life… that was someone I’d consider being good enough for my little Jojo.
Kenny would be like that. He was ready to deck Jack and swaddle Evie in a warm embrace if he’d sensed it was welcome. He might’ve played up the sweet, optimistic guy angle, but he was incredibly observant and cautious.
He had a clear sense of justice in there, too, I suspected.
And I liked that so much, it scared me.
Not really, of course. Not much could get a rise of actual fear out of me anymore, but if I were the kind of woman to get scared by things, then this might’ve done it. Attraction plus this… affinity?
But it wasn’t a real danger because the clock was ticking. In a matter of time, I’d be back to the world I knew where my feet felt fully planted on the ground instead of like I was hovering just above it.
We’d made it a few hours down the road, stopped once for a bathroom break and to stretch, and we’d be arriving in Vegas to spend the night. Looking at Evie as she arched her back and searched for some relief from the roundness of her belly… it must’ve felt so unearthly and strange to carry a human inside you. I couldn’t imagine it, and in so many ways, it seemed like her experience of life was like we lived on different planets.
I abruptly turned to my coffee, and a few minutes later, we were back on the road. We didn’t talk, and less than an hour into the next leg, Jack had headphones in, and Evie appeared to be sleeping.
Kenny made a call to the hotel where we’d be staying, letting them know we were less than thirty minutes out. We’d enter through a less conspicuous door than the front grand entrance of the resort, which should save us from anyone recognizing Jack. I wasn’t sure whether Evie was avoiding people seeing the bruises or her face altogether, but she’d definitely kept her head ducked, a hat pulled low, and her hair practically in her eyes whenever we weren’t in the car with its dark tinted windows.
“All set,” Kenny confirmed as he set his phone down.
“Good work.”
His low chuckle had me glancing at him. The flash of straight white teeth and those charming creases in his cheeks were lethal.
“I appreciate the positive reinforcement, thank you.”
The way he said it almost sounded flirtatious. But he’d stayed away from anything like that, so I wouldn’t interpret it as such.
“Happy to provide it.”
“I’ll be sure to return the sentiments whenever possible, which based on what I’ve seen thus far will be often.”
I did not look at him again. His voice had taken on a silken tone that an innate warning system in me recognized as something dangerous. Not to anyone but me, of course, but still, the way his sentence felt like a caress was just…
Evidence I needed to get out of this car. Simple as that.
I never responded, which didn’t seem to bother him, and a few minutes later, we were pulling up to the curb. Jack gently roused Evie in a way that was both tender and brotherly, and Kenny grabbed the bags while I stood guard. My work in the agency wasn’t typically focused on personal security, but I had acted in that capacity more than once and wasn’t about to shirk my duties now.
We moved as a group led by hotel staff to the VIP elevator, then far above the lobby level, shuffled out and I waited with Jack and Evie while Kenny checked the rooms. He held the door for us as the hotel representative literally bowed to Jack and reiterated for the fifteenth time to let her know if he needed anything, and finally, we closed the door behind us and that leg, at the very least, was done.
The presidential suite was lavish as all get-out. A ten-person dining table, an opulent living room with a gigantic television, a full bar and kitchen, and what I imagined were the bedrooms. This had to be the doing of Mr. Grenier.
Jack walked Evie to a room, then excused himself to another.
That left one.
“We’ll take turns on watch tonight,” Kenny said, each of us delivering our own small bags to the third room where two queen beds waited.
It didn’t matter that we would be sleeping at different times and in different beds. I still couldn’t ignore the way my stomach flipped and dropped entering a hotel bedroom with Kenny Carmichael.
It wasn’t even a thing. Nothing to worry about or feel this stupid dip like I was staring down a loop the loop.
Semi-sharing a room with this sweet, sunny, and lethally hot man was absolutely not a problem.