CHAPTER FIVE
TROY
"W here are we Mommy?”
Grace’s little voice in the backseat of my Jeep felt like a spear to my heart. Nothing about this situation was right. The fact that they had to leave Louisville to feel safe; the fact that they even needed me to begin with. In a perfect world, Maddie would have married a guy who wasn’t a level ten douchebag. But we didn’t live in a perfect world…and maybe part of me was secretly glad that I was the one who was able to catch her when she needed the support.
“We’re at the cabin I told you about when we left the party.” Maddie’s voice was a calming hush as she stroked her daughters’ silk blonde hair. We were roughly forty five minutes outside of Louisville in a cabin owned by Len, one of my good friends, as a “safe house”. Really he used it as an outpost on his cross-country security gigs—I had a lot of traveling bodyguards as friends—but it was also stocked as an emergency spot in case things went south politically or economically. He wasn’t an apocalyptic nut, but he did have three years’ worth of rations in the basement.
“Let’s get you two inside.” I headed for the back of the Jeep, ignoring the screaming pain in my knee. I needed to rest and I’d wake up fine—that was a demand more than a hope. I plucked Maddie’s bag out of the back along with my own, the automatic lights of the sprawling wooden porch clicking on as I got closer to the front door.
“This place is pretty nice,” Maddie murmured once she had Grace in her arms. The scraggly branches of the bare trees framed the edges of the cabin, which was nestled at the end of a long driveway in the forest. I set our bags at the front door as I wrestled with the lockbox to get it open. After inputting the wrong code about six times, I finally got the key out with a satisfied grunt. When I caught Maddie’s eye, she was biting back a smile.
“What’s so funny?”
“I love how you can defend me against four men but a little lockbox will take you out.”
I snorted with amusement as I unlocked the door and pushed it open. Then I turned my gaze to her, lifting a brow.
“It didn’t take me out,” I told her. “And who won after all?” I flashed the glinting key.
Amusement shone in her eyes and we shared an electric moment. It was easy to get lost in her warm, hazel eyes. A little too easy.
“Mm hmm.” She cast me a coy grin, one that I wanted to kiss off her face. I hoisted our bags and stepped inside, fumbling for the light switch. A moment later, the huge, open floor plan was illuminated by overhead lights. In the center of the room, dangling from the ceiling, Len had crafted a chandelier out of buckhorns. Not a hunting nut either, but he was abnormally fond of that chandelier. Maybe because he’d crafted the base out of spare dryer parts.
“Wow.” Maddie’s eyes widened as she looked around. It was a small, loft-style cabin: open plan kitchen and great room downstairs, with a small bedroom and bathroom off to the side. And then an open loft area upstairs. Everything reeked of wood and must, but in the good way.
“There’s a bedroom right off to the side here.” I led the way across the tiled floor of the kitchen, measuring my steps to hide the way my burning knee impacted my gait. The wheels of her bag clicked behind me until I pushed open the bedroom door and flicked the light on. The queen bed was thankfully made with a heavy blanket laid out on top. Grace snored softly in her mother’s arms and barely roused when Maddie slid her onto the bed.
“Thank you.” She sent me an appreciative look. “I’m going to get her tucked in and then…I think I’m going to head to bed too.”
“You two rest up. I’ll be out here if you need anything.” I left her to unpack, knowing to my bones that space right now was the best idea. Not just because she was a single mom with a kid—but because if I looked at her for even a second longer, I’d be suggesting she find me in the loft that night.
Better to ignore those thoughts entirely. I got busy opening things up in the cabin, checking the water, lighting the fireplace, making sure everything was in good, working order. I’d be giving Len a full report—which started with a complementary picture of his favorite chandelier.
As I rummaged around the cabin, it was hard to keep my thoughts from sliding to Maddie. I had no business thinking about her in any sense other than a temporary protection gig. That’s what this was, after all. Mercedes wanted me to check on her, so here I was. Nothing more, nothing less.
So I needed to focus on something else. Being that Len’s cabin had no cable or internet, I had no interest in the huge TV in the great room. Instead, I got a small fire going in the fireplace to warm the place, and then headed to the loft to check my emails.
I’d gotten a notification during the drive that Nash Nightingale had emailed, but hadn’t wanted to look until now. It was an itinerary—forwarded from someone else’s email who seemed to be associated with a private jet company.
NYC to Quito, Ecuador.
Departure time, airport info, and a rough sequence of events once we landed in Ecuador. I scanned the information, feeling something in my gut tighten.
A week and a half away. Would that be enough time to get Maddie on stable ground?
She’s not your responsibility. You’re just helping out a friend. You’ll ride out this phase and then get her set up with a basic protection plan.
It seemed so logical, so easy.
Which didn’t explain why everything inside of me rejected the idea.