Chapter 4
Andrei Andropov took a drag on his cigarette as he watched the truck turn onto the main road.
Typical spoiled American bitch, too weak to fend for herself and relying on a man to do it for her.
No doubt she and her boyfriend were headed somewhere to hide out and screw for a few days.
He’d probably seized the opportunity to play the hero and convince her that he could solve all her problems.
No matter. Everly Holland was no longer his concern. He patted his shirt pocket to reassure himself of his find—the flash drive that had been tucked away in a kitchen drawer behind the tinfoil and sandwich bags. What a lucky break, finding it just as he’d heard the truck pull into the driveway.
Soon, he would have the information he needed.
The information his arrogant half-brother had been trying to obtain for months.
He chuckled to himself. Mikhail was slow to change and stuck in the old ways of doing things.
And utterly convinced that the woman would cooperate with them eventually once she got scared enough. As the threats toward her increased.
But Andrei was smart. Smart enough to take Mikhail’s place someday, and someday was coming sooner than anyone thought. Very soon, everyone would see that it was time for him to assume his role at the head of the business.
He ground out his cigarette in the car’s ashtray and started the engine. No one paid him any attention. He was just a nameless person in a run-down parking lot in a questionable part of town. Only he knew that he was so much more.
◆◆◆
Everly jolted awake as Grant drove over a pothole. “Shit. Sorry.” He shot her an apologetic glance.
She stretched and yawned. “It’s okay. I didn’t mean to doze off.” The drive from Atlanta wasn’t particularly long, about two hours at the most, but she’d been fighting exhaustion ever since she settled in for the ride. She hadn’t slept well last night, and dealing with the break-in had drained her.
Thank God that Grant had been there with a solution.
She wasn’t good at asking for help, and when he had offered to take her to his cabin for a few days, she’d felt a burden lift off of her shoulders.
She had no idea what the intruder had been searching for, or if it really was connected to the strange messages she’d been getting.
But she knew that if anyone could figure it out, it was STAG.
For once in her life, she didn’t have to fight alone.
Everly peered out the window, the dense forest on either side of the highway revealing nothing.
They’d stopped for groceries awhile back, and Grant had told her this was the last leg of the journey.
She’d never been to this part of the state before.
It was wholly unlike Atlanta, and the direct opposite of her hometown, a prim coastal pocket of Massachusetts where the streets were cobbled and the shutters were freshly painted in HOA-approved hues.
Quaint, tidy, emotionally airtight. Nothing like the dense, wild green of this place.
She settled back and glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
He looked casual enough, one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting on the gear shifter, but his furrowed brow told her that his mind was working overtime.
She followed the lines of his face, imagining how she’d sketch his profile onto paper.
She hadn’t opened her sketchbook in months, but she could visualize tracing the ridge of his brow, the line of his nose. The curve of his lips.
Heat rose in her cheeks as the thought sprang to her mind unbidden.
Grant’s lips on hers. She wondered what kind of kisser he was.
Would he be impatient and demanding? Or would he take his time?
She knew he’d been with plenty of women.
All of the guys had. Having a lot of experience didn’t always mean a man knew how to treat his partner, though. But Grant…
He turned towards her and she reflexively looked away.
Damn it, she’d been staring at him without realizing it.
Get a grip, sister, she scolded herself.
Now was absolutely not the time to get carried away with daydreams about a man that she’d avoided for months and only reconnected with a day ago.
Even if he was so handsome that her knees went weak when she looked at him.
Even if he did stir up all kinds of lustful thoughts and make her dream of things that could never, ever happen.
The truck slowed, and they left the highway for a narrow dirt road, clouds of dust rolling behind them as they scaled a hill.
Trees arched over the road, sunlight dappling their delicate leaves, newly unfurled in the warm spring air.
They climbed up and up and up, and Everly felt like she was entering a different, secret world.
“It’s gorgeous here,” she said. She took a deep breath.
“The air smells better, too. Cleaner. Fresher.”
Grant smiled. “Better than the city in every way,” he agreed. “I love these mountains. The Smokies get all the attention, but this area is just as beautiful.”
They crested another hill and were met with the sight of a grizzled old man standing in a small clearing at the road’s edge, his hand raised.
Whether he was waving or flagging them down, Everly couldn’t tell.
But Grant merely brought the truck to a stop and rolled down his window like he wasn’t surprised at all.
“Hey there, Mr. Mason. Sorry I didn’t let you know we were coming.
Got in kind of a hurry.” He hung his arm out of the window to shake hands.
“Hell, son, how many times I gotta tell you to call me Abel?” He gripped Grant’s hand in a vigorous handshake and peered inside the cab, nodding a greeting towards Everly. “Ma’am.” He winked at Grant. “I can see why you were in a rush. ‘Bout time you found yourself a woman.”
Everly could have sworn that Grant’s cheeks reddened just a little. He cleared his throat, then to her surprise, took her hand. “Yep. Couldn’t think of a better place to bring my girl. Mr. Mason, this is Everly Holland. Everly, Abel Mason. Owner of half this mountain.”
Abel leaned in, past Grant, to shake Everly’s free hand.
“Pleased to meet you, Miss Everly.” He and Grant chatted a bit longer, Abel filling him in on the recent weather, animal sightings, and whatever else old mountain men kept track of.
She barely heard a word. Grant still held her hand as he talked, his thumb tracing slow circles over her skin, leaving little sparks where he touched.
It was a habitual motion, one he probably did without even realizing, but that knowledge did nothing to stop her body from responding.
When was the last time she’d been touched by a man?
She had been on a few dates with guys she met at the gym, but they never progressed beyond a hug or a quick goodbye kiss.
Sex was…nonexistent. Not that she was looking for it right now.
But there was something about Grant that made her body stand up and take notice, no matter how her brain warned her to stay away.
“Y’all go on and have fun now!” Abel stepped back from the truck and tucked his hands into his overalls.
“But be careful. Or don’t. I ain’t your daddy.
” He laughed at his own joke as Grant pulled away, waving out the window.
Everly turned and glanced out the back windshield, the dust obscuring Abel’s loping figure as he headed into the trees.
“Interesting neighbors,” she commented.
Grant dropped her hand, much to her disappointment, and propped his elbow on the console.
“That’s Abel Mason. Old-school mountain man and salt of the earth.
You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but he owns most of the land around here.
In fact, he’s the one who sold me my place.
” He glanced at her. “Easier to just let him believe that I’m bringing you up here for a romantic getaway. ”
“I get it. How did he know we were coming, anyway?” she asked.
Grant laughed. “He’s a little paranoid. He’s never exactly told me, but I’m pretty sure he’s got a couple of alarms set up around here.
Not only that, he’s got ears like a bat, even at his age.
This is a dead-end road, and it’s just my place and his along here.
Nobody comes through here without Abel knowing about it. ”
She took comfort in the thought that someone like Mr. Mason was looking out for them. “He said something about you finding a woman,” she commented, glancing sideways. “Do you not bring girlfriends up here very often? He seemed pleasantly surprised.”
“Actually, I’ve never brought anyone else up here,” he replied, his eyes on the road.
They hit a bumpy patch, and Posie yowled pitifully from the back seat.
Everly turned to comfort her, and Grant waited until they were steady to continue.
“It’s always just me. Guess he’s relieved to see that I’m settling down, huh?
” He smiled at her. “I’ll have to make up a good breakup story the next time I’m here. ”
Her heart pinched at the thought, for reasons she couldn’t even explain to herself. Of course this was temporary, and she couldn’t forget it.
The road curved, and then they were in a small clearing.
“Here we are,” Grant announced, pulling to a stop in front of the cabin.
It was a small log house, dwarfed by the surrounding trees.
The yard was tidy, as if someone maintained it when Grant wasn’t here.
Probably Abel, she realized. A billowing azalea bush in front of the porch bloomed bright pink, its blossoms heralding the arrival of spring.