Chapter 13
Grace
As we walked up the porch steps, it seemed as if Henley was preparing himself for something. For what, I wasn’t sure. An atomic bomb? A punch to the face? All of the above? Whatever it was, he’d been like this the entire drive to the ranch, setting my nerves aflame.
The door was silent when Henley opened it, and he allowed me to enter first. The quiet made the unknown worse, the possibilities of what was to come blaring louder in my mind.
Would the guys be upset the girls had been at the spa with me? It’d been my idea, after all. And the guy had been after me, thus putting them in danger.
Basically, all of this was my fault. I wouldn’t blame them if they were mad at me.
As soon as we crossed the front entry and the living room came into view on our right, we found Booker standing in front of the fireplace with his large arms crossed, while Austin paced the large space. McKenna and Brynne sat on the couch, eyes immediately snapping to me.
They sprang up, both wearing oversized comfy attire, and closed the distance before wrapping me in a big hug.
“We were so worried,” Brynne said, voice muffled in my hair.
“We tried calling, but you weren’t answering. We didn’t know where you were,” McKenna added, hand rubbing up and down my back.
We parted, and my eyes fell to the thick wool rug beneath my fuzzy black slippers. “I was…busy.” I cleared my throat and raised my gaze to them, feigning confidence. “Henley stitched me up.”
“Stitched you?” Brynne exclaimed, confused.
“You were hurt?” McKenna asked, voice just as shrill and perplexed.
I nodded, tugging down the shoulder of my oversized zip-up far enough to reveal the bandage over the wound. “A bullet grazed me.”
McKenna’s eyes bulged. “Someone shot at you? Is that what all those gunshots were at the spa?”
I glanced over her shoulder to find Booker staring at Henley, malice in his gaze. He was definitely pissed.
My focus returned to the girls. I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I didn’t know how many bullets came from who. “It’s a lot to explain. I’m just so relieved you guys are okay. If you two had gotten hurt because of me, I’m not sure what I would have done.”
All night, I’d shoved the guilt away. While the man might have been after me, I hadn’t drawn him there purposefully.
Yet their lives being in jeopardy because of me was still a hard pill to swallow.
All I’d ever wanted was to have girl friends, and right when I’d been starting to feel like McKenna and Brynne liked me, I got the feeling I should take a step back for their safety.
“We can handle ourselves, Grace. But you were hurt,” Brynne said, pain in her voice at my suffering.
“Which is exactly why we need to know what the fuck is going on,” Booker spoke up, his voice carrying across the room.
Henley stepped up beside me, hands shoved in his sweatshirt pocket. “If I had known they were going to be in danger, I would have told you before I left.”
My brow creased. “Left?”
“I was at the ranch when I saw your texts,” Henley clarified.
I thought back to yesterday, the crease in my forehead deepening. “I never texted you. Matter of fact, I never told you what I was doing yesterday.”
His lips were a firm line before he simply said, “I forwarded your texts to my phone.”
My mouth dropped open. “What the fuck? Why?”
He looked at me with a sort of pained expression before Booker had the audacity to interrupt. “That’s not the damn problem right now. Why the fuck is a man following you into a spa with a gun, Grace?”
I blinked rapidly, my brain having a hard time computing any of this. “It’s a long story.”
Booker waved a hand to the loveseat. “Take a seat if you must. But you’re not leaving here until we know every detail.”
Henley stepped forward, his shoulder blocking part of me. “You can’t keep her here.”
“Booker,” Brynne warned, gaze narrowing on her boyfriend.
Booker’s eyes turned to slits. “She’s not our goddamn hostage, but you could have been hurt, Brynne. Killed. If this is going to be an ongoing issue, I don’t want you around her—”
Brynne stepped closer to me. “Grace is my friend. I’m not leaving her when she needs me most.”
Booker dragged a large hand down his face, like his patience was dwindling. Meanwhile, Austin and McKenna seemed to be having some sort of silent argument as she crossed her arms and jutted her hip out in response to his glare.
“She’s a killer for hire,” Henley stated.
I gritted my teeth, tugging my jacket back up to cover my shoulder and wishing I could disappear into it.
“Holy shit,” McKenna whispered, her hard facade instantly dropping, only to be replaced with an incredulous look shot my way.
“She’s a goddamn what?” Austin asked, more shock than anger in his tone.
Henley slid aside, giving me space to get a good look at all the eyes on me. Or maybe he was moving out of the line of fire. Asshole.
“I’m hired to kill bad people,” I clarified, simply so they didn’t think I was running around murdering innocent people. Though I think the concept was bad in and of itself.
“What does this have to do with someone targeting you?” Booker asked. The man hadn’t moved a muscle, biceps bulging where he still had his arms crossed. How’d they even reach across his chest?
Henley smiled. “She was hired to kill me.”
More confused looks spread about the room.
This was going great.
Austin laughed. “So why are you still standing here? And why carry her, bleeding, out of a spa? Why not let her die if she’s out to end you?”
I couldn’t hide the tilt of my lips as I looked at Henley. Great question.
“Because she’s helping me figure out who wants me dead,” Henley explained, his words a bit stiffer than before.
“Then why does someone now want her dead?” McKenna asked.
“Because I’m taking too long,” I answered.
“Let me get this straight,” Brynne said, pulling all our attention to her. “Someone wants Henley dead, and that same person now wants you dead?”
I shook my head. “I have a boss, but I don’t report directly to him. He gets the jobs, then delegates.”
Brynne’s eyes widened a bit. “There are more killers for hire?”
I nodded. “Kind of like a typical business. He’s the manager, then he has assistants, then other guys who keep things in line, then his employees.
It’s a big ladder. Which is why we’re having a hard time figuring out who wants to see Henley six feet under.
I’m supposed to do the jobs assigned to me, no questions asked, so they’re not happy about my sudden curiosity, or the fact that I’m approaching my deadline. ”
“You’re saying Henley essentially has a ticking time bomb on his chest?” McKenna asked.
I shrugged. “Depends if I still want to kill him at the end of this.”
“If I don’t kill her first,” Henley mumbled.
Austin’s gaze snapped between the two of us. “You two both want each other dead.”
Henley and I shared a look before replying in unison, “Yes.”
“Hm,” was Austin’s only response.
Booker sat on the edge of the couch, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. “I can’t believe this.”
Brynne crossed to him, sitting beside him and rubbing a hand over his back. “It never stops, does it?”
“No,” Booker replied, lifting his head and bringing his focus back to Henley. “And he doesn’t even know who would want him dead because the list is too goddamn long.”
Henley’s lips rolled together. He seemed to be fighting the urge to say more. “We’re going to figure it out. We have it under control.”
“Do you?” Austin asked. “Because it looks to me like your girl was shot, and you both still have a death wish on your hands.”
“She’s not my girl,” Henley growled.
“I wasn’t shot,” I said at the same time.
Henley and I glared at each other.
“Are we done here?” Henley snapped, his eyes staying on mine a moment longer before facing the guys again. “You know everything now.”
“What’s the solution, Henley?” Booker asked.
Henley’s tongue sucked on his teeth before he admitted, “No fucking clue.”
“We’re going to find who wants him dead, then kill him,” I said quickly. If Booker didn’t get an answer, he’d likely grill Henley for another hour. I wanted the hell out of here.
“Then what?” Austin asked.
“I kill her,” Henley replied simply.
McKenna’s eyes narrowed on Henley. “You were serious?”
He looked at her like he couldn’t believe she was questioning that. “She tried to kill me.”
“She was hired!” McKenna defended, stepping toward Henley. “That’s not her fault!”
I moved in between them, remembering how McKenna told me she had tried to attack him before. I did not need a fight breaking out right now.
“It’s fine,” I told McKenna, my back to Henley. I could feel the heat radiating off his body, suffocating me with its intensity.
“How is that fine?” McKenna asked.
“Just…trust me, okay? I have this under control.” My cousin was protective.
Not only that, but she had a hard time handing control over to someone else.
This didn’t involve her, and I wanted it to stay that way.
There were enough lives on the line right now.
McKenna had her fair share of that a couple months ago and didn’t need to get involved in something life-threatening again.
Behind me, Henley snorted. I lifted my foot, moving it back just enough to slam it down on his toes. Forgetting I was wearing slippers, I internally cursed and bit my tongue when his steel-toe boot dug into the sole of my foot.
Fucking cowboys.
Henley grabbed my wrist—the one attached to my bad arm—and tugged me backward until I was standing by his side. I gritted my teeth at the bite of pain in my bicep, knowing he’d done it on purpose.
“If that’s all, we’ll be leaving now.” His fingers dug into my wrist. “We have a lot of work to do.”
“Work,” McKenna repeated blandly.
I tried to smile at her, but the expression fell flat. There was nothing lighthearted about any of this. “I’ll update you two, okay?”
From the couch, Brynne nodded.