I Just Need You - J. Nathan Page 0,56
the shelter to hurt her. I hoped. Then, two detectives came in and questioned us. Doris said she hadn’t seen anything, and I told them everything I knew, which wasn’t much since most of the time I was running for my life.
Eventually, they left and Tristan returned. I said goodbye to Doris and stepped outside to join him. The remaining police cars drove by, kicking up clouds of dust as they drove down the dirt road and away from the shelter.
“Everything all set?” I asked Tristan.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest, holding me tight like he had before. “God, I hope so.”
Being in his arms brought back so many emotions…so many thoughts of our night together. How strong he was. How safe I felt with him near me. But what was really going on? Had this intense situation made him realize that I hadn’t been a mistake? Or, had it made him think irrationally and he’d go back to being the cold Tristan tomorrow?
He walked me to the passenger door of the car and helped me in. Before I could turn, he stood between my knees in the open door, just looking at me.
“What?”
“I lied,” he said.
My brows shot up. “About what?”
“Nothing that happened between us was a mistake.”
All the tension I felt from the past week released from my body.
“I’ve never had feelings for a client before,” he continued. “There are rules in place for a reason.”
I nodded, understanding that being in a relationship with me could cause him to be distracted.
Fear clouded his eyes. “What if I’d missed today and he got to you? What if I didn’t see him and he took you away? What if—”
I stroked his cheek. “You didn’t miss. And you did see him. I’m okay because of you, Tristan. You protected me.” I tilted my head, taking in his worried eyes. “You saved me.”
He closed his eyes, the truth showing his vulnerability and affecting him in a way I’d never seen before.
“You were wrong when you told me you weren’t a superhero,” I said as his eyes reopened. “Because right now I feel like you’re my very own.”
He opened his mouth to respond—probably to tell me I was wrong—but I cut him off.
“Please get in the car,” I said. “And take me back to the dorm where you can protect me some more.”
He shot me a sad smile and nodded. I shifted my legs into the car and he closed the door. I watched him round the car before he slipped into the driver’s seat and linked his hand with mine. It was as if he needed the contact and needed to be sure I was okay. He started the engine and pulled out onto the dirt road.
I noticed Briggs in the car behind us following us away from the shelter.
“Tristan?”
He glanced to me.
“Are you okay?”
He looked back to the road. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“I’d understand if you weren’t. You just killed someone.”
“Someone who would’ve hurt you.”
“Yeah, but—”
He shook his head. “I promise. I’ll be able to sleep at night knowing he can’t hurt you now.”
I understood his rationale. That man wasn’t a good man. He was someone paid to get to me. Someone who willingly took money to get to me. Would he have kidnapped me? Shot me in the leg so I was easier to carry off the property? Raped me then taken me? Tristan rid the world of a despicable human being. “Do you think he was working alone?”
“There’s no sign that anyone else was with him. But where there’s one, there are others. Especially, when money’s exchanged.” His lips twisted regrettably. “He didn’t have ID on him. We’ll know more once they run his fingerprints.”
“The Frenchman told me it wasn’t over,” I said, my words a mere whisper.
Tristan squeezed my hand. “That doesn’t mean he’d risk coming all the way here to get you.”
“He’d just hire someone else who would.”
He said nothing, knowing I was right.
“Why won’t he just give up? Why won’t he just go after someone else?” I gasped. “That sounded awful. I should have never said that.”
He brushed his thumb over the back of my hand, likely feeling me tensing up. “I know what you meant. I know you don’t want anyone else going through what you’ve gone through.”
I nodded, hating that I’d verbalized what I was feeling in that moment.
“We don’t know this guy was connected to the Frenchman,” he explained. “And if he was, maybe after this second failed