I suspected he didn’t trust me completely. Not many did, because I’d always been one who took care of things my own way, with little consideration to the consequences of others. That and I ensured I remained an enigma, even to those who thought they knew me well.
He stepped back, glanced at Braelyn again, his gaze lingering as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Then, without a word, he turned and walked out of the room.
I took a deep breath, turned to face Braelyn, only to be hit with the full brunt of her anger.
“Tiegan? Tiegan Shaw?” Although a bit high-pitched, her voice was laced with steel. “She works for you?”
“She does.”
“And you’re aware of what’s going on with my brother?”
“I am.”
“So the job offer … that was your doing?”
Clearly she’d put all the pieces together, and she didn’t appear happy with the result. Ransom had warned me that would be the case, but I could admit, I was rather intrigued with how easily she’d come to that conclusion. Beauty and brains. A brilliant combination.
“Was it even real?” Braelyn bit out before I could respond. “The job offer? The interview?”
“Oh, it’s very real, Miss Bishop. And come tomorrow morning, you’ll get to see it all for yourself.”
“The hell I will.” She started toward the door.
“Miss Bishop. Stop,” I commanded, putting every ounce of dominance I possessed into my tone.
She immediately halted her retreat, and her obedience caused a familiar punch in my gut. Lust. Only this was mixed with something else, something more potent.
“This is nonnegotiable,” I informed her. “Your safety is my priority because it’s Ransom’s. Your brother trusts me to watch over you. It’s time for me to do that.”
When Braelyn finally turned, I saw the wariness in her eyes, but there was something else there. Trust, maybe?
It was then, that very moment in time, when I felt a sudden, life-altering shift within me.
Little did I know, but it would be only hours before the opportunity to explore it further presented itself again.
And when it finally did, I was waiting but not even close to being ready.
SIX
RANSOM
Absolute bullshit.
That’s what this was.
Me, going sixty miles an hour on a dark, narrow, winding road out in the fucking boondocks. All in an attempt to lose these jokers so I could weave my way back to my sister. I wasn’t even sure how I’d gotten to this point in one night. It damn sure hadn’t been my plan.
“Son of a bitch,” I bit out, taking a corner faster than my four-year-old Maxima could handle, the entire chassis groaning from the effort of remaining on the road.
Considering my luck was shit, I figured every turn I made and didn’t find black ice ready to launch me into a ditch was a good thing.
It didn’t seem to matter how fast I went—which was considerably slower than I preferred, taking into account the aforementioned black ice—the assholes were still hot on my tail and gaining. It was all I could do to steer, doing my best to put as much distance between me and Braelyn as I could, although what I wanted to do was grab my sister and make a run for it.
That was where my plan had gone tits up.
I should’ve told Talon tomorrow wasn’t soon enough. Something in my gut had told me my time had run out, but I had ignored it. It was only a matter of time before they caught me. And at the pace we were going, that matter of time equated to roughly five minutes. Ten tops.
I was almost positive they had some souped-up engine beneath the hood of that nondescript sedan.
The fuckers.
To make matters worse, there were more vehicles on the road tonight because of New Year’s. Not to mention, the people. They seemed to be every-fucking-where.
“Fuck you, assholes,” I shouted at the car behind me, taking another vicious turn too fast, the backend fishtailing.
Thankfully, I managed to get the car under control, and I was picking up speed on the straightaway when my cell phone rang. I grabbed for it but fumbled, the damn thing falling into the floorboard.
This wasn’t how this night was supposed to go.
I’d gone to TJ’s party to say my goodbyes to my closest friends before I fell off the face of the earth and they believed me to be dead. Call it closure or whatever. I’d needed it. Unfortunately, my plan was thwarted when I got a notification from the security system I’d installed outside Braelyn’s apartment