SEAL's Embrace - Makenna Jameison Page 0,46
disbelief.
“Maybe you know more than you realize.”
Her phone buzzed again on the kitchen table, and Grayson snatched it before she could read the newest text.
“Fuck,” he muttered. He clenched her phone tightly as her heart began to pound.
“Grayson? What does it say?”
He stared at her phone a moment as if deciding whether or not to show her, and then he finally held it up for her to see.
I know where you are.
“Here?” she asked, her palms beginning to sweat. They knew she was in California or knew she was in Grayson’s apartment? Either way, it was creepy as hell.
Icy cold dread snaked down her spine.
“I’ll speak with my commander. My SEAL team was there on a mission that was thwarted. Then there was the suicide bombing and explosion. It has to be someone on the inside. A traitor. And that burns me up enough as it is, because innocent people were hurt and killed as a result of those incidents. But now someone is sending you threatening texts? Harassing you? Hell no. This fucking ends right now.”
“Jesus. It’s just—I really don’t know anything,” she told him, her eyes watering. “I didn’t even know someone from base was potentially involved in all this.”
“Hell, sweetheart,” he said, crossing over to her. He knelt down beside her chair and collected her in his arms as a few stray tears rolled down her cheeks. “Why don’t you go shower and change like you wanted. You’re safe here with me. I’ll call my commander and the other guys to give them a quick update.”
She looked at him and shakily nodded.
“Are you done eating?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Then let’s get you settled. I already put your suitcase back in my bedroom. I’ll grab you some clean towels and you can take as much time as you need while I make a few calls.”
“Okay,” she said, looking right at him. Grayson’s eyes were filled with concern, but she could tell he was angry as well. He was covering it with the way he was gentle around her, but beneath that he seemed tense, his muscles taut. He was ready to spring into action, and here she was sitting at the table crying.
“We’ll figure this out,” he assured her. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. It kills me that you’re tied up in this somehow, even more than your getting injured back in Bagram, but I’ll keep you safe. I swear that I’ll protect you, Hailey.”
“This is crazy. Should I call the police or something?”
He clenched his jaw. “Let me talk to my teammates and CO first. You can stay here with me until we figure out who’s behind this. It’s not safe for you to be alone in a hotel room. I can protect you, and I will.”
“But what about my apartment?”
“We’ll figure it out. We’ll get you moved in so your things aren’t sitting around in storage, but you can stay here with me until its safe. We should probably just check you out of the hotel since you won’t be going back there this week.”
Standing up, he reached out and took her hand, helping her to her feet.
“Did you get all my stuff from there earlier?”
“Yep. I know you felt like hell, but I put everything in your suitcase, remember?”
“Okay. I’ll call them later on and see if I can just check out over the phone so I don’t need to go back.”
“I’ll send one of my teammates down there if necessary. There’s no way in hell I’m leaving you here alone, otherwise I’d go do it myself.”
They paused there a moment in his kitchen, Hailey looking up at Grayson. He towered above her, much like he had in the cafeteria back in Bagram, but that felt like that had happened years ago. Nothing about this entire situation made any sense, and it felt like with every day that passed, some new problem was springing up. First there were her injuries, then moving out here a week early, getting sick, and now the weird texts.
Sighing, Hailey let Grayson guide her down the hallway, wondering how her life had changed so drastically over the past few weeks. At the moment, she just felt sick and lost. Exhausted.
Grayson rested his hand on the small of her back, and she took a deep breath. “We’ll figure this out, Hailey,” he reassured her, his voice deep.
“Okay,” she whispered.
He guided her toward his bedroom, and oddly enough, having Grayson at her side made it all seem like it would eventually work out.
Chapter