“Get what you need and do it quickly,” he said in a flat voice. “We need to get out of here.”
“Do you think they’re still here?”
“I think they’re probably watching the place. So we need to move. Now!” He slipped the gun into the back of his jeans again and grabbed the small, cheap duffel bag that she’d bought a few days ago, shoving her scattered clothes into it. She ran into the bathroom, grabbing the makeup she’d left on the counter, giving it to him to toss into the bag with her clothes. Then he threw the strap over his shoulder, grabbed her hand, and pulled her toward the door. “We’re heading to the Jeep from the side exit and you’re staying right behind me. Understood?”
She nodded at his back, trying to get control of her fear, knowing it wasn’t going to help anything.
His voice was hard and rough as he shot her a sharp look over his shoulder. “Tell me you understand, Lily.”
She huffed at his tone. “I understand. I’m not stupid.”
“Stupid, no,” he muttered, opening the door and carefully checking the corridor in both directions. “But you are definitely stubborn as hell.”
She bit her tongue, knowing better than to argue with him as she followed him to the side exit. He kept checking to make sure they were alone, and despite the potential danger, she felt safe because she was with him. He crouched down, quietly telling her to do the same, as they made their way into the full parking lot. They stayed behind one of the rows of cars as they headed toward the Jeep, the lot thankfully empty of other people. She’d just started to breathe a little easier, thinking they were going to make it, when two thugs came out of nowhere. One second she was behind Ryder, his strong hand wrapped around her wrist, and in the next he’d shoved her to the ground, ordering her to hide under the SUV they were in front of as he dropped her bag and faced off against the two dark-haired assholes.
She didn’t hide. She was too terrified for his safety to do more than crouch by the SUV’s bumper, ready to help him if she could, but worried that she’d only be in his way. It’d been so long since she’d seen him fight—she’d always loved to spy on his sparring sessions when she’d been younger—and she briefly wondered if it would be like she remembered . . . or if civilian living would have lessened his skill and intensity. But she’d been stupid to question his abilities for even that brief second. He wasn’t as good as he’d been, he was even better, his body moving with a powerful, lethal grace as he immediately went on the offensive. He smashed his elbow into one guy’s face, blood spurting from the man’s crushed nose as he flipped the thug over his shoulder and slammed his booted foot into the jaw of the other one. Then the guy with the gushing nose fired a wayward shot from the gun he’d yanked off his ankle, making her scream, but Ryder was in full control. He didn’t even have to pull his own weapon. He simply spun, grabbed the gun, and tore it from the man’s hand while slamming his knee into his groin. As the guy doubled over, snarling something in a Slavic language, Ryder punched him in the face, knocking him out just as the other one jumped on his back. Within seconds he had the man flipped over his head and sprawled across the hot asphalt. With a well-placed kick into the bastard’s face, Ryder left him in the same shape as his partner, both of the idiots bleeding and unconscious.
Shoving the thug’s gun into her bag, Ryder threw the strap back over his shoulder and took a death grip on her hand, jerking her to her feet and hustling her toward the Jeep. He didn’t waste any time getting her inside, then made his way around the front, tossed her bag in the back, and climbed behind the wheel.
“Now what?” she asked, gripping the seat belt with both hands as she watched him crank the engine.
“Rado has obviously figured out where you’re at,” he said, not even winded from the fight, though he flexed his right hand as if it was sore, before curling it around the steering wheel. “That means he most likely knows you’re here with me. We have to assume that my place is being watched.”
Her grip on the seat belt tightened. “Which means what?”
His expression was grim as he turned his head and looked out the back window, peeling out of the parking space so fast the tires squealed in protest. “It means we can’t go back there,” he grunted, giving her a hard look before accelerating out of the lot. “So I’m taking you to that safe house.”
FIVE
AS RYDER STEERED THE JEEP THROUGH TOWN, LILY LISTENED to him talk to Ben on his phone. He told the sheriff what had happened, then arranged to have a patrol car sent to the motel, though he doubted Rado’s men would still be there. She knew if she hadn’t been with him that he would have taken the time to question and arrest them himself. Hell, if they’d tried to hurt her, instead of jumping him, they would have ended up dead. But he’d left them because he’d wanted to get her out of there as quickly as possible, his protective instincts making her heart beat just that tiny bit faster, even though she was still upset that he’d ended things in the motel room before making love to her. The way she saw it, if a man wasn’t willing to have sex with you after going down on you, then the odds were high that he just didn’t want you. That hurt. So much that she couldn’t think of a single thing to say to him after he’d ended the call, her arms wrapped tight around her middle as she tried to put on a brave face.
But it wasn’t easy when she felt like a freaking idiot for running to him with her whole I need to sleep with Ryder before I die plan. What on earth had she been thinking? The guy had made it clear that he didn’t want to get down and dirty with her. Yeah, he’d made her come, but maybe that’d just been because he felt bad for not wanting her the way she wanted him. Which just made her pathetic. She wrapped her arms around herself a little bit tighter and stared out the window.
“The safe house is in the Westbrook neighborhood, on the north side of town,” he murmured, breaking the silence. “I have to swing by the station to get the keys, but that should only take a minute. Ben’s making arrangements for some extra security at the house, but we should beat them there.”
Without looking at him, she asked, “Who’s he sending over?”
He lifted his shoulder in a shrug, repeatedly checking the rearview mirror to make sure no one was following them. “I don’t know. But once they get there, I’m going to head back over to my place to pick up a few things.”
“Won’t that be dangerous?”
He shook his head. “Not if I go in on my own. I’ll be quick, and I know how to get in without being seen. I’ll also grab the stuff that you left in the guest room while I’m there.” As if he expected her to argue, he added, “But I won’t be gone long.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she murmured, figuring he was itching to get away from her. “Just do what you need to do. But be careful.”
She could feel the questioning force of his gaze as he turned his head to glance at her, before looking back at the road. But he didn’t say anything, and neither did she.
Thirty minutes later, they were pulling into the driveway of a Spanish-style, single-story house at the edge of a well-to-do neighborhood. Lily wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but she could understand Ben wanting to unload this place off the city’s budget if there wasn’t any need for it. Ryder drove up the flower-lined driveway, parking around the side of the house, and they made their way in through the side door using the keys he’d picked up on the way there. They took the time to do a walk-through, familiarizing themselves with the floor plan, and Lily told him she would like to take the smallest of the three bedrooms, so long as it was okay with him. She’d decided she liked its bathroom the best because of the gray and white tiles that covered the floor and the walls. They were similar to the tiles in the bathroom she had in her apartment back in Virginia, and she was desperate for anything that reminded her of home.