Page 33 of Provoke You

The second Chase pulled up to the curb, Ela climbed out of the car and rushed to the front door. Mrs. Turner stood at the threshold with open arms. Any other time, I would’ve given them some time to hug it out and chitchat, but we didn’t have time for that. I joined Ela at the top of the steps. For a moment, I didn’t know how to introduce myself. Things were getting complicated. Who was I kidding? They’d been complicated for a long minute.

“Mrs. Turner, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend.”

“It’s so good to meet you. Please come in. What a lovely surprise.”

“I know. I was so excited when I realized we were so close to Old Ben’s hometown.” Ela hung from my arm as she walked me inside the home. “Is he around? I’d like to say hello.”

“Oh no, dear. He’s been gone for months.”

And that was that. The nice old lady was lying to us not three steps inside her house. A part of me had hoped Ben would show himself as soon as he saw Ela. On to plan B of waiting to see if anyone makes a move on Ela to try and get Ben out of hiding. Because that much was for certain—Ben was hiding from someone.

I followed Ela’s lead when she invited herself to a tour of the house. She kept Mrs. Turner entertained while I ransacked the entire place. There wasn’t a single piece of evidence that Ben lived in that house. Even his office was empty.

“God, how is it possible that yesterday I couldn’t remember this place, and now that I’m here, it feels like I was here last week.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me out onto the patio deck. “You have to see this view.”

“Go on ahead. I’ll get us some tea and scones. I remember those were your favorite.” Mrs. Turner returned to the kitchen, not at all impressed with the view.

“They still are.” Ela smiled at Mrs. Turner’s retreating form.

Even though she was here as bait to catch the guys who chased out Ben, she looked happy to be back.

She joined me at the deck rail and inhaled the cool breeze. The sunset shimmering over the water was probably one of the reasons Ben couldn’t make himself leave this place.

“Did you spend a lot of time here?” I asked.

“I came with Grans and Mom several times. I even spent an entire summer here when I was eleven, I think. Or nine?”

“How could you forget this place?” I’d seen the property in aerial pictures. They didn’t do it justice. I made note of the pool directly below us, the pool house to the left, and the many acres of dense wooded land around the property.

“I miss my parents less when I don’t think about the good times.” She shrugged.

How long before she forgot about me? That would be assuming we had any good times together. Truth was, I’d been a jerk to her since the beginning. I’d made a mess of things trying to do the right thing. Tyler was right. I wasn’t a bodyguard. If I had wanted to do the right thing from the get-go, I would’ve turned down Mr. Benoit’s offer.

After the sunset, darkness settled around us quick. Time with Ela always went by too fast.

“There’s a beach access just past the pool. I never got to swim in the lake. The first time we were here, Mom told me there were sea monsters at the bottom of the lake. I knew it wasn’t true. That she just wanted me to stay off the water, but I could never get myself to go in. I spent most of my time in the pool.” Ela tapped her shoulder to mine. “But I’m sure you already knew that. Ungodly logistics and all.”

No, I didn’t want to leave her. I didn’t want her to forget me. “Maybe one day, I can take you out in open water.”

Her laughter made me smile. “You want to take me swimming? Can you even swim?”

“You’re teasing me.” I should not be offended that she doubted my skills. Why did I have this incessant need to impress her? “Of course, I can. I’ve had training in survival swim.” I pictured my combat swim instructor smacking me in the back of the head for using the marines to impress a girl.

“Survival swim? What exactly is that?”

“It’s exactly what it sounds like.”

“What? You can fight people in the water?”

“Sometimes when you try to rescue someone, they fight back.”

“So if a sea monster came up right now, you would be able to kill it?” She opened her eyes wide in mocking surprise.

I chuckled. “Yes. I suppose.”

“You’re all right, Marine.” She hit me with the back of her hand square on the chest, and I caught her wrist. She met my gaze, her cheeks red and lips parted. All I wanted to do was kiss her again. I placed my hand on her lower back and pressed my lips to her temple. She slipped her hands inside my suit jacket and pulled me closer to her. As if the universe were set on conspiring against us, my watch went off. Our time was up.

“We gotta go.”

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