Page 27 of Savage Protector

I waited a few seconds and then opened the door a crack to make sure she’d gone. I then grabbed the clothes she’d left behind and proceeded to try everything on.

In the end I put the bathing suit back on and placed the cover up over it. If we were going to the pool, I’d need a suit. Fortunately the cover up she provided offered far more coverage than the bikini.

I also grabbed all of the other items and carried them to the counter. I had to admit the clerk had great taste and had figured out how to dress my size eight frame perfectly. A feat not easily done when you were five feet nothing and top heavy.

“I’ll take it all,” I said as I approached the register.

She smiled and I could see she was really happy that it had worked out for me. She began ringing up my purchases when I caught sight of the carousel of sunglasses and hats.

Oh my God, of course. Why hadn’t I thought of that sooner? I could use them as a disguise.

I plucked the first pair I liked from the shelf and tried them on. They felt great, but I needed to… I found a tiny mirror on the back side of the rotating do hickey and stood on my tip toes to get a look.

The wide lenses covered half my face in a classic Audrey Hepburn style and were perfect for what I needed. Now to find a hat to hide my trademark hair and I’d be in business.

As I reached for one that would complement both the cover up and the suit, I caught a flash of a black figure in the tiny little mirror on the sunglass case.

What the hell?

I looked again, holding my breath as I did. Nothing out of the ordinary appeared, but I’d have sworn I saw a man behind me dressed in black.

I whipped around and surveyed the small store, searching every nook and cranny and still nothing.

“Everything okay, Miss?” The sales clerk asked.

I nodded. “Yeah.” But it wasn’t because I couldn’t be sure. My mind might be playing tricks on me, but it had seemed real and the hairs on the back of my neck were still standing at attention.

I paid for my items with some of the cash I kept stored in my wristlet and I rushed back to the lobby of the hotel and into the restroom I’d noticed nearby. If someone had found me they couldn’t be far.

I pushed the sunglasses onto my face and shoved the hat on my head after stuffing my hair inside. I didn’t look anything like Isabella Mazzeo, but if I’d already been spotted then chances were not good for a getaway, despite the disguise.

For the first time since leaving the church I wished for my cellphone. I needed to check the internet and find out what my father had done. It seemed unlikely that he’d report me missing. He preferred to keep his issues as private as possible by not involving outsiders.

He always said he paid good money for a security and PR team to keep his life in order without relying on outsiders.

I paced in front of the mirror, unsure what to do next. There wasn’t much choice on whether to leave the bathroom or not, but I had a choice of whether to flee the hotel or return to Houston’s room.

Both were risky in their own ways. Either way I had to make a decision. There was more than a passing chance I was being paranoid. I had made sure there was nothing to connect me to this hotel…

Fuck. I couldn’t stand the not knowing. I was going out there one way or another. I refused to cower in a hotel restroom in fear forever. This was a public building. What could they do to me here in a crowded area?

With that final thought stuck firmly in my mind, I pulled the door open and returned to the lobby. Facing my father was so far from the list of my to dos it wasn’t even funny, but if they had found me then I would run again. And again. And again.

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