Page 18 of Guarded By the SEAL

I pace up and down the path as I wait for Max to pick up. I get that it might be a bit early for him, but I don’t give a shit. I’m going to call him until he picks up because this is a goddamn emergency.

“Harry!” Max sounds a little out of breath as he answers. “Sorry, what’s going on?”

“Someone has been here,” I bark out, the frustration starting to get to me now. “I have had a weird feeling on and off for days, and now I’ve just found a hat. Someone has been here, Max.”

“That’s not possible. There haven’t been any boats on the island. None. I know.”

“But there has. There’s a hat here. That wouldn’t be here without a human. Max, take this seriously.”

“I am, Harry,” he barks back. “You don’t need to worry about that. You know that I’m taking it seriously. I always do. We aren’t paid a whole heap of money for nothing. There haven’t been any boats. Maybe the hat blew onto the island or something. I don’t have any other explanation for you.”

“No, Max. It isn’t that.” I shake my head as if he can see me. “I’m telling you there is more.”

“Well, we are watching everyone linked to Jake and they are all still here. No one has moved, and as far as we can see, no one knows where you guys are. No one knows where Petra is.”

I’m silent for a beat too long. I understand what Max is saying to me, but at the same time, I know. My gut is screaming out to me that something is off here, and I won’t let him convince me otherwise.

“Harry, I can practically hear the cogs ticking around in your brain. You need to stop worrying. I will tell you if anything happens, if there is anything you need to worry about, okay?”

“Hmm.” I can’t give Max a positive response because I don’t agree with him. “Okay, sure.”

“Honestly, Harry, don’t be like that. I know what I’m doing. I’ve never let you down before, have I? I always have eyes on everything going on. You can trust me. Believe in me, okay?”

The thing is I know I can trust Max. So, I’m a bit torn. “Yeah, I believe you.”

“Good, because I know everything that’s going on. The hat means nothing.”

I stare at it. At the fucking hat which is driving me insane. It doesn’t mean nothing. I can feel it. But I don’t suppose that arguing with Max about this is going to get me anywhere.

“Right. So, I will just forget about the hat, then. I will just carry on with Petra.”

But as we talk for a little while longer before we hang up the phone, the stress in my gut only screams louder. I suppose this is something that I will have to work out all on my own. I’ll have to not only research every nook and cranny of this island, but the nearby town as well. I’ll have to take a trip over there to see if I can find any clues that someone has been around. Someone who shouldn’t have been around.

I can’t alert Petra, through. I’ll have to make sure that she is calm the entire time. I’ll tell her that I’m going on a shopping trip or something so she doesn’t panic. Especially because it might end in death. If I find that someone has been around and after Petra, then I honestly might have to kill them. I can’t imagine just letting the person go. The risk that they pose is just too damn much for me. I can’t stand it. She is too precious to be hurt, and while I know that’s a dangerous path to go down, I can’t help myself.

Eventually, I head back up to the house, trying to keep myself stoic and calm as I do. If I’m going to sell this to Petra, if I’m going to make her think that I’m fine, then I need to sell it from the get-go. She needs to see me as cool and in control of the whole situation. Anything that I worry about will rub off on her, and I don’t like seeing Petra worried. It makes everything so much harder to deal with.

Luckily, I find her still sleeping when I head back inside. I don’t think that she has noticed me gone at all. That’s good. I’m glad about that. It gives me time to breathe and think. I climb back into bed with her and hug her for a little while longer. One, so she really doesn’t notice that I haven’t been in bed all night, and two, because I want to feel her, to remind myself what all of this is for.

I will do anything to keep Petra safe, and not just because it’s my job to do so but because she needs to be kept safe. I won’t let her asshole Mob husband do anything to her because she’s far too good for that.

15

PETRA

Ireach across the bed expecting to find Harry there beside me. After everything that happened yesterday, of course he should be beside me. I’ve woken up early, and there’s nowhere he could be.

But he’s not. The bed is actually cold on the other side which suggests to me that he hasn’t been with me all night long. I don’t understand why not. He’s knows that I’m afraid. Also, didn’t we have a pretty mind-blowing day yesterday? Sure, it might not be the wisest thing that either of us has ever done, but I don’t think that means he should vanish like this. It doesn’t feel right. Already, I need to find him, to sense his mood before I get myself all tied up in knots of anxiety, which I’m already on the verge of doing.

“Harry?” I wrap my robe around myself and head down the stairs. “Harry, are you here?”

I guess he must be out because the house is so quiet. Any deep-down fantasies that I had of breakfast in bed vanish into nothingness. There won’t be any romantic treats this morning…perhaps because there’s danger. As soon as I worry that something might be going on, every part of me freaks out.

“It’s fine,” I whisper to myself, trying to ignore the way the stair creak nearly makes me leap out of my skin. “It’s going to be okay. If there is something to worry about, then Harry will be on it.”

I tiptoe into the kitchen and find him just outside the door, leaning up against it, staring at… well, nothing. Harry doesn’t seem like the sort of man who normally stares into space, pondering the meaning of life. Every moment that I have spent with him up until now has been with him on high alert.

“Harry?” I ask him quietly, wanting to get his attention but not wanting to shock him too much. “Is everything okay? Do you want a coffee? Or maybe some breakfast?”

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