Page 16 of Open Road (Tattooed Hearts Duet 3)

“I’ll tell you later. Not here.”

Slade gritted his teeth, his nostrils flaring, but nodded. Wrapping my arm around his waist, I pulled him to me, hoping to help calm him down.

Thirty minutes later, the feeling of being watched was still with me; if anything, it felt even more intense. Shuffling, I kept peering around, trying to see if I could find the source. A pair of eyes landed on me, and I quickly looked away before remembering I was supposed to be seeing if they looked familiar. Glancing back, they were gone, and I chalked it up to nothing. Nothing in me clicked, so I figured it had just been a random tourist.

“Can you believe this Arch is 630 feet wide and 630 feet tall?” Lennox asked, looking up from the brochure she’d read while waiting.

“Don’t remind me,” Slade huffed, looking a little pale as he began to think about going up in the pod.

Our turn for the tram was up, and we climbed in. Slade sneered at the stranger who tried to board with us, not wanting to share the space. The pod was meant for five people, but we took up a lot of space between us three guys. But really, I think Slade didn’t want anyone else to see him freaking out about the height.

Lennox held his hand, whispering things to him I wished I could hear as it seemed to work on distracting him. The pod rocked back and forth, and according to the little placard on the inside, the barrel rotated 155 degrees before switching to the next direction.

We were at the top four minutes later and stepped out onto the observation deck. Lennox wasted no time walking toward the window, looking out into the city. I followed, intrigued by how high up we were and how vast we could see.

“Babe, come look,” I urged, finding Slade standing as far from the window as possible.

“I’m good right here,” he said, clutching the wall. Smiling, I turned and held Lennox in my arms as we looked out at the landscape.

“I can’t wait to sketch this. I want to remember it forever,” she sighed. “This was what Babs was talking about. Finding beauty in the simple things.”

A while later, I managed to drag Lennox away from the window, and we all got in line to head down. Standing there, I felt the hair on my neck grow as a scuffle in front of us broke out. Slade pulled Lennox into his arms as the guys began to shove in our direction, barely missing us. Slade growled at them, and Thane used his height to block them from our vantage point as they began to break up.

Security guards came over and escorted them both to the back elevator used for emergencies. Our time to head back down came a few moments later, and we stepped into the pod, the descent only taking us three minutes as the mechanics used gravity to rotate the barrels quicker. Stepping off the tram, Slade seemed to relax now that we were back on solid ground.

Lennox moved her bag, looking into it when she jerked up, searching for something. My hackles raised even more, and I began looking to, even though I didn’t know what for.

“What is it, Lenn?”

“My wallet, it’s gone. I think…” she trailed off as she searched the crowd. “There.” She pointed to the two guys who’d been escorted by the security guards. They were being released from the little booth, both shoving off the arms of the guards.

Slade looked at me as she started to march toward them, not caring that they’d just been fighting 630 feet in the air. Thane got to her first, stopping her from running right up to the men.

“Lennox, what’s going on?” he asked, as Slade and I caught up.

“Since when can you move that fast?” I asked, slightly out of breath.

“They took my wallet. It had to be them,” she said, pointing. The two men saw us looking at them and took off, running out the door into the park.

“Fuck,” Slade said before he took off after them. Thane looked at me, and I held my hands up, not inclined to chase people. I knew my strengths, and running was not one of them.

Taking Lennox’s hand, she practically pulled me out the door as we searched for where they’d all run off. A few minutes later, we spotted Slade with his foot pressed to one of the guys on the ground. He nodded for us to come over, so we sprinted, eager to hear what they had to say.

“Give it to her,” Slade ordered when we were within earshot.

“Sorry ma’am. No hard feelings. You should really watch your belongings better. We easily pinpointed you as a tourist.”

Slade humphed, but then let the guy go once he returned Lennox’s wallet. She briefly looked through it, satisfied when everything was there. Taking Lennox’s other hand, we headed toward Thane, who was standing up ahead with a curious look on his face. I shook my head, trying to let him know it was okay. Though, I didn’t know if I really believed that.

No one spoke as we approached the van, an eerie silence descending on us. Slade turned, something changing in his eyes as he glanced at Lennox.

“What did the letter say?”

Lennox bit her lip, shaking her head. “It was mostly about her time at the Arch and how she enjoyed seeing the city. She said she shared a kiss with one of her fellas at the top. Which I meant to do. Dang it!”

Lennox began to fidget with the hem of her dress, her classic tell that she wasn’t sharing everything.

“What else, Lenn?” I asked, figuring it was better to get to the bottom of this.

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