Page 11 of Merciless Protector

Griffin was my sister’s husband’s brother’s best friend. Yeah, that was a mouthful. He’d also been half in love with my sister before she’d chosen Connor over him. But Griff was good people. A funny guy who acted like nothing in life mattered but life itself. There was more than met the eye. I hadn’t liked his best friend, Kalen, who’d stolen my sister’s best friend, Bailey, from me. Yet, I liked Connor, the man banging my sister, Griff was the brother I’d never had. He and I commiserated a lot about being the single half of my brother-in-arms pack. We’d come together with a cause, leaving our differences behind. It started when Kalen needed me to help him find Bailey. And it’s been the four of us ever since.

Clearly, my brother-in-arms was aware of my release. Not surprising, given he owned a security company, and he was likely following my situation at the same level or more than the FBI.

As we passed my handler, I gave her a two-finger salute as she lost that toothy grin she’d initially flashed my way.

“You work for Griffin?” I asked.

“Guilty,” she said with a glorious smile before telling me her name. “Kelsey.”

My boy was in trouble. She was the kind of distraction I would have wanted if my head wasn’t solely on Tayla. The fact that he’d sent this woman to retrieve me showed the level of trust he had with her.

At a stoplight, not far from the prison but far enough away from that and any traffic, she handed me the envelope. Inside, I found cash, a fake ID, and a burner phone.

“I’ll drop you off at a hotel. We didn’t reserve you a room so as not to leave an electronic record that could be followed. However, we did confirm that there is availability. There should be enough cash there to book a couple of nights.”

“Griff’s always thinking.”

She flashed me a bright smile. For the first time in many months, I felt a grin on my face. Griff was definitely in trouble with that one.

The drive was long, and I nodded off. Kelsey lightly tapped my arm to wake me up when we arrived. I jolted out of sleep and sat bolt upright.

“Sorry,” she said gently.

“No worries. We’re here?” I asked as I looked to my right and found the sliding doors that led into the hotel.

“Yeah. Griff will be in touch.” She glanced at the empty envelope sitting next to me as a reminder of the goodies Griff had provided.

I nodded. “I’ll leave a great review,” I said, in a normal tone for any passersby. This was downtown and there were people everywhere.

The air was different here. Not cleaner but freer. I’d been caged for so long I’d forgotten what freedom was like. I walked into the hotel after responding to the porter. With no bags, I wasn’t a future tip for him and he moved on to the next guest.

I waited in line at the reservations desk. When it was my turn, the woman behind the desk grinned as she asked me what she could help me with. The look she gave me was easy enough to interpret. She found me attractive. She wasn’t so bad either. But even after months of not touching a woman, I wasn’t interested.

“I’d like a suite, please,” I said.

“How many nights?”

“Two, maybe three.”

The click-clack of the keys went as she searched her computer for my request.

“We do have a suite with a view—”

I cut her off. “The view doesn’t matter. I’ll take whatever you have.”

She spouted off the price. “What credit card will you use?”

From my wallet, I peeled off the bills to cover the cost and handed them to her. “This should cover it.”

“We usually take a card for incidentals.”

I peeled off a few more bills. “Here’s for incidentals. I’ll settle up when I check out if necessary.”

She looked confused, probably because these days, most paid with a debit or credit card. “I’ll need ID,” she added.

I handed her the fake one. It wasn’t long after she issued my keys. I moved to the elevators and took it to the floor before the top one. The room was near the end of the hall and a corner suite. I opened the door and spotted the view. The first thing I did was use the remote for the window dressings to block it. If I could see out, someone else could see in. Right now, I was hiding from the FBI for my own reasons. They’d screwed me over and needed my help. But I didn’t need there’s.

After the blackout curtains were closed, I sat on the mattress. It felt like heaven. Then again, after sleeping on a two-inch pad for months, anything would have been better.

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