“I will. And make sure Mom doesn’t have too many wild parties.”
Mom didn’t laugh at my attempt at humor. She stood with Cam, but it was the expression on her face as she took in my appearance that broke my heart.
“Look what they did to my baby girl. They won’t get away with it, but I’m glad Damian is taking you away from here. You’ll be safe with him.” A tear slipped down her cheek before she gingerly wrapped me in her arms. “Please be safe.”
We were both thinking the same thing. Yes, I looked terrible but if this was related to Dad, it could have been so much worse.
Mom had no sooner released me that I found myself pressed against Cam. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Not your fault.”
“Anton and Damian will share what we know. I promise you I will find out who was behind your attack. Fucker is going down.”
“I know you will.”
Anton approached. “We’ve got to go, Thea.”
“What about the cops?” Mom asked.
“That’s where I’m going now. I’ll take care of it,” Cam said.
I hugged everyone one last time then walked to Damian who stood by the door. He led me out, but I looked back, saw my peeps and hoped like hell it wasn’t the last time I did.
The safe house was tucked in a neighborhood in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Once we arrived, Damian checked the place top to bottom making sure windows were locked, doors barred. He pulled all the curtains before moving to the kitchen, one that was stocked with food. He grabbed a frozen bag of peas and handed it to me.
“For your jaw.”
I settled at the kitchen table, Anton joined me. Damian leaned against the counter across the kitchen from us.
“They wanted me. He called someone and said he had me.”
“Fucking hell,” Damian hissed.
Anton’s expression was nearly as scary when he said, “The cleaner checked the phone. It was a burner. We’ve been tracking Dobbs, Federico and the man that approached Ryder. We’re missing a piece.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not adding up, there’s another player that we don’t know about. And since these fucks have made a move on you, until we figure out what we don’t know you need to disappear for a while. I don’t even want to know where you are.” Anton looked a bit rattled and that really freaked me out.
“Do you really think that’s necessary?”
Damian sounded really scary. “Look in the mirror.”
I didn’t need to look in the mirror because I ached everywhere.
“I was attacked, I get it, but to go on the lam…” I couldn’t believe I could actually say that statement and it was true.
“The lam?” There was humor in Anton’s expression. Damian looked ready to skin something.
“You know what I mean.”
“They came at you so there’s no reason to believe they won’t again.”
“But shouldn’t Damian be there to help you find the bad guys. It is what he does.”
“I’m with you.” Damian’s tone left no room for argument.
“I’m sorry, this all is just so unbelievable. Dad’s gone, Cam’s hunting dirty cops and has people shooting at him, and someone wants something from me and is willing to hurt me to get it. I’m just a graphic designer with an addiction to coffee and sugar. I feel like I’ve stepped into someone else’s nightmare.”
“We’re going to deal with it and while we do, you’ll be somewhere safe. I suppose we should mention that you and Damian will be posing as a married couple. You’ll draw less suspicion.”
The situation was suddenly looking up. Away from danger with the man I loved pretending we were married. Yes, things were definitely looking up.
I was beginning to think death wasn’t so terrible a fate. If I had to listen to the deafening silence for much longer I might off myself and save whoever wanted me dead the trouble. I had my suspicions as to the cause, but Damian had done a complete one eighty. We had been in the car for almost nine hours and he had said exactly five words to me. When we left, I got a let’s go. Twice in our journey he said gas meaning we were running low and in need of some and I had been gifted with food because his tank was running low. I appreciated the gravity of the situation, the constant knot in my stomach was proof of that, and I even liked that Damian was taking the matter seriously, but the silent treatment was getting old and fast. I would have better conversations with my shoe and had been tempted to hold a few to stave off boredom. Silver lining, he was breathtakingly sexy. I had studied him while we were confined to the small space of the car. He wasn’t using them now, but he had magnificent lips. His lower lip slightly fuller than the upper, lips that begged to be bitten then licked then sucked on. And yes, I thought about that and the two days of sexual bliss we had shared before he turned into a cyborg again because otherwise I would have gone mad from the silence.