“Will you go with him, at least for a few days?” He hoped she was sensible enough to say yes. “Long enough to talk to the wives and to get the medallion sent to Wolf tonight. I’ll overnight it, so you’ll have it by—” He glanced at his watch. If he called his delivery guy in the next ten minutes and paid double, it would make it there as fast as possible. “—tomorrow evening, your time. The man chasing you will expect you to go back to your place. You can’t go there, not now... just in case.”
“You’re scaring her, Tex.”
“I intend to, dumbass,” he grunted. “She needs to know the seriousness of the situation. There is protecting her, and there is withholding intel, so she feels safe but isn’t. If you are going to be an idiot and do the second, then she is better off staying with Wolf or one of the guys.” That jackass could be as possessive as he wanted to be, but he would not allow him to cause more problems by being a caveman and not using the brain cells the good lord had gifted him with.
“No,” Hunt growled. “She stays with me?—”
“Okay. I’ll stay with Caleb.”
Caleb Hunt.
Tex scribbled the name onto his notepad. He knew enough about him to know he was a solid operator. Dalton didn’t hire stupid people either, so that was a second vote in his favor. “Good,” he praised her. “I know it’s hard to do, but trust him. Trust the men in front of you. We will help you figure it out. If we can’t…” He probably would piss off a lot of people by saying it, but she took priority, “I’ll help you disappear.” Caleb could just stop growling, that shit wasn’t going to get him anywhere with him. “Even if it’s not what anyone else wants you to do.”
“Can you do it better than witness protection?” Rose asked. “Because that’s my next port of call, but they didn’t do a very good job last time.”
Her name isn’t Rose.
He added witness protection to the list he had running on his notepad. “I’m way better than those guys,” he reassured her. The guys could snort and huff all they wanted, and maybe it was his ego that put the pride in his voice, but facts were facts. He was better than witness protection or law enforcement.
“Okay. I’ll go with Caleb.”
He did a fist pump as she agreed to do as he’d asked.
“But two days.” Her tone was firm. “I won’t stay longer.”
“Four.” He bargained for more. “Today is almost done for me, and it’s the middle of the night in California. Give me four full days…”
“Three. Final offer.”
He liked her. She had strength and more balls than a lot of men. Going toe-to-toe with him when it came to intel wasn’t something many people did. “Deal. Now let me go. I have a deadline to save a pretty damsel in distress. Don’t make stupid moves. Listen to Caleb. Do. Not. Run.”
“I won’t run.”
“Good enough, I’ll take it. Thank you, Rose.” He noted she didn’t agree to listen to Caleb or to not make stupid moves. But he’d take not running for now. “Later.” He hit end on the call and got to work.
10
Caleb offered up a silent prayer of thanks that Rose had listened to Tex. He ignored the twinge of jealousy that came with it. Jealousy had no place here right now. He’d spent enough time over the years working with traumatized victims of human trafficking and rescuing women out of some of the worst hellholes on earth to know if he allowed the rage he felt building inside him to show, Rose would run from him. That could not happen. He could not protect her if she ran from him. Protecting her had become his most important role ever. Even if he had to do it from the shadows, he’d make it happen. But it would be a hell of a lot easier if she would allow him to help. “Thank you, Rose.” He lowered his voice to keep it just between them.
“Huh?”
“Thank you for agreeing to let me help.” He ignored the guys. Every single one of those nosey men was gathering intel for their wives like it was going out of style. He knew it, and he didn’t care. “I won’t let you down. I swear.”
“I’m scared.”
He could tell how much it had cost her to admit it. “I know.” He tugged her into his chest, wishing with everything that he was that he knew what words to say. Being what the others called the silent type sucked right now.
“Can we wrap this shit up now?” Dalton grumbled. He probably wanted to get back to Lina and their son. “We still need to get you guys out of here and to Caleb’s. Preferably without picking up a tail.”
“I’ll take Caleb’s truck,” Kacey offered. “Who wants to disguise themselves as Rose?”
“We have multiple trucks,” Wolf said slowly. “If all of us duck down, and only the driver is visible as we leave, he won’t know which truck Rose is in and might follow Caleb’s.” He snapped his fingers. “Divide up. Caleb, you come in my truck. Rose, you go with Nem?—”
“No. She stays with me.” He stepped between Rose and the guys as if one of them would pull her away from him. “That’s the deal.”
Wolf and Dalton rolled their eyes in sync like a freaking slot machine but, thankfully, nodded in agreement.
Relieved they weren’t going to fight him on this, Caleb led Rose to Dalton’s truck. “We’re going to get cozy, Rosey-Posey.”
