“You’re all set.”
Sure that she’d misheard her, Kristen asked, “Are you sure?”
“Mmmhmm,” Susie murmured absently as she grabbed a set of keys and gestured for them to follow her.
Kristen hesitated as she told herself that she should come up with an excuse and leave before it was too late, but…
When would she ever get another chance to do this?
CHAPTER 12
“How did she get in?” came the panicked demand as Garrett stood there, trying to figure out what just happened as he glanced from the employees huddled in the corner, trying to comfort the two marines who wouldn’t stop crying, to the college kid who refused to stay out of Kristen’s way and-
It was probably for the best if he didn’t glance back at the college kid, Garrett thought as he shifted his attention back to the manager demanding to know why the system didn’t flag Kristen’s name to the woman in question as she went to open her mouth to say something only to rethink that decision and settled for giving the large officers surrounding them a hopeful smile.
He honestly had no idea how this happened.
One minute, they were watching a video telling them how Jack The Ripper avoided capture, and the next…
“They kept missing clues,” Kristen pointed out, only to wince, clear her throat, and add, “I’ll just shut up now,” when the announcement was met with horrified expressions.
“Look,” the officer, who’d spent the last thirty minutes trying to calm the manager down, said as he approached them, “I’mnot exactly sure what happened here, but as long as you promise never to come back, you’re free to go.”
With a sniffle, Kristen said, “Bless you,” only to clear her throat as she stepped behind him, which, considering the murderous glare the manager was sending her, was probably for the best, Garrett thought as he glanced back at the two Marines and-
Decided that it would probably be for the best if he didn’t think about what happened when they kept putting in the wrong code for the lockbox. With that, he cleared his throat, murmured, “Excuse me,” and reached back for Kristen’s hand only to bite back a smile when she latched onto his arm and refused to let go.
“If it helps, I’m really sorry?” Kristen said with a hopeful smile that died quickly when Susie, who hadn’t stopped crying since they’d managed to break down the door to the control room, broke free from the officers trying to calm her down and raced back to the small room behind her, where she once again barricaded the door from the sounds of it.
“We should probably go now,” Kristen said, which, given the way the manager was watching her every move, was probably a good idea.
Not sure what else there was to say, Garrett cleared his throat, moved to turn around only to think better of it when he noted the way the manager’s murderous gaze flickered between Kristen and the fake axe in the corner along with all the fake weapons the employees used to scare guests, and settled for moving back until they reached the entrance and-
“We should probably move faster,” Kristen said when the manager finally managed to get around the cops and dove for the fake, and he was really fucking hoping that it was fake, axe.
Definitely time to go, Garrett decided as he grabbed Kristen’s hand and headed for the exit. He wasn’t surprised when hespotted several officers following them a few minutes later or even when he heard one of them call for backup, but he was absolutely fucking stunned that Kristen was the reason behind it.
His family had a long history of getting banned from restaurants, bars, food trucks, and grocery stores. He’d even managed to get banned a few times over the years, but he had to admit that he’d never seen anyone, not even his Uncle Jared, make a decorated Marine cry that quickly before.
He was definitely impressed, terrified, but impressed.
Kristen didn’t say anything as they quickly made their way back to the truck, which was understandable given what just happened. She simply worried her bottom lip between her teeth, stole the occasional glance behind them, winced, cleared her throat, and urged him to move faster.
When they reached the truck, he held the door open for her, noting the way the officers watched their every move. He waited for her to get settled before he closed the door, made his way around the truck, and-
“We probably shouldn’t mention this again,” he said when she opened her mouth.
Nodding, Kristen said, “That’s probably for the best.”
She could do this.
She could do this.
She could do this, Kristen kept repeating in her head as she sat there, forcing herself to ignore the laptop sitting on the nightstand next to her and focused on whatever it was that was playing on television. When she found her gaze darting to thelaptop a few seconds later, she took a deep breath, held it for thirty seconds, and then slowly exhaled as she-
Once again found herself sending hopeful glances at her laptop. Reminding herself that she only had nine more hours before she could once again make her way across the street so that she could write, Kristen released a shaky breath, nodded for some reason, shifted to get more comfortable and once again found herself looking at her laptop.
Maybe today was enough to finally destroy her writer’s block once and for all? Kristen found herself wondering as she felt her fingers twitch with the need to grab her laptop and find out. She-
