Lifting my gaze, I found a black Suburban pulling up to the spa. It moved slowly until stopping directly in front of the doors, then killed its lights. It wasn’t dark out, but the fog clinging to the buildings made visibility poor.
With the vehicle still clearly idling, the driver door opened. I narrowed my eyes, watching as a largely built man stepped out. He could’ve been anyone’s husband, probably picking his wife up after a few hours of relaxation. But something about the way he moved had my suspicions rising. Even from where I was parked across the road, I could tell he looked determined.
Given the current events, and Grace having likely pissed off the man at the club—if I knew anything about her, that much was certain—this didn’t sit well with me.
The man’s hand disappeared inside the front of his jacket as he rounded the hood and approached the spa. Right as he was about to remove it, a pillar blocked myview. In the reflection of the window on the front of the establishment, I saw the door swing open, then shut.
I had enough common sense to know that whatever he was grabbing for couldn’t be good.
Snatching my mask in my fist, I exited my truck. As much as I wasn’t happy with Grace, I couldn’t just sit out here and hope that the man wasn’t after her.
As I tried to keep my steps as light as possible on the asphalt, a thought hit me. I couldn’t be the only one watching Grace’s texts. It was the only logical explanation for why, less than thirty minutes after she’d been conversing with her friends about her location via text, a pissed-off looking man would walk into that same building. Maybe he wasn’t sent to kill her, but a message could be just as lethal.
Though maybe Grace could use a broken bone or two, as a wake-up call.
I shook my head, pulling my gun out of the waistband of my jeans. If anyone was going to break her, it’d be me. The only reason that was my new rule was because she was vital to the mission.
Not because my cock got hard when I broke past her murderous outer layer to reveal the soft, sensitive layer she tried to hide away.
Carefully, I nudged the glass door open with my shoulder and slid inside. One quick glance around the small entryway showed it was empty. Now, I wasn’t one for spas, but that definitely didn’t seem normal.
There was a hallway to the right of the light oak desk ahead of me. After double-checking no one was hiding—or sprawled on the floor dying—behind the desk, I inched my way down the hall, listening for, well, anything.
I was met with silence, which could either mean the girls were entirely unaware there was a man with less-than-innocent intentions lurking while they got their facials or massages or whatever the fuck they were doing, or they were extremely aware and hiding because of it.
I wasn’t sure which would be the best-case scenario. Ignorance was bliss until you were staring down the barrel of a .9mm after turning into a prune in a sauna.
I pulled my skeleton mask over my face, then whipped out my phone to send a quick text to Austin and Booker. It wasn’t anything too particular, in case someone was also reading my texts. Just a location pin and the wordgirls.
They’d shit their pants and come running at the thought of anything happening to Brynne or McKenna. There’d been too many close calls in the past, so I wouldn’t blame them. Despite alerting the guys that something might be wrong, I didn’t think any harm would come to their girlfriends, unless this asshole was trying to piss a hell of a lot more people off.
I simply didn’t want them around for when I grilled Grace on how to be a proper fucking partner.
Were we partners though?
Again, I shook her from my head.
Now was not the time to solve the issue of whatever the fuck she and I were in this fucked-up mess.
A door closed down the hall, and I quickly plastered my back against the nearest wall. I quieted my breathing behind the mask, listening for any footsteps. When a minute passed and none came, I suspected the man was searching another part of the spa.
I came upon a room with at least a dozen fancy-lookingwooden lockers and quickly found the one with Grace’s purse inside. I grabbed a few things, then left to continue searching for her.
Of course, the girls had to pick the one place with dozens of dimly lit rooms to spend a day of relaxation. Couldn’t they have gone ice skating in the next town over? Or, I don’t know, maybe hang out on the ranch we fucking owned? Horseback riding was great for decompressing.
I headed farther down the hall, still careful to be as quiet as possible. But in the next five seconds, too many things happened at once.
A shadow filled the distant doorway.
A curtain of black hair peered out of another hallway.
And I moved, fully prepared to shoot the fucker who thought he could get anywhere near my little killer.
Chapter 11
Grace
hand covered my mouth, cutting off my call for Brynne and McKenna. My heart raced as whoever grabbed me yanked me into the room I’d been peering out of and slammed my back into the wall.
