by Amber Lynn
“Do you need to get that?” Willow asked, glancing down.
The phone stopped ringing for a second, leaving an almost echoing silence in the room. That lasted for less than a breath, because it started right back up. Whatever had Rachel calling, it wasn’t good.
“We need to finish this, but it’s Rachel,” he said as he fished the phone out of his back pocket.
Hearing it was her former employer, Willow’s eyes widened as she took a step back. He hoped she didn’t think there was a chance she’d go back to work there. Not that he wanted to run her life, but she needed to stay away from crowds, and if she needed more money, he’d find a way to give it to her.
“I’m a little busy right now.”
Rachel was getting the short end of his temper a lot recently. He hated that fact since they were so close, but he had too many things going on. Willow hadn’t been wrong that he needed to be in the city for practice and a game, and generally about a million other things team related. Faking a cough and calling in sick didn’t work well when the team employed doctors to double check bogus claims.
“Do you know?” Rachel’s voice was low, not quite a stage whisper, but it sounded close.
Brayden kept the groan and sigh he wanted to respond with inside. He wasn’t stupid. The whole town probably watched the news. The question was how many of them knew he’d brought Willow to his place. Trevor and Suzy knew, since he’d personally told them, but he hadn’t told anyone else. Willow probably hadn’t shared the news, so he hoped the knowledge stayed isolated.
“Know what, Rachel?”
The pause between question and answer took longer than necessary. He wasn’t sure how to play things. He trusted Rachel, but the full story belonged to Willow. While he thought he knew what they should do, it was her life up in the air. With that in mind, he went ahead and put the phone on speaker. Whatever Rachel had to say was important to Willow’s decision.
“About Laura. Or I guess her name’s Willow. Have you seen the news? Suzy said she’s staying with you. If that’s the case, you guys need to get gone fast.”
Furrows took over Brayden’s forehead. The words confused him, but Willow clutched her chest and looked to the door behind him, clearly looking to make a run for it.
“What do you mean?”
Willow said repeatedly that she needed to leave. Someone reiterating that didn’t help things.
“I figure if she’s here and not in Nevada trying to reunite with her parents, she’s running from something. Everyone in the diner just saw the news and I counted five phones out immediately making calls. I can’t say who they’re all calling, but I’ve heard Holcomb and Janice mentioned.”
“Shit.” Brayden realized a second too late that his voice was louder than he expected. Biting his tongue, he clarified her words. “So you’re telling me our sheriff and a reporter already knows Willow’s been around.”
Willow didn’t wait to hear the rest of the conversation. She pushed by him and headed to the living room. He wasn’t about to stop her. If that was the case, they needed to move.
“That’s what I’m telling you. I haven’t heard your name mentioned, but if she doesn’t want to be found, she needs to get out of town now.”
“Thanks for the heads up. If anyone asks, tell them she left town days ago.”
Brayden hung up and tucked his phone in his pocket as he followed Willow on her quest to the room she and Connor shared. One perk of traveling so much meant he had a go bag already packed. Not surprisingly, so did she.
Looking around the room, she hesitated. It appeared there was more she wanted to take.
“I will buy you anything else you need. Let’s hit the road and try to get in front of this.”
She looked in his direction. Surprise crossed her face, like she hadn’t realized he’d followed her. He didn’t think it was from the words, because he’d made it clear, or at least he thought he had, that she wasn’t in this alone anymore.
“Where would you go if you were me?” She said the words slowly, like they had time for a conversation all of a sudden.
“We’ll head to my apartment in D.C. It’s not here and has great security, even better than here. I have some obligations with the team tomorrow, but I can get in touch with Chris and have him look into getting you custody or guardianship of Connor.”
He knew talking to a lawyer probably made her a little nauseous, but Brayden kept coming back to it being the best solution. The fact that she’d asked about whether he trusted his friend made him think she was warming up to the idea.
“Tell me about the security.”
She still hadn’t moved. It felt a little surreal that he was the one wanting to move and get somewhere she and Connor hadn’t been spotted.
“Can I tell you in the car? Because you were right earlier about needing to get out of here. As much as I love it here, this town is small, and people have big mouths. Word that you’ve been here has probably already made it out to all major networks.”
That got her moving, pushing past him again. He thought about grabbing the sad duffle bag she had over her shoulder but figured he might need to keep his hands free to carry Connor. His bag was already in the car, so other than grabbing the keys, he was ready to go. He hoped they could keep ahead of the media circus sure to follow them.
Chapter 19
Willow had no idea what was going on. Her brain, which normally processed things at the speed of light, seemed to go dead. She blamed the weird feelings she had around Brayden for it. They were the unknown in the situation, and for some reason, instead of focusing on getting her and Connor into a new hiding place, she kept going back to the sensation in her stomach and reactions to a man she still didn’t know.
He was driving things, both figuratively and literally. They’d been in his car for thirty minutes, and she’d been too dumbfounded to say anything. When she’d seen the news, she knew they had to leave, immediately. And yet, she found herself discussing things with Brayden. She told herself she just wanted to convince him to let them go alone.
That was before he mentioned there might be a way for her to keep Connor. He didn’t sound sure, but he did sound convinced he had a friend who would know. The question remained whether she could trust this other man.
It took a lot for her to trust anyone. She didn’t know why Brayden seemed to be someone she could, but she definitely blamed the weirdness in her stomach and the urge to pull him close to her. When they’d been just inches apart, she couldn’t breathe. That should have scared her to death. Her reactions to him overpowered anything else her brain wanted to tell her.
She kept replaying his words over, trying to figure out if she missed anything. The fog was a little thick, but there was one thing that stuck out in her mind.
“You said you had team obligations. What does that mean?”
He glanced over at her. She hadn’t missed the way his knuckles turned white as he squeezed the wheel with one hand and the gear shift with the other. The grim set of his face indicated his whole body seemed to be squeezed tight.
“I have a game tomorrow night. And a practice in the morning. In the city, you’ll blend in better, so we’ll have to decide whether you feel better staying in the apartment or coming to the arena. I promise anywhere we go, I’ll keep you safe.”
The last words caused her belly to feel like it flipped over. They were said in such a deep, gruff tone that her whole body tingled.
Willow did not know him. She shouldn’t want to trust him, especially not when he made her feel this way. After being dead for so many years, her body and brain were not prepared for him.
It wasn’t like he was the first guy she met. She’d spent hours with Barry in the kitchen, and while he was friendly enough, her body didn’t wonder what his would feel like against it. And she never wondered what kissing him would be like.
And there were other guys. Not that she spent a whole lot of time with them. There was even the guy in the diner that tried t
o touch her. Her initial reaction then was to pull her knife. She’d shown Brayden the blade, but she never once thought about using it on him.
“A game? You’re an athlete?”
Somehow her brain stopped thinking about Brayden long enough to get through the rest of his words. She looked down at his body and noticed, not for the first time, his biceps peeking out from under his t-shirt. She’d been freezing when they pulled out of the garage and met the chill in the December air. He’d seemed to not care one bit but after seeing her rub her hands together had turned on the heat in the car.
He had the muscles to be an athlete. She supposed. Sports had never really been her thing, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d watched anything involving a team of people chasing a ball around.
“Yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that. I’m on the Washington Senators.”
Senators? She supposed the team name made sense. So, he wasn’t an actor. The fact didn’t disappoint her. She always thought actors had crazy lives, with fans and media following them around everywhere. Being an athlete probably had some similar issues, but she figured the audience was probably a little smaller. Maybe. She really had no clue.
“Is that football?”
Her dad had loved football, and only football, so she didn’t have much to go on. She knew there were other sports. But, other than golf, she didn’t know much, and she knew golf wasn’t generally a team sport. Not to mention, she didn’t think they played it much in the winter.
“No,” he said with a laugh in his voice. “I play hockey. I would tout that I’m generally on the starting line and have already scored twelve goals this season, but I’m guessing that won’t mean a whole lot to you.”
Willow wished it did. He was right, though, she knew nothing about the sport. If it had been football, she could have maybe pulled something out of her memory to make it sound like she knew about the game. Growing up where it did get cold overnight but had high temperatures that usually didn’t dip far below fifty meant ice, and any sports played on it, wasn’t generally a big topic of discussion.
“I know ice is involved, and that’s about it. I guess that means you aren’t an actor.”
Judging by the look of almost disdain that crossed his face, the comment wasn’t well received. He shook his head and focused on the road. They were still in West Virginia, driving down a highway with few other vehicles. The view of the tree-topped mountains in the distance was beautiful with the sun heavy in the sky above them.
“I’m afraid to ask why you’d think I’m an actor. Didn’t you look at any of the pictures on the mantle? Or sneak a peek around the house at all?”
“No.”
He looked over at her and raised his brow. “I don’t know a single woman who could spend a week at my place and not know how many pairs of underwear I have in my top drawer.”
Willow’s cheeks flushed. She had three pairs of underwear. The ones she had on when she ran and two pairs she picked up in a bin that were two for a dollar. The latter didn’t fit well, and she had to wash them every day after wearing them, but they were what she could afford at the time. She couldn’t imagine having a full drawer. The most she’d had in recent memory was five.
She glanced in the backseat to check on Connor. He’d recovered from his scream and the scare of seeing her on TV. It always amazed her how much he understood. Like when she explained that Brayden would be sticking around and helping them. Connor said absolutely nothing, as usual, but his eyes lit up and he smiled.
He was curled up next to the door sleeping. She wished her mind could turn off as easily.
“Sorry,” Brayden whispered.
The apology surprised Willow. Her head whipped around to look at him. She expected him to be looking in her direction as he had for most of the trip. Instead, she got a glimpse of his profile and a firm set of his jaw.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I’m not like most women, and so you have enough money to have lots of underwear. Neither of those are big revelations.”
Brayden laughed. It was low in his chest and sent the shivers up her spine again.
“I guess they’re not, but I shouldn’t have mentioned my underwear.”
That had Willow’s eyebrows going up. “Is it wrong to talk about underwear?”
She knew social situations weren’t her strong suit, but underwear seemed like an odd thing to be taboo. She didn’t listen closely to all the conversations around her in the diner, but people talked about clothes.
“No, but it’s not something we should talk about.”
“Why?” she asked.
Dropping the conversation was probably the right thing to do, but she wanted to learn. If there was a chance she could come forward and not lose Connor in the process, she needed to know how to communicate with normal people.
“Because you’re not sure why your body reacts to me and I’m trying to convince my body to stop reacting to you. Discussing what we wear under our clothes isn’t going to help.”
“You want to kiss me too?”
The question drew a groan from Brayden. She knew they were talking about bodies and not her crazy urge to kiss him in the kitchen. It was impossible to keep how hard it was not to slip up on her tiptoes and touch her lips to his from crossing her mind.
“Maybe we should talk about this later.”
It sounded like Brayden ground his teeth together as he spoke. She opened her mouth to ask why again, but he reached over and hit some buttons on the dash to turn the radio on. Apparently, they’d exhausted his desire to talk. Willow would be perfectly fine with that, if she didn’t have a million questions she wanted to ask. Sighing, she sat back in her chair and watched the world pass her by, like it always did.
Chapter 20
Brayden held his breath as he unlocked his door. He’d spent most of the two hours in the car with Willow solely breathing through his mouth. When he suggested running to his apartment in the city, he hadn’t taken into account that meant being stuck in a car breathing in the delicate scent of her. He doubted she wore perfume, but there was something sweet in the air, and it didn’t help his thoughts.
He couldn’t fault her for asking questions. For being locked up since she was ten, she was remarkedly well-adjusted. Sure, the chemistry between them seemed to be a mystery to her, but she’d gotten away from her captors and found a job. That alone made her the most remarkable woman he’d ever met.
And she was totally off limits.
That idea seemed to be harder to grasp when she brought up the idea of them kissing. He had no idea if she understood where things could go between two people. With Connor in tow and her apparent knowledge of at least how drugs react in the body, she might not be totally clueless about things like how babies are made. He tried to do the math from the time she disappeared to now and realized she had to be in her mid-twenties.
Two or three years younger than him. Putting a pin on whether she seemed younger or older than say twenty-five was hard. Being locked up for so many years without world experiences would make him think younger but hearing her talk about what she’d been doing those years made him think she’d been a grown-up at ten.
Letting his guests into his apartment, Brayden stood back and watched their reactions. He hadn’t seen how Connor reacted to his house, but he’d seen Willow’s eyes light up in astonishment. They were a little more hooded at the moment, not really showing any emotion. She darted her head around to focus on different things, the large picture windows overlooking the city, the giant fish tank in the middle of the open room, the chef’s kitchen off to the right.
The space wasn’t as big as his house, and nowhere near as homey, but it suited his needs. Brayden entertained here and crashed when he couldn’t make the drive home. To him, it was an impersonal space meant to please others.
“You live here?” Willow asked.
Her nose scrunched as she looked around the room and settled her eyes on him. She still hid exactly what she wa
s thinking, but Brayden got the sense she wasn’t happy about something.
“I generally split my time between here, my house and hotels when I travel.”
He shrugged, not really sure what she wanted in an answer. Her nose tweaked to the right a little as she turned and looked at the room again. He did the same, trying to see it through her eyes.
The only thing that even remotely resembled his house was the large television in the living room area. He’d paid someone to decorate and furnish the space, signing off on pretty much every suggestion made. He didn’t care what the place looked like. The only requirement was a bed big enough for him that was comfortable.
A pair of couches and a loveseat made a U around the TV. There was a massive brick fireplace off in one of the corners that had a couple of chairs and a small bookcase filled with random books next to it. The rest of the space was rather empty other than a long table he used to fill with food anytime he had the guys over.
For someone who’d been locked up most of her life, he could see it still being impressive, but he got the feeling that wasn’t the emotion Willow felt when she studied the room. It wasn’t like he knew her well, but she generally wore her fear so readily on her face that he had to believe she’d do the same with excitement.
Connor didn’t look impressed either. Well, maybe a little by the fish tank. He managed to pry his hand out of Willow’s grasp and wander over to look at the various colorful fish more closely. Brayden could maybe pick out a couple of the different kinds, but other than knowing when and how much to feed them, they were just a decoration to him.
“I know I stuck to just the bedroom you gave us, the kitchen and living room,” Willow said as her voice trailed off.
He thought for a second that would be the extent of the comment. She walked over to the bookshelf and glanced at the titles for a second before shaking her head.