"Griffin—do you know who Michael Payton is?"
He took a quick breath. "Yes."
Her heart sped up, and she had a feeling they were heading for another cliff, but this one was not going to be nearly as pleasurable. "Who is he?"
He gazed into her eyes with what looked like a plea for understanding. "He's me."
Eighteen
Griffin's answer shocked her. "What do you mean he's you? You just told that woman you weren't Michael Payton. I don't understand."
"I know you don't," he said tersely.
"Then explain."
He put his hands on his hips, his mouth drawing into a hard line. "Griffin is my middle name. I was born Michael Griffin Payton. Hale was my grandmother's maiden name."
"You changed your name to Griffin Hale?"
"Yes."
"Why? Was that to cut out your dad? I know you said he wasn't that great of a father after your mom died."
"It was partly because of that."
He was talking, but she still didn't know what was going on. "Why didn't you tell the woman that you were Michael Payton? Why lie to her? Why lie to me?" She suddenly realized the man she'd spent the night with was living under a different name than the one he'd been born with.
He had secrets, dark secrets, maybe terrifying secrets. Her imagination went into overdrive. Griffin had told her on more than one occasion that she didn't really know him. For the first time, she believed that.
"I lied to her because I didn't know her. I have never seen her before in my life," he said.
"Maybe she knew you through friends."
"I don't think so. And why would she be here in San Clemente? Michael Payton has never lived here. This isn't good. This is not good at all." He walked over to the window and looked out. Then he came back to her. "We need to get out of here."
"Why?"
"It doesn't matter why. It just matters that we go. Get your computer, whatever else you left here, and we'll go to your house."
"Griffin, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on."
"This isn't the time to talk."
"It's the perfect time to talk," she said stubbornly. "Why would I go anywhere with you? You've been lying to me since I met you."
"I haven't been lying to you. I changed my name to Griffin Hale."
"But you haven't told me why you did that. I need something."
He gave her a hard look, his blue eyes dark and unfathomable. "I was in trouble in Chicago. That's why I left. I'm concerned now that that trouble has followed me here. If you want to know more, then let me take you home. We will have a longer conversation, but it's not going to happen here or now." He paused, looking into her eyes. "You're not in danger from me, Annie, but I can't promise that you're not in danger from someone else. I need to get you to a safer place."
"Fine." She grabbed her computer and stuffed it into her bag, then followed Griffin out of the apartment. He didn't speak on the way to the car, but he was extremely wary as they entered the parking lot, his gaze darting in every direction. Once inside the car, he sped out of the lot.
"You're going the wrong way," she said a few minutes later, feeling incredibly on edge and way out of her depth.
"I'm making sure we're not being followed," he said, weaving in and out of traffic.
Was he telling the truth? Had she made a huge mistake getting into his car? He could be taking her anywhere.
But she knew him. She knew he wasn't a bad guy, she reminded herself. He'd saved her life before. He wasn't going to hurt her now. She looked into the side view mirror, but she couldn't see anything but headlights.
Turning back to him, she said, "Who would be following us?"
He didn't reply, but he made several quick turns, his gaze moving back and forth to the rearview mirror. "I'm not sure. But I'm not going to your building until I know we don't have a tail."
She wrapped her arms around her body as they drove in a random fashion for another twenty minutes. Finally, Griffin seemed convinced they weren't being followed.
When they got to her building, she told him he could park in the garage since her car wasn't there. He got out of the car to punch in her security code, and then drove inside.
Leaving the car, the garage, and heading up to the front door of the building took more long minutes and careful review of each move before they made it. By the time she got into her apartment, her nerves were screaming. She didn't actually let out a breath until Griffin went through her apartment and told her everything was fine.
Then she sank down on the couch. "You should sit, too," she said, as he continued to pace.
"I don't know if I can sit," he said tensely.
She didn't know if he could, either; he was completely amped up. "Then don't sit. Tell me what's going on. What kind of trouble were you in?"
He gave her a long, measuring look. "I don't know if I should tell you, Annie."
"You said you would. You can trust me, Griffin."
"It's not about trusting you; it's about keeping you safe. I don’t want to put you in more danger."
"More danger?" she echoed. "What does that mean? And if you're in danger, then I probably am, too. We were together last night. We were together all day. I've been at the bar several times. I've had my tires slashed, and I almost got run over, so if there's something else coming, I'd sure like to know what it might be."
"I didn't mean to bring you into this," he said, shaking his head in self-recrimination. "I told you to go that first day. Remember? But you could not take a hint. You could not stay away. You could not keep out of my life."
She frowned, knowing what he was saying was partly true, but she still didn't like his attitude. "We can't change how we got here. We're here, so let's deal with it."
He walked around the room again, taking another minute to pull his thoughts together. She'd seen Griffin in a lot of different moods, but this one was different. He was angry. He was wary. He was worried.
And she was more than a little nervous.
Had he committed some terrible crime? Had she completely misjudged him? Was he a criminal? A murderer? A thief? Her mind raced with every terrible possibility. She didn't want to think she was a bad judge of character, but maybe she was.
"Griffin? You have to talk to me. I'm going crazy here."
"Okay." He took another minute, then said, "I used to be a cop."
Of all the things he might have told her, that was not one of them. "What?"
"I was a police officer in Chicago."
"That doesn't sound so bad. Does this danger you're worried about have something to do with an old case?"
"Yes."
"What happened? Did you put someone away? Hurt someone? Kill someone?"
"I put someone away, and I hurt him, too. He was a criminal, but he was also my partner." He drew in a shaky breath and then let it out. "Four years ago, I crossed the blue line, and my life has never been the same."
She was shocked by his words. "You were a cop? Wow. Okay. I wouldn't have guessed that. And you went after your partner?"
"Yes."
"What did he do wrong?"
"Everything. He took bribes, leaked information, protected criminals, hid evidence…whatever he was required to do, because he'd been bought and paid for. He was the greatest guy in the world, but he was also corrupt." Griffin paused. "I probably should have seen it all sooner, but he was someone I looked up to. Tom was eight years older than me, and he was the big brother I never had. I couldn't imagine he was anything but honorable. But too many things were happening that I couldn't explain. I tried to talk to him. At first, he came up with excuses, and then eventually he looked me in the eye and told me to mind my own business, that he knew what he was doing, and that if I didn't stop asking questions, a lot of people were going to get hurt."
"He threatened you."
"And people I cared about."
"I'm guessing you didn't mind your own business."
"I'm asha
med I didn't act as soon as I could have. There was an armed robbery at a convenience store by a gang that my partner was connected to. A little boy got hit in the crossfire. He died. I was with his mother when she found out, and she begged me to find the people who had killed her son and get her child justice." He blew out a breath. "I didn't have to look very far. One of the men responsible was sitting right next to me. He didn't pull the trigger. He wasn't even at the scene, but he was already covering up evidence. He tried to bury the testimony of a witness, and it was the last straw. I went to Internal Affairs. I became part of a sting operation that would take him down, and strip him of everything."
She could see the pain in his eyes and couldn't imagine how torn he must have been.
"My part in the sting eventually came out," Griffin continued. "There was a lot of pressure on me to back down, change some of what I'd said, refuse to testify. But it was too late. I'd made my choice. I had to live with it."
Words from earlier that day came back into her head. He'd said his girlfriend hadn't been able to support what he wanted to do. "The woman you spoke of—your girlfriend—she didn't take your side?"
"No. Paige's father and brother were both police officers. Her family was true blue. I actually confided in her before I went to IAD. She begged me not to do it. We'd met through my partner. She cared about Tom. She didn't want to see him get hurt. I didn't, either. But Tom wasn't going to come clean until he was forced to." He paused. "After I went to IAD, I had to lie to Paige. I had to pretend that I had decided to protect Tom. Because if I'd told her the truth, she would have warned him. After everything was made public, she and her family made it clear I was not welcome in their lives. That was the end of that." Griffin walked across the room and sat down next to her. He gave her a questioning look. "What do you think?"
"I have no idea. My head is spinning. Why did you decide to tell me all this now?"
"Because of the woman at the bar—because she knew my old name."
"But you said you didn't know her."
"I didn't. I don't. I think she's a message."
"What do you mean?"
"I left Chicago and changed my name because there were threats against my family and my friends. My grandfather was attacked outside his bar one night. He was beaten up, and his bar was vandalized, thousands of dollars in damage. His entire life had been about that bar. After my grandmother died, it was his home away from home. Not only would it have cost a tremendous amount of money to rebuild it, his customer base was not going to come back. They were mostly cops, and I was a traitor."
Having grown up in a firefighting family, she knew a lot about loyalty in both the fire department and the police department, but it seemed that Griffin had done the right thing. "Not everyone could have been against you."
"There were probably a few who weren't, but they were too afraid to speak up. It was easier to cast me aside. After my grandfather got out of the hospital, I encouraged him and my dad to get out of town. We'd been talking about it for a while, but they hadn't really believed they were in danger until then. They left a week later. And I disappeared soon after that."
"Wait. Were you in witness protection? Is that how you met Paul?"
"I met Paul when I was a police officer. We became friends. I wasn't under his protection, but Paul helped me to disappear, to change my name, to move money, and to start over."
"You told me earlier that after people testify, they're not usually in danger. Why would someone come after you now?"
"I'm guessing revenge. My case was different. No one wanted to shut me up; they wanted to take me down, hurt me, make me pay. The entire police department suffered when Tom's corruption was made public. A lot of people looked bad. Some of them lost their jobs."
"And now you think one of those people has found you?"
He nodded, his eyes dark. "It's been four years, Annie. I didn't really think anyone was still looking for me. I believed the car that tried to run you and Megan down was about Megan."
"But now you think it was about you."
"Yes. My financials were hacked this week. Your tires were slashed. I found a matchbook from a Chicago bar in the Depot, a bar I used to go to with Tom. And tonight—the woman who asked if I was Michael Payton—she was sent there to shake me up. Someone is coming for me, and I need to get you out of harm's way." He drew in a quick breath. "I never should have gotten involved with you, Annie. I've avoided relationships because I didn't want anyone else to get hurt. But I couldn't stay away from you. I'm sorry."
She didn't know what to say. She was flattered that he'd found her irresistible, but was that even true? He'd lied to her about the most basic thing of all—his name. How could she believe anything else he said?
"Annie?" he pressed. "You're not talking and that's not like you. I'd rather you scream and yell at me than just sit there silent."
"I don't know what to say. I don't know what the truth is."
"Let me clear one thing up. You may not know Michael Payton, but you do know Griffin Hale. I run a bar. I surf in my spare time. I play guitar. I read books. And I help people who are on the run. That's who I am, Annie."
"But what about who you were? What about your family? Was any of what you told me true?"
"It was all true. My mom died. My father had drinking problems and trouble keeping jobs. I lived with my grandparents in high school. My grandfather ran a bar in Wrigleyville, near the ballpark. It was his place that I modeled the Depot after. I wanted it to feel like a local hangout, a place you wanted to go to every weekend. I wanted it to feel like home, a home I could never see again."
"Where is your family now?"
"They're safe. That's all you need to know."
"Still keeping secrets?"
"I promised I would never give away their location."
"Do they know where you are?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. "I haven't spoken to them since the day they left town. It was too risky. I've had Paul check on them a couple of times. He assures me that they're fine."
She wanted to know more about his family, but she had more pressing concerns. "Do you know who is after you now? I thought your ex-partner went to jail."
"Tom is in jail, but he could have someone working for him on the outside."
"Like who?"
"That's what I need to figure out. In the meantime, it might be good for you to go home for a while."
"I am home."
"I mean your parents' place in San Francisco."
"No. I can't do that. I'm probably going to have another job interview next week. I can't just leave. And the last thing I want to do is run to my parents and tell them I'm in the middle of this mess."
"You don't have to tell them. It doesn't have to be for long."
"I'm not leaving."
"I can't guarantee you'll be safe if you stay."
"I'm not asking for a guarantee. What about Vinnie? What does he know?"
"He knows what I did in Chicago. I told him before we went into partnership together."
"You must have come to trust him really fast." She was disappointed to realize that Griffin had only told her because that woman had shown up in the bar. If she hadn't, who knew how long he would have waited, or if he would have told her at all?
"I told you Vinnie and I met through a friend. That friend was Paul. Paul and Vinnie served together in the Marines. When I got to San Clemente, Paul hooked us up. Vinnie had been through hard times himself. He'd been injured, he'd suffered from PTSD and he had had trouble finding his life outside the military. I got him to go out on the water with me. I told you he didn't like to ride the waves much, but he did like to talk, and when we were out there, we talked a lot."
"Go on…"
"We were both looking to start a new chapter. Vinnie had always wanted to cook. I had fond memories of my grandfather's bar. It felt like something we should try. We spent months coming up with a plan. Vinnie had some money from his grandfather. I had a little cash fr
om when my grandmother had died. She'd told me to save it for when I bought a house. A house didn't seem like it was in my future, so I put the money into the bar. When we found the Depot was available to lease, everything clicked into place."
"It reminded you of your mom and your train," she said, as another piece of the puzzle fell into place.
"That was part of it."
"Well, you've built a great business together."
"Yes. But it could all end very soon. I'll talk to Vinnie tomorrow to see what he wants to do, if he feels we should shut down for a while. So far, the threats, the warnings, whatever you want to call them, have been minor, but they could escalate at any point."
She felt a little sick at that thought. "I need a drink." She got up from the couch and went into the kitchen.
Griffin followed her, watching as she opened a bottle of red wine and poured them each a glass.
"Thanks," he said. "I'm a little surprised you haven't kicked me out yet."
She was a little surprised, too. She was also worried she wasn't seeing things clearly through her hazy, lusty gaze for Griffin. Was she letting him off the hook in some way? Was she believing in his latest story too easily? Was it all just another lie?
"I still might kick you out." She took a sip of her wine, then added, "I feel a little hurt, Griffin."
His gaze darkened. "The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. I did try to warn you that you didn't know me."
"People say that all the time. They mean you don't know I'm a slob or that I eat cookies in bed or that I binge watch reality TV. They don't usually mean I've changed my name and someone might be trying to kill me."
A faint smile entered his eyes.
"It's not funny," she told him.
"I know. Sorry. I thought you were trying to lighten the mood."
Maybe she had been trying to do that, because the darker part of this story was a little more difficult to absorb. "We need to keep talking."
"As much as you want, but it doesn't have to be tonight. I'm sorry I messed up your birthday."
"It was really perfect until about an hour ago."
"I want you to know, Annie, that everything that has happened between us is completely real. It's honest. I have not lied to you about how I feel about you. If you can believe anything, I hope you can believe that."
Cant Let Go GO PL Page 18