Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
A black Secret Service SUV drove us to the airport and straight onto the tarmac, where a private jet waited. So that’s how he got here so fast. Another Secret Service guy was waiting at the door of the plane. It was sort of funny that a big guy like Kian would need a bodyguard—
A woman with long dark hair ran down the steps of the plane, jumped off the third step and wumped into Kian’s chest. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her, first soft and tender, then hard and hot. I looked off at the horizon. Partially to give them some privacy. Partially because I felt a weird twist of jealousy. I’d never had that sort of relationship: the affection and giggles and gifts on your birthday. And I’d never wanted it. I’ve always needed to be able to pick up and go if I heard the police at my door. But ever since I’d met Olivia, there was a dumb, childish part of me that dreamed of me and her being like that.
“I’m sorry I can’t go with you,” the woman told Kian as they unwound from each other. “I’ve got an early meeting in DC.”
Kian kissed her again, squeezed her ass and told her he’d see her tomorrow. It was only when the woman was climbing back into the jet with the bodyguard that I realized who she was. So he is still seeing the President’s daughter. Or, technically, former President. Jake Matthews hadn’t run for a second term. But the elections were coming up and Matthews was running again this time, so maybe he’d be President again. If he pulled it off, he’d be only the second President ever to serve two non-consecutive terms.
Kian led me into the terminal and an hour later we were on board an airliner headed for Colorado. I dropped into my first-class seat and gave a little sigh of pleasure as I sank into the gray leather. Everything in prison is hard, designed to withstand a bunch of animals trying to tear it apart. This was like floating on a cloud.
After a quick flight to Boulder and then a long drive out into the sticks, we arrived in a small town. Night had fallen so I couldn’t see much, but we seemed to be high in the mountains. “I picked this place because it’s out of the way,” Kian told me. “Discreet. The roads are liable to get blocked in winter, but I want to get us a pilot so we can chopper straight in and out of here.”
Kian pulled up in front of a small apartment block and handed me a key. “You’re in 3A,” he told me. Then he passed me a piece of paper with an address and a map. “Be here at nine tomorrow morning and I’ll introduce you to the rest of the team.”
Inside, I found a furnished, one-bedroom apartment. It was basic by most people’s standards, but the bedroom alone was the size of my entire shared cell, and it was mine. For the first time in years, I had my own, private space. I crashed out on the bed, utterly exhausted.
The next morning, I woke early. When I went to take a leak, I caught myself looking over my shoulder, checking no one was about to jump me. And when I went to leave, I had a weird moment of fear: is this right? Is this okay? I had to remind myself that yes, I could come and go as I pleased now.
Being free was going to take some getting used to.
I had an hour to kill until I met the team, so I went out to see the town in daylight and get my bearings. We were up in the mountains. It was a beautiful summer day and you could see for miles across the lower peaks. Then I turned around and looked the other way and—
Wow.
An immense mountain, covered in dense pine forest. And partway up, there was a thick outcropping of rock that jutted out over the town, hanging there like the sword of Damocles. Scary but amazing in a humbling, power of nature sort of a way.
The town was pretty, too. It looked like it hadn’t changed much in a hundred years or more, with quaint old storefronts and none of the chain stores you get most places. If I squinted a little and ignored the odd passing pickup truck, I could have been back in the Colorado Gold Rush. People waved to each other as they passed and a few of them nodded politely to me, even though I was a stranger. I rubbed at my stubble, frowning but smiling. I’d spent most of my time in cities, where no one knew each other, or in underworld haunts where no one trusted each other. I wasn’t sure I’d ever been anywhere so…wholesome.