Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“Straight to Ed,” I murmured. “Second vehicle.” Zane’s nod was jerky and mostly covered by the ball cap. His chin was tucked down, and I felt the stress coming off him in waves. “Almost there.”
“I’m fine,” he muttered.
“Right.”
I opened the SUV door just as someone off to our left shouted, “Zee! Can we get some autographs! Zee! Over here!”
Once he was identified by a fan on the far side of a chain-link barrier, others nearby began to scream and shake the fence, creating a cacophony. Facility security personnel moved over to quiet the crowd and protect the fence’s integrity while I basically shoved Zane into the vehicle and lunged in after him.
“Let’s go, Ed,” I called.
Lou finished closing the passenger door and reached for her seat belt while I reached over Zane to grab his.
“I can do it,” he said, shoving me away. “I got it. I’m not a fucking kid.”
You’re my principal. I’m responsible for your safety. Let me fucking help you.
I bit back all the words I wanted to say to him and sat back to let him manage the buckle himself. I knew after the car accident in Tulsa I was still extra-vigilant… okay, fine, a little too vigilant… when it came to vehicle safety. I wanted Zane whole and, well, not stifled and caged.
Once buckled, Zane struggled out of the windbreaker and yanked the cap off. His hair tumbled down over his shoulders. Several strands by his face and neck were still damp with sweat, and I knew he was already craving a shower to wash it all off.
“We’ll be at the hotel soon,” I assured him.
“Why can’t we go straight home? To Barlo, I mean. It’s only a couple of hours down I-85. Then we could wake up to Gran’s hot breakfast.”
“You know the answer to that.”
He turned to face out the window. When he spoke, there was no inflection. “Because the only way you agreed to keep the trip to Barlo was to ensure the advance team was properly set up.”
Zane’s slender hands smoothed nervously over his jean-clad thighs.
I wanted to reach out and stop the nervous gesture, run my own fingertips over the rough spots where years of playing guitar had hardened his skin into calluses. There’d been many silent moments in the past year when my eyes had imagined what those rough spots would feel like skating over my bare skin.
I blinked and shook the thoughts away before sending a quick text and then turning to look out the opposite window into Atlanta’s darkening sky.
“I told your friends they could come to the suite,” I admitted in a low voice.
I felt Zane turn to stare at me. “Really?”
I shrugged. “Figured you could use a distraction, and if Landry is leaving sooner than he thought for his next job, you’ll want to see him before he goes.”
How was that for maturity? I could even facilitate a hookup with the man Zane seemed to be having a secret affair with. Because I was a goddamned professional.
“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” he agreed softly. Then, even more softly, he added, “Thank you.”
I bit back all the things I wanted to say—that he didn’t have to thank me, that I wanted him happy more than anything, that he hadn’t called me by that stupid nickname in over an hour, and I was starting to miss it—and focused on what I was allowed to care about. His safety.
A hotel security team member stood ready to escort us into the building as Ed pulled up at the side door to the hotel.
Lou hopped out first, studied the area around the vehicle, and then opened the door for me to exit first. We stood on either side of the open door while Zane shoved his ball cap back on and climbed out. Lou took the front left position, and I took the back right as we followed hotel security inside and up to the suite.
Lou met a member of our team just inside the suite and got the all clear for us to enter. Zane beelined straight for the bedroom that had his stuff in it so he could close himself inside and take a long shower.
Once I heard the bathroom door snick closed, I released the team member to take his position in the hall and then arranged access with Lou for the rest of Zane’s brotherhood.
“I’m not sure if any of them are spending the night, but I have to assume Landry is,” I said tightly.
Lou rolled her eyes. “They’re not fucking, Ryan. They’re just friends.”
“None of my business unless it impacts our security measures,” I said firmly.
“You know him way better than I do, but I’d put money down on the just-friends thing.”
I headed to the kitchen area to grab a bottle of cold water from the stocked fridge. “You weren’t around last year. He and Landry were always together, always getting into trouble—”