I wiggle out of Sean’s embrace just enough to reach the phone and answer the call. “Marty?”
“Avery? Is that you?” His voice sounds weird, almost panicky.
“Yeah. Why are you calling Sean in the middle of the night?” The pit of my stomach drops. Something’s off.
“I can’t believe he fucking did this. You aren’t supposed to be there—”
I interrupt, “I know, but—”
He cuts me off. “There’s no time for it—we’re not arguing. Get Sean up and get out of that house now. I shouldn’t even be calling, there’s no time. Give the phone to Sean.”
I don’t understand what he’s talking about, but the tone of his voice makes me worry. I push up on my elbow and look back at a sleeping, weary, Sean. “Is this about me marrying Trystan? Because I didn’t marry him last night, it’s an epically bad plan. I was going to —”
He cuts me off again, his urgency even more pronounced this time. Marty’s practically shouting into the phone. “Avery, get Sean up now. They know, they’re coming for you.”
By now Sean’s heard me talking to someone and is half awake. “Who is it?” I don’t answer, I just hand him the phone.
He’s quiet as he listens to Marty explain something. Sean makes very little movement and remains expressionless as he listens. The two of them are far from friends, but add in the common goal of protecting me and they seem like old buddies. Sean pushes up on his elbow, pulling away from me as he does so. “That can’t be.”
The way Sean says it sends a chill up my spine. His voice is tight. It reminds me of the times he bought me, to help control the world around him. I’m losing the sweetness, the softness of this man, and I don’t know why. Sean sits up suddenly and glances over at me. His words with Marty are curt and it seems like they’re arguing about something. My heart’s racing and I have a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I just sit there.
“Sean? What’s going on?” My question goes unanswered as he angrily nods, listening to whatever Marty has to say.
“And they’re coming here? He’d be out of his fucking mind, even if he is who he says. The security detail on the property exceeds anything they’d be able to get through. Why do you think I let her stay here all night? I’m not chancing it with her. This is the safest place until we can formalize things with Trystan. We both agreed to it, Masterson.”
Sean goes quiet and I can hear Marty’s voice buzzing on the other end of the phone. Whatever he says is absolutely horrific because Sean’s face turns white as it goes completely slack. He turns slowly, looking at me as if I’m a ghost.
Now I’m majorly creeped out and done with this. I swipe the phone out of his hand while Sean is still in a daze. “Marty, I swear to God I’m going to,” I don’t get to tell what I’m going to do with him because he hangs up on me.
Sean bounces out of bed and puts on a shirt quickly. He flies over the bed to the wall’s intercom button, but no one answers. Normally it buzzes once and then someone replies quickly, but not this time.
“Jacob? Are you there? Come in.” Sean drops his hand from the intercom and swears under his breath. Slowly, he walks toward me and it’s as if time has stopped. Ice drips down my spine with the look that he bestows on me.
“We need to get out. Now.” Sean doesn’t wait for me to answer. He quickly dresses, leaving me stunned sitting in his bed. When I don’t move, he comes over to get me. “Come on, Avery, now.”
Sean takes hold of my arm, pulling me out of bed, and tosses clothes at me. Not a loving gesture, and the way he’s acting is totally freaking me out. “Sean, tell me what’s going on.”
But he doesn’t. Sean races into the other room and grabs the letters that were my mothers. I follow him, pulling on clothes, still asking for explanations that he doesn’t give. Sean sifts through the papers quickly, looking for something. When he finds it, he stops and looks up at me. His jaw drops and his lips part, and he just stares. I recognize the look. It’s a bad look. It’s the my cat just fell in a trash compactor look and I accidentally slapped the button on.
“Tell me. Whatever it is, I’m going to think it’s a million times worse if you don’t.” I pull the rest of the clothes on and manage to put on my shoes. I’m dressed, but Sean hesitates. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t grab my hand and take me running the way that it felt like he would. Marty kept saying get out. I don’t understand why we’re running or who we’re running from. I thought the running was over.
I prompt him, “Sean?”
“It will be fine.” Sean crosses the room in three long strides and reaches for me, pulling me into his chest and holding me tight. He kisses the top of my head and says, “I won’t let them hurt you.” He holds me like that and in those moments it’s everything I ever wanted. Sean feels like home. He’s the home I lost, the home I dreamed I’d one day have when I was a girl. There’s a promise of protection in the way his arms wrap around me like nothing can hurt me, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. It plays off some carnal need that’s buried deep within, but his actions bring it to the surface.
“Sean, you have to tell me what’s going on. We’re in this together now, remember? Both of us. I’m not leaving you. You can say what you want, but I’m not going to marry Trystan. I want to be with you. I’ve always wanted you.”
Sean’s lips part and the words pour out, melting my heart. “I’ve always wanted you too.”
“It’s time to act like a team then. Marty didn’t tell me crap and you’re white as a sheet.”
“We need to get to the car. From the looks of it, the house is empty. Either my mother gave everyone the night off or someone else chased them off. Probably the latter, since the head of my security team isn’t answering. Either way, it appears that security at the Ferro mansion has been breached. We’re not
safe, we need to move.”
“Okay.”
Sean grabs my hand firmly. “We stay together.”
Part of me wants to smile and spin around with glee. He wants me with him. The other part of me is terrified because whatever happens next is a complete unknown. The Ferro mansion has security like Fort Knox. The intercom was quiet and whatever Marty said has Sean scared, and anything that scares Sean Ferro must be terrifying.
CHAPTER 13
We run through the empty house quietly and carefully, not seeing anyone. Sean leaves the lights off, allowing us to slowly slink down the hallway in the darkness. Every time we come to a doorway he makes me stop and holds out his arm, keeping me back until he knows the coast is clear. Then he waves me forward and we continue on like that.
We head toward a back exit, one that’s rarely used. It lets out on the far side of the house where Peter leaves his motorcycles from when he was younger. My heart is thumping in my chest, making it feel like my ribs will crack. Hysteria’s building in my throat, because it feels like someone’s watching us. My skin prickles with the sensation that something horrible’s about to happen. Something is very wrong, that much I know. I thought it was strange, not seeing anyone. Sean doesn’t usually answer the door. He has a butler that does that. I ask him about it.
Sean looks troubled, but replies, “He went with my mother on her business trip. Someone else would’ve grabbed the door, but I saw you coming. I looked out the window. Plus, I may have, sort of, kind of, put a GPS tracker on your things.” The way he says it is so sheepish that it makes my insides melt, at least after the initial flair of rage.
“Technology hates me.”
Sean leads us down a bunch of hallways, we’ve twisted around the mansion so many times. I don’t know where the hell we are.
Sean glances at me out of the corner of his eye, as he releases my wrist. We’ve come to a set of double doors made from thick, dark, wood. They're elegantly carved, but not as ornate as Sean’s. He released my wrist so we can pound on the doors.