Page 107 of Fighting With Light

Take a chill pill, Aelia.

“Aelia? Aelia,” Liam singsongs. I look up at him and his worried eyes make me take a second. “Can you hold the bags?” I take them while he goes to the carousel to pick up our luggage.

I watch him and keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. He takes his backpack, strapping it on his back, then hangs his surfboard over his shoulder. Liam grabs both of our larger suitcases while I carry the carry-on and my bag.

He doesn’t say a word as we walk out of the airport and he finds us a cab. Liam knows I’m nervous, but he is well aware that nothing he says to me will help assuage my fears because Liam Coldwell can do a lot of things, but he cannot stop a bullet.

We grab a cab and I don’t know where we’re going. It hits me yet again how much I trust Liam. I trust he has a plan to keep us safe, and I’ve never trusted anyone like thisever. The thought makes my heart pang and I lean into his side. We were able to find a minivan cab so everything fit in the back. His arm tightens around my shoulders and I feel his mouth over the top of my head.

I don’t know how he couldn’t be nervous, too. We are walking into a lion’s den with no concept of how many lions there are. We pull up to a hotel and unload our stuff. Liam passes the cab driver a nice tip, and he smiles wide and shakes Liam’s hand.

The moment Liam locks the door to our hotel room, I take a deep breath. My hands are shaking and I want to burst into tears. I didn’t think we would make it this far.

“I thought I might have to carry you because you were about to pass out,” Liam says.

I glare at him and he shrugs.

“Babe, we’re fine. No one was following us. We’re just a married couple on an adventure.”

“If my father has people here they will recognize me, Liam. You understand that, right?”

He nods and pulls me into his arms squeezing me tight.

“Deep breath, we’re okay.”

“You don’t know that,” I mutter into his shirt.

He leans back and holds me out at arm’s length.

“You’re right, princess, we don’t, but my brothers will be here soon and we’ll be gone in forty-eight hours.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to avoid my father anymore, Liam. Especially when we get back into the States.”

He drops his arms. “I get it, but we’ll be taking the private jet home, we won’t go through normal channels when we land. If your father has someone watching our family, we can figure out how to hide you or something. I have a place on the beach. I don’t go there a lot and it’s a shack, but we could hole up there.”

“Then what, Liam?” I huff, exasperated.

His nostrils flair and he drags his hand through his hair.

“I don’t know, Aelia. But, right now, we need to focus on the task at hand or we all really will be dead.”

“Or sold into slavery,” I mutter.

“Lovely, well let’s make sure that doesn’t happen,” he says.

I look around the room and it’s pretty bare. There’s a bed, a chair, one nightstand, a lamp, and a dresser with a TV that has to be at least ten years old. At least it’sclean.

“Nice digs, Tarzan,” I mutter.

He chuckles, pushing his hand through his hair and looking around the room. “Well, princess, I know it’s not the Ritz, but it’s safe, and if they’re looking for us I doubt they will find us in this shit hole. I figured four or five-star accommodations wouldn’t be very incognito would it?”

I pin my lips together trying to keep my laugh in because he’s done everything in his power to make sure we’re okay, and nothing about our situation is a laughing matter, but…My mouth bursts open with a laugh and Liam’s grin spreads across his face and leans in pressing a kiss to my cheek.

“Come on, when do you think those sheets were last washed?”

“Oh, I’m sure they’re fine. I’ve slept on a mat in the dirt before. This can’t bethatbad.” He grabs the covers of the bed and yanks them back. They’re surprisingly white.

“See? Not bad at all.”