Page 98 of Guarding Grace

Grace sighed and stomped into the kitchen, dialing the phone again.

Hanging up with Lucas, I followed her.

She was at the counter. “Millie, you gotta call me back right away,” she said. “No joke. This is an emergency.” After hanging up, she hunched over and cried.

I turned her around and pulled her close. “Zane will keep her safe.”

“What if that asshole already has her? She’s not answering.” She sniffled into my chest.

“If he already had her, he would have said so. Or he would have made her call you, like a hostage-video thing.” It wasn’t great, but I didn’t have a better answer for her. “Zane will be there in no time. And any two-bit hoods Victor would send for her would be no match for a SEAL like Zane. You know that, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but I hate that my troubles are putting people, my friends, in danger.”

“It’s nothing you’re doing. You can’t blame yourself. This is all on Elliot.”

Her phone chimed, and when she checked it, she scrambled away to respond to a text. I swore that one way or another, this would be the last time Elliot victimized Grace.

When she returned, her hand trembled. “My life sucks. I need some wine.”

After a few minutes, I got her back to the sectional, where she could lie down comfortably, and I fetched some Advil for her.

She took the tablets without complaint and washed them down with her wine.

The agonized look on her face tore me up. “Stay there and rest. That’s all we can do until we hear from Zane.

“But what if?—”

“Stop,” I said, cutting her off. “Negative thoughts don’t help anyone. It’s going to be a shock to hear that gangsters are threatening her?—”

“Because of me,” she complained, draining the rest of her glass.

“Because of Elliot. Now, the best thing is for us to be calm and ready to support her after that news. You do want to help her, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

I rubbed Grace’s shoulder. “Then rest up and don’t add to her anxiety with your own.”

She settled back on the sectional, avoiding putting pressure on her wound. She lifted her arm toward me. “Will you join me? I need to be held.”

“Sure, Kitten. But no funny business. I need to be ready for Zane’s call.”

“I promise.”

I situated myself next to her as best I could with an arm over her waist, careful to keep fabric between us and keep my cock under control.

CHAPTER 22

Terry

A little while later,still waiting to hear from Lucas or Zane, I extricated myself from Grace on the sectional and opened the folder Zane had given me. I powered up my computer and busied myself with a deep dive on the Marku brothers. Looking over after a few minutes, I caught Grace uncorking another bottle of wine.

She poured a glass and hummed a song to herself. It was cute. However, this being a weekday night, I didn’t like how much wine she was consuming. But I likely needed to cut her some slack. At any rate, before I could decide what to do, my phone rang with Lucas’s name on the screen. “Goodwin,” I answered.

Grace returned from the kitchen, concern written across her pale face. “Millie?”

“Zane is in position, and Grace’s neighbor is fine,” Lucas said.

I put it on speaker so Grace could hear the good news. “Good to hear she’s okay. What’s the plan? Will Zane stay with her?”