Chapter 54
[ 497 words ]
Chapter 54:
Caroline’s stomach twisted into a violent knot of panic. The situation was spiraling out of control. Julian was a good man, a safe man, but she couldn’t do this.
“I… I need to use the restroom,” Caroline blurted out.
She scrambled out of the booth, nearly knocking over her water, and practically sprinted toward the back of the bar.
She pushed through the swinging door of the ladies’ room and leaned heavily against the sink. She turned on the cold water and splashed it onto her burning face.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was breathing hard.
Julian was perfect. He was exactly the kind of man she had always imagined marrying. He was kind, stable, and treated her with respect.
But as she stood there, trying to calm her racing heart, Julian’s face faded from her mind.
о𝗋𝘨𝖺𝗇𝗂𝗓𝗲 𝘺𝘰𝘂𝗋 𝗹𝘪𝗯r𝖺𝗋у о𝗇 g𝘢𝘭𝗇о𝘃𝘦𝗅ѕ.𝖼𝘰𝗆
Instead, the mirror seemed to reflect dark, stormy gray eyes.
She remembered the crushing weight of Jarrod’s body pressing her into the mattress that morning. She remembered the violent, possessive heat of his mouth, the smell of gunpowder and cedar, the terrifying, electric thrill that had shot through her veins when he kissed her.
When Julian touched her hand, she felt nervous. When Jarrod touched her, she felt like she was burning alive.
“Stop it,” Caroline whispered to herself, gripping the edges of the sink. “He’s dangerous. He’s controlling.”
She took a deep breath, smoothed her hair, and walked back out to the bar.
Julian had already paid the tab. He was standing near the exit, holding Brenna’s coat for her.
When he saw Caroline, his eyes lit up.
They stepped out of the tavern into the freezing night air. The wind whipped down the street.
Caroline shivered violently.
Julian immediately took off his heavy khaki trench coat. He stepped close to her, raising the coat to drape it over her shoulders.
Just as the warm fabric was about to touch her skin, a sharp, single vibration pulsed from the pocket of her scrubs. It wasn’t her phone. It was the slim, encrypted satellite phone Jarrod had insisted she carry. She pulled it out under the cover of the coat. The screen was black, displaying a single, stark white message: Get in the car. Now. Caroline’s blood ran cold. She looked up, her eyes scanning the street, and saw it.
Parked in the shadows beneath a flickering streetlight was a massive, armored black SUV. The passenger window slowly rolled down, revealing the imposing silhouette of K.C. Bell. He didn’t say a word. He simply stared directly at Julian, then shifted his icy gaze to Caroline, giving a single, sharp nod toward the vehicle.
It was Jarrod’s team. They were monitoring her.
Caroline stared at the blacked-out windows of the Escalade, her blood running completely cold. He was watching her. Right now. While another man was trying to put a coat on her.
The sheer weight of Jarrod’s invisible presence felt like a live grenade about to detonate right there on the pavement.
Caroline stepped back so fast her heel scraped against the concrete.
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