Deadly Surrender

by Reus, Katie

  “It’s okay. You can ask me anything. And no, I’ve never brought a date here. And to be fair, my ‘dates’ were usually just, ah…” His eyes widened slightly as he trailed off and started messing with his carabiner.

  Yeah, she didn’t need him to finish that since she could figure out what he’d been about to say anyway. He’d had a life before her, but she didn’t need certain details. “All right, so tell me how we do this. If I slip off the wall, am I going to break anything or plummet to the ground?”

  “Nope. You take this one step at a time, reaching for the climbing hold nearest your hand. It’s easy if you have a level head—which you do. It’s not a race, so we just get to the top when we get there. And then we’ll basically rappel down very slowly. These ropes are set up to tighten and hold if you start falling, so you won’t have to worry about ending up in a free fall or anything. Are you ready?”

  “Ready.” She just hoped her heart was ready for more because it was pretty clear that was where things were headed with the two of them.

  Whether she wanted to put the brakes on or not, she could see the writing on the wall.

  Excitement and fear warred inside her but she was going to let excitement win. Logan was worth it.

  * * *

  “Success!” Grace pumped her fist in the air as she put on the go-kart’s brakes. Then she turned around to grin at Logan, who was trailing behind her in his own go-kart. “I see you finally caught up, slacker.”

  “You were shockingly savage out there,” he said laughingly. “So…you actually are competitive.”

  “Like I said, only when it’s something I’m good at. And I just destroyed you.”

  “Cutting me off like a total lunatic seems a little unsportsmanlike.” His grin was firmly in place as he jumped out of his go-kart.

  She shrugged and jumped out of hers. “You’re learning new things about me.” It had been fun to speed around the little racecourse with no one else around. Rick had turned on the spotlights and there were plenty of lights from a nearby mini-golf course anyway.

  He strode toward her, looking like a sexy, lethal predator. “Rick texted me, said we could just leave from here if we want. Unless you want to head back in?”

  “I’m good. I’m kind of hungry too.”

  “I’m glad you said that. There’s a little Italian place a couple blocks over. We can just walk if you want?”

  “Perfect.” The truth was, pretty much everything about him and this date was perfect. Her mind started to wander toward the future and what-ifs, but she ignored those thoughts. For once, she wanted to live in the moment, to enjoy this.

  They stepped over the fence that extended around the go-kart area into the parking lot and Logan waved at one of the security cameras. “How does this rank as far as first dates go?” he murmured, slipping his hand into hers so smoothly.

  She loved how openly affectionate he was, and tried not to compare him to her ex. But it was hard because Logan was wonderful in so many ways. And that terrified her. He seemed almost too good to be true. With her free hand, she tapped her lips with her finger. “Well, it’s not over so I’m going to have to hold off on rating it just yet.”

  His eyes narrowed slightly. “Is that right?”

  She shrugged, not bothering to hide her grin as he led them to his truck.

  “Hmm, what can I do to make it the best first date you’ve ever had?”

  “We’ll see how your kissing skills are when you take me home.” They’d kissed before, but she was going to tease him a little. She wasn’t sure where the words were coming from, but she loved the way he slightly jolted as he opened his door.

  “I’ll try not to disappoint,” he murmured. “You need your purse?” he asked.

  “Yeah, thanks. And I’m paying for dinner tonight.”

  He snorted as he handed her purse over and shut the door. “I’m paying.”

  “Don’t be difficult.” She looped her purse over her body at a cross angle.

  “I asked you out on a date,” he murmured. “I’m paying.” Taking her by surprise, he pinned her up against the door as he shut it, his gaze molten hot. “And I don’t want to wait to kiss you.” His words were harsh and raspy.

  “So don’t.” She didn’t want to wait either. Maybe she’d regret this later, but she didn’t think so. And she had to stop fighting this thing between them, had to let her guard down a little.

  That was all the encouragement he needed. Cupping her cheek, he slanted his mouth over hers, his tongue playful and teasing as he deepened the kiss.

  She leaned into him, going from zero to a hundred just like that. Or maybe it wasn’t so sudden. They’d been building to this all night—for weeks, even. She’d been having so much fun with him, but there’d been an underlying heat simmering the whole time just waiting to boil over.

  And now she wasn’t hungry for food at all, didn’t care about heading to that restaurant. The only thing she wanted was more of Logan MacNeil.

  When he slid a hand down her hip and moved it around her body, cupping her ass, she rolled her hips into his. This might technically be their first date but she already knew what was underneath his clothes and she wanted more.

  So much more.

  She nipped his bottom lip, earning a growl of appreciation from him. As she slid her hands up his chest—

  A bright light illuminated them, startling her as an engine revved.

  “What the hell?” Logan jerked back then stepped in front of her, blocking her from the spotlights.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, looking around him and shielding her eyes. “Did Rick turn on the—”

  Lights blinded her as the sound of squealing tires filled the air. Her stomach tightened as Logan grabbed her hand and pulled. She didn’t think, just ran with him across the parking lot as a vehicle raced at them.

  The engine roared wildly over the erratic beat of her heart. She didn’t dare look back because she was afraid of falling.

  Logan’s grip on her hand was tight as he dragged her forward.

  Crunch!

  As they dove over the fence to the go-karts, the loud sound of metal meeting metal rent the air. Her knees slammed against the concrete even as she allowed herself a quick glance back.

  A truck had rammed into Logan’s and was reversing.

  “Keep going!” Logan yanked her to her feet and they ran across the racecourse. “We’re almost there!” Logan’s voice managed to get through to her over the loud rush of blood in her ears, over the fear eating away at her as they ran from the lunatic destroying Logan’s truck.

  As they reached the arcade doors, Rick swung one open, his eyes wide.

  “I’ve called the cops! Saw that crazy driver on the security cameras. Are you guys okay?” He shut and locked it behind them.

  “We’re fine.” Logan’s voice was clipped as he pulled out his own phone and started making a call.

  Grace finally turned to look out the glass doors and could see the taillights of the truck swerving out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell. Breathing hard, she forced herself to take slow, steadying breaths as she tried to get her heart rate under control.

  What the hell had just happened?

  Chapter 12

  “I don’t like that this has happened twice.” Detective Hurley’s expression was grim as he looked between the two of them. “It’s not feeling like random violence anymore.”

  Yeah, no kidding, Logan thought. Sitting on a bench inside the now fully lit arcade, he scooted closer to Grace as they spoke to the detective.

  Grace wrapped her arms around herself so Logan curled his arm around her shoulders. Some lunatic had tried to run them over while they’d been making out in the parking lot. That was some seriously psycho shit. Violent and unstable. Grace leaned into him, her slender frame trembling slightly, and he wanted to pummel whoever had done this.

  “Thank you for coming down here,” Logan said. He’d called Hurley directly even though Rick had said
he was calling the cops. Because Logan’s gut was telling him this and the drive-by at his house were connected, no matter that there had been a string of drive-by shootings. He simply didn’t believe in coincidences like that. And both times he’d been with Grace when something had happened.

  “I want to dig deeper into both of your personal lives,” the detective said. “Logan, I’ve already dug pretty deep into yours and I checked again on the way here. Brister is still under supervision. He hasn’t left Montana.”

  “You’re sure?” Logan knew the detective would have done his due diligence, but he wanted more details. He hated not being in control of this situation. “I know you checked. I’m just…” He rubbed a hand over his head.

  He hated that Grace had been put in danger again, that someone had come at the two of them because he’d been so damn distracted. He didn’t want to get caught up in blaming himself but he should have been better aware of his surroundings. Should have protected her better. This incident never should have happened.

  “I made contact with the sheriff up there. His deputy said Brister hasn’t left his property. So there’s no way he got from Montana to here in an hour.” The detective looked at Grace. “I know we touched on some surface stuff, but can you think of anyone you might have had bad interactions with lately? Maybe at school? An angry parent? An ex-boyfriend? Maybe an altercation while you were out shopping or at your gym, or literally anything you can think of. At this point nothing is unimportant.”

  Grace shook her head. “No. I’ve never had an issue with a parent at school. My job is literally to help everyone who comes to me. And no run-ins while I’m driving or at a store… Nothing that could warrant this kind of escalating behavior.”

  “You ran into your ex-fiancé a month ago,” Logan murmured.

  She shot him a surprised look. Then she looked back to the detective and nodded. “I did run into my ex-fiancé with his new wife. Things were awkward but he’s the one who left me. There’s no animosity on his part. I haven’t talked to him since I moved to Vegas, with the exception of the other night. Though…” She cleared her throat. “He did try to send me a message on social media. I filtered the message because I didn’t want to read what he had to say. We’re not friends online or anything and all my information is private. I can’t imagine him trying to do this. It’s not his personality, and what would be the point?”

  Her ex reaching out to her was news to Logan, not that he expected Grace to tell him everything. Still, it annoyed him that the loser was sending her messages. He’d lost any right to contact her, to even say her name after what he’d done.

  “When you get a chance I’d like you to read the message and let me know what it says. Even if it seems harmless, I’d like to analyze it,” the detective said.

  “Ah, okay. I can do it right now.” She pulled out her phone and after a few moments of swiping across her screen, held it out to the detective.

  He made a few notes and Logan was able to see that it was a fairly benign message, with the ex telling her she’d looked fantastic the other night and asking if she wanted to get together and catch up over drinks next time he was in town.

  What a douche. Logan really did want to punch that guy in his face.

  Once he was done, Hurley put his notepad away. “I’ve got my guys making copies of the security feeds, so hopefully we’ll be able to get something. We’re also checking security along the street to see if another camera picked something up. The main thing I can tell you right now is to be careful. And if you feel like it and are able, get away for a few days. If you do, let me know where you’re going. We’re going to catch whoever did this, but just be smart.” He flicked a glance at Logan, his expression hard.

  As if Logan would do any different. But he knew from his boss that this particular detective cared a lot. “I’ll be staying with Grace for the foreseeable future. And as you know, I’ve increased security at my house. If anything shows up on one of my cameras, you’re the first person I’ll send the information to.” A small lie, because he would definitely be sending it first to Vadim at the Serafina. In fact, as soon as they left here, he was calling his friend and coworker and giving him an update. Vadim would be able to hack any nearby CCTVs and hopefully figure out who was behind this before the cops did.

  The sooner this was all over, the better. And Logan didn’t care about breaking a few laws to find this guy and stop it before it escalated any further.

  * * *

  Logan scrubbed a hand over his face as he poured a cup of coffee into one of Grace’s mugs that said I’m a school counselor, what’s your superpower? He and Grace had gotten in to her place late last night after all the questioning—and he’d stayed up even later talking to Vadim and digging into some potential former dates as threats. It seemed ridiculous because he hadn’t gone on a date in so damn long and he’d never gotten serious with anyone, but he was covering everything at this point. His only priority was keeping Grace and himself safe from a lunatic.

  His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he tensed when he saw Detective Hurley’s name. “Hey.”

  “Are you with Grace?”

  “She’s still sleeping.” And he wasn’t going to wake her up. “I can relay anything to her. What’s up?” Because this definitely wasn’t a social call.

  “Got a couple things for you. Neither of them great. Austin Brister? He’s not where the sheriff’s office said he was. I talked to the deputy in charge of keeping an eye on him last night and it turns out he’s actually been MIA for a couple days. Apparently they assumed he went off on a bender because that’s what some of the ranch hands told them. He’d damaged his ankle monitor—supposedly by accident—days ago and they’re in the process of getting a new one. They were trying to keep it quiet, but with what happened last night they finally fessed up. And before you say anything, heads are going to roll because of this.” There was more than a bite to Hurley’s words. “We can’t get a hit on his phone and he hasn’t used his credit cards anywhere. Not in Montana, not here in Vegas.”

  Logan cursed. “Has someone let his wife know?”

  “Yep. She’s aware and so are the cops in her town so she’ll have eyes on her sister’s place for a while.”

  At least that was something, but he didn’t like that the guy had gone completely dark. “You said you had a couple things?”

  “Yeah. This is probably nothing. But I looked into Grace’s ex-fiancé and he’s currently in Vegas now too.”

  “He’s here? Like on vacation?”

  “Well I called him and it went to voicemail, so I did some digging and found his wife’s phone number. When I asked to talk to him, she informed me that he hasn’t been in contact with her for a solid week and she can’t get a hold of him. She sounded more pissed than worried. I looked into his credit cards, and as of a few days ago a couple of charges popped up in Vegas. Which is why I think she was so angry. Apparently she tried to file a missing persons report and the detective told her the same thing. All his recent charges are in Vegas so he’s alive, and not there under duress according to some ATM videos I grabbed. He hasn’t done anything illegal that we know of, but we’re looking to bring him in for questioning in case he’s related to any of this.”

  “Thank you. I think I’m going to get out of town for a few days with Grace.” If she agreed to go with him, because he wasn’t leaving her. Finding out where she lived wouldn’t be particularly hard if someone wanted to badly enough, and Logan wanted to have more control of their surroundings.

  “That sounds like a good idea. Look man, I’m sorry this is happening right around Christmas.”

  “Not your fault. And I appreciate this heads-up. I know you don’t have to give me these updates.”

  “No problem. Keep your head down.”

  “10-4.” After they disconnected, he set his phone on the countertop and sighed.

  “So we’re taking a trip somewhere?” Grace stepped into the kitchen, looking half asleep with faint ci
rcles under her eyes telling him she hadn’t slept well. She still looked adorable in blue pajamas with little white snowflakes all over them.

  Once they’d arrived home last night he’d thought she might want to talk but she’d holed up in her room. And he didn’t blame her. The attack was a lot to handle, especially for her—someone sweet and unused to violence.

  “Sit, I’ll get your coffee.” He grabbed what he knew was her favorite mug and started doctoring her coffee the way she liked as she sat at the center island.

  “Thank you,” she murmured. “Now what’s going on? You have a look like you don’t want to tell me something. So if we’re going to leave town, then I’m assuming it’s not good.”

  He quickly went over everything Detective Hurley had just told him, and she sat there drinking her coffee silently, taking it all in.

  “I almost guarantee that my ex is in Vegas simply because he likes it. It has nothing to do with me.”

  Logan lifted a shoulder and took a sip of his own coffee. “Maybe, maybe not. I don’t like that he’s here.”

  “I’m more worried about Brister,” she murmured. “He beat his wife for years and you stopped him. I wish the cops could do more.”

  “Well that brings me to something else. I want you to pack a bag and we’re going to head to the Serafina. Not to stay, but I work with someone who can dig a little deeper for us. I’m going to forward him this new information and I want to talk to him in person before we head out.”

  “Is this Angel’s husband we’re going to see?”

  “Yes.” Vadim was a hacker extraordinaire and had no problem working outside legal lines for a good cause.

  Picking up her mug, Grace stood. “Christmas is in two days. If we head out now, you’re going to miss spending it with your family.”

  “I know. But that’s just the way it is.” His family would sure as hell prefer them to stay alive and off the radar while the cops looked into this.