Entangling: Book One of the Kirin Lane Series

by Kelley Griffin

  The deeper-voiced one said, “It’s not here.”

  “It has to be,” the other one answered gruffly.

  Her father’s book. Jesus. She’d left it. She swirled, looking for her purse. Please God, she didn’t leave it upstairs, did she?

  Sam whispered, “It’s right there.” He pointed at her purse sitting on the steps.

  Wait.

  How did he know what they were looking for? And how did Sam go right to the door to the safe room as if he’d been before? He’d grabbed her purse and threw it down there.

  The deeper voiced one said, “Pat vowed we’d find it here.”

  A wave of nausea rolled through her body. The man upstairs had mumbled the words that broke her.

  Sam had let them in her house. He had the code to disarm the alarm.

  The thudding of the two men’s footsteps moved above their heads from the pantry toward the kitchen.

  She turned around and pointed the flashlight into Sam’s eyes. She stared for a moment in disbelief. Sam glared right back. Why hadn’t he yelled out, so they’d find her? And why go to the trouble of hiding her?

  She was closer to the shelves where the guns were hidden. She could make it before he could. It was all a setup, and she’d trusted the wrong person. He’d let the enemy into her house. He wanted the book as much as they did. Kirin crept backward toward the shelf, careful not to tilt the flashlight. She turned her head for a split second and slipped a pistol in her scrubs pocket.

  When she turned back, he was gone.

  Kirin lunged toward the steps, as the flashlight slipped landing inside an open box with a thud. Light shone upward causing long shadows on the wall. It illuminated most of the room. Without a sound, Sam was behind her.

  The men upstairs, who’d been rummaging through her kitchen drawers stilled at the noise.

  Quick, Sam pulled her arms behind her, holding them with one hand as if she were under arrest. With his other hand, he reached in her scrubs pocket and relieved her of the gun, placing it back on the closest shelf. His breath was ragged. The familiar scent she was now determined to hate, invaded her senses.

  Sam whispered into her ear, “I know you don’t believe this right now, but we’re on the same team. Please be quiet.”

  His free hand reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Sam set the wallet on a shelf, turning her body to face it. One handed, his fingers worked quick like a spider to open it and pick out a yellowed piece of paper. He unfolded it and held it out in a ray of dim light for her to see.

  It was page 167 from her father’s book.

  Chapter Seventeen

  When the voices and noises upstairs had long since disappeared, Kirin assumed the men had abandoned their search.

  It was eerily quiet. Too quiet and the silence gnawed at her. He’d let her go once her heart rate had slowed, then cautiously moved to the opposite side of the room. She’d sat with her back against the opposite wall. She needed answers. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, pierced only by a dying flashlight. Squinting, she could make out his shape. He sat on the ground like her.

  She’d stewed in silence long enough. Her legs were asleep, and her arms wrapped protectively around her body. She’d been trusting, foolish, and stupid. Why had she wholeheartedly let him in? Hormones? But why hadn’t he taken the book and given away their location when he had the chance. Her head swam with opposing theories.

  Sam sucked in a deep breath and sighed. He spoke low. His voice was tight.

  “This isn’t gonna make much sense right now, but everything I’m gonna tell you is the truth.” Clearing his throat, he continued, “I’ve been protecting you for the last two years.”

  She was glad he couldn’t see her face. Her mouth dropped open and her mind went blank. Two years. Since Jack died. But she’d never noticed him until her father died. How? She felt exposed, but another emotion arose too. It thrilled her to know he’d protected her all that time. Thrilled her way more than it should have. Shut up, heart.

  He continued, “It’s part of what I do. I learn people’s habits. I watch them. I know where you buy your morning coffee, and where you have your car serviced, and where you take the boys to the park. I knew where you worked before you told me and even where you go to church.”

  Sam rose slow, stretching his legs. “Obviously, I knew where you lived too. I’m sure to you it sounds creepy, but my job was to be invisible. You never saw me because I was careful. I only observed.”

  Sam ran his hands over his face. “And prior to a few weeks ago, you didn’t seem to be much trouble.”

  Kirin stood then, fists balled, and her voice shook, revealing too much.

  “So, the whole “date thing” was an act? You pretended to like me? And I fell for it. Do you get some sort of bonus if you get laid?”

  Sam took a long step toward her. Even in the partial dark, she could feel his anger rolling off him. She stood her ground and didn’t budge.

  “It’s not like that.” His voice came in a low growl. “But when you assaulted me with the tomatoes, I should’ve walked away and become invisible again. But you’d gotten a damn good look at me. So, I had to change tactics.”

  Sam paced in front of her, arms flailing, but his voice remained quiet. “Then you go and fall ass-backward into a dangerous situation with the drugged-out guy in the parking lot.”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. She could take a lot of things, but pity wasn’t one of them.

  He’d pretended to fall for her out of pity.

  “Look at me.”

  “Oh, God and I thought...” Her eyes clamped shut and she turned away from him.

  Sam took another step closer.

  “Look at me,” he demanded.

  She turned and opened her eyes. He stood in front of her, but out of arm’s reach. The fading flashlight bounced a soft light off his face, making his dark green eyes look lighter.

  “I don’t pity you. Not at all. Everything I’ve felt for you is real, whether you believe me or not. But relationships, they never work out for guys like me. Besides, none of that matters now. My job is to protect you. Having feelings for you isn’t going to help you stay alive. I made a promise and I have to focus on keeping you safe.”

  Kirin crossed her arms and stared at the floor. She couldn’t look at him but knew his eyes were trained on her. She shut her eyes in the darkness.

  Something about Sam had spoken to her and she’d let her guard down. Trusted him. And that trust had been shattered all to hell. She’d allowed someone a few inches into her heart only to find he couldn’t allow himself to love her. Angry tears pooled, but she couldn’t focus on this. She needed other answers.

  “How’d you know this safe room was here?”

  Sam took another deep breath. “I helped Jack wire it for the computers.”

  He knew Jack. That took more than a moment of silence to swallow.

  “Who hired you?”

  “I think you know that answer, don’t you?”

  She did.

  Her father. This had his name written all over it. From the little she knew of him, he’d be happy to keep her in complete darkness and not give her a heads-up that he’d paid a total stranger to protect her. Par for the damn course.

  Her next question was much harder and part of her didn’t want to know the answer. But she had to ask. “Did you let those men into my house? You work for them too, right?”

  Kirin’s voice broke at the end, which made Sam take another step, closing the gap between them, but he didn’t touch her. His voice softened, “Yes, and not really. And that’s all I can tell you right now.”

  She let out a psh sound of disgust. He’d let them in her house knowing she’d be with him on a pretend date and wouldn’t find them searching for the book. He played both sides of the fence and she was sure he got paid handsomely for both. So what, he had a page from the book?

  Was that supposed to mean she could trust him? Money can easily buy loyalty.
She was sure the dark side bought him too. What if he dangled her and her boys like a carrot to string along the dark suits? Mama-bear anger hit her like a freight train.

  She spun around to face him and yelled, “What if my kids had been here, Sam?”

  Kirin’s voice resonated off the block walls. She stepped toward him, fists clenched and one finger in his face. Her chest grazed his stomach and his body tensed at the touch. She pushed through the electricity zinging between them. She wanted to rip his eyeballs out. “Did you ever stop to consider them? Or Rosa?”

  He had no answer.

  She stomped around him, grabbed the fading flashlight off the floor and snapped the button to turn it off, but it was damaged from the fall and despite her best efforts, continued to shine.

  As she struggled with it, she turned her head and growled, “I don’t need you, And I don’t need your protection. Stay away from me and my family. I don’t want you around.”

  Anger and frustration made her tears fall faster. It infuriated her to cry when she was mad, but somehow her anger was mainlined to her damn tear ducts. She’d always been this way. She had no control over it. When she attempted to stifle a cry, she sobbed instead.

  Sam wrapped his arms around her from behind and with gentle hands, took the flashlight. He unscrewed the bottom releasing the connection of the batteries. The flashlight died, and he tossed it on the pile of tarps.

  He took her by the shoulders and spun her to face him in the dark, then pulled her in. He held tight. She pushed at his chest, but his arms were like steel, crushing her to him. Her mind wanted to scream for him to leave, but her broken heart was in complete control. She couldn’t force her body to move away.

  “I’m so sorry,” he mumbled into her hair, then kissed the top of her head. He continued to say it as he trailed kisses from her forehead down her temple until his mouth covered hers. Warm and sweet but deeply stirring in places that hadn’t been alive in years. As if someone had flipped a switch inside her, she changed from pushing him as hard as she could to pulling him to her. She didn’t want him to stop. Her world felt complete when she was in his arms. She kissed him back until her mind gained control.

  He couldn’t love her. He’d already said it. Kirin shoved him with all her might. It did little to move him backward, but he stilled immediately.

  Even in the dark, she knew she’d stunned him. Her lips tingled and stung as she wrestled away from his arms. She spun around to look for her purse in the dark. She could still feel the pressure where his arms had tightened around her. Her body ached to be held like that again. Finding it along the floor, she snatched up her purse, flung it around her body and started up the steps.

  She stopped on the next to the last step and without looking back she fumed, “Don’t protect me anymore, I’ll take it from here, you’re relieved of your obligation.”

  Kirin pushed open the trap door, walked through, and didn’t look back once.

  ~*~

  The shadows from sunlight coming through the windows were much longer than she’d expected. How long had they sat in the darkness? How long had she been in the dark about Sam? So trusting … so stupid. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  Rosa and her sister would be home with the boys any minute. When she crept back through the pantry, she grabbed the hidden gun and looked in the chamber to make sure it was loaded.

  Numb from the losses of the day, she half wished someone was still there. She wanted someone else to hurt as much as she did. She shoved the gun in her pocket and sneaked around the house. As she checked the bedrooms, the rumble of Sam’s truck speeding down the driveway and the crunching of gravel reached her ears. Kirin sat cross-legged in the hallway.

  Angry and sad, she curled up on the carpet and grieved. Her inner voice made her stand and finish looking in each closet and each room. She had to make sure her family would be safe when they returned.

  After Kirin searched every inch of her house, she ran downstairs and changed the door code. She had to remember to tell Rosa, so she wouldn’t set it off. She whipped out her cell and made a few calls. The first, to a locksmith. She had no idea how they got into her house without a key, but those locks would change. Then she called a perimeter fence company, but they couldn’t work her in for a few weeks. She toyed with calling the pound to buy a mean dog but decided she’d better not.

  After hearing all about the movie and restaurant from two sleepy boys, Kirin made everyone dinner, put the boys to bed, and sat in the darkness as warm tears wet her pillow. She couldn’t believe it’d been less than twenty-four hours when she couldn’t wait to see Sam. And now he was gone. It would take some time to explain to her heart why her mind had to stop thinking about him.

  Part of her didn’t want to get past this. That stupid part was still under the delusion he could be one of the good guys in her story. Maybe he’d choose the light over the dark, and they could somehow still be together. Get a grip, Kirin. This isn’t Hollywood.

  Moonlight splayed through her window illuminating the green book. Without Sam to protect them, the dark suits might get wind she was fair game and come after her. She had to make it a priority to discover why they wanted it enough to put her and her family in harm’s way.

  She vowed, from this moment on, she wouldn’t let the book out of her sight. She’d keep it in her purse when she was out of the house and keep it in the hidden safe when she was home and not digging through it.

  What she needed more than anything right now was to talk to Kidd again. She had to know what she was up against. She also needed to find someone more tech savvy than her. Someone who would understand what the string of numbers meant.

  Tomorrow, she’d find answers.

  She had a bad feeling this hunt might take her places she didn’t want to go.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Tuesday was just busy enough, she’d had little time to think about Sam. She’d put him as far out of her head as she could. She only wanted to wallow in her misery and be left alone. She was comfortable there. Misery was her old friend. They’d spent years rooming together, bunkmates really, if she was being honest.

  Stacy and Laura both cornered her as soon as she got to work. She told them Sam had stood her up. She told them about confronting him in the restaurant and about how he was on her doorstep when she got home.

  She didn’t mention the men in her house. She didn’t want to involve them in that drama, and she feared if anyone knew, somehow, they might use it against her and hurt her friends. Kirin’s eyes welled up as an image of Sam driving away crossed her mind. She shuffled away after telling them it was over.

  On her next break, she found Stacy and Laura whispering. They were plotting something. When they simultaneously stopped talking, Kirin raised an eyebrow at them.

  Laura cleared her throat and smiled, “Well, your girl Stacy here thinks a night on the town is the perfect way to get over this man who hurt you.” Laura shifted uncomfortably, “But I think a nice dinner at my house after I shove Adam and the kids out the door would be better, what do you think?”

  Kirin hesitated. “I … I don’t think I’d be good company for either.”

  Stacy stepped in front of Laura, pushing her rear end out playfully to knock Laura back.

  “Hey!” Laura said, laughing.

  Stacy looked as if they were planning espionage. She reached back and pulled Laura back into the huddle then lowered her tall frame to speak intimately with them.

  “I think, we need to get Kirin to a club, have a few drinks, and get her mind off the guy who can’t seem to remember his own name.”

  Stacy’s thin eyebrows did pushups on her face, making Kirin laugh.

  Laura smiled, then shrugged, “I’ll be the DD. Come on, it’ll be fun … like old times.”

  Kirin’s face scrunched, “I don’t know…”

  Laura put a hand on her shoulder, “Think of it this way, how much trouble could we get into on a Tuesday night?”

  ~*~
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  Stacy scored reservations at Apollos, a restaurant voted number one in the city. After 10pm, the nightclub part of the building had bodies packed in as if they gave away hundred-dollar bills at the bar.

  The boys were thrilled when Olivia, their favorite high schooler from church, walked in. Laura honked twice to pick Kirin up, and they headed to Stacy’s house, so they could all ride together.

  Stacy came dancing out of her house, with a big smile and arms waving like an orangutan released from the zoo. They were in for a fun night.

  Stacy’s fiancé Todd, who never talked much, stood in his normal pissed-off stance on the porch and glared as they pulled out of her driveway.

  Kirin sat up front and stared at Stacy through the mirror in the visor. Her flamboyant attitude stilted temporarily. She whipped out her phone, typed something with fast fingers, then tossed it hard into her purse. With no provocation, Stacy talked aloud to herself, arms once again flailing.

  “You know what? I’m a big girl. And I can do whatever the hell I want. If I want to go out with my friends on a damn Tuesday night, by God I’m gonna do it. I never go out anymore. Never! He’s got the stick up his ass turned sideways.”

  Stacy snatched the compact out of her purse, flipped it open and looked herself over in the mirror, then continued as if she was already in a conversation nobody could hear. “… you know what, I don’t care. I’m not letting this ruin our night. This night is about Kirin … and getting her laid.”

  Stacy’s eyes locked on Kirin’s in the visor’s mirror. Kirin froze mid-lipstick application and sputtered, “Wh-what?”

  Stacy horse-laughed. “Kidding. Just making sure you’re listening.”

  “Oh my God, shut up,” Kirin said, glaring at Stacy through the mirror, although her lips curved up in an unintentional smile. “We’re not setting Kirin up with anyone, and nobody’s getting laid.”