Trust

by Casey Diam

  An eerie feeling prickled the back of my neck as I looked around at the empty streets. It was too risky for her to continue to work here, and if she did, this would be their Point A location. She could run as much as she wanted, but they would still be able to trail her anywhere from this point—specifically, back to the condo where she would be living with me.

  I strolled over to the sidewalk and started east toward the gym. Rob, Calvin’s ex-military friend, was posted up a few feet away from the gym, so he could always watch her from behind without her knowledge—and hopefully, no one else’s.

  Moving at an easy pace, I considered her reaction to finding out I had three other guys she’d never met watching her every move. It brought a smile to my face until I spotted a man a few feet ahead of me in all black, running across the street to my side. The side Paige would be walking down soon.

  A low feeling settled in my gut, and I picked up my pace. Pulling out my phone, I dialed her number. She hated talking on the phone when she was walking at night, claiming it distracted her from her surroundings, but I needed her to answer for my own sanity. I didn’t like this feeling at all.

  The call went unanswered, and I cursed before speed-dialing Rob.

  “Hey,” I said, relieved by his quick answer. “Is she out yet?”

  “Yeah, ahead of me.”

  “Get closer.”

  “Fuck.”

  “What is it? Rob? Hello?”

  A loud smash echoed through the receiver, as if his phone had hit a hard surface.

  Fuck.

  I took off running at full sprint, my phone in one hand and my other hand holding on to the weapon in the front of my hoodie. Then I saw her and the same guy who had dashed across the street, stepping out from behind a shaded area on the building’s column. Paige wasn’t able to see him, but as soon as the man stepped out, Paige stopped and then stepped backward. My legs couldn’t get me there fast enough.

  She’s right there. I can see her. But, right now, she feels like a million fucking miles away.

  The man made a grab for her, and she sidestepped him, sending her knee straight up into his groin. He immediately fell to his knees, and fuck, I was proud of her. A car door popped open a few feet behind her, and she must have heard it because she looked back, but it gave the man on the ground enough time to reach out and grab her, yanking her hard enough that she crashed into his large figure still on the ground.

  I cut between two parked cars, hoping they hadn’t caught sight of me because if those were Alex Connor’s men and I didn’t sneak up on them from behind, they would recognize me. If they recognized me, I would have to kill them. Because, if I didn’t, they would report back to their boss. If that happened, I would be the one getting caught, not them, not the main ones orchestrating and carrying out crimes in the city.

  Relief hit me when I saw Rob was about to reach her, but one of the men held her from behind while the other... Brad tried to grab her legs.

  Fuck.

  I slowed as Rob caught up to them at the same time the man holding her torso released her, causing her head to swing toward the ground, but her hand reached down, catching her fall while Brad continued to hold her legs to his chest. As the man rubbed at whatever Paige had done to his arm, Rob caught him around his neck from behind. One of Paige’s hands latched on to one of Brad’s thighs, and he crumpled to the ground. She forced herself from his hold and stood, stepping back, only to land a kick straight into Brad’s head. He went down and didn’t get up.

  Holy shit! She was right; she could protect herself.

  I don’t think I’ve ever felt this useless in my life. She doesn’t need me. Paige doesn’t need me.

  She backed away as she spotted Rob lowering the other man who had attacked her to the ground—who would also be out cold for the next few minutes at least. Shit, she wouldn’t recognize Rob, and I didn’t even realize I’d stopped moving.

  I quickly jogged toward them. “He’s with me,” I said, catching her attention.

  Paige pointed. “Behind you.”

  I turned, and my eyes locked with Tee, the disgusting pervert who had jacked off in Paige’s underwear. I saw when recognition dawned, and he started backward. Then he turned and took off running, but I was on him in seconds, grabbing him from behind and tackling him to the concrete. He groaned in pain.

  Fucker.

  Hoisting myself up onto a knee, I removed the weapon from my hoodie. And, as I placed the cool tip of the silencer to his temple, he got the full effect of the message I was sending him.

  “I won’t talk. Please, I won’t talk,” Tee begged.

  “I know you won’t ’cause you’ll be dead.”

  It is either him or me.

  “Please.”

  “Caleb, what are you doing?” Paige asked, almost frantic, stopping a few feet away from me, her backpack hanging from her hand.

  “He saw me. I can’t let him go,” I explained, not meeting her eyes. All emotion needed to be set aside, and there was no way I could do that if I saw into her blue eyes, which would probably reflect the disappointment and pain I’d heard in her voice.

  “I won’t say anything. I have my wife; she’s pregnant. I can’t leave them, please.”

  “Then what the fuck were you thinking about when you jacked off in Paige’s apartment? Please, do enlighten me.” I flicked up the safety and cocked the weapon as I stood with it still pointed at Tee’s head.

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Caleb,” Paige pleaded.

  “Rob, get her out of here.”

  “No, Caleb. You can’t do this.”

  “If I don’t do this, then I’ll be in his position tomorrow. Is that what you want?”

  “No, but—”

  “Rob.”

  “Don’t fucking touch me,” Paige warned.

  I assumed Rob was trying to get her to go with him while I focused on the man at my feet.

  “Connor wouldn’t hurt you. You’re his son,” Tee said. “And I won’t say anything. You have my word. Please.”

  “Shut up! You don’t know anything. I’m not his son,” I growled, sending a forceful kick to his stomach.

  He didn’t know my pain or understand how Alex Connor could and had hurt me. No one did.

  Tee held his stomach and choked, voice raspy as he bargained. “What if I told you the truth, and you let me go? Then you’d have something on me. Something Alex would kill me for exposing.”

  I looked back to Rob and Paige, both of them unsure of how I would react to his offer. I wasn’t even sure how I would react... but Paige, she was visibly trembling.

  “What truth?” I asked, the anger leaving me. I’d waited too long, and because of it, I wouldn’t be able to do what I should to keep everything from backfiring.

  “Alex Connor—” Tee coughed, a hand still clutching his rib cage. “He is your father, your real father, both yours and Brad’s, and I know how you can get solid proof.”

  My head tilted, and my mouth opened, but I couldn’t speak. I lowered the weapon to my side, and when I turned, big, round eyes stared at me. I was a stranger to her. A stranger to myself. My eyes closed for a second as I breathed, but when I opened them, Paige was gone, running.

  She was running away from me.

  Caleb Connor.

  The son of Alex Connor.

  I didn’t blame her. This changed everything, and she should run, but I couldn’t let her.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Paige

  Hot, sweaty, and tired.

  My chest tightened, and my lungs closed in. I had no idea what time it was, but I was done running. I slowed to a brisk walk somewhere in the city and welcomed the less than cool summer air. It wasn’t much, but it would cool me down if I continued to walk instead of run.

  I shouldn’t have done this. It was stupid and unsafe, especially for someone who’d just been attacked. I should’ve been locked inside somewhere safe, but where was safe? I had nowhere to go. I
wouldn’t be here if I had someone, but I had no one. No family. No friends.

  No one to call.

  Nowhere to go.

  I needed money in order to do anything, go anywhere, and I didn’t have any of that either.

  The lease was still good at my old apartment for another two months, but the killers knew where I lived, where I worked, and my schedule, which was saying a lot because it always changed. I’d made sure of that.

  But they’d still known I would be working at the gym tonight. What was I thinking training Brad? Why did I stay? For the paycheck I got every week? I loved the Dungeon and training with the fighters there, but was any of that really worth my life? It was so stupid, and Caleb was right. They’d planned and waited for me, ready to do one of the two things they’d failed to do almost five years ago. Kill or kidnap me. And, though neither had happened tonight, something else had. The one person I’d trusted in close to five years had become them. He was them. He was going to kill someone tonight, and I wouldn’t have been able to stop him.

  As I felt my phone vibrating in my backpack, I walked over to a darkened spot in a corner of one of the building’s columns. All the shops were closed, and with the streets empty of life, the loneliness clung even closer. The hair behind my neck began to stand up, and my skin began to tingle.

  I scrutinized everything within my view: the stretch of cars parked on the side of the road, the apartment buildings ahead of me, the graffiti-stained wall on the old building across the street, a flickering streetlight a few feet away, and the darkness surrounding me in my corner. My heart no longer pounded from activity but from fear.

  What am I doing?

  Pushing the straps of my backpack off my shoulders, I squatted in the corner, making myself as small as possible while I dug through the front pocket of my bag.

  Of course.

  Caleb had called.

  I shook my head and then frowned. Calvin had called, too. Why did he care if I was running away from his best friend? Or maybe he was on duty, working to find the girl he’d been tasked to watch over more than once.

  Unbelievable.

  The screen lit up again, and waves of vibration carried through my palm, making my hand tremble. Caleb again.

  Letting out a breath, I answered. “What do you want?”

  “Oh my God, Paige. Where are you?” He huffed.

  “I’m not telling you that,” I said, knowing I would need to go back to his apartment to pack my things, the few that I had. But how far would the fifteen hundred dollars I had left in my bank account get me?

  “You trusted me before. You can trust me now.” He inhaled. “Paige, please.”

  “Your brother attacked me.” Tears filled my eyes, but I ignored them. “Your father wants me dead, and I’m supposed to trust you?”

  “I know it sounds crazy, but I would never hurt you, and you know that.”

  I let his words sink in, but I wasn’t convinced. Not after what one of his father’s men had revealed tonight. “You almost killed someone. The same way your father’s men had killed my family. You’re just like them.” My voice fell into a whisper. “You’re just like him.”

  Silence strained the other end of the line.

  “I’m sorry. But please, you shouldn’t be by yourself. Let me come get you. It isn’t safe, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.” He waited, and when I didn’t answer, he continued, “I would be lying if I didn’t say everything changed tonight, but it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me. But still, the only thing that matters to me is your trust.”

  He sounded sincere even though he lived, breathed, and worked with the enemy. Whether I liked it or not, he’d become my only friend, which I wasn’t even sure was true.

  He knows, and I know who his father is now.

  They are his flesh and blood. Don’t be stupid. You can’t trust him. He could turn on you.

  He’s also been good to you. He’s been looking out for you.

  Deciding to ignore all the voices in my head and trust my gut, I sighed. “You can come, but I don’t know where I am.”

  TO BE CONTINUED...

  Next Book in Series

  Hope (Things That Matter #2)

  Thank you so much for reading my Debut novel!

  I hope you’ve enjoyed Paige and Caleb’s story thus far.

  Writing this book was such an amazing experience, I can’t even put it into words. These characters came to me while I was on a trip to Bulgaria, haunting me for days before I dropped everything, just so I could write about them.

  I would love your feedback, so don’t be shy. Leaving an honest review on your thoughts, and some of feels you experienced reading this book would mean the world to me <3.

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  About the Author

  Some years ago, Casey rediscovered her passion for writing and hasn’t stopped writing since. Her favorite genre is romance with a little angst, which is why she writes sexy, funny, sweet, and emotional stories that are a bit more in depth, but so much fun to read.

  Casey has a ridiculously short attention span and loves her coffee and tea without sugar and milk. Apart from reading or writing, she loves to snowboard, even when she’s catching an edge and face-planting in the snow. She absolutely loves it!

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