Wife and Girlfriend

Chapter 29

Hunter

My legs all but skidded out from underneath me as I ground to a halt right before the glass lobby door.

I was too late.

I'd watched from the elevator as Tanyi lowered herself into what I knew was Tiger's car, and the latter punched it out of the roundabout driveway and out onto the street.

I all but sprinted toward my own vehicle in record time and had made up a bit of the distance lost because there had been a red light just before a highway on-ramp.

If there weren't a lane on either side of me with a car in it, I'd have driven up on the sidewalk to pull myself parallel to their vehicle.

What the fuck was she doing? She said she'd be right back up.

But she was sitting in the passenger seat of Tiger's vehicle now, and if I didn't move quickly enough, they'd end up on the highway, where it'd be even more difficult to catch them.

At least on the city street, there were impediments to speeding, like stop signs and lights. But out on the open road of the highway, he could move as quickly as he wanted to.

Now, my car was demonstrably faster than his, but it wouldn't matter on the highway. And I didn't want to cause an accident by speeding and chasing them.

Maybe he'd kidnapped her.

But I'd just seen her get into the car voluntarily. No, this wasn't a kidnapping. He'd said or done something to convince her to take that ride with him. And I needed to get her out of there as quickly as possible.

I tried to tell myself that I was doing this to protect her. And that the only reason that I was currently in my car, gunning the engine, was because I wanted her to be safe and away from someone like Tiger Davis. But even in the midst of my cloudy thoughts, I know I knew better.

Otanyi

"Please, baby, just trust me," it wasn't so much the words as the way that he said them. I'd been listening to him for the past few minutes, trying to explain away what had just happened between him and Hunter.

I wasn't completely sure of Hunter's motivations in all this, but I was leaning more and more toward the thought that Tiger truly only wanted what was best for me. And right now, he wanted to take me to his manager's office downtown to break down everything that had happened since we'd left the fundraiser and what next steps should be taken.

I know that I promised that I'd head back up to the apartment in a few minutes, but after all this, I thought I owed it to myself to see what Tiger actually had planned. I mean, it was clear to me that Hunter had gotten to the end of his rope, and this was all new stuff to me.

There was no part of me that wanted to be 'the story.' I got into this business because I wanted to help shape the narrative, not to become a byline or a soundbite.

And the one person who I thought could have controlled something like this was the one person who was now saying that they were tapping out.

I couldn't just sit back and remain silent. I needed an answer. I needed to hear what Tiger and his team were talking about.

"We're just talking, and then you'll bring me straight back, right?"

"Of course, just talking. It's an office building, baby, and my team is a bunch of men and women who work for me. They're all dropping everything to be there for us on this. Let me take care of you, he said, leaning into my frame and whispering into my ear.

I couldn't deny how my body reacted to him. And I wasn't in the state of mind to say 'no' for some reason. My better judgment had all been scared out of me. Just the thought of having to contend with any paparazzi and other press pressure made the skin on my body erupt in little bumps.