*Author's note: Strong trigger warning! This book contains graphic depictions of violence with some disturbing scenes involving m*rder and the use of weapons, torture, domestic violence, including mental and physical abuse, sexual situations and mature language. It may trigger certain individuals who are sensitive to this subject matter. It is marked mature. You must be 17 or older to read this book.
Agent Grayson enters the hotel room, sets some things down on the table between the beds and begins to sniff the air. It's at this very moment I regret my decision to shower myself in perfume today. My chest tightens and the extreme pressure of the stress in my body feels like it's crushing down on me. As he gets closer and closer to where I'm hiding, the vibration of his footsteps closing in on me triggers the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end.
When I see the top of his feet stop just at the edge of the bed, I squeeze my sides in as tightly as I can and hold my breath so I don't make a sound. When he walks away without discovering my hiding spot and flips on the TV, I slowly exhale into my hands in a slow but controlled breath to muffle the sound. I feel a bit dizzy after the sudden fluctuation of my heart rate as my rigid body finally relaxes back against the cold, hard floor. I listen intently to his every move while carefully plotting my defensive strategy, just in case he finds me.
When he sits back down on the bed, the box springs squeak under the weight of his heavy body and it instantly agitates me every time he moves after that. He's also a sloppy eater and as he's chewing his food, he's smacking his lips and making animal-like chomping noises as he devours whatever it is he's eating. The only break my ears seem to get is when he pauses to slurp his drink up through his straw. I'm taking a wild guess that it's sweet tea he's drinking from the close encounter I had with him at that diner. At this point, the annoying slurping sounds added in between all the smacking and chomping are driving me insane. As I continue to lie here helpless and try my best not to move or make a noise, I'm irritated as hell. The raging lunatic inside of me wants to jump up and kill him with his plastic cutlery.
Being trapped in here with him for so long when I should be getting ready for my date with Bryce is aggravating, to say the least. Bryce! Oh my God, he's probably wondering where the hell I am. This fucking sucks! I've got to find a way to get out of here!
All of a sudden, the dust from the carpeting makes my nose begin to tickle and a strong, uncontrollable urge to sneeze comes over me. As it works its way up my body, I fight like hell to hold it in. I press and squeeze both hands across my cheeks, pinching my nose tightly shut and practically suffocating myself in the process with my face buried between my hands against the floor.
Just when I feel like I can't hold it in another second, he gets up and I hear his footsteps walking toward me. At this point, I just know he's about to find me and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. So this is the way it ends, huh? I must be the dumbest criminal in the whole fucking world; getting caught in the hotel room of the FBI agent that's after me with snot running down my face. Brilliant plan Harper!
Just as I picture him drawing his gun and slapping handcuffs on me, the universe throws me another life line. He stops right at the end of the bed again when he hears his phone ring and whoever is calling saves my ass. From his end of the conversation, I'm guessing he's talking to the other agent. He has a brief conversation with him and they make plans to meet up the next day to interview some witnesses.
When he's done eating, the unmistakable sound of Styrofoam being smashed down into the trash can instantly gives me the heebie jeebies and my entire body is filled with goosebumps. The next thing I hear is way worse, though. He rapidly plucks several kleenexes from the box, furiously pumps some kind of bottle and then unzips his pants. My cheeks tighten and the feverish embarrassment spreads across my face. I bury my head even deeper into my hands and I'm forced to imagine what he's getting ready to do. Oh God, this is so disgusting. I think I'm going to gag if I hear him actually jerking himself off.
I can't help but be awkwardly tormented by the sound of his wet skin being aggressively rubbed up and down between his hand. With every gravelly moan that rattles through his throat and with every vibrating squeak of the bed, I cringe and clinch my teeth a little tighter.
As he continues to pleasure himself, unaware that he has an audience, I try to lie as still as possible and not make a sound. At this point, he must be having trouble taking himself to the finish line because, to my delight, he suddenly stops. He groans and walks over to his suitcase at the foot of the other bed. I can hear him rummaging around through it, looking for something. When he finds it, he places whatever it is on the bed right beside me, climbs up and proceeds to have his way with it. Oh my God! This is even worse! Whatever he's fucking on the bed right above me is vibrating like a dildo and the sickening sounds he's making now are much worse than before when he was eating. I wish I could record all of this because I'd have something to blackmail his perverted ass with.
The bed is rocking, and he's getting it on with himself and in all the commotion, a pillow somehow gets knocked off the bed right on top of my head. I am now nauseous and panic stricken with the thought that he's going to find me for sure now when he cleans this mess up.
When he's finally finished, I'm scarred for life, but I'm also relieved that he forgot all about the pillow and didn't find me. As his footsteps vibrate against the floor and then disappear into the bathroom, I throw the pillow off of me and sit up. The glorious sound of the shower being turned on and the blast of water hitting the plastic shower curtain gives me head to toe goosebumps and reminds me I'm free at last. But, I still have business to tend to before I can leave. I'm guessing I have less than ten minutes to get what I came for and get the fuck out of here.
As I'm looking around, his wallet and badge lying unattended on the bedside table are begging me to invade his privacy and take a peek. From the moment I flip open his badge and see his face, it haunts me. I know who he is and why he's the one who probably begged to be lead on this case. He was my dad's best friend when I was a little girl and he was just a sheriff's deputy back then. He used to hang around our house and go fishing with me and my dad a lot. I never knew exactly what happened between them, but I overheard my mom and dad fighting once and from the sound of it, my mom must have had an affair with him. After that, I never saw him again.
When I find his phone locked and protected with an iris scanner, I'm not at all surprised. The wheels in my brain start turning. I grab my phone and quickly snap a picture of just the eyes on his badge, turn my phone sideways and pinch to zoom to get them in the perfect position. I hold my phone next to his iris scanner and when his phone clicks and opens; I fight back the urge to jump up and down and scream out with excitement.
I then hurry and take several snapshots of everything I find useful on his phone, then carefully wipe my fingerprints off anything I touched and tip toe over to the door. Just as I hear him turning the water off in the shower, I'm quietly closing the door behind me and stepping out into the hallway.
After I make it a few steps away from his door, I take a deep breath and let it out. That was one of the most nerve-racking situations I have ever been in and I've been in quite a few lately. I'm not sure how I pulled that shit off, but thank God I was able to hold it all together, get what I needed and get out of there before he caught me. Besides the lingering scent of my expensive perfume, he'll never know I was even in there or how close he came to becoming my next victim.
When I get on the elevator, I frantically text Bryce when I see I've missed several calls and text messages from him.
I'm so sorry. I had a family emergency I had to take care of. I'll hurry and meet you downstairs in the lobby in fifteen minutes.
No rush. Take your time. I'll go hang out in the bar. Meet me there.
Ok, sounds good. See you in a few.
I can't wait!
I know from the moment I walk into the bar and see Bryce, everything I had to go through to find him was worth it. He looks up as he is about to take a sip of his wine. He sits his glass down and stands up to greet me as our eyes meet. He gives me a warm smile and neither of us blinks as we share an endearing moment, lost in each other's eyes. Even though we haven't known each other very long, I feel like I've known him forever. He's so laid back, gentle and genuine. What you see is definitely what you get with him. I feel like a different person when I'm with him, but still; I feel more like myself than I ever have. I'm not sure how to explain it, but you just kind of know when something feels right and oh, how this feels so right!
"Katrina! You look lovely!"
He kisses me on the cheek as I lean in and give him a side hug.
"Thank you. It's so good to see you!"
I take his hand and he guides me to the chair beside him. He wraps his arm around me and rests his hand on my back.
"You had me worried for a bit. I thought maybe you were having a little too much fun driving my Aston Martin and decided to ditch me."
I glance over, smile back and joke around with him."If I'm being honest, it crossed my mind."
"Oh really? I'm beginning to think I should've called you an Uber instead."
I lay my head on his shoulder as we share a good laugh together.
"Would you care to join me for a drink, or would you rather head on out to dinner?"
"A glass of wine sounds nice. I'm not in a hurry."
He motions for the waitress and orders a whole bottle of wine and another glass. When the waitress brings them back, she pours me a glass and tops his off. This time we don't make a toast but slowly sip our wine and enjoy each other's company, sharing stories about our day. My story, of course, is a bit exaggerated to cover up what he's not quite ready to know about me yet.
After we polish off the bottle, he escorts me out to his car and we head out to have a nice, quiet dinner together. I'm a little tipsy and have no idea where he's taking me. I don't really care, to be honest. I'm just looking forward to spending some time with him and trying to erase the nightmare of what shall forever be referred to as "Grayson's hotel of horrors" from my frazzled mind.
When we pull up in front of an old abandoned building near a small airport, I'm a little confused. I suddenly start to panic and prepare for the worst. I have no idea why he stopped here, but I have a very bad feeling in my stomach that's telling me I could be in real danger and don't know him like I thought I did.
"Umm Bryce, why are we stopping here? I thought you were taking me some place nice for dinner?"
He turns the car off, adjusts his seat back away from the steering wheel and then digs around in his center console, searching for something before he answers me.
"I wanted to show you something first. I hope you don't mind, but this is something I think you'll really be interested in since I found out you're a pilot."
"Bryce, I never told you I was a pilot."
He stares straight ahead and when he turns to look at me, I can tell he's keeping something from me.
"Ok, you got me. I did a little background check because I wanted to make sure you weren't someone who was only after me for my money. In this day and age, you can't be too careful."
Holy shit! This is something I should have done first just to make sure my fake identity matches everything I tell people about myself. I've got to do some serious damage control now and fast! I'm a fucking pilot? I'm going to kill Travis!
I decide the best way to handle this is to play it cool and find out what he knows first.
"So tell me, doctor, what did good 'ol Google have to say about me? Are you intrigued?"
"Well, I found out that your family is wealthier than you let on, so you've probably already done your own background check on me for the same reasons." He chuckles.
I continue to play along. "I hope that doesn't change things. I'm not a spoiled rich kid, if that's what you think. My family is very wealthy but I'm not a trust fund baby by no means. I've worked very hard for everything I have. I even put myself through school."
"That's what I admire about you, Katrina. I can tell that money hasn't ruined your character. I can certainly relate to what you just said. I've worked very hard myself, putting myself through college as well and building my private practice while trying to pay off my mountain of student loan debt. I know it looks like I'm fabulously wealthy, but the truth is I made some wise investments along the way and I just bought that mansion and my cars a year ago. It took me quite some time to get where I am today. I only got my pilot's license a few months ago, and it's something I have always dreamed of doing since I was a little boy. It sure will be nice to have a seasoned pilot fly with me. I can't wait to see you with your hands on my yoke!"
He chuckles after saying that and I immediately try to keep my composure and just go with it.
"Yeah, umm, I can't wait to fly with you and get my hands on your...yoke!"
Shit! What the hell is a yoke? Did I really come this far only to go down in flames with the man of my dreams in a plane crash? Fuck!
*Author's note: I hope you're enjoying this book! Please vote above and click the ⭐ and leave a comment or two for me. I enjoy connecting with my readers and hearing your thoughts. Thank you so much for your continued support! I appreciate you!
Bobbie J ~❤~
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