“Step out. Slowly,” Cory growled.
Itching to take the asshole out, Grover complied. He had no doubt he could take Cory down, but with the amount of firepower the others had, they’d kill him before he could deal with them. If his team was here, things would be different—but he was on his own.
Until he found out what the hell the group wanted, his best bet was to keep who he was, and how deadly he could be, on the down low.
Grover had the fleeting thought of how glad he was that Sierra wasn’t with him. Knowing she was in danger would’ve pushed him to do something rash. For now, he’d stay calm and mentally take notes.
They’d mess up, and when they did, they’d regret fucking with him.
Sierra’s face hurt from smiling so much. She had no idea how Gillian did this job day in and day out. She was a bundle of positive energy and simply being around her was exhausting for Sierra.
There was no doubt that Gillian was good at what she did. Everyone, from the happy couple celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary to the youngest great-great-grandchild, seemed to have the best time at the party. Gillian kept everything running smoothly and even when there were hiccups, she handled them so easily, no one even knew something had gone wrong.
While Sierra loved hanging out with her and helping, she already knew this wasn’t something she wanted to do full-time. Or even part-time. Being around so many people wasn’t as easy as it once was for her, though Sierra refused to feel bad or guilty about that.
So as much as she’d enjoyed the day, Sierra was more than ready to get home.
Home.
Damn, when had she begun to think of Grover’s house as home?
She really should at least try to pretend she was using the apartment Ember had so graciously let her have, but the thought of going there without Grover wasn’t appealing in the least. So she’d basically…what…moved in with Grover?
Yup, that’s exactly what she’d done.
But he didn’t seem to mind.
Sierra thought back to the night before. She’d been on the verge of sleep when she felt him shift next to her. He’d kissed her on the forehead and told her that he loved her. Without thought, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, she remembered telling him she loved him back.
“What’s that smile for?” Gillian asked.
“Nothing. Okay, that’s a lie. I was thinking about Grover,” Sierra admitted.
“You guys are perfect together. You just fit,” Gillian said. “It’s hard to explain, but it’s almost as if you’ve known each other for years and years. You’re so comfortable together.”
“I feel like I’ve known him forever,” Sierra agreed.
“Well, I think it’s awesome.” She opened her mouth to say something else, but her phone rang. Giving Sierra a sheepish grin, Gillian reached for her cell. It had been ringing off the hook all day as she communicated with various people about the party.
“Hello? Oh, hi, Trigger. Yeah, she is…we’re done for the day and heading to our cars right— Why? Um…why? What’s wrong? You know I’m gonna have to tell her more than that.”
Sierra tensed. She knew without having to get clarification that Gillian was talking about her. And she didn’t like her friend’s tone. She was worried…in a way that she hadn’t been all day when putting out fires and talking to vendors about the anniversary party.
“Is he talking about me? What’s wrong?” Sierra asked, alarmed at the change in Gillian’s expression as she listened to whatever Trigger was saying.
Gillian shook her head—and suddenly Sierra was swamped with the feeling of being left out. When she’d been a captive, every decision had been made for her. She hated never knowing what was going on, what might happen to her from one moment to the next. And right now, it was more than obvious Gillian’s husband was saying something Sierra needed to hear.
Without thought, she reached out and took Gillian’s phone out of her hand.
Never in a million years would she have done something so rude prior to her kidnapping, but she was less concerned with niceties now and more worried about getting as much information as possible about anything that might affect her.
“Hello?”
“Sierra?”
“Yeah. What’s going on? What was Gillian supposed to tell me?”
Gillian’s husband sighed. “I need you to go with Gillian back to our place.”
“Why?”
“There’s been an incident.”
“What does that mean? Stop beating around the bush, Trigger, and tell me what’s going on. Now.”
“Okay, but we’ve got this under control.”
That didn’t calm Sierra, not in the least. She held on to her patience by the skin of her teeth as she waited for Trigger to continue.
“Put it on speaker,” Gillian insisted.
Sierra did, and she and Gillian both hovered over the phone as Trigger began to speak.
“You know the Strong Foot Militia has been a pain in our asses lately. Today, they took things to a new level. Some of the more vocal members were missing from the protests this morning, which we thought was odd. Grover, especially, seemed bothered by it.”
Sierra wanted to scream at Trigger to hurry up and say what the hell was wrong already, but she bit her tongue.
“They were waiting for Grover when he got home,” Trigger said solemnly. “Around a dozen members of the group are now holed up inside his house, with Grover as a hostage. But we’re on this, Sierra. We’re gonna get him out.”
Everything inside Sierra froze as numbing shock and pure terror swept over her.
Yet her mind raced with questions. What would they do to Grover? Why had they taken him hostage? Why at his house and not at the place where they were protesting?
“Sierra? Are you all right?” Trigger asked. “I want you to go with Gillian. Go wait at our place. I’ll keep you updated as to what’s going on and the second we get him out, I’ll call.”
“Okay,” Sierra said flatly.
“Okay?” Trigger asked, obviously surprised at her easy acquiescence…or perhaps disbelieving.
“Yeah.” She was barely aware of what she was saying. She needed to think. She wanted to do something—but what? She wasn’t a soldier. Didn’t have the training Grover’s team did. Hell, there was an entire Army post filled with people who had more experience than she did in rescuing hostages.
But could she sit back and do nothing?
“Good,” Trigger said with a sigh, interrupting her thought process. “Again, we’ve got this. We’re here, and so is another Delta team we work with. And just about every law enforcement agency in a twenty-mile radius. Rumor has it the FBI and ATF are on their way too.”
“That’s good.”
“We’re gonna get him out,” Trigger repeated.
“I know. Thank you for calling,” Sierra told him.
Gillian took the phone off speaker and Sierra vaguely heard her speaking softly to Trigger. “I’m so sorry,” she said after hanging up. “I know your car is here, but you can come with me. You shouldn’t be driving.” She took Sierra’s arm, walking them toward her RAV4.