Convincing Leah by Becca Jameson

Chapter 24

Craig

“Are you sure you’ll be okay, sweetheart?”

Leah lifts her gaze from her computer, her expression blank for a moment. I’m used to this. When I pull her out of her writing—which I detest doing any more often than absolutely necessary—she looks dazed for a moment as if she’s coming back from Narnia and needs a second to get re-oriented to this side of the fade.

I step closer, tipping her chin back and meeting her gaze so I can be sure she’s listening to me and hearing me. “I’ll be gone for a few hours packing up your apartment. Eve and Colton are going to help me.”

She nods. “I’ll be fine, Sir.”

“I’ll set the alarm. Don’t open the doors or window for any reason, got it?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“It’s supposed to rain all day, so we probably won’t load the truck today. That might have to wait until tomorrow after the storm breaks. Today we’ll focus on packing.”

She grabs my hand and comes to her feet, going up on tiptoes to kiss me. “It’ll be fine. I promise. I really appreciate you doing this for me. I hate being a big baby, but I can’t stand the idea of going back into that apartment.”

“I don’t hate it when you’re a big baby,” I tease her.

She giggles. “Of course you don’t.”

I wrap my arms around her and lift her off the floor to hug her tighter. I hate leaving her home alone. She does fine when I run early in the morning, but I know part of that is because she goes right back to sleep when I tuck her into her twin bed.

I don’t leave her in the day like this, but her lease is up soon, and we need to get her stuff out. From the moment I grabbed her from that insane man’s house over two weeks ago, I’ve known she would never go back there.

I plant kisses all over her face. “Be good.”

“I’m always good.”

“You’re usually good,” I point out, giving her a stern look, though I can’t keep from smiling at the same time.

“It’s not my fault Master Quinten thinks I should misbehave at least once a day.”

I laugh. “Well, you’ve mastered that. I’ll let him know you did exactly as you were told. Or rather that you have not done as you were told for the past week.”

She giggles, which turns into deeper laughter when my fingers find her armpits and make her squirm. Finally, I leave her alone, kiss her lips again, and back off. “I’ll see you in a few hours. Call me if you need me. You have your phone, right?”

“Yep. It’s right here.” She lifts it up from the desk next to her computer.

As soon as I leave the house, I miss her. I’m whipped. I tend to blame the fact that I never leave her on the fact that she’s gone through a lot. The truth is I simply enjoy her company and don’t want to go places without her.

Ten minutes later, I meet Eve and Colton at Leah’s apartment. They have several boxes packed already. Eve is directing Colton around, telling him what Leah would want with her and what should go into storage.

“’Bout time you got here,” Colton jokes.

I shrug. “I have no excuses.”

Eve looks up at me from the box she just taped shut. “You have a perfectly legit excuse, and can I just say thank you for everything you’re doing for Leah. I can’t imagine where she would be right now if it weren’t for you.”

“It’s not altruistic, you know,” I tell her as I grab a new box and open it up.

Eve smiles wider. “I didn’t think so.”

I consider telling Eve exactly how I feel about Leah, but it seems unfair. I should tell Leah first. Not Eve. And I will one day very soon. I just don’t want to freak her out before she’s ready to hear the words.

“Leah tells me she’s been writing,” Eve says conversationally.

“Yep. Every day. She has a routine going.”

“Good. I’m glad. She was stuck for weeks, even before the abduction. I think she’s been stuck since she met you.” She winces. “Not that I mean to insinuate that you caused her writer’s block of course. Just that you made her think. Shook up her world. Distracted her. In a very good way.”

“I like to think so.” Leah has told me as much.

Colton wraps his arm around Eve and kisses her temple. “Stop grilling the man so we can get the packing done.”

“Yes, Sir.”

A giant boom of thunder makes us all flinch.

“Ugh,” Eve says. “I don’t want to have to load the truck in the rain.”

“I’m not counting on loading the truck today,” Colton states. “Not in this storm. It doesn’t indicate it will let up. We’ll pack today and load tomorrow.”

“That was my thinking too.” I head for Leah’s bedroom. Of the three of us, it should maybe be me who packs up her most private items.

On that thought, I aim straight for her bedside table and chuckle when I open it. Damn, my woman owns a lot of vibrators. I’ve never used one on her. She reaches orgasm easily every time I touch her. But I’m going to have fun experimenting now that I’ll have her stash.

I line the bottom of my box with a few towels and then empty the drawer, heading toward her dresser next to add her intimate apparel. Five minutes later, this box contains all things too personal for me to want to share with Colton. I figure Eve has probably seen most of Leah’s lace bras, thongs, and lingerie, but not her man.

I tape that box up and mark it for my car before grabbing the next box. It’s going to take us a while, but with three people, I hope we can get most of the apartment packed up by noon.

We’ve been working hard for about two hours when Colton’s phone rings. He finds it on the kitchen counter and lifts it to his ear. “’Sup, Blade?”

I’m pulling dishes out of cabinets, but I freeze when Colton speaks again. “Please tell me you’re fucking kidding me.”

I stop what I’m doing to look at him, hating that his gaze is on me. Whatever Blade is telling him is about me. Or me and Leah.

Colton continues. “I’m with Craig now. We’re at Leah’s apartment, packing her stuff. Let me put you on speaker.” Colton sets the phone down and taps the screen.

Eve comes up to Colton’s side and wraps her arm around his. “What’s going on?”

“We’re all on speaker now, Blade.”

“Where’s Leah?” Blade asks. I do not like his tone. Gruff. Deep. Urgent.

“At my house,” I tell him. “What’s this about?”

“Thomas Levenson was released on bail yesterday.”

I stand rigid. “Why the hell didn’t anyone tell us?”

“Paperwork got fucked up. I only found out accidentally from one of the guys at the station. But it gets worse. He’s got an ankle monitor. He’s supposed to be on house arrest, and he’s missing.”

All the blood drains from my face. “There’s no way he can find her though, right? I mean…” I glance at the door and then rush toward it and lock us in tight. “He could come here, but she’s not here.”

Colton is running a hand through his hair, frowning.

Blade speaks. “It’s possible he simply skipped town to avoid going to prison. He knows he’ll be convicted. He has no defense. He kidnapped someone.”

Eve’s eyes are wide and she’s gripping Colton tightly.

Colton rubs her back and pulls her into his chest.

I start pacing. We’re all thinking.

“Where is her computer?” Blade finally asks.

“At my house. She’s using it.”

“He could track it if he’s a good hacker. After all, he used her IP address to find her. He could track the location of the computer itself.”

“I don’t like it. Let’s go,” Colton announces.

“I’ll call Leah and make sure she’s okay.” My hands are shaking as I pull my phone out of my back pocket to warn Leah, but it starts ringing before I can do anything, and her name is scrolling across the screen.