hannah
Day 1
I felt like a guilty woman.
Maybe I am…
It felt like I was sneaking off to another man – and technically I was, but it wasn’t like that.
I rapped my knuckles on the door yet again and tapped my foot impatiently. If he didn’t open it soon I was going to lose my nerve and go back home, screw up the letter and forget about the whole thing.
I knew I had at least a five-hour head start on Jasper. He, Lotte and Park were in a radio studio doing an interview and performing, and I knew the fan situation was going to be out of control. They’d be out there signing shit for half the day.
I was just about to spin on my heel and stomp away when the door was pulled open in front of me.
“Well, well, princess, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you liked getting yourself into these messes.” He smirked.
“Tyler,” I breathed. “Thank god, I was about to lose it.”
Tyler might have started out as nothing more than my best friend’s oldest brother, but we were close now. We were friends. He’d always been good to me, and I knew I could count on him not to let me down.
“You? Surely not?” he answered sarcastically as I breezed past him into his house.
“Not funny, Ty, I’m freaking out.”
“Again, surely not?” he muttered under his breath.
He caught up to me and snagged the suitcase from my hand. “Sit,” he instructed as he pointed to the big leather couch in his living room.
I sat. My brain was overloaded and all I could manage now was to do what I was told.
He sat down opposite me. “Run me through it again… from the top.”
“I need your help,” I squeaked.
He gave me a cocky grin. “I know… you girls always do.”
I rolled my eyes at him. He was such a smug little shit. He had good reason to be, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
The oldest of the Watson boys was a sight that could make even an ice queen melt into a puddle at his feet.
He had deep blue eyes just like Charlotte’s, and with them he seemed to be able to look right through you. His dark brown hair was tousled in that sexy way that men had, and it was flecked with red when he was out in the sunlight.
His body was hot if you were into the whole chiselled, broad-shouldered kind of thing.
Who am I kidding, EVERYONE is into that.
He was gorgeous, he really was – and he knew it.
Not only that, but the man was a genius. I’d yet to find something for him to hack that he couldn’t make happen.
I could still picture Charlotte’s face last year when I’d had him hack into an incredibly well-known and reputable motocross manufacturer’s database and upload the information necessary to have a bright pink dirt bike made with a picture of a winking Barbie on the back.
My brand-new bike had turned up a week later – and even though I’d paid for it fair and square, I’d still gotten a lecture from Lotte, and I knew Tyler would have too.
Clearly, we’d heeded that warning loud and clear.
Not.
“What exactly do you need me to do?” he asked, less arrogantly this time.
“I need you to help me disappear.”
He nodded. “I can do that.”
“I want my last known location to be the airport where I boarded the flight here, but I don’t want him to see where I went. Wipe me from everything… flight records, CCTV, everything… if he’s going to figure out which plane I got on he’s going to have to speak to the flight attendants in person. I’ll need my next flight wiped too.”
I really am crazy…
“I need to be able to see all incoming texts, emails, messages and calls on my phone, but I want them to think I haven’t… shit, is that even possible?”
He chuckled and gave me a look that made it clear that anything was possible.
“Okay then.” I cracked my knuckles, starting to get into it now.
“I need a new bank account that’s entirely untraceable. I want to be able to see Jasper’s internet search history and who he’s texting and calling if I can… I want to know if and when he figures out where I am. I need you to swear that you never saw me when they come looking – because they will.”
“And where exactly is it that you’re going?”
“I’m not going to tell you. I want him to be the first to know.”
“You know I could track you in about thirty seconds flat, right?” He chuckled.
“Fine then, I want one more thing.”
He raised his eyebrow in question.
“I need you to not try and find me.”
He paused for a moment, staring at me with hard eyes. “No.”
The simple word took me by surprise.
“What do you mean, no?”
“Either you tell me where you’re going… or I’ll track you. I’m not having you out there in the world without a single soul knowing where you are, Hannah, you’re not only my little sister’s best friend, but you’re my friend too. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you. So… I know where you are or the deal’s off.”
I scrunched up my face in frustration. This wasn’t part of my plan, but I knew he meant what he said. It was Tyler’s way or the highway.
He’d backed me into a corner and I didn’t have a choice.
“Fine,” I relented. “Track me if you have to.”
He nodded once in agreement.
“Maybe I’ll pick up some tips on how to evade you,” I grumbled.
He laughed loud and long. “That’s cute, princess.” He chuckled again. “Real cute.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and the bastard winked. He never had been one to give in to my diva antics or outrageous outbursts, in fact, outside of Jasper and Lotte, Ty probably understood me better than anyone else.
“So, can you do it?”
“Seriously, stop insulting me.” He sprung to his feet and swaggered over to the giant computer setup he had going on. It was so massive it took up half of his living room.
“I’ll have it done within the hour.”
I gaped at him, I was expecting it to take him a couple of days to finalise everything.
I was actually banking on it. I knew the airport info needed to be wiped right away, but the rest of it wasn’t so important. I had been planning to stay here with him for at least a few days – I wasn’t quite ready to go it alone just yet.
“That quick?”
He chuckled arrogantly. “That quick. And I’ll also do you a favour and make sure they can’t track the GPS on your cell, or on that smart watch you’ve got on your wrist.”
I glanced at the watch and groaned at my own stupidity.
Of course.
Thank god for Tyler.
“You know, there’s really no big hurry, you don’t have to rush...”
“I’m not. You seriously have no idea what I’m capable of, do you?”
I shook my head. I was beginning to think I didn’t have a clue at all.
“I’m not really prepared to move on today… I was kinda hoping I could crash here for a couple of nights...”
He stopped what he was doing and peered at me over the top of his screen.
“You’ll be staying for the week. At least. I’m going to do what needs doing and then we’re going to have a serious conversation about why you’re doing this. So get comfy, princess, we might be here a while.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
I knew I couldn’t put off going forever, but I could delay it for a little while at least.