Chapter Sixteen

It didn't take long for Janna to realize she was being followed. And not just by one person. No, there were three bulky, intimidating men dressed in black blazers trailing behind her. She knew it was the security detail. The sunglasses were a dead giveaway. No one wears sunglasses during an Oregon spring. No one except law enforcement. And paid security bozos.

It seemed like they no longer had the order to hang back and not be seen. Now they dragged along behind her like human shadows, and Janna soon began to feel the weight of them at her back. By the end of the first day, her skin was crawling. She didn't understand why Brice insisted on continuing his high-handed tactics. He'd sworn it was to protect her from the nebulous, and frankly unlikely, threat from his cousin. But to Janna, it felt like a slowly shrinking prison.

"You're mine," he'd told her, the words echoed in his recent behavior. It seemed Brice now considered her one of his many possessions, an asset to be protected. His security team was his mark of ownership, warning others away from what he considered his alone. It made her wonder about the situation with his ex. She'd accused him of being controlling. Maybe it was true after all. Another reason to get out now.

Even if the danger was real, he could have informed her of his intentions. He could have warned her. Instead, he'd had her spied on, and she wouldn't even know it now if she hadn't pissed him off by spending the night at Alex's. The whole situation made her head ache. But the human shadows, they were the worst.

She couldn't concentrate, couldn't focus for longer than a few minutes at a time before she was reminded of how fucked up everything had become. Yesterday she'd been in the middle of a lecture when she caught sight of one of the security men skulking in the doorway of her classroom. She'd sputtered, trying to remember what she'd been saying. Her eyes raked the classroom and noticed the other entrance also had a lurker. She'd quickly resorted to assigning her students some group work so that she could catch her breath and try to get her concentration back.

Last night she'd texted Brice, practically begging him to call off his men. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I can't do that until my cousin has been found. Hang in there. She'd cried after receiving that text, then cursed Brice and his unwanted protection. And this morning her three shadows had followed her from the co-op's front door and through the campus until she rushed into her office and slammed the door, shutting them out.

Her brain refused to focus as she stared at her laptop, her mind a thousand miles away. Anxious thoughts about Brice and their relationship chased themselves around the track inside her skull, round and round like a never-ending Nascar race. Thankfully a knock on her door pulled her attention back to the present. "Come in."

"Hey!" Shelby said, sauntering in and taking a seat at the desk across from her.

Janna jumped up and shut the door behind her before she could catch sight of the security team. "What are you doing here?"

"Can't a friend drop in on a friend?"

Janna shook her head and laughed. "Yeah, of course, you can drop in. It's just you've never come by my office before. And I'm just a little jumpier than usual."

"I've noticed," Shelby replied, eyeing the shut door. "Does it have anything to do with the three big guys that have been hanging around the co-op all week? The same three guys who are currently positioned not thirty feet from the office door?"

"Yeah." Janna exhaled, giving her friend a sheepish grin.

"I was gonna ask you about them this morning but you ran out the door so fast I thought your ass was on fire. So I figured I'd stop by your office and see if you wanted to talk about it."

Where to begin? Janna wondered. Taking a deep breath, she launched into her tale. By the time she finished, Shelby was leaning back in her chair, a look of disbelief on her face.

"You're tellin' me that Brice Masterson is having you tailed by three guys because he's jealous of his old college buddy?"

"He says it's because I'm in danger, but I just don't know if I can believe him. This whole thing between him and Alex is ridiculous, but given their history, I don't think I can trust either of them. And if this does turn out to be some kind of elaborate plot to keep me off limits, and I find out that there is no actual threat, I don't think I can forgive Brice."

"I don't think you should. But are you sure he's not tellin' you the truth? Powerful men like Masterson often do have enemies."

Janna scrubbed at her face. "No, I'm not sure. It could be true. But either way, these security ogres are driving me crazy. I feel claustrophobic, under siege. I thought if I could get away to my office for a few hours, I'd be okay, but it's like I can still feel them lurking there in the hallway. And whenever I see them, whenever I even think of them, it brings up this whole mess with Brice and I can't relax. Can't concentrate."

"Oh honey," Shelby said, reaching over and pulling Janna into a loose hug. "I'm sorry. If there's anything I can do, just let me know."

"Not unless you can convince Brice to call off his goon squad. Or figure out how to sneak me away for a few hours."

"If he won't listen to you, there's no way he'll listen to me. But if you need to get away for the evening, I think I can help you out."