Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Carter

C arter did not sleep last night. Nothing new there, but he’d nearly kissed Ashley. If his phone hadn’t rung, he didn’t know how far they would have gotten. Then he’d never seen her again.

Stretched out on the floor in front of the couch, he waited for her to get up before he moved. He’d given up on trying to get comfortable hours ago. It was nothing like it had been the night before with Ashley in his arms in the bed, but exactly what he deserved for nearly crossing that line.

Plus, he still didn’t know what was wrong with her. Ever since he’d gotten back with the pizza, she’d been acting weird. The book comment had been too far, and he knew it.

He heard Ashley get up and move around before the door opened. “Are you on the floor?” She sounded shocked.

Carter sat up and looked over at her. “The couch sucks. This is better.”

“Carter.” She sighed. “That’s not okay.”

“Well, there’s one bed, and I’m not taking it from you, so here we are. Don’t worry about it, I’ve slept on worse.” That much was true, and this wasn’t too bad.

She hmphed. “No. Tonight you’re sleeping in the bed, either with me or I’ll sleep out here.”

“Ashley.” He grunted. There was no way they could sleep together again because he’d absolutely not be able to control himself.

“Carter,” she mimicked.

“Get dressed. Let’s go to town.” Anything to change the subject.

“Seriously?” She gaped at him. “You’re not kidding?”

Carter stood and picked up his blankets from the floor. “Matt said it was okay. Let me tell him and get ready and we can go. But, in and out quickly. We have to keep a low profile.”

Ashley squealed and plowed into him, wrapping him in a big hug. “Thank you.” She ran off into the bedroom.

Carter steeled himself for the day ahead. No contact, that was a new rule. They couldn’t touch because nothing was innocent to him anymore.

He quickly got ready, and Ashley was waiting for him when he left the bathroom. She walked over to him, and he took a step back.

Her face fell, and his thoughts conflicted again. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he had to keep his hands to himself, and that wouldn’t work if she touched him.

He weighed his options and chose to act like nothing was wrong. “Ready?”

She nodded. “Let’s go.”

They walked to the back of the cabin, and Carter pulled the tarp off their car. He wished he had some plates he could change these out for, but that wasn’t an option here. They got in and he drove them to town.

“Remember, low profile,” he reminded her, needing her to go along with this.

He wasn’t convinced that the danger was gone. Something was nagging at him, telling him otherwise. He didn’t ignore his gut often, but this time he went with the data.

“I got it. I would like to go to the grocery store, a clothing store, and maybe a coffee shop.” Ashley was giddy with excitement.

While he was happy he could do this for her, he kept his eyes peeled for anything that seemed out of place. They went to the clothing store first, and he followed Ashley around, playing the doting spouse.

“What are you doing?” she hissed at him after he commented on the third thing she picked up.

“Making it look like I have a reason to be here with you,” he whispered in her ear.

Ashley shivered as his breath brushed her skin. “Fine.”

Another twenty minutes in this store and he was growing anxious, ready to move on. She must have noticed because she sighed but took her things to the register.

Carter paid with a card under a fake name that Matt had provided when he’d started this job in case of things like this. Well, not shopping, but in case he had to take off.

“Grocery store next,” he told her as he put the bags in the car.

“I’m going to make us something really good for dinner.” She was practically bouncing from foot to foot with excitement.

“What’s that?” he asked, keeping the conversation going.

“I don’t know.” She laughed at his confusion. “I have to see what they have and come up with something from there. I also need a few other things, but I promise it won’t be long.”

He grunted, doubtful she’d be quick about anything without some prodding.

To his absolute shock, the grocery store took less than half an hour. Ashley discreetly added some feminine products, and he wondered if this was what she’d wanted to go for all along and hadn’t wanted to have it delivered.

He should have thought of that. Any of them should have considered it. Filing that information away for another op, he put the groceries in the trunk.

“Coffee?” he asked.

“Seriously?” Ashley’s stunned gaze met his.

“It was on the list of places. Why are you shocked?”

“I just thought maybe it had been too long already. It’s okay if we don’t have time.”

Unused to the compliant Ashley, it took Carter a full minute to figure out what to say. “Of course we have time.”

She beamed at him. Carter knew he’d do anything to keep that smile there as long as she was safe.

The coffee shop was just a block away from where they’d parked, so they decided to walk. It was a nice day, the chill mostly keeping away, and he hadn’t had to light the fire most of the time they’d been there.

Ashley was ahead of him, placing her order, as Carter took in the small coffee shop. Nothing looked out of place, and all the people seemed to know each other, which meant no strangers except them.

“Sir?” The cashier, a woman about Ashley’s age, got his attention. “Your wife said you wanted to order?”

“Oh.” He looked down at Ashley, who gave him a nervous smile. “I’ll just take a large black coffee to go.”

She gave them a total, and Carter paid. Once he had his card back in his wallet, he put one arm around Ashley, already breaking his no-touching rule, and led her over to a table to wait on their order.

“Thanks for this,” Ashley told him.

He had her back to the door, positioned so he could see anyone walk in. That wasn’t the best move, as he missed the cashier who walked over to them.

“You two aren’t from around here,” the woman commented. “Whatcha doing all the way up here?”

“Honeymoon.” Carter smiled. “Borrowing a friend’s cabin and just getting away from it all while we can.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” she cooed.

“Hey, Jed. These folks are honeymooning up here.”

Ashley bit her lip as he bit his tongue. If he lashed out to tell the woman to hush, he would only get more attention.

“Any luck on those coffees?” Carter asked.

“Sorry about him. We just have groceries in the car.” Ashley placed her hand on his, giving it a squeeze.

“I can imagine. Are you guys staying here long?” The woman ignored his question about the coffee.

“Just a few days.” Ashley shrugged. “Got to get back to work, you know?”

“Well, glad you could get away while you can. Most people choose the beaches for things like this.” She leaned against an empty chair, settling in to continue the conversation.

“Too many people,” Ashley answered before he could. “We wanted to focus on each other for a bit. It was his idea.”

Carter smiled at the woman. “Absolutely. Wanted her all to myself for a few days.”

“That is the cutest thing ever. You keep that one. Most men don’t know how to plan a damn thing.”

Another woman called their coffee orders, and Carter stood to go get them.

“It was nice chatting with you. Maybe we’ll stop back in on our way out,” Ashley was telling the woman.

“You be sure to do that.” She waved them off as Carter handed Ashley the coffee she’d ordered.

“That didn’t go well,” Ashley said. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. At this point, I’m just hoping she doesn’t run her mouth if Julian does come sniffing around.” He opened the door to the car so she could get in.

After closing it and then getting in on his side, he got them on the road.

“Should we go another direction so they don’t know where we’re staying?” Ashley asked.

“There are a lot of cabins up this way,” he assured her.

She sipped her coffee, but he noticed she was checking the side mirror as he drove on. Her calling him her husband had been a twist he hadn’t expected and had felt better than he’d thought it would, even though he’d known it was fake.

“I need to let Matt and Ryker know what happened. Let’s go inside, and then I’ll bring the bags in.”

“I can get the bags.”

He glared at her, letting her know there was no way she was doing that.

“Fine,” she huffed, but there was no force behind it.

After clearing the cabin, he carried in the bags and left Ashley to put them away while he sent off a text in the group.

Carter: We had a busybody in the coffee shop who now thinks we are honeymooning for a few days. Definitely can’t go back in again.

Ryker: Shit.

Matt: Hope you’re good on supplies because that rules out new deliveries. That town is too small to risk anyone else seeing you two and knowing you’re there.

Carter: We should be good.

Ryker: Let us know if anyone starts sniffing around.

Carter: Will do. Any word on confirming Julian is in Florida?

Matt: Nothing yet. He’s staying away from cameras surprisingly well. I have someone trying to check traffic cams and will know more tonight if not sooner.

Carter: Thanks.

“Everything okay?” Ashley asked.

“Just looking for an update now.” He wanted to tell her to keep a bag packed but didn’t want to worry her just yet.

“How bad is what just happened?” she asked.

“It’s not good,” he answered honestly. “If someone comes snooping around, we’ll be remembered.”

“But they don’t know where we are.”

“They don’t, but it wouldn’t take much to figure out. We’ve had deliveries here.”

“I’m sorry. Do we need to leave?”

He took a seat and rested his head on his hand with his elbow on the table. “Not yet, but we might not be here much longer.”

“Okay.”

Ashley cooked dinner for him, some chicken dish that had taken most of the day while he’d searched for a new place to go on the computer. It wasn’t ideal, but they’d stayed in one place for too long. Something was about to happen, and he couldn’t shake that feeling.

The longer the day progressed, the more the feeling bothered him. Ashley must have been able to tell because she got quiet.

“I need to talk to you about something,” he finally said.

“We leaving?” she asked.

“Still not yet. I want you to keep a bag of essentials packed that you can take with us if we need to jet.” And bringing up the awkward topic, he continued on, “Make sure you have those things you bought today in there, too. I don’t know when we’ll be able to stop again if we have to run.”

She blushed prettily but nodded. “I’ll do that now.”

His phone buzzed, and he checked the messages from Matt and Ryker.

Matt: We have a problem.

“Fuck.” Carter stood and paced as the next several messages came through.

Matt: It wasn’t him in the car. Same build and coloring, but not him. Can you get Ashley to see if she knows this man?

Carter: Send the pic.

The photo came through, and he didn’t have to ask Ashley. He recognized the guy.

Carter: That’s Julian’s friend.

Matt: I thought it might be.

Ryker: Now what?

Carter: We need to leave. I assume this means Julian’s in the wind?

Matt: Unfortunately.

Carter: Fucking find him. We leave in the morning.