Crushed (erotic) (#3, 101 Nights)

Chapter Ten: Elijah

I’ve spent the day talking to Suleyma with George quietly looking on and surfing his secure iPad. Every hour, he leaves to drive through the neighborhood again, his security training far too engrained for him to relax for more than a few minutes.

The puppy has decided it likes me and won’t leave its spot lying across my feet, unless it’s to grab a new toy to play with.

“Three thirty. Bus should be here soon.” Suleyma stands. “She’ll be so excited to see you, Elijah.” Smiling, she goes to stand on the porch.

I’m a little less optimistic, knowing the teenage girl with the Micah attitude is probably going to have some things to say to me that I don’t care to hear.

 “Texas.” It’s the first time George and I have had to talk in relative private since arriving.

“Her choice.”

He raises an eyebrow. I have no doubts everything will be arranged before the end of our trip, despite how much I know he hates sudden changes in plans. 

“I’m on a new bend to be more sensitive,” I say with some difficulty. ‘Thought I’d try it out.”

“Growing is good.”

And painful.

Smiling to himself, George lowers his gaze to the iPad. His smile turns into a tight line.

“Took too long, but I know who that creep is from the designers’ show.” He hands me his iPad.

There are a few shots of the stranger on the screen, the man I know I’ve seen before but couldn’t place. The open document next to it, however, crystalizes everything.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “Father’s pets.” My father, the king, sent a member of the Nijalan Security Bureau here. “I knew I recognized him. No doubt I saw him when I was home.” I hand it back. “I guess I’m not surprised.”

“Your father’s pets train with Israeli Mossad and CIA,” George points out. “This is Hassan, the youngest director in the history of the Bureau. If he’s here, it’s not a good sign.”

Hassan’s story is coming back to me. While I’ve been away for too long to have known him, Malika has told me about the ambitious man in the photo. George is right; he’s too high ranking not to have been sent here by my father personally, which means my father trusts him.

Which is very, very bad.

“He ignored me and went after Natalie.” I lean forward, elbows on my knees. “Those texts we found seem to indicate he was trying to scare her off.” Fury is building in my chest. I’m not expecting it to be as intense as it feels, a reflection of what I experienced when I saw the bastard grab her arm. “What’s my father’s game? Fucking up my life in the public eye, so he can disinherit me?”

“Looks that way.”

“I’m fucking good at doing that myself.” I stand and pace to the window, too angry to rationalize what all this means. “Double the security around Natalie. I don’t want my father’s people near her.”

“Will do. You may want to warn her who it is as well.”

I glance at him. “Smart. But …” I’m getting ready to break up with her. It’s looking like a better idea by the second, if it’ll mean protecting her from my father’s bizarre tactics. “I’ve gotta break it off. There’s no way she’s staying involved like this.”

“I can take care of both of you,” George reminds me. “But she needs to know, so she understands why we’re monitoring her and the electronics.”