This is Effortless (Drew & Courtney, #2) (Checkmate Duet Series Book 4)

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

DREW

As soon as I step off the elevator, I see Courtney frantically running down the hall without any shoes on. “Thank God,” I mutter to myself.

I pick up my pace until she falls into my arms as tears stream down her face. Wrapping my arms around her and pulling her tight against my chest, I can feel her shaking. I pull back and look at her. “Court, are you okay? You’re not hurt?”

I search her face as her mouth falls open and closes again. Her lack of words begins to tear through me.

“Talk to me, please,” I whisper.

“I feel like I can’t breathe. I need air.” She’s having an anxiety attack and can’t calm down.

“Take a deep breath,” I tell her. “I’m here, sweetheart.”

She does as I say, and I watch her inhale deeply and exhale slowly. She squeezes her eyes shut and repeats it twice more.

“Mia’s here,” she says between jagged breaths. “She set this whole thing up.”

“I know,” I tell her. She pinches her brows together, and I know she’s confused.

“Let’s get out of here,” I say, wanting to get her off this floor. “Talk somewhere private,” I explain.

She turns and looks behind her, paranoia on her face, and I can understand where she’s coming from. f**k, I know exactly how she feels. I grab her hand and pull her to the elevator. Reaching over, she pushes the button for the ground floor.

“Let me give you my shoes,” I say, bending over and taking them off. She slips her bare feet inside and although they are way too big, she doesn’t complain. I walk through the lobby with my hand in hers wearing only socks on my feet. It’s Vegas, but I have a feeling that this s**t isn’t staying here. No, this nightmare will be following us home.

We step outside and the brightness of the sun is almost too much. I shield my eyes and watch as Courtney sucks in deep gulps like it’s the first time she’s ever breathed air.

“I’m so f*****g scared,” she admits, her voice cracking as she smooths her hair back on her head.

I grab her hands and kiss her forehead, wanting her to know I’m here.

“She threatened me; threatened to hurt me.”

“What? How?” I rush out. “That’ll never happen. I won’t allow that to ever happen,” I try to assure her, but she scoffs.

“At this point, I don’t know if you can even stop her, Drew. What the hell happened last night? How’d she even get to us?” She’s beginning to unravel so I hold her tighter.

“Mia happened.” I sigh. “I’ll tell you what I know later. Not here.”

People are staring at us as they walk by, and I know we don’t look normal—not even for Vegas. Courtney’s nose is red and she’s visibly upset. I have no shoes on and the more upset she gets, the louder her cries become.

“Let’s go up to the room and talk.” I give her a smile, trying to coax her from the middle of the sidewalk but she’s looking at the hotel like it’s a dungeon. Truthfully, it kind of is.

“I don’t want to go back in there,” she states, vigorously shaking her head at me.

“I’ll be with you and won’t let you out of my sight. I’ll protect you, sweetheart,” I promise. Noticing her tense shoulders and the uncertain look in her eyes, I offer another idea. “Let’s just grab our stuff and we can get the hell out of here.”

“Our flight isn’t for a few more days,” she reminds me.

“I don’t care. We’ll rent a car and drive. We can cancel the tickets. Whatever it takes.”

She wraps her arms tightly around my waist. “I was so scared and confused. I thought something really bad had happened.”

I let out a ragged breath as I intertwine Courtney’s blonde hair around my fingers, and then I remember the cold dark eyes I looked into this morning. I don’t know how I’m going to tell her about Mia being in bed with me. Like a continuing nightmare, my mind is filled with the sound of gunshots and memories of Mia.

“Drew?” Courtney is staring at me, and I realize I zoned out, again. “Did you hear me?” she asks softly.

I blink away the thoughts and stare into her clear blue eyes, the color of the ocean, and she pulls me back. She always pulls me back. I shake my head when she asks again.

“I like your plan of renting a car. I can pack fast. It’ll be just the two of us, alone—no hustle and bustle and bright lights.” She forces a smile, knowing I was lost in my thoughts again. It’s something that’s happened a lot over the last week, which makes Mia’s little act f*****g sickening. I’m going through a lot and this is just the cherry on top of a s**t sundae.

I wrap my arm around Courtney and hold her tight to my body. As we enter the hotel, I instantly go into recon mode, memorizing everyone’s faces, noticing the distant sounds and sudden movements. Mia is still here and she’s probably watching us at this very moment. The elevator closes, and I turn and grab Courtney’s face between my hands and kiss her. It’s a sad kiss that’s full of emotion.

“I love you so much,” I tell her and she whispers it back against my mouth.

We walk into the room and the crumpled sheets on the bed make me sick to my stomach. Everything is exactly how we left it, except the memories of us have been replaced by Mia. Just being in the room makes me nauseous because I swear the faint smell of her perfume still lingers. Courtney doesn’t wait and shimmies out of her clothes and changes into something else. Then she begins grabbing clothes and toiletries and placing them into her suitcase. I follow her lead, and it takes all of five minutes for her to have everything packed.

“You weren’t lying when you said you could pack fast,” I say, trying to make a joke.

“I just feel like I’m being watched and it’s creepy as f**k. Ready?” She looks around the room, and I see her eyeing the long curtains by the window. I don’t hesitate and walk over to them and pull them away to show her nothing is there. I open the closet, which is empty, go to the bathroom and search around, and check the entire suite. She relaxes slightly, but continues toward the door. After packing my suitcase, I follow her, which honestly couldn’t come sooner. I’m just as happy as she is to be leaving.

We rent a car and when we sit inside she lets out a deep breath that I swear she’s been holding since she woke up in a strange room. I place my hand on her thigh and she places her hand on top of mine.

“Thank you,” she mumbles. She turns and looks at me, her head resting against the seat, finally looking relieved.

“You don’t have to thank me. I was just as scared and confused as you were this morning. I feared the worst.” I have a feeling this is only the beginning, but I don’t say that aloud.

“Before we leave, we have to go to the LVPD and file a police report. Actually, we need to go right now.”

“Okay,” she says meekly and I can tell she’s reliving every moment.

Mia can try to sabotage my relationship with Courtney, but it won’t change anything. As I glance over at Courtney, I know nothing could ever stop the way I feel about her. Not Mia, not even death itself.

My head is pounding at the same rhythm as my heart, and I feel like I drank a truckload of vodka. All day I’ve tried hard to remember every step of what happened last night but after we left the bar and went to the room, my mind goes blank. I’ve heard about blackouts when people drink too much, but this was something entirely different and it terrifies me. If Mia is capable of carrying out something of this magnitude, what else will she do? Her unpredictability is horrifying and after last night, I have no doubt in my mind she would hurt me. When I remember the note and what it said, I gasp for air. The anxiety of it all is almost too much.

I can’t say filing the police report made me feel any better. It still seems like a blur so I had to go over the scenario a few times to make sure I had every detail. To make it quicker, Drew and I filed our reports separately. I know we’ll need to talk about it in detail together, but just the thought of replaying it again makes me tense.

The next few days were supposed to be about us—about Drew finding his normal—and now we’ve been slung into a clusterfuck of drama. I feel relief as I stare at the side mirror of the car and watch the Vegas Skyline disappear.

We’re gone. We’re safe. I smile as we pull out onto Interstate 15 and head toward California. That’s all I can think right now as Drew’s hand rests on my thigh.

“We need to talk about what all happened,” Drew says and pulls me out of my thoughts.

“I know. But right now, I just want to forget about it.”

“Forgetting about it won’t make it go away,” he says sweetly, but the truth still stings.

“Would you think I was crazy if I said I wanted to get blood work taken? I want to know what’s in my bloodstream right now.”

Drew searches my face and I can see that he’s gone into cop mode. “Absolutely not. When we get back to Sacramento, we both go.”

“Couples who get tested together, stay together?” I laugh, though it’s not a laughing matter.

“I’m so sorry, Court.”

I look at him, but he keeps his eyes on the road. There’s pain on his face, and I hate that he’s blaming himself or that maybe he feels some sort of guilt.

“This isn’t your fault. There’s only one person who’s responsible for this, okay? We were having a good time and it was ruined by a psycho bitch.”

For moments, silence fills the car and I think we’re both dissecting last night and how it was orchestrated so flawlessly. How was I moved to a different hotel room without anyone noticing? I understand it’s Vegas, but I was unconscious. I have so many questions that I’m not sure I’ll ever get answers to. God, I’m so glad to be leaving.

“Thank you.” Drew interlocks his fingers with mine. “You always keep me grounded.”

My stomach begins to growl and the sounds fills the car. We both start laughing. “Is that a hint?” He lifts an eyebrow.

“I think it was a demand.”

We stop at a diner that looks like it came straight out of the nineteen-fifties. Once we’re out of the car, I watch Drew as he searches around the parking lot.

“What?” I ask.

“Just making sure we weren’t followed.” He wraps his muscular arm around my shoulders and pulls me closer to him as we walk inside.

When we sit, an older lady brings water and we order coffee and breakfast platters. I lean forward and search his face. “Do you think we were being followed?” My paranoia is at a level ten.

“No, but I can never be too careful.”

“You’re not going all detective on me right now, are you?” I give him a wink and sip my coffee. He smiles. And I can’t help but think how much I love the way his entire face lights up. I love the way he looks at me. Though we’ve been together for months now, it still seems like a dream that he’s mine. Drew finishes his coffee and scoots the empty cup to the edge of the table for a refill.

“Drew…” He looks up at me and I try to find the words as he stares into my eyes. “I’m really scared.”

“I know, sweetheart. We’re going to get through this.”

His words comfort me, but they almost aren’t enough. “I want to file a restraining order against her. I keep thinking about going home and her being in my room or something. It’s freaking me out.”

“A restraining order is a must. She no longer has a key to the house. I took it from her when she decided to use it the last time.”

“But how do you know she didn’t make a copy?” My mind is running a million miles per minute.

He lets out a deep breath. “I don’t. But I think we should get the locks changed, install security cameras, whatever it takes for you—for us—to feel safe.” His words allow me to breathe easier. “We could always get you a gun, since you apparently know how to use ten different types.”

“Jackson is going to get it for that.” I smile. “The truth is having a gun makes it more dangerous for me. What if someone breaks in and overpowers me and takes my gun and uses it against me?”

Drew goes silent and I think I’ve said too much. “Hey,” I say, “don’t go there.”

He nods and my stomach growls. Just as our waitress fills our cups with more coffee, our food is delivered, and I couldn’t be happier because I’m starving.

I try to change the subject and talk about anything and everything. “Mom invited us to come back and visit before Benita’s baby shower. Apparently, there’s a huge bake sale going down and she’ll be baking her special muffins. But I told her that it might be impossible with work.”

“Well, I hope she’ll mail us some. I need to test your recipe against hers.” The corners of his lips curl up into a cocky smirk.

“Nice try, Deputy. But I can promise you won’t be able to tell the difference between the two.”

“I think I’ll be the judge of that.” He shoves scrambled eggs into his mouth as I spread blueberry jelly on my toast. Once we’re finished eating, I feel human again. We sit there for a while, and after four cups of coffee, I’m still not ready to leave. I want to stay here—safe—as if nothing happened.

“Court?” Drew stands and grabs the check and places money on the table before we head out. Once we’re outside, walking toward the car, Drew stops and turns to me. “How would you feel if we didn’t go home right away?”

I stand and look at him like he’s my saving grace.

“When we get tired we’ll stop. If there’s something you want to see, we’ll pull over. We’re not on anyone’s clock, and I don’t want my time to end with you just yet.”

I wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze. “I love that idea.”

He bends down and kisses me. I get lost in his soft lips as he slips his tongue inside my mouth. “God, I missed your lips.”

“Well, there’s a lot more where that came from.”

We climb into the car and I’m so happy we aren’t rushing home that I can’t hide the smile on my face. There’s too much anxiety with going home, and the longer we can stay away from it all, the better. This is the perfect distraction.