Following Her (Unexpected Heroes #2.5)(11)

“Take a look at the note, Ella,” he said tersely.

Finally she looked down, thinking it was going to be so much worse than it was. After reading it twice she then did the wrong thing entirely and laughed. “You’re getting all worked up about this? Really?”

“I don’t find it amusing when someone delivers a drink with a note saying to enjoy their last drink,” he said, obviously perturbed she wasn’t taking it more seriously.

“Maybe the person wanted me to enjoy my last drink of the night,” she pointed out.

“It’s a clear message, Ella, and you should be taking these sorts of threats a hell of a lot more seriously.”

“Relax, Axel. I’m a smart girl. Felix and his thugs are trying to intimidate me. So what? I won’t allow them to succeed.”

“You should also be smart enough to be afraid,” he said between clenched teeth.

“If I live my life in fear, then they win,” she told him, done with this conversation.

“Fear can keep you alive.”

“And fear can also freeze you! I won’t allow that.”

“Does it not worry you at all that they are following you? Waiting for the right moment to pounce?”

She thought about it for a moment. “And that’s all they are doing, Axel,” she said. “They are following me, or trying to intimidate me. They won’t make a move.” She had to believe that.

“They are waiting for the right time to make their move.” They wouldn’t agree on this issue. There was no point in continuing to argue with this man.

“I’m going home now, Axel,” she said, throwing a twenty onto the counter, which seemed to irritate him all over again.

He pulled out his own wallet and threw a few bills down before catching her at the door and walking her outside. Much to her frustration he had his car brought around before hers, and then waited to help her inside before following her all the way home and sitting in her driveway until she was in the house.


This was going to be a long week, or weeks, if this was the sort of behavior she could expect from Axel. She was also sure a report was being called in to her cousin before she even finished brushing her teeth.

Nobody said life was supposed to be easy, she supposed.





“Okay, seriously—you’ve been holding out on us, and that’s so not cool!”

Ella knew the blaring spotlight was on her, and there was no way she was going to get away with saying nothing. As a very capable lawyer, she’d practiced the art of twisting words to her benefit, but there were two women in the world she could never lie to: her best friends, Maycie and Reese.

“You two showed up unannounced on my doorstep. I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you. There’s just nothing to tell,” Ella said, hoping she could throw them off the scent.

“Ha! A complete stud of a man is currently scaling the side of your house with his muscles rippling and his hazel eyes twinkling, and there’s nothing to tell?” Maycie said with a knowing smirk and hands on her hips.

“He’s doing a job, that’s all,” Ella told them both as she moved to the bathroom and looked in the mirror.

“Doing a job, my ass. And why is your best shirt laid out on the bed and you’re currently searching for your Kiss-Me-Now lipstick?” Reese asked, arms crossed as she leaned against the door, zeroing in on Ella with a knowing expression.

“I don’t have Kiss-Me-Now lipstick and I have some errands to run today. I didn’t pick out my so-called best shirt. I just threw some clothes on the bed to get dressed.”

“Sure, you’re just running errands, so you’re wearing shiny red lipstick and the shirt you got on spring break senior year that matches your eyes and got you kissed by that Greek god,” Maycie said.

“Fine. I think he’s cute, but I’m not interested in hooking up with the guy. My overprotective cousin Bryson sent him here to keep me safe and you know exactly how I feel about that,” Ella said as she slapped some eye shadow on her lids. She was going to look like a clown if this interrogation didn’t stop soon.

“Now we’re getting somewhere. He’s a friend of Bryson’s? I was so bummed when that man candy got married,” Maycie said with a sigh.

“You and a million other girls,” Ella said, laughing.

“Hey, all the good ones are taken when you get as old as us,” Reese said as she sat on the edge of the tub and sighed.

“It’s not like we’re going to need a cane anytime soon,” Ella reminded her. “We’re only in our mid-twenties.”

“Yeah. So if you aren’t interested in the guy, do you mind if I have a go at him?” Maycie said with a wicked twinkle in her eyes.

Maycie’s long dark hair and exotic looks meant she didn’t need any help in the man department, but the friends loved to push each other to get a reaction. Ella refused to show one.

“He’s all yours,” she said between clenched teeth. She’d rather wade around in the sewers than see that happen, but she’d also rather skinny-dip in the public pool than admit it.

“Mmm-hmm,” was Maycie’s only response.

“Hey, maybe I want him!” Reese said. Her only tell was the sparkle in her pale green eyes, which were deceptively innocent, especially with her killer curves and luscious, naturally dark pink lips.