Garret's Gambit by Dale Mayer (book club books .TXT) 📗

He grinned, leaned over, and whispered, “Because I care about what happens to you.”

With that, he headed to the car, leaving her in shock.

*

The look on Astra’s face was priceless and worth every word. The thing is, Garret also meant it. He did care. He wasn’t sure exactly how much because it seemed like nothing was normal anymore, and his system was flooded with anger and hurt—that sense of betrayal, that sense of not being able to trust. But then just the thought of all those negative thoughts applied to Astra didn’t work at all. He knew that his thinking was skewed because of his experience with her sister, but Astra was a completely different kettle of fish.

He’d already run several checks on her since he’d arrived. Everything had come back positive. Everybody who worked with her loved her. She had a little bit of a history with a past relationship that was concerning, but that nagged at him more because Garret wanted to beat the crap out of the guy.

She had called for assistance at one point in time, and, when the police arrived, they took the boyfriend away for making death threats against her. He disappeared from view shortly afterward and hadn’t popped up anywhere, so Garret wasn’t exactly sure of the where, what, and how, but that was one year ago. So this guy was really off the radar or not around at all.

Garret wasn’t certain how badly affected she had been, and that was always a concern for him. But the thought of coming back here and getting tied up in another relationship that was as traumatic as the one with her sister was something Garret didn’t want to do.

Immediately that same voice of reason reminded him that it wouldn’t be the same because Astra was a completely different person. She had a career of her own and a life of her own. She had been through relationships and understood the trauma of the breakups.

It was a completely different scenario, and he had to remember to give her the chance to get over whatever it was that needed to be dealt with. Because some things in life were worth the wait. And that included his own ability to open himself back up to being hurt again, if that’s what he chose to do. That’s not what he wanted to think about, but it was definitely there in front of them, and the longer he looked at Astra, and the more he was around her, the bigger the issue became. As he stood outside, staring at the sky, Kano joined him.

“What are you thinking about, looking like that?” Kano asked.

“I like Astra,” he said, “and I can sure as hell see why I don’t want anything to do with Amy anymore, although, apparently at the time, I couldn’t see it for some reason.”

“Because you had it all worked out,” Kano said. “Like you always used to do. You’d have a plan ten steps ahead of where we were, before anybody else even got close to it. You probably figured it was time to get married, and that was just the way it would go.”

“Makes me sound like a real jerk,” Garret said. “I guess maybe I rushed her. Clearly I didn’t realize what I was getting into or what I was pushing her into.”

“Relationships can be like that,” Kano said. “Doesn’t mean the next one will be though.”

“No,” he said. “That’s true.” Just then, Astra and her sister came out, but instead of even looking at Amy, his gaze was locked on to Astra. “I like her,” Garret muttered to Kano.

“She’s a much better choice for you.”

“No choice involved,” he said. “I know it, and that’s how I can tell how serious I am.” At that, he looked at Kano, shook his head, and said, “Wait. That’s not what I meant.”

“I know that too,” he said, as he smiled and shook his head. “I’m driving.”

“I want to drive,” Garret said, not willing to give over the driver’s side door.

“Nope,” Kano said. “You need to sort yourself out a little more. Besides, I think we need to head to Charles’s.”

“With the women?”

“Yeah, we need a place to hide, and that’s as good as we can get.”

“Right,” he said. “I guess I should call him then.”

“Exactly.”

After Garret helped the two women into the car, he stepped away a few steps and called Charles.

“There you are,” Charles said. “Are you coming this way?”

“We’re about ninety minutes out,” he said. “Maybe a little bit longer. I’m not alone.”

“Good enough. Do you know how to get in?”

He smiled. “I do, and I’ll send you a text when we’re close.” He hung up and walked over to see that Kano was already in the driver’s seat. Garret got into the vehicle, and they started back into London. He looked at Astra. “Did you grab everything she had there?”

Amy glared at him, speaking of her like she wasn’t even here.

Astra held up the bag with the few groceries and the sleeping bag. “Yes, we’ve got it all.”

“Good,” he said.

“Where are we going now?” Astra asked.

“To a friend of ours,” he said. “Somebody who’s got a safe place for us to spend a few days.”

“I hate to intrude,” Astra murmured.

“Sure,” he said.

“I’m assuming this is kind of the work he does too, so he’s used to people bunking down whenever they need to?” Astra asked.

“If that’s what we need to do,” he said. “He works with several groups that I know over in the US, plus Bullard’s camp in Africa.”

“Bullard?” Amy said. “That was something he said.”

Garret spun around and looked at her. “Who said that, and what was said?”

Amy stared at him in confusion. “I’m not exactly sure, but there was some mention of Bullard as part of the conversation on the phone call before Gregg left.”

“Huh,” he said. “You don’t remember any more of it?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t even remember what it was. I just caught that last