Hunt and Prey (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 8) by Kaylie Hunter (novels to read for beginners txt) 📕

to me. She stood inches away, gauging my anger. “You good now?”

“I’m not leaving.”

“It’s no longer your decision. Do you hear me?”

We stood glaring at each other, neither of us willing to back down.

“Hi,” Greg said from the corner. “I’m Greg.”

“Hi, Greg,” Bridget said, returning from the kitchen to grab the rest of the bottles. “You should leave, Greg.”

“Okay,” he said as he scurried for the door.

“Thanks for the report,” I told him, turning away from Kelsey.

“Umm, should I call someone?” he whispered loudly to me, watching Kelsey over my shoulder.

“No. I’m fine. She’s my sister.” I opened the door, checked the hallway to ensure it was still clear, then held it open for him.

“I thought you said she was your cousin.”

“She’s both. Our family tree has a few kinks. Drive safe.”

He wandered down the hallway toward the stairs, scratching his chin.

Kelsey turned to Spence, who had returned to his chair and uncapped another beer. “You should leave, too.”

“No,” he said. He leaned back, stretching his legs under the table. He slowly drank his beer as he watched her.

Kelsey smirked, raised her phone, and took a picture of Spence. Spence didn’t say anything, just continued to watch her as she texted someone. My guess was she was ordering Tech to run a background.

Spence glanced over at me and smirked. “Well, she’s fun.”

Kelsey threw a glare at him but turned down the hall toward my bedroom. Bridget returned again, this time with a wet rag to wash the table.

Spence lifted his beer so she could wipe the section in front of him before he looked back at me. “You going with her?”

“Depends. She needs to explain what she’s doing here.”

Bridget snorted. “She got a phone call that someone was trying to kill the second most important person in her life.  How calm would you be?”

“I’m a cop. It’s part of the job.”

“That’s what she said. Then she found out that whoever is after you isn’t some everyday thug. The whole family flew down. We rented a private estate packed with every available bodyguard, and—” she paused to glance down the hall, “—she brought the kids. Do you know how scary that is for her?”

“I can’t just leave, Bridget. This is my home. It’s where I feel safe.”

Bridget looked around at my apartment. “Here?”

“Are you snubbing on my apartment?”

“Yes,” she said, nodding. “This place is a dump.”

I looked around, shrugging. “It needs fresh paint. And new carpet. But other than a few cosmetic updates, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Bridget raised an eyebrow before lifting her eyes to the dining room light above us. “There’s duct tape holding your twenty-dollar fake-brass plastic chandelier together.”

I focused on Bridget, refusing to look at—or be embarrassed by—the dining room light that I’d taped together after the chain had snapped.

“Okay.” Bridget returned with the dishrag to the kitchen. “But you should really think about coming with us. Between the house and guesthouse, there’s over eight-thousand square feet. There’s also a pool, hot tub, and an outdoor tiki lounge. Not only would you be safe, but you could pretend it’s a vacation.”

“If I go, Kelsey wins. And she’ll keep bossing me around.”

Bridget shook her head. “Does your life mean so little to you that you’d turn down a safe place to stay just so you can make a point to Kelsey?”

“I have safe houses. I have other places I can go.”

Bridget walked over and sat at the table. “Then tell me, why are you here? Why haven’t you moved to one of those safe houses?”

I didn’t have an answer for her.

“She can’t,” Kelsey said as she returned with an oversized duffle bag. “It feels too much like the bad guy wins if she leaves. And we Harrison girls don’t like hiding.” She dropped the bag near the door. “I have an idea that might soften the blow, though.”

I eyed her sideways. To be honest, the pool and hot tub were good selling points, but she was right. It felt like I was running away. “I’m listening.”

“You hate shopping, dealing with contractors, and all that other nonsense. Turn Bridget loose on your apartment. You stay at the mansion a few days while she has your apartment remodeled.”

I looked down at my table and considered it. The six screws holding the table leg together stared back at me. “I have some things in the apartment that would need to be moved first.”

“I already emptied the safe,” Kelsey said, pointing toward the duffle. “And the hidden gun cubby.”

“We should pack anything else you want to keep,” Bridget said. “That way, the contractors won’t have to decide what stays and goes.”

“Waiting for movers and finding a storage unit will take too long. I want to get back to the kids.” Kelsey said.

“Most of the furniture is junk,” I said, kicking the table leg and watching the table wobble. “There’s a vacant apartment next door. I can store what I want to keep there.”

I walked into the bedroom and emptied a box of miscellaneous crap onto the floor. I set the box on the bed and started packing knickknacks and memorabilia. By the time I made my way through the bedroom and bathroom, returning to the dining room, Kelsey had sorted my desk and file cabinets. Where they’d found the boxes, now full and stacked by the door, I didn’t know. Bridget had bagged the rest of my shoes and clothes in garbage bags. Spence remained sitting at the table, watching us, while he drank.

“You staying or coming with us?” I asked him.

Spence wiggled his eyebrows. “You’re imagining me in that hot tub, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know him,” Kelsey said, shaking her head. “I’m not willing to risk the kids’ safety on a stranger.”

I started