Protecting Ellis (Loved by the SEAL #1)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ellis felt accomplished. She’d gone up to her apartment and spent the day packing up her things that she wanted to move down to Trip’s place and then figuring out what she could sell versus what she would want to store. They were talking about moving into a bigger place. Not a huge house, but maybe one of the duplexes not too far away. It would give them an extra bedroom, though small, and a room at the front that could be either a dining room or a sitting room. The duplex would also have an outdoor area so they could have people over for grilling. They were moving forward in their relationship which made her happy.

She was coming out of her apartment when she saw Bud and Zip in the parking lot. She waved, and they came over, rushing up the stairs to take her bags from her.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were coming over.”

“Yeah,” Bud said. “We’re meeting Trip here. He got stuck at a light, so we were a little faster. He should be here any second.”

Zip pointed at the parking lot. “There he is.”

Ellis’s heart filled with love and happiness. She missed him when he was at work. It was silly because they both worked, but she really liked spending time with Trip. It did make their time together special.

Trip jogged up from the lot, giving Ellis a quick kiss before opening the door. “Hey, guys. Thanks for helping Ellis.”

“Sure. We’re looking forward to helping her move her studio.”

“I can’t believe you all want to help with that.” Ellis was surprised Trip’s friends wanted to help out so much. She would owe them big time. Just like with Remi. They’d talked a few times since she’d helped, but she hadn’t seen Remi again. They needed to get together so she could show Remi her photos from Africa.

“So, Trip, show us what you’ve got,” Zip said.

Ellis took her bag to the bedroom and put up the clothes she’d brought to his place. Once she had everything hung or put up in drawers, she stepped out into the main room and saw the guys were huddled around Trip’s laptop.

“What’s up?” she asked as she stepped into the kitchen.

Trip glanced up, his lips thinning. “I asked someone, a retired SEAL, for help in looking into the attack. They’ve got some information, but it’s not much.”

“Oh.” A part of her wanted to push thoughts of the attack out of her mind, and another part was curious about what had been found.

“Do you all have any idea who did it?”

Bud shook his head. “No, not yet.”

A line had developed between Zip’s eyebrows, and his lips were down in a frown. “The issue is there isn’t a camera that tracks where he goes after he runs off. None of the cameras pick him up well enough we know which vehicle is his or if he lived in the area. So he either stopped somewhere close or he disappeared into thin air.”

“I haven’t seen any videos of him. Maybe I recognize him or something.”

“Hold up.” Trip held up his hand, and she paused. He looked up at her apologetically.

“What?” She didn’t think Trip was going to answer, but then he sighed.

“It was the video from the officer’s dashboard camera. It was disturbing.”

“Oh.” She rolled her shoulders, shrugging off the weirdness. “I don’t remember what happened.”

Zip met her gaze. “That’s probably good.”

She shrugged. “Show me a different video of him. I’ll see if I can tell you anything.”

Trip turned the computer around, and she watched the guy running away from her building. He was dressed in black and had something covering his face. There was nothing distinguishable about his run or how he moved.

“I can’t tell anything. I do remember his face being covered. I don’t really remember anything else after a few hits.”

Trip came around the table and put his arms around her. “You okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Maybe it was a random person, but it didn’t feel random. The fact his face was covered makes me think it was more than just a random tweaker in the lot or someone trying to rob me.”

“The guy didn’t take anything, did he?” Zip asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. There was money in my purse, and it was still there when I woke up in the hospital.”

Bud played another video, this one with the guy running toward the camera. “This is another shot. And I’m glad you’re living here with Trip. Also, it’s good that you’re moving your studio.”

She hated that she had to move, but she’d already decided, so it wasn’t the attack that made her change her location. It was time for her to focus more on studio work and less on having a shop where people could come in to buy her work.

“It’s closer to the apartment, so that’s really nice.” She wanted to look at the positive aspects instead of focusing on the negative stuff.

Zip cleared his throat, his gaze flicking to Trip before bouncing back to her. “Trip mentioned that you may head to Europe.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know yet. The attack delayed whatever trip I was thinking of doing. I’m in contact with one of the publications I work with, and I might be going to New Zealand first.”

Zip flashed a smile. “Wow, New Zealand. That’s a beautiful country.”

“Have you been there?” she asked.

The guys shrugged and Trip answered. “There was a training mission. It was one of the best placed we’ve done training.”

“Oh, nice. My trip is just the talking stage right now. I won’t know for a few weeks, maybe more. And it wouldn’t be until March of next year.”

Zip looked shocked. “Oh wow. That far out?”

“They have to plan, get the whole team set up. There are so many people. They need someone to write the script, someone for voiceovers, the camera people, and the photographers. It’s a lot. I’d be there for stills, not video.”

“That sounds like a lot,” Bud said.

She nodded. “It is, but I like working with them. I have a good relationship with the company and they pay well.”

Zip’s phone buzzed. “Oh, I have to take off. I’m seeing Wolf and Caroline this weekend. I’ll see if he has any more information.”

“Thanks, man.” Trip did some handshake hug thing that she didn’t understand, but it worked for them. Bud took off, too, leaving them alone.

“It was good to see them.” She liked his friends. They were good for him, and they were nice to her.

“I hope seeing the video didn’t disturb you.”

She shook her head. “No. I’m good. I mean, it’s weird thinking about what happened, but I’m good for the most part. Like I’m not waking up having issues. I think it’s a blessing I can’t remember anything.”

He brushed his lips against hers in a sweet kiss, then stepped back. “We can heat up leftovers. Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah. That sounds good.”

“Awesome.”

“Let me pop something into the microwave, and you can change.”

“Thanks. Maybe we can finish that movie tonight.”

Ellis threw her head back, laughter spilling out. “Sure, we can attempt it again. But giving you a blow job was much more fun.”

He snorted. “Yeah, that was better.”

“We’ll see how it goes.”

Being with Trip was fun. She’d never experienced a relationship like this. While she was heating up the food, she pulled up her email. She’d meant to do it before, but after the attack, Gloria had been handling everything important, calling her if she needed input and telling her about everything that had come in.

Gloria had mentioned that there were a few emails from her parents, but she’d ignored them. Maybe she could catch up on her emails this week. Ellis dreaded looking into what her parents wanted. They hadn’t handled their last meeting well. They were way too pushy and wanted her to follow their demands. She had been on her own for too long to just blindly obey her father.

It took a moment for the emails to load, and she saw that Gloria had created a folder for her personal stuff, which she appreciated. Before she opened the folder, she looked over the work emails. It was exactly what Gloria had told her about. Nothing surprising had popped up. She was impressed by the number of orders she’d received. Her bank balance was healthy, but she needed to really go through her expenses and income. She sighed as Trip stepped out of the main room.

“Hey, everything okay?”

She rolled her eyes. “Just looking at email. I haven’t really kept up after the attack. It’s time I start getting back into work mode.”

“Well, I’m here if you want help.”

“Thank you. I’ll start looking into it tomorrow. Right now, I’m happy with what I saw. It’s just a lot of work I have to get back into.”

He gave her a hug before grabbing plates. “I’m hungry. Maybe we could head out to the beach tonight and watch the sun go down.”

“That sounds good. I’d like that.”

She was incredibly happy with her life with Trip. Being with him wasn’t difficult at all, which was such a huge change from what she was used to. She wished she had met him earlier in her life but was happy now to have what they did.