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And Chad’s nickname was Gilligan when he was in basic training because he got lost the first time out in the field.
He wondered if anyone knew Jack and Chad were grounded when they were kids for starting a fire in the backyard that ended up taking out the back quarter of Chad’s backyard before the fire department got it under control.
Chad lowered himself onto the boulder next to Kaeden and stared off at the river in the direction Kaeden was looking.
Kaeden was surprised to see Chad this far away from the action since his wife and kid were down there where all the fun was happening with the gold. Kaeden had purposefully kept himself out of the fray.
“You get her story out of her yet?” Chad asked, surprising Kaeden again.
Kaeden didn’t need to follow the other man’s line of sight to see who he was looking at. He had been uber aware of where Joy was since they got to the river. She was down there laughing and splashing with the rest of them and it did stupid things to his chest to see her relaxing like that. Like she didn’t have too many of the world’s cares piled on her shoulders.
And yeah, he knew something was going on with her. Knew she wasn’t telling them something.
Still, he weighed whether he should talk about it with Chad.
Chad was the company’s head of security but he was also a former Army Ranger and Kaeden knew the man had been considered a hero for some of his actions overseas.
A hero. Kaeden had long ago learned those didn’t exist. That when you got down under the skin and saw the person for who they really were, there could be a whole hell of a lot of darkness under there.
Chad apparently didn’t care if Kaeden was going to answer. “I mean, you get that she’s not who she says she is, right? But she seems like she’s a good person. So I gotta figure maybe she’s in trouble and needs our help?”
Kaeden didn’t like the way a hot streak of jealousy fired through him at the way Chad was talking about helping Joy. He should be glad for her to get help. And more, he should be glad if someone else was willing to step up to do it. If he could step back and let someone else play hero this time.
But that wasn’t the way he was wired. He had been telling himself he could walk away from a woman who needed help, but he knew that was bullshit. Not only that, but he didn’t want to watch while someone else tried to help Joy. He wanted to be the one to save her. “She tells me she just likes to move around.”
Chad snorted. “Yeah, and I’m the tooth fairy.”
Kaeden couldn’t help the grin that crossed his face at that image. Chad was a large man, to put it mildly. The scar that ran down one side of his face would look great framed by a tiara and glitter.
“Please tell me you play tea party with your daughter,” Kaeden said.
Chad laughed. “Of course I do. That girl is a slave driver. I even have to balance in the little chair because—” he affected the small high voice of a little girl— “tea is properly served at a table not on the couch.”
Kaeden could see that Chad loved his daughter. He wondered if that love would be enough to keep the man from disappointing her someday.
Chad stood. “When you find out what’s going on with her, if you need help, grab me or Logan or Jack. We’ve got your back on this.”
Kaeden didn’t let his shock at the offer show. He also didn’t let the man’s words get his hopes up. Words were easy. Actions were another thing altogether.
As Chad walked away, Kaeden’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a text from his friend at Commfarm.
No Joy Wilson, but had a Jane Walker who sounds like the woman you described. My girlfriend was in the same department as her and they were good friends. She went on leave to help her mom after a car accident but never came back.
A minute later another text came through. This one was a photo of two women.
He didn’t need to blow up the image to see that one of them was Joy. Yeah, she was looking a lot happier and carefree in the image. The women were at a restaurant and they’d leaned together, putting their arms around each other.
She looked fresh faced, the way someone who hadn’t seen all the shit life could throw at you had.
He looked across the way at her and, even though she was laughing and smiling, he could see that had changed. She knew now what the world had to offer and he was surer now than ever that whatever the world had thrown at her, it hadn’t been good.
He thought back to their exchanges. She never flinched around him or jumped at his closeness, so he didn’t think she’d been abused.
There was still that wariness, though, that said she expected whatever it was that was haunting her to show up. And he had a feeling that whatever it was she was afraid of wouldn’t have her so spooked if there wasn’t some real threat.
He just needed to find out what that threat was.
He looked back to the stream, but Joy was no longer there. He scanned the area to see where she’d gone only to see her running toward the parking lot. He stood, his heart kicking up to double time. Why would she be running?
