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CHAPTER4
CORBIN
DRAKE: She’s on her way back to the bed-and-breakfast.
I’d been hiding in the shadows of the bed-and-breakfast—yes, like a stalker. I accepted that fact—until I received Drake’s text. Now I had to put my plan into place. I slipped the phone in my pocket and went back to leaning against my car, trying to look inconspicuous but failing.
The parking lot for Pelican Bay’s historic home was small and held few places for Hazel to park once she returned. I couldn’t miss her in my central location. Still, I didn’t want to be in public long. I wasn’t hiding out in Pelican Bay, but that didn’t mean I planned to advertise my existence to the entire town.
A blue Ford Taurus parked in the lot’s corner and Hazel got out, using her hip to close the car door. Her eyes found me the moment I pushed off my Aston Martin and casually strolled in her direction. Her hands were dirty, and she tried to brush them off on her jeans, but all that did was leave dirt smears, making what she’d been doing more obvious.
“Did you enjoy your hike?” I asked, doing my best not to get lost in the light blue color of her eyes. It reminded me of the ocean and if I wasn’t careful, I’d get swept away in them. Hazel was too pretty to be a random woman who needed my help.
While I avoided her eyes, I didn’t miss her mouth open and then close, turning into a frown. But even that and the way her nose crinkled made her look adorable.
In fact, if things were different. I’d enjoy causing that expression every day for the rest of my life.
“How did you—”
“Katy,” I answered, quickly cutting her off. We didn’t have time to waste on pointless questions that didn’t matter.
I didn’t want her to ask me any follow-up questions. Since Katy hadn’t told me anything. In reality, she probably wouldn’t have told me anything if I’d asked her. She’d make up a lie instead. Katy and Pierce were working out their issues, but Jerome said she hadn’t lessened her hatred on the rest of the Kensington line.
We were not exempt like her boyfriend, and I didn’t trust her anyway. In reality, I’d watched and listened to Hazel and Katy’s conversation earlier that morning in the dining room. Ridge Jefferson had the entire town under strict monitor at all times.
And I had a strict monitor on his monitoring.
Every month he added a new camera here and there throughout town. At this point, his watch had very few blank spots. Every time I breached his security measures, it earned me a pissed off phone call from the man himself, but I couldn’t help myself.
He’d done such a good job making it easy to spy on everyone.
Ridge had an excellent security system in place and didn’t like when people fucked with it. Too bad I never much cared what anyone else thought. I did what needed to be done to finish a job and didn’t worry about anything else.
I’d hack Ridge’s system all day if I figured out more about Hazel. Besides, it wasn’t like I was trying to do it behind his back. I left Ridge plenty of breadcrumbs to follow and it only took his men fifteen minutes to figure out it was me. Honestly, I found it impressive.
When she didn’t speak, I took a step closer to Hazel. I shouldn’t have, but I did anyway, much as I did most things in life. She didn’t move, so I used the opportunity to reach out and brush away a piece of dirt from her forehead. That made her try to bat my hand away, but I’d already tucked it safely in my pocket.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her gaze sliding back to the tall building where we met the day before.
I grinned, the same look softened a few females when my brother used it. “I decided to take on your case.”
Her eyebrows ratcheted up so fast I worried they’d fly off her forehead. “Oh, have you? That’s too bad. I found somebody else.”
She didn’t have one particular tell. No, she had them all. Hazel was the world’s worst liar. She had all the tells. Including closing her eyes and twisting her hair—all of which she did as she spoke. No way did she find someone to break the encryption on her thumb drive in less than a day. And if someone said it, they were lying to get money… or something else out of her. My right hand formed into a fist as I bit the inside of my cheek, thinking of the something else.
If someone lied to Hazel, I’d hunt him down myself. I knew most of the hackers and personally met a few who resided on American soil. They were all pigs. So was I, but… well fuck.
I didn’t have any redeeming traits either.
Except Hazel came to me first, and that meant she was mine now. I didn’t plan to let any of the dumb fucks who dabbled in hacking anywhere near her. She didn’t need a boy who was playing but a man to get the job done.
A car backfired on Main Street as it turned the corner, and everything slowed. Another ping ricocheted through the air, and then a third and a fourth. By the fifth, the horror hit me. It wasn’t a backfire.
Hazel searched the parking lot, trying to figure out where the noise came from and I threw my body on top of hers, rolling us behind the cars parked at the edge of the lot. She hit the ground hard, and I covered her, forcing her to stay even as she struggled to stand.
“Stay down,” I growled, trying to see underneath the car at our attackers.
Gunfire grew closer as Drake ran around the side of the bed-and-breakfast and returned fire at a classic blue car as it slowly crept its way down Main Street. Two men hung out the front and back windows, shooting at anything in their path.
