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“No,” I said slowly, echoing my earlier conversation with Liz and getting my libido under control. “I’ll work at Rose Over Bros during the day and keep my shifts at Brooks’ in the evenings.”
“Why?” He’d leaned forward, bracing his forearms on the table between us, waiting patiently for my answer. I squirmed under his scrutiny. No way in hell I was telling him that I was constantly teetering on the precipice of being homeless. That I had to watch every penny I spent, plan our meals around what was on sale and speed through my showers to help keep our water bill low.
“Why do you work where you work?” Ha! Answer his question with another question, good move, Delgado.
“It’s the only place that’s safe enough to have me as an employee.” That answer was…odd. This was the most he’d ever talked to me and I found myself desperate to learn more about the man who’d made it his personal mission to watch me.
“What does that mean?”
“The usual. Please.” He relaxed back in his chair and crossed his arms over his wide chest. His eyes took on a blank look, completely shutting down. Apparently question and answer time was over.
I nodded my head and spun on my heel, rushing to the kitchen. My heart raced in my chest as the door swung shut behind me. I collapsed against the wall, sucking in a lungful of grease-flavored air.
Somehow a few minutes of conversation had felt more intimate than when he watched me. Pushing away from the wall, I waved off a curious Bear and put in his order. By the time I returned to the main dining area to check on my tables, I had my smile back in place.
Normally, I avoided looking his way unless I was dropping off his food or check. But tonight, I found that I could barely keep my eyes off of him. It felt like things had changed between us and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for what came next.
6
GAGE
Surprisingly, the glass didn’t shatter when I slammed through the front door of Falls Security.
Ignoring Jesse’s shocked face, I went straight to my office and flung my overnight bag against the wall, collapsing into my desk chair with a groan.
“Welcome back, rough assignment?”
Barely lifting my head, I glared at Sam. She had one hand propped on the doorframe to my office and a shit-eating grin on her face. We’d flipped a coin for this one and I’d lost.
“Not rough, a fucking nightmare and you know it. We’ve got to stop taking these jobs, I nearly got my nuts shot off by the wife.”
Simple surveillance, that’s how Gray had presented it. Take a few pictures, make a few notes. The husband had hired us to document what his wife was doing while he was out of town on business. Turns out she was doing the local police chief, who also happened to be the client’s brother. The husband had come home right as his wife had her tongue down his brother’s throat, kissing him goodbye on the front steps. An absolute war broke out in the middle of the suburbs.
The three of them were shouting, cussing up a storm and losing their absolute shit on each other on the freshly cut lawn. Nosey neighbors were poking their heads outside, half of them filming on their phones and the other half calling the cops. Which was hilarious considering the brother was in full uniform. When the wife pulled the brother’s gun off his duty belt, I’d had the privilege of taking her down before she could shoot the two idiots.
Gray didn’t pay me enough for this shit. During my next review I was asking for a raise and an extra week of vacation.
“Oh, come on, Gage, I’ve seen the pictures and the wife couldn’t have weighed more than a buck ten. There’s a nice one of you mid leap on the front page of The Chronicle’s website. Jesse has been fielding calls from new clients all morning. Besides, you still have your nuts. Consider it case closed, good job.”
I flipped her the bird and she left my office, cackling laughter echoing in her wake. Sam had been way too happy lately. It was making me punchy.
She was right, though. The assignment may have ended on a shitty note but it could’ve been worse. I didn’t have to dig deep to find the real reason I was so anxious.
It’d been three days since I’d seen Mia and I felt like an addict going through withdrawals. After the night at Brooks’ where we’d had our first real conversation, I’d been on edge. That night I’d gone to her place like usual and watched her from my spot. Mia hadn’t looked out the window once but I could tell she knew I was out there. It was in the set of her shoulders while she cleaned dishes in the kitchen, like she was purposely not looking my way.
When she’d gone to bed, I’d done my usual sweep of the house, making sure it was secure before seeing to the loose handrail. There was no satisfaction of a job well done when I shook the bar to make sure it didn’t move. No contentment that even though I couldn’t have her, I’d at least taken one of the many worries off of Mia’s hands.
Something had shifted between us and watching out for her was no longer enough. Being on the outside looking in wasn’t enough, I needed more. More conversations, more seeing her beautiful, expressive face while she thought about how to answer my questions, more ofher. I sighed in frustration, remembering that it didn’t matter what I wanted.
When I’d started watching Mia, I’d made a silent promise to keep her and Miles safe. If I were to push for something more, I’d be breaking that promise. I couldn’t ask her out on a date like a normal man. When I’d told her earlier that Falls Security was the only place safe enough for me to work, I hadn’t been exaggerating.
When my enlistment had ended, the flashbacks had been bad. Everyday sights and sounds could trigger a memory that threw me into fight or flight mode. I’d needed to be around people who understood, who would have no problem punching me in the face to break me from the terrors of my past. People who’d gone through the same things I had.
It’s not like I could sleep in the same bed as her. Hell, not even the same house. What would she say when I woke screaming in the middle of the night, so sure that I was in the middle of combat, fighting for my life? What if I hurt her during one of my nightmares?
A cold sweat broke out on my skin at the thought. No, the only way to keep her safe was to make sure that I kept things the way they were. I was her protector and that had to be enough.
It sounded more noble than it was. Watching her fed something dark within me that craved her light, wanted to swallow it whole. And there was no arguing that it’d gotten worse if three days away had me feeling this off-kilter.
