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“On my way.” Jac looked tired but scrubbed his face with his hands and stood taller. “Let’s get out of here. It looks like snow, and I want to get home. We’ll deal with Ramirez later.”
“Calling the girls. Levi and Mark are out of town right now on assignment,” said Garrett. “I’ll have Callie call them to see if they want to bunk up with someone.”
“We wanted to have a girls’ night out,” complained Becky.
“Baby, you can do it tomorrow. Saturday is a better night anyway.” Carter rubbed her back as she leaned into her sweet, bossy man.
“We were going to Ivy’s place.”
“And now you’ll do it tomorrow.” Carter’s voice was taking on a decided edge.
Becky shook her head. “Can’t. They are going somewhere this weekend.”
Kaden spoke up from behind the group. “She’s right. Maybe they can do it next week.”
Becky pulled out of Carter’s arms and walked off. Carter let her go, and for some reason, Becky wanted to cry because of it. She was a mess. Lately, she had difficulty spending time with Jessie and Mallory. They were pregnant, and Becky ached to have a baby so badly that it hurt her heart to be near them for too long. How could she be happy for them and resentful at the same time?
All of that emotional confusion, Carter working late all week, the incident last week, Ramirez tonight, and the recent discovery that her dad’s inventory was incredibly off this close to tax time had been too much. She’d acted the petulant child and she’dknown it, but she wanted Carter to take over and he hadn’t done that in a real way for entirely too long. Stomping and crying was the only thing she knew to do.
Becky heard a text notification. She glanced at the message, but her tears blurred her vision too much. Wiping them away and trying to stem the flow, she could finally read the screen. It was from Ivy. Becky leaned against her car and read it.
“Hey, are you coming over tonight?”
Becky sighed and then replied. “The guys said we weren’t having our get-together tonight.”
“You leave that up to me. See you at seven.”
Serves those guys right, but now she didn’t know if she wanted to go. Carter didn’t get to dictate to her if he wasn’t willing to Daddy her, be her husband, or make babies with her. Except he was pretty heavy into the Daddy zone just a little bit ago. Could it be that he didn’t want them with her? It sounded far-fetched, but who knew, anymore? And she hated that she was obsessed with this issue, but she was.
With renewed determination and eagerness to get home to change out of her work clothes, which were usually like the guys when they were on assignment, business grade attire but she had the addition of pumps, and her feet were killing her. She heard a man on the phone as she reached down to grab the handle of her car door.
It wasn’t Carter because he hadn’t followed her. She listened momentarily and heard something she knew she wasn’t supposed to hear. Ramirez was talking to the men he’d brought with him and someone on the other end of the phone line while wisps of gray cigarette smoke curled from the partially open window. The phone was on speaker.
“Reynaud is playing hardball. If he doesn’t want to help us, we will need to convince him he does.”
“Why can’t we just go to another security company? There are lots of bodyguard places that don’t care about the reason behind the job.”
“Because Reynaud is the best. His people aren’t only vetted; they have experience and training that is second to none. The problem is they also come with ethics, and business is so good they will turn down even the generous offer I made him, if it’s against his morality line.”
One of the goons in the SUV said, “We could do the job. Want us to mess him up for you? It’d be child’s play.”
Ramirez laughed. “You would not come out of that well in either case. No, I have other ways to convince him that this job is one he wants to accept. I can’t afford for him not to take this job.” He took his phone off speaker. “Now let’s go. I’ve got another meeting to attend.”
The luxury SUV started to pull out. When Becky turned to verify who was talking, her eyes slammed into the steady gaze of Ramirez’s black eyes. He stared for a second longer and then nodded before the car pulled away.
Becky jumped into her Subaru Forester that she had bought last year on a whim. She had wanted a family-friendly car but wondered if it was a waste of money. The car was great, but the reason behind spending a little bit extra had fallen flat. As she pulled out of the drive, she knew Carter wouldn’t be happy with her.
She had been instructed to park in the underground parking garage at all times since the shooting had occurred earlier in the year, but she’d gotten back late after getting some shopping done at lunch. She parked in front because it took nearly five minutes to park in the garage, take the elevator, and walk the building length to her office.
She could redirect him with the overheard information and avoid the lecture for not parking where she was expected to.She had no idea what it meant, but she knew it was important information. What did Ramirez mean when he said he had ways to convince Jac to take the job? Shoot. Jac would be mad, and Carter would likely spank her, but she could say it was lucky she was there. Otherwise, they would never have known. Nah, that wouldn’t work. They would both say she’d broken the rules. The men were so black and white sometimes.
She would shower, change clothes, grab something to eat, and head over to Ivy’s. She’d help her set things up. Carter sent her a message and said he’d be a little later because he would stop and check in on a job they had just acquired.
Carter: Should I bring something home for dinner?
Becky: Not for me. I don’t need anything. I’m going to Ivy’s tonight.
The phone rang, and Becky rolled her eyes as she answered. “Carter. I’m running late. What do you need?”
