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“Me?”
“Don’t worry about it. We’re here to support you through your issues.” They reached the spacious front office.
Trinny stopped. “I don’t understand, Corrine. Why are they arguing aboutme?”
She smiled, and it extended into her eyes. “The Abel brothers are hotheaded to say the least. They like to fight amongst themselves—a lot.”
Seeing that she wouldn’t get a straight answer from the woman, Trinny drifted to a tall window with the same beautiful view overlooking the field and the backdrop of mountains.
Now she saw the beauty of her surroundings were just an illusion like everything else. Being in the small town wasn’t offering any more clues about her direction in life.
She folded her arms and stared at the vivid colors…knowing her life was really shades of gray.
* * * * *
Jaren jumped to his feet, hands planted on the table as he leaned across it to glare at Jace. “Does something amuse you, brother?”
Jace leaned back in his chair and gave him a nonchalant look in return. “You sure you’re the right bodyguard for her?”
His throat worked around a lump of anger lodged there. When he realized both his brothers were watching his every move when it came to Trinny, it pissed him off. He also knew immediately that he’d defend her until the minute she was safe, whether he was handed her case or not.
And fact was, he’d fight for her case. He would fight to be her bodyguard because he’d go fucking nuts if he was forced to step down. Not knowing if she was safe wasnotan option.
Both of his brothers knew him far too well. They saw what he was doing.
“You’re not hiding your smiles very damn well,” he grumbled.
Jace passed a hand over his face as if he could rub the snide grin off it, but of course it creased his eyes. And Judd…hell, he was grinning outright.
Jaren slapped a palm on the table. “I’m not stepping down from her case. The trust’s already formed between us.”
“Lots of trust is formed in the bedroom…” Judd’s remark was like flame to a fuse.
“You have no room to talk! Any of you!” he boomed out in a roar. He swept his gaze over the table filled with similar offenders. Each one had, at some point, gotten involved with a woman under their protection. The entire team had a bad track record, and of coursetheywere all pardoned, but Jaren’s one-night stand had turned into a job protecting Trinny and suddenly everybody was judging him.
“Sit down, Abel. Don’t make this worse for yourself.” Ross’s command broke through the red haze that had quickly clouded his vision.
He dropped into his seat and stared at the table. Fuck. He wasn’t even acting like himself. No wonder his brothers were picking up on the energy. But if they’d shared one hell of a night between the sheets with a woman nearly killed in an explosion, losing everything she had, they’d be riled too.
Boss or not, he turned his head and sent Ross a glare. “She’s my ward. You’re not taking that from me. Not when the trust was hard-won.”
“Hard being the operative word,” Judd drawled.
Jace let out a snigger, which he attempted to stifle behind his fist. Several others, including his good friend Casey and even Lexis were hiding similar reactions.
Jaren felt his eyes squeeze shut in annoyance and then refocused on his boss. “Just tell me where I can take her to keep her safe.”
Ross rubbed at his jaw. “Hunting lodge is out. My father’s got a friend from Colorado staying there so they can get in some fly fishin’.”
“My place then.”
Judd shook his head. “Ari and I will be moving back in for a few weeks while renovations are going on in our house. Remember?”
“Shit. Yeah. It’s too visible anyway. I can take her out of Stone Pass to one of the hotels.”
“Take the lodge.” Modeen’s offer had them all looking down the table at him. “Corrine and I are flying out tomorrow to meet with the head of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Colorado.”
Jaren knew some FBI bigwigs had contacted WEST Protection about starting their own task force that tracked homegrown terrorists. Jaren expressed interest at the time, but now he was more than knee-deep in this thing with Trinny, and he was damn well seeing it through to the end.
