I pulled my jacket tighter around me, cringing at the chill in the air. She was never gonna turn on the heat, even in an unseasonably cold late autumn. Tonya was a machine. “Your girl wanting something a little more her style?”
“No. As rich as Mere is, she’s weirdly comfortable around here, but I’m making enough money that I’m ready to make a move. I could mess with Woodside or Elmhurst. Maybe get real extra and look at places around Steinway.”
“Ugh.”
Tonya smirked. “Right? But there’s good bars around there. Mere’s friends could come around more and go somewhere besides our apartment.”
Spoken like a true grumpy bastard. Tonya had always been antisocial as hell. In the past, I’d read it as her thinking she was too good to talk to me. Now, I saw it was her nature.
“I’ll start looking for a place.” Definitely not in Astoria. She could go there with Meredith, but that neighborhood was way out of my income level. I was not trying to get some random roommate. “I can’t afford to take over your lease.”
“I’ll wait until you get settled for us to move. I’m not in a real rush.”
“Appreciate it,” I said.
It was probably more kindness than I deserved.
We sat in silence for a minute, then she glanced over at me again. “So, last night. You still have a hard-on for Raymond or what?”
I sucked in a deep breath to keep from coming back at her fast and furious and full of defensive rage. It was something I’d been working on for the past several years, part of me reimagining myself as a person who wasn’t a total piece of shit, but it was hard. It was real hard. Especially after I’d spent the whole previous night being in an office plastered with posters of Raymond and his squad from a QFindr photoshoot, and him in the flesh. With his boyfriend.
“I don’t like being around the kid. That’s it.”
“Kid? We’re older than you, papito.” She turned the wheel, voice a low rumble in the dark car. “I’ll be real. I asked Stephanie, and she had a couple of theories.”
A vein in my head began to throb.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, just say so,” Tonya continued. “But you staring him and his man down like that? It was obvious. Chester noticed too. So you need to chill out.”
“Noted,” I said stiffly. “I don’t want to talk about it any further than that.”
Tonya nodded.
I glared out the window with my teeth clenched.
Why did they have to be in my business? Why did she have to go to Stephanie? My sister didn’t bother to say two words to me at that party, or any other time, and yet she could sit around and tell people her fucking theories?
Yeah. I needed to move out. Trouble was, I wasn’t even sure I had real credit. I’d never had a place in my name in my entire twenty-four years of being alive. Part of me wondered if me and Stephanie’s trifling ass parents had stolen my identity ages ago and ruined my credit? She’d cautioned me to check my report when I’d first returned from Chicago, claiming she’d fought to get questionable stuff off her own, but I’d slept on the advice. Now I was paranoid. What if I couldn’t get an apartment? Maybe I was already screwed.
The more I considered that possibility, the more pissed off I became. By the time Tonya rolled into a rare available parking spot on the street near the building, she told me I had my murder face on again. I didn’t bother to change it. It was six in the morning and nobody would be present for this meeting with the heads except a bunch of other security dudes who had their own back-off expressions in place.
I shoved my fists into the pockets of my bomber jacket, brim of my cap over my eyes and mouth set in a slash as we entered the office. There were only a couple of lights on, which I liked. Easier to blend into the shadows with less eyes on me.
I let Tonya lead the way to the big conference room with the floor-to-ceiling windows. Everyone was already there, but no one looked at us as if we were late. Oli waved, Aiden jerked his chin the same way I always did, and Caleb sat there in a state of worry. His hair was rumpled, and he was wearing a sweatshirt instead of a jacket. Yikes.
Around the table the other Stone Security dudes—Stavros, Chester, Sean, and Kevin—looked alert. They always looked alert. Even Tonya appeared ready to bust someone’s head open at the first sign of a shifted shadow, but I needed some goddamn coffee to keep my eyes open. No wonder they kept me guarding doors and not actual people.
“What’s going on?” Tonya asked, sitting next to Chester. “Where’s Mr. Baptiste?”
“On his way,” Caleb said, tone clipped. “So he said.”
How urgent could this be if we were the only ones having urgency? I was starting to think I could have slept another hour and had my morning jerk before drinking my usual three cups of coffee in peace.
“Okay, so what happened?” Tonya always wanted to get right to the point. Zero chill or time for suspense. The guys around the table looked grateful for her directness since they’d probably been cooling their heels for a while. “Was he hurt? Your message was cryptic.”
“Not hurt,” Oli said.
“But someone was lurking outside of his house, and they left him a message.” Aiden’s fingers flew over his phone seconds before six phones chirped at once. “They left that in his mailbox and lurked around long enough to see him pick it up.”
The picture that popped into my text messages was of a plain piece of paper that just said Fuck you, mouthpiece.
“They know where he lives, and they used the information,” Oli said. “The major difference here is that in the past, when the trolls planned something new, there was all of this giddy nonsensical online chatter about it first. This time, there was nothing in any of the usual places. No one has mentioned a new plan. And that has us worried.”
Everyone around me started nodding in agreement, brows furrowed, and mouths pressed into lines. I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to look concerned. It wasn’t easy. I’d grown up in a neighborhood where everyone with a vendetta knew my address and apartment number. Enemies knowing how to find me had been a part of life, and that had been part of the reason Stephanie had forced me to go to Chicago. This fuckboy bullshit online wasn’t fun, but it didn’t send a chill down my spine either. I was confident I could handle one of these bullies once they showed themselves.
“So, Clive is getting a security detail?” Tonya guessed, trying to expedite the conversation.
“Yes,” Caleb said. “Whether he wants it or not.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“There’s going to be some shifting around,” Aiden chimed in. “Maybe hiring someone new, taking Chester off Jace, or reassigning Kevin to Clive so we just have Vic at the office—”
I cleared my throat softly, cutting Aiden off. “No offense, but shouldn’t we wait until the man gets here before making decisions? Everyone else chose their own guard.”
Chester, my immediate supervisor, gave me an exasperated look. A real shut up, kid stare. “We have limited resources, and this is the first time someone has shown up at one of their homes. It’s a matter of security not personal preferen—”
“I get that,” I interrupted. “But telling him what’s gonna happen without giving him a choice, when he already had zero interest in having a shadow, is just gonna turn him off even more.”
They all knew I was right but because it was me saying it, the young guy with less experience and the shady background, I received looks of annoyance instead of agreement from my fellow guards. Well, Tonya was nodding but she was level headed and normal. The other guards were all up their own asses most of the time. You’d think they were special agents, not bodyguards. They had a real hard-on about me getting certified through Job Corps instead of having some hardcore military background the way they did.
Chester exhaled slowly and leaned in.
I could feel it coming, the condescending tone and not-so-subtle order to shut my mouth, and braced. Once upon a time, I’d have told them to go fuck
themselves. Unfortunately, this was the new me who wanted to succeed in life, which meant figuring out how to swallow my pride and take shit. But the lecture didn’t come.
Everyone’s attention shifted to the door behind me, and I felt more than heard another presence in the room. I looked over my shoulder to see Clive Baptiste framed in the doorway wearing a damp-looking gray T-shirt beneath a hoodie with a pair of sweatpants. He had on running shoes and was carrying a water bottle.
While everyone freaked their shit over his security, the man had gone for a run that had led to him showing up to late to his own meeting. I almost laughed. I probably would have if I wasn’t so caught by his intense gaze. It pinned me to the spot, preventing me from moving or speaking, and stoked a fire I hadn’t felt in a long while. I swallowed, and I swore everyone could hear my throat click.
Clive’s eyes flicked over me slowly before shifting to the others. I released a quiet breath.
“So,” he said flatly. “You were serious about an immediate meeting.”
“Yeah, I was fucking serious,” Aiden said. “Did you really go jog?”
“Of course. I start every day with a run.”
Aiden’s nostrils flared. “My man, you have a stalker who was waiting outside your house, and you thought it was smart to go on a little jaunt up to Francis Lewis Park at the ass crack of dawn?”
“I actually run along the Cross Island Parkway to the fort,” Clive said dryly.
Aiden looked close to exploding. “That’s even worse, you asshole! Someone could have dragged you off, killed you, and thrown you into the goddamn fucking river.”
“I actually run along the goddamn fucking bay. Not the river.”
Aiden looked to Caleb and Oli incredulously, and gestured at Clive. “I can’t talk to him.”
Oli was pretty obviously biting back a smile, but Caleb shook his head sadly. “Why can’t you take your safety seriously, Clive? You’re not invincible. It’s frightening the way you throw caution to the wind.”
Clive scoffed and walked around me close enough for his arm to brush my own. It seemed deliberate, but I was probably imagining it. I tended to do that when my sex drive flared up after ages of lying dormant. Suddenly, I was noticing someone so the part of my brain that had once been cocky and self-assured told me they had to be noticing me in return. It was bullshit. I ignored it and focused on the QFindr execs.
“I’m not going to change my life because an internet troll has decided to become an actual stalker,” Clive said. “If they want to try something, they will. And they’d try it whether it means breaking into my house, catching me on my way to the bus stop, or if I’m going on a run. Nobody can change that, and I’m not going to cower in fear until they decide to act.”
Aiden was visibly seething, his infamously overprotective streak showing itself, but Caleb gave a resigned sigh. “So, are you going to refuse a guard? I honestly think… it’s in your best interest to temporarily have someone with you at all times.”
Clive’s mouth flattened into a tight line.
“Hear us out,” Oli said. “You want to go about your life without changing it? I agree. We all do. But the only way for you to do that safely is to have someone watching your back while you go about your daily living. I can attest to the fact that the people who work for us are discreet, unobtrusive, and are good at seeming invisible even while keeping a constant eye on us. And until we figure out whether this was a onetime threat to scare you, or something that’s going to escalate, you need that. I know you’re brave, but there’s a thin line between brave and stupid. We have the resources to protect you. Use them.”
Clive’s expression didn’t change. He rubbed the stubble on his chin, looking at the three of them for a long moment as he seemingly turned this over in his mind. I had a feeling he was going to tell them to fuck off good and proper. There was tension in his shoulders and a storm brewing probably at the idea of having a babysitter, and I didn’t blame him one bit.
What did you call a bodyguard who would hate the idea of ever having a bodyguard? I had no clue, but at the moment it was me.
Clive dropped his hands to the table. “We’re talking live-in?”
“Maybe,” Chester rumbled. “Unless you relocate.”
“I’m not leaving my house.”
“Then yes, I’d recommend live-in until we get a better read on this situation.”
Clive’s jaw clenched. “Fine. I suppose I have the room.”
Aiden slumped against his chair in relief but said nothing. Maybe he knew his pushiness was the exact opposite of what they needed.
“We were talking about who might be assigned to you when you walked in,” Chester continued. “Typically, a 24/7 detail would have a rotation of two to three security agents, but we can’t do that without more manpower. Mr. Stone did not start this firm with these kinds of operations in mind, and we’re spread thin.”
“So, who’s guarding Mr. Stone while his entire staff is guarding us?” Clive asked.
Chester’s mouth thinned. “He has one protection agent on him at the moment. That’s it.”
I glanced at Caleb and Aiden to see what they thought of their old man being so selfless, but both of them kept their faces blank. I could smell the daddy issues a mile away. I had enough of my own.
“In an ideal world, you’d have a team of four alternating twelve-hour shifts, but we’ll have to make due with a live-in agent who shadows you everywhere and another upgrade to your security system.”
Clive scoffed. “Is it going to emit laser beams?”
“It has facial recognition software that starts recording when some unknown person steps up to one of the doors or windows on your property and lingers,” I said, skipping the lecture I knew Chester would launch into. “Then it runs a facial match to scour the Internet for their identity.”
“Sounds disturbingly invasive,” Clive said, giving me another of those penetrating stares. “I like it.”
Something about the way he drawled the words caused me to take a deep breath. This guy did weird things to my body.
“So.” Clive twisted in the swivel seat so he could survey the other security staff sitting around the table. “Most of you are assigned. Who’s available for the scintillating task of waiting for someone to put another note in my mailbox?”
Chester pointed to himself. “Kevin or I would need to be reassigned.”
“What about him?” Clive jerked his head at me without even bothering to look in my direction. “He just stands around and guards hallways as far as I saw at the party.”
Shock ran through me, then a thinner streak of exhilaration followed closely by panic. A real assignment. No more door duty even though I’d be living in his house for an unforeseen amount of time.
“Clive,” Chester said, voice not more than a low huff. “Victor doesn’t have the experience. Me and Kevin do.”
“You trained him,” Clive challenged. “Do you doubt your own training?”
Chester’s face colored. “No, but this could be life-or-death, and he’s never been—”
“You wanted me to have a bodyguard.” Clive was beginning to sound bored by the argument. “And I want him.” He turned to me again, eyebrows raised. “If he’s willing.”
He said it like a challenge. Or a dare. Maybe he knew something about him made me nervous, or maybe he just assumed such a high-profile assignment might scare the shit out of me. The former was accurate. The latter? Not at all. Very little scared me.
I stepped closer to the table. “I’m willing.”
Cross Island, ch 4
Chapter Four
Victor
“What the hell were you thinking?”
I started to cross my arms over my chest, but my uncle had always said it made me look angry and defensive. I let them dangle at my sides and lifted my chin as Chester reamed me.
“I should have said no?”
“You should have known this isn’t the best course of action,” he said lo
w and harsh as we stood in QFindr’s breakroom. He’d dragged me out just as soon as Caleb, Oli, and Aiden had started quizzing Clive about the exact details of the night before. “Look, kid, I know you think you’re tough, but this is not a game.”
“Does it look like I’m trying to play games?”
Chester inhaled sharply. I could see him cycling through various responses, one more scathing than the next, but he kept his cool. It was why I managed to respect him despite his high degree of impatience with everything and everyone. “I trust you. I do. I fucking oversaw your boot camp for God’s sake. I know you’re physically capable and you have good instincts.”
I leaned against the wall and shoved my hands into my pockets. “But?”
“But you’ve never done this before. Can you defend yourself? Yes. Can you protect people? Yes, and you have. But when it comes to living with one of these people—”
“One of which kind of people?” The question came out sharper than I’d intended, but I didn’t say anything to dull the edge.
“Rich people, Vic. I’ve been doing this for over twenty years, and even I make mistakes sometimes. Get too familiar, speak out of turn, assume that they’ll follow my lead and trust me when I should know they ultimately won’t.” Chester shook his head, looking irritated at his own past missteps. “You don’t have the experience of being a personal bodyguard let alone a live-in one. This can end badly.”
The defensiveness bled out of me. He had me there. Although I’d spent three years having Job Corps and my uncle try to lecture the bad attitude out of me, there were still traces of it remaining. But from where I was sitting, there was more of a chance of someone like Chester pissing Clive off than someone like me. I had a feeling that’s why the man had looked to me as his first option.
“I can do this,” I said. “You should really just calm down and trust me.”
“You’re fucking ridiculous, kid. Kenneth Stone will have my ass.”
I hadn’t thought of that scenario. Technically, even though the QFindr execs were our point people, it was Kenneth Stone who had founded the small security firm that worked exclusively for him and his clients. Now, his children and their colleagues.
Cross Island Page 3