“What’s Sawyer’s last name and the name of the company?”
“Flynn. Sawyer Flynn. FlynnPatrick Enterprises.”
While she gets another donut, I look the asshole up online. The gut feeling I get when his picture pops up is telling. If I were a betting man, I’d bet this was the asshole who was in the bar last night. I snap a screenshot and send it to Liam.
Me: Need a favor. Flynn, Sawyer. 34. Athens, GA. Current location?
He responds a few minutes later with one word: his brother’s name.
Me: Yes. Urgent.
Liam’s twin brother Landry floats barely above the legal line and does some things that we all pretend to know nothing about for a company down in Tallahassee, Florida. When one of us needs a little back up without drawing attention, it’s Landry we call.
Without any proof, I cannot flag the department or use department resources on this. Especially not when I’m hoping to take care of this on my own.
Chapter 26
Harley
Liam: Information Retrieved.
Me: Email. [email protected]
Liam: Sent.
Less than twenty-four hours later and Landry has come through. The email on my phone confirms that Sawyer is in New York. His arrival was ironically timed with Raylynn’s move and he’s been spotted at several local places and his face shows up on traffic cameras throughout the city and along the route Raylynn took to her interview. Subway cameras pick him up the night we went out too.
If he was at the bar, he slipped in undetected.
Me: Phone number
Liam: I’ll tell him to call you after shift.
I reply one last time with a thumbs up sign before sending a text to Raylynn telling her not to leave the apartment at all today and that I’ll explain after work. She threatens to beat me over the head when she sees me, so I try to lighten the mood by reminding her that that would be assaulting a police officer.
Raylynn: Kindly fuck off. Officer.
If the next three hours don’t fly by, there’s a damn good chance that I might go crazy driving around in my patrol car. As it is, I’m already itching to take a drive to West Village and see if this fucker is home.
I’d really love to turn this information over to the department so that we, or I, could handle it. The only problem with that is that I’d have to disclose where I got the information from and that isn’t going to happen. So, I’ll wait for the call from Landry instead.
While I have the chance, I give a call to 425 Madison’s security company and warn them to be on the lookout for this guy. I don’t know anyone that isn’t a resident that could actually get into the building but I’m not about to take chances. Shit happens, a fact I’ve learned all too well in this job.
Things are quiet for the rest of my shift. I take the liberty of patrolling the area around 425 Madison to pass the time and to keep a lookout for this fucker. If I catch him near the place, Raylynn may have a chance of getting a restraining order to stick, except there’s no such luck today.
By the time my shift ends, I’m circling the block and ready to pull into the parking garage. I haven’t even gotten out of my car when an unknown number pops up on my phone. Unfortunately, the service is shitty in the parking garage, so whoever it is will have to leave a message and I’ll call them back when I get upstairs.
My first stop is my apartment, so I can listen to the message that happens to be from Landry. I quickly jot down the number then call him back.
“Hey, I understand you’ve got an unwanted guest?”
“I do. Don’t know what this guy wants but I need some help. Don’t have enough to stick him with by the book, yet.”
“Say no more. Liam filled me in a little, so I figured you may want some help. Talked with my boss Cole and he’s authorized two men to come to New York for a few days. Says he’ll cut you the friends and family discount.”
“Send me the damn invoice. I’ll handle it.” I don’t give a damn if it costs me my firstborn child or this apartment, I’ll sell everything I own to keep her safe.
The next day after work, I meet Landry for the first time at a coffee shop down the street from the apartment building, and he tells me the rest of the information he’s got on this guy.
“I’ve got my partner watching this house over on Grove where the guy’s been staying. He’s there now apparently. You aren’t going to like this, but when we got in, Robert spotted the same guy nosing around 425 Madison.”
The words are out of my mouth before I even have time to consider that I may be making a stupid move. “Let’s go pay him a visit.”
“You sure about this?” Landry asks.
“Listen, I don’t have a whole lot of money to burn, I want this dealt with sooner rather than later so we can all move on. Maybe all he needs is a little incentive to stay away.”
“You’re the boss. We’ll take my car.”
Landry has us to the property on Grove within the hour. We don’t even have to wait long for Sawyer to make an appearance. As soon as I see him, I’m out of the car and on him. Deep down, I know this goes against everything I know is right, but goddammit he’s out of control and needs to be stopped.
“Want to tell me who the fuck you are and why you’ve been following my girlfriend around?” I pin the son of a bitch to the outside wall of the house by his neck.
He spits in my face, and I land a punch to his nose. The bone crunches under the impact and blood begins to pour.
“Fuck you. She’s mine. The little whore couldn’t keep her mouth shut. All she had to do was play the part of my doting wife. Once we were married, she would come into a nice little sum of money that would then be ours. I had big plans for that money and for her. She couldn’t stand the fact that her little cunt wasn’t enough to keep me satisfied, so she ran away.”
This time I lift my knee and connect with his nuts.
“If you know what’s good for you Sawyer, you’ll back the hell off and go back where you came from,” I warn him.
I have never been a violent man, but I damn well will protect those I care about. It’s in my blood.
“Not a chance in hell. I’ll get what’s mine.”
“Yo. That’s enough. Turn him loose. Time’s up,” Landry calls out.
I want to do so much more, but I listen and drop the guy.
“If I see you around here again…”
“What are you going to do, big guy? You know you’ve got nothing on me. You think because you have a badge that you’re untouchable?”
This dude seriously doesn’t stop. I’m about to throttle him into next week when Landry grabs me around the shoulders and pulls me back. “I said, time to go.”
Sawyer stands there and watches us walk away. Landry damn near throws me into his car and pulls off.
“Jesus Christ. Want to tell me what that was all about?” he asks.
“A friend’s ex.”
“That’s it?”
“Yup.”
“Dude. Do you realize who he is? That’s Sawyer Flynn, he’s a multi-billionaire. Buys out all these small companies, breaks them down then resells them to the highest bidder. If I knew you were planning to rough him up, I would have never given you his information.”
“Yeah well. Thank you anyway. At least I didn’t go through the department on this,” I defend.
“Yeah, you better hope he doesn’t press charges.”
“Whatever, I’m not worried about some rich prick who thinks he can get away with bullying women. If he thinks he can press charges, let him bring it on.”
“She really worth losing your badge, your career?”
“I’m not going to lose anything and if I did? She is absolutely worth it.”
Landry nods. “Then I’ve got your back.”
“Appreciate it, man.”
Chapter 27
Raylynn
Since I haven’t started my job at King Cosmetics yet and Harley has essentially confined me to house arrest, I decide
that tonight he owes me dinner. I’ve tried texting him a few times, but it would seem my friend is busy ignoring me. I know he’s home because I overheard Jameson say something to Liv about seeing him in the hall on his way in, so I take my chances and walk over to his apartment.
Technically, I’m not breaking any rules since I’m not leaving the building or my floor, for that matter. Plus, Liv and Jameson are home. I’m sure if something crazy happened, they’d realize it. Not that anything crazy is going to happen, right?
Three knocks on Harley’s door and no answer. Starting to feel a little defeated and wondering if he’s actually avoiding me, I knock again, a little louder this time.
Harley finally answers, and I have to refrain from fanning myself. Holy hotness, the man looks fucking amazing in his uniform. He steps back out of the way and motions for me to come in.
“Um. Okay, I…” Words Raylynn, use them. “Dinner. You, me. We should go.” Real smooth.
“Can’t. Raincheck. One of the guys needs me to fill in for him. Single dad, and his kid is sick. I’ve got to go back in to work.”
“Oh. That blows. I guess. Another time then?”
Harley flexes his hand and nods. That’s when I notice the cuts and bruising on his knuckles.
“Dude. What the fuck happened to you?” I snatch his hand a little too aggressively, causing him to grunt in pain.
Something flashes in his eyes, then it’s gone. “It’s nothing. Scuffle with a suspect on my first shift. Happens sometimes. I’ll be fine.”
“If you say so. Shouldn’t you ice it or get it looked at? Something?”
“I said it was fine,” he snaps, and I wince at the bite in his voice. “Sorry. I’m sorry...My hand will be okay in a day or so. As for you, can you do me a favor and actually listen? Stay confined to the apartment, no wandering the halls,” he warns.
“I’d hardly call coming over here ‘wandering’.”
“For once, Raylynn, please listen to me.”
I relent. “Fine. Can you promise me that Jameson and Olivia are safe in all of this? Is my being here putting them in danger?”
“Try not to worry so much. I don’t think our friends are in any kind of danger.”
“Well, that’s one good thing then. I guess I should let you get going.”
“Give me two seconds, I’ll see you out.”
“Harley,” I groan. “It’s literally five feet from your door to mine. I think I can manage.”
“Woman,” he scolds and cocks his brow at me.
“Fine. I’ll wait. Two seconds though, or I leave without you.”
I try to trust what Harley’s telling me, but something feels off, though I can’t put my finger on what exactly.
The weekend passes by in a blur.
Monday morning, I’m up and have three cups of coffee made by the time Liv and Jameson emerge from their cocoon, ready for work.
“Good morning,” Liv sing songs, gladly taking her to-go cup from me.
“Oh, God. I feel like I’m a kid again about to go off on her first day of school. You know, and my parents are about to drop me off, but they can’t go inside with me.”
“Please, don’t call me Daddy,” Jameson shudders.
I snort laugh. “Like that would ever happen.”
Liv elbows him. “Knock it off. It’s too early for your kind of crazy. Let’s get out of here and drop our baby off at school.”
The smart-ass grin on her face makes me chuckle. “You’re both fucking nuts. Let’s go.”
I grab my bag from the kitchen bar stool and follow the two lovebirds out the door. I’m still one hundred percent hyper-aware of my surroundings, but today that anxious feeling of someone watching me is gone. I sincerely hope that means that Sawyer or whoever was watching me has backed off.
Jameson drops me off at King Cosmetics first, before dropping Liv at The Mason Center and then going to his job site for the day.
King Cosmetics seems to have rolled out the red carpet today. I cannot help but wonder if they do this for all of their new hires.
Before I’m even all the way in the door, the receptionist directs me to the conference room where Levi King and several other employees are gathered around. There’s a breakfast of pastries, coffee and tea set up in the middle of the table, and there is a cute little ‘Welcome’ sign attached to the board on the wall.
Levi takes a moment to formally introduce me to the crowd and welcomes me aboard. Then one by one they all take the time to personally introduce themselves, including Levi’s wife Becca and Janice, the current HR Director. There are so many people that I’m slightly overwhelmed. I doubt I’ll remember most of their names, at least right off the bat, but I do my best to take it all in and try to connect their names with their faces.
After all the formalities are out of the way, Levi takes a few minutes to walk with me and Janice to what will become my workspace. Content that I’m settled in, he leaves me in Janice’s capable hands and excuses himself.
We spend most of the morning going over all of my new hire paperwork and filling out all the appropriate forms. After our standard hour-long lunch break, where lunch was provided by the company as yet another welcome gift, we take the afternoon to begin going over the back office side of what happens with all of those forms I filled out and what Janice’s daily processes look like.
By the end of the day, I’m both exhausted and feeling more alive than I have in a long time. I realize how unhappy I really was working for Sawyer and take pride in the fact that I was able to get this job without him, hell - in spite of him if we’re being honest.
A text from Harley is waiting for me when I clock out.
Harley: Change of plans. Jameson is stuck on a job. I’m picking you up. Waiting out front.
I roll my eyes to myself about how ridiculous Harley seems to be acting with this whole situation.
As promised, he’s waiting for me outside the building. He’s leaning against the front side of his patrol car, arms crossed over his chest and feet crossed at the ankles. When he spots me, he smiles.
“Well, hello,” he greets me while opening the passenger side door for me. He waits until I’m tucked inside before walking around and sliding into the driver’s seat. “How was your first day?”
“It was good. The people seem to be friendly and welcoming. What about you? How was your day protecting and serving the fine people of New York City?”
He huffs. “Same shit different day, and it ain’t over yet. You need anything while we’re out? I’ve got to drop you off and get back to it for another six hours.”
“Oh. No. I’m good. I think I’ll order delivery tonight and have a glass of wine with Liv when she gets home from work.”
Harley nods and steers his way through rush hour traffic in Manhattan. It never ceases to amaze me that it takes so long to go such a short distance via a car in this place.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been in a cop car,” I say out loud, attempting to fill the silence around us.
“Hmm. Imagine that, I’m honored to be your first.”
“Shame you have to get back to work. We could break in the backseat.”
“Jesus Christ, woman.” Harley coughs. “First of all, who said ‘just friends?’ Second of all, you do not want to be in that back seat doing anything. Ever. If you only knew the gross things that have touched the surfaces back there, and none of them are anywhere near as sexy as you might be conjuring up in your head.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “On a serious note, I’ve been thinking. Friends are overrated. Just sayin’.”
“You’re the one who made the rule,” Harley grumbles.
“And let me guess, you’re not a rule breaker.”
This time he shoots me a look while we’re stopped at a traffic light. “I’ll have you know, I have high standards, there are some rules you simply don’t break.”
“Who would have thought? Harley, all noble and shit.”
“Lady, you�
�re a mouthy thing,” he deadpans.
“And you like it.” I reach across to poke him in his side and come in contact with his vest instead. “Hmpf, well, that was pointless. You didn’t feel a thing, did you?”
He chuckles. “Nope, not at all.”
When we pull up in front of 425 Madison, Harley kills the engine and gets out— - first coming to open the door for me before I even have a chance to do it myself. Thomas greets us, and Harley lets him know that he’ll be right back and to tell whoever asks, it’s official police business, he’s allowed to park there for a minute.
“Uhm. I’m pretty sure I can get inside on my own,” I remind him.
“Yes, dear. I know you can. If you must know, I need to run into my place to grab something I forgot this morning and take a leak.”
I eye him suspiciously because I’m not buying his excuse for one minute.
“If you say so.”
When we get off the elevator on the fifth floor, I make sure to thank Harley for getting me home safely before letting myself into my apartment and heading for the bedroom to change out of my work clothes and into something more comfortable.
Stripped down into a pair of leggings, a sports bra and a t-shirt, I make my way to the kitchen and pour myself a large glass of wine. Liv’s not home yet, so I have the whole place to myself for a little bit longer.
Before I have a chance to sit down on the couch, my cell phone rings from inside my bag that I dropped at the door.
Patrick Flynn’s name flashes on the screen. I highly debate answering it, especially since our last conversation when he called me a gold-digging whore. Deciding that the Flynns are not worth my time, I let the call go to voicemail and completely ignore it. Anything they need to say to me can be said to my lawyer.
Love Under Protection (425 Madison Avenue Book 15) Page 11