“I’ve never had much of a problem with you, other than you’re shit at following instructions and you risk people’s lives because of your willful attitude. But Cap loves you and I’ve always respected that. Until this morning. When I went into work, he looked devastated and you did that to him. You were just too good to say goodbye to him.”
“He told you that?”
She stared at me like I was stupid. “Yes, and then we did each other’s hair and he painted my nails. You chose the wrong person to room with. The first thing Becky did when we got to work was tell us how she was the one that had to tell Cap that you had taken off. When we walked in this morning and he saw us, the first thing he did was send us here to look after you.” She looked at me in disgust and shook her head. “Despite everything, he still loves you and wants you taken care of, though I don’t have a clue why. You treat him like shit.”
I reared back at the menace in her voice. We had never been pals, but I hadn’t expected this level of hostility from her. I felt horrible that I had hurt Sebastian, but I needed the space and as long as he was waiting on me, I would continue to hurt him. Not wanting to be treated like a piece of shit she stepped in, I stepped forward and got in her face with more confidence than I had.
“I left so that I could work things out for myself. As long as I stayed, I would continue to hurt him. I’ve been blaming him for months for our problems, but then I realized that I have issues that I need to work out before I could ever make him happy. I left him because I knew if I saw him one last time, I wouldn’t leave. I love him, but I can’t make him happy this way.”
She stared at me a moment before nodding and walking out the door. I had a feeling that particular conversation wasn’t over yet, but I had at least appeased her for the moment. My eyes widened as the guys started hauling in box after box of equipment and started sorting it on my kitchen table. Lola started wandering through my small house and I quickly followed.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Checking out the accommodations. If we’re going to be staying here, I need to see where we’re all going to sleep.”
“I only have two rooms and one is my office.”
“Then I guess we’ll be getting sleeping bags and sleeping on the floor.”
She continued to peruse and I was about to object when I heard Harry’s voice from the front door. I closed my eyes and sighed. Why couldn’t I just escape and break up like a normal couple? My breakup came with horny old people and a security detail.
“Do you know how to use that thing, son?” Harry asked Hunter as he laid out guns and ammo on the table. Hunter picked up a rifle and inspected it, rubbing his hand along the length of the barrel.
“I think I can handle it, old man.”
Faster than I had ever seen Harry move, he snatched the weapon from Hunter, primed the chamber, and squeezed off a bullet into my stainless steel electric kettle on the kitchen counter. I gasped as the bullet went through both sides of the kettle and lodged in my wall or, at least I hoped it lodged in the wall.
“Oh, dear. Harry..” Agnes said from the doorway of the house. She was fanning herself and blushing like a schoolgirl. I rolled my eyes at her oversexed brain. Hunter grabbed the rifle from Harry and set it back on the table.
“Point made, old man.” Harry’s chest puffed with pride and Derek walked over to inspect the wall.
“You’re lucky that lodged in the wall or I’d be sending you a bill to fix the siding.”
“Son, I’ve been firing weapons since before your parents were making whoopee.”
Harry turned to me and waved a hand at everyone. “Girlie, what in the cotton pickin’ hell did you get yourself into that you’ve got all these doughboys here?”
“I didn’t get myself into anything,” I said indignantly.
“She broke into a building and almost got herself shot,” Derek interrupted.
“I had the situation under control.”
“You were lucky Cap and Sinner showed up when they did or we’d be planning your funeral right now,” Hunter chimed in.
“Why isn’t your fella here taking care of you?” Harry asked.
“I told you, we broke up. Why is this so hard for everyone to understand?”
“Girlie, a man doesn’t just forget a woman like you. It’s the feisty ones you hold onto,” he said as he winked at Aggie.
✯✯✯✯✯
I had an interview set up two days later at The Pittsburgh Press, my old job and the only place that would give me an interview after not working for a newspaper for over two years. Christabelle Denman was known for being a no-nonsense editor in chief and had a tight rein on her reporters since I broke the story of Darren Hughes working with the dirty mayor. I had put together my portfolio and was walking through the front doors when I saw Hunter following me.
“Wait. This is a job interview. I can’t have you following me inside. You were supposed to just drive me here and make sure I got in safely,” I said as I held up a hand to stop him.
“Freckles, you don’t have a choice in the matter. Cap sent us here to do a job. I take orders from him, not you.”
“This is ridiculous. I didn’t ask for protection and I certainly don’t need it. Who exactly do you think is coming for me in this building?”
“You never know where a threat is coming from. If we did, I’d be out of a job.”
I scowled at him and headed for the elevator. “Just don’t follow me into the editor’s office. There’s no way I’ll get the job if you’re in there. She’s a tough editor and I’m sure she won’t hire me if I have tagalongs.”
If I was going to have someone following me, I was glad it was Hunter. Derek seemed to really despise the fact that he had to be anywhere near me and Lola still looked at me like she was waiting for me to fuck up.
“What? You don’t think my good looks and charm will sway her in your favor?”
“I think you look more like someone I wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.”
He put a hand over his heart and fell back against the walls of the elevator. “You wound me.”
As I got off the elevator and walked through the cubicle area, I noticed more than one set of eyes watching me and the looks were not at all friendly. You would think that after I exposed a corrupt editor that I would be welcomed with open arms. Apparently that wasn’t the case based on the increasing number of scowls I received as I walked to the editor’s office.
“Damn, burned a few bridges, did ya?”
“If you like a boss that’s willing to kill you so that you won’t talk,” I said with a shrug.
I stopped by the secretary’s desk and she pointed to chairs along the wall. “You wait there.”
Hunter smirked at me and made his way over to the chairs, smiling flirtatiously at a woman that walked past. She giggled and almost walked into a wall, dropping her papers as she tried to sidestep. She bent over and continued to shoot Hunter sexy smiles as her ass swayed in the air. Hunter didn’t do anything to dissuade her. In fact, he was blatantly staring at her ass and licking his lips.
“Can I help you?”
I turned my attention back to the secretary and straightened my shoulders. “Yes, I’m here for a ten-thirty appointment with Ms. Denman.”
“Of course. I’ll let her know you’re here.”
She picked up the phone and spoke quietly, then replaced the handset and smiled tightly at me. “You can go right in.”
The look she gave me set me on edge. It was as if I was walking into the firing squad. I pushed through the doors and put on a winning smile, but instantly wiped it from my face as I saw the severe look on the woman’s face.
“Ms. Curtis, please have a seat.”
I sat down across from her and wiped my sweaty palms on my skirt. I had never been this nervous around Darren. I had a great relationship with him, until I found out how dirty he was. I had a feeling if I worked under this woman, I would not be on her favorite employees list.
>
“Thank you for meeting with me today.”
She gave a stern nod and looked over my resume that I had sent over to her. “I see that you haven’t been working as a reporter for over two years now.”
“No, I was working as a researcher for a security company outside the city.”
“Yes, I see. What makes you think that after two years you’re still qualified to be a reporter here?”
I swallowed hard and steeled myself. I would not be cowed by this woman. “Reporting is all about accurate research. I haven’t left my field, just changed where I was working. I still have to type up reports, so my editorial skills are still working just fine.”
“Yes, well, we don’t pay for your editorial skills. We pay for you to find a story and chase it down.”
“I still have the same drive as I did when I left.”
“Then why didn’t you stay working as a reporter?”
“As you know, the last story I broke was very high profile. There were multiple attempts on my life and I decided that I needed a change.”
Her eyebrows raised to her hairline. “And this would have nothing to do with the man that you’ve been living with for the past two years?”
“I’m sorry, but what does who I’ve been living with have to do with anything?”
“Let’s just be honest here, Ms. Curtis. You left because you wanted to shack up with your boyfriend and he didn’t live here in Pittsburgh. You chose to leave reporting for a man and now that you’re back, you want to go back into the field that you left for him.”
How did this woman know so much about me? It was unnerving to say the least. It’s not that I had been living a secret life, but usually your personal life didn’t have anything to do with a job interview.
“With all due respect, Ms. Denman, what I was doing the past two years only affects whether or not I’m qualified for the position. My personal life has nothing to do with my professional life. Now, if you think my absence has done me a disservice and you don’t want to hire me, please let me know and I’ll leave. Otherwise, can we please finish the interview?”
Her eyes narrowed and the look on her face said I had just blown the interview, but I wasn’t about to be pushed around when I wasn’t even working here yet.
“I don’t have a position for you at the moment. However, I would be willing to let you work for me as a freelance reporter, assuming your skills are still up to snuff. Bring me a few stories and if I’m satisfied, I may have something more permanent for you.”
I nodded and rose from my chair, holding out my hand for her to shake. “Thank you for the opportunity.” I had to force the words from my mouth as I shook her hand. When I joined Hunter in the hallway, I glanced back through the glass wall to see Ms. Denman eye Hunter suspiciously. Great. Just what I needed right now.
I walked down the hall with Hunter hot on my tail and got more glares from people peeking out from their cubicles, some that I used to work with. I saw the sign for the restroom and stopped Hunter in his tracks.
“I have to use the restroom. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“No, I don’t need your help in there.” He took a step back, though he didn’t look too happy about it. I made my way down the short hall and turned the corner to the bathrooms. I had just stepped inside when I was pushed up against the cold tile of the wall.
“Look who’s come crawling back for a job,” a masculine voice hissed in my ear. His hips pinned me against the wall and his fingers twisted in my hair, pulling tightly. “You screwed us all over and then you left us to clean up the mess.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. My breaths were short and choppy as I fought the panic taking over. I was usually able to fight back, but the way he had me pinned, I was useless. “I didn’t do anything to anyone. I uncovered that our editor was dirty.”
“And you screwed over some of us when you did that. Do you really think he was the only one that profited from what the mayor was doing?”
I never considered that other people at the paper were on the mayor’s payroll. I mentally flipped through all the employees that I used to work with and tried to place the voice with a face, but there were just too many people.
“You’ll pay for what you did. Watch your back, bitch.”
He slammed my face forward and my forehead bounced off the wall, leaving me dizzy and giving him time to escape before I could see who he was. I held onto the wall as the room stopped playing tilt-a-whirl with me. I rubbed the spot on my forehead, feeling a lump forming already. There was no way I would be able to hide that from Hunter, and worse, I was a shit liar when it came to these guys. Somehow, I would have to convince him that I slipped and fell or he would be on my ass non-stop.
I walked over to the sink to splash water on my face, but before I got a chance, the door burst open and Hunter stood in the doorway with a scowl on his face. I jumped when the door hit the wall and he knew that something was wrong. He took one look at me and then stormed through the bathroom, checking for other occupants. When he walked up to me, he jerked my chin in his direction and examined the knot on my forehead.
“What happened? Who was in here?” he demanded.
“Nobody, I got dizzy and hit the floor.” I shrugged and smiled, hoping to throw him off.
“You’re lying. You wouldn’t hit that part of your face if you fell on the floor.”
“I don’t really remember what happened. Maybe I hit the hand dryer. I don’t know.” I shook my head and tried to step out of his grasp, but he held me firmly in place.
“Do dizzy spells happen often?”
“No, but I didn’t really eat this morning. It must have been that.”
I finally looked up at him and knew that I hadn’t fooled him. He continued to study my face and then let his eyes roam over my body, looking for any other damage.
“Yeah, must have been that. I’m sure feeding you will be added to my list of duties.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t make a habit out of skipping meals.”
“Good. Let’s get out of here. I don’t like the vibe coming off this place.”
That made two of us. I let him lead me by my elbow out of the bathroom and out of the building. My hands were shaking and I knew Hunter could feel it in my arm, but he didn’t say anything. When we got back in the car, he pulled out his phone and dialed. I figured he was calling Derek to check in, but I wasn’t that lucky.
“Cap, I just took Maggie to her interview..Not sure. She won’t tell me what happened, but she has a goose egg on her forehead now.”
I heard Sebastian yell through the phone and was sure he was reprimanding Hunter. I was the one that told him to stay behind. It was my fault that someone got to me in the bathroom.
“She says she got dizzy because she didn’t eat breakfast and hit the floor..Yeah, I don’t buy it either..Sure, Cap.”
He handed the phone to me and I looked at him incredulously. I shook my head violently, but he just shoved the phone at me.
“If you don’t talk to him, he’s just going to come here.”
I pursed my lips and swiped the phone from his hand. “Hello?”
“What the hell happened?”
“Nothing. It’s like Hunter said, I got dizzy and fell.”
“Bullshit. You’re a terrible liar.”
“Look, I’m fine. I promise that if something is wrong, I’ll tell someone.”
He sighed into the phone and went quiet. I turned toward the window, hoping to block some of my conversation from Hunter. “Sebastian.”
“Yeah?”
“I wanted to say I’m sorry for running out on you. I thought a lot about what you said and you’re right. I am always on the run. That’s why I left. I need to figure out what’s holding me back or we have no chance.” Then I remembered that he told me not to come back if I left. “I mean, if you would even want to try again. I know I can’t expect you to wait around for me, but-”
&nb
sp; “Freckles, stop. I will always be waiting for you. I love you and there is no way that I could ever walk away from you unless I was cold and dead in the ground. Even then, I’d probably still come back to haunt you.” I laughed and wiped a stray tear that fell down my cheek. “I don’t understand why you don’t put your trust in me. It’s always been like this with you and I don’t know how to make you see that you can confide in me. I’ll give you time, but I need you to talk to me.”
“I can do that. I swear, I’ll figure this out.”
“Good. You’d better, and one more thing, Freckles. The next time some assaults you, don’t fucking lie to me about it.”
I kept my mouth shut, knowing there was no way to win this argument.
“Keep the team with you. They’re there for your protection. Please.”
“Okay. I promise.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Sebastian
“I PROMISE.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed her. She was great at trying to follow orders, but when she got an idea in her head, all her best intentions went out the window. She hadn’t told me what happened and I wasn’t going to push her. If she was going to come back to me, I was going to have to let her do the work.
“I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye, Cap. I love you,” she said softly.
“I love you, too.”
I hung up the phone and stared out the window. I was relieved that she hadn’t left because she didn’t want me anymore. I spent hours trying to figure out where it all went so wrong and how I could fix it, but it didn’t feel like there was a solution. I couldn’t be with her while I tried to get the company running the way I needed it to, but I was relieved that my team was with her.
“Hey, boss. I have those reports you wanted.” Becky stood in the doorway holding up a file folder that I hoped had some information for me as to who was going after Vanessa.
“Anything good?”
“Well, I found something, but it isn’t listed in Victor Adams’ portfolio.”
Cap_A Reed Security Romance Page 4