Trusting Cade (Custos Securities Series Book 1)

by Luna, David

  Cursing her bad luck, she sent the rolling chair flying on its castors and knelt on her hands and knees to pick them all up. What she had first thought were invoices she soon realized were some personal notes and letters. Figuring she’d just happened upon the wrong folder and must have found one of Braden’s folders filled with customer notes and requests, she quickly shuffled what she’d dropped back into the folder and was about to put it back in his drawer when the note on top caught her interest. It was written on the back of one of their custom order sheets that they kept out front for the customers. It caught her eye because of the bold, manly, all-capital script.

  “What the fuck?” Her heartbeat sped up and her breath quickened. She started shuffling through the other notes and letters, hoping that this was the only creepy one in the lot. What she found had her blood running cold and her hands shaking. There were dozens of little notes, long love letters, receipts, newspaper clippings with news about their business and other things she didn’t get to. Walking on legs that didn’t feel quite strong enough to get her where she needed to go, Maya carried the folder out to the kitchen and placed it on the countertop next to Braden, with shaking hands.

  “When were you going to tell me about these, Bray?” Her words were no more than a whisper, and she sat down on the stool next to her best friend before she collapsed in a heap. She gaped up at him with eyes wide as saucers and her face devoid of color.

  “What the hell are you doing, going through my drawers, Maya?” Braden’s voice was strained, both angry and defensive at once.

  “Are you fucking kidding me with that bullshit? I was looking for the invoice folder and couldn’t find it anywhere, so I looked in your drawer. You know damned well that you move that stupid folder around every time you put something in it. It’s not the first time I’ve had to look in your drawers to find it, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. All of that is beside the point, Braden. What the fuck is going on? Who is writing these letters? You have a stalker, and you don’t even mention it? How long has this been going on? How long have you been keeping this from me? Have you called the cops? Has this guy tried to hurt you? Is it Eric? Is he…”

  “Maya, it’s nothing. It’s not Eric. Really, it’s just some guy that’s trying to get under my skin. I don’t know who it is. It doesn’t matter. It’s not a big deal. I’m just ignoring it.”

  “Ignoring it! Ignoring it? What the fuck, Braden? What the fucking fuck are you talking about, ignoring it? This guy is a psycho! You can’t ignore someone like this, Braden! They kidnap you and lock you in their dungeon in the basement and lower your food down to you in a bucket on a string! They cut off your skin to make a Braden suit! You don’t ignore a fucking psycho, Braden!”

  “Calm down, Clarice.” Braden tried for levity, but she wasn’t having it.

  Face turning red, tears in her eyes, Maya lost it. “This isn’t a fucking joke, Braden Cross! I’m calling the cops!”

  Layla had just finished a cappuccino order when the bell on the front door chimed. She glanced up to see who her new customers were, and the smile on her face faltered when the two biggest and hottest men she’d ever seen walked into the place. She nearly bobbled the coffee order while trying to pass it over to Mrs. Newton, the little old lady who stopped by on a weekly basis for her cappuccino and scone.

  “If only I was forty years younger,” Mrs. Newton whispered conspiratorially. “I’ve never had a threesome!” Bobbing her eyebrows at Layla, Mrs. Newton shuffled over to her favorite table by the window and didn’t even pretend to ignore the sexy men walking up to the counter. Layla was so struck dumb by Mrs. Newton’s threesome comment that her mouth hung open, and she didn’t realize she’d been staring, and practically drooling at the two guys for enough time to have them both smirking. The taller one with short, dark hair and a scruffy bearded face, with muscles on top of his muscles and both arms covered with intricate designs in black ink, leaned on the glass pastry case with an amused expression. The other one had blond messy hair, and was the shorter of the two, shorter meaning he was only 6’2” against the taller guy’s 6’6”, raised his eyebrow in silent inquiry.

  “Threesome,” Layla accidentally muttered and turned beet red when she heard Mrs. Newton choke on her coffee while inhaling what she supposed was a snort of laughter.

  “Hmmm, what was that?” The messy blond asked.

  “OH MY GOD! Nothing! I didn’t say that. I didn’t.”

  “I think you did, sweetheart. I think you said threesome. Coop, didn’t she just say threesome?” Tattooed tall guy grinned.

  “I think she did, McCade. I think…”

  Suddenly, Layla heard Maya yelling from the kitchen. She was about to apologize for the commotion when the one called Coop launched himself over the countertop and jogged into the back.

  “You can’t go back there, sir!” Flustered, Layla waved her hands in front of her face.

  “It’s alright, sweetheart. Cooper is Maya’s big brother, and he’s not too keen on her being so upset, so he’s just checking on her. Hold the fort up here while we go see what the problem is.”

  With a wink, the guy named McCade took the long way around the counter and ambled into the back towards the kitchen, leaving Layla wide eyed and mouth agape.

  Braden glanced over Maya’s shoulder as her brother Cooper raced into the kitchen, most likely to see what had caused his sister to lose her shit. Braden raised a brow as Maya ignored Cooper’s arrival, so he did the same and met her narrowed eyes with his own. “You are not calling the cops, Maya.”

  “Oh, you bet your skinny ass I’m calling the cops! Braden, don’t be stupid, we have to do something about this!”

  He gritted his teeth. “There is no ‘we’ in this situation, Maya. This is my problem and I’ll deal with it!”

  Maya threw her hands up in the air. “You’re doing nothing! You’re not dealing with it at all! You have a psycho stalker calling himself ‘Handsome Stranger’ and harassing the shit out of you! I didn’t even read most of these freaky ass letters. Braden, has he threatened you, too? Called you? Doing nothing isn’t an option!”

  “What seems to be the problem here, Coop?”

  Braden’s head whipped around toward the sound of that deep gravelly voice. He did a double take when he laid wide, disbelieving eyes on the tallest, finest male specimen he’d ever seen. He just about lost his train of thought, until he looked back at Maya and remembered he’d been about to warn her against opening her big mouth. He narrowed his eyes at her. “Don’t do it, Maya. Don’t even think about it. This is my business.”

  “I’m telling them, Bray, they can help us. Braden, what if it was me?” She whispered it, and he could hear in her voice that she was nearly crying now. “What if someone were sending me these notes, leaving these things for me, scaring me? What would you tell me to do?”

  “It’s not the same thing, Maya! I can take care of myself if I need to, but I won’t need to. This is all just some silly prank. It’s not a big deal. Don’t make it out to be bigger than it is.” He began to gather up all of the nasty evidence and stuff it inside the folder when Maya’s shaking hand rested on his. He looked into her pleading eyes as her tears fell and sighed, resigned.

  Leaving everything where it was, he shrugged off his apron and tossed it on the floor. “Do what you want Maya, you’re going to anyway. I’m going running.”

  They all watched him leave and Cade spoke up. “Does he need someone to run with him? Is he in immediate danger?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so. You probably couldn’t keep up with him, so I think we just need to wait for him to get back.”

  Cade raised a brow at her comment about keeping up with the smaller man. He tried not to be insulted with Cooper’s sister’s take on his physical stamina.

  Maya huffed out a laugh. “Look, we’ve never met, but from your height, I’d be willing to bet you’re McCade. I’ve heard a lot about you. I know you’re ex-military, Special Forces even, lik
e my brother, and you’re in all sorts of great shape, I can see that for myself, but you’re almost a foot taller than him and you’re built like a brick shit house. You wouldn’t be able to keep up with Braden when he’s in a mood and needs to run. I don’t know anyone that could. He runs marathons for fun and once signed up for an ultra-marathon for shits and giggles, just to see if he could do it, which he did, and a number of times since. You guys may be tough as shit, but he’d beat you both in distance running without breaking a sweat, OK? No insults meant, just facts.”

  “OK, I’ll give you that, but if you think he needs someone with him, I can follow in our car.”

  “No. Not only would it piss him right off, but he needs time right now to get over his anger. He has anxiety and stresses about everything and because he does, he has to run twice a day to help himself relax. As much as I’m worried about him, I think he’s OK to run in broad daylight. However, I need you guys to look at this stuff. He’s got dozens of letters, notes, receipts, paper clippings, just tons of crazy shit from some guy calling himself ‘Handsome Stranger’. Bray thinks it’s no big deal, or at least that’s what he’s saying, but, I know him, and he’s worried. I think he’s been getting these for weeks. He’s been in a really deep funk lately. I thought it was just him needing to move on and start dating; his last abusive relationship with that asshole, Eric, ended over a year ago. But now that I’ve seen these, I think he’s really getting scared and doesn’t want to admit it.”

  Cooper hugged his sister. “I’m glad we’re here then, sunshine.”

  “Yeah, about that, what the hell, Coop? You walk into our kitchen as if you live down the block and are just stopping in. What are you doing here? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I could have picked you up at the airport!”

  Cooper chuckled and shrugged. “I wanted to surprise you. Cade and I have a job over here that should be relatively quick and painless, and we both thought a nice little trip to San Fran wouldn’t be so bad. Cade is from here, so he’ll be able to see his family, and I’ll get to see you. Win, win.”

  “I’m glad you’re here. Maybe I’ll hire you to help figure out who this psycho is and help protect Braden. I know he’ll freak the fuck out even knowing I’m thinking about any sort of protection or investigation, but I think after you see what’s here, you’ll think this is as serious as I think it is.”

  “Let’s have a look and we’ll see what we think. If we decide to take the case, you know your money’s no good with us,” Cade responded as nonchalantly as he could. He didn’t want either sibling to see his interest in the situation. All it had taken was one look at Maya’s business partner, Braden, and he knew he’d have a hard time keeping himself from getting in too deep.

  He didn’t understand his body’s physical response. Yes, Braden was gorgeous, but he wasn’t anything like the men Cade had dated in the past. Apparently that didn’t matter. They hadn’t even been properly introduced and he already couldn’t get the image of the younger man out of his mind. As soon as he’d walked into the kitchen his heart had started to race and he experienced tunnel vision like never before. Cade had a nearly irresistible urge to take care of him and ensure his safety, and the feeling was completely foreign to him.

  He was lucky all eyes were on Braden at the time and that no one had focused on him. Had they seen his face, they’d have seen the way he’d zeroed in on Braden like there was a magnetic pull. He hadn’t had an immediate attraction to anyone like this in a long time and probably never this strong. His first reaction came to him, before he even knew that Braden was gay. The man was lean, long haired, green eyed, and beautiful. Cade was working mental gymnastics to try to reel in his reaction, slow down his protective instincts and just cool his jets. He had a feeling it was going to be a losing battle.

  They began shuffling through the folder and looking at the notes and letters written to Braden. There was a lot to go through and it took quite a bit of time. The more they looked at all of the papers, the more it looked like there was one deranged motherfucker after Braden. Maya moved aside to give them enough room to see everything. It wasn’t good, but instead of feeling panic with every written word, a strange calm came over Cade. It was the same calm that had saved his life and the lives of his unit many times in combat situations. In his mind he was already on protection detail; it was only a matter of convincing Maya and Cooper that it was necessary and that he was the right one for the job.

  It turned out he needn’t have worried. Cooper took one look at him, nodded his head and spoke his sister. “Sunshine, I’m not trying to scare you, but both Cade and I agree that there’s definitely a case here. This guy is unbalanced and there’s no telling how quickly he’s going to escalate. It seems like the best course of action is for me to work on the Kensington case and get it ironed out quickly, so that I can come back and help deal with this. Cade will be taking lead. We need to call the cops to at least alert them of the situation, so it’s all on record.”

  “Agreed, but this is mine.” Cade interjected, his gruff voice alerting Cooper to his personal involvement. Cooper peered up at his best friend with narrowed eyes for several long, drawn out seconds. Cooper’s eyebrows popped up quickly in surprise, so quickly others would have missed it, but a second later his expression was once again neutral. In that second, there was no need for words. Cooper knew that somehow this case had become important to Cade and that he was taking this very seriously and very personally. Cade knew they might be having a conversation about this later, but for now, Cooper would leave it in his hands without further questions.

  Cooper tilted his head and regarded him. “I’ll get in contact with Mrs. Kensington tomorrow morning, first thing. See if I can get in and out in several days after upgrading their system, so that I can come back to help on this.”

  Cade nodded and Cooper glanced at his sister. “Sunshine, when Braden returns, do you think he’ll be more likely to be cooperative about this? We need him to be with us on this. It won’t be possible for us to protect him and figure out what’s going on if we don’t have his involvement and agreement.”

  “I don’t know. I hope so. Running usually gets him back into a good head space, so I think our best chance is to talk to him after he’s been able to shower and eat someth…. Oh shit!” In that moment her gut twisted when her eyes lit upon Braden’s testing kit. She began to frantically pat down her pockets and ran towards the phone attached to a wall mount by the door into the kitchen.

  Cade watched in tense silence while she dialed a number and waited. “Come on, answer. Answer, Braden!”

  Cade didn’t like the panicked look in her eyes. She hung up and called again--cursing under her breath. He gripped the countertop so hard his knuckles turned white.

  “Oh thank god, Braden! Are you alright? Where are you? I just saw your kit. When did you test last?” She paused and listened. “OK, good. Do you need me to come and get you? I can get in the car right now if you’re too far out. Oh, alright, that’s close. See you soon. I’m so sorry, Braden. I know. I love you too, bye.”

  She took a shuddering breath and raised teary eyes to theirs. This situation was taking a toll on her, and Cade watched as Cooper moved to her side, hugging her to him. “He hasn’t eaten in a while. His blood sugar levels were fine when he last tested, but he should have eaten something before he ran. He turned around early when he realized and is already coming back. He should be here soon. I’m gonna put together a couple sandwiches for him, so if you guys are hungry, I can put some together for you as well.”

  “He’s type 1? Do we need to get him? What the hell was he thinking?” Cade tried hard not to let his frustration with Braden show but knew he hadn’t been successful. If this was how he took care of himself, they were eventually going to have to discuss it.

  Wait. What? Where had that come from? He reined in his emotions because he knew how he sounded, and he hadn’t even officially met the guy yet. These possessive and protective feelings were complete
ly unfounded, but damned if he could stop them. He looked up and saw the tiny flash of annoyance in Maya’s eyes.

  “Yes, he’s type 1 and has a very good handle on it. No, we don’t have to go get him. He’s actually just a few minutes out. Today is not the norm. He would usually never put himself in danger of having an insulin spike or drop for any reason. He’s not prone to acting without thinking. In fact, just the opposite, he usually over thinks everything to death, mostly internally, which is why he’s always stressed out, but occasionally he’ll talk things over with me. I think he’s probably been ruminating on this for weeks and finally came to the same conclusions we did, but he didn’t like me pushing it on him before he’d made his decision. I think he’ll come around. He already sounded better on the phone.”

  Hands freshly washed, she pulled out sandwich fixings from the sub-zero walk-in refrigerator and put together seven sandwiches. She knew all the men would eat them and possibly leave her one, if she was lucky. She grabbed the phone by the door again and dialed up to the front of the cafe.

  “Hey, Layla, I’m so sorry. How are you doing up there?” Maya listened to her employee on the other end, and her shoulders relaxed. “Do you need help? I know it’s not a busy time of day, but… Alright, yeah we have a situation back here that needs to be handled, but please just call back if you need help out front, OK? Thanks, hon.”

  Braden walked into the back of the cafe and took in the scene before him with resignation. Cooper and his friend sat and ate sandwiches at his workstation in front of the pile of what he had been sarcastically thinking of as “fan mail”, mostly to keep himself from losing his shit every time he got a new note. Maya hung up the phone, ran to him and told him how sorry she was. He grabbed her to him and kissed her temple as he murmured his apology.

  “It’s alright, baby girl. I’m sorry I yelled at you. It’s not your fault, and everything you said is right. I just don’t like it and find myself at a loss as to how I got myself into this situation.”