Page 10 of Bennett (HC Heroes #15)

“Damn right it is,” Carter agreed, his grin making a brief reappearance. “And when it is, you’ll be the first to see the security system in all its fancy glory.”

“Assuming you don’t blow something up before then,” Matthew added, earning himself a middle finger from Carter.

The banter only half-registered. Bennett’s attention remained locked on Laurel as she walked through the rooms, her eyes darting over the damage with a mixture of fury and hurt. Because this wasn’t just about some construction project.

It was personal.

“Is there anything you want to know, Laurel?” Gabe asked, appearing behind them. His gaze followed her movements before he crossed his arms and eyed her directly. “You’ve seen everything. Anything else you need to know?”

Laurel didn’t hesitate. “Just how soon you think you can stop this.”

Gabe’s expression was grim. “Hard to say. We’ve only just gotten involved. But we will do what we can to track down whoever’s responsible. In the meantime, I’ll have my deputies do drive-bys, but I won’t lie. We’re probably going to hit a few walls in the process.”

True. Bennett knew first-hand that some investigations took time and patience. And she appeared all out of the latter.

“I understand.” The woman nodded, straightening her spine. “Then I guess I’ll just have to move in.”

Silence dropped like a hammer.

Bennett’s heart lurched. “Excuse me?”

“I’m moving in,” Laurel repeated, like it was the most obvious solution in the world. “Into this apartment above the nearly finished shop. Someone’s got to keep an eye on the place, and it might as well be me.”

“No,” Bennett said flatly.

She tilted her chin, defiance sparkling in her eyes, causing something not unpleasant to spread through his chest. “Yes.”

“This apartment isn’t even finished,” he stated, waving his hand in a sweeping motion, which was useless since she was already halfway down the hall toward the kitchen.

He rushed after her with Gabe on his six.

“There’s no security in place, no guarantee the culprits won’t come back and make things worse.

You’d be putting yourself in danger for no damn reason. ”

“First of all,” she began in a voice too calm for his liking, as she turned to face him, “Carter is installing the security right now. And secondly, whoever’s doing this isn’t going to stop with me staying with my aunt. They’re going to keep coming back until they get what they want.”

“And you think camping out here is going to stop them?”

“I think it’s better than sitting around doing nothing.” Her gaze never wavered. “Besides, if someone’s trying to scare us off, what better way to show them it’s not working than by moving in here?”

Hell no.

“You’re not moving in,” he growled.

“Okay. Except I am.”

He narrowed his eyes, trying another tactic. “I thought you were in town to take care of your recuperating aunt.”

She blinked, but his attempt to bring her to her senses appeared to fail when her chin lifted higher, and she shrugged a shoulder. “Nice try, but Aunt Annie is at the point where she can take care of her own… personal needs. She just can’t lift anything, which I will remind her.”

“But isn’t she getting her other wrist operated on soon?” Matthew asked, and Bennett could’ve kissed him for it.

Again, she shrugged. “Yes, but not for another ten days. Surely the good sheriff here, with the help of the amazing ESI team, will have apprehended the miscreant responsible for the vandalism way before that happens.”

Silence grew in the room. No one was willing to admit to something they couldn’t guarantee.

“So, until my aunt’s next surgery,” Laurel continued, “I’ll be staying here. There’s electricity and plumbing. I checked, so don’t try to use that as an excuse.”

“But there aren’t any appliances or furniture.” He pointed out. “How will you eat and sleep?”

Her gaze grew thoughtful before a determined glint returned. “I’ll eat at the diner and sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag,” she replied.

“Do you have one?” Matthew asked.

She shrugged. “Not yet, but if my aunt doesn’t have one, then perhaps Carter will let me borrow the one I spotted in his van outside.”

“Yeah, sure,” the idiot said. “And I have a really great pillow, too.”

Gabe muttered something, Matthew groaned, and Bennett glared at the generous jerk.

Carter frowned at them. “What? It’s Annie’s niece. She’s gonna stay anyway, so there’s no reason to make her buy one when we have plenty.”

“Thank you, Carter,” she said, a warm smile spreading across her face. “I appreciate it. You’re the best.”

“I know.” The guy grinned. “I’ll put it in the master bedroom for you later.”

“That’d be great.” She glanced at him. “So, you see? It’s all good.”

Was she serious? Couldn’t the woman see the danger she was putting herself in?

“No. It isn’t,” he ground out even though he knew it was useless.

Her brows shot up, her expression somewhere between exasperated and amused. “Seriously, why do you even care? I thought you were just here to handle security, not babysit.”

“So did I,” he shot back.

She snorted. “So, you’re going to keep me safe by ordering me around like some kind of drill sergeant?”

“If that’s what it takes,” he shot back.

“Wow. You really are a pain in the ass.”

“Pot, meet kettle,” he replied before he could stop himself.

Carter’s bark of laughter broke the tension. “This is getting good. Should I get popcorn?”

“Nah.” Matthew shook his head, grinning. “Someone’s liable to get knocked out if you take your eyes off them for even a second.”

Gabe scrubbed a hand over his face. “Can you two save the bickering for later? Preferably when I’m not trying to do my damn job.”

Bennett clenched his jaw and bit back the argument still lingering in his throat.

The last thing he needed was to get into a shouting match with an unreasonable woman.

But he’d be damned if he was going to let her just march in here and plant herself like some stubborn little watchdog and make herself a target.

“Let me be clear,” he said, dropping his voice to a low, measured tone, hoping by some miracle that she’d take notice. “If you think I’m just going to stand back and watch you put yourself in danger, you’re dead wrong.”

“Noted,” Laurel replied, her smile far too smug for his liking. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some arrangements to make.”

With that, she turned on her heel and marched right out of the apartment.

Dealing with her was going to be even harder than catching the asshole responsible for all this mess.

Bennett scowled at the door as if it would somehow will the obstinate woman right back inside. Because clearly, she was out of her damn mind if she thought moving into this place was a good idea.

“Gabe, you’re the sheriff…can’t you order her to stay out of here?” he asked, twisting to face the man.

“No.” The sheriff shook his head. “It’s her aunt’s property. My hands are tied. Maybe go talk with Annie.” Expelling a breath, Gabe pinched the bridge of his nose. “We need to catch this guy in the act. If this keeps up, someone’s going to get hurt.”

A deep chill settled in Bennett’s chest. His instincts had been right. This was only going to get worse. And Laurel was putting herself right in the damn thick of it.

“Bennett, I’m counting on you to keep that woman out of trouble. In the meantime, I’m heading back to the station to get this investigation rolling,” Gabe said before leaving the apartment.

His frustration was already boiling over, his patience stretched thinner than a wire, and now he had to convince Annie that her niece was making a colossal mistake.

Turning to Carter, he drew in a sharp breath, forcing himself to push aside his irritation. “I need a breakdown of what’s being done, security-wise. Everything you’ve got up and running and what still needs to be installed.”

Carter perked up, the topic drawing him away from the show Laurel had just put on. “Sure. I’ve got cameras and motion sensors set up along the back and side entrances. But whoever’s doing this knows how to avoid them. They stick to the shadows. It’s like trying to catch smoke.”

“What about the door alarms?”

“Nothing yet,” Carter replied. “Tyler should be here any minute to help, but currently we’re behind schedule.”

Scowling, he swallowed a curse. “So, if Laurel moves in right now, she’ll have zero protection?”

Carter hesitated. “From a security standpoint? Yeah. Sort of. Still need to rig the outside doors, and now with the rewiring in here, there’s no guarantee we’ll get this unit done by tonight.”

Bennett’s scowl deepened. The idea of Laurel just waltzing in here and setting up shop without so much as a working lock made his blood pressure spike.

“Fine,” he said on a released breath. “Work as fast as you can. I’ll figure something out in the meantime.”

“Like what?” Matthew asked, arms folded as he leaned against the wall.

He lifted a shoulder. “Not exactly sure, but anything that’ll keep her from doing something stupid.”

Matthew grinned. “Good luck with that. From the looks of her, you’ve got a better chance of wrestling a pissed-off bobcat.”

Bennett ignored him and turned to Carter. “Get the doors secured as fast as possible.”

Carter gave him a mock salute. “Roger that, boss.”

He didn’t bother responding. Instead, he rushed downstairs and out of the building with his sights set on the diner. If anyone could talk sense into that woman, he hoped it would be her aunt.

Three and a half minutes later, the bell over the door chimed as he pushed his way inside the diner, the smell of coffee and grilled bacon hitting him like a punch to the gut.

The place was still busy, the steady hum of conversation and clinking plates filling the air.

But his gaze zeroed in on Annie, who was already waving him over from behind the counter.

She looked tired, but there was still a spark of mischief in her eyes that had him instantly on edge.

“Annie,” he said as he reached her. “We need to talk about Laurel.”

Her brow rose, a smile twitching at her lips. “Ah, so you heard her big announcement.”

“Heard it, witnessed it, and tried to talk her out of it,” Bennett replied with a frown. “She’s making a mistake. Moving into that building without proper security is a bad idea.”

“Probably,” Annie agreed cheerfully, her tone completely at odds with his mood.

He blinked. “So, you’ll tell her not to do it?”

“Nope.”

His gut tightened. “Why the hell not?”

“Because she’s right.” Annie’s gaze didn’t waver.

“That girl’s been worrying about me from the second she got here, and now that she knows what’s going on, she’s not going to feel settled until she’s doing something about it.

Besides, if she’s staying there, then maybe you’ll be more inclined to stay there too. ”

“What?” He blinked. Surely, he’d heard her wrong.

Annie chuckled, clearly enjoying herself. “You heard me. If she’s going to be there, someone’s got to keep an eye on her. And as much as I trust the sheriff and his crew to check in every now and then, I’d rather have someone actually on-site. Someone who knows what he’s doing.”

His gut clenched. “Annie, I’m supposed to be working security and investigating. Not—”

“Exactly. Security,” she said, cutting him off. “And what better way to keep things secure than to have you actually there?”

Bennett opened his mouth, then shut it again. The woman was making a twisted sort of sense, and he didn’t like it one bit.

“I don’t have time to babysit her,” he argued. “I’ve got work to do.”

“Which you can do from there,” Annie said, shrugging like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And if Laurel knows you’re around, maybe she’ll be less likely to go charging headfirst into trouble.”

He snorted. “Somehow, I doubt that.”

“Maybe not. But it’s worth a shot.”

Bennett stared at her, a hundred objections piling up in his mind. But the more he thought about it, the more Annie’s suggestion started making sense. Laurel was going to do whatever the hell she wanted, whether he liked it or not.

Better he was there to keep her safe than leave her to fend for herself.

“Fine,” he gritted out. “I’ll stay there.”

Annie’s grin widened. “I knew you’d come around. Now, want some coffee to go? You’re gonna need it.”

He had a feeling no amount of coffee was going to prepare him for the mess he’d just agreed to.