Page 28

TWENTY-EIGHT

ZEKE

“YEAH?” I RUB at my eyes, trying to wake up from the coma Savannah’s warm body puts me into. “I’m here.”

“You don’t sound here.” Isaac snorts through the line. “You sound like someone drugged you.”

He’s not far off.

I carefully scoot out from under the covers and creep into the hall, leaving Savannah to continue sleeping. “Do you have an ETA?”

“They should be landing in the next half hour. Where do you want me to send them once they’re on the ground?”

There’s motion in my peripheral vision and I turn to find Christian silently slipping into the hall. He closes the door to his bedroom just as quietly, then motions for me to follow him down the stairs into an office at the front of the house. He shuts the door behind us and I switch my phone to speaker. If Christian’s nice enough to give us a safe place to stay, he deserves to be in the loop.

I let Isaac know it’s not just me he’s talking to, then ask, “Can you repeat that last question?”

“Where do you want me to send the team once they land?” I can hear him typing in the background. “It looks like I can have them where you are in an hour.”

I lift my eyes to Christian, letting him make the call. This is his home—his family. And while I might not have either of those myself, I understand the value they carry.

“Send them here.” He doesn’t hesitate. “If you need more space, we’ve got a warehouse you can use.”

“I’ll pass that on.” Isaac continues typing. “Keep me posted.” He disconnects the line.

“What’s your plan?” Christian rounds the large desk at the end of the room.

“Figure out what in the hell’s going on.” It sounds like an easy answer, but it’s not usually a straightforward one.

“Have any ideas?” Christian’s typing out a message on his cell as he speaks.

“Not a fucking one.” I drop into one of the chairs across from him and scrub a hand down my face. “If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Christian’s eyes lift to me. “But you know better.”

“Nothing’s a coincidence.” I shake my head. “At least not in my world.”

That explosion had to be aimed at me, and I need to figure out why. Unfortunately, the list of possible reasons is long and varied. I’ve pissed off a lot of people over the years. Any number of them could have circled back to give me what they think I have coming.

“Maybe it’s someone pissed at your company.” Christian offers up a plausible explanation. “You guys got any enemies?”

I laugh, but not in an amused way. “You could say that.” Which is why it will take fucking forever to narrow down the list of suspects. Between me and Alaskan Security, it could be just about anyone.

My cell starts to ring again. The name across the screen is expected, and once again I put it on speaker. “You’re up early.”

“You assume I’ve been to sleep.” Pierce’s voice is tight. “I understand the team will arrive in about an hour.”

“That’s what Isaac said.” I don’t try to keep the annoyance out of my tone. It’s a little too convenient that Pierce had me here less than two weeks ago and now I’m back and shit’s going to hell. I have to think he knows more than he’s letting on.

“Do you have any idea who’s behind this?” Pierce asks.

“Do you?” I shoot right back at him. If he has even a fucking inkling of why someone would try to take me out, I want to know.

Pierce sighs. “If I knew who was behind this, I would tell you. Especially since you’re not alone.” His voice is a little softer when he says, “You helped protect Mona. I would hope you’d know I’d do the same for you.”

I stare at my phone, letting the insinuation Pierce makes sink in. Letting it burrow under my skin.

Just like Savannah has.

I judged Pierce a little when he lost his shit over the woman who became his wife. Questioned how he could allow his judgment to become so clouded.

I might owe him an apology.

“I’ll let you know as soon as we find anything out.” My thumb hovers over the screen of my cell. “You don’t think this has anything to do with Vincent, do you?”

I should think it does, but I don’t. Never once did it seem like Vincent suspected our presence. If anything, the head of GHOST seemed to have tunnel vision. His attention stayed on the pretty, voluptuous brunette who was about to find out she fucked with the wrong man.

And that’s only because he’d already figured out he fucked with the wrong woman. It was amusing as hell watching Vincent fall apart, but maybe that’s the key to all this.

It’s possible Vincent wasn’t the only one with tunnel vision.

“I’m working on that.” Pierce’s tone is clipped. “I’ll be in touch.” He disconnects the call and I grit my teeth in aggravation. If Pierce won’t help me figure this shit out, I know someone who will.

“I was in Nashville a couple weeks ago, collecting intel on a man we do business with on occasion.” I think through the whole situation, using Christian as a sounding board. “From what I gathered, he was here to scare a woman who’d breached his system into minding her own fucking business.”

Christian lifts a brow. “Is that how that’s normally handled?”

I huff out a laugh. “No. Especially not by Vincent.” Scratching at the short crop of my beard, I continue. “Normally he’d make sure anyone who even tried to access his servers would never be seen or heard from again.”

One corner of Christian’s mouth lifts. “Sounds like love to me.”

“I’d probably say obsession, but love works too in this case.” I’ve known Vincent for a long time, and his version of love probably looks a whole hell of a lot different than mine. “It’s possible my trip here and Vincent’s activities connect to all this, but I don’t know how yet.”

And when I was here before, I was so pissed at the task I was given, I wasn’t being as careful as I maybe should have been. I didn’t lay low. Didn’t watch my back everywhere I went.

Hell, I acted like a fucking tourist at times, visiting fancy hotels and eating in Yelp recommended restaurants. It’s possible, if someone else was watching Vincent, they were also watching me.

And my head was too far up my ass to know it.

“Fuck.” I rake one hand through my hair. “I should know more than I do.”

“Want me to put out feelers? See if I can come up with anything?” Christian offers.

I know a little about the morally questionable life Christian’s led. Just like he knows a little about the morally questionable life I’ve led. But hearing he might be able to get information for me is still somewhat of a surprise. “You seriously have those kinds of contacts?”

My friend gives me a slow smile. “You’d be shocked what kind of contacts I have.” He stands. “I’ll see what I can come up with, but first, you have a meeting.”

I angle a brow. “A meeting?”

Christian chuckles. “You didn’t think you’d get out of here without having to meet my brothers did you?”

“THIS IS A lot of people.” Savannah scoots closer to me as more and more men and women file into Christian’s house. Her brows pinch together as she takes them all in. “These are all his brothers?”

“Not biological.” I shift a little against the overstuffed couch we’re seated on. “Chosen.”

It’s yet another stark difference between the lives Christian and I carved out for ourselves. While he built a home and a family, I closed myself off. I thought I was doing the right thing. That helping women like Savannah would be enough for me.

Now that I’m seeing what could have been, it’s impossible not to think I might have been wrong.

“Morning, everyone.” A slim woman with a wide smile glides in carrying a foil-covered tray. She pauses to glance back at the man who came in with her. “You got them?”

He’s balancing a couple kids, one in each arm, leaning back as the bigger of the two tries to grab at the wad of hair tied at the top of his head. “Keep moving, Beanie. This one’s got about two more seconds before he’s ready for takeoff.”

The woman laughs, but picks up the pace, sliding her offering onto the island before scooping the little boy out of the man’s arms. She swings him through the air and to the ground, laughing loudly as the child giggles along with her. As predicted, the second those little feet hit the floor he starts to run.

And for some fucking reason comes right at me.

I barely have time to brace and block my dick before he launches his little body, sails through the air, and lands on my lap with enough force to make me grunt.

“Hi.” Little hands smack against my cheeks then rub over my beard. “You have fur.”

“Tyler.” The man I guess to be the boy’s dad comes our way. “You can’t just jump on people like that.”

“S’okay.” Tyler continues investigating my beard, looking unbothered. “He doesn’t care.” The little boy’s eyes come to mine. “Right?”

“Right.” What the hell else am I supposed to say? I don’t want this kid to get in trouble because of me.

“Ugh.” The woman comes over and grabs Tyler. “Are you already assaulting people?”

“Wasn’t assault.” Tyler kicks his legs, trying to squirm free. “Was just sayin’ hi.”

“He’s fine.” My eyes drift to the dad and the younger kid he still holds. “He’s not bothering me.”

Kids have never bothered me. This isn’t the first time I’ve been the target of one, so I’m used to their attention. It’s always struck me as strange that they’ll pick me out of a room of smiling, nice looking people, but I guess they don’t quite have the same sense of self-preservation that makes most adults avoid me.

“How about we get you some food and then you can come back and gently visit with Mr…”

“Zeke.”

She points at her chest. “Felicity.” Her finger swings to the boy’s father. “That’s Cody.”

“And I’m Tyler.” The little boy raises both arms over his head, making it nearly impossible for Felicity to keep her grip. He melts down to the floor then takes off in the direction of the food spread across the island.

And there’s a shit ton of it. Everyone who’s here brought something. Like they were all prepared to whip something up at a moment’s notice.

“Why don’t you guys eat too?” Felicity tips her head in the direction of the plates. “You don’t have long before everyone’s going to start talking your ear off, so you should probably get something in now.”

Savannah stays plastered to my side as we go through the line and fill our plates. She’s just as close when we sit back down, her eyes moving around the people packed into Christian’s kitchen and great room.

“You okay?” I rest one hand on her knee, letting my thumb stroke over the jeans she borrowed from Lydia. The two women are similar in size, but very different in style, and it’s odd seeing Savannah in clothes that are so starkly different from what she usually wears.

“I’m just a little overwhelmed I guess.” She flashes me a small smile. “At least when I go to parties at Sadie’s house I’m in a familiar place and know most of the people.”

I lift my hand to her face and push back her hair, smoothing it behind one ear. “Do you want to go upstairs? I’ll tell them I’m the one who needs a minute.”

Her head tips, pressing her cheek into my palm. “I’ll be okay. Thank you though.”

“You don’t have to thank me.” I look over her face, regret making my stomach sink. “I’m the reason you’re in this mess.”

There are so many things I could have done to avoid this. So many ways I failed her. All she wants is to feel safe, and I fucked it all up.

Savannah’s dark brows pinch together. “This isn’t your fault.” She frowns. “You didn’t know someone was going to blow that building up and try to chase us down.”

“No, but I should have.” And I fucking hate myself for it more and more each minute. “I should have known something could be up when Vincent was down here.”

Savannah opens her mouth to respond, but a loud chiming cuts her off.

Christian stares down at the screen of his phone then lifts his eyes to mine. “Looks like your boys are here.”