Page 15 of Deception and New Direction (Ranger Shield Security #3)

JACK

She’d thought I was on a date.

Granted, I hadn’t actually given her many details about my whereabouts this evening, but it was interesting that she assumed my “meeting up with someone” was with a woman. Even more interesting was seeing the jealousy written all over her face.

I knew I should have corrected her and told her I was not, in fact, on a date, so she didn’t get the wrong idea. However , that would mean I would have had to tell her where I’d actually been, and I couldn’t do that. Not yet at least.

I had decided to go visit Hank . I’d wanted to learn more about her dad, but just in case things got bleak, I didn’t want Ruthie to hear it.

Thinking back to our conversation had me both angry and smiling because that old man was wise beyond his years and too witty for his own good—a family trait Ruthie must have inherited.

When I showed up, Hank was waiting for me on his front porch. I hadn’t given him much to go on, other than I needed to meet with him privately as soon as he has some time. His response had been not to put off tomorrow what I could do today, so we’d agreed to meet that night.

“If you’re lookin’ for my blessing to marry my granddaughter, you’ve got it, but somethin’ tells me she ain’t gonna be as easy to convince,” Hank announced as I was walking up the steps to his porch.

I chuckled, knowing he was absolutely correct. “ She’s got walls higher than Fort Knox . I get the feeling she learned that young. Which is the real reason I’m here, not that I don’t appreciate your blessing.”

Hank, who was sitting in his rocker, leaned back and crossed his arms. “ You ain’t wrong. And if you’re askin’ me why, you probably already know the answer.”

“I know her old man is a piece of work, but I need to know how bad it really was,” I told him, getting to the point of why I was here. “ If I’m gonna help protect her, and also get her to open up to me, I need the full picture.”

Hank grumbled and pointed to the chair next to him. “ Boy , you best sit down. This is gonna take a minute. You want something to drink?”

Knowing I might be here for a bit, I took him up on his offer. “ Whatcha got?”

“For this conversation, we’re going to need something stronger than a sweet tea,” Hank said, getting up from his chair and going inside to grab some drinks.

After he came back, he didn’t waste time before giving me the details.

“ Floyd always had a knack for takin’ and not givin’ a damn who he hurt doin’ it.

Hell , he treated his own wife like she was a damn ATM .

I never understood what my daughter saw in that man, but I think she stayed even when she knew he was bad because she didn’t want to leave the kids.

When she passed, my granddaughter was all he had left to squeeze. ”

“Squeeze how?” I asked.

“First, it was little things. Guilt -trippin’ her into cookin’ for them and cleanin’ their house.

Then it turned into makin’ her run errands for ‘em, keepin’ her close.

Based off my conversations with her, she didn’t see those as bad things, but I did.

He was layin’ the groundwork—makin’ her think she owed him somethin’.

My guess is so that when the time came for her to inherit, she’d feel obligated and he could take his cut. ”

My jaw tightened, thinking of this asshole doing that to his own daughter. “ She was just a kid.”

Hank nodded. “ That don’t mean nothin’ to a man like Floyd . To him, she was just another pawn. One he could cash in on when the time was right.”

“What about her brother?” I asked, thinking of my own sister and how I would have done a better job to protect her from that if I could.

“Jason?” Hank lifted his arm to rub the back of his neck as though there was built-up tension.

“ He didn’t hate her like their old man did, especially when he was younger.

The two of them got along well from the few times I saw them.

For a while, I assumed he was tryin’ to protect her.

But everything Ruthie told me after she moved here tells me that as he got older, he became more and more like his dad. ”

I thought about all of this, and it made me realize a few things about Ruthie —including why she was the way she was. “ She thinks she’s alone in this.”

“She’s been alone for a long time,” Hank replied solemnly.

I shook my head. “ Not anymore.”

“You’re right. She’s got me,” Hank said, crossing his arms and looking at me like that was all she needed.

“She’s also got me and a lot of other good people at her back, including my sister and the group of women she hangs out with.”

“Y’all may have her back, but I’m guessin’ she keeps everyone at arm’s length.”

Hank wasn’t wrong. It was that comment that I’d been thinking about a lot.

We’d had food delivered to the house, and Hank had given me the name of a contractor he knew who did good kitchen renovations—which I needed to get working on.

On the drive home I’d thought more about what Hank said—and ultimately how to get Ruthie to break out of her shell when it came to letting people in. More importantly, taking a chance on me.

When I’d come home tonight, I’d been pleasantly surprised to see the jealousy from Ruthie . It confirmed for me that I wasn’t the only one who felt something between us. I’d long suspected but never had any real proof from her side.

I had only stopped asking her out on a date because after she moved in with me, I ultimately got what I wanted without her realizing it.

We’d had dinner together every night, except tonight. We spent most evenings getting to know each other while she and I sat out on the back porch throwing a tennis ball for Dash or just relaxing on the couch watching movies.

From my point of view, there was no need to ask her out to dinner to get to know her better because I was currently getting both of those things every night.

She was still tight-lipped about her past, but I had learned things about her that I likely would have learned had I actually taken her out on a date.

She also cooked many nights, which was great because I sucked at everything that couldn’t be made using a toaster, a microwave, or a grill—and even then, I stuck with the basics.

Now I needed to up my game.

I knew there was no way it wasn’t going there with her. She was hands down the most gorgeous woman I’d ever met. She was full of grumpy sass, but it was love at first sight for me.

I hadn’t pushed too much before because I wasn’t a hundred percent sure she was fully interested, but after my conversation with Hank and her unintentional possessiveness on display tonight, I knew it was time to give it my all.

Game on, Ruthie .