Page 10 of Kane (Ghost Ops #4)

Chapter Six

Daphne parked Warren’s old Chevy sedan in the lot behind the Sutton building and got out.

Kane parked beside her, his black Yukon with the tinted windows looking big and badass beside the old Chevy.

When he rolled down the passenger-side window and peered at her, mirrored shades on his face, she had a visceral reaction.

He was masculine and gorgeous, every girl’s wet dream of a bad boy. It was no wonder he attracted the attention he did, no wonder he had his pick of women whenever he stepped foot into the Dawg.

Hell, probably every single time he went anywhere in this town, he had his pick of women. The grocery store, the gas station, the drugstore. Anywhere. Even old ladies flirted with him. And married ones.

The guys teased him about his effect on women. She teased him, too. Like this morning when she’d asked if she needed a tetanus shot before she entered the building. But he’d been shirtless, glistening with perspiration, and her brain had been in danger of short circuiting.

Hell, it had short circuited if she thought about what she’d done next. He’d called her a kid, which he’d done before, but this time she’d let go of the leash on her temper.

Probably shouldn’t have done that.

But why did Kane Fox find every single woman in this town attractive except her?

Why did he keep her at arm’s length? He said he didn’t fuck around with people he cared about.

She was still thinking about that and wondering how he cared for her.

Or if he’d just said it because it was an easy excuse.

“You want to eat at the Dawg? Or you got something else in mind?”

She didn’t want the Dawg, not because she didn’t love it, but she didn’t want to sit through a meal with women coming over to talk to him. With him flirting back, his hazel eyes and long lashes that no man had a right to turning women stupid.

“We’re going through Madison on the way to the car dealers, right?” she asked. “What about the new Indian place that just opened there?”

“Works for me.”

Daphne hopped into the Yukon and belted herself in. Kane turned the music off. Gangsta rap, which she found amusing for some reason. Though she’d also heard him listen to Country, Top 40, Classic Rock, and Blues, among others. Those were just his top rotations.

“Thanks for doing this,” she said when they’d left the parking lot and headed north. “I know there are probably other things you’d rather do on your off time.”

“I’m happy to help. I always have been. The guys said I’m too picky about cars, so I’m going to try not to be this time. We’ll find something.”

“It’s just a car, Kane. I don’t care, so long as it’s reliable.”

The version of her that’d zipped around town in a cherry red Porsche 911 Carrera S would be horrified, but she’d buried that girl when she’d fled New Orleans.

“Like I said before, it needs good safety features and no mechanical issues. You willing to finance part of it or still insistent on cash?”

Her stomach lurched at the idea of filling out credit applications. “Cash only.”

“Same budget?”

“I have a little more now. I’d go to six thousand. I hope that’s enough.”

They paid her well at the range. Since she’d determined she needed to live frugally in her new life, she’d been able to save money. Something she never did when she ran the club and lived in an apartment in the French Quarter. She’d lived high then, and she’d spent high.

“It’s enough. I saw a couple of small SUVs for sale around that price. Is that all in, or can you afford a bit more for tax, tags, and title?”

“If the car is good enough, I could probably scrape together a little more to cover those things.”

“If we find a really good car and you’re short, I can help.

” He held up a hand to stop the protest he must have known was coming.

“A loan, Daphne. That you can repay. I’m talking a small amount of money, because I know you won’t accept more.

I can probably even get Alex to give you an advance on your wages if that helps. ”

“I’ll keep it in mind, but I really don’t want to go more than a few hundred over, okay?”

“Yup.”

The day was gorgeous, sunny and hot. Alabama in summer was stifling, but it wasn’t as bad as New Orleans, so she didn’t really mind it.

So long as you dressed for the weather, it was tolerable.

At work she wore jeans because of the air-conditioning, but she usually put on shorts or cotton dresses when she got home.

Maybe she should have dashed upstairs to do just that before heading out, but she’d survive.

The town, despite being small, had a divided road that entered from the north and provided a grand entrance.

There were trees in the center of the median, big ones hung with red, white, and blue paper stars from their branches.

The Fourth of July was next week. Sutton’s Creek would have fireworks as well as a big festival and picnic in the park at the center of town, which meant the town decorating committee was out in force with the stars, flags, and bunting.

Daphne was endlessly charmed by the pace of life there.

She’d always thought she needed the tempo of New Orleans, the night life that never ended.

The Diamond Queen closed at two in the morning and didn’t open again until ten the next morning.

Many bars stayed open around the clock, but not the Queen.

When your club was as good as hers, you could afford to have the hours you wanted.

Not for the first time, she wondered how the club was doing without her. In truth, it was an O’Malley family venture, not her own, so her father would have sent someone in to run it as soon as he’d realized she wasn’t coming back.

She pictured him in his office when he finally figured out she was gone, the rage and betrayal that would have crossed his face. It never failed to freeze her marrow in her bones. Especially when she envisioned Jackson there, begging to be allowed to track her down.

They would have both known that she hadn’t gone empty-handed. That she would have taken evidence of their crimes with her. Finding her would be a top priority.

She’d never expected to get as far as she had, or to stay hidden. It’d been a desperate, reckless move on her part. But she’d had no choice. She couldn’t be a part of what they were doing. Not anymore.

It shamed her she’d ever been a part of it, but she’d compartmentalized that part of her life, telling herself that so long as she wasn’t an active participant, it wasn’t a problem.

She didn’t believe that anymore, which was part of why she’d fled. The other part—well, that had been a hill she hadn’t known she’d be willing to die on until she was confronted with the evidence.

“You okay?”

Daphne jerked her gaze to Kane. “Sure. Why?”

“You’re rubbing your thighs like you’re uncomfortable. Just wondered if you pulled a muscle or something.”

She folded both hands in her lap. “I didn’t realize. I’m fine. Just thinking.” She searched around for something to say, to distract him from focusing too much attention on her lies. “I was wondering about the Fourth of July celebrations and how crowded the town will get.”

Lame excuse.

“Don’t know. I’m as new to town as you are. They don’t have a big celebration where you’re from?”

She wasn’t sure how to answer. Kenny had created an identity for her that had her born in Florida, but he’d left the details vague.

It was still possible to have a life that wasn’t lived completely online, and she’d leaned into that.

Her cell phone was pay-as-you-go. Her social security number was fake, so she could work.

She had no social media as Daphne Bryant.

No real history. Not typical for her generation, but also not impossible.

“I’m not from anywhere, really. My parents were… nomads. They had a deep mistrust of government and authority. We lived in an RV and traveled wherever the mood took them.”

He nodded. “Got it. My dad was in the Navy. We moved a lot too. Two years at a base and we’d be moving on again.”

That was the most he’d ever told her about where he came from. “So you don’t have a hometown either?”

“Nope. I was born in Japan, in an American military hospital. My dad retired from the Navy when I was in high school. We were living in Virginia then, and he worked in Norfolk. I joined the Army when I was eighteen, so I don’t think of Norfolk as home any more than I do Japan or the Philippines or Hawaii.

All those are places we were stationed. California and Spain too, though I was a lot younger then and don’t remember them as well. ”

“Wow. That sounds amazing. I’ve never been outside of the country.”

“They were. I liked living overseas.” He rolled up to a stop sign and flipped on his signal. “But you’re young yet. You’ve got plenty of time to travel.”

“You say that like you’re old, Gramps.”

He grinned. “Nah, not old. But I feel like it some days. The military can be hard on the body.”

“Why did you join the Army if your dad was in the Navy?”

His fingers tightened on the wheel for a fraction of a second. “I didn’t want to spend half a year at sea, away from family and friends. Saw what it did to my parents’ relationship. I figured if I ever found somebody I wanted to be with, I didn’t want to have to navigate the Navy and a wife, too.”

Daphne gaped at him. He shot her a look.

“What?”

She shook her head. “I guess I never pictured you as the kind of guy who’d even consider settling down, much less making life decisions based on the possibility.”

He shrugged again, the nonchalance back. “Yeah, well it turns out the Army isn’t much better. If they wanted you to have a wife, they’d have issued you one.”