Page 11 of Road Trip with Her Bodyguard (Love Along Route 14 #9)
JORIE
M y gaze slides between the beautiful view of the forest to the coffeepot slowly filling in front of me.
It takes a while to get my brain going in the mornings at the best of times, and the past several days have been a whirlwind. Now that we’re staying in one spot for a while, maybe I can finally return to my natural rhythms.
I wonder if the rhythm out here will be slower. Probably. It’s so tranquil, with no traffic sounds. No neighbors slamming their car doors. Nothing but bird calls and the whisper of trees.
Which is why I jump when there’s a strange hum, then a mechanical clicking and whirring sound coming from a small shelf between the dining and the living areas.
I look down to see a small beige-gray printer slowly spitting out pages. The thing must be at least twenty years old.
“What, you’ve never seen a fax machine before?” Dane comes out from the bedroom and pours us each a coffee.
“Oh! Is that what that is? No, I haven’t.”
He brings our mugs over, then pulls out papers, spreading them across the table.
“My friend Jim lives on the other side of town. He must have passed by, seen a light on here, and assumed Dad was visiting. He likes to keep up with the news, so Jim faxes the important bits. Weather, local news, global headlines, the business section. Any articles he knows Dad would like.”
“Whoa. Your dad is that anti-technology?”
“He sure is. No internet, no cell phone, and only an older TV at his house.”
We sit down and skim the news together. It’s actually quite nice reading on paper instead of a screen, if a little weird.
“Shit,” Dane mutters under his breath. I catch his eye as his head shakes. “It’s too early in the morning for crap like this, but we should probably read it together.” He turns the page sideways so we can skim the article from the business section.
The Turcotte Group just acquired two companies very similar to my father’s, including Sethman – a company Dad himself was hoping to be acquired by.
“This means nobody is interested in Dad’s company,” I murmur, looking up at Dane. “So… Why would anybody be after me?”
“Excellent question.” Dane’s fingers drum heavily on the table for a solid minute. Then he stands up and marches out to the car. He returns and snaps a SIM card into one of the burner phones. I have a very bad feeling about things as I watch him dial a number.
“Hey, Dad.” Dane sets the phone between us, and I come closer to listen in.
“Dane, my boy! How’s that… work project going?”
“Oh, good, good. Listen, that old friend of yours I’ve been dealing with – is he the kind of guy to cheat at cards if something important was on the line?”
There’s a slight grumble. “Oh, hell yeah. He’s a sneaky bastard, that one.
Wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.
Always ready to cut a good man’s throat to get himself ahead even one inch.
You know… We go so far back that over the years I’ve been brushing things under the rug, so to speak.
But protecting his kid is important. Everything is going well, I hope? ”
“Very well.” Dane reaches out to stroke my hair. “Better than I could ever imagine, to be honest. She’s wonderful.”
There’s a loud snort. “Watch it, boy. Keep your pecker in your pants and your hands to yourself. That’s a classy girl, so don’t be getting ideas about?—”
“She can hear you, Dad.”
The next snort is less frustration and more amusement. “Well, she’s probably eager to get back to her fancypants California life. She’d be bored to tears out here. So you two just behave yourselves, keep your heads down, and wait until Gerald gives the all-clear.”
“That’s the thing, though,” Dane says slowly. “Is there really an all-clear to be given if Gerald made the whole thing up?”
I blink at the torrent of curses suddenly barreling down the line.
“Shit. Bastard’s done this before. Made up all kinds of hooey just to get his name in the news.
Or to get people talking about his company…
whichever company he’s pulling out of his ass these days.
I swear, that man wouldn’t know how to do an honest day’s work if the fate of the entire world depended on it. ”
A flicker runs through Dane’s eyes. Maybe he doesn’t like that his father is insulting mine. “Thanks for the info, Dad. We’ll be in touch.”
“All righty. Stay outta the good whiskey.”
Dane ends the call and rolls his eyes. “I don’t care for his brand, anyway.”
I appreciate that he’s trying to keep things light. But it suddenly feels like rocks are weighing down my very soul.
“So… My father lied about this to get attention? Like a five-year-old?”
“Apparently so.” Dane guides me back to the table and sits me down, pushing the coffee mug in front of me temptingly.
“What do we do?” I ask.
“Well…” He leans back and rubs his neck, thinking. “Dad doesn’t allow any computers in his sacred country cabin, as you can imagine. But we could always visit Jim. We’ll use his computer with a VPN. Totally safe.”
I nod, sipping my coffee. It does nothing to fill the hollow feeling inside me.
“First, breakfast,” Dane says. “Then we’ll drive to Jim’s and get this over with. Okay?”
My fingers wrap around his wrist. “Thank you. Really.”
He simply nods, as if understanding I don’t have the bandwidth right now to get into a heart-to-heart about how much I appreciate him protecting me. It’s like we’re beginning to communicate with just a glance.
The idea sends my stomach into a slow spiral. If we click this much already, could he really be the one?
“I know this is rough for you, baby. But don’t worry, I’m going to take care of everything.” He kisses the back of my hand, then his eyes light up with a wicked grin. “Will you forgive me if I get angry with your father?”
My eyes narrow. “Are you kidding? If he really lied about this, I want you to kick his ass.”