Hurry Up And Wait (Owens Protective Services #24)

14. Kavanaugh

14

KAVANAUGH

I swung the door open, letting the questions fly before Red and Eli were even through the door. “What’s the update on Isla?”

Eli quirked an eyebrow at me. “Nice to see you too. Yes, the drive was fine, but I’m tired as hell.” He jerked his thumb at Red. “This one snores.”

“Do not,” Red muttered.

I rolled my eyes, not in the mood for games. “I don’t care about your sleeping habits. What’s going on with Isla?”

“Didn’t you talk to Dash?”

“If I had talked to Dash, I wouldn’t be asking you,” I snapped, snagging one of the weapons bags out of his hand.

He walked further in, whistling at the sight of the apartment. “Fancy digs.”

“Eli,” I said harshly. “What’s the status with Isla?”

“Uh…she’s with IKE.”

“You already told me that.”

“Did I?” he said, turning around, his eyes taking in everything. “You know, this is such a waste of money.”

“I didn’t buy it. What’s going on with Isla? ”

He sighed heavily. “Look, are we on this job or do you want to go home to Isla?”

“I want to go home to Isla,” I said immediately. “Not that it makes a difference. I’m doing this for Cash.”

He glanced at Red, sharing a look with him. “Things aren’t going well. She’s okay, but her husband is stirring up trouble. I don’t have a good feeling about any of this.”

I cursed under my breath. Why the fuck was I stuck here when I was needed at home? “How can we help her?”

“That’s up to IKE.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means she’s fucked,” Red added, leaning back on his heels. “The husband filed a restraining order against OPS and IKE.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Against IKE? Why the fuck would he do that?”

“That’s something you’re going to have to ask IKE about,” Red said, walking away from me.

I followed him further into the apartment, angry that I had to peel the answers out of him. “How the fuck does he even know IKE is involved?”

“Again—”

“Something I’m going to have to ask IKE,” I muttered.

He spun and grinned at me. “Now you’re catching on.”

“I shouldn’t be here,” I grumbled under my breath as I ran my fingers through my hair. Out of all the times for me to get involved with the senator, it had to be now when Isla needed me. Instead, she was stuck with IKE.

“Then go home,” Eli pushed.

“I can’t.”

“You can. Cash wouldn’t think less of you for going home when you’re needed.”

“No, but he also wouldn’t get the answers he needs. Do you really think I’d walk away when I could end this fucking thing for him? He’s been more family to me than my own has. I would never do that to him.”

Eli sighed. “Then you’re going to have to let IKE handle this. Cash already has all the work being done to fix up the house. Security systems are being installed. He’s taking care of shit, okay?”

“Yeah, and in the meantime, her ex is free to do whatever the fuck he wants. He’s a fucking cop!”

“Which is why we need IKE on this,” Eli explained calmly. “He works outside the lines, which makes him perfect to handle this asshat. Let him handle Isla and we’ll take care of Cash’s shit.”

I nodded even though I didn’t like it. The sooner I got this over with, the sooner I could get back to Isla and help her through this.

“So, what’s our part in all this?” Eli asked.

“You’re security.”

“But…for you,” he said slowly.

I smirked. “Basically.”

He nodded, a smile peeking out. “I had no idea you were so delicate, but we’ll try our best to keep you safe.”

“Fuck off.”

“No, I’m sure this is one hundred percent necessary.”

“And what a thrill for us,” Red grinned. “It’s not every day you get to protect someone who protects others. It’s like you’re a celebrity.”

“He is,” Eli said seriously. “He’s the senator’s son.”

“You can fuck right off,” I snapped.

“Now, I don’t think that’s the way a senator’s son would talk,” Eli said, shoving past me. “You’re gonna have to clean it up if you want people to believe you’re all moral and shit.”

“What’s the news you couldn’t tell us over the phone?” Red asked.

I winced, rubbing the back of my neck. “I…uh…have a fiancée.”

They both stared at me, but it was Red who spoke up. “I don’t think Isla will be okay with you dating another woman.”

“I’m not,” I rolled my eyes. “It’s the senator’s doing.”

“And Isla?”

“Doesn’t know.”

“Are you gonna tell her?”

I sighed, pacing away from them. “I’ll tell her, but I’m doing my best to keep my private life separate. I told the senator not to involve OPS. The last fucking thing we need is OPS being dragged into his bullshit. ”

“But you are gonna tell Isla,” Eli urged.

“Of course, but not yet.”

Red snorted. “Oh, I can see this going well.”

“I’ll tell her, but I highly doubt the thing she needs right now is to hear about my other life after she was just nearly blown up.”

“Not telling her is only going to make matters worse,” Eli pointed out.

“Right, and how should I tell her? Isla, I really want to come home and take care of you, but I need to stay here with my fake fiancée to make the senator look good.”

They both cringed, proving my point. “Okay, maybe don’t tell her just yet,” Red said.

“Exactly,” I huffed.

Eli grinned at me. “I knew this trip was going to be awesome. Full of intrigue, fake romance, and dastardly characters.” I flipped him off as he hauled his bag over his shoulder. “Which way to my room?”

“You can sleep on the fucking roof.”

He grinned. “I think I’ll take your room. After all, I am the team leader.”

Red shoved past me, his bag nearly knocking me to the ground in his haste to catch up to Eli. “Hey! I get the other half of the bed!”

I blew out a breath, bracing my hands on my hips. This was gonna fucking suck.

I tore the tie from around my neck and flung it on the bed. Just one day in the presence of my father was enough to last a lifetime. And I still had the rest of the week to go. The whole time I was answering questions and shaking hands, I was thinking about her.

More specifically, her bastard ex.

The first thing I did this morning was call Dash and ask him to run a deep dive on her ex. I couldn’t help but think that there was more going on than she knew. Maybe the guy was an asshole all along, but hid it really well. But if that was the case, wouldn’t he have shown his asshole tendencies long before? And why would he suddenly want to blow her up? None of it made sense. There had to be more to the story.

I was just about to call for an update on the case when Olivia knocked on my door. Looking tired from the long day, her hair was down, hanging loosely over her shoulders. It was a reprieve from the tight bun she wore all day, making her look more like a strict school teacher than a young woman in love.

“Hey,” she smiled. “I thought we could order some dinner. I’m starving.”

I really didn’t want to spend any more time with her than necessary, but everyone needed to eat. “Sure. I just need to make a phone call.”

“Chinese?”

“Yeah, whatever you get is fine.”

The bright smile on her face softened her features. She was an attractive woman. I could see why my father chose her for me. When we were out talking with constituents today, she was a natural. She listened as they spoke and had this soft side to her that appealed to those struggling. She was dressed in the nicest clothes, but didn’t wear anything ostentatious. Everything about her was carefully crafted to make her fit the mold my father needed. Even down to the damn ring on her finger. It was large, but not gaudy. It wasn’t at all my style, but my father would never allow a ring any smaller on her finger.

As she walked away, I called for an update on Isla. It took forever for Dash to answer, and when he did, he just pissed me off.

“It’s the Dashman. Fastest fingers in the West. How can I squeeze you?”

“Dash, what the fuck are you doing?”

“I’m changing things up. See, I figured that everyone around here has their thing. I figured I need something for me.”

“And that was what you came up with?” I said somewhat incredulously.

“Well, it’s a work in progress.”

“Keep working. That was terrible.”

“Man!” he snapped. “I really thought I had something. I tried going for something along the lines of the Hacker Of All Trades, but did you know there’s already a guy out there that goes by that?”

“You’re not a hacker,” I pointed out.

“Well, no, not technically, but the name is awesome, right?”

“Dash, I called to talk about something more important than a new nickname for you.”

“Can’t really see what that would be, but okay,” he grumbled.

I rolled my eyes, trying not to snap at him. At least Fox wasn’t with him. Then I’d be in trouble. “What’s the status on Isla?”

“She’s fine,” he answered nonchalantly.

“That’s it?”

“What more do you want?”

“How about a fucking status update? I’m a thousand miles away. It would be nice for someone to stay on top of this shit and keep me informed.”

“Oh, right. Well, IKE is watching out for her. You should talk to him.”

“Fine,” I gritted out.

“But they had a power failure last night. Yeah, a wicked storm came through. I already tried him and the call won’t connect.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Don’t kill him. Don’t kill him. “Dash, if you know the power’s out, why the fuck did you tell me to call him?”

“I don’t think that’s what I said.”

“Yes, you fucking did! You said to call IKE for a status update!”

“Geez, you’re really tense. You should probably get laid.”

“I would, but she’s not here with me, is she!” I shouted.

“Alright, alright. You’re so testy today.”

“Because I’m talking to you and you’re acting like Fox!”

I ran my fingers through my hair, cutting through the gel that held it in place. After the shit day I had, the last thing I needed was to argue on the phone with Dash when all I wanted was to find out if Isla was okay.

“Alright, you want the real deal?”

“That would be nice,” I bit out .

“Dude, she’s fucking crashing. Her life is going to shit and she needs a man who will rescue her from it.”

A pit opened in my stomach and all my hope fell into it. “Shit.”

“I mean, that’s just my take on it. I don’t actually know that’s how she feels. Like I said, if you really want to know, I would call her.”

“Dash,” I snapped.

“Yeah?”

“I fucking hate you.”

“Right backatcha, man.”

I hung up with a sigh, scrubbing my hand over my face. I shouldn’t be here. Isla needed me, and instead of being there for her, I was here working for the senator, and another man was taking care of her. She had only been back in my life for a handful of days, but that was all I needed to know that it was right.

Not that I loved her. That would come with time, but when I saw her again, things just clicked into place. And then I had to leave on a job and IKE was watching her. Taking care of her. Fuck, I really hoped she wasn’t breaking down in his arms. I might have to kill him.

I dialed IKE’s phone, trying to get through to him, but I just got a message about the phone not being in service right now. How the fuck was it possible that in this day and age, the cell towers weren’t fucking working?

“Everything okay?”

I turned and faced Olivia, forgetting she was here with me. “Uh…yeah,” I smiled. “Just dealing with some issues at work.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Her shy smile was tempting. She was so sweet and naive, but no, I did not want to talk about the woman I was currently obsessing over with my fake fiancée. “No, that’s okay.”

She nodded, biting into her lower lip. I wondered if she knew how damn appealing she was? Didn’t she realize that if she just gave herself a chance, she could get any guy out there? Why was she wasting all this on me?

“Did you order?”

“Yeah.”

“We should get something to drink.” I had to move this away from the bedroom. I didn’t want her to get any ideas about the way things would be between us. I led her down the hall to the kitchen and opened a bottle of wine. I didn’t really care for it, but she obviously did.

“There you go,” I said, handing her a glass.

“Cheers.”

She held up her glass, clinking mine as she smiled at me. Fuck, I just couldn’t take this. “Why are you really here?”

“What?” she asked, startled by the question.

“You’re a beautiful woman. You’re smart. You have a good education.” Not that she could really do much with it. “Why did you take the senator’s offer?”

Her smile faded as she stared into her wine glass. There was so much I didn’t know about this woman, but if we were going to get through this, I needed to figure her out soon. Knowing your enemy was part of defeating them, and though she wasn’t technically my enemy, she worked for the senator, which meant she was really on his side.

“My parents were pushing for me to marry a man they felt would…give me the best opportunities in life.”

“And you didn’t like him?”

“He was sixty years old,” she said, shooting me a pointed look. “It would have been a great connection for them, which was why when the senator approached me with his offer, I knew it would be even better. Having a politician in your pocket is even better than a rich guy.”

“And you got out of an inconvenient marriage.”

“Look, I like an older guy the same as the next girl, but that was a little too…”

“I get the drift,” I grinned. “And what exactly are you hoping to get out of this?”

“At this point? I would settle for just getting through the contract.” Her eyes softened as she tilted her head at me. “I really didn’t know that you weren’t on board with this. If I had known…” She shook her head.

I couldn’t tell if she was being sincere or not. I really wanted to believe that she was—that she had been roped into this because of the senator’s deceit, but the truth was, anyone could put on a show. Hell, I was doing it every day I was here.

“Your father said that you work in private security,” she said, sipping her wine. “What’s that like?”

My father. I really didn’t want the senator mentioned as my father in any capacity, but I was going to have to get used to it for as long as this charade went on.

“It’s a job, like any other. Except, I’m really fucking good at what I do.”

“But you put your life on the line for others,” she said, a wrinkle forming on her nose. “How can you be sure they’re worthy?”

“It’s not about whether or not they’re worthy. I’m there to do a job. And if, as you say, I find them unworthy, I could always refuse the job.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know how you do it. I could never do what you do.”

“Not everyone is cut out for it.”

Her eyes flicked up to meet mine and a hint of vulnerability cut through them. “And what about the people you go home to? Do they get any say in your jobs?”

“I don’t have any family,” I said bitterly. “And even if I did, why would they have a say?”

She seemed shocked by my blunt answer and it took her a moment to respond. “Because you could be killed. What if you never came home?”

“That’s the job,” I grunted.

She pursed her lips, but I could tell she wanted to say more. I waited for it, knowing she wouldn’t keep her mouth shut. She didn’t understand me any more than I did her, and that wasn’t likely to change over the course of this fake engagement.

“You have your parents,” she said softly.

“My parents…my father is dead to me. And my mother—” I didn’t like talking about my mother. I hoped after all these years that she would tire of my father’s ambitions, but nothing ever changed .

“Your father wants a relationship with you.”

“The senator wants a pawn.” I swallowed the contents of my glass and slammed it on the table, eliciting a small yelp from her. “I have work to do.”