Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99399 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99399 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
I stared at him. What the fuck? Maybe I should have been grateful the guy was watching out for his patrons. But the heated way he watched Wolfe suggested it was personal, and that raised my own protective instincts. It was none of his goddamn business.
Wolfe looked miserable. “I’m fine, Jake. Thank you. Trace was just leaving.”
Jake looked at me expectantly. My chest tightened. But I could tell Wolfe was uncomfortable, and I knew he hated confrontation of any kind.
“Howbout I move to another table?” I suggested. “I actually came in for some food.”
Jake tilted his head. “Mm. Sorry. We don’t serve food.”
Not only was there a sign out front saying they did, but Wolfe’s own plate was still on the table in front of us.
“Fine,” I said, feeling exhaustion overtake me again. I had a pack of peanut butter crackers in my car. They’d have to do for now. “I’ll go.”
As I stood, I caught a brief moment of disappointment on Wolfe’s face. Within seconds, it was gone, replaced by a firm chin and a fake expression of disinterest.
But it had been there. I’d caught it.
I met his eye. “I’ll talk to you later, okay? Call me if you need me.”
He looked away. “I won’t.”
I exhaled and nodded before throwing down a few bucks for my untouched coffee and walking out.
Before heading back to the campground, I pulled into the gas station to fill up. If Wolfe decided to bolt, I wanted to be ready to follow him.
Thankfully, there was a small grocery attached to the gas station, so I stocked up on fruit, a couple of pastries, bottled water, and two sandwiches. When I made it back to the campground, I set up at the site’s picnic table and devoured one of the sandwiches and an apple before reaching out to Derek.
I found Wolfe at a campground in Hush, Colorado. He’s safe and seems okay.
Derek
I thought you were going home?
It’s on the way.
Derek
You don’t need to drive twenty hours for fuck’s sake. I’m happy to pay for a flight.
I rolled my eyes. As if I needed his fucking money for a plane ticket.
You know me. I can’t leave before I lock eyes on the target. Call it a SaR hangup.
Derek
Bullshit. You’ve done it a million times.
He wasn’t wrong. As soon as we knew the target was secure, that was all that mattered. But Wolfe wasn’t a target. He was family.
I was worried. Now I’m not.
Which was a lie. I was very worried. I was worried he was still hurting. Worried he was happier without me. That he’d gotten over that kiss or that it hadn’t ever meant as much to him as it had to me.
Worried about the way that man had looked at him, had gone out of his way to protect him as if pissing in a circle around the guy.
Jake.
I pulled out my phone and began researching again, starting with the Jake’s Place hashtag. Jake Mason didn’t seem to have social media himself, but he ran a very simple account for his bar and restaurant, posting hours and menu updates periodically. I shot the name over to JJ at On Your Six and asked him to run a more thorough background check on the guy.
JJ
What’s this for? Something to do with Wolfe? Any luck finding him?
He’s in Hush, Colorado. Safe and sound.
JJ
And?
I sighed and glanced up at the blue sky as if it would give me the right lie to tell JJ. When I didn’t answer him quickly enough, JJ called. I put in my earbuds and answered.
“Talk to me,” he said. The familiar sound of his voice made me smile. JJ’s parents were Joel Healy Marian, the founder of On Your Six, and Simone Marian, Jude’s sister and Wolfe’s aunt. If he didn’t take his job in personal security so seriously, including the confidentiality that came with it, I might have held back.
“I’m worried about him,” I admitted.
JJ and I had worked together briefly before I’d moved to Montana and started SERA. I’d been in charge of training new hires at On Your Six when JJ had come on board. The two of us had known each other for years at that point, but we hadn’t become friends until we’d worked together. When I’d left the company, JJ had looked at me like he’d somehow known about the situation with Wolfe. Like he’d been able to see through me and clock my move as running away from something rather than running toward something else.
“And you think this Jake guy is a threat?”
“No. Nothing like that. Maybe the opposite.”
“Mm.” Keyboard strokes took the place of his commentary as he began his search. As usual, his deliberate lack of talking caused me to fill in the silence.
“I was looking for food. Went to the only place in town that served it. And Wolfe was there. I said hello, he basically told me to fuck off, and then this guy took issue with me.”