She nodded.
“Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary? Anyone following you or making you nervous like you did in LA or New York?”
“No. I don’t have a bank account, Perry and Kahoni pay me in cash. I know that’s illegal, but I was lucky they bought my story about someone hacking into my last account and stealing all my money.”
“Doesn’t hurt that you’re pretty,” Mustang said with a smile.
Elodie blushed. “I hate lying to them, but I was desperate.”
“I’m not judging you, or them,” Mustang told her.
“And I appreciate it. They’re good men, with families. I feel like I’m putting them in danger. I could’ve taken another chef position, there are lots of restaurants around here that are hiring, but I figured that would always be the first place Paul looked. I hoped maybe he wouldn’t be able to find me if I’m a lowly deckhand on a private fishing charter. But what if Paul finds me and sinks Perry and Kahoni’s boat or something? Or hurts their families?”
“Look at me,” Mustang ordered. He felt sick inside that Elodie was obviously so scared. But he couldn’t help being impressed that her first thoughts were for those around her. She had a tender heart, and it enraged him that this Columbus guy had asked her to fucking poison someone in the first place.
The mob. Jesus, what were the odds? He had no idea the mob was still a thing in this country. But then again, people making money illegally would never truly disappear.
When Elodie tipped her chin up once more, he could see the fear in her eyes. Fear that he wouldn’t believe her? That he’d tell her to get out? That he’d want nothing to do with her now that he knew her secret? Not fucking happening. If anything, he was even more impressed with her. She’d immediately left after finding out who she was working for and had managed to stay a step ahead of this Paul asshole and his cronies. “He’s not going to get his hands on you.”
She smiled weakly. “I appreciate you saying that, but you can’t guarantee it.”
He couldn’t; that was the shitty thing. “I know, but I can do what I can to check into this Columbus asshole and mitigate the danger you’re in.”
“I actually feel pretty safe here. I haven’t seen anyone suspicious and because I have no way of being tracked electronically, I’m hoping that he’s finally given up.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Mustang said. “But it’s only been two months since you were photographed by those reporters. It could just be taking him this long to even see that footage. Did you tell anyone where you were going?”
Elodie shook her head. “No. When Human Resources insisted on a forwarding address, I made up a post office box number in Pittsburgh for my address and said I was going to go live with a friend in Paris.”
“Good. I know this might be hard to believe, but I’m more than hired muscle. My team and I can look into this and see if anyone’s on your trail.”
Elodie reached out and gripped his arm tightly. “I don’t want anyone else to get involved. The more people who know, the more leverage Paul will have against me.”
“I can understand that,” Mustang told her. And he could. But she didn’t understand the kind of connections he had. She’d learn. “You’re going to have to trust me to do what I think is best. And, El, I’ve been doing this secret SEAL shit for quite a while. I’m good at it.”
She smiled slightly at that. “Okay.”
“Okay? Okay…what?”
“Okay, you can do your super-secret SEAL spy shit. You can tell your team. I want to live my life without having to always look over my shoulder, and if the only way to do that is to let you do your thing, then okay. But…Scott?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t want to quit my job and hide out in your apartment all day. I need to live. If Paul is gonna find me and kill me, he’s gonna find me and kill me. I don’t want to regret not experiencing all there is to life in my last moments.”
Listening to her talk about dying made Mustang even more determined to make sure that didn’t happen. She wasn’t dying, not on his watch. “All right, but at the same time, you can’t just traipse all over the island as if you don’t have a care in the world.”
“I know.”
Mustang’s head spun with all the things he needed to do; talking to his team was on the top of that list. “How about this…I can take you to work and pick you up. I’m not sure it’s the best idea to be using public transportation when you have no idea if anyone has figured out where you are. I can bring you back here, or to your place, but if you want to sightsee, I’m happy to take you. If you need to grocery shop, consider me your assistant. I just need you to be cautious until we figure this out.”
“Deal,” Elodie said quickly and without any reservation in her tone.
“Just like that?” Mustang asked suspiciously.
“Yeah, just like that,” she agreed. “Scott, you basically just said that you’ll take me where I want to go, when I want to go. You’ll spend all your free time with me. Why would I argue against that?”
“Because you might feel stifled? Because you like your independence? Because I’m taking over?”
She chuckled wryly. “I’ve been alone for so long, I’ve almost forgotten what it feels like to have someone in my corner. I’m not saying I’m going to let you make all the decisions in my life for me, but I like being with you. I want to get to know everything about you. I’m more afraid of you getting tired of hauling my ass around than me getting tired of you. Oh! I hadn’t thought about this…what about your job? You can’t exactly be leaving in the middle of the day to pick me up all the time from the dock.”
“If I can’t, I’ll have one of my teammates do it. If we’re busy, or on a mission, there are a few other men on other SEAL teams here who I trust to do it. We’ll figure it out. As long as I know you aren’t opposed to a few restrictions and being cautious, I can relax a bit.”
“You know what I want to do today?” she asked.
“What?”
“I want to go to the Dole Pineapple Plantation.”
Mustang grimaced. “Really?”
“Yeah. I’ve heard their Dole Whips are amazing.”
“I’m not doing that damn maze. Especially when someone might be after you. It seems as if it’d be the perfect place to take us both down,” Mustang grumbled. He thought he might’ve gone too far, making light of the fact that the mob was after her, but she actually laughed.
“Right, I’m not a fan of mazes either. Thank you for believing me. And not locking me in your bathroom like a caveman.”
“Don’t think that didn’t occur to me,” Mustang warned. “Until we find out what the threat level is, I’m willing to be flexible, but if we find out that Columbus knows where you are, or that someone is here, I’ll lock your ass down so fast your head will spin.”
She continued to smile. “Okay.”
“I mean it, Elodie. I’m not going to let you be TSTL.”
She cocked her head. “What’s that?”