One
Slade
I fist my hair at the back of my head. This is not how I wanted to start my Monday morning. “Fuck,” I grunt, pacing back and forth in my office. I knew her from the pictures Travis carried with him. It was one where she was hugging her older brother, but proud as she could be of him too. Hell, if they skyped while we were overseas, I caught a few glimpses of her, and sometimes she’d say hello while a blush appeared on her cheeks. She even sent a package to all of us with a note attached that there was something just for me, something Travis grumbled about; he didn’t like it one bit. I couldn’t blame him. His sister, shit, she was beyond gorgeous. Yet, she was way the fuck out of my league. Getting those glimpses, though left a lasting impression.
That’s why when I came into Nighthawk Security, a place where me and my brothers built it from the ground up. Easton, Bridger, and Drake, they may not have the same blood running through their veins as mine, but they’re more of a family than anyone could ever ask for. Through thick and thin, we’re brothers ‘til the motherfucking end. Travis Daniels, though, that insane son of a bitch is still over there. It causes a chill to run down my spine to think of what he’s doing and the shit that still goes on that no one hears about.
I sit back in my desk chair, returning to the e-mail I received, and shake my head. This is not going to be a good start to the week. Not to mention for Taylor one of the things I remember about her vividly is how strong-willed she is. There were times when Travis was ready to wring her neck over the phone, and she refused to take hand-outs. That’s why I know I’ll be returning his message. I made a promise to Travis when I came back stateside while he decided to continue on with even more tours. Knowing him, he’ll get his full twenty years in and retire after that. It leaves me to look after his sister, Taylor, which is something I’ve already been doing without anyone knowing, especially her. If she ever found out, she’d probably kick me in the balls, and I like them too much to let that happen. So, I kept my distance and watched her from afar, even when I wanted to be right there with her.
Now all bets are off. Taylor Daniels doesn’t have a choice; I’ll drag her into my office kicking and screaming her cute little ass off.
Once I reply to Travis, I walk out of my office. I may as well let Bridger and Drake know what’s going on. I’d have Easton doing the lead on anything he can find, but the asshole up and moved from Virginia to hot as hell Alabama. Why he chose that state, I’ll never understand. Though he and Cam seem to be happier than ever, something he always rubs in our faces.
I make my way into the conference room, where we have our weekly Monday meetings. “Ready to rock and roll?” Bridger asks as I walk in.
“It’s Monday. Who had rainbows and glitter for breakfast this morning?” I question, my eyebrow shooting up in response.
“More like who pissed in your Cheerios?” Bridger grumbles back before taking a seat. I go to the coffee maker we have set up in here, make a steaming cup of the strong black magic.
“Please tell me that’s not the stack we need to go over?” Drake comes in, draping himself in a chair.
“Afraid so. Not only that, but I’ll be taking on a personal assignment.” I sit down in a chair, doling out the cases we need to get sorted and taken care of. For the most part, we can pick and choose.
“Who might that be?” Bridger asks.
“Taylor Daniels.”
I hear a whistle come from Drake. “Like we didn’t see that coming from miles away. Travis has had you on her six for three damn years. What’s wrong that we’ll be bringing her in?”
“That’s the kicker. I have no idea except he sent an email to my private email account saying Taylor needs help as soon as possible. I’ll be heading out after our meeting. I may need to see what Easton can do if you two boneheads are busy.” I feel my age a little more every day, but taking this case, it’s not going to be easy in the least, it may push me to my limits.
“We can work on hacking into her accounts while you’re with her. It looks like we have an easy caseload, and we can hand off some of these to Leo,” Bridger says.
“That works for me.” We finish wrapping up our meeting in a short amount of time.
“I’ll get you the details while you do a little breaking and entering.” I roll my eyes at the shit starter Bridger says as we head our separate ways.
I already know where I’m going. I need to get into Taylor’s house while she’s working at the courthouse. Travis was vague about why she needed help, so this will give me the time to get to her place and scope it out before I come in contact with the woman that sets my blood on fire.
As for the two clowns I’m leaving at our office, I hope they get stuck with desk work today. Especially since I know how much they hate it.
I head for Taylor’s house, not needing the GPS to tell me how to get there. I’ve been here so many times in the past few years, I should change my driver’s license to her address. I feel like I’m here more often than at my own home.
Her condo is in an older community, Travis tried to set her up in his empty house, Taylor wouldn’t have it though. So, it’s rented out instead of sitting empty. Even though it would be a huge step up from this place. It’s clean, but you can see the age on it in the way nothing has been updated. The cars in the parking lot are older, and you can see some of the tenants are sitting on their front porches while they read the newspapers as I walk up to Taylor’s door.
The last time I was here to scope her place out when she first moved in, I snagged her spare key, made my own copy, and then promptly returned it all before she knew about it. Call me a psychopath all you want, you can’t ever be too careful when her brother is in a war-torn area and she has no family to fall back on while he’s there. Not to mention the enemies that would use Taylor against him. Fuck, for that matter, anyone in my past could do the same if they catch wind of me looking after her. That’s why I’ve stayed away from her for so long. Not to mention Travis would kick my ass if he thought I was sniffing around Taylor.
When I walk into her place, the scent of lemon permeates the air. It’s not until I see the wax melting in a ceramic pot by the front door that I realize she’s left it on all day. “Damn fire hazard,” I say, shaking my head. If I turn it off she’ll know for sure someone was in here, and who knows what’s really going on and why she wouldn’t want Travis to worry over her. Walking around her place doesn’t give me a whole lot of clues about what’s really going on or why Travis wants me to watch her. I even walk through her home office, bypassing her bedroom completely. If I go in there, I might do something stupid like look through every drawer in there.
My phone ringing has me going back toward the kitchen to see if she has a stack of mail there like most people do. I pull my phone out of my pocket and answer, “Yo.” It’s Bridger on the other line.
“Did a search on Taylor. Not much of a lead. She sticks to herself, has one social media page that’s on private. I’m hacking into it now, but other than that, she lives a solitary life. Works at the courthouse. She goes to the gym, the grocery store, and has an online shopping addiction. Though, if Easton were here, he’d know what she ate for breakfast, what time she goes to bed, and everything in between,” Bridger says, and he’s not wrong. I hate that Easton branched off, but there’s nothing that would lure him back to Virginia and away from Cam.