Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 87067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
They had meetings there often and the cool, blue paint on the walls gave the room a comforting feel. Cole might feel more at home in the tech room, but this was his second-favorite spot at Ward Security. Rowe always greeted him with a smile or a teasing comment like they were old friends.
“How’s the hand?” Rowe asked with a wicked smirk. He dropped behind his desk and relaxed in his large leather desk chair. “You cleaned that man’s clock pretty good.”
“Sore, but fine,” he replied, once again flexing his hand in his lap. “He still in police custody?”
Rowe shook his head. “No, bastard got out. They couldn’t hold him for threats and grabbing her arm. Which brings me to the problem I brought up last night. Derrick Briggs is a piece of work, with dirty hands in several deep pots, one of which is the local mob.”
Cole’s heart skipped a beat. The mob. Shit. No wonder Gidget had been so hesitant to talk about it. This was definitely worse than he’d imagined. “You think he’s going to come after me?”
“I do. I’d like to put Sven on you for the time being—”
“No,” Cole interrupted. “I don’t need a bodyguard. Look at me.” He tapped both hands on his broad chest. “I’m nearly as big as Sven. I can take care of myself.”
Rowe shook his head, not looking convinced in the least. “Not against a bullet.” He paused and added with a wry grin, “And nobody is as big as Sven.”
“A bodyguard isn’t going to help with a bullet, either.”
“Sven also has years of training. He knows what to look for, and he knows exactly how to handle an armed assailant or assailants.”
Cole glared at his boss for a moment. He didn’t think he’d ever have to utter these words. Never truly thought about it, but he was feeling cornered. Maybe it was time, considering the line of work he was in. “Then train me.”
Rowe leaned back in his chair, eyeing Cole closely. Cole held his breath. He loved his job behind the computer, working at Ward Security. He’d never had any interest in doing what the bodyguards did.
At last, Rowe shook his head. “Like I said, years of training. We don’t have that kind of time. But I am going to remember this moment.” He pointed at Cole, his smirk returning for a heartbeat. “However, I came up with a different idea. You, laying low for a while. Out of town.”
Cole’s eyes flared open wide. “What? No, that’s not a good idea, either.”
“It’s an excellent idea, and it’s not a suggestion. I’ve already called a friend, JB Alexander, and set everything up.”
Cole vaguely remembered meeting JB a couple of years ago. Thin guy, about six feet tall with blond hair. “Wait, isn’t he from Texas?”
Rowe nodded, the corner of his mouth turning up in a half grin. “On a ranch outside of Austin. It’s the perfect place for you to hole up while I work on getting Derrick Briggs behind bars.”
“You’re saying you want me to go to Texas.” Cole scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to get his brain to process the insanity Rowe was force-feeding him. “Isn’t this a bit of overkill?”
“I don’t think it is.” Rowe leaned forward, placing his forearms on the top of his desk. “Last night wasn’t Briggs’s first encounter with the cops. He’s managed to sneak out of assault charges and more in the past. There are rumors a few guys have disappeared because of him.”
Cole could feel the blood drain from his face to pool nauseatingly in his stomach. A kind of cold clamminess clung to his skin. This was getting worse by the second.
“Not only did you come between him and what he sees as his property, but you made him look like a chump in a very public, very high-brow place. He’s gonna want you dead in the worst way.”
“I see what you mean,” Cole replied in a low, rough voice.
“Good. Then it leaves me with two choices. One is that I put Sven on you and possibly another guy, twenty-four seven. At least until we know he won’t come after you.”
But that meant putting friends and coworkers directly in the line of fire to protect his ass. No, that wasn’t an option.
“I still won’t go for that.”
Rowe held up both his empty hands in front of him as if to say Cole was taking the decision out of his hands.
“But Texas?”
Rowe dropped back in his seat, resting his palms on his stomach. “It’s the perfect place and far enough away; Briggs won’t find you. We’ll work on digging up dirt on him to get him put away and out of your hair for a very long time.”
Rowe’s boyfriend, Noah Keegan, strode into the room and settled on the couch. Humor sparkled in his blue eyes. He had his shoulder-length brownish-blond curls pulled into a tight tail. “You tell him yet?”