I was chuckling when the door closed behind her. I looked forward to seeing her in the morning.
Chapter Nine
ISLA
Acer had been interesting. We’d had a great time even though we’d only talked. The best part of all was he hadn’t tried anything. I hated guys who thought the first time you hung out with them they had the right to maul you. That did not work for me. I had to laugh when he called me a hard-ass, but he was dead on. I wore that badge proudly. The guys at work knew it too. When I first joined their group, they teased me a lot, until one day, one of them actually had the nerve to hit me up for a little action, as he called it. I gave him a little action all right. He ended up with a set of bruised balls and an ego to match. After that incident, I became one of the guys and he became one of my closest work friends.
Art knew something had gone down, but no one ever spoke a word and it hasn’t been mentioned since. Joining this office presented its problems because there weren’t many women in it, but I was strong enough to handle it and I did better than I expected. The best part of all—I earned the respect of the men I worked with.
We grabbed a quick breakfast in the morning and headed for the office. On the way, we discussed how Acer would get his things.
“I need to call my brother.”
“Maybe wait until we get to the office and talk with Art.”
That was what he did.
Art suggested Brax or Reynolds meet one of the agents in another location to get his things. That way, they wouldn’t risk leaving a trail to where Acer had been staying, leaving their address undisclosed.
After Acer made his dreaded phone call, he reported back to us. “My brother is pissed. He said I put his wife in danger and wants to punch out my lights.”
“Yeah, he has a point,” Art said. “I’ll have the agent reassure him when they meet.”
“He told me if it weren’t such bad timing, he’d make Reynolds go to their house in Charleston.”
Art tapped his chin. “That’s actually not a bad idea.”
“She won’t go,” Acer said. “It’s too close to the end of the season and she’ll refuse to leave Brax. Reynolds is stubborn.”
“Is your brother traveling a lot?”
“I don’t know. I’m not familiar with his schedule but you can ask when he drops off my things.”
I helped him out here. “They are. They have two away games coming up,” I said. Pulling out my phone, I tapped into my calendar and rattled off the dates.
“Thanks. Maybe we should move her in with you two,” Art suggested.
“It’s fine with me,” Acer said.
“Can the place manage three of us?”
“It has four bedrooms. The guys may have to bunk together, but you ladies will have your own rooms.”
I shrugged. It was good by me. “One thing, though, in bringing her there. Won’t that put her in more danger?”
“Possibly. But at least we’d have eyes on her, instead of her being alone.”
“I don’t know, Art. It worries me a little,” I admitted. With her there, that was one more body in the mix. “I think she’s safer where she is. Put a guy outside her place and call it a day.”
We debated the issue and decided it was best to keep her at home. We’d send an agent or two up there and Brax would hire someone for inside. He phoned Acer and said, “I could wring your neck for this. I told you Paulie was trouble.”
“I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“Yeah, Ace, I’ve heard that shit before.”
“No, honestly, Brax. I only went up there because I was worried about him.”
“And when was he ever worried about you? Swear to God, if anything happens to Ren, I will never forgive you.” He practically spat out the words. Then Acer said, “Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have had that on speaker.”
“I’d say your brother is one pissed off man,” Art said.
“Really, Art?” He didn’t need to go there.
“I’ve really fucked up. And what else is new? This is all he’s ever seen from me.”
“Hey, stop that. You’re on your way to a new life.”
Art’s brows rose. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Acer is going to finish school so he can apply to the bureau.”
With more than a tiny bit of sarcasm, Art said, “Oh, and this is your lucky day. You get to meet the director of the southeastern units along with the director of the northeast. This should put you miles ahead.” Acer withered at his statement.
“It wasn’t his fault. Remember?” I asked. “Can we get back to the safe house issue?”
“No. Right now you need to get prepared for questioning. Those two directors should be here in another hour and I want to make sure you’re on top of your game.”
“No worries. I’ve got this.” But did I? I had been the one to screw up. What I should’ve done was tell Acer we needed to leave, or better yet, drove on and not stopped at all. I saw the cars and the potential danger staring us in the face. Yet I parked and we went in through the back, where it was equally as dangerous, if not more so. I even told Acer myself it was. I had cautioned him about everything but hadn’t heeded my own advice. Look where it got me. Damn, Isla, didn’t you learn anything in Quantico? You were at the top of your class for what? To land you in a shit pile of trouble.
“Ugh.” I groaned out loud.
“What?” Acer asked.
“Art’s right. I should never have taken you in there. When I saw what was sitting out front, I should’ve kept on driving and not given in.”
“It’s time to take your own advice,” Acer said.
“Oh, and what’s that?”
“The past is past and you can’t change it. The only thing you can affect is the present and future.”
“Haha. You’re funny.”
“Not trying to be. What Brax said hit me hard. And he has nothing else to go on but my past behavior. But I’m going to show him. I’m going to prove to everyone that there’s another Acer inside of me. One that’s willing to work hard in order to achieve something. I can do this if I only get the chance. And you can go in there and make a strong case for answering those questions. What if… what if Paulie had been lying there hurt and no one had checked on him? That was the assumption we went on. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t have lived with myself. Even if he wasn’t the best person, not saving someone is the same as murder to me.”
He just blew me away. “Wow, you’re right. Thank you. I’m going to persuade them to my way of thinking.”
“You will. I have all the confidence in the world you can do it.”
The only thing left was I needed to believe it myself.
Chapter Ten
ACER
Three weeks passed and Christmas was in two days. I’d finally had it with the safe house.
“We’ve been here for all this time and nothing. My parents are visiting for the holidays and I want to see them. They’ve brought the rest of my things with them.”