And then gunshot sounds.
Twice.
A third time.
Right as the lights come back on.
Fucking odd timing.
I lift my head and find Echo standing over the two motherfuckers who lay sprawled on the ground.
Her gaze meets mine and she gives a small shrug. “Seriously, these guys were a pain in the fucking ass.”
Echo is a good shot, even in limited light. She’s managed to stop them for now with bullets to their legs, but it won’t be long before they’re moving again, so I push up off the ground and stride their way. The pain radiating through my body has eased enough for me to knock them both the fuck out with a couple of hard punches.
Taking my gun from Echo and holstering it, I say, “Liam taught you to shoot?”
She shakes her head. “No. He hates that I know how to use a gun. My husband taught me.”
“Your husband?” She’s not wearing a ring. I made sure of that before saying any of the shit I said to her earlier.
“Well, ex, but we’re not divorced yet.”
I file that piece of information away as Zane’s voice comes from behind us. “You two okay?”
I turn to him. “Yeah, I think.” I glance at Echo. “You good?” She did get thrown to the ground by one of the guys so she may be in some pain.
She nods. “My back’s a little sore, but I’m okay.”
“What happened?” Zane asks, coming to stand over the two assholes. “Liam and I got back and found the power out, but we didn’t see any sign of forced entry.” He looks at Echo. “How’d you go with the network?”
“It’s secured and wasn’t compromised,” she says.
“She’d just finished doing that when we heard these guys down here. The lights went out at the same time,” I say.
“They got in through the wall that connects us with the accounting firm next door,” Liam says, joining us. “I’ve just taken a look. They didn’t need to override our security to come through that wall.”
“Fuck,” Zane says. Then, to Liam he says, “You recognise them?”
Liam gives a shake of his head. “No.”
“They were looking for you,” I say. “Someone sent them.”
Liam takes another look at them. “Good job restraining them.”
“You can thank Echo for that,” I say.
“Fuck,” Zane mutters, eyeing her. “You shot them?”
“Yeah,” she says. “Assholes just kept coming.”
Liam shakes his head. “Jesus.” He eyes Zane. “I told you bringing her on board was a bad idea.”
“Hey,” Echo says to her brother. “I’m right here. I can hear you.”
He looks at her again. “I know. I’m not trying to be secretive about this. I’m concerned for your safety here. You’re not trained like everyone else is. And you’ve got a lot of personal stuff going on.”
She rolls her eyes. “So, what, if a guy has a lot of personal stuff going on, that’s okay? But if a woman does, she needs time off to deal with it? I love you, Liam, but you’ve got some ideas that need updating.”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” Liam says, his words measured. “I don’t want anyone who isn’t trained or who’s distracted working here, man or woman.”
Echo opens her mouth to continue arguing, but Zane steps in and cuts her off. “Enough. We need Echo’s expertise. End of story. We’ll all pull together to make sure she’s safe. And we’re not telling anyone what she’s actually here for. As far as anyone besides us, Axe, Bronze, and Easton know, she’s my new assistant.”
Echo looks at him. “Does that mean I have to make you coffee? I’m out if it does.”
Zane gives her a look. One that matches the frustrated look her brother gave her a moment ago. “Can we all just get back to work now?”
“I’m taking that as a no to the coffee,” Echo says. “And yes, I’d really like to get back to work. I’m going to run a check on your system again.”
With that, she turns and leaves us.
My eyes wanna be all over her ass, however I look everywhere but there. I don’t need to piss her brother off.
It turns out he’s already pissed at me.
Bringing that frustrated gaze of his to me, he says, “How the fuck did she get your gun?”
“You see any of the bruises on me, Liam?” I ask, my own annoyance flaring. “I was kinda in the middle of shit when my gun went flying. Thank fuck for your sister who used her brain and took care of those motherfuckers when I couldn’t.”
Liam stabs his fingers through his hair and exhales a long breath. “Fuck, sorry, Colt. I appreciate you looking out for Echo.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“We’ve got a problem,” Zane cuts in.
“What?” I ask.
“Echo could be at risk by working here, and until we figure out who sent these guys and who’s behind the breach of data here, we need to keep her safe.” He glances at Liam. “I’d suggest you take charge of her protection, but I think you’re too close to her, so”—he turns to me—“I want you to do it.”
“What kind of protection are we talking here?” I ask.
At the same time, Liam says, “I can do it.”
With a quick shake of his head at Liam, Zane says, “You could, but we both know Echo pushes every button you have. You’ll kill her before anyone else could even attempt to.” He meets my gaze. “It’ll involve being with her 24/7 until we get to the bottom of everything. I figure Scott has you working with her anyway, so it might be feasible. If you’re good with it, I’ll check that he’s okay with it too.”
He’s right; Echo and I are working together anyway. And once we solve the data breach, it should fix her safety issue.
“I’m good with it,” I say. I like her, so spending time with her shouldn’t be a problem.
“Thanks,” Liam says. “I appreciate it.”
Zane and Liam shift their conversation to discussing their plan for figuring out who these assholes are while my mind drifts to Echo and my new task of keeping her safe.
This might be the hardest job I’ve ever taken on.
Spending every hour with her is one thing.
Keeping my hands off her is a whole other thing.
4
Echo
If I hadn’t already eaten four doughnuts in the past twenty-four hours, I’d be out finding more right now. It’s just after 3:00 a.m. and I’m tired and grumpy. And craving sugar in ways I shouldn’t be. Not to mention in a little pain after being jerked off that asshole’s back earlier.
“Thanks for walking me home,” I say to Colt when we reach the front door of my building.
My loft is on Charlotte Street, not far from Zane’s building on Creek Street. Colt insisted on walking me home. I didn’t argue.
He lifts his chin at the door that requires my security tag to get through. “You gonna let us in?”
“Us?”
“Yeah.” And then with a narrowing of his eyes at me, he says, “Zane and Liam didn’t tell you, did they?”