Chapter 19
Field Trip
WES
Ireally wish Callie would’ve let me drive her to Boston for our fight club visit, but then Noah and I wouldn’t have been able to come in early and stake out Chad Smith, target number one on his list.
“We can grab him when he’s with a sex worker,” Noah says, taking a long swig of his beer. We’re at a high-end bar that’s busy with men and women in business casual mixed with groups on their way out for the night.
I nod. Being with a sex worker is not my thing, but it’s fine on its own. Except not the way Chad Smith does it, which is drunk and full of rage. I lift a hand to get the bartender’s attention and hold up two fingers.
Noah gives me a pointed look and pushes his glasses up his nose. I choose to wear contacts during the day, but Noah’s never taken to them. “I don’t know if he’s still dating that high school girl, if you can call it dating. But the girl he was with last night looked really young.”
“If it works out, fine.” I nod. “But we’re here for the fight club.”
Last night, we followed Smith to a poorly lit area known to have sex workers.
He found one, and instead of taking her to a hotel, he pulled her into an alley and fucked her against a wall.
I was ready to step in to make sure he didn’t hurt her, but Noah stopped me.
He agreed that we’d help if things went too far, but we’d blow our cover.
I couldn’t watch. Smith was so rough, his face filled with focused fury, like it was all her fault, everything and anything he could think of. I wanted to beat the shit out of him.
I can’t imagine treating a woman that way.
I don’t care what his kink is, he needs full consent to get rough before it happens, complete with safe words and clear agreed-upon boundaries.
Something tells me he didn’t have any of that.
How can a man feel so comfortable spreading his hate?
Taking it out physically on women and girls?
“Got it.” Noah presses his lips together in a grim line.
Since his recent breakup, Noah’s had way too much time on his hands.
And as it’s winter, he doesn’t have an active renovation project going on, so he’s just getting himself into trouble researching targets all alone in his cabin.
I’ve been stopping by more and badgering him to come over and taste pies.
He was too sloppy in Florida. We need to be way more careful.
The bartender slides two fresh bottles of beer our way. I glance down at my phone, the tracking app open on the screen. I know exactly where Callie is, but I’m giving her a chance to come to me before I go hunt her down. Not in a creepy way, but I’m not letting her walk into that fight club alone.
I’ve been riding a high all week from the other night.
It was the best time I’ve had in years. I had fun.
I was myself. And she seemed comfortable with me.
Fuck, the image of her curled up on my couch with her legs tucked under her and her hands wrapped around a steaming mug of tea? I could get used to that.
She might not know it, but she’s got a full-time bodyguard in me. For now.
“You have a problem, don’t you?” Noah’s voice pulls me out of my head.
“Huh?”
“That woman.” He nods at my phone. “I truly cannot understand why you’re bringing her tonight.”
“She wanted to come. She has a right to know what’s going on with her husband.”
“Absolutely. But it’s your job is to find out where he is and literally hand her, like, a Post-It with the address and other details.
That’s it. Her coming along is going to be a major distraction.
” Noah shakes his head, then narrows his eyes.
“Don’t lose your mind because you found the one woman who doesn’t run screaming when you zip-tie her.
It’s not true love. You understand that, right? ”
“It’s not? Are you sure?” When his jaw drops, I laugh and wave my hand. Noah and I have zero filter with each other. “Just kidding. I swear.”
“But you like her too much.”
It’s pointless to lie to Noah. He’ll see right through me, especially as he’ll witness Callie and I interact tonight.
I’m pretty sure I can’t keep my shit together around her.
He’ll recognize that right away. My brother is a true romantic at heart, and this is him taking it out on me that the last girlfriend didn’t work out.
“Maybe.” I stare at the back of the bar, my eyes scanning the bottles of liquor, hoping he changes the subject.
“Wes.” Noah groans. “How bad is it?”
He knows I get obsessive. He knows I have a thing with lightly stalking women I like. He’s got no idea how bad it is this time, though. I’m not sure I even understand it.
“Bad?” I say, and Noah sighs deeply, shifting on the bar stool next to me. A new text pulls down above the map on my phone.
Callie
almost there
Me
I know
Callie
has anyone ever told you that you are too controlling
Me
yes
I snort and click back onto the tracking app. I probably shouldn’t have made it so obvious that I can track her. But at this point, I don’t really care. Unless she goes somewhere by foot and without any device, I’ll know where she is.
And as much as she comments on it, she hasn’t actually asked me to stop. It would be so hard to. My instinct to protect is part of who I am.
See, this is what gets me in trouble with women. This is why they back off as soon as they get to know me.
Movement by the entrance to the bar catches my eye. It’s a crowded Friday night, but I’d notice Callie Callahan even if there were a thousand people around. She walks in, and I swear softly under my breath as the woman approaches us and shrugs out of her winter coat.
She’s wearing a strapless black top with a dip in between her breasts.
The shirt leaves a strip of skin showing between the bottom of it and her jeans.
Black high heels add three inches to her height.
Her long hair is curled and thick down her back.
Her cheeks are pink from the cold, her lips plump and red, her eyes big and dark.
She looks hot as hell. Extremely inconvenient for this evening.
I growl and slide off my bar stool.
“Well, shit,” Noah says from behind me. “So that’s why you’ve been so distracted.”
I ignore him and stalk over to her.
“Fuck. Calliope,” I say with a warning tone when I get to her. She’s got a smirk on that gorgeous mouth.
“Hey, Wesley. Why the grumpy face? You’re usually smiling.” She tilts her head and runs a finger through her hair, bringing it over her shoulder and exposing the side of her neck. There’s just so much skin on display. Her neck, her shoulders, her collarbone, the curve of her tits, her belly.
“What the fuck are you wearing?” I say carefully.
Yeah, I might smile more than your average guy, but not when I have a guess at the number of assholes I’m going to have to fight off her tonight, and that number is too high.
The more time I spend with Callie, the more it drives me crazy how she seems to purposely put herself in danger.
I talked to her about it last weekend when she tried to break into my cabin, but I guess it didn’t really sink in.
“Well, this is an adorable shirt that I’ve owned for years but never had a chance to wear. I don’t go anywhere that’s appropriate for it. So I thought, why not?”
A trio of men slide by. One of them checks out Callie from the side.
He looks soft and weak, like he spends all day at a desk job or in a classroom, and I step close and wrap my hand gently around Callie’s arm.
I narrow my eyes at the dude and shake my head slightly.
He scans me up and down and quickly moves on.
“This is not appropriate attire for a fight club,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, it is.”
I swear under my breath. She’s right, of course. But worrying about other men groping Callie will make my life much more difficult.
“You’re killing me.”
She snorts a laugh, and it’d be cute if it weren’t so concerning. “Didn’t you say your brother would be here? Is he as charming as you are?” She leans around me and waves at Noah, who is probably gawking at us.
I fully plan on being her bodyguard tonight, but I also want to pull her into a dark hallway and make her scream my name.
I shouldn’t do that.
And I need to spend some time working through how I let myself get so attached after only a few weeks.
Instead, I take a deep breath and let my eyes linger on her face, then crawl over all that skin once more, spending extra time on her tits and the way her breathing speeds up when I do so. She’s watching me eye fuck her, and it’s getting to her.
When I finally look back into her eyes, her cheeks are even pinker than when she walked in.
“Are you okay, Calliope?” I’ve managed to regain my calm and am thrilled to see her physical reaction to me.
“Yup.”
“Fine. Come meet Noah.” I smirk and slide my hand off her arm.
Noah and Callie get along like old friends, which is surprising because Noah is a weird dude and many women who meet him instinctively feel like something is off.
They’re right, of course.
But Callie asks him if he watches the series on TV about Maine cabin renovations, and they immediately start discussing their favorite episodes.
She’s not just doing it to make conversation, she’s citing episodes about specific cabins.
Noah’s delighted. She must’ve been paying attention when I talked about his line of work and either gone home and binge-watched the entire series or kept it to herself she’s a fan. Either way—adorable.
I walk behind them on the busy Boston road in the direction of the bus that will take us to where we need to go.
They’re chatting, but I’m focusing. I want to get in and out of that place as subtly and quickly as possible.
I don’t think Shane Robertson is there, but I’m betting someone inside knows where he is, and my target is Shane’s boss, Jones, the man who took Callie’s father’s job when he passed away.