Chapter 6 Paul #3
At dinner, Nicole kept to her side of the table.
Ty and Moore had plenty to catch up on now that they were back from Rosarito, and they picked her brain on the Canos family.
I hated to admit it, but the woman had a wealth of knowledge on the Cartels.
She knew the history of the Canos family inside out.
I noticed she did sidestep on some of the questions that had to do with Bruno and their past together and a few on Sully.
They didn’t push, and I just watched and listened.
Later that evening, I saw her sneak upstairs. I guessed she went to check on Chase, and I took that time to speak with Cole.
“Hey,” I joined him at his favorite spot by the fireplace, “did Nicole give you Bruno’s phone?”
“Yeah, that was a surprise.”
“Think you can get any information off it?”
“We’re going to dive into it tomorrow,” he said quickly, his eyes on Olivia. She was making a beeline for her dad. She threw her arms around him and hugged him.
“Copy that.” I grabbed Liv once she let go of her dad and pulled her in for a hug too.
“So, Nicole seems nice.” She gave me a mini shit-eating smile that matched her dad’s, and I knew her mother was probably somewhere watching us. “She just went upstairs.”
“And on that note…” I shoved her back to her father and made a point of heading downstairs to my office. I closed the door and went to work on the drone.
I slept in my office as I often did when I needed my head to settle, only this time it didn’t.
I just stared at the wall with my mind in an endless loop of how Talya must have felt having Chase all on her own.
The fact that my choices in life meant that I not only missed knowing she was pregnant, I missed my son’s birth, and I wasn’t there to protect his mother from being killed. That would forever weigh on me.
I stayed downstairs the next morning, after getting word from Abby that Chase was eating now but sleeping a lot because of the medication. I slipped upstairs a couple times to check on him. She was right; he was out cold. I knew he needed it, but I missed the guy.
My body was healing well, and I was antsy with not being able to train with the guys. I tried to disobey Cole’s orders and get in a little exercise, but he’d already caught me in the gym once, no thanks to Frank, who seemed to be keeping watch.
Lost in thought, I didn’t hear the door slide open.
“Why are you avoiding everyone?” Dr. Ivy stood there with her arms crossed over her chest. I caught a lightness in her eyes, so I knew she wasn’t really pissed.
I gave her a small smile. “Just got a lot on my mind.”
She nodded and stepped inside the office, closing the door halfway behind her. “Lucky for you, there are people here willing to listen.”
“Are there, now?” I teased. I knew I needed to try to release some of the tension that was building inside, but I had to get a handle on it myself first.
“Mhm, look, Paul, Dr. Bash is ready and willing to listen.”
“Pass,” I shot back.
“Why?” When I didn’t answer, she let out a long sigh.
“You boys really hate change.” I shrugged and fiddled with a new lens for the drone.
“You know Doc Roberts is retiring, and I can’t take on Dark Water, given the team leader is my husband.
So that leaves me with Blackstone and the kids.
But I could have one spot open for Stonewall. ”
“Good, me, then.” I flashed her a grin.
“It would be better if team Stonewall all stayed with one therapist. You know Doc Roberts would only bring in the best of the best. He sees something in Bash. He’d be good for you and the team.”
“What do you see?” I challenged.
She shook her head. “This isn’t about me.”
“If you want me to jump to Dr. Bash, sell him to me.” I popped the lens inside then lowered it to give her my attention.
“Paul?” Cole popped out of thin air and gave Ivy a nod as he said, “Please join us next door.”
“Copy that.” I set the drone down and looked at Ivy. “You think on that answer and get back to me, yeah?”
“All right, Paul.” She shot me an unimpressed look.
“Meet with me later today for a session, and we’ll talk it through.
” She stared hard at me. “And don’t think I don’t know about you and Frank and your evening sessions.
” Christ, she saw a lot. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.
” She smacked my arm as she stepped out of the office.
Frank, Cole, Daniel, and Nicole all sat around the conference table.
Daniel rubbed his hip like it hurt him to sit. For a man in his eighties, he was still pretty spry, but the years had taken a toll on his body. “How’s our tiniest houseguest?” he asked Nicole.
“Sleeping now. Abigail’s keeping an eye on him. He’s got a way to go before he’ll be the active little boy I’m sure he’ll be one day.” I noticed that the guys avoided any eye contact with me.
“What’s going to happen to him?” Nicole looked at Daniel. “I mean, do you have a family lined up for him?”
Daniel cleared his throat. “For now, he’ll stay here. He’s too valuable to the Cartel to put him with anyone else, at least for the foreseeable future.”
“All right,” Frank thankfully started. “First off, General Bruce wasn’t able to make his flight, so he won’t be here. Apparently, something happened with an Eagle Eye member.” That caught my attention.
“Who?” Cole and I said at the same time.
Frank paused for a second and glanced briefly at Nicole.
He pursed his lips but seemed to get past that she was in the room and continued.
“Mills. Someone took a run at his truck about ten minutes after he got through the last security checkpoint at the safehouse. It’s mostly likely nothing, but the kid he was training with got a busted-up shoulder.
The truck was hit on that side, and Mills got a bit banged up, nothing serious.
Driver of the other vehicle didn’t stick around, and there weren’t any witnesses.
Things like that do happen, but they’re looking into it. ”
“Shit,” Cole shook his head, “I’ll give him a call later today to check in.”
“Okay.” Frank pushed his wire-framed glasses up his nose. “So, that means we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to have our official meeting on what’s next for you, Nicole.” I shifted uneasily on my chair and wondered where she’d end up. “Also, our meeting will be in Washington rather than here.”
“Washington?” I said out loud. I didn’t like the idea she’d be going anywhere on a plane. “Why Washington?”
“General Bruce has someone he wants us to meet.”
“Wait,” Nicole also looked worried, “I can’t leave. What about Chase?” Warmth settled in my chest for a hair of a second, then I pushed it away.
Cole jumped in. “Abby and my mother will look after him. You can check in with them or Savannah whenever you need to.” He smiled, and I appreciated his effort to put her at ease about Chase. I also could see by his glance at Daniel that he didn’t like the idea of the meeting being held off site.
“All right,” she rubbed her chest, “but for one night max.”
“Understood.” Frank glanced at me. “As for now, sit tight, and I think you should go to Zack’s tonight with the others. A little normalcy will do you good.”
“I’m fine,” she shot back, but her gaze dropped to the table. “Perhaps you’re right. Savannah mentioned it as well. I think I would like to join them.” She tried to smile.
“Good.” Frank looked at me. “Paul, since you know Nicole already, I’m assigning you to her detail.”
Her mouth dropped open, and I knew we were in for an argument. A part of me already looked forward to it. “I don’t need a bodyguard.”
“It’s not up for debate.” I egged her on.
She shot me a cold look. “You think he’s going to protect me?” She laughed darkly. “He’s admitted he doesn’t trust me and accused me of using the child for my own purposes. Which, for the record, I would never do. My luck, he’ll leave me in the middle of the town to find my way back here.”
“Don’t tempt me.” I gave Cole a smirk.
Nicole raised her arms. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m seriously too old for this job,” Frank muttered under his breath and ran a hand over his silver crew cut.
“I have no doubt that you can defend yourself, Nicole, but there are a lot of things that can happen in town, and we never let any of our guests or family members go there without someone to watch their six.”
“And not to mention, one Cartel family that’s looking for you because you told them you were working for us.” I wanted that out on the table so Frank was aware of how much damage she’d done to herself.
“You did what?” Frank’s head snapped up.
“First, I never said for, I said with.” She scowled. “And second, they’d know anyway. Bruno has eyes and ears everywhere. Christ, he knew Eric Noah was the father of that child before I even got my hands on the birth certificate.”
“What?” That shook me. “When did you find this out, and why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why the hell would I think to tell you that?” She looked at me like I was crazy. “Before or after you tore a strip off of me for following your orders?”
“Christ,” Mark who I’d seen slip into the room to sit quietly by the door, piped up. “I feel like I’m watching Ross and Rachel. We’re on a break!” He chuckled but stopped when Cole looked at him, confused. “Sorry, Mia makes me watch it.”
“Yeah, Mia does.” Cole rolled his eyes. “Anyway, Nicole, are you sure Bruno would’ve known that? Because if you ask me, he’d kill if he knew that.”
“Yeah,” her anger tamed some, “he tried to kill me, but I shot him in the foot so he couldn’t.
” She shrugged like shooting a gun didn’t freak her out.
“He told me when I was at the border. Along with a threat that he was going to find me, the baby, and the safehouse. And that Ben was only the start.”
“That might be something to have told us right when you arrived here,” I growled.