Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Julius
When I made the decision to pull into the Three Bears building, I hadn’t planned on staying here, but I did think it was my best option.
At work, I was surrounded by people all day so that should be safe enough.
But there was no way I was taking this mess, whatever it was, to Miranda and Lainey, and staying at home alone wasn’t a good idea.
“I’ll need to go by my place and grab some things if I’m going to stay here.”
“No problem, I’ll run you over there,” Gator said. “Let’s stop by and get the keys for your apartment.”
I followed him across the room, and he stopped and spoke with a young guy who wore a light blue sweater vest, a blue plaid bow tie, and a white dress shirt. He looked way overdressed to be working here, but I had to say I was loving his vibe.
“Hey, Caden, this is Julius. He’s going to be staying in one of the apartments for a little while. Which one should I give him?”
Caden tilted his head to one side and studied me for a second. “Let’s put him in nine-seventeen. I think the furniture in there’s a little nicer.”
Gator nodded. “Works for me.” He turned to me. “Caden will get you the key card. I want to update Wolfe real quick. Just wait for me right here.”
Caden stood, and I couldn’t help but notice he’d paired the sweater vest with a pair of pink chinos and some beige boat shoes. I’d always loved fashion, and Caden was rocking this outfit. The vintage geek look had never been my thing, but on him, I was loving it.
He went over to a cabinet on the far wall and pulled it open. “Kat preprogrammed cards for each apartment. You’ll need to use it on the elevator, as well. It won’t go to the tenth floor. That one is off-limits.” He turned around and held out an envelope with 917 written on the front.
“Thanks.” I took it from him.
Gator had gone into the office following Wolfe and closed the door behind him. I’d met Wolfe a couple of times at the club. He’d always struck me as a serious, intense man. He was sexy as fuck. Men who were powerful and that in control all the time usually were, but he didn’t interest me at all.
“So, you work for Wolfe?” I asked.
Caden shrugged. “All three of them actually. But mostly for Wolfe because he doesn’t take assignments. He handles all the in-house stuff.”
The door opened, and Gator came out. “You ready to go?”
“Sure.”
Gator glanced over at Caden. “Can you make sure the apartment is all ready for him?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks.” He turned back to me. “We’re going to take one of the company SUVs. No one will be looking for you in one of them.”
It didn’t take us long to get to my place. Gator insisted on my waiting to enter until he’d checked to make sure it was secure, just like the other night.
“You don’t have to worry about Trixie screaming at you. She’s at my sister’s house.”
“Why?”
“My niece, Lainey, loves her, so on Saturdays, I usually drop her off and let them hang out.”
“Makes sense. You just wait here, I’ll be right back.”
When he came back out and told me it was all clear, I went inside. I headed upstairs and pulled my suitcase out of the hall closet. “So how long do you think I should plan on being away?”
“Let’s start with a week.”
“Okay.” I reached in and grabbed another bag.
He raised one eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“What?” I asked. “You don’t think three bags will be enough?”
“Three?” He looked down at the large suitcase in my hand and the oversized duffel bag he held.
“Yeah, this is a set. The smaller one fits inside for storage.”
“I said a week, Jules, not a month.”
“A week that includes the weekend. I have places to go and people to see, Daddy.”
I knew I shouldn’t tease him. He was helping me, but I couldn’t help it.
The way his eyes darkened and his jaw tightened every time I called him Daddy was too much to resist. One of these days, when the timing was right and no one wanted to kidnap me or worse, I planned on exploring that look in detail.
“We’ll see about that,” he growled.
I chuckled and put the suitcase back in the closet. “I was just trying to decide if I need the big suitcase or if the duffel would do, silly.”
“You’re a brat.”
“So I’ve been told.” I spun on my heels and headed for the bedroom.
It didn’t take me but a few minutes to put enough clothes in the duffel for a week.
“Is that it?” he asked.
“That’s everything here. I need to go by my sister’s place and grab Trixie. Lainey will be at cheerleading practice, so if we hurry, we should be able to pick her up before they get home.”
“She can’t just stay with her?”
“No, I never leave Trixie that long. She gets separation anxiety.”
“Okay, then I guess we’ll go to your sister’s.”
He picked up my bag off the bed and headed for the front door, pausing as we walked past the bar that divided my living room from the kitchen. “Do you need to take anything from your fridge so it doesn’t spoil?” he asked.
“Nah, there’s nothing in there that’ll go bad.”
He gave me a look and dropped my bag on the bar. He walked over to the fridge and pulled it open. I knew what he would find in there. Pretty much nothing, and I knew he would have something to say about it. Sure enough, he didn’t disappoint.
“Tell me you just haven’t been shopping for the week.”
I shrugged. “Okay, I haven’t been shopping for the week.”
He raised one eyebrow at me and said, “Is that true?”
“No, but you told me to tell you that, so I did.”
“Jules, what do you eat?”
I marched over to the drawer by the fridge, pulled it open, took out a stack of take-out menus from all over town, and slapped them down on the counter. “Whatever I want.”
“Fine. We’ll talk about that later. Let’s pack up your bird.”
Gator
We got in the SUV, and he reached for the radio. I batted his hand away. “My vehicle, my radio. Now, what’s the address?”
He rolled his eyes and rattled off an address. I punched it into the GPS and pulled out onto the road.
We got to his sister’s street a few minutes later. Nice place. A couple of bikes on the porch. Potted plants. Normal. Exactly the kind of normal someone could ruin if they followed him here, which just confirmed the decision to have him stay at Three Bears.
“Stay put.”
Julius opened his mouth to argue, but I was already out of the SUV, checking down the street, the front yard, and the porch. Nothing.
When I came back and opened his door, he gave me that shit-eating grin. “Thanks, Daddy.”
“Jules, behave. You’re adorable, but you’re also a distraction, and right now I just need to keep you safe.”
He snickered but silently followed me up the walk.
The inside of the house matched the outside. Lived in but tidy in a comfortable homey way. I let him lead, but kept close. He went straight for a birdcage in the corner.
When the bird saw us, it fluffed up its gray feathers and cocked its head from side to side, studying me. Then it spread out its wings and let out a piercing wolf whistle that would’ve made a sailor blush.
“Well, hello, Daddy,” she said in an almost perfect imitation of Julius’s voice.
I froze and then stared at Julius. He was fighting a laugh, but not very well. It figured that Julius would have a bird with a big personality.
I sighed. “And she has to come with us?”
He shook his head. “Where I go, Trixie goes.”
“Wonderful.”
It didn’t take him but a second to grab her things, and we were ready to go.
“She’ll need to sit in the backseat. She’ll lose her shit if we put her all the way in the back.”
I chuckled. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that your bird would be a diva?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
In the SUV, it was blissfully quiet for about two blocks. Then the bird started up again. First wolf-whistles, then Daddy! over and over in perfect imitation of Julius’s drawl. Julius didn’t even try to hide how delighted he was.
By the time we got back to Three Bears HQ, it was pushing seven. We parked, and I looked around, making sure nothing looked off. When I was confident that we were good, I opened the door.
“I’ll get the bags. You take the bird. But you stay right beside me until we get inside the building.”
“Mmm, bossy. I like it,” he said.
It was like he couldn’t turn it off. Someone had been waiting for him outside his salon and followed him all the way here. But he was acting like we were on some kind of fun outing. But we weren’t. These guys had not only found him but they’d followed him to his place of business.
“Jules.” I turned to face him, ignoring the bird. “I’m serious. Stick close to me.”
He sighed. “I’m not stupid, Gator. I know this is serious.”
“Then treat it like it is.” I rubbed my temples. I didn’t like being a grouchy stick in the mud, but this had been a long day, and a man could only take so much. I let out a breath. “I’m sorry, I know you aren’t stupid. I’m just worried about you, and I want to keep you safe.”
He looked at me and nodded. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I’m scared, Gator. And this”—he took a step back and then motioned at his body, starting at his legs, moving up to his face, framing it with his hands and giving me a big fake smile—“is how I deal with being afraid.”
“Well, shit, baby boy.” I opened up my arms, and he set down the bird and stepped into my arms. “Listen to me,” I murmured into his hair.
“This is an unusual situation, but I need you to know that I want this thing between us to work. I know we haven’t even really gotten started yet, but I think we could have something special. ”
“I’ll admit you make it too easy to want things I told myself don’t exist,” he said.
“It exists, baby boy. Trust me.”
“You think so?”
“I really do. But like I told you earlier, right now my focus needs to be on keeping you safe.”
“What’s for dinner? Carrots, broccoli, whiskey?” Trixie asked, making us both laugh.
I brushed a kiss on his head and stepped back. “Looks like it’s time to get you upstairs.”