Three
Than
Linc nodded his head for me to walk with him away from the cabin after we dumped the governor’s bastard off with her shit. He didn’t say anything for a few moments, and I realized he wanted to be sure we were out of hearing distance. I was guessing the fact that someone knew about her paternity was an issue.
“You think you can handle this?” he asked, cutting his eyes at me.
“Do I have a fucking choice?” Because if I did, I wanted out of it.
“No. Now that I’ve seen her, it sure as hell can’t be Gathe.”
I scowled. Yeah, well, it would have been nice to have had a little heads-up on what she looked like.
“Keep on scowling,” he drawled. “The less you like her as a person, the easier it will be to overlook her, uh, physical appearance.”
That wasn’t exactly something that was overlookable, but I didn’t say it. I’d get the don’t fuck her lecture. I’d pictured an older version of the governor’s younger daughter, who was round with large front teeth and bright orange hair. Montana Carrigan was none of those things.
When the door had opened, I’d almost swallowed my fucking tongue. Thankfully, I’d gotten my composure and funneled the instant lust to anger. She wasn’t to be trusted, and I was saddled with making sure she kept her mouth shut and did as she’d promised.
“She doesn’t look like his other kid,” I muttered.
Linc let out a short chuckle. “Well, her momma was a stripper at the only elite club in North Louisiana. She doesn’t have all Baskin DNA.”
No shit. “Are we sure that paternity test is legit?”
Linc nodded. “Baskin had it done himself. He wanted to be certain.”
“Damn.”
“I’d hoped the last bullshit we had to handle because of his infidelity would be it. He swore he’d stop it before he was caught. Didn’t see a past offense coming back to haunt him.”
I let out a heavy sigh. This was going to be a long three months.
“So, what happens on Monday morning?” I asked him.
“She goes to school, gets registered,” he replied.
“Without a parent?”
“She’s nineteen, remember?”
Oh yeah. For someone who was supposed to be dumb, she had been sharp with the manipulation. I’d have admired it if it wasn’t us she was manipulating.
“I’m taking her to Madison High?”
He nodded.
“I’m going to call Doskins tomorrow and tell him she’s a friend of the family, staying here until graduation, because her mother just passed away,” he explained.
Barney Doskins was the principal at the high school and had been since Ransom, my older brother by three years, started his freshman year.
“And what do I do until then? Just stand around outside the cabin?” Bored out of my fucking mind .
Linc shrugged. “I didn’t have much time to think about that. I got the call from Baskin, then took the situation to Blaise. He said to do whatever we had to in order to shut her up. The only thing I could think was to give her what she was asking—three months with somewhere to live and help financially.”
“I don’t see why she didn’t just drop out and go work where her mother did.”
Linc nodded. He’d probably thought the same thing. It would have saved us the headache, and she’d make a fortune.
“Who knows? I’d say she’s worried about her education, but seeing as she’s a nineteen-year-old senior, I’m going to assume that’s not high on her priority list,” he said. “We have to watch her. Can’t trust her. It could be that she’s out for revenge. Baskin’s help might not be what she came for; she might be here to ruin his life. Her mother is dead. She probably blames him for never being around. Abandoning them. She’s young and hurting; she probably heard shit about him from her mother that made her hate him even more.”
If she was here for revenge, then this job was going to be harder than it already was.
“We need to get her phone tapped with a tracker on it,” he told me. “I’ll leave that to you. Get it done while she’s asleep tonight. We need to start recording all her calls and text messages. Go through what is already on there, too, and send me anything concerning.”
I nodded.
“As for what to do now, read a book,” he replied.
I frowned at him. “Read a book?”
He smirked. “Maybe you can convince her to let you have the remote to the television.”
“That’s inside.”
“You planning on sitting outside the entire time?”
I didn’t really fucking plan on anything. I was waiting for direction. But I hadn’t planned on being inside the cabin with her.
“You want me in the cabin?” I asked incredulously.
“She can’t fuck up much for us if you’re right there under her nose. She asked for somewhere to stay. That didn’t include alone. We need to make sure she only has one phone. Check her things for an iPad, laptop. You need to snoop through all that shit in her boxes. Figure her out. Find her weakness. Maybe we find something to use to turn this around on her and blackmail her.”
Great. Now I was a damn spy too.
“And why is Forge too old for this job?” I asked with a groan.
“It’s a small town. Folks see him out with a high school girl, and it will draw attention. We don’t want to deal with gossip and shit about her. We need her to ride this out under the radar.”
I let out a sharp laugh. “Well then, we are fucked. You did get a good look at her, right? She’s never gonna be under any radar. She’ll draw attention with or without Forge.”
He grimaced. “That is an issue, but maybe she won’t dress like that for school.”
“Maybe she owns a damn bra,” I muttered.
He stopped walking when we reached the edge of the southside of his property. Crossing his arms over his chest, he glanced over at me. “Just don’t make Samson’s mistake.”
When I stared at him, completely clueless as to what he was saying, he continued, “In the Bible.”
“I’ve never read the Bible.” I pointed out the obvious.
The corner of his mouth quirked. “You really should. It’s a good read. Anyway, there is a story in it about a man named Samson who was brought down by the enemy because of a woman. One he wanted so bad that he trusted her when he shouldn’t. And because of that, she took away everything important to him. It’s a tragic tale that ends in his death.”
I raised my eyebrows. “The Bible has stories like that in it?”
He nodded. “It does. Some even darker.”
“Huh. Who knew?” I mused, then shook my head. “Just because she’s a sexpot doesn’t make me weak. I had two different ones on their knees with my cock in their mouths last night.”
“I don’t need details of your sexcapades.”
I chuckled as he gave me a withering glance.
“Just watch her, go through her things, find out something on her we can use. Anything to shut her up. We have two more years with Baskin, and we have to keep his reputation clean.”
“If I find something, does that mean this babysitting shit ends?”
Linc nodded. “I guess so, if you were to find something big enough to hold over her head to shut her up and send her back where she came from.”
I’d not known there was a ticket out of this.
“I’ll find something we can use. Come hell or high water.”