Sixteen
Than
Linc held a glass of whiskey in one hand while he partially sat on the edge of his desk when I walked into his office. I’d expected to get accosted by Stevie when I arrived, but I’d not seen anyone. Linc’s house was rarely ever quiet these days.
“How’s the ward?” he asked me, then took a drink.
“Not thrilled,” I replied. “But that’s just my guess. She doesn’t talk to me about shit, so I don’t know what she’s really thinking.”
I was also being cautious because I was afraid of getting attached to her. God, that would suck.
“You’ve been in the cabin together since Friday. I’d have thought by now, she would have fallen under your charm.”
I let out a hard laugh. “I’m not charming her. Until this morning, when I took her riding, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have thrown water on me if I was on fire. Actually, the jury is still out on that one. She might watch me burn.”
Linc’s brows drew together in a frown. “Why are you making her hate you?”
Was he serious?
“You gave me the whole Samson speech. I thought that was what you wanted me to do.”
He sighed, giving me an exasperated look. What? I did what he’d said. I hadn’t touched her, and I deserved a fucking award for that.
“That’s not what I said. I told you not to fuck her. I didn’t tell you not to gain her trust. I especially didn’t tell you to make her hate you.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Uh, Linc, that’s asking me to walk a very tempting line.”
He drank down the rest of his glass and set it on the desk, then stood up completely. “Yeah, well, it’s what has to be done. My gut tells me she’s a kid alone in the world who needs help, and that is all this is. But I can’t go with my gut when it’s the governor’s reputation. Be her friend. You’re going to be the only friend she has. Once we have some idea of what is going on in her head, then we’ll know how to plan. Honestly, I don’t give a fuck what she does or who she tells in two years. He has plans to run for a place in the Senate, but he won’t get it. That rarely goes well. But right now, all we have to be concerned with is the next two years. Take her to work with you. Let her do her schoolwork at the distillery and give her work to do there. Make her feel like she’s a part of your world.”
I let that idea take root. Taking her with me to work. Having her around the guys…I wasn’t going to like that. Gathe was bad enough.
“Yeah, okay.” I’d suffer through it.
“As for the other stuff, I’ve handled the school and explained that due to her mother’s passing, Montana realized she wasn’t ready to go back to the classroom. She preferred to finish virtually. Since she left her phone behind today, I installed some software on it that Levi had sent to me, so I can see all her incoming and outgoing calls as well as text messages. If she’s hiding something, we should be able to find it.”
I’d bet my life on the fact that she wasn’t. Not a damn thing. My gut also told me she wasn’t what we’d assumed, and two guts couldn’t be wrong.
I only nodded my head.
“She might open up to you more if you befriended her. Get her to trust you. Use your charm.”
I wanted to laugh. He assumed that would be easy for me. Did he not realize that it had already been hard for me to keep my hands off her, and we’d not even made it through the first week?
“I’ll try.”
“You can do better than try. She doesn’t trust us. We need her to trust you.”
I nodded again. A weight settled in my chest. I couldn’t put my finger on why, but it was there. If I survived Montana Carrigan, it would be a miracle.