10. Vince
10
VINCE
I gave them some time to get that weird cat settled in before I told them we would head over to the pub for lunch, and then I could take them over to the security business to show them around.
It would help if they could see the space and know that we were a legit business, which I was hoping would go a long way in helping them feel safer and more comfortable around me. I also wanted to show the front office to Cat so that she could use one of the front rooms to work from. I made a point to mention how easy it would be for her to work from there, and it was also safe until she got familiar with her surroundings.
I knew the original threats from the robbery were all dead, but I had learned that other gang members could sometimes retaliate due to loyalty, so I needed to make sure they were fully cleared from any potential threat before clearing them to move into a new space.
On our way to the pub, I walked them through the main level, showing them where the mailboxes were, our small fitness center, and the main lobby with front desk reception area.
We walked into the pub and saw Jack , Wade , Diego , and Archer already seated at a large table at the back of the room. It had a long booth bench at the back up against the wall and five chairs on the other side of the table. In addition to the guys, both Ruthie and Ellie were also there.
When we walked up to the table, I introduced everyone, and Ruthie and Ellie commandeered Cat and Val to their side of the table and instantly began chatting with them. I was happy for them because from the limited conversations we’d had, I’d realized they didn’t have friends since they had moved around so much.
“I’m happy for you, cuz,” Archer said to me across the table. “ You not only found your girl, but she’s a looker too.”
“Watch it,” I spoke low, but made clear she was off limits.
He grinned, and I knew he got it. Even though Archer hadn’t served with me overseas, he knew all about the letters and how important they were to me. Since Archer had no siblings and I only had a sister, we had been close from a young age. He also wrote to me while I was overseas, and I wrote back to him telling him all about my mystery girl. Jack and Wade got it too because they saw me every time I got one of those letters, and they knew I’d carried them on my person with me everywhere I went. I didn’t know why because I never kept any of the ones my mom or sister sent. I didn’t even keep the ones Archer sent. But I kept hers.
Before I could respond to him, Diego interrupted.
“Their creepy neighbor is on the prowl,” he said low so that only the guys could hear him. “ I pulled up the apartment complex security cams, and he tried picking the lock to get into their place shortly after you left. He also went to the front office and claimed he had something of Cat’s to give back and needed her forwarding address.”
On the surface, I was quietly stoic with a frown, but on the inside, I was seething. That prick needed to back off.
“The forwarding address Cat gave her apartment complex is our address here for Ranger Shield Security , so hopefully, he’ll drop it,” I told him, knowing if he didn’t, I would find a way to make him think otherwise.
“Don’t think that will be an issue,” Diego said with a small smile on his face. “ I may or may not have called the apartment front office, pretending to be from their security company and alerting them to a break-in spotted on their cameras. The police were called shortly after. I don’t think he’ll be a problem, but I’ll keep an eye out.”
God, this guy was brilliant. I was really happy we’d brought him on to join us.
I saw Val get up from the other half of the table and walk over to where the guys were, and she stopped in front of Wade .
“Wade, right?” she asked a little timidly, which did not fit the woman I had gotten to know the last two days, so my ears perked up.
“That’s right,” he replied.
“Ellie told me you own this place and also that you might be looking for another server and well, I’m actually looking for a job, so I was curious how much experience someone might need for the job you need to fill?” she asked, talking rapidly with a hint of nerves but standing tall, nonetheless.
“Val, why don’t you get settled in more first,” Cat whispered loudly over the table.
“Because this will help me get settled by learning the area, getting to know people who live here, and also for once earning a paycheck so I can help contribute,” she snapped back at her sister, her irritation starting to grow. She held up her hand, clearly seeing that her sister was about to interrupt, before speaking again. “ No , Cat , I know what you’re going to say. This place is as safe as I’m going to get. Vince and the guys will be right next door, and likely you too, since Vince seems so hell-bent on having you work in that building. Plus , Ellie said Wade still works in here from time to time, so that helps too.”
“I don’t have trouble following me anymore, but I used to,” Ellie interrupted. “ But because of that trouble, Wade installed a whole bunch of cameras in here to cover all areas, and he also works out of the back office whenever I’m on shift.”
Ellie was right. A few months ago, her abusive ex had kidnapped her from right here at the pub, and almost killed her. Without the extra cameras installed, we may not have found her in time. Since then, Axel and Diego installed extra cameras, motion-sensing lights, and locks in several locations around the building.
“Plus, Tammy is here, and she is a freaking badass in her own right, so you would be totally safe here,” Ellie added, and again, she was right. Tammy was one of the main bartenders here, and former Army , so she could handle just about any trouble that walked in here.
Val, smiling and dismissing her sister, turned back to Wade with more grit in her voice.
“So, Wade , about that job?”
Wade smiled back and told her to follow him to his office to get an application. Val was practically shrieking and giggling the whole way.
I turned to Cat and saw her nervous gaze following Val to the back of the restaurant.
“Cat,” I called to get her attention, and her attention shifted to me. “ You okay?”
She sighed. “ It honestly probably is one of the safer jobs for her to have, but I also don’t understand why she has to rush into it so quickly.”
“Has she ever had a job before?” I asked, curious now.
“I hired her on at my company so she has an employment record, but no,” Cat explained. “ The Marshals wouldn’t let us get jobs initially for safety reasons. Then , as I was going to college online, I also started up my business. Since I barely had any clients in the beginning, I was able to do both. By the time I graduated, I had a steady influx of clients. I hired Val on as my assistant while she started going to online school, too, but she’s always wanted to work in a job around other people. She’s a way bigger extrovert than I am.” Cat smiled sadly and I knew she felt guilty that Val had never really had the opportunity to make a lot of friends.
“If you work out of the office with me, I can pull up any of the pub cameras on my computer if you want to check on her,” Ruthie offered, and Cat’s face relaxed a bit.
“Thanks. That might help a little, but I don’t want you doing that too much when you have better things to do. I just have to stop being so protective and let her get the job,” Cat replied.
“Oh, it’s no hassle. I usually pull them up once or twice a day anyway to look at the male eye candy that comes into the pub,” Ruthie said with a grin. “ Being this close to the military base, you get a lot of really good men to look at.”
“I can confirm that is very true.” Ellie laughed, and Ruthie winked at Cat , eliciting a genuine smile.
I heard growling next to me and turned to see Jack’s face in a scowl as he glared at Ruthie . Wade mentioned to me a few weeks ago he thought Ellie’s brother might have the hots for Ruthie , but she seemed to be either in denial or completely uninterested. I hadn’t thought much about it until now, but Wade never missed a thing. It was part of what had made him such a good sergeant and leader while we were overseas.
Val and Wade came back to the table, ordered our meals, and enjoyed some banter amongst everyone. After we finished eating, the guys and Ruthie headed back to the office next door and Ellie headed to the grocery store before her shift at the pub that night. Wade told Val he would process her paperwork and have her shadow the lunch shift either tomorrow or the day after. Cat’s expression was muted, but Val looked ecstatic.
“Alright, ladies. Let’s head over to the Ranger Shield Security part of the building, shall we?” I got up from my seat and had them follow me.
As we walked out the front door of the Watering Hole , we headed to the other side of the building, where the separate entrance for both Ranger Shield Security and the apartments were located. When you first walked inside, there was a small entryway lobby with a small main hallway going forward to an elevator and our main office to the security business was to the left.
We walked left to the glass door with Ranger Shield Security imprinted on the wall beside the door. Inside this space was what we used as the front office and reception space. It wasn’t a large area, but it had a nice-sized receptionist desk where Ruthie sat and a few chairs off to the side for people to wait. Behind Ruthie’s desk there were two small conference rooms where we could meet with clients in person. We walked in and checked in with Ruthie .
“Hey Ruthie , both offices empty right now?” I asked her just to confirm. When we weren’t using them, the doors stayed open, and they both were.
“Hey, guys.” Ruthie looked up from her computer. “ Yeah , they’re both free if you wanna take a look inside.”
I walked over and showed Cat the space, letting her look around and check it out to see if it would work for her.
“This is way more space than I need,” Cat said. “ But it’s really nice in here. Private , but also plenty of light.”
If the door was closed, no one could see in, and while there were windows on the side wall, they were clerestory windows, meaning they were well above eye level so no one from the outside could see in, but they still let in a ton of natural light.
“Not that you asked, but I think it’s perfect,” Val interjected. “ Especially since I’ll be working next door!”
Val was now clapping her hands with excitement. I could see Cat was torn about really needing the office, but clearly knowing her sister would be next door helped, because she seemed to come to a decision.
“Yes, good point,” she said to Val . Then she turned to me. “ You sure you don’t mind me using this space?” she asked.
“Not at all,” I told her truthfully. “ We only ever seem to use one of these at a time anyway.”
She looked around once more and then agreed to use the space. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
We headed up the elevator to see the rest of the space, which was just personal offices, the main security room with all the cameras we monitored, and other tech spaces. In an effort to let them know how secure the building was, I explained that both the elevator and staircase needed badge access. Both sisters seemed equally impressed, and I couldn’t help but feel a little pride swell inside me because this company was our pride and joy.
We made our way back to my apartment, where the girls spent the next three hours unpacking what they needed and also setting aside stuff they didn’t utilize regularly so we could put it in the storage unit in the basement. I ordered takeout for dinner since I didn’t really have any food in my house from having been gone the last week in Iowa .
Just after I submitted the order on my phone, it buzzed in my hand.
“Hey, Parker . What’s up?” I asked after seeing his name on the screen.
“Hey, Vince , just wanted to make sure you saw my email about Oklahoma’s upcoming court appearance?”
“Um, apologies… I’ve been out of town the past few days, so I must have missed it,” I told him, trying to recall a note from him.
“No worries. He’s not taking the plea deal, so he’s going in front of a judge. We’re likely gonna need you to testify in a few weeks.”
“No problem. I’ll be around,” I confirmed. “ Just shoot me the email again so I can put everything in my calendar.”
“Will do,” he responded. “ Have a good one.”
“You too,” I said then hung up.
The food arrived shortly after, and as we ate, Val asked a bunch of questions about the pub and the city, and I filled her in.
After dinner, she decided to turn in early for the night claiming she was wiped out from moving but also wanted to get a good night’s sleep before her training shift at the pub tomorrow.
It may have been November , but Mother Nature wasn’t feeling like making it very fall-like in Atlanta . In fact, it had been in the seventies earlier today, so I decided to grab a beer and sit on my balcony, and I asked Cat if she wanted to join me. My sister had not only decorated the inside but she’d also put two really nice chairs with ottomans out here and a side table in between.
Cat sat down next to me in sweatpants and a long-sleeved tee. Now that the sun was down, the temperature had dropped off a little bit, but it was still pleasant. Her hair was up in a ponytail, she’d cleaned her face of makeup, and yet she was still beautiful.
“So, long-lost pen pal, tell me more about yourself,” I said after taking a swig of my beer and looking over at her.
She grinned back at me and tucked her legs under her in the seat with her hands in her lap holding her cup of tea.
“What would you like to know, long-lost pen pal?” she smarted back at me. I realized she was slowly coming out of her timid shell, and I liked this sassy woman next to me.
“Anything, everything… Got a lot to catch up on,” I said. “ Start with your job. I recall you said you were thinking about a degree in coding. What made you switch to web and graphic design? Or are they all part of the same degree?”
“Ha, no,” she tittered. “ Honestly , it came about when we were in WITSEC . One of the Marshals who watched over us at the initial safe house was talking to me about online degrees since I wouldn’t be able to go to college in person, at least not for the first year until they could make sure the dust settled from our supposed ‘death’ at the trial,” she said, putting her fingers up to mimic the quotes sign. “ Her name was Marta , and she was really honest with me about my long-term future and told me that there was a distinct possibility we would have to keep moving around every couple of years and that I might want to choose a career that would allow me that flexibility. Coding and computer science would allow that, but after taking my first couple of coding classes, I realized I was bored to death. Since I’d always enjoyed art and often drew in our plentiful downtime at the safe house, Marta talked me into taking some graphic and web design courses. I loved those a heck of a lot more. Most of my clients also don’t care where I work as long as the product meets their needs and is finished on time.”
She shrugged gently. “ It also paid well enough to support Val and me once the Marshals said we were free of danger and on our own. We used our parents’ money to pay for college, but otherwise, I didn’t like touching that. I know they aren’t here anymore, but it just feels weird spending it. They always planned to help us pay for college, so that seemed different, I guess.”
“I get it,” I told her my parents had also offered to pay for my school, though the GI Bill made it so they didn’t have to.
“What about you?” She turned to me. “ Your security business seems to be going quite well, and your friends are amazing. I’m really happy for you.”
A part of me felt guilty at the fact that she was never able to make close friendships like I had with Wade and Jack . She did have her sister, though, and they were close, like Archer and I were.
“Yeah, it’s great,” I said. “ I always wanted to be able to work with Archer , or at least live close, so this works out really well.”
“Archer is your cousin, right?” she asked, and I realized it probably was a lot of names to remember in one day.
“Did you guys live close growing up?” she asked. “ Most of our cousins were still back in Puerto Rico , so we only saw them for holidays.”
“Yes and no,” I told her, finding it really easy to talk with her about anything, even though I wasn’t a big talker in general. “ When Archer’s mom married his dad, they moved out west because that’s where he thought he stood a better chance of getting elected.”
“He was a politician?” she asked.
“Yeah, started off as mayor of some small town in Utah and then worked his way up for the next twenty years,” I explained. “ Archer was born and raised in Utah , but every year they would come to visit multiple times, and I got to spend time with him. I like my sister, but I was never into playing dolls and stuff with her, so whenever Archer came to visit, it felt like getting a temporary brother.”
I grinned, thinking of those memories. “ As the years went on, Archer’s dad started coming less and less, claiming he had to stay and help his constituents or campaign. I remember my parents talking when I was younger about how they were pretty sure he stayed behind to hang out with his mistress, and the guy was a dick, so that does not surprise me. It would just be Archer and Aunt Aileen , which was fine by me. When we got older, they would put Archer on a plane in the summer to visit for three weeks, and we loved it.”
“That sounds fun,” she said, smiling.
“It was. Plus , in our teenage years Archer had that preppy good boy look going for him so he was a chick magnet wherever we’d go,” I told her, grinning. “ It was great for me because I was a late bloomer and just tagged along.”
She smirked. “ I find it hard to believe you were a late bloomer when you look like you do now.”
“Ahh, you’re good for my ego, sweetheart.” I chuckled back at her and took a swig of my drink.
“Happy to help, but don’t get used to it,” she teased. “ I imagine your ego is exhausting to maintain.”
She grinned and lifted her brow at me.
Yeah, the sass was a definite turn-on.