Chapter 1 West
WEST
“Last up is Javier Gonzalez.” Holt shuffled the folders in front of him on the conference table. “Mr. Gonzalez has asked for a full rework and training of his security team.”
The request wasn’t atypical. Anchor Security didn’t do permanent security detail. We came in if there was an acute issue. If someone was under threat, traveling to an area of concern, or to assess how well their current setup worked.
“Castille?” Holt inclined his head toward me, and I hit a key on my computer to pull up the case.
Jack, Holt’s second in command, leaned back in his chair. “What was the incident that brought on the request?”
Holt motioned to a mugshot that appeared on the screen. “Jason Keys, a disgruntled ex-employee, managed to make it past Gonzalez’s fence, exterior alarm system, and current security detail. He made it all the way to the front door before someone spotted him.”
Torres let out a low whistle as she studied the figure on the screen. “I bet someone got canned.”
Holt nodded. “We’ll be in charge of hiring a new head of security and training them. Jack, you’ll be manning the ship on this one.”
He groaned. “You always give me the boring-as-shit assignments.”
Holt grunted. “You mean the assignments that pay our bills?”
Anchor occasionally took on cases where the client couldn’t pay. Typically, those involving women or children.
Jack grinned. “Paychecks are overrated.”
“Until you can’t afford that craft beer you love so much,” Holt grumbled.
Jack held up a hand. “Don’t come for my beer.”
“Then take the damn case.”
“Fine,” Jack huffed.
Holt shook his head, but his lips twitched. “Samson, you’ll be running backgrounds on all the players in Gonzalez’s life. Torres, you’ll be going along to cover hand-to-hand and weapons recertification. The wife wants some self-defense training, as well.”
“You got it, boss,” Torres agreed. Samson was already typing away on his laptop.
Holt closed his computer, and the image on the screen blinked out. “That’s it for today.”
Jack slapped me on the back. “Time for me to kick Castille’s ass.”
I arched a brow in his direction.
Torres choked on a laugh. “You mean have Castille embarrass you again?”
She’d said it, not me.
Jack scowled at Torres. “I was having an off day.”
Holt’s lips twitched. “Were you having an off day the last dozen times, too?”
“Maybe,” Jack snapped.
I leaned back in my chair, a grin spreading across my face. “If Jack wants to pay my rent, I won’t argue.”
Even with as expensive as rent in Portland could be, I didn’t need Jack’s bets to help. Anchor Security paid damn well—probably because it meant putting our asses on the line more often than not.
Holt snickered at that as he stood.
“You’re all a bunch of assholes,” Jack snapped as he pushed to his feet.
Morel towered over Jack, slapping him on the back. “I believe in you. Miracles happen every day.”
“I’m getting the snacks,” Torres called, jogging out of the conference room and toward the lounge. The room held a kitchen, couches, a massive TV, several billiard tables, and the chessboard that Jack was determined to defeat me on.
As the dozen or so members of our team filed out of the conference room, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I tugged it out and frowned. My sister’s name flashed across the screen. She knew I was working until at least six and usually texted if that was the case.
I slipped out of the flow of traffic and hit accept on the call. “You okay, Care Bear?”
“When are you going to stop calling me that? I’m twenty-three.”
The annoyance in her tone made a smile curve my mouth. Things couldn’t be too bad if she was snapping at me. “You’ll always be my little sister.”
She grumbled something under her breath about embarrassing big brothers.
“What’s going on?”
Cara was quiet for a moment, and anxiety pricked at me again. “Care, did something happen? Are you—?”
“It’s not me. It’s Lex.”
Just the sound of her name had my gut tightening and an onslaught of memories battering at my mind—too many to count—because Lex had been a part of our lives since the second grade when she moved to Crooked Creek, and she and Cara became instant best friends.
But there was something about Lex. She was an old soul.
She saw through everyone’s facades to whatever lay beneath.
Her haunting amber eyes flashed in my mind.
The same ones that had held so much understanding when I broke down after my mother died.
The ones that sparked with gold fire as she played her guitar and sang, pouring every emotion into the husky words.
The ones that burned when her gaze locked with mine.
Burned with something out of the realm of possibility. I’d been too old for her. Too jaded. She needed someone with the same optimism that flowed from her in waves—that magic.
“What happened?” My words came out with a snap that my sister didn’t deserve, but the claws of panic had dug in too deep.
Cara was quiet for another moment.
“Cara,” I growled.
“Geez, just take a breath. You’re already the crankiest person I’ve ever met. You losing it on top of that isn’t going to help.”
“Then tell me what the hell is going on.”
Cara huffed out a breath. “Lex is gonna kill me.”
“Not if I get to you first.”
“I’m not scared of you, big brother.”
Because I’d always been the one to have her back. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from snapping at her again. “If you called me, something bad happened. My mind is going a lot of not-great places.”
“Sorry, West,” Cara said softly.
“It’s okay. Just tell me what’s going on.”
Cara’s pause was brief this time. “Someone’s messing with Lex.”
“Messing how?” Barely restrained anger pulsed behind each word.
“At first, it was just creepy comments on her YouTube channel. Gross stuff.”
I cursed. “I told her putting that stuff out there was a recipe for disaster.”
“Not helping, West.”
“You said at first. What else happened?”
The telltale sound of Cara biting her thumbnail came across the line. “She started getting notes. Someone’s dropping them off at our apartment door.”
Everything in me locked. “How long?”
Silence filled the line again. “Almost a month now.”
“A month?” I exploded.
Cara sucked in a sharp breath, and I knew it accompanied a wince. “I wanted to call you sooner, but Lex didn’t want me to. She said it was just some local messing with her. Insisted they’d get bored and stop.”
Either that or they’d see the notes weren’t getting the reaction they wanted and escalate. “Has she gone to the police?”
Cara grunted. “Yeah, and you can guess how helpful they were. Chief Craig did nothing.”
It was one of the downsides of living in a small town. There was very little crime, so when something did happen, law enforcement was rarely equipped to handle it properly.
“Send me all the information you have. Tell me you took photos.”
“My brother is in threat assessment and security. I’ve learned a few things from him.”
I would’ve smiled if panic weren’t still clawing at my insides. There was a demand mixed in with the anxiety. A need to get in my truck and to Lex as soon as humanly possible. To see with my own eyes that she was okay.
“Send it to me. I’ll call you as soon as I have an update.”
“Thanks, West,” Cara said softly.
“Of course.”
“Not of course. It means the world that I know I can always count on you.”
My chest constricted. Cara was part sister and part daughter.
After our mom had died, our dad fell apart.
He barely held on to his job, and when he got home, he would disappear into his bedroom and not come out until morning.
I did the grocery shopping, made meals for myself and Cara, and went to her soccer games and plays.
“Always, Care Bear.”
“It’s Cara,” she grumbled.
“Love you,” I said.
“Love you, too.”
I clicked off, staring down at my phone.
“That didn’t sound good.”
My head snapped up at the sound of Holt’s voice, and I scowled. “You always listen in on private conversations?”
He shrugged. “When I see one of my people is worried about a call.”
Holt had always had an uncanny radar when it came to someone on our team going through shit. It was the kind of thing that only came from going through your own trauma.
“Family friend is dealing with something.”
“What kind of something?”
I stared down at my phone. “She’s a musician. Really good.” Those words weren’t even close to covering Lex’s talent. She was the kind of musician that punched through your chest with her lyrics. “She puts videos up on YouTube.”
Holt groaned. “Stalker?”
“Looking that way. I know it’s not the best timing, but I’d like to take a week and see what I can find.”
Holt studied me for a moment. “We don’t have to be in New York for ten days. I’ll come with you. We’ll make more progress if we work it together.”
I shook my head. “Lex won’t be able to pay. She works at a coffee shop.”
Holt stared at me. “She’s important to you.” A shadow passed over his eyes. “You don’t want to live with the damage of something happening to her that you could’ve stopped.”
There was devastation in Holt’s expression that I’d only ever seen hints of before. That panic was back, a million different tormenting scenarios playing out in my head.
“Can’t have anything happen to her.”
Holt jerked his head in a nod. “Grab your go-bag.”