52. Caine
CHAPTER 52
CAINE
“ W e’ve got a problem,” I announce as soon as I step foot in the gym. I don’t care if other people are in here, the two that I need to talk to will know I’m only addressing them.
Adam stands up straight from where he’s standing behind the front desk. “What’s the problem?”
I glance around for Drew and finally see him unwrapping his hands as he approaches from where he was hitting the bag. “What’s going on?”
I look around, and it’s only Alexander and Cal here, fucking around in the cage, but I don’t need them overhearing anything.
“Office,” I state.
Adam closes the door once we’re all inside and they look at me impatiently. I’m not one to draw out the suspense, so I cut to the chase, knowing they’re going to flip out first and ask questions later.
“Someone broke into Max’s place last night.”
“What the fuck, who?!” Drew exclaims.
“Don’t know. She thought it was me and showed up to my place. Broke a window and tried to steal my bike.”
“How’d that go over with you?” Drew smirks.
I shrug. “I wouldn’t have let her get far.”
“Who the fuck would have broken in?” Adam finally asks, his tone is lethal.
I shake my head. “If I knew then I wouldn’t be here telling you guys, I’d have already handled it.”
This town is safe. During the tourist season in the summer, there are always a couple incidents, though that’s to be expected. But right now, when it’s the locals, we all look out for each other and crime isn’t a problem. This was targeted, I just don’t know why.
I’m not sure if she went to the cops. We sure as shit wouldn’t, since they have it out for us anyway, thinking that we’re violent criminals around here for some reason. Yet, in all the times that I broke into Max’s house, I never caused any damage. Or did anything she didn’t already want.
“Don’t you always have eyes on her or something? Didn’t you see anything?” Drew asks in an accusatory tone.
I clench my jaw when I think about what I saw when I watched the recording from the camera in her room. Hoodie up while he took a baton to everything he could. I assume it was a man by the height and build. He never once faced the camera, so I don’t know who it was.
“No,” I grit out reluctantly. “I didn’t see anything.”
I still don’t want them to know about the camera, but now I’m wishing I had more around her house, which gives me the idea to do just that. Maybe they’ll come back. I’m going to make sure to put a few more in throughout her house just in case.
“Where is she now?” Adam asks.
“The beach. She insisted on going alone, but I’m meeting her back at her house soon.”
“We all should go,” Drew insists.
“Why? Not like whoever broke in will be there.”
Drew scowls at me, but I don’t give a fuck. I just want to be able to hide some cameras without them seeing.
“We’re going to get it figured out. We should make sure one of us is with her at all times until we do,” Adam declares.
I nod. “Something we agree on. I’ll be back in a bit.”
I leave them there, probably to continue plotting something without me, which is fine. I’m going to do whatever I want to do anyway. Which includes going by my house to grab a couple more cameras that I have before going back to Max’s.
Once I’m there, I look around at the damage. There’s no doubt this wasn’t random. This is sending a message to Max. Someone did this to her . And it pisses me off that someone thinks they could do this to my girl.
I set up two cameras in the open living room, so I have a full view of the space. As I continue to look around, I hear someone approach. Max stands just inside the front door, and I can see the way she tries to hide her reaction to seeing her house like this again.
I close the distance between us. “We’ll figure out who did this. Get whatever stuff you need; you’re staying with me.”
She rolls her eyes. “I don’t have the energy to argue with you today, but that will change.”
I follow her as she goes to her room, navigating the mess to collect some clothes to put in a bag. I notice how she doesn’t grab a lot, and I want to tell her to pack up everything.
“I’ll have to come back eventually,” she tells me.
“Yeah, we’ll see.”
As we leave her house, her sass comes back when she says, “I’m not just staying with you. You’re sharing me, which means I get to pick whose house I stay at.”
I wrap my arm around her middle, yanking her back against me to stop her from walking away. “Doesn’t matter whose house you stay at, I’ll be there. I’ll always be there.”