Chapter 30
Sage
The Redhawk team was efficient, to say the least, and more than intimidating.
The yard was dark, but that didn’t seem to bother them much as they pitched small dome tents off to the side by the carriage house and spoke in low voices to Rhodes.
He had already told me earlier that he wanted them here immediately to finish the fencing and security measures around the property.
I’d told him that Maggie had an extra room at the farmhouse with her and Phiny, but he’d shut that down immediately.
Rhodes’ house had two extra bedrooms, so I wasn’t sure why he wasn’t using those, but apparently, the men were used to camping.
Wade told me the van had been dropped off at the shop, which meant I was stuck here.
Stuck was relative, of course. My siblings had already volunteered to take me home, but none of them thought it was particularly wise.
They hadn’t said it, but Maggie’s was off-limits.
The only option was Wade’s place, though he could be called in at any minute.
We briefly discussed it away from the dinner table, and he explained the risks of leaving me alone.
In the end, he said the best option was for me to stay here.
If I were honest with myself, it wasn’t something I was against, but Rhodes and I were moving a bit faster than I expected.
“I want to introduce you to Parrish.” Rhodes had come back inside with three men after helping them stack crates on the porch, which I assumed were filled with equipment for the security he kept going on about. “This is Sage.”
Shaking the man’s hand, I let Rhodes lead us to the family room, where he introduced me to Ryatt, who was on tech, and Ellis, who was going to handle close security, whatever that meant.
"Boss," Parrish said, clapping Rhodes’ shoulder as they filed past him. The moment was still throwing me off. I was still a little confused about why they were here, camping in the yard, but I shoved it aside. “Lay it out for us.”
Parrish was built like a wrestler, but he seemed friendly enough, casting a boyish smile in my direction.
If Rhodes trusted him, then I wasn’t going to gripe about them being here.
Ryatt was almost bookish-looking, but still built and fit, with glasses and dark hair.
Ellis was the opposite of both of them, large and broody with dark hair that he kept pulled back in a man bun on top of his head, but with large scars that covered one side of his face.
The effect was startling since he was anything but approachable.
He met my gaze with one of his own with glacial indifference, and even when I smiled, he didn’t.
“Hi.” I gave a lame little wave, feeling weird even when they nodded back—except Ellis, who ignored me, or maybe he just thought I’d been staring at his scars like a weirdo and didn’t want anything to do with me now.
We gathered around the coffee table.
“Sage owns the Wild Bloom, the flower shop in town. She's Wade’s sister.” The men all nodded solemnly, as if that immediately helped them file away my importance.
“She’s gotten three anonymous flower deliveries to her shop.
One arrangement was left for her to find, and two were delivered to her shop.
Weird notes. You can flick through the photos there.
” He passed around his phone, and they all dutifully looked through the images, shooting me concerned looks.
“Approximate time on the deliveries?” Parrish was asking with his laptop already out.
“Just after ten on one and around eleven thirty on the other. I found the first one when I came in the morning.”
“Okay. We’ll see if we can find out which delivery company was used and whether the person was the same each time. We’ll work from there. See if we can find out who ordered them. I’ll have that information in the next hour.”
“Today, someone attacked her as she left a gas station bathroom.” All the men stiffened, and their eyes shifted to me.
Rhodes went through what happened, giving them the information in succinct bites. “I want this location buttoned up tight. The entire perimeter needs to be locked down. In and out.”
“Understood.” Parrish was already typing on his computer. “I have the footage you sent me. I’m assuming it was from the gas station.” Rhodes gave a curt nod, but Parrish was apparently used to him, so he didn’t react. “I’ll go over it and see if we can pull an ID, see who the hoodie guy is.”
Ryatt leaned in, tablet already humming. "Ex? We've seen this pattern before in other cases where there is fixation that builds to contact."
“I have a few exes,” I shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone?
” I tried not to look at Rhodes as I said it.
“But none of them were serious or anything that wasn’t a mutual breakup.
” I hesitated for a heartbeat and then added, “There is this new guy in town.” Rhodes nodded, as if he was anticipating me bringing it up. “Alan.”
“Boaz.” Rhodes spelled out the last name for them. “I did a cursory look, but you’ll need to do a deeper dive. Guy came up to us while we were eating dinner. Gave us both a weird vibe.” He nodded at me for confirmation.
Vaguely, I heard that Rhodes had actually looked into Alan, but it didn’t really surprise me. For a second, I wondered if it should bother me that he’d be doing a background search on a random resident in town. Then I decided that he had a good reason.
“Is it possible that he was the one who grabbed you?” Parrish asked.
“It could be. He’s on the thinner side.” I shrugged as I remembered the sensation of the person beyond me and superimposed it on Alan’s build to see if they matched.
“I’m just not sure.” Rhodes pulled me closer, his arm going around me.
All the men’s eyes landed on the two of us, and I tried not to squirm away self-consciously.
“He was in front of my shop today, too.” Rhodes arm tightened. Geez, had it only been today?
“You didn’t tell me that,” he muttered.
Alphahole. It wasn’t like we’d had much of a chance to chat.
Sometimes, unloading all the crap that happened in a day was just exhausting.
Just the details seemed to get lost in the shuffle of moving into the next hour or the next part of the day.
It wasn’t like I was trying to keep anything from him.
“We’ll look into him,” Parrish confirmed.
Ryatt nodded, eyeing his computer again. “This property is exposed as fuck.” Ellis gave him a disgusted look.
“I didn’t buy it for security reasons.” Rhodes rolled his eyes.
“Don’t worry about it, boss. We can manage.
We’ll start tonight. Get the temp sensors on the gate and driveway.
Cameras at the key entries. We’ll check the fence and see what needs repairing.
We’ll see if any mesh needs to be added to compromised areas.
Then we’ll tie your house system into everything. ”
My eyes had widened. Holy crow. That sounded a bit like overkill.
“I want the greenhouses covered, too, and all the way to the back lawns. Everything."
Opal's face flashed in my mind, her trusting eyes as she'd explained Jessamina to me. It made sense to me that Rhodes would want full security on his property. She was worth protecting.
“Her shop will also need a full system. You’re working tomorrow, I assume?”
My mind stuttered for a moment. I’d been drifting in a haze of testosterone as I let Rhodes take control, but then I heard something about my shop. That was enough to jolt me awake like a blast of cold water.
“I don’t need a new system. I have one.” That wasn’t a lie. There was a security system installed in the building. It was basic, but if someone broke in, an alert was sent to the police department.
“I’ll assess when I’m there,” Ellis said, giving me a glare that brooked absolutely no nonsense.
“Ellis will be your close security protection detail,” Rhodes explained. “Where you go, he goes until we figure this shit out. No risks.”
“Like a bodyguard?” I nibbled on my thumbnail, looking from him to the other man.
“Exactly like that.”
“Seems excessive.”
“It’s not,” Rhodes bit out.
Parrish watched me, sensing the currents beneath the surface. “Got it, boss,” he said. “We’ll get started.”
The idea that Ellis, with his man bun and intimidating scars, would be following me around didn’t even register as an annoyance. If anything, I felt comforted.
"Appreciate you guys,” Rhodes said, gripping his shoulder. As they dispersed into the night, he closed the door behind them and armed the security system. “Come on, sugar bean. Bedtime.”
“Ugh. Stop with the weird-ass nicknames. Definitely not that one.”