Chapter 2
H ayes walked into the beauty salon and sighed.
How the fuck was this his life?
He’d lasted forty-three years without ever entering a beauty salon. This was not what he’d expected when he’d started working for Jensen International Security.
Sure, he hadn’t expected it to be high-energy or adventure all of the time. He hadn’t even wanted that. He’d wanted a job which would get him out of bed so he wouldn’t spend the rest of his days in a dark depression.
One where he could live his life in relative peace and just wait until he died.
So he could return to May.
He sucked in a breath. May hadn’t been interested in getting her nails or hair done.
She’d loved working in her garden, and she was always tinkering with old machinery, painting something or repairing it.
She used to say that there was no use getting her nails done when she’d just wreck them within a day.
God, he missed her.
“Hi Sondra!” The woman behind the desk greeted his charge with a genuine smile.
Sondra wasn’t the worst person he’d ever guarded. She was polite and she listened. She didn’t treat him like he was her slave the way some people he’d worked for did.
Normally, he’d tell them where they could shove their orders to get them coffee or in one person’s case, a tissue to wipe their nose.
He was the bodyguard not the tissue guy.
Sondra could be absent-minded and slightly self-absorbed, but she treated him like a person.
Of course she annoyed him sometimes.
Everyone annoyed him. He was easily pissed off.
Like when she kept getting Devi’s name wrong. He knew Sondra didn’t mean to be rude. She just didn’t think it was an important fact to retain.
He got that.
But for some reason it had still annoyed him and he wasn’t certain why. There was no reason for him to care if she remembered her server’s name. Even though that same girl served them every morning.
There was something about Devi that made him take notice. It was ridiculous. He’d never see her again after this job ended.
God, he was ready for that, to return home.
Well, not home.
To his cabin on Sanctuary Ranch. That was the other reason he’d taken this job. Because it came with accommodation. He liked living in peace and quiet. But he couldn’t go to his own cabin in the woods.
There were too many memories there.
At Sanctuary Ranch he didn’t have to deal with anyone when he wasn’t working. He could just stay in his cabin and . . . wait to die.
Fuck.
May would be fucking ashamed of him but he didn’t care.
He missed her.
Yeah? So why haven’t you been thinking of her much lately? Why haven’t your dreams been filled with her?
Why did panic fill you as you watched that young girl fall over? As you saw her shoulders slump and tears drip down her face?
Fuck.
He had to get Devi out of his mind. He was in his forties and she had to be in her twenties, he was certain of it.
Yeah, he was way too old for her. Way too grouchy. Morbid. Dour. Negative.
And he was married.
Even though May had died several years ago, she was still his wife.
And he could never replace her.
What would May want?
He ignored that voice in his head trying to push him to move past the trauma of losing his wife . . . the voice that begged him at times to try and live.
He wasn’t interested.
Instead, he realized he needed to tune in to what Sondra and the other woman were saying.
The woman who kept sneaking him looks.
Hayes wasn’t an idiot. Women were drawn to him. He didn’t know what it was. Maybe his size. Or the fact that he showed no interest in them. It seemed to present some sort of challenge.
But he wasn’t a challenge. He simply wasn’t interested.
So he just stared at the woman impassively. “She needs to be in a room with only one entrance.”
“I, um, what?” the woman said, looking from him to Sondra.
Sondra smiled apologetically. “This is my bodyguard, Hayes. Alan has been getting these threats and for some reason he’s gone all paranoid and thinks the person threatening him could use me to get to him so he hired a security company.”
“Oh, he’s protecting you,” the other woman said with a sigh. “That’s so sweet and romantic. And a bodyguard, that’s so Hollywood.”
Sondra smiled tightly. “To be honest, it’s more inconvenient than anything. No offense, Hayes.”
He just shrugged. He got it. If he was Sondra, he’d find it annoying too. But he was here to protect her.
Although he wasn’t sure that he agreed that Alan was sweet and romantic. He seemed more paranoid and afraid.
“It’s also expensive. I don’t know how long we can afford to employ two bodyguards. So I better get all of my beauty treatments done before Alan decides to lock me away. For my own good.”
The other woman actually pressed her hands together and sighed. “So romantic.”
Dear God.
What was wrong with her? How was being locked away romantic?
“I don’t think so,” Sondra said with a laugh. “After a week, I’ll be ready to kill Alan. But, anyway, I need a secure room. It can only have one entrance so that Hayes can guard the door. Otherwise, he’ll be in there with us.”
“I don’t mind that,” the woman said, eyeing him hungrily.
“Well, I do,” Sondra said with a huff, frowning. “I would rather he didn’t see me getting my hoo-ha waxed.”
“Oh, um, yes, of course. What was I thinking?” The other woman laughed nervously. “Just let me get that room sorted.”
Sondra turned to Hayes after she’d left and rolled her eyes. “Sorry, I think all the spray tan has affected her brain.”
Hayes actually considered smiling at that. But decided it wasn’t worth the effort. He just grunted.
“You don’t like me much, do you?” Sondra asked.
He raised his eyebrows. “Not my job to like or dislike you.”
“Right, which is a diplomatic way of avoiding my question. Because you dislike me.”
Hayes sighed. This happened more than he would like. Where a client would get obsessed over whether he liked them or not. He didn’t know why they cared. He was no one. So what did it matter to them?
But in this case, he didn’t dislike Sondra. And there was something almost vulnerable in her face that had him wanting to put her at ease.
“I don’t dislike you.”
“Really? You never really talk to me. If I fell over in a café would you rush to help me up or leave me there?”
Huh?
What did Devi falling over have to do with anything?
“I’d rush over to help you up,” he said.
Sondra eyed him for a long moment then nodded.
“All right. I believe you. Sorry, you probably think I’m ridiculous.
I think I’m ridiculous.” She smiled tightly.
“The way you looked at that girl, though. You’re always so stoic and hard to read.
But for a moment, you softened. Have you met her before? ”
“Never met her in my life,” he said gruffly. “But she’s been serving us every day at the cafe this last week. And she fell over right in front of us. I was simply helping her up.”
“Hmm. Sure, of course.”
“Sondra, your room is ready,” the woman called out.
“Right. Thanks, Jen,” Sondra replied.
She waited for him to check the room and once he was satisfied, he stepped out.
He’d already been informed of this appointment and he knew that Kent had one of his guys do a background check on the people that worked here.
As long as he watched the door to the room, he was certain she’d be fine.
But he also told them both he wanted it kept slightly open.
Not enough to see in, but enough to hear if she called out.
Grabbing his phone, Hayes checked in with Donovan who was guarding Alan. The lawyer spent most of his time in his office and Donovan was bored out of his mind. Donovan would probably rather guard Sondra. At least her days were slightly more interesting.
And you get to see Devi each day.
Yeah, he needed to stop thinking about her. She was no one to him. Just a slightly clumsy, cute girl who was way too young.
And, more importantly, not his wife.
Donovan: Bored out of my fucking mind. This guy is extremely paranoid and jumpy. Where are you?
Hayes: The beauty salon.
Donovan: Lucky.
Hayes rolled his eyes; no doubt Donovan would have charmed all of the women in the salon by now. People liked Donovan more than him. Probably because he smiled. And didn’t grunt all the time.
Donovan: Already been to get your caffeine fix?
Hayes: Not my caffeine fix. Sondra is the one who wants to go there every day. You heard from Kent? We any closer to finding out who is threatening Alan?
Donovan: Talked to him earlier. Still no updates from the cops. You wanting to finish this job? Ready to go home?
Hayes: You saying you aren’t? Sondra is worried about the cost of keeping us here. She thinks the money will run out soon.
Donovan: Hmm. Interesting. From what I understand, their finances are in good shape.
Yeah, he’d wondered that too. Which made him consider if Sondra had just been saying that. Or if she had no idea about the state of their finances.
Maybe they had the sort of relationship where Alan was in charge of the money and she didn’t care. Or maybe she simply didn’t know because Alan kept it from her.
Donovan: Alan is getting increasingly agitated the longer this goes on without the cops being able to track the person sending him death threats.
Hayes: Can’t really blame him. Although so far it’s been a few notes. Nothing more.
Not that the notes weren’t enough. These threats could escalate. Although there had been no threats since he and Donovan arrived so Hayes guessed they’d caused the person behind them to hesitate.
He hoped at some stage they’d slip up so they could catch them.
Donovan: Liam and Chief have been looking through Alan’s old cases, searching for ones in the last few years where he’s lost trials and the client could be holding a grudge.
They’re hoping the cops have missed something.
Although I have my doubts the cops are really giving this their full attention.
Chief was what a number of the guys called Kent.
Hayes doubted the cops were giving it much attention either. Alan and Sondra lived in the small town of Angel, Colorado which was about an hour out of Denver. The police force here hadn’t seemed that fond of Alan. And Denver PD seemed to like him even less.
Alan was a successful defense attorney who’d helped a number of, likely guilty, clients walk free.
The police would be looking into these threats; they wouldn’t want to risk any complaints from Alan or his law firm.
However, it might get pushed to the backburner, given to more junior detectives to handle.
The fact that the person threatening him hadn’t moved onto anything violent .
. . yeah, it would make it less critical for the cops to investigate.
Hayes: Hopefully they find something. Soon.
Donovan: If you need a break I can take over watch tonight. There only needs to be one of us here if they are both home. The security system is tight.
That was true since JSI had put in the new security system. But where would he even go?
Hayes: I’ll think about it.