Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Maverick
Four fucking days.
That's how long my team had been watching Jo, and for all four of those days, she had been giving them nothing but attitude. I swear the woman was going to be the death of me.
I couldn't take it any longer. No matter how much I wanted to avoid her, she wasn't going to make it easy.
I cursed under my breath as I opened the door of the Crazy Fox Diner and stepped inside.
"Nope." Jo caught my attention immediately and stormed over. "You turn your ass back around and leave the way you came in."
Several tables around looked over to see what all the commotion was about.
"Unless you want me to make a scene in front of all these people, I suggest you step outside with me," I told her in a low voice.
Jo must've known I meant it because instead of arguing with me, she hissed back, "Meet me behind the kitchen in two minutes."
I walked right back out of the diner with a smile on my face and made my way around the back of the building.
A small part of me expected Jo to stand me up, but she proved how smart she was when exactly two minutes on the dot she walked out of the kitchen door.
"What do you want?" She crossed her arms over her chest and pushed her boobs up so they were front and center. I had to tear my eyes away from them so I could focus on her face.
"Why are you giving my guys a hard time?"
"Seriously?" She dropped her arms and placed her hands on her hips. "After nearly eight months of knowing me, you're going to ask that?"
"They are just there to protect you."
"Well, newsflash. I don't want their protection or yours for that matter. We had our fun, but now it's over. I never should've let it go on as long as I did."
I was losing the little patience I had left. "Are you kidding me right now? This isn't about us. This is about your safety when there's an unknown person out to get you."
Jo had the nerve to roll her eyes, and I wanted nothing more than to punish her for her defiance. If it were a month ago, I absolutely would've done exactly that.
"So you guys like to remind me but let me remind you of something. I can handle myself. I don't need or want your protection. I want to go on with my life like nothing ever happened."
Ouch. I didn't particularly want the memory of her either, but I wasn't about to be as nonchalant as she was.
"But it did happen and now you have someone after you."
Jo threw her hands out to the side. "I don't see anyone making any threats."
If she didn't knock her shit off and start caring more about her own safety, I was going to be the one making threats.
"Haven't you learned anything from the other women in this town?"
"Oh, please." Jo rolled her eyes again. "The only thing I learned was they were stupid enough to settle down with the lot of you. You guys bring your own brand of trouble."
That wasn't true in the slightest. Los Cangris had nothing to do with us. We were just the unfortunate bystander.
"Why are you being so difficult?"
"Do you remember when I told you no man was ever going to tell me what to do?"
I nodded my head because it was one of the first things she made very clear when we started this thing between us.
"You guys are trying to tell me what to do, and I won't stand for it."
I realized in that moment that I wasn't going to change her mind. Which meant the guys were going to have to get creative in the way they protected her.
"What happened to make you like this?"
A look that could only be described as pure hatred crossed Jo's features. "That's none of your damn business. Now leave me alone or I'm going to tell the sheriff that you're harassing me."
I doubted she was going to do that because then she would have to explain our situation, and I knew she never would.
But I did drop it for now and let her walk back into the kitchen without arguing with her further.
I made my way back to the security office and smiled at Annalee as I walked in.
"How did you make out?" Annalee asked.
I had told her where I was headed, so it was no surprise that she asked. "Not well. She's still being stubborn."
"Maybe it would help if one of us spoke to her. I'm sure Vanessa would be more than happy to do so."
I didn't have to think about it to know the answer to that one. "I doubt that would help. She seems awfully confident she can protect herself should the need arise."
"Do you think she can?"
How did I explain that without giving away what the two of us had been doing since before I showed up to town?
"I'm not sure, but I'll make sure to find out."
I already knew the answer. Despite Jo and I having a sex-only relationship, one of the things I had quickly learned was that Jo didn't like to be defenseless.
She could shoot a gun and had taken self-defense classes for years.
I guess that should've been a sign that something happened to her early in her life, but I never asked because a huge part of me knew she wouldn't answer and would potentially stop showing up.
As much as I hated to admit it even to myself, I was addicted to Jo and the sex we had. I looked forward to when she popped up on my porch, demanding orgasms from me, and I always waited impatiently for the next hit.
I was an addict, and Jo was my drug of choice.
I made my way through the glass door and into the back of the building where I found my team sitting around the table. "I'm guessing you heard what I said to Annalee?"
The cool thing about our security office was the fact that those in the back could see and hear what went on in the reception area, but those out there never knew it. To them it just looked like a wall of glass.
"Yup!" Nolen looked up. "So what's the plan?"
That was a good question.
I sighed. "We figure out a way to watch her without her knowing it. I'm open to ideas if anyone has any."
"Do we know if she has a security system?" Owen looked to Nolen for the answer.
I knew the answer, but I couldn't let on that I did.
"No, she doesn't. I've told her she should several times, but she wouldn't listen to me."
No, she wouldn't listen to Nolen. She wouldn't even listen to me, and I had a better connection with her than most.
"However, her neighbor across the street does." Nolen looked up from his computer with a smile.
"Can we see her house?"
Excitement coursed through my system until I realized that meant the guys could go back and see I had stopped by her house. I pushed away the thought. There was no reason for Nolen to do that.
"We can. The front door at least."
That was better than nothing.
"Okay, so we at least have part of the house covered. We can find a way to also sit on her house when she's sleeping so she doesn't know. That just leaves the diner," I reminded them.
"Pretty sure we all rotate in there to eat anyway. We just have to be more strategic about it."
"Okay, good, but we can't slack on the other women. If this really is Los Cangris then we have more than one person in danger. If the need arises, I'll ask Wes for his help again."
I didn't have a problem asking for help when it was needed and I knew Wes would be more than happy to offer it if need be. In fact, I was going to call him now because I had a good idea I knew how to make this work.
"I'm headed to my office. I need some privacy."
I rarely asked for it, so the guys were happy to nod their head in agreement.
I waited until I was behind my office door and had it locked before I took out my phone and called a familiar number.
"Hey, Maverick. What can I do for you?"
Leave it to Wes to get right down to things.
"I need a favor, and it's kinda a big ask."
"You know if I can do it, I will. What do you need?"
I took a deep breath and hoped like hell I wasn't ruining a friendship. "I may need use of Ghost."
No one knew about Wes' secret team. Not even the guys and gals who worked for him knew they existed.
The only reason I did was because back before I had started the current security business I had, Wes advised me to have a backup plan in place in case things went to shit. Now I wished I had listened to him.
"That's more than a favor, Maverick."
"I know it is. That's why I said I may need them. I'm still trying to hold down the fort here, but it's a little tricky."
"What's tricky about it?"
I contemplated giving him the no-comment answer I would've given the rest of the guys, but I thought better of it. If I wanted him to trust me with his secret, then I needed to give a little of my own.
"Since before I showed up in town, I've been having this complicated relationship with someone in town."
"Define complicated?"
"As in she didn't want anyone to know about it, and there were lots of rules."
Too many rules if I was being honest, but like the simp I was, I followed every single one of them. Until recently at least.
I was shocked when Wes laughed. "Doesn't sound too different from the way Jennie and I started."
"Wait, really?"
Wes never talked to me about his relationship with his wife, and I never thought to ask. I just knew that they met because of his work.
"Yup. We both kept it a secret as long as we could, but life had a way of changing that."
I knew exactly what he meant.
"Well, I'm in the same boat, and now her life is possibly in danger, but she refuses protection from my team."
"So you figured Ghost would be better suited."
"Yeah, kinda. Like I said before, nothing is set in stone. I'm going to try to have my team do it without her noticing."
"Well, if that doesn't work out, then let me know. I'll see what I can do, but you know they operate on their own and don't like being told what to do."
That made me laugh. "Sounds like the woman in my life."
"The similarities are more than you realize," Wes cryptically said before hanging up, and I was left to wonder what he meant by that.