Chapter 2 #2
The camera lingered on the actors, their lips pressed together and tongues tangling.
Heat crept into her cheeks, though she couldn’t say why.
She’d watched plenty of movies just like this—worse, even—with the guys over the years.
It hadn’t bothered her then, but sitting here with Grant, it felt strangely intimate.
Maybe because it stirred up all sorts of ridiculous thoughts she had no business entertaining. Was he dating someone? She hadn’t even thought to ask.
Just as she worked up the nerve to ask Grant if he had a girlfriend, her phone chimed from where she’d left it on the kitchen counter. She trashed her empty takeout box and picked up her phone to see the dreaded Unknown Number .
◆◆◆
“Ugh,” Everly groaned from behind him. Grant turned to see her leaning with her elbows propped on the counter, the light of her phone screen illuminating the frown on her face.
“Everything okay over there?” he called from his spot on the couch.
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” Everly tossed her phone onto the counter and propped her chin in her hand.
“I keep getting weird, vague texts and calls from this company—I assume it’s a loan agency.
They will not leave me alone and keep saying that I owe them something.
That there’s ‘missing paperwork,’ whatever that means.
” She sighed and picked up her phone again.
“But I never took out any kind of loan. I barely even use my credit card. And they call from a different number every time, which makes it impossible to block them. Even though I keep trying.”
Grant frowned and crossed the room to join her.
“Can I see?” She handed him the phone, and he read the text out loud.
“ You have 24 hours to make the exchange. We will be forced to take action if the debt is not repaid.” He glanced at her.
“That doesn’t sound like a typical debt collection message.
Have you saved any of the other texts they’ve sent you? ”
“I deleted them, but I can restore them,” she said.
Grant passed the phone to her and she tapped on a couple of menus, then returned it to him.
He scrolled through the list of texts, all variations of the same message.
“I’ve also got a few letters that I haven’t thrown away yet.
Something to show the legal office, since it’s got to be related to Jeremy.
” She thumbed through a thick stack of paperwork on the kitchen table.
“If I ever remember to make an appointment,” she mumbled, pulling out a small stack of letters and placing them on the counter.
He flipped through them, skimming the contents of each one.
They echoed the tone of the texts. Your outstanding debt remains unsettled…
you have not fulfilled the agreed-upon terms …
failure to do so will result in escalated action.
No contact information, just ‘DropKom’ emblazoned across the top.
A sense of unease prickled in the back of his mind.
“I don’t like this, Ev. How long has this been going on? ”
She swallowed. “Um. Since about a month after Jeremy died. Lots of companies bothered me at first, so I didn’t think much of it.
He had credit cards and stuff that I didn’t even know about, and my name wasn’t attached to any of it.
But all I had to do was send a copy of the—the death certificate, and they let it go.
This place is the only one that keeps harassing me. ”
“I don’t think they’re going to let this go.” He glanced at the calendar on the fridge, calculating how many hours of leave he could take on short notice. “Do you need someone to go with you to legal? I could hang around till Monday. Call Taylor and let him know I need an extra day—”
“No, no, I’ll do it. I’ll do it first thing Monday. Don’t worry about staying longer. Not that you’re unwelcome here,” she stammered. A blush crept over her cheeks. “I’m making a mess of this. I shouldn’t have ignored this for so long.”
“We’ll get it figured out.” Grant helped himself to another beer from the fridge and handed one to Everly.
“Let’s Google the company name on that letterhead and see if it leads anywhere.
” He pulled his own phone out and began typing.
Everly peeked over his shoulder, her long hair brushing against his arm and surrounding him with the candy-sweet smell of her shampoo.
He wanted to reach out and rub the silken strands between his fingers, then pull her to him and kiss the frown off her mouth, but he forced himself to shift away and put space between them.
Whatever his feelings were, Everly was decidedly off-limits.
“I tried searching for a website when I first started getting the messages, but I wasn’t able to find much,” she told him. “Which is part of the reason I’ve just assumed it’s a scam. What kind of legit loan place doesn’t have a website?”
“No kidding. There’s not much here at all,” he murmured. He scrolled a little more, then tapped on his messages. “I’m sending all of this to Lawson. If anyone can track these bastards down, it’s him. Can you screenshot that list of blocked numbers and send it to me? Do you still have my number?”
“Yes. Good idea.” Her fingers flew over her phone screen, and he forwarded the screenshots to Evan. Can you look into these numbers for me? Let me know if any of them show anything unusual?
Lawson’s response came moments later. You got it. Damn, he loved these guys. He’d explain more of the situation later after Evan had worked his tech magic to see if the numbers provided any clues. But for now, it was good enough to know that the team had his back no matter what.
Grant finished texting and pocketed his phone. “Evan is on it now. He’ll let me know as soon as he hears anything.”
“Thank you,” Everly said. She cocked her head. “His name doesn’t sound familiar. Is he a new arrival?”
“Yeah. Evan Lawson.” Grant cleared his throat. “He’s, uh…he’s Jeremy’s replacement.”
“Oh. A computer guy, huh?” She gave him a wan smile and headed back to the couch.
Grant trailed behind her, fumbling for the right words to say. “Evan’s great, but Jeremy will never be replaced. We still talk about him all the time. We all miss him. I just want you to know that.”
Everly flopped down on the couch with a heavy sigh. “Of course you guys had to replace him. I get it. Life goes on. Deployments don’t stop.” She sipped from her beer and fixed him with a steely look. “I’m not mad or upset. Promise.”
He had his doubts, especially after her reaction to seeing Jeremy’s ring. She’d practically run upstairs and definitely looked like she’d been crying by the time she came back down. He still didn’t know why the hell Holland would have sent his ring to his wife. Their relationship was solid.
As far as you knew.
A niggling doubt that he didn’t want to examine too closely whispered softly in the back of his mind.
He ignored the small voice urging him to ask Everly why he’d mailed her his ring and tried to focus on the matter at hand.
Something else she’d said was gnawing at him.
“You said Jeremy had credit cards you didn’t know about? ” he asked.
“He did.” Everly leaned forward and put her forehead in her hands.
“They all had high balances, too,” she said to the floor.
“A couple of them were well into the tens of thousands. Fortunately none of the lenders gave me any trouble, like I said earlier. From what I saw of the charges, it was mostly stock market stuff. And porn. Lots of porn.” She sat back up and met Grant’s gaze.
“You know how he was. Always convinced he’d found the right trick for making quick money in the stock market.
He’d borrowed huge amounts of money to sink into day trading.
All of it was lost. It was like gambling, but he was always convinced that the big payday was just around the corner. ”
“Yeah. I remember.” Grant studied the amber bottle in his hands for a moment. “Did he have other debts besides the credit cards? Any bank loans?”
Everly shook her head. “No. Just the cards, thankfully. That was enough of a surprise.” She sighed.
“I know it sounds unbelievable that he could be in so much debt without me knowing. But I really didn’t talk to him about his investments.
He was very defensive about them, and we had separate bank accounts.
I just never had any reason to go snooping. ”
“I believe you,” he said. He took a swig of beer and leaned back on the couch, processing everything she’d told him.
Jeremy had been his closest friend, but even best friends didn’t share everything.
And whatever might have been going on between Jeremy and his wife, whatever secret investments and projects he’d had up his sleeve—it was none of his business.
Not anymore. He would help Everly figure out this weird debt collector shit, and then it was back to real life. Back to STAG.
His thoughts were interrupted as Everly yawned and stood, pressing her hands to the small of her back and arching her spine with a groan. Heat and blood surged low in his gut, the feeling so intense he had to look away.
“I’m exhausted. Posie and I are going to hit the hay.” She scooped the cat up and headed for the stairs. “See you in the morning, Grant.”
He watched her disappear up the stairs and then laid his head against the couch cushion, staring up at the ceiling and second-guessing this overnight stay.
He’d accepted her offer without much argument, thinking that spending more time with her would satisfy the part of him that had thought about her, missed her, since the funeral.
What a terrible idea that had been, since his body refused to get the memo that she was off-limits. Grant polished off the dregs of his beer and prepared himself for a sleepless night in the guest room. The sooner he put distance between himself and Everly Holland, the better.