Chapter 14
Killian
I stare up at the main house, watching the light finally flicker out in the master bedroom upstairs. I can still taste Celani’s lips on mine, and feel her soft body pressed against me, and it’s making me feel more alive than I have in years.
Despite Pierce being his usual asshole self and dismissing me like an unwanted house vermin, I struggled leaving her tonight.
I wanted to take her upstairs and tuck her gently into bed. Stand guard over her and make sure that not even a bad dream threatened to disturb her peace.
I finally leave my spot in front of the guest house and go to join my team at the dining table. Floyd and Asher made a big pot of chili, so we all settle down to eat it together. All throughout dinner I notice Asher studying me out of the corner of my eye, but I ignore him.
I’m in a good mood tonight.
For once.
But after we finish eating, he corners me in the back hallway, never able to hold his tongue for long.
“What the hell is going on with you?” He grumbles, leaning against the doorframe.
I unbutton my shirt. “Nothing,” I respond, tossing my shirt into the hamper.
I avoid his narrowed eyes knowing that years of close friendship, and his keen discernment have probably already screwed me. I hear a noise and Malakai appears in the doorway behind Asher, giving me the same concerned look.
Fucking fantastic.
I knew I shouldn’t have cracked that smile at dinner while I was thinking about Celani.
Asher steps inside uninvited and continues his interrogation.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” he prods.
I continue with my nightly tasks, ignoring his questions and judgmental tone.
“Celani?” Malakai asks, trying to catch up. Asher nods, and they both turn to look at me as I slip on a t-shirt.
“I’ve never seen him so infatuated with anything besides work or a new gun,” Asher adds, sounding stupefied.
I fold my arms over my chest and look between the two of them. This wasn’t something I felt like sharing, but now that I know my feelings are only growing I obviously can’t hide it all anymore.
“He doesn’t deserve her,” I state plainly.
Asher scoffs, “Pierce? Well no shit. But do you really think that you’d be a better fit for her, Mr. ‘I only snuggle my Glock at night’?”
I shake my head at his attempt at humor.
As much as I respect their opinions, they aren’t going to change my mind about all of this.
I know the risks and how unprofessional this all is, but the growing affection I feel for Celani can’t be shoved down into a carefully sealed box anymore.
Not now that I’ve seen, and felt, that she wants me too.
Malakai shifts uneasily on his feet by the door and I notice the tense expression on his face.
“What is it?” I demand.
Malakai shoves his hands into his pockets looking me in the eyes. “Just be careful with her, Kill,” he warns. “Something is up with Crowell. He’s been acting strange lately.”
I drop my arms and walk closer to him. “What do you mean ‘strange’?” I ask, my mind jumping back into business mode immediately.
He cocks his head. “Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but that meeting he had that kept him out later the other night? It wasn’t at his office. We drove to some building uptown that I’d never taken him to before,” he explains.
“It all seemed normal until he made me wait outside for him. I stood and waited thinking at catch a glimpse of who he was meeting with, but no one else came into the building or left. Then when he got back in the SUV, it seemed like..I don’t know, almost like he was nervous. He wanted to leave immediately.”
He continues on, shaking his head. “Then this morning he got a phone call while I was driving him to work and made me pull over so he could get out of the car and answer it out on a sidewalk. When I went to get out of the car he said he needed ‘privacy’. He’s never given a shit about talking about anything in front of me before.
I mean he knows we all signed confidentiality agreements on that kind of thing when we took this job. ”
I rub the stubble on my chin absorbing the information and trying to sort it all out. Then I remember something else.
“He sent Celani an odd message this morning too,” I murmur, recalling how puzzled she was. “He told her not to go anywhere without me all of a sudden as if she had tried to before. She was really confused by it. Said he’d never sent anything like that to her before.”
Malakai frowns and Asher gives me a knowing look.
“There’s something going on that he’s not telling us,” I say, beginning to pace the room. “There hasn’t been any new threats that we know of, and now he’s acting like there’s some sense of urgency for Celani to stay with a guard, and doing shifty things around you, Malakai.”
“I knew there was more to him than being worried he’d be the next CEO to get popped,” Asher says irritably.
Malakai nods. “So why does he really want so much security if he’s not under any kind of immediate threat? If it’s not just paranoia like we originally thought?”
His words send a new thought flashing through my mind.
“There’s no immediate threat that we know about,” I say, unease settling in my chest. “Maybe he knows something else that has him and Celani in danger.”
Asher nods slowly as if things have become clear to him too.
Malakai’s jaw tenses. “So what do you want to do to see if our suspicions are right?” he asks.
I take out my phone heading into the hallway and they both follow behind me.
“I need to go next door to talk to Davi and see if we can do more in depth digging around Crowell. All of the background checks I’ve done, and looking at his associates showed no red flags.
But there’s got to be something we are missing,” I say, making my way to the front door.
“Whatever it is he doesn’t want us to know, we need to find out about it ASAP. ”