Chapter 2
“Carson Payton Townsend!” Carson turned, half expecting to see his mother in his office instead of his good friend Sandy standing in the doorway with her fists planted on her hips and glaring daggers at him. He didn’t know what he’d done to earn her wrath.
“Hey, Sandy, what brings you over here?”
Carson had known Sandy for most of his life.
She was a few years younger than him. They had grown up in the same neighborhood back east. When he’d moved here after being discharged from the military, he’d seen her one day while he was out.
They had always gotten along well. They acted more like brother and sister than friends.
“I need to speak with you,” she said, stomping over to him.
Up close, he could see that she was livid. And her ire appeared to be directed at him like a tsunami ready to devastate everything in its wake. “Sure, we can go over here.” He guided her to the far corner near the kitchen breakroom area.
Their office was on the top floor of an old building.
It was an open area with seven desks for himself and his teammates on one side and the kitchen area and dining table on the other.
There was a bathroom in the corner and a large table they called the ‘war table’ that they used for planning their missions.
Though they had all been medically discharged from the military, Colonel Weber had assigned them to a secret group to help with black ops that weren’t always sanctioned. They didn’t exist. They were ghosts.
Sandy didn’t even know what he did. He’d only told her that he still did contract work for the military.
It was supposed to be a secret. Two of his teammates’ girlfriends knew—Luke, their team leader, and Barry.
Luke’s girlfriend had been rescued by Luke, and Barry’s girlfriend was ex-FBI; they had met while running an undercover op.
“What’s up?”
“Allie.”
“Am I supposed to know what that is?” She’d come storming in here to talk about an alley? That didn’t seem right.
“She,” Sandy’s voice cracked like a whip, “She is a person. The blind date from last night.” She gave him a ‘duh’ look.
The uptight chick that bailed. Yeah, he remembered, hard to forget someone leaving you in the middle of a date.
That had never happened before. Then again, she hadn’t seen him at his best. He’d been having problems with the case they were working on, and it took priority over a date with a woman who looked so uptight, a stiff wind would shatter her.
Definitely not his kind of woman. “Annie, yeah, what about her?”
Carson didn’t know how it was possible, but her glare turned even more thunderous.
Even his parents had never scolded him so harshly.
Why did she care so much? “Allie, her name is Allie, you insensitive jerk. How could you be so rude to her? Not only being late, but being on your phone the whole time and then calling her a stupid date. What is the matter with you?” She looked at him, appalled, as her voice kept rising until it was a bellow.
Everyone in the building could no doubt hear her.
“It was no offense to the girl. Work stuff took precedence.”
“You couldn’t spare her an hour?”
Allie had said the same thing. Neither of these women understood the pressures of his job. Time was always of the essence. An hour could be the difference between life and death. Not that he could tell Sandy that.
“Not at that time, no. I’m sorry if it seemed rude to her.”
“Seemed?” she screeched. “Seemed?”
“What is going on in here?” Luke asked, coming into the room. Jack and Rob were right behind him. Great, that’s all he needed was an audience for this conversation. He needed to get rid of the guys, otherwise he’d never hear the end of it.
“Nothing, Sandy and I are just having a discussion.”
Sandy snorted, folding her arms over her chest. “You really don’t care that you hurt Allie’s feelings? Are people’s feelings that trivial to you? What if someone had done that to me or your sister? Would it still seem insignificant?”
“What’s this now? Carson hurt someone?” Luke came further into the room, his eyes turning hard, ready to tear into him.
Carson glowered at Sandy, knowing she had phrased her words on purpose to get his teammates to turn against him.
“I didn’t hurt anyone. She’s the one who left.”
“Yes, after you couldn’t bother to be torn from your phone for more than a few seconds. Then when she left, she heard you say on your phone it was a stupid date.”
“Dude,”
“Aw, man,”
“Not cool.”
As predicted, his teammates turned on him. Thanks a lot, Sandy. “I was dealing with a case that was far more important than a date. And also, we had nothing in common, Sandy, so thank you for nothing.”
“Did you even give her a chance? Did you ask her anything about herself?”
He had to wrack his brain now. He’d been so preoccupied with the case and finding the shipment of weapons coming to Yurgio, he didn’t really remember anything about the date except coming back from his phone call and finding her gone.
A couple of bills on the table to pay for her portion of the meal.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Dude,” one of the guys chided again.
“Whether or not we had anything in common, she still wasn’t my type. She was uptight. It was like going out with my principal.”
“She had just gotten off of work and hadn’t had time to change.”
“You work in the same place, and I’ve never seen you dress like that.”
“I have for presentations, but she’s the executive director; she always has to dress like that.”
Carson’s eyes widened. “She’s the what?”
“The executive director,” Sandy repeated slowly then tilted her head to the side. “She didn’t tell you?”
Carson shook his head.
“She doesn’t like to brag about it. She was top of her class at college and got a job at our firm before even graduating. She’s the one who helped me get in.”
“I just assumed...” His words trailed off. There was no reason to finish that sentence because it was moot.
“That she was low on the totem pole like me?”
“No,” he quickly denied.
“Despite how she was dressed, Allie is a fun-loving adventurous girl. She’s more daredevil than I am.”
He had a hard time imagining Miss Prim and Proper having a good time. Even her hair was in a tight bun, like she was afraid to have a strand out of place.
Then again, he remembered her snide comments more than once. She did have a bit of a backbone, which he could appreciate even if she seemed mousey.
“That’s why I thought you two would get along.”
“Well, I appreciate the effort, but no more blind dates for me. At least not with mousey little women like her.” He would find a woman the old-fashioned way. He didn’t need friends setting him up.
“Well, if you’re just going to ignore them, I won’t suggest it,” she grumbled, still not looking any happier with him even after his explanation.
She sighed heavily. “Do you have any idea what it’s like for a woman going on a blind date?
Putting herself out there? Hell, even men get nervous I’m sure too.
And if you ever call her mousey again, I will beat you up like I did in sixth grade,” she warned, pointing her index finger at him. Her eyes narrowed into slits.
The guys burst out laughing. “You got beat up by a girl?”
“I thought we were never going to discuss that.” He looked at Sandy with complete and utter betrayal.
“It’s the least you deserve for hurting my friend’s feelings.
” Her arms folded back over her chest with a smug look on her face, as if she was already imagining trouncing him again.
Not that it would ever happen. He was taller and outweighed her.
She didn’t know any self-defense while he knew several moves.
But Carson knew it wasn’t an idle threat. He knew she would. Try at least. He was a lot bigger than he was back then and knew how to protect himself better now. Not that he would harm Sandy, but he would restrain her, so she didn’t harm him or herself.
“Well, Sandy, if she’s looking for a real man, you can send her my way. I won’t leave her feeling sad,” Jack remarked, stepping forward, giving her a wink.
“Hey, hands off,” Carson defended, though he had no claim to the woman. He had already forgotten about her. He couldn’t even remember her name, but for some reason, he didn’t like the idea of Jack dating her.
It was in the woman’s best interest, he reasoned. Jack was a hit-it-and-quit-it kind of guy. He didn’t do serious, and he was sure Miss High and Mighty was looking for Mr. Right and Mr. Forever. Jack was neither of those things.
“Why do you care, you ditched her?” Jack challenged him.
Carson ignored him and turned back to Sandy.
“You’re right, Sandy. I was rude to her, and I apologize.
” He should have handled last night’s dinner better.
Honestly, he should have cancelled, but by then it had been too late, and the date had already started.
It would have been a more dickish move calling the restaurant to tell her he wasn’t showing.
“It’s not me you should apologize to, but her, though I doubt she’ll be wanting to talk to you any time soon.”
That he could imagine. He hadn’t been at his best, and he couldn’t explain it to Sandy. If she knew about the shipping container of women, she would totally be on his side, just as the guys would be once he explained.
But he couldn’t tell Sandy the truth. She would just have to keep on believing he was an asshole and eventually stop trying to set him up.
Sandy had set him up a few times over the past few years.
All of them were boring and easily forgettable.
He was going to stop letting Sandy set him up. Each date got worse and worse.