Chapter 9
Trevor
Ifelt like Maren might be softening to me—just a little—during the interviews. I was a little surprised when she actually showed up. Took it as a good sign. Thought maybe we might be finding our way toward a truce of sorts.
One that might result in finding my way under the cute little skirt she’s got on.
But then she stormed out, pissed off at me over something. And for the life of me, I can’t figure out what in the hell it is.
Maren snatches the pen from her desk like she thinks I’m going to try to steal it again. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” I study her face as she pretends to get to work, spine straight, chin lifted. I know what angry Maren looks like. I see it on a real regular fucking basis.
What I’m looking at now, isn’t angry Maren.
Is it possible I hurt her feelings somehow?
“Maren, can you—” Brooke comes out of her office, stopping short when she sees me. Her eyes move between Maren and me, like she’s assessing the situation.
And since I’d rather she not do that, I stand, smoothing the front of my jacket. “Maren forgot her pen in the conference room.”
I was hoping to find out what the fuck happened, but not if it results in Brooke getting suspicious there’s something going on between us. Explaining to my sister-in-law that her best friend and I fucked in her bathroom on her wedding day would probably make family dinner night awkward.
“Thank you for your help with the interviews. Let me know who you think would be the best fit for your former position.” I angle a brow when Maren’s narrowed eyes snap to my face. “Unless you didn’t like any of the applicants. In which case, I can arrange more interviews.”
“It seemed like you found someone perfect for the position.” Maren snaps the word out like an accusation.
Holy shit. Maybe they are.
If Brooke wasn’t watching our whole exchange, I’d dig deeper. See if I could pull a little more from the tiny woman glaring at me as hard as she ever has. But attempting to decipher if it’s jealousy making my little hellcat spit fire? That’s something I’d prefer to do without an audience.
Especially one that will immediately report to my brother.
Instead of prodding her until she snaps out the truth, I tuck my hand into a pocket, hoping I look more indifferent than I feel. “I think we can all agree that what I think isn’t always as correct as I wish it was.”
Maren’s brows pinch, like my response has thrown her off. Good. It’s time for her to see I’m not as big of an asshole as she’d like to think I am.
Not to her anyway.
I turn, leaving her staring at me in confusion so I can get back to my day.
And back to the privacy of my office so I can make sure her little home is still safe and sound.
I quickly check in with Ruth, making sure HR is working on the offers for everyone who came in today—including the blonde I believe may have been the reason for Maren’s abrupt departure.
I’m not hiring her to be a dick or to instigate Maren.
If she wasn’t a great prospective employee, I’d pass on her.
But this company always comes first. Before friends. Before relationships. Before me.
That handled, I shut myself in my office and pull up my current guilty pleasure, zooming in and out on the feeds displaying Maren’s trailer. I go through the recording, watching everything that’s happened since I last logged in.
The mail was delivered. The neighbor ordered food. Some guy walked his dog past.
I rest one finger on the screen of my phone, sliding it from one side to the other as I study him, frowning at the way he seems to look at Maren’s trailer the whole time he walks past.
All four times.
Don’t fucking like that. I especially don’t like that I can’t tell where he’s coming from. It’s got to be one of the other trailers, but with only two cameras, I can’t even come close to identifying which one.
I’m gonna need more cameras.
Closing out of the app, I leave my office, going straight to Walker’s wing of the building.
My plan to collect what I need and slide back out unnoticed crashes and burns the second I step through the door of the warehouse.
Not only is Walker standing just on the other side, but so is Tobias.
They’re having what looks like a relatively intense conversation that stops the second they see me.
Keeping my expression neutral, I join them, already running through any possible responses I could offer if my rendezvous with Maren has been discovered.
I wouldn’t be pissed if I found out one of my brothers used my bathroom for physical relations, but I live alone, so it would only be my space they tainted.
Tobias has been in love with Brooke for over a decade.
And while I’m sure he wouldn’t begrudge the sex part of the scenario, I can’t imagine he’d be thrilled I not only innocenced his wife’s bathroom, but also her best friend.
“Hey.” Toby tips his head at me in greeting. “Pierce just called. He managed to get us another opportunity to go through the files from when Aunt Donna died.”
I’m relieved it’s not me they were discussing, but I don’t love thinking about what happened to Aunt Donna. Or what happened to Toby and Walker the last time they tried to investigate it. “You haven’t told anyone else, have you?”
“No.” Toby shifts on his feet, taking a little of his weight off the leg damaged in the crash that happened on their last attempt to dig into the truth of the collision that killed Walker’s mom and one other person. “Only family.”
“That’s probably how we should keep things.” At the end of the day, my brothers and parents are the only people I know I can always count on. Always trust.
It’s why they will always come first.
“Do you have a time set up?” My schedule was packed before I decided to let the temp company go, and now that I have to fill all those recently vacated positions, I’ve got little to no wiggle room during the workday.
But some things are more important. “I’m happy to go with, if you want an extra set of eyes and hands.
” I know I wasn’t at the top of the list of best suited for the job last time—understandably, since I have absolutely no fucking patience—so I make a second offer. “Or I can send Ruth.”
She would actually be great for the fucking job. The woman is meticulous, careful, and doesn’t miss a damn thing.
I’m obviously not the only one with that opinion, because Walker and Toby look at each other. Walker purses his lips, tipping them into a considering line. “That might not be a bad idea.”
Toby chuckles. “It’s not a bad idea, but Tucker’s gonna lose his shit if he finds out we’re trying to take his beloved on a trip that resulted in both of us landing in the hospital last time.”
“He might have to fucking get over it.” Walker slowly smiles. “Especially if she wants to go. I guarantee you there’s no way he’s going to win that fight.”
Now I’m the one chuckling, because I know better than almost anyone what it’s like to go toe-to-toe with Ruth on a regular basis. The woman is nearly unbeatable. She’s smart, quick on her feet, and more than capable of holding her own ground. It’s fucking amazing.
She’s a whole lot like someone else I know.
“I think that’s actually a really good idea.” Walker dips his head at me in appreciation. “As long as you can survive a day without her.”
My ability to survive a day without Ruth here at the office is questionable at best, but I’m willing to try. Especially if it helps my cousin get closer to figuring out the mystery of what really happened to his mother all those years ago.
“I’ll be fine.” Fine is also relative, but I’m pretty sure everyone will survive.
Probably.
Toby looks me over. “Is there a reason you came over here? Do you need something?”
Technically, I do need something, but I don’t feel like explaining it to anyone right now. That includes myself.
“No. Just checking to see how things were going.” I look around the warehouse, making note of exactly where the items I need are so when I sneak back in later, I can easily retrieve them. “Everything going okay over here?”
Walker appears confused. “Of course everything is going okay over here. Do you think I can’t run my own division?”
Walker’s always been prickly. Leans toward my asshole tendencies more than any of my brothers ever could. On occasion, we feed off each other, making both of us even more dickish than normal. And I don’t have time for that today.
“I know damn well you can run your own division, prick.” I make another show of looking around the space. “I just know our switch from using the agency to hiring our own temporary workers could’ve left you in a tight spot.”
Walker shrugs. “My team can handle it for a short period of time.” Thankfully, he seems to be a little less offended now. “Have you found any good prospects?”
“Actually, yes.” I explain about the group I interviewed before lunch, telling him I intend to bring all of them on, and that most of them would be coming here.
Walker seems to be fine with my selections, and after making one more scan of the shelves containing the cameras I plan to collect, I make myself scarce.
When I get back to my office, Ruth is there with my lunch waiting on my desk, and I scarf it down, making a note that I’ll have to feed myself when she’s gone helping Walker investigate.
Actually, she’ll probably pre-order my food, so I’ll just have to figure out how to obtain it myself, and remember to eat it rather than letting it sit on my desk indefinitely.
I spend the rest of the afternoon in meetings and returning phone calls. By the time everyone else has gone home, I’m exhausted. But there’s still one more thing for me to do.
I attempt to casually wander my way back to the warehouse. Thankfully, this time my brothers aren’t guarding the entrance, and I’m able to get in and out quickly, logging everything I take out of the system so no one is the wiser that I’ve swiped it.
It’s a little early for me to leave, but everything seems to be relatively under control, so after packing up my newly acquired equipment, I make my way to the parking lot with a quick pitstop at the security desk to check in before leaving.
When I finally reach my car, I pile everything in the passenger seat, then make my way to Maren’s home.
The trailer park isn’t super far from McKinley Security Systems, and it doesn’t pass any easy places to grab something to eat, so by the time I’m parked in her vicinity, my stomach is growling.
I wonder if I could get Ruth to pack me a dinner too…
That might be asking a bit much. But I bet she would if I offered to pay her more. Or maybe if I offered to babysit Birdie so she and Tucker could have some time to themselves.
The twins are still a little small for me to feel confident taking care of on my own, but Birdie can talk a little.
And what she can’t say, she makes up for in adorable motions and grunts.
But I might have to change a diaper, and I’m not confident I wanna tackle one of those.
Especially one of Birdie’s. That kid’s shit stinks worse than anything I’ve ever encountered in my life.
Digging through the console, I manage to find a protein bar and wolf it down as I pull out my binoculars, peering across the distance to the trailer where Maren and her daughter live.
I wish I knew how old her little girl was.
But while I’m okay setting up surveillance at her home, digging through HR’s files to find who’s covered on her insurance feels like going a step too far.
I’m sure the court system would feel the same way.
Maren’s van isn’t parked outside, which has me frowning. She seems to be gone quite a bit in the evenings, and it feels like a lot to me. She works so hard during the day, shouldn’t she want to come home and relax in the evenings?
I watch for a few minutes, then start scouting out a location to mount my new camera equipment.
I currently have one side of her trailer and the road directly in front of it covered, but that leaves three full sides of her home unobserved, limiting my ability to see what’s happening around her.
If someone wanted to break in, they still have plenty of opportunities to do it unseen, and I don’t fucking like that.
I don’t like knowing Maren and her daughter could be there sleeping while some asshole comes through the window and I would never know it.
Which is why, once Maren and her daughter are home and the sun has long set, I creep out of my hiding spot.
After silently making sure all her doors are locked tight, I go to work.
Mounting cameras and their required solar power sources in areas they won’t be easily noticed isn’t a simple process.
I’m climbing around trees and hanging off rooflines, but—after borrowing a ladder from one of her neighbor’s sheds—I finally manage to get everything into place.
Back in my car where it’s hidden in the shadows of an overgrown tree at the edge of the property, I check my handy work.
But not a single one of the fucking cameras comes online.
Which is bullshit. They each have their own designated cellular service, so the problem isn’t their access to the internet.
No, it appears the problem is power. The last set of cameras I poached were sitting out in the daylight for a few hours before they went into place, and apparently that made all the difference.
So I’ll have to wait until the sun comes up before I can see what’s happening around Maren’s home from the comfort of mine.
Unless I want to attempt to hardwire them in…
No. That would be crazy. Someone would certainly notice if I cut their power so I didn’t electrocute myself in the process.
I grab my binoculars, frowning across the distance as I try to come up with a solution. It’s what I do all day long, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
And it isn’t. I know exactly how I can keep an eye on everything until the sun comes up.
I also know it’s going to be a long fucking night.