Protector (Copper Mesa Eagles Book 3) (7 page)

Ellie scanned through it all again.

“BTVS, Dutch Antilles,” she said. She spun the screen so it faced Garrett. “Is that all right?”

He read slowly, the screen lighting his face.

“Yeah,” he finally said. “That’s it.”

Ellie felt deflated. She’d hoped for something big from this name, the name of the man who was chasing Garrett and his family, and instead there was nothing. No ‘aha!’ moment, just the two of them wondering,
who’s that
?

Quit it,
she thought.
This happens every day. Fucking Google it
.

* * *

Three hours later, Garrett stood, rubbed his eyes, and ran his hand through his hair.

“What time is it?” Ellie asked.

He looked at the microwave clock.

“Six fifteen,” he said. “You hungry?”

“I could eat,” Ellie said, then drew a finger slowly along the countertop.

“I need to go home at some point, too,” she said.

“No,” said Garrett, crouching in front of a cabinet, pulling a pot out.

“Excuse me?” Ellie said.

Garrett stood and put the pot on the counter.

“It’s dangerous,” he said. “Someone broke into your office. What if they break into your apartment?”

“I can take care of myself,” Ellie said, bristling a little. “There’s a gun in my purse
right now
. You may remember it from the time I pointed it at you this morning.”

“I promise I haven’t forgotten,” Garrett said. “But by now, they — this Boudreaux guy and whoever’s working with him — they know you’re here, which they’ve figured out means you haven’t stopped working on the Monson case.”

“I can’t stay
here
,” she said.

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” Garrett said. “It’s fine.”

“What about tomorrow?” Ellie said. “I don’t live here. I have a business to run, I have other clients, I don’t even have clean
clothes
.”

What have I gotten myself into?
she wondered.
Is it too late to just... back out?

She thought of the note in her desk drawer again, and the fury rose inside her again, hard and sharp.

I am not backing down
, she thought.
We’ll figure this out, and then life will go back to normal.

She looked at Garrett, filling the pot with water in his sink. Even though he was just wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, he looked
good
standing at his kitchen sink, the curves of his muscles just below the fabric. The way he had dimples when he smiled.

Maybe when this is over we can actually go on that dinner date
, she thought.

“Let’s take a break from this,” Garrett finally said, pouring salt into the water. “We’ll just have dinner and not think about all this for an hour, and then we’ll get back to it, fresh.”

He leaned against the counter across the kitchen from her and flashed his dimples again.

“You’re right,” Ellie said, and stood.

“You like pasta?” he asked.

“I do,” she said.

“Well, tonight you get the Garrett Monson Special,” he said. “Pasta, olive oil, garlic, and a bunch of whatever vegetables I’ve got in the fridge right now. And an egg on top, if I’ve got eggs.”

“If you gave it a French name you could sell it for sixteen dollars,” Ellie said.

Garrett laughed.

“Consider this a freebie, then,” he said. “I’m taking you to dinner, finally.”

“Hey, you’re still a client,” Ellie said. “I don’t fraternize with clients.”

“Oh, come on,” Garrett said. “You’re in my apartment. You saw my weird wall with red string.”

“You’re still paying me,” Ellie said.

“Okay, fine,” Garrett teased. “I’m just making you dinner, not
taking
you to dinner. That make it better?”

“More cooking, less talking,” Ellie teased back.

“I’m already barefoot in the kitchen,” Garrett said. “What more do you want?”

Ellie just laughed. She had to do
something
to cover up the wonderful, squishy way that Garrett made her feel inside.

* * *

When they were finished eating, she leaned back in her chair and pushed her plate away.

“That was actually really good,” she said.

“You doubted my cooking?” Garrett asked.

“Not
your
cooking, exactly,” Ellie said. “But you’re a bachelor who sublets apartments for a few months at a time, so I wasn’t super confident, either.”

“So you stereotyped me,” he said, putting his empty fork on his plate. “And look where it got you.”

Ellie rolled her eyes.

“Quit it,” she said. “I know plenty of guys who’re wonderful cooks. My brother makes the world’s best cupcakes, and my sister-in-law burns toast.”

“Older or younger?” Garrett asked.

“Older,” she said. “Just the two of us.”

Garrett nodded, and for a moment, his face went blank. Ellie screwed up her courage.

“Look, Garrett, I’m not sure it’s any of my business, but since this is specifically about your family...” she said, trailing off.

How the hell do I phrase this?
she thought.

“Why haven’t I talked to my brothers in years and years?” he asked, filling in the blanks for her.

“Right,” Ellie said.

Garrett took both the plates, stacked them, and pushed them away.

“There’s not a good reason,” he said. “Just a lot of little, stupid things, and they don’t add up to a real reason.”

He stared at the tabletop, tapped it once with his fingers.

“I always hated Obsidian,” he said. “God, I
hated
that place. It was in the middle of nowhere. Two hours from the closest grocery store, and it was beautiful, but when you’re a kid you don’t want scenery, you want something to
do
.”

“I felt that way about Grand Junction all the time, and we’ve got four grocery stores,” Ellie said.

“Ever since I could remember, I just wanted
out
,” he went on. “I got really good grades, I played football in school, and even as a freshman I started looking for scholarships, anything that would let me leave Obsidian. And then my parents died.”

“And you couldn’t leave anymore,” Ellie said.

“I mean, how could I?” Garrett asked. “Seth was just barely keeping everything together, working all the time, so as soon as I graduated I got a job working nights at the gas station outside town just so I could help. There weren’t a lot of cars, but I started writing down all the states they came from, and when it was two o’clock in the morning and there was nothing to do, I’d get out an atlas and make up road trips around the United States, looking at all those places the cars were from.”

Ellie felt a lump in her throat, and she squeezed her fingernails into her palm to keep herself from tearing up again.

“Even when I was home, Seth was always gone, and Zach was just... he was there, but he wasn’t, you know? We each dealt with shit differently. Seth became kind of a dick, and Zach just spaced out. I think he spent most of his time smoking pot on the roof or watching cartoons. So I decided I was going to leave,” Garrett said. “I saved up enough money for a car that wouldn’t crap out on me, and I told them I was taking a road trip for two weeks to clear my head. On the way out of town I stole the atlas from the gas station.”

He looked up at Ellie, his honey-colored eyes burning into hers.

“And you haven’t seen them since?” she asked.

“Nope,” he said. His hands were on the table in front of him as he held her gaze.

Ellie held her breath, and then, slowly, she put her hands on his.

“A couple years ago, there was a case in this small town in Montana,” she said, softly. “Someone tried to poison the town’s reservoir and kill
everyone
in this little town. If he’d gotten stronger poison, it would have worked, too. Just up and leaving isn’t that bad in the grand scheme.”

He frowned, then looked puzzled. Then he finally smiled.

“I think that was supposed to make me feel better,” he said.

“I didn’t really think it through before I said it out loud,” Ellie said, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. She held onto his hands anyway. “I meant, they’re still your brothers, and I’m sure they’ll take you back.”

“Thanks,” Garrett said. “That was more comforting than the attempted mass murder thing.”

He opened his hands a little and Ellie’s fingers slipped inside them, his palms warm and dry under her fingertips. Gently, his stroked his thumbs over the backs of her hands, and Ellie looked up at him, her heart beating faster.

This is not how you solve a crime
, she thought, the pads of Garrett’s thumbs tracing circles on her hands.

“What do we do now?” Garett murmured.

Ellie opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, a knock thundered through the apartment.

She nearly jumped out of her skin, yanking her hands out of Garrett’s. They both jerked their heads toward the door.

Garrett jumped out of his chair so fast he knocked it over backward.

“Stay here,” he growled at Ellie, disappearing into the living room.

She was out of her chair in seconds, following right after him. He scowled at her, then bent to look through the peephole in the apartment door.

“Cop,” he said.

Ellie stood on her toes and looked through the peephole. On the other side was a white man, hair graying, with a mustache and a blue uniform, the Grand Junction PD badge shiny on his crisp shirt.

 
“I don’t recognize him,” she whispered to Garrett.

“So?”

“So my dad’s the chief of police, and Grand Junction doesn’t have
that
many cops. It’s weird that I don’t recognize him.”

Garrett looked at her and touched the chain on the door, making sure it was locked in place.

“And there’s only one,” she said. “Cops usually come in pairs. Be careful. Don’t tell them I’m here.”

She jumped back as the man pounded on the door again, and Garrett reached for the knob.

“If he tries something, start yelling and recording him with your phone,” she hissed. “Whatever gets your neighbors to look out their doors and gets him to back off.”

Garrett nodded, then opened the door six inches, the furthest the chain would allow.

“Garrett Monson?” the man said.

Garrett didn’t respond. Standing behind the door, Ellie could see the muscles in his jaw flex.

“I’d like to come in and ask you a few questions about a robbery that happened last night,” the cop said. “Got a few minutes?”

“Got a warrant?” Garrett asked.

Silence.

“Son, I just want to ask a few questions,” the cop said.

“Could I see your ID?” Garrett asked.

“There are two ways to do this,” the man said, ignoring Garrett’s question. “The easy way is you just let me in, nice and easy, and we chat.”

“I said,
do you have a warrant?
” Garrett said, raising his voice.

“I can get one in twenty minutes,” the man said. “I’ve got the judge on speed dial.”

Ellie couldn’t see him, but she thought he was starting to sound uncertain.

“Then CALL THE JUDGE,” Garrett said. “I’ll still be here, waiting for you to VIOLATE MY CIVIL LIBERTIES AND ACCUSE ME OF A CRIME I DIDN’T COMMIT.”

“Calm down,” the guy said.

“I will NOT calm down,” Garrett said, starting to really get into it. “You can’t come here and threaten people in their homes! You can’t accuse innocent people! You can’t TRY TO ARREST ME for doing nothing! I have rights! They’re in the constitution, I’ve got constitutional rights!”

Ellie heard another hallway door open, and then another.

“Everything okay out here?” a woman’s voice said.

“Ma’am, please step back inside,” the cop said.

“He’s right, you know,” the woman said. “We’ve
all
got rights, and you jack-booted thugs can’t march in here and just
violate
us.”

“This is how the police state starts,” another voice said, this one older and male.

“Sir—“

“I will
not
go back into my apartment,” the man said.

“You tell him, Stuart,” the woman said.

Ellie raised her eyebrows and looked at Garrett, who sneaked a glance her way.

“Fine,” the cop finally growled. “I’m getting a warrant and coming back in twenty minutes, so you better be prepared, son,” he said, menace in his voice.

Then he walked away, down the hall. Garrett closed the door and raised his eyebrows at Ellie.

She shook her head.

“Not Grand Junction PD,” she said.

“We have to leave,” Garrett said. “They’re going to come back, and they’re not gonna be scared off by my neighbors.”

“Why don’t we go to the police?” Ellie asked, rubbing her temples. “The real police?”

“We’ve got nothing,” Garrett said.
 

“Someone busted up my office.”

“We can’t connect that to anything,” Garrett said.

He stepped toward her, his voice still low.

“We’re getting close,” he said.

We?
thought Ellie.
I’ve been involved with this for three days.

“I don’t know,” she said.

“They smashed up your office because I finally started asking the right questions,” he said.

Then his face went serious, and he put his hands on her shoulders.

“Ellie, if you want out, you can go,” he said. “This isn’t your fight, it’s mine, and I never meant to involve you in it like this. I’ll pay you for your time and you’ll never have to see me again.”

Ellie’s stomach flipped over at that thought.

But I like seeing you
, she thought, biting her lip.
 

The image of her broken office flashed through her mind, the note left in her desk drawer.

“Hell no,” she said. “
They
got me involved when they thought they could scare me.”

Garrett looked down at her, his golden eyes intense. Ellie’s breath caught in her throat.

Kiss me
, she thought.
 

Her whole body felt like a guitar string, taut and vibrating.

Just kiss me
.

She took a deep breath, and suddenly, she snapped back to reality, stepping back. Garrett’s hands fell to his sides.