Page 21 of Unlocking Hope

“I know. Sorry. It’s hard not to think about it. What can I get you two?”

It looked like Cole wanted to say more, but Zoey could tell she wanted to drop the subject. “Hey, Amanda. I’m Zoey. I will have a jalapeño margarita if you can make it.”

She smiled warmly at Zoey and let out a relieved breath.

“I will have whatever’s on tap,” Cole ground out unhappily. He went to say more, but when he started to open his mouth again, Zoey squeezed his hand.

The waitress quickly left. Zoey knew there was more to Amanda’s story. The woman needed help, but Zoey could only imagine she wasn’t going to ask for it. She wanted to follow her and ask her what she could do, but Cole placed his hand on the small of her back and pushed her toward the table.

She smiled when they reached the edge of the table. Everyone stopped talking and looked at them. Her worry set back in. Starting the conversation always felt awkward, but when she got talking with someone, she could talk for hours.

“Hey, guys,” Cole said to his friends. “You know Ian and Bella. This is Jessica and Brock. She’s worried about meeting you, so be nice.”

Zoey could feel her face turn red. She hadn’t expected him to say that to Brock and Jessica.

“Hey, Zoey, it’s nice to meet you,” Brock said.

“It’s so nice to put a face with the name. I’ve heard such great things about both of you.”

Cole pulledout the chair across from Jessica. The woman smiled at her before saying hello. Her warm smile eased some of the butterflies in Zoey’s stomach. Cole settled into the seat next to her and rested his arm across the back of her chair.

“Everything will be fine,” he whispered in her ear.

Zoey couldn’t hold back the smile. Cole worried more about her than anyone else. She knew he wanted everyone to get along, but he told her he wanted her to have fun and not worry about what anyone thought. Sometimes that was easier said than done; little voices in her head sometimes made her second guess the things she said.

The waitress returned and placed the drinks around the table. Zoey took a sip of her margarita and enjoyed the heat from the jalapeño.

“How did you guys meet?” Jessica asked.

“I purchased a house off the auction block.” Cole took a sip of beer before he continued. “I went to take a look at the house, and when I went into the master bedroom, she shot at me.”

“Wow, you guys started out with a bang,” Brock said. “Sorry, couldn’t help the bad joke.” He laughed.

Cole let out a laugh and finished telling the story to Jessica and Brock about his uncle and his mother. He even told Brock about his brothers showing up. When he mentioned their names, the vein in the inside of his neck pulsed. He was still pissed at his brothers. Zoey wasn’t sure how she felt. They had gotten the bounty off her head, and no one had shot at her or come after her.

“Are you still having Brock monitor everything?” Brock asked.

Cole nodded. “Yeah, everything went away too easily. I kinda feel like the other shoe might drop, like everything is too good.” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in tighter.

Ian placed his beer on the table. “I still can’t believe your brothers pointed a gun at Zoey.”

Zoey was surprised by how angry Ian’s words came out, he was also mad she had a gun pointed at her. It had happened so many times in the past four months, she was more worried about something happening to Cole than to her.

“Yeah, I don’t know what I will do if I ever see either of those two men again,” Cole said. “You never point a gun at a woman. He could have explained they needed both drives. What they did was uncalled for.”

She knew one thing: no matter what they said, she wouldn’t have given up the thumb drive. They’d taken it the only way she would’ve given it up.

“You know if you need anything, the team would be here in a second,” Brock told him. “And if we are away, you know Ghostand his team is not far away. They would help. Don’t take this on your own. If something doesn’t feel right, follow your gut.”

Zoey was in awe of Cole’s friends. She didn’t know what to say. This wasn’t Cole’s issue as much as hers. She was the one to take the video and a copy of the dirty accounting books.

“If we need help, I will call, but you guys are still in the military. I’m not going to jeopardize your jobs,” Cole said. He held up his hand when Brock was about to say something. “I’m using Brock, and if I can’t handle what comes at us, I will call, but it will be bad if I call you in.”

Zoey stiffened. Jesus, he’d thought the threat wasn’t over either. She could tell Cole had been on edge, but not how much until then. She didn’t want to add to his stress, so she’d kept her feeling about the uneasiness in her stomach to herself.

Cole turned toward her, his pupils dilated. He looked tense and ready to attack. She worried that if someone did come after her again, Cole and his friends would get hurt because of her. Zoey didn’t know what to do, but she wanted to spend as much time with Cole as possible.

Just talking about the what-ifs, Zoey scanned the interior of the bar, although she wasn’t sure what for. Her training as an accountant hadn’t given her the ability to read a room. Over the last half hour, she had noticed Brock and Ian looking around the room. They had picked a table in the back corner, giving them a good view of the whole restaurant. She hadn’t realized that until right then. She thought back to the previous night, when Cole had asked the waitress to change their table to one in a back corner. “You guys pick tables to watch a room. Do you always do this?”

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