Page 30 of Bodyguard Wolf Shifter
"It would be simple if everything was black and white. He didn't want to do it but there was a good reason behind everything. I shouldn't be here. We should be as far away from here as possible. Are you willing to listen or have you already made up your mind?" he asked pointedly with his hands in plain sight covered in black gloves to avoid leaving prints.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm still here. Go ahead and say whatever it is you came here to say. It's not going to make any difference." I tensed with every muscle ready to act.
"You're very stubborn. It's no wonder he likes you and can't stop thinking about you." He reached into his pocket to retrieve what turned out to be a black-matted flash drive.
"What's that?" I inquired with my hand inching toward the carved wooden box of knives.
"Take a look at it after I'm gone. It will explain everything. He will be gone by midnight tomorrow. This is where he will be. It's up to you whether you want to see him," he said before handing me a business card with an address written on the back.
"What do you expect me to do with this?" I asked with the card waving back and forth in front of his face.
"Personally, I don't care what you do, and it would be better for everybody to forget what you found out. Just take a look at the flash drive. His actions might've been deplorable in your eyes, but his motives were pure." He pointed a finger at the flash drive currently lying in the palm of my left hand.
"Did he kill Samuel?" I blurted out the question.
"You're going to have to ask him. I wasn't there. He says he didn't, and I believe him. He would never outright lie to me. He might keep things from me but that is a matter between the two of us." Luke folded his hands in front of his open brown bomber jacket.
There wasn't even a crease in his black pants. He did take pride in his appearance.
"Tell him to go to hell," I angrily spewed.
"I'm not going to be your messenger. You know where he's going to be for the next 12 hours. I've done my part. The rest is up to the two of you to figure out where to go from here." Luke nodded and walked out the door without any further discussion.
I began to hyperventilate. Being that close to something not human gave me the willies.
He sounded apologetic. He had reached out to me and not the other way around. He could've let it be.
My hand was halfway to the phone when I reconsidered. The flash drive burned a hole, metaphorically, in the palm of my hand. A big part of me wanted to wash my hands and move on.
My heart whispered and I was inclined to listen.
I held onto the flash drive and made my way to my office. The Tiffany lamp glowed underneath the green jade shade. It was a gift from Samuel, but I didn't have the heart to refuse his generosity of spirit.
It was nice to have something to remember him by.
It took a few moments for my computer to turn on. The light came on with my home page refreshed. Maybe it was better not to know. I couldn't seem to let it go when I was missing something crucial from the puzzle.
Luke had come all this way, and I didn't want it to be for nothing.
My hand touched the plastic of the mouse and moved the cursor to open the flash drive. A moment of hesitation came with a flash of his naked body. It rekindled the spark extinguished when I learned the truth.
I pressed two times and the flash drive revealed its contents.
I worried it would be something of a Trojan horse to lure me into a false sense of security. I quickly admonished myself and did a quick scan to make sure no surprises jumped out at me.
Photographs of a beautiful oasis unspoiled by mankind's need to develop came up on the screen.
A satellite image confirmed it was miles and miles of acres of large pine trees for as far as the eye could see. The beauty astonished me with its bright colors and dazzling display of wildflowers blooming in the fields.
It cost a small fortune but was reasonably priced considering its location.
A few graphs confirmed how close they were to making their dream a reality. A few letters confined into emails revealed there were several others depending on him.
They called him the alpha.
I leaned back against the chair with my hands over my head. The lumbar support cradled my spine. It came out of my own pockets. Jack had convinced me to buy it. No price tag could account for comfort.
I pulled myself closer to the desk.
