Page 108 of Tangled Like Us
“Was that Banks who texted you?” she wonders, taking interest in the team.
“Oscar,” I correct, just as my phone buzzes in my fist.
Male mid-40s or 50s, a beat-up sedan with a Florida license plate. He just stepped out of his car, and he’s wearing white sneakers and jeans and carrying a dozen red roses.– Oscar
He’s someone I remember scaring off outside the townhouse. But it’s clear he hasn’t taken multiple hints. I text back:he’s a familiar target and should be easy to tell off.
Jane rests her temple to the headboard, rotated more towards me. “What do you think of Oscar Oliveira?”
I glance at the window while my gaze tightens. Just thinking about all that I fucked to hell pulls out a caustic glare. And I’m not setting it onher.“You mean personally or professionally?”
“Both, but if you’d rather not share, I understand.”
I’d rather talk about Jane, about what’s wrong, but I can’t backtrack. Because backtracking means not answering her, and I hate that.
I lower my eyes, then lift them to Jane when they’re not lethal pinpoints. “Personally…Oscar and I aren’t on that great of footing.” My phone vibrates again. “Same with me and Donnelly. I punched their friend.” I check the message.
Copy. I’ll get Sneakers to leave the parking lot.– Oscar
“I haven’t noticed,” she says. “You all seem very cordial.”
“Because on a professional level, we’re all okay.”Oscar.I’ve known the thirty-one-year-old bodyguard since I first came into security. He’d already been protecting her family for a whole year prior, and he’s intelligent, reliable and thinks ahead before most bodyguards.
He’s also more professional in front of the families. Which I used to be.
Until now.
I fucked my client.
Should regret that—I don’t.
I push myself to add more while Jane is quiet. “Oscar isn’t someone I’d want to lose on the team. He’s one of the best we have.”
Her brows jump. “Who else would you consider the best?”
This isn’t ego-driven horseshit. When you’re in charge of a team, you better know what your men can and cannot do well. I wouldn’t put O’Malley, Kinney Hale’s bodyguard, behind the wheel in a fucking blizzard when I have guys who can drive ten times better under duress.
I look to Jane. “The top three most vital bodyguards are currently all in Omega.”
And I’m not naming my brother, even though I love Banks. Even though I believe he’s necessary and skilled in so many areas that I’m not—there are three men that he’d agree with me are irreplaceable.
So I say, “Akara, Oscar, and Farrow.”
Her lips part in a sudden, overwhelming realization. I understand why her eyes redden before she says the words. “They were all at the car crash.”
I nod and cross my arms over my bare chest.
By dumb luck, the three best men on the team had been on site at the wreck. Hell, Farrow had beeninthe wreck and came out with only a scratch.
Alpha, Epsilon, and Omega have talked about what that night would’ve looked like if one of those three weren’t on the scene, and we all know it would’ve been a different picture.
All of them had a hand in saving her family.
I explain one detail further to Jane. How security learned that Farrow asked Oscar for a needle decompression kit to help Maximoff. No one but Oscar would’ve known what Farrow was requesting, and time had been critical.
She takes a bigger breath. “I’m really grateful for all of you.”
“I wasn’t there—”
