Page 6 of Wounded Fox
Olivia was Maisie's niece, and after both of her parents died, she moved in with her aunt and Hendrix.
"Nah. I already took care of that. Wes was kind enough to lend one of his guys to be her bodyguard. She'll have constant protection whenever I'm not around."
Damn, I apparently missed a lot while I was busy watching Valerie, and then sparring with her.
"Do you think he can spare someone for my mother?" I turned back and asked Maverick.
"Wes has already promised that his teams are at our disposal for as long as we need. He's not happy about this situation any more than we are."
Of course he wouldn't be. Wes had been about to leave the Marines when he was called in to rescue us from our last op. It could've just as easily been his information that was leaked.
Then, like a bolt of lightning had struck me, a thought occurred to me, and before I could think better of it, I was spitting out another question. "What about Valerie?"
"What about her?" Maverick looked genuinely confused. He was probably the only one of my friends who didn't notice how much attention I paid to my old friend.
"Oh come on, Maverick. Don't tell me you don't know Aaron here practically stalks her?"
I turned my head slightly and shot daggers at the man who just moments before I considered my friend. Now I was thinking he was more like someone I wanted to punch in the face.
"Huh?"
"Yeah, boss? Did you really think we all moved here just because it was his hometown?" Nolen jumped in with his own jab.
"Who the hell is Valerie?"
Hendrix snickered but I looked at Maverick like he had a million heads. "The owner of Sophisticated Sheen. You know, one of the few shops on Main Street.”
Maverick didn't look the least bit amused by the conversation despite both Hendrix and Nolen laughing. "I know the shop but it's not exactly the kind of place I would bother to enter."
That was certainly true but it did beg the question, "I thought you made a habit of getting to know all the shop owners when we first moved here?"
My boss scrubbed at the beard along his jaw. "I did but now that I think about it, she went out of her way to avoid me. I didn't think much of it at the time but now it makes sense if she was trying to avoid you. What's the deal with you two?"
"Aaron fancies himself in love." Hendrix and his immature attitude drug out the last word. "But Valerie wants nothing to do with him."
"That's not true," I tried to defend myself. "She's just mad at me and I need to figure out why."
"Well, maybe you can figure it out while you keep her safe because if everyone in town knows how you feel about her, then there’s a good chance anyone watching us knows as well."
The thought of someone watching us no longer turned my stomach. Instead the prospect that I would get to spend more time with Valerie had me giddy like a teenage boy going through puberty.
CHAPTER FOUR
Valerie
"No! Fuck no!"
I glanced to the side at Ms. Daisy's sharp intake of breath and quickly apologized. "Excuse my language, Ms. Daisy." Then I turned my attention back to the reason I was cursing in the first place.
"You've gone and lost your mind if you think for even a second I'm going to go along with your plan."
"Valerie, this isn't about us, this is about your safety," Aaron pleaded. "We have reason to believe your life could be in danger."
I scoffed at the notion. Nothing exciting ever happened to me, unless you considered the evening of the speed dating. Otherwise I lived a very boring existence.
"No,yourlife could be in danger. From everything you just told me, it'syourinformation that was leaked, not mine. I have nothing to do with you."
And just saying that out loud caused a pain in my chest like I've never felt before. There was a time in my life when I thought I meant everything to him.
