Page 81 of It's Going to Be a Chrome Christmas
“I get needing to feel alive.” Lee’s words brought Cayden back to the present. “Trust me when I say, I understand that feeling more than you can possibly believe.” For a moment, Cayden saw more raw emotion in the man’s brown gaze than he’d ever seen. But just like that, it was gone. Had that been pain? Fear? No, couldn’t have been. This was Lee. The man didn’t feel such human emotions. “But you can’t be so reckless. If not for yourself, then for her.”
Lee turned his back on Cayden so quickly, Cayden was amazed the former Marine didn’t get whiplash. “Are we all set for the heist?”
Cayden took a deep breath and pushed aside all thoughts of Trixie. “Yes. We’re hitting the garage next Thursday. Once Carver has the prototype, the auction will go live. I have no reason to believe he’ll have me bring the car anywhere else but to his warehouse. From what I’ve managed to figure out, he keeps the extra drug product there too.”
Trixie’s apology to the staff went over better than she’d anticipated. She honestly expected to need to do a bit moregroveling, but proving that her people were all good at heart, they forgave her without needing additional gifts or apologies.
Cayden’s impromptu visit the night before left her tired. It hurt to watch him leave again, but it was like their precious stolen hours had plugged the hole in her leaking heart. Trixie still missed him, still worried, but she felt more like herself than she had since his initial departure. She’d been prepared to face her employees that morning, but he’d given her the strength to do it fearlessly. He likely didn’t even realize how perfect his timing had been.
Geordi showed up at the shop a few days later. Apparently, he and Peggy had spent the weekend baking Christmas cookies, and Geordi wanted to share them with Trixie. Trixie had thought Geordi’s offer of the cookies to be so sweet, she gave him a kiss on his cheek as a thank-you. The adult child beamed at her before handing her his final gift: a single red rose.
Trixie took it with shaky hands. Was Geordi’s gift a coincidence or had Cayden somehow orchestrated this? A single red rose from Peggy’s garden had been Cayden’s traditional gift to her but… How could it have been from him? Geordi was too unreliable to keep a secret like seeing Cayden again. But…a red rose?
“Don’t you like it?” Geordi’s face fell when she didn’t take the offered flower from him right away.
Trixie quickly snapped herself back to the present and took the gift. “Thank you, Geordi. It’s beautiful.”
“I clipped the thorns for you,” he said proudly. “Just like I did before, so you don’t prick your fingers.”
Her eyes narrowed. Like he’d done before? For Cayden when the roses had been from him? She wanted to ask but Peggy was too close where she was speaking with Jeff for Trixie to interrogate Geordi, even stealthily.
“Thank you for the Christmas cookies, Geordi.” She reached into the tin and took one out without looking at what type it was. She bit into it, saying truthfully. “They’re really good.”
He beamed. “Thank you, Ms. Trixie!” He turned to go back towards Peggy and then paused. “He said you were too thin, and he’s right, Ms. Trixie. You need to eat more.”
Trixie’s jaw fell open, exposing the piece of half-chewed cookie in her mouth.
“You need to eat more, baby. You’re too thin.”It had been one of the last things Cayden had said to her before he’d left the other night. How the hell…?
Trixie wanted to go after Geordi, but he was already back with Peggy. Fuck. She couldn’t talk to him about Cayden now. How the hell had Cayden gotten Geordi to bring Trixie food?
Geordi was a safe intermediate because he’d been stopping by on and off with Peggy or Greg since Cayden’s departure, but Trixie worried that Geordi wouldn’t be able to keep from talking about speaking with Cayden.
It was risky, but she still had to say something. Everything could fall apart, and Geordi could get into serious trouble if the Wynns learned Geordi had been in contact with Cayden.
She grabbed his hand and pulled him back to the showroom counter. Geordi went easily, happy to follow her. She took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to word her warning so that Geordi understood but also didn’t think he was in trouble. “I really love the cookies, Geordi. Thank you. I’ll eat them all.” His grin was so wide and innocent, it made her struggle over what she had to say next. “Look, Geordi, when you said that he said I was too thin, did he tell you to be careful not to tell anyone you’ve spoken to him?”
Geordi’s glee dropped into confusion. “No. Why can’t I tell anyone I talked to Paul? I’m allowed to talk to Paul. Mrs. Wynn said so. She said that Paul is going to be working for the FBInow! Did you know that? That’s so cool! Paul says once he’s settled, I can come visit and I can come tour the building! I’d like that because I’ve always wanted to see the FBI building.” Suddenly he scowled. “Does that mean Paul will have a gun? I don’t like guns.”
Trixie stood there stunned during Geordi’s babble. She ignored everything he said after the namePaul. Paul the hacker. The nineteen-year-old parolee she’d sat across from at Sunday dinner seven months ago. The man would be free now, and hopefully living with his wife and daughter. Did Geordi say FBI? Wow, she wondered how Paul had pulled that one off.
Why would Paul tell Geordi she was looking thin? How the hell would he possibly know that? When was the last time he’d seen her?
Slowly, her eyes landed on the black spherical camera in the corner of the showroom behind Geordi. The lens seemed to be fixed on her, though she knew that was only her imagination.
Or was it?
L and S hadn’t figured out how Cayden had gotten past their system. Cayden wasn’t a hacker. He hated computers. His love was cars. The other day, he’d said he’d put the cameras on a four-hour loop. That would have taken time, but he’d been with her.
Son of a selfish bitch, that sly bastard! Cayden had somehow gotten Paul to hack into her security system. The job at the FBI. That had to be Lee’s doing. Paul was a hacker with a record. He couldn’t just fill out an application for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and expect anything more than laughter in return. But if he had a recommendation from a former Marine, from a current cop… Maybe. She didn’t know how that technically worked, but Paul would certainly have a better shot.
Cayden or Lee had been in contact with Paul, who had contacted Geordi, who had shown up today with cookies and a rose, thinking they were his own gifts to her when they were, infact, Cayden’s. She didn’t know if she wanted to kiss her man or kick him for this elaborate scheme.
She put the heel of her hand to her forehead. She was getting a headache.
Cayden jumped down. He landed with his knees bent, his fingers just barely brushing the floor of the garage to keep him balanced. With how fast his heart was racing, Cayden tried to keep his breath slow and steady. Thoughts of Trixie flashed before his eyes, but he pushed those away. He didnotneed that sort of distraction now. As much as the idea of Trixie calmed him, she also excited him beyond belief and he needed to concentrate on his task at hand.
This was it. Tonight, they would either have Carver or they wouldn’t.
