Filed to story: Crushing on My Enemy Stepbrother
I growl softly, ‘yeah, I came up with a few names of people who have an issue with me. I told them about the s.hit show of a job we did for Howard LeGrange, I’m pretty sure he feels like I let him down, nearly cost him something irreplaceable.’
My brother and friend both give me sympathetic looks, they know I’ve beaten myself up over Aubrey LeGrange and the couple of times I’ve reached out to Howard have been met with silence. I did hear through acquaintances that Aubrey came through surgery well and is recovering, but there was damage to her spine, and they are unsure if she’ll ever walk again.
‘It wasn’t your fault Cale’ Gage sighs, ‘even with the best plans, things can go sideways, you know that. The guy had a distraction out the front to pull away some of the detail from his entry point and he paid off help inside. We vetted all the staff, thoroughly, we can’t check for pure greed though.’
I nod, I know he’s right, but it doesn’t make the guilt lessen, one of my charges got hurt on my watch, and it was pure dumb luck that the shot wasn’t fatal.
‘Do we really think LeGrange is the type to run a young girl off the road though?’ Gage continues, ‘he’s got money, but I don’t see him as a killer.’
I shrug, ‘people have been known to do dark things for the people they love’ I point out.
‘What about that guy’ Callan asks, brow furrowed as he thinks, ‘the one who got you thrown into jail.’
I don’t miss the smirk that crawls across my friend’s face at the reminder, but I tamp down on my annoyance, now is not the time to deal with my best friend’s immaturity.
‘True, he sure thought you were trying to take his girl’ Gage agrees.
I snort, ‘the man’s an idiot’ I grumble, ‘I was working out, I don’t even remember what she looks like and barely said five words to her.’
Callan lifts a shoulder as he pulls a face, ‘doesn’t matter to a guy like that’ he reasons, ‘and he sure has the temper to do something like this.’
I nod slowly, ‘but how did he get into the grounds’ I mutter, ‘whoever it was, how the hell did they get in here?’
That pulls both men up short, and we all look at each other wordlessly.
‘I’ll get a copy of the tapes from the security firm’ Gage mutters, pulling out his phone to start dialling.
‘Police have already requested them’ I grunt, the firm said it will take at least forty eight hours to pull the footage. Not sure what the hell we are paying for if they need that f*cking long to sort it out.’
‘Don’t know why we don’t offer this service ourselves’ Callan adds, ‘we work in security, why not branch out into home protection of the digital kind?’
I glance over at my best friend in surprise, agreeing with him and filing the idea away for later.
‘So, what’s the plan?’ Gage asks, repocketing his phone reluctantly, ‘do we think just shadowing Tessa is enough? What about you?’ he adds, looking at me pointedly, ‘You might be a grumpy b.astard but I don’t relish the thought of being a surviving twin. Call me selfish but I don’t want to bury your ass just yet.’
Under the snarky tone, I can feel the lace of worry and I give him a curt nod, ‘I’m not worried about me, that douche from the gym didn’t lay a damn hand on me, and Howard is all money and not muscle.’
‘And if he hires someone?’ Gage counters, raising an eyebrow.
I pull out the gun that I stowed in the back of my jeans when the cops arrived, ‘then I have backup’ I reply firmly.
My brother looks sceptical but nods, ‘you keep your damn phone on you at all times’ he orders, glaring at me, ‘I mean it Cale, if you go somewhere, your phone goes too. I don’t care if you are just popping into the restroom for a p.iss, you take your damn phone. Even if you can’t call for any reason, you can hit your emergency button which will ping me your location.’
I hold his gaze as I agree, ”ll never be without it’ I promise.
The two men take a seat at the bar with me, and we start to plan just how we can keep Tessa safe.
Hours pass and the sun is already streaming through the window by the time we straighten up, Callan wincing as he back cracks from remaining hunched over for so long as we pored over a map on my phone.
‘You need to ask her if she’s OK with this’ Gage tells me, ‘don’t go up there and just tell her that she’s going, she’s right, she needs to be involved in her own safety.’
I nod, yeah, I know I screwed up, I didn’t even think, I just did what I thought I needed too, and Tessa isn’t the kind of girl who wants or needs a guy making her decisions for her.
Callan pushes back his stool, standing up and coming around to clap me on the shoulder.
‘I wish you luck my friend’ he drawls, ‘may you tame the lioness upstairs and convince her that this plan is a good one.’
The two men say goodbye, filing back out of the house and to Callan’s car that they drove in together. I watch them from the front door, lifting my hand in a farewell before shutting the door again and locking it.
Heading back to the living room, I grab a dustpan and brush from the closet, pull on my father’s work boots that he stores there and sweep up the broken glass before pulling out my phone and checking the time.
Six am, late enough, I look up a glazier on the internet, picking one with a mobile number, and press to call. A grumpy tired voice answers, but the man on the other end cheers up immensely when I tell him I’ll happily pay triple his rate to get the window fixed today.
Next I log into my father’s computer, changing the code to the gate and the alarm before sending a copy of the new ones to both Callan, my father and Gage via our encrypted email. Sitting back in the chair, I briefly contemplate ringing my dad and letting him know what’s going on. Reluctantly, I dismiss the idea, there is nothing dad can do that I am not already doing, and I really don’t want to put more people in the way of whoever it is that is targeting me. My dad can handle himself, but if something happened to my new stepmom? Nope, she’s better off in the dark until I need to tell her.