The Long Way Home (Corps Security #6)(16)

She takes a huge gulp of air and drops the hands she had been fidgeting together in front of her to her sides. With one more hefty inhale, she blows the air out slowly, seemingly getting a decent hold over her nerves.

“Please, Drew.”

I have to hide the wince. I fucking hate when she calls me Drew.

“I can deal with a lot,” she continues. “I’ve lived a life that means I can handle it, whatever it is. What I can’t handle is this constant state of unknown. I’m a planner. I need to plan. It calms me. Please … I need to know what has you acting as a shadow whenever we step outside of my home.”

I open my mouth to answer but close it when I hear Riley’s voice coming from deep in the house, yelling in … no way … “She speaks Korean?”

Olivia rolls her eyes. “You’re silent for years. Coming into the shop without so much as a peep. Sprinkle in a few grunts and a handful of single-syllable words, but for the most part, you,” she huffs and pokes my chest, “are silent. Silent during this new development of you becoming my shadow to and from work. And that is what gets you to finally talk?”

I shrug. What can I really say that she will understand? The kid is cool. Try as I might to stay indifferent to her, she makes me feel like I’m back at home. Though, all those kids are a long way away from the little kid that Riley is. Regardless, she reminds me of this awesome little guy I knew in a different life. I often wonder how he is, how all of them are, but Riley’s made me miss that part of the old me a lot more than I ever have. No, that’s not right … Riley and Olivia have made me miss that part of my old life.

“She sings in Korean. Big difference.”

“Still speakin’ it.”

“Drew,” she softly complains, her temper showing. And I like it. I like it way too much.

“Dangerous city.” Even to my own ears, it sounds like bullshit.

“I’ve lived here my whole life. I know better than most how dangerous it can be. That being said, I also know how to be safe in this dangerous city. Try again, mister.”

Goddammit.

I should have just done this from a distance from the beginning. Had I not let my dick lead, she wouldn’t be any wiser. For Christ’s sake, she wouldn’t even know she was being watched. I could have done all this while keeping a distance and jumping through the shadows. That’s not how it went, though, because just as she’s drawn me to her shop every day since she opened the doors, she drew me in when I meant to just watch her. There was no other option. I needed to be right where I was with a force driving me that I still couldn’t understand.

I shrug, not knowing what to say. The thought of lying to her doesn’t sit right with me. However, I also can’t tell her what I’m doing. There aren’t rules to what I do, sure. The government didn’t help “kill” me just to put me under someone’s thumb to control. The only rule they have is to kill the threats using whatever means necessary without jeopardizing the public’s safety. Something I had started doing long before the day I was shot during an altercation not connected to my job for them. It came at the perfect time, too, because I had become reckless with my life. My face—the one I had then—was known by way too many people. The kind of people who would love to use the people I loved against me. My death meant they would never be used as a pawn against me. They would forever be safe with my death. Those people who would have used them had nothing to gain from it without me alive. Age helped, but I’m no longer that carefree and jovial boy next door.

That is, until Riley’s infectious happiness started cracking at my walls. Letting Olivia’s light just burst inside.

So I could tell her the truth if I knew she was someone who would be in my life for good, but I won’t. Something tells me that she will be long gone when she finds out about the threat she doesn’t even know is coming.

It’s my job not only to take that piece of shit out but also to make sure he doesn’t touch this life Olivia and Riley have built together.

“I’m going to need more than that, Drew. I’m starting to feel like I’m not safe. I don’t like that feeling.”

Her voice breaks through my turbulent thoughts, and I jerk my head back as if she’s struck me.

“Unsafe?”

“Oh yeah.”

“From me?” I question, pointing my finger at my chest.

She gives a giant huff, turning from where she had been standing in front of me—close enough that I could smell the scent of her floral perfume—and she starts pacing. It’s adorable. She’s a tiny little thing. Well under a foot shorter than me. Petite with just enough curves. Every time she turns to stomp back in the other direction, that shiny brown hair spins around with her and fans around her shoulders, landing to rest just above her tits. For such a small girl, she’s got a good solid handful.

I feel myself stir and bring my attention back to her face and away from her sexy body. Not the time to get hard. Not the time at all.

“You come in to Olde Mug. Every single day for years, Drew. You never so much as give me a clue that you notice me for anyone other than your barista. A grunted thanks, or at least I think it’s thanks that you would say. Sometimes you won’t even look me in the eyes. No, scratch that … almost every time. Your friends, now I could make sense of it a little more if those guys started standing outside my business and home every day. They engage in conversation. They even reciprocate that conversation, so it’s not like I would be shocked. But you? You are just as silent as usual. Acting like we’re walking through an active war zone and not Boston. You’re that alert, Drew. So please, tell me what’s going on.”