by Wylder Stone
“Ru,” James said, “she’s not a little one anymore. She, uh…you know. Had a…girl issue tonight.”
“Girl issue? What, like her nail broke?” Owen asked.
“No, like…growing up girl stuff.” James reeled his hand in front of him as if that would lead them to what he was eluding to.
Troy shook his head and furrowed his brow, tilting his chair to balance on the rear legs with his arms crossed. “Growing up? I don’t follow…”
Each of the brothers sat scratching their heads, trying to figure out what he could possibly be talking about and not saying.
“Like…shaving her legs or something? Girls do that,” Owen chided.
“I-I don’t know if she does that. Do you think she does? Is she old enough?” James hadn’t even thought of that. Why would he? There were some things he just didn’t need to know, and he was certain Genevieve took care of them.
“Are we seriously talking about this?” Jackson chimed in. “One of you is about to pop an ovary from thinking too hard over this. Just spit it out, James. Jesus!”
“She started her period,” James said louder than he intended.
“Oh, man,” Troy said, nodding behind James where Maddy Force stood after serving a round of dark brews, eyes wide with giddiness dancing in her expression.
“Shit. She’s going to want to talk about it. Look away, and maybe she won’t come over here,” James said, ducking his head.
Because Maddy was…Maddy, she did just as expected and practically leaped over tables of people to get to her boys.
Clapping her hands with joy, Maddy asked in what was a failed attempt at whispering, “Did I just hear you say…”
“Yes, Ma. You heard me right, and we aren’t talking about this. Genevieve handled it,” James scolded.
“Well, boy,” Maddy said with motherly flare and her hands firmly placed on her hips, “you’ll watch how you speak to me. There’s nothing weird about it. She’s a young lady now. We’ll see what your dad has to say about it.”
“Sorry, Mom. You’re right. I’m sure Dad would like to discuss this with you. He likes to keep tabs and all,” James replied with an eye roll and any excuse to get their mother to leave the table.
Maddy huffed her way to the kitchen where her husband, Erik, was and filled him in. It wasn’t their best idea because Erik wasn’t likely to want to discuss Ruby’s news either. It was probably the last thing he wanted to know too, but he worshipped the ground his wife walked on and would let her have her say. When he sent a threatening look to their table through the pass-through kitchen window while Maddy’s head bobbed as fast as her arms flailed, they couldn’t help but laugh.
“Nice save, bro. You know Dad gets even, right?” Owen laughed. “So, the face. Spill.”
James ran his hands through his hair, creating a disheveled look that wasn’t common for him. “Genevieve.”
“I knew it!” Troy clapped his hands in satisfaction as he leaned forward, no longer tilting backward on the chair’s hind legs. “What did it finally take? Were you just a little too much of an asshole for her? She finally got tired of you looking right through her all the time?”
Derek tossed his beer back, enjoying a long pull, his satisfied grin rimming the bottle. “He won’t be looking through her now. He won’t see her at all with that swollen eye.”
“She’s about due for a raise. I say we owe her for this,” Owen teased.
Jackson found less humor in the battered appearance left by Genevieve. Genevieve all but skipped everywhere and tossed glitter along the way. He couldn’t recall a single curse word ever leaving her mouth. Sure, she was a no-nonsense tough girl when her job required it, but even then, she smiled doing it and probably had a deep desire to apologize when she was done handing someone a well-deserved ass-kicking. Considering the condition of James’s face and apparently his ribs, given the wince he had just displayed when he leaned back, Genevieve’s behavior was out of character.
“You scared her,” Jackson deadpanned.
“Well, I mean… How did you know?” James asked, wondering if Jackson was exercising some sort of twin telepathy or perhaps he’d followed them. It wasn’t uncommon for them to keep tabs on each other.
“She wouldn’t hurt a fly unless she was threatened or protecting someone who needed her protection,” Jackson rebutted, thinking back to the last case she’d worked in the field.
It had been under the radar. She hadn’t told the brothers she was there, but she came through and helped protect Owen and Trista’s son, Mason, from a dangerous cartel leader out for revenge. Underneath her wool cardigans, ponytail, and dark-framed glasses lived a hard-core operative.
“She’s been acting off,” James confessed.
“Or you’re acting off. You’ve always been a little…off,” Jackson fired back.
James rolled his eyes. “She’s been sneaking around and even sneaking out.”
“How do you know she’s sneaking…unless you’re watching her?” Jackson’s grin broadened, knowing he was making his twin uncomfortable.
“I’m watching because it’s unusual behavior for her. She’s hiding something,” James defended.
“Hiding something? Like…maybe a man?” Troy said, pointing out what seemed most obvious.
James shook his head, stretching his hands out in front of him in a dramatic effect. “No. No, Genevieve isn’t like that.”
The brothers snickered. Everyone knew Genevieve and James were like peas in a pod and perfect for each other – everyone except James.
“Isn’t what? Into guys?”
“Jesus, Derek. Of course, she is. She’s just not into any, right now.” Unable to get his point across and fed up with the smart-ass remarks, James was ready to leave the table.
“Then how did you end up getting your ass kicked by a woman half your size?” Jackson was already bored with the conversation, and making James squirm was getting boring. It was time to get to the core of the problem because that was what they had…a hotheaded problem.
“Look. I’ve been watching her. And I know I sound like a stalker. She already said all of that. She’s been planning to meet with someone, wandering into odd places and ducking in the shadows. Tonight, I followed her to the Mission District…and not the good part.”
That had the boys’ attention. One of the oldest parts of town, the Mission District lined the old industrial oceanfront on the north side of the city. It hosted a variety of brick buildings and warehouses, even the old docks and shipyard.
Crime had been so bad in that area that the city dumped a shitload of money into revitalization, converting it to a new urban living community. Very Santa Marina. Though much progress had been made, you still needed to stay on the right side of the street and out of the shadows at night. Not a place for Genevieve to wander at midnight.
“What the fuck? What was she doing down there alone?” Owen’s concern was evident in his tone as it was with the rest of the brothers as they all sat quiet and expressionless. They were in work mode.
“No clue. I tailed her for several blocks, but I think she made me right away. She took me around the same block a couple of times.”
“Good girl,” Jackson said with a pleased smile. “She remembered her training.”
“Yeah, a little too good,” James added, pointing at his swollen face. “She dipped into an alley and disappeared on me, got me from behind, and kicked my ass until she got too tired. She was pissed when she realized it was me.”
“Who did she think you were, princess?” Derek laughed.
“Fuck off. She wouldn’t tell me. She just left me there to deal with a bastard pissing on my car while she took off.”
“Not so tough in the bad part of town, huh. Maybe Vivi should have walked you to your car, bro,” Troy teased.
“Yeah, there goes that raise we were considering. What was she thinking, leaving you exposed and unprotected over there, man?”
“Seriously, Derek? You’re an asshole,
” James chided, tossing peanuts at his brother from the bucket on their table.
“All right, all right.” Jackson’s voice boomed, getting back to the subject at hand. “I agree that it’s fucking creepy that you watch her, but you might be on to something. None of that sounds like Vivi.”
Owen nodded at Jackson’s assessment. “We piss a lot of people off with what we do. She could be a target or something. We’re the only family Vivi has now, and as much as I know she’d try to protect us, it’s our job to protect her. Let’s keep eyes on her.”
“Agreed. Since James’s clandestine skills are lacking…” Sarcasm rolled off Jackson’s words as he continued, “We’ll all take turns tailing her if she slips out again. Dipshit over here can watch her from his perch and play dispatch.”
James flipped his brother off at both the insult and mention of the perch. The office for Elite Force Security was known as the conference room – James’s kingdom of cyber everything and where he did most of his work. They often called it his perch since it’s where he spent most of his time.
“Fine by me! You dicks can play chase in the ghetto. I’d rather do other shit anyway.”
“Like sit in your chair and watch her from all of your cameras? We get it. Easier to yank your…”
“Don’t fucking say it, Troy.”
5
James was on edge. He had been watching Genevieve for days and was no closer to answers than he had been during their back-alley fray. Though they were all watching her, there wasn’t a single lead. Maybe she had help, or perhaps they were looking in all the wrong places, falling for the crumbs she wanted them to follow rather than those that lead to answers. She was smart – almost too smart. That was why she worked for them, after all.
He leaned back in his chair, arms stretched behind his head, as he recalled their encounter when he arrived home after drinks with his brothers a few nights before. Genevieve had been waiting for him. Apparently, she was finally ready to discuss what happened that night in the alley. Instead, she chewed his ass.
He went over the events of that night, her words telling him to back off because it was none of his business. Even her claim that nothing unusual was going on – he was just finally noticing her.
He was a widower. Noticing her was professionally inappropriate. It was also disrespectful to his wife’s memory. He told himself that anyway. Watching her was nothing more than security. Not only did he have a family to protect but he also had a business full of hot target clients to keep under the radar. Genevieve wouldn’t betray his trust or that of his brothers, not willingly. But she might be swayed if she thought she was protecting them or even one of their clients.
Her defensiveness was more out of character than the late-night escapades. Even after she stormed out of his apartment the night he followed her, she didn’t go home. She took the elevator to the conference room. He watched her from his home office – until she blacked out the cameras and proceeded to put up firewalls around whatever she was doing online. More firewalls than one would expect. The booby-trapped kind with cyber weapons like viruses that even he had trouble skating around.
He knew Genevieve was good. She wouldn’t work for them in that capacity if she wasn’t. But she was too good in the one place she didn’t have to worry about safety, personal or cyber in nature. The Elite Building was one of the safest buildings there was. They made the Pentagon look like amateurs – until James established a contract with the government and upgraded their systems.
Her questions were full of deflection and evasiveness. When he asked why she was sneaking around in dangerous neighborhoods, she asked why he followed her. When he questioned her late-night rendezvous, she asked why he cared. Then he asked her why she was answering questions with questions. She asked why he had so many questions. Then she called him a stalker. Red flags all over the fucking place.
She would only go to such lengths for one reason. Despite what she said, she was hiding something or someone. That had already been established, though. The who and why of it all had not. When he finally got past all of the obstacles she left him to hack through the night he confronted her, she was gone. There was nothing there to see or trace of where she’d been online. She’d even abandoned the conference room and gone back to her apartment on his floor without him noticing.
If he can’t detect or see her, who else is sliding by? he wondered. Or had that just been her way of flipping him the bird? Showing him just what she was capable of – he only got to see what she let him see.
“Do you still want Killer, James?”
James was quickly pulled from his thoughts by Owen’s jolting question. It was then that he realized his eyes had been fixed on Genevieve for who knew how long. She sat at the other end of the long row of tables they’d pushed together at the Force Bar & Grill. The Bar and Grill closed early on Sunday. It was tradition. If you were referred to as anyone who closely resembled family, your presence was expected. Nobody dared to cross the family matriarch. It was safer to dance with the devil himself than miss one of Maddy Force’s Sunday dinners.
This was one time he wished he had actually been listening to his brother’s bullshit because he didn’t know how to answer his brother. Yet again, Genevieve’s recent behavior had him distracted.
“What?” he stammered as he sat straighter, finally pulling his view to Owen.
Owen traced where James’s gaze had fallen and grinned when it landed on Genevieve.
Mischief dancing in Owen’s eyes, and he turned to James with raised brows but was quickly defused by the look on James’s face.
“I was saying… I’m heading out with Cade and Connor tomorrow to help Markus with his case. Trista won’t be back from Florida with Estella for another week, maybe two. You still able to take Killer for me?”
Cade and Connor were the Forces cousins. While the brothers worked in high-end security, the cousins were high-end bounty hunters. They didn’t chase bond jumpers who missed a court date over something like possessions charges or even theft. They went after the world’s most dangerous and menacing criminals for anyone who could afford the fee. Along with their sister, Caris, they often helped out with the Elite Force Security business and vice versa since their clientele tended to overlap.
This bounty was an under-the-radar government contract for Aaron Markus, US Attorney. He prosecuted special cases that required a little more grit and discretion, so he often called on the Force team for assistance. Not only were they among the most skilled but he also trusted them. In their lines of work, trust was gold and hard to find. They had all served together in the military at some point in their careers and at various levels. They were like family.
“Oh, yeah. Ruby is excited to have him, actually,” James said with a nod. “Me, not so much. I hope he’s had some training since last time.”
Killer was Owen’s beast of a dog. He was big and ugly as sin, but the kids loved him, and the ladies fell for his hideous charm. Though he was a mutt, he had to have Great Dane or something of that size in him because his size alone nearly classified him as a horse. Killer wasn’t all that bright, but he was protective to a fault and had incredible instincts when it suited him. When he misbehaved in public, his name caught attention. Yelling Killer in a park earned a person a lot of side-eye. An unfortunate name for an unfortunate-looking beast that everyone loved.
“He’s had training…it just doesn’t stick. His listening is selective. He only listens to kids and most women.” Owen tossed his hands in the air with a shrug. “You’ll probably need Vivi.”
“Genevieve,” James fired back, arms crossed.
Owen’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Excuse me?”
“Genevieve. Her name is Genevieve,” James said matter-of-factly, his gaze burning into Genevieve.
“Talking about me down there, James?”
“Not really. Just telling Owen your name is Genevieve, not Vivi.” James shrugged.
Rolling her eyes, Genevieve sighed as the
rest of the brothers snickered. “Are we really back to that?”
“Back to what?” James asked pointedly.
“Dude, you’re the only one who doesn’t call her Vivi. It was your kid who started the nickname forever ago,” Troy defended, confused by his brother’s behavior.
“It’s okay, Troy. He’s just being…James. Boring and…” Genevieve wanted to say bitter but thought better of it. It was true, but it would be inappropriate to take a low jab of that nature at the family dinner table.
Derek elbowed Troy and said in a not so silent whisper, “Back away, looks like a lover’s quarrel.”
With a sharp turn of his head, James’s attention landed on his mouthy brother. “Screw you, Derek.”
“Hey now. Not at my table, boy,” Maddy sharply scolded when she returned to the table with dessert. “You know better than to bring that mouth to dinner, James. You’ll apologize to your brother now.”
“Sorry, Mom.” James was quick to flip his brother the bird as soon as his mom’s back was turned.
“There’ll be none of that either. Shame on you for showing the kids such ugly behavior. Act your age,” Maddy replied, her back still facing James.
The brothers chuckled. It never failed. She saw everything.
“Now. Seems we’ve all shared our highs and lows of the week but our Ruby,” she added, changing the subject but not without sending a scolding to James and Genevieve with a simple look between the two.
Sitting at the head of the table, it was all smiles as she focused her attention on Ruby. “Tell us, darlin’, is there anything…special you’d like to share with us all?”
Genevieve sat back in her chair and watched James do what he tended to do, disappear into his own world despite the company around him. He had his phone out, likely reviewing all of the security measures he had in place just about everywhere, analyzing algorithms, and likely adding a security feature that would trace her cyber steps the next time she was online in the conference room.
