Latvis Security Services

by Lexie Ray

  “Can’t I go for another ride?”

  “It’s getting late,” Rebecca said.

  “You don’t mind, do you Daren?” she said as she looked over her shoulder to him.

  Caught off guard, Daren wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to say. Rebecca’s indulgent and borderline smug expression didn’t help him judge what the appropriate response was.

  “Please? Ma has to cook dinner anyway,” Sophie continued at his hesitation. She took on a tone that was obviously parroting back what she had heard numerous times. “I should be under proper adult supervision.”

  Rebecca laughed. The sound was too free and unapologetic to be considered sweet, but Daren liked it a lot more than he probably should. Her whole face lit up as she looked at her daughter and wiggled the helmet on her head.

  “Would you mind, Daren? She’s a nightmare when I’m trying to cook.”

  “I am,” Sophie nodded.

  Daren flicked his eyes between them and was confronted with twin hopeful stares. Focusing his attention onto no particular point on the horizon, he shrugged one shoulder.

  “Sure,” he mumbled.

  “Thank you.” Rebecca’s words were almost lost under Sophie’s victorious squeal.

  Without further comment, Rebecca drifted toward a trailer that, while showing its age, was still in pretty good repair. Daren smiled slightly when he noticed that she had already set up under the floodlights – the safest spot in the field.

  The engine came to life with a metallic, shattering roar and Sophie happily gripped the handles, holding on as if she was the one actually driving. Not willing to stray too far from Rebecca’s potential line of sight, Daren kept to the boundaries of the field. The gravel road created a cloud of dust behind them as they travelled. They didn’t go too fast, but Sophie didn’t seem to mind. They kept going around in large circles until the sun sank below the horizon and the floodlights clicked on.

  The bugs came out of hiding, and the heat of the day gave way to a pleasantly cool breeze that curled through the surrounding trees and played over the grass. When it grew too dark for Rebecca to be able to see them, Daren circled the pool of light created by the powerful floodlights. Time stretched out.

  The vibrations of the bike rattled along his arms and worked out the tension in his shoulders. It had been a long time since he had just enjoyed the sensation of being on a bike – the push of the air and the uncaged sense of freedom. But seeing Sophie’s delight at even just going in literal circles, he remembered how much he had once enjoyed it. Eventually, Rebecca came to the trailer door, wiping her hands on a dishtowel, and waved them over.

  Daren brought them to a halt a few feet from the trailer and turned off the engine. After the bucking bronc and the long ride, his thighs trembled too much for him to fully trust them. Using the heel of his boot, he kicked down the stand, tested that it would hold, and tried to hide his flinch as he stretched out his aching legs.

  “One more lap?”

  “Your ma wants you in,” Daren said.

  Sophie focused on sulking and stayed on the bike.

  “Go on, now,” he said after a long moment of silence. He swung his leg over the back of the bike, making sure to keep it steady in case she decided to make any sudden moves.

  His muscles pulled and his lower back throbbed as he waited for the little girl to get off.

  Sophie stared at him for a long moment before she asked, “Are you here because of the man?”

  Daren asked cautiously, “What man?”

  “The one that keeps following me.”

  Pain sparked along his legs, but he made sure not to shift his weight. He didn’t want Sophie thinking that he was squirming.

  “You know about that?”

  Sophie nodded. “Don’t tell Ma. She doesn’t know that I know. She’ll just worry.”

  “You don’t need to worry, either,” he said. “We’re going to take care of it.”

  “I want to help.”

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  She still hadn’t moved, so he easily picked her up and put her on the ground as she continued to sulk. “Look, there ain’t nothing for you to do. We got this.”

  “I’m not just a weak little kid,” she said. “I can be like you.”

  Daren narrowed his gaze. “What does that mean?”

  “I want to make sure no one messes with me.”

  “People mess with me plenty,” he scoffed. “Look, you’re a kid. You ain’t supposed to be worried about this kind of stuff.”

  “I’m not worried,” Sophie insisted. “I’m tough.”

  Daren’s lips twitched in a smile. “I don’t doubt it.”

  “Fine, I’ll just do it without you.” Sophie folded her arms over her chest and began to walk toward the trailer.

  “Tell ya what,” he said as he followed. “You trust us to do our jobs, and I’ll teach you some self-defense stuff.”

  She tilted her head as she thought that over. “Okay. Deal.”

  “What’s the deal?” Rebecca said as they got closer.

  Either his eyes widened or Sophie was a quick read, because she answered smoothly, “If I behave myself, he’ll give me another ride later.”

  Rebecca leaned her shoulder against the doorframe as she smiled at him. “That’s nice of you.”

  Feeling off center, Daren could do little more than hunch his shoulders, mumble dismissively, and turn to leave. He didn’t know why he felt so blindsided. This wasn’t his first time dealing with clients hiding things from each other. But his gut just twisted up under Rebecca’s trusting smile, like he was getting something he hadn’t earned.

  “Aren’t you staying for dinner?” Sophie asked as she pulled herself up onto the first metal stair that led to the door.

  “Nah,” he said quickly. “I better check on Poe.”

  Sophie frowned. “I thought the big guy with the beard was doing that.”

  “Yeah, well,” Daren stumbled, “Dwayne’s an idiot.”

  “Come on,” Sophie whined. “Ma made spaghetti. There’s plenty.”

  When Daren mumbled again, Sophie grabbed the end of Rebecca’s shirt and tugged it gently. Rebecca looked between the two, hesitating a moment before she sighed and motioned behind her to the trailer.

  “You’re welcome to stay.”

  “I don’t wanna be a bother,” Daren said.

  Before he had finished speaking, Sophie had ducked out and latched onto his hand. Her heels dug into the grass as she used all her meager weight to pull him toward the door.

  “Hurry up,” she whined. “I’m hungry.”

  Chapter Seven

  Rebecca tried to be subtle as she watched Daren. It was a lot harder than she thought it would be to keep her eyes off of him as she divided the food onto plates. While he had let Sophie get him inside and obediently sat down when she shoved him into the small booth table, he still looked about a second away from bolting. His shoulders were still hunched like he was afraid to touch anything.

  Sophie prattled on as if she didn’t notice his obvious discomfort. She had found her ice hockey collector cards and was discussing the merits of each player as she worked her way through the pack. Daren grunted at the appropriate moments and kept himself hidden behind his hair as best he could.

  Rebecca turned to focus on cutting up the garlic bread, but her eyes once again found their way back to him. There wasn’t anything about the man that would be classified as ‘handsome,’ at least in a classical sense. His features were sharp, his eyes narrow, and his hands were even more beaten up than she had first thought. But there was something within his rugged nature that gave him, despite his best efforts, an inherent sexiness. Even when he hid his face, his body carried its appeal.

  His shoulders were strong and broad and gave way to perfectly formed arms. His chest looked strong but didn’t appear to have the overly chiselled definition that Dwayne undoubtedly had. It was pretty obvious that he was trying to hide his physique
under his baggy shirt, but it said something that, even with the extra material, the shirt still pulled against his chest.

  Rebecca turned her attention away and sternly told herself to keep her thoughts in line. Since Ben had left and taken her opportunities for release along with him, Rebecca had taken strides to lock away her libido. But, while she wasn’t still sold on Daren’s suitability for this job, there was something within his appearance that made long forgotten ideas pop back into her head. This was a dangerous path her mind was wandering down, and she had to get her thoughts under control.

  “Okay, honey. Put the cards away,” Rebecca said as she brought over the plates. “Time to eat.”

  Sophie piled up the slips of cardboard with little care and dumped them on the bench seat beside her. Most of them spilled onto the floor, but she was too busy heaping grated cheese onto her spaghetti to care. Daren threw Rebecca a quick smile as she sat down from across her.

  “Thanks.”

  “It’s nothing special,” she shrugged.

  His smile died quickly, and he fixed his gaze back down onto the table. Rebecca tilted her head with slight confusion as she studied his expression. He scowled at the food, hands still under the table as he kept his eyes adverted.

  “Cheese?” Sophie asked as she shoved the bowl at his face.

  He took it, if only to keep himself from injury. “Thanks, kid.”

  Sophie beamed at him as she twirled her fork in the long noodles. She worked them around the metal points to create a ball around the size of a candy apple and then tried to eat it as such. Daren watched her for a moment before he smirked and spooned a few helpings of cheese onto his own meal.

  “So, Daren,” Rebecca said, “I don’t know much about you.”

  “Ain’t much to tell.”

  “Where did you grow up?” she pressed.

  “Rural Georgia.”

  “I thought so, with that accent.”

  “Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Sophie asked around an absurdly large mouthful.

  “Yeah, I got a brother,” he mumbled.

  Sophie perked up. Her request for a sibling had been noted and adamantly ignored over the years. “Do you see him a lot?”

  Daren shrugged and stuffed his mouth with table manners that rivalled Sophie’s.

  “Not so much since he got locked up.”

  “In prison?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What did he do?”

  Daren hesitated before he stuffed another heaping into his mouth. “Some very bad things.”

  He purposefully avoided Sophie’s eyes.

  “What about your parents?” Rebecca said.

  Daren glanced up to her, his face carefully blank. He quickly returned his attention to his food with renewed focus. “My dad ticked off the wrong guy in a bar fight a few years back.”

  Rebecca didn’t know what to say and that seemed to be better for Daren. Sophie didn’t quite catch on to the full implications, and Rebecca made a mental note to thank him for his word choice later.

  She took a sip of her water. “And your mother?”

  “Ain’t seen her since I signed up for the army.”

  Sophie was quick to jump on perhaps the only hint of a positive facet in that situation. “You were in the army?”

  He shovelled another heaping of the spaghetti into his mouth. “Didn’t have the money for college or the smarts for a free ride. Army was the best option to get out.”

  “Why aren’t you still in the army?” Sophie asked.

  “I ain’t too good at taking directions, I guess,” he mumbled.

  Rebecca began to eat as she struggled to think up a question that wouldn’t lead to a dead end or an answer that she might not want Sophie to hear.

  “So,” she glanced between the two of them and resisted the urge to roll her eyes at their combined eating habits. “Where did you get your bike from?”

  “Built it.”

  Sophie snapped her head up, noodles still dangling from her mouth. “What?”

  “I got the frame and built it up.”

  “You know how to do that?” Sophie asked.

  “Bike runs, don’t it?” Realizing what he had just said, he glanced to Rebecca like he was waiting to see if he was about to get thrown out. “I mean, yeah. I can.”

  “Can you teach me?”

  He shrugged. “Sure.”

  Sophie giggled happily as she went back to her meal.

  “Is it just bikes?” Rebecca asked, “Or are you good with other motors, too?”

  “Depends. What needs fixin’?”

  Rebecca smiled. “You’d fix stuff up for me? That’s really sweet of you.”

  Daren glared and lowered his face a little more. For a moment, she was worried that she had crossed a line. But then his bangs shifted just enough for her to see the slight blush on his cheeks. She took a sip of her water and watched him carefully. It couldn’t be that easy to get a reaction out of the man. Not the one that was going to stand between her daughter and a possibly psychotic stranger.

  “The truck,” Sophie broke the silence.

  “Sophie,” Rebecca hissed.

  “What? It’s true,” Sophie continued innocently. “It makes this weird rattle, and she can’t make it stop.”

  Rebecca tried to capture Daren’s gaze, but he wasn’t looking at her.

  “Won’t hurt nothin’ for me to look at it. I can do it in the morning.”

  She contemplated him for a moment. Were general handyman jobs a side service they offered with their normal protection package? But she wasn’t really in a position to complain. That engine had been annoying her for months now.

  “Thank you, Daren. That’ll be nice,” she said.

  Once again, his head dipped down. He was better at hiding it this time, but the red tinge that crept over his ears gave his blush away.

  Sophie gnawed off another bite before she abruptly asked, “Are you married?”

  Daren’s fork hesitated an inch from his mouth. After an instant, he scarfed down the mouthful with more force than was necessary.

  “No.”

  “Have you got a girlfriend?”

  “Sophie,” Rebecca warned, but Daren was already answering.

  “No.”

  “Boyfriend?”

  “No.”

  “Person you talked to online a few times and keep saying you’re going to meet but you just don’t have the outfit for it?”

  “Sophie.”

  This time, Sophie at least turned around to face her. “Ma, if you had really wanted to meet up with Greg, you would have.”

  “How do you even know about that?” Rebecca stumbled out after a long string of stuttering.

  “Gabby.”

  Rebecca shook her head. “I need to stop talking to that woman.”

  “She is a gossip.”

  It didn’t help Rebecca’s pride that Sophie was only parroting back what she herself had said so many times. All things considered, the ticket taker was probably her worst possible option to confide in. Her embarrassment was pushed aside when Sophie started kicking her legs and fixed her attention back onto Daren.

  “Why not?”

  Daren looked like a stunned deer. “Huh?”

  “Why aren’t you married?”

  “I just ain’t.”

  “What about kids?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  It seemed like a useless activity to say her daughter’s name in warning once again, but Rebecca said it anyway. Daren shrugged one shoulder and shovelled his dinner into his mouth with gusto.

  “Kids don’t like me.”

  “I like you.”

  “Maybe you’re just weird,” Daren grunted.

  Rebecca tried to smother her laughter when Sophie thumped his arm in retaliation, her lips screwed up into a pout. Daren glanced at his arm but didn’t say anything.

  “Let Daren eat in peace,” Rebecca soothed.

  For a while, the conversa
tion was sparse. They dipped into topics like sports and the weather, nothing of real substance, but it was pleasant enough. While Daren barely spoke, his attention never seemed to waver. It was still enough to keep Sophie fascinated with him, and she bombarded him with questions at every opportunity. He kept his answers short and didn’t reveal all that much.

  When Rebecca first set eyes on him, Daren had struck her as standoffish to an almost rude degree. The dinner hadn’t even finished before her opinion had shifted. It was now easy to envision him as the little kid too shy to play with the others, so he spent the whole time at the park clutching his mother’s leg. He was downright meek. It wasn’t exactly what Mads had led her to believe and, once again, the anxiety that he wouldn’t be able to do what was needed crept back in.

  Daren kept sending her quick glances but never let his gaze linger too long. She wondered if he was trying to size her up or just looking for backup against Sophie’s continuing chatter. The dinner ended before she could figure it out. Daren only stared at her hand like he wasn’t quite sure what to do when she reached out to take his plate.

  “Do you want me to clean up?”

  Rebecca smiled. “I’ve got it.”

  He handed over the plate, his hand moving slowly enough to have her convinced that he wasn’t sure if he was doing it right. She giggled softly at the sight.

  “Have you had enough? There’s more if you’re still hungry.”

  “Nah, I’m good.” He gave her a timid smile. “Thanks.”

  Her smile spread before she dismissed the gesture. He still ducked his head, but this time he didn’t seem so annoyed. He shuffled to his feet and wiped his hands on his jeans like he didn’t know what else to do with them.

  “I should probably head off,” he told the floor. “Thanks again for dinner. It was really good.”

  “I’m glad you liked it,” Rebecca said.

  “You’re coming back tomorrow, right?” Sophie asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “And you’ll let me drive your bike?”

  Daren slipped his eyes to her as he headed down the steps. “Nice try, kid.”

  Chapter Eight