Chapter 23

Reid couldn’t believe how his mood had gone from excited to dismal in the span of a few heartbeats.

Naomi hadn’t told Tanner to back off, that she loved Reid.

That was the answer in itself. Tanner was right. She didn’t love Reid, and she didn’t know how she felt about Tanner. Fuck it all.

To make matters worse, a rogue employee was on the verge of sinking the business. Chris would never tell, but he wouldn’t endorse their company to friends if one of Reid’s own stole from him.

Reid had too much to lose to let Mannie get away with anything. He hurried inside, looking all around on the pretext of needing to use the restroom.

Fortunately, Chris wasn’t a trusting soul and had security guarding the upstairs.

Which meant Mannie would head up there.

Reid wound deeper into the house before finding another set of stairs leading up. He moved, waiting to be told to stop, then continued past a distracted guard. Another looked doped up, and Reid had to wonder if Mannie had drugged them or somehow gotten lucky.

Hurrying quietly, listening for some telltale noise, he heard a faint scrape and followed the sound behind a set of double doors. He pushed the doors open and moved deeper into the bedroom, pausing at the doorway of the walk-in closet…and watched Mannie retrieve a small safe from on top of a dresser and set it on the floor. The safe was the size of a small bread box.

Though Reid thought he’d hidden himself behind the doorframe, Mannie turned, holding a gun. “Figures you’d show up to try to ruin my night. Firing me wasn’t enough?” He motioned for Reid to move. “Quietly.”

“Not like I want to draw attention. Love your shirt.”

“It’s a good color on me.” Mannie grinned.

“This isn’t right.”

“Fuck you. All I wanted was a chance. You took that away.”

“A chance to steal?” Reid scoffed. “We don’t take from our customers. We help people. Hell, Mannie. Half of them could be any of us. Older retirees. People needing a helping hand, not someone to take from what they can’t afford to lose.”

“Save the sob story. This asshole can afford to lose a few gold watches. You just have no clue what I’m dealing with.” Mannie gave a tired smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes. “I left the Army with no prospects, but better to be out than doing time at Fort Benning.”

So Mannie had been a criminal while in the Army. Funny, his background check had never mentioned that. “Why didn’t we spot that in your background check?”

“Because I used my cousin’s ID. We look enough alike it works.”

“Okay, but Fort Benning’s in North Carolina. What are you doing in Seattle?”

“Manfred, my cousin, lives out here. That’s why we moved.” Mannie motioned for Reid to leave the room. “The guard’s out of commission on the stairwell. I gave him a few pills, but he’ll be fine later, don’t worry. Now you’re gonna carry that out for me.” He pointed at the safe still on the floor. “Wrap it in that blanket, and let’s go.”

“No.”

“Do it, or I’ll hurt your girlfriend.” Mannie gave a mean smile. “Little Jordan isn’t so nice, is she?”

Relief that Naomi hadn’t been targeted couldn’t replace the worry that Jordan had. “What is your problem? Jordan did the right thing, Mannie. She’s fellow Army. Why turn on her?”

“She thinks she’s better than me, and that bitch is anything but.” Mannie calmed. “Look, grab that safe and we’re out of here. No one learns it was us, and your company stays clean. You’ll never see me again.”

Reid weighed the odds. He didn’t want anyone getting hurt. And he sure as hell didn’t want Vets on the Go! involved. “Fine.” He tucked the blanket Mannie had pointed to around the small safe and staggered when he stood because it was a lot heavier than it looked. It had to weigh close to forty pounds. He needed both hands to hold it, as it was slightly bulky.

They hurried down the back stairs, taking care not to be seen, and ran into Cash at the end of the otherwise empty hallway.

“Motherfucker.” Cash stared.

“Not here,” Reid said. Not too many people had ventured that deep into Chris’s house, but anyone could if they wanted.

“He has a gun,” Reid added, and Mannie stepped out from behind him.

“Shit.” Cash looked murderous. Behind him, Jordan and Smith appeared. “Great. The gang’s all here.”

“Who the hell is that?” Mannie asked, waving his gun at Smith.

“Easy, dickhead,” Smith growled. “That might go off.”

Mannie sneered.

“The only thing you and I have in common,” Cash told Mannie. “We both think Smith’s a jerk.”

Smith sighed. Before he could do a thing, two more men approached, dressed in suits and ties. Undercover cops, maybe? Reid could hope. Except the men didn’t identify themselves as they moved past Cash toward Mannie and Reid.

“Finally.” Mannie tossed the weapon to one of the suits, making Reid’s heart skip a beat. “We gotta go.” He reached for the safe.

“Car’s out front,” one of them said. The other one shifted, and Smith was already moving, taking the gun out of play by shoving the guy into Mannie, then clocking the suit in the face. Cash and Jordan were already diving for the other man, which left Reid to manage Mannie.

Just as Smith reached the weapon and stated, “Damn, it’s not even loaded,” Reid played tug of war with Mannie, not wanting him to get away with Chris’s valuables. The silent struggle would have made him laugh if he hadn’t been so furious. No one wanted attention, so they’d all been careful to keep the noise down.

“Fine. Keep it.” Mannie tripped Reid and shoved the safe at him.

Off-balance, Reid lost his grip, and the safe slipped out of the blanket. He and the metal box went down, and in the fall, his hand took the brunt of the safe’s weight when it hit the floor. Something snapped and numbness settled in, which was quickly replaced by blinding pain.

In his periphery, he saw Cash hit Mannie, taking him down with one punch.

“Reid? Are you here?” Naomi called from another room.

Cash stood over Mannie while Jordan pinned the other guy down, his hands cuffed with a zip tie, her knee in the small of his back. “I always carry one on me,” she said when she saw Cash looking and winked at him.

In moments, Smith, Jordan, and Cash had three would-be burglars down and out. Hector arrived with Naomi.

“Damn, it’s like déjà vu,” Hector said as he and Cash stripped Mannie’s shirt off him.

“We have to get these guys out of here, pronto,” Reid said, gritting his teeth at the throbbing pain. He nearly passed out when he shoved the safe off his hand.

“Reid, oh my God. Are you okay?” Naomi looked horrified.

He refused to look at his hand, but the others stared in alarm. “I know,” he wheezed and sat up slowly, cradling his wrist. “We can pretend I tripped or something. Jordan, Cash, put the safe back.” He described where he’d found it, and they hurried back upstairs with the thing. “Hector, Smith, ditch these idiots. Tie them up and leave them outside with a note if you have to.”

Smith disappeared and reappeared a moment later with a roll of duct tape.

“Hmm. I like it. It’s got a dramatic flair.” Hector grinned. Then he and Smith carried out the bodies, one at a time, each secured with duct tape. Where the hell had Smith gotten the tape? Reid felt woozy and wondered what he’d missed.

Naomi hurried to his side and helped him to stand. “Oh no. Reid, your wrist. It’s awful!”

“I know.” He felt shocky and forced himself to remain standing, not ready to pass out when he had work to do. “Go back in and make our excuses. Tell them it was a personal matter. Chris will understand.”

“I need to come with you to the hospital.”

Reid felt sick, both at what had physically happened and what he’d overheard. And God knew he didn’t need Naomi seeing him at his worst, in pain. “No. Naomi, you’re not sure how you feel about me. I get it. But I know how I feel. I need time. And so do you.”

“But, Reid…”

Jordan and Cash reappeared.

“Let’s go,” Reid said to them. “Jordan, you, Smith, and Hector stick around, just so we don’t look like we all took off. And somehow let security know to check for the losers outside.”

Jordan nodded, and she and the guys departed the hallway.

“I’ll call you,” Naomi promised.

But Reid didn’t have room to deal with more disappointment. Not now.

He nodded, then he and Cash left in Cash’s vehicle.

“Hey, Big Brother?”

Cash looked grim. “Yeah?”

“Drive faster.”

“You got it.”

The pain from losing Naomi hurt worse than anything, and he allowed himself a few tears because of it. If Cash thought he cried because of his stupid wrist, so be it.

* * *

Naomi hadn’t seen Reid in four days, and she’d had enough. Wednesday morning, she scheduled a follow-up with Vets on the Go! at Reid’s office.

She entered to a bustling center of activity after passing through a busy hallway.

In the office, Dan was keeping order. The seats in the waiting area were full, with Finley talking to people in the side office. She’d passed Hector and Lafayette talking with people in the conference room too.

“Hi, Dan. Is Reid in?”

Dan visibly relaxed when he saw Naomi. “Glad you’re here. He’s ornery as a bear.” He nodded to Reid’s office.

She entered and saw Reid wearing a Vets on the Go! navy polo and a bright-white cast on his wrist sporting several signatures. It covered his left hand, minus the fingers, and took up half of his forearm.

He was swearing at someone on his cell phone and pacing. He looked strained, tired, and so good, she wanted to cry. She’d missed him more than she could have imagined. The realization that a life without Reid could be so empty had thrown her into a tailspin.

She’d finally realized what he meant to her. Thinking of him dying and never seeing him again left a huge hole inside her that nothing but Reid could fill.

After days of soul searching, she thought she’d come to her answer.

“Hi.”

He turned around and glared while speaking into his cell phone, “I’ve gotta go.” And like the first time she’d met him, Reid wiped all emotion off his face and regarded her as he would a stranger. With a polite wave, he said, “Please, have a seat. What have you got for me?”

Fine. She could work in business mode. She went over the new plans for the advertising campaign.

He nodded. “Looks good. I think we’re on track.”

“We are.” She showed him Leo’s numbers and added Liz’s analysis. They tweaked some fees to increase a marketing idea she’d had to better take advantage of the company’s growing visibility.

Before she knew it, nearly an hour had gone by. “Wow. Time flies.”

“Yeah.” He drank coffee and sighed. “Ah, that’s good.”

They stared at each other. She thought he looked tired and wondered what he thought about her.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later,” he said, giving her the brush-off.

She narrowed her eyes, got up, and locked the door behind her. “We don’t need to be interrupted.”

“Go ahead.” Reid drank from his cup and watched her. Even injured, with that big white cast on his arm, Reid looked lethal. His eyes were bright. They flickered, and he appeared full of pain. Then…nothing.

“We need to talk.”

“Go ahead,” he said again.

“Fine. Be immature.”

He tiredly rubbed his eyes. “Naomi, what do you want from me? I heard you at Chris’s party. You don’t love me.”

“That’s not true.”

“Sure it is.”

“Will you please stop telling me how I feel?”

“Fine. Say what you need to say.”

Thanks so much. “What you and I have is no one’s business but ours. I didn’t want to talk to Tanner about us, okay?”

He nodded.

Progress. “I know exactly how I feel about Tanner. At one point, I loved him. Now? All I feel is disappointment. I got the closure I needed. He’s not the man I thought he was. He’s still an amazing communicator and social media expert. He and I do work well together. But that’s all there is.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Naomi waited for Reid to pull her into his arms so they could go back to the way they’d been.

He didn’t. He just watched her, looking somber. “I’m glad you got the closure you needed.”

“Thank you.”

Two strangers, watching the other for signs of…something.

“I’ll say it since you can’t bring yourself to,” he said wryly. “And me, Naomi. How do you feel about me?”

“I love you.”

“Uh-huh.” He didn’t look convinced.

She frowned. “I’m telling you the truth.”

“I think you should go.”

She didn’t understand. “What’s the problem? You love me, I love you. We’re a couple.”

“A couple of wishful thinkers.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I fell hard for you. Too fast, too much at once. Maybe it was an emotional storm from my mother that landed me with you. I don’t know. I transferred the need to be loved from my mother to you, and I can only apologize for that. Now you’re saying you love me, and I think you’re doing the same. Feeling guilty or sympathetic for my pain.” He held up his cast. “You don’t need to. I’ll manage, the way I always have. You have a life and a career on the fast track. Working with Jennings will open you up to a whole new level of business.”

“What are you saying?” Fear that he would continue to pull away freaked her out. “Reid?”

“You need time to figure out your goals. And so do I. I’d only be in your way if we stayed together. You’re made for a better man than me.”

She had no idea where any of this was coming from, but she’d be damned if she’d grovel after what she’d just told him.

She stood and nodded, falling back on what she knew. The job. “If that’s what you want, I understand.” Her heart was breaking into tiny pieces.

“It’s not what I want.” He sounded beyond tired. “But it’s all I can expect. I wish you only the best, Naomi. And I still want to be friends.”

“Friends?” Was he insane?

No, he was an idiot. One who still loved her but had somehow gotten turned around.

She nodded. “Fine. We’re still friends.” Changing the subject to keep him on his toes, she asked, “On another note, what’s with all the foot traffic today?”

He shrugged. “Somehow, the press got wind of us and Chris’s burglars, though I’m not sure how. We’ve been dubbed Seattle’s secret superheroes.” He frowned. “It’s annoying, inaccurate, and a pain in the butt.”

He still tried not to curse in front of her, her sweet little idiot.

She saw him looking at her, all heartsick, before he donned that emotionless mantle of armor.

And she saw his retreat for what it was, a need to reconcile his feelings with what he could live with. She knew how rejection from someone she’d once loved had hit her. To find that same thing from one’s mother, and then from the woman he loved?

It would take time to earn his trust again. But Naomi knew how to work a crowd. And she knew how to work the Marine she’d fallen hard for. Looking at him now, she wondered how she ever could have questioned her feelings for him. Reid needed her. Not for her business acumen or her connections. He needed her love.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

She shrugged and called on her mother’s favorite excuse. “Sorry. Low blood sugar. I need to eat. I’ll see you in a week, okay? We’ll go over more stats.” She leaned over his desk, pleased when he tensed, then tried to mask it by pretending to be nonchalant. Naomi held out a hand.

Reid hesitantly shook it.

“Friends,” she said with a smile.

His irritation pleased her. “Yeah, sure.” He withdrew his hand, and she felt tingles all the way to her feet. They still connected, no matter what he tried to say.

“I’ll be seeing you.” She left his office and headed straight to Cash, who she’d just seen exit the office.

“Hey, wait up.” She hurried to join him and stopped when she ran into Smith instead. “Wow. You look like Cash from behind.”

“That’s just cruel.”

She stared up at him, seeing their obvious differences. Smith looked hard, mean. Cash looked the same until she looked closer and saw a wounded man trying to hide himself from the world. Smith looked like he wanted to kick the world in the teeth just because.

“You want Cash?”

“Yes, I need to talk to him.”

Smith nodded down the hallway to the stairs. “He was refilling supplies in the bay last I saw him.”

She thanked Smith, hurried downstairs, and found Cash arguing with Jordan in the large supply room.

“I’m telling you. She clocks him. I’m betting twenty bucks she does it. She’s got a thing for him.”

“No way.” Jordan huffed. “LaRhonda is not interested in Burke. She had a baby with Miguel, remember?”

Another woman, probably the infamous Heidi, added in a clear, light voice, “No. LaRhonda loves Burke. You can tell because they’re always fighting. Hiding their true feelings behind a lot of arguments.”

A pregnant pause, then Jordan and Cash told Heidi how full of crap that theory was before Jordan left the supply room and nearly ran into Naomi.

“Oh, hey, Naomi. Reid’s upstairs.”

“I know. I just need to talk to Cash for a second.”

“He’s in there.” Jordan hiked a thumb over her shoulder before darting away.

Naomi entered to find Heidi and Cash hovering over a tablet. They were watching some reality TV show.

“Cash.”

He jumped, and Heidi laughed.

“That’s not funny, damn it.” He stomped to Naomi. “Heidi, tell me what happens.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

“And stop calling me boss. It’s Cash.” He turned to Naomi. “She gets that boss shit from Jordan.” He gave a half grin. “So what’s up? You finally talk my brother into quitting all that sulking he’s been doing?”

She sighed. “No. He’s still sulking.”

“It’s the sex,” Heidi said, a faint accent in her words. “Give him great pussy, he’s yours for life.”

Naomi gaped.

“No, no.” Cash shook his head. “Heidi, you’re gay; you have no clue about what a man really wants. Naomi, give him great head and he’s yours for life.”

“Ah, yes. Of course.” Heidi gave her a sly wink. “But the pussy is good too.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Cash clinked a bottle of cola against Heidi’s water.

“You guys scare me.”

“Cheers.” Heidi drank her water down. “Cash, hurry. Zelda’s back.”

“Hot damn.” He turned from Naomi, but she grabbed him by the arm to jerk him back around. “What?” he snapped.

“I need your house this weekend. Can you get lost until Monday? You can stay at my place if you want.”

“Hmm. Do you have cable?”

“No, but I have Wi-Fi and streaming.”

“Deal. What time?”

“Sixish. But I also need your help for a few other things before you take off for the weekend.”

“Yeah?”

“Trust me. My relationship with Reid is more interesting than your reality TV.”

“I’m in.”

“Great. Thanks. Now enjoy Zelda.”

Naomi left, happy again since she had a workable plan. Poor Reid. They really were a lot alike. The unfortunate man had no idea what was about to hit him.