Page 61 of Luke

“I ended up in jail for killing him.” Ryker stood to face Ashley. “You’re smart, act like it. Have a seat because there is a real threat against you and we are all here trying to help you. Carter, too.”

Sufficiently scolded, Ashley didn’t say anything as she sat.

“Now that that’s settled,” Cade began again. “I know this is a hassle. We do believe that the guy you keep running into all the time and blowing off may be the link back to my father. We are digging, but the money is our best connection. Matt’s working on connecting the dots there.”

Carter sent Ashley a look, but she didn’t glance in his direction. “Julian,” he practically ground out.

“Yes. We can’t prove a connection yet, but with how you’re describing his behavior and family wealth, it just lines up with what we’d expect. It also seems he might be escalating,” Cade explained.

“Do we have someone watching him now?” Carter asked.

Ryker chimed in again, “We are monitoring him discreetly.”

“Ashley, we all really just want to keep you safe,” Luke pleaded with her to understand. “No one wants to change or smother you. We just want you protected while doing things.”

“First, that is not what he’s doing,” she said, jerking her thumb in Carter’s direction. “Second, I’m not an idiot. I don’t even like that guy and have told him I don’t want to hang out with him. I ignore him whenever I see him.”

“Yeah, but you’re seeing him more places now,” Carter reminded her.

“I make sure not to be alone with anyone, Carter. I’m not an idiot about protecting myself.”

“I never said you were. I’m just pointing out that it’s getting worse. Like it or not, that’s a fucking concern, Ashley.”

“Please don’t act like you really care other than to do your job,” she snapped.

“Okay,” Luke shouted, stopping the back and forth. “If it’s that hard for the two of you to get along, then maybe Ryker should put someone else on your detail. But if he does that, you can’t run from the guy.”

“I didn’t run,” Ashley whispered.

“Ashley,” Catherine said. “Come with me for a moment. I think we could all use a small break before we make any decisions.”

As they left the room, Ryker walked over to Carter, who stood.

“Can you handle this job or not?” Ryker’s tone was casual, but his body language was anything but. He was tense all over and his fists were clenched.

“I told you I can do it and I meant it. Despite her behavior, I’ve been able to keep her safe, and I already assumed that guy was no good before knowing what you do.” Carter stood, too. “I don’t want taken off the case, but I’ll do what you think is best. You better find someone that can handle her because she’s going to run.”

Ryker looked at Luke.

“I agree that you are doing a good job. You won’t get any argument from me on that. However, I want her to be safe, and I worry that if the two of you are so busy arguing with each other that something could happen because you’re not on your game,” Luke told Carter.

“Despite the way she’s been acting and the arguing, I have never not been on my game with her. I have to stay on my toes just to keep near her. It would be better if she would tell me where she wanted to go in advance so I could scope it out, but she won’t. It’s all last minute and that makes it hard. It’s like she’s trying to get in trouble.” Carter stood as he was speaking and walked to look out the window. “I do intend to keep her safe.”

Ryker nodded. “I think we can come up with a way to make this work.” His phone rang and he pulled it out, checking the ID before answering. “What?”

Luke turned away from the phone call and focused on Carter. “I have faith in you to get your job done, but why stay with this one when you know how she is?”

Cade snorted.

“What?” Luke demanded.

“Those two are interested in each other and that seems to piss them off.” He choked on a laugh.

Luke ran everything over in his mind with how they were acting since they’d been there. Cade was right, and Luke didn’t know if he was pissed off or entertained.

“That’s not what this is about,” Carter said, his only defense.

“We have a problem,” Ryker interrupted. “Julian has gone to all of the places that Ashley normally would be and now he’s in the wind. My guy says he was getting more and more agitated as he looked for her.”

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