Page 20 of His Sassy Little

“You know the drill.” Tanner said as he packed up the aftercare package for his client. “Keep it moisturized as it heals, covered so nothing rubs against it for at least forty-eight hours and keep it clean with antibacterial soap so it doesn’t get infected.” Tanner handed the care package to his client, got the satisfaction form filled out then waved the man off.

Stone approached the front counter just as the door closed behind Tanner’s customer, “I was wondering if I could see you in my office for a bit. I have some information about what we discussed last night.”

“Sure, just let me get the station cleaned and I’ll be right in. How are Arabella and Sapphire getting along?”

He’d briefly checked on his Little Hurricane between customers and she seemed to be in her element with Stone’s little girl. He still wanted an update from Stone, since he knew the man had checked in constantly.

“You’d think they were lifelong friends with how well they’re getting along. It’s pretty amazing to watch, honestly.”

“Good.” Tanner took the disinfectant wipes and began to wipe down the chair where his client had sat, “I’ll probably check in before heading to your office. I assume it isn’t anything time sensitive, since you didn’t interrupt my session.”

“No, you’ll be fine checking in first.” With that, Stone headed down the hallway and left Tanner to finish up.

Tanner was on his way to check on his girl when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw Blade’s name lighting up his screen. He quickly accepted the call and stepped into the breakroom for some semblance of privacy.

“Stone told me what’s going on.” Blade started in with no preamble. “I assume you’ve drafted someone to help keep an eye on Diana’s ex?”

“Yeah, of course. I have Rocky on him now and Ham is helping out as well when he isn’t busy with Jane. Ever since Stone had me send him over to check on her, he’s been spending a lot of time there.”

“Any idea what’s going on there?”

“No, Ham refuses to talk about it - something about her swearing him to secrecy - and Jane barely told him anything, so at this point, it’s anyone’s guess. All I know for sure is it’s serious. She took some time off here at the shop. Sapphire is covering for her while she deals with whatever it is.”

“Okay, if you get any new info on it, let me know. In the meantime, see if you can find out how that shit stain even knew we were involved, much less where we stashed her. I have her covered for now, someplace with no records connected to us, so we should be good but we need constant surveillance on him.”

“Way ahead of you on the surveillance and Stone already has Pup on figuring out how he knew. You just focus on keeping Diana safe. Stone and I have this covered, despite my current distractions. You have a VP to keep things going when you can’t. Let him do his job.”

“Yeah, yeah. I just… I don’t know, man. This one seems different for some reason.”

“Yeah, we got that when you insisted on being her constant bodyguard. Now get off the phone and do the job you signed up for. We got this.”

“Okay, let me know if I can help with the other situation. I’ll do what I can from here.”

“Thanks.”

As Tanner ended the call, he thought about what Blade had said about it being different. Tanner wondered if Blade was feeling half of what Tanner felt for Arabella. It worried him. There was a real possibility that his friend and mentor could be hurt. Diana was fresh out of her situation. There was no way she’d be ready for Blade.

Tanner entered Stone’s office after checking in with Arabella. She was doing wonderfully, helping Sapphire come up with ideas for the room in the back. He was hoping it would help her feel comfortable hanging out there because until her douche of an ex was out of the picture, she’d probably be spending a good amount of time in the shop when he had to come back from vacation.

Tanner took in his surroundings and was surprised to find more than just Stone in the office. Off in the corner, sprawled on the couch with his ever-present computer, was Pup. His black hair was long in the front and covered half of his face as he typed rapidly, probably hacking something or other. The kid was an information guru who could find out anything about anyone - a skill the members of Devil’s Wrath had benefited from on multiple occasions when researching their next “client” as they liked to call the women they helped.

Even more surprising was the presence of Ham. Tanner had assumed he would’ve been with Jane, so seeing him here made him begin to worry about what Stone needed to tell him.

“Spike, have a seat.” Stone pointed to the chair in front of his desk and Tanner settled himself there, eager to hear what they had found out just as much as he was dreading it. “First off, I have to say, that girl of yours is strong as fuck.”

“I figured that out the first night I met her.” Tanner was well aware of her strength; it was one of the things he loved most in her.

Love? Do I love her?

It didn’t take him long thinking about it before he came to a conclusion.

Holy hell, I do love her.

He knew it was fast and it would probably freak her out if she knew but God help him, he was desperately in love with Arabella Wright. Now, he just had to make sure she fell in love with him too, and make her safe and free to be who she was.

“She was married to O’Conner for two years,” Stone interrupted his thoughts. “In that time, she visited the ER ten times. With any other person, it would have been reported long before that number of visits, but it wasn’t.”

“Because of his job?”

---