Page 11 of Out of the Shadows

CHAPTER FIVE

Fine. Maybe Doc had a point. Bean’s low, throbbing headache had been steadily growing over the last half hour. From the second she’d stepped out of her office, her bossy-ass boss had been peppering her with questions. How was her vision? Did she need ice for her face? Was she sure there weren’t other parts of her that she’d hurt?

Not that she could blame Gavin or anything. She handled almost all the company’s technology. There were three others who’d been trained to monitor the cybersecurity systems of their clients, but if any alarms or alerts were triggered, she was the one they notified to handle it. Bean was also the only one who had clearance to do the deeper research into and for their clients. Yes, she’d handed some things off to Tiny, but nothing that was highly sensitive, which encompassed the majority of her work.

So she understood Gavin’s concern. He had a company to run, after all. With her temporarily out of commission, a lot of Hudson Security’s research work would be at a standstill. Still, she ignored his questions. Not that she wanted to berude. However, the mere thought of speaking had her head throbbing even harder.

As he followed her out to the parking lot, he took the keys to her white Audi out of her hand and grabbed something from her trunk before steering her toward his Hudson Security-issued armored SUV. She didn’t bother questioning him or protesting. She’d recognized that look on his face. The lips pressed together in a tight line, the granite set of his scruffy jaw, the light-gray eyes that challenged her to argue with him.

This wasn’t her first rodeo. She knew when to pick her battles with the man. If he wanted to drive her, then fine. They were heading in the same direction—they were neighbors, after all—so what did it matter?

However, getting into Gavin’s SUV for the short ride home turned out to be a horrible idea. The moment he started driving, everything tilted to the side. A tidal wave of nausea washed over her. Keeping her eyes slammed shut was the only thing that kept her from puking all over his leather upholstery. That and very slow, very steady, and very shallow breaths.

Gavin was talking, and even though his deep rumble was somewhat soothing, she’d stopped listening the second the vehicle was in motion. To be fair though, her growing headache had probably less to do with her fall and the man’s uncharacteristic chatter, and more to do with the budding panic that was building in her chest. The thought of not working for the next day or two? At all? Yeah...

Her lungs squeezed tightly, and unease swirled in her gut.

It was no secret that her life revolved around her work. She hadn’t been lying to Doc earlier when she said she didn’t people well. She didn’t. On top of that, she sure as hell wasn’t the outdoorsy sort. Living in a small, tight-knit, nature-loving island community meant she mostly kept to herself.

Aside from reading, which she didn’t do nearly enough of, Bean didn’t have many hobbies that didn’t involve some sort of screen. When she wasn’t on her computer working, she gamed or decompressed with some mindless coloring or puzzle apps on her tablet.

Super boring? Maybe.

But after digging around people’s pasts and online histories, which tended to be bleak, sordid, or vile—often a combination of all three—she wanted to shut her mind off. Coloring a paint-by-number mandala or immersing herself in a matching-tile game often did the trick.

“B, did you hear me?” Gavin asked as the car slowed.

“Maybe,” she murmured, peeking an eye open. Instead of feeling the relief of finally getting home and being able to get out of the dizzying car, her eyes widened, and she frowned. Gavin had pulled into a driveway.Hisdriveway, not hers. “Why are we at your place?”

“So you didn’t hear me,” he said with a sigh, placing the car in park. “I’ll have one of the guys drop your car off later tonight.”

“Fine. But that doesn’t answer my question.”

His chuckle was low as he shook his head. “You didn’t listen to a single thing I said on the way here, did you?”

She opened her mouth but then snapped it shut. Nope. She hadn’t heard a damn thing. “Refresh my memory.”

Instead of answering, he pushed open his door with a muttered, “Sit tight.” Before she could question him, Gavin rounded the front of the SUV and opened her door.

She sucked in a breath as he quickly leaned over her to undo her seat belt. Big mistake. She caught a hint of cedar and pine, and her stomach pitched. Her frown deepened when she realized the stomach flip waswaydifferent than the earlier nausea-induced ones. Quickly dismissing thethought, she rubbed her aching temples. She must have hit her head harder than she’d thought.

“Come on,” he said, gently gripping her elbow to assist her out of her seat.

She wanted to protest his help on principle, but the second she stood up, everything swayed. His arm was immediately around her waist, and once again, that cedar and pine scent she’d never noticed before filled her nose. Taking her weight, he walked her toward his house. It was a home she was familiar with seeing as they’d been friends and neighbors for years.

The Hudson Security property took up a large portion of the northeast corner of Hudson Island, which Gavin leased from the De La Rosa family. The acreage housed not only their office, but also the facilities and training grounds of Hudson Tactical, a new joint venture between Hudson Security and De La Rosa Gym that utilized employees from both companies—security specialists from Hudson Security and martial arts coaches from De La Rosa Gym—to provide hand-to-hand combat and tactical training to law enforcement types.

Gavin had also purchased an eight-acre lot adjacent to the Hudson Security property from the family and built five houses. His was a four-bedroom, three-bathroom, log-style cabin. The other four were various smaller versions of his home that were for employees. She lived in the one closest to him, Xander was in the one farthest away, and the two cabins in the middle were currently unoccupied and generally used as short-term housing for the handful of employees who were based off island.

A ring sounded as he opened the front door, and she winced at the high-pitched noise. Gavin muttered a curse, leaned her against the wall, and rushed to disarm the alarm. He was back beside her within seconds. With his arm onceagain locked around her waist, he led her into the living room and eased her down onto the couch. “Be right back. Donotmove.”

She wanted to make some sort of smart-ass remark about his bossiness, but her brain was fried. All she could do was sink into the plush leather couch and cringe as her head pounded in time to each of her heartbeats.

After a moment, the cushion beside her sank. “Here, B, take these. If your headache doesn’t get a little better in the next half hour, I’m calling Doc.”

It was a chore to pry her eyes open, but when she did, concerned gray eyes stared back at her. Gavin held out a glass of water and a couple of pain pills. The cool water was soothing as she swallowed them down.

“Thanks, boss man. I’ll be good as new and out of your hair before you know it.”

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