Page 83 of The Bodyguard

She rolled her eyes.

“But that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Looking wary, she waited. “What?”

“You’re the note bandit, aren’t you?” Over the course of years, someone had left jokes and poems for Jared to find. They usually made the veins in Boss Man’s neck stand out. The content was very in the weeds, sometimes hinting at inside jokes that only ACES would know, other times busting their balls. At one time or another, everyone had been their target, though the focus had been on Jared ninety-nine percent of the time.

“Of course not.”

The corners of her eyes tightened. Was she blinded by the sun, or had bullshit made her twitchy? Writing those jokes and poems would be out of character for her. Then again, Sawyer had learned more about her in the last few days than he had watching her back over the previous few years. “If you say so.”

“Can we go back to the beach house?” she asked. “I have a pair of sunglasses that I love. Not to mention all of the work we’ve accomplished.”

He would let the note-bandit question drop for now. “We don’t need any of that paperwork.” Pham’s people had probably swept through the house already and bagged the intel to pore over. “I’ll get you new sunglasses.”

“All that work’s gone,” she said, pouting.

“You know all of it without having it in front of you.”

After a moment, she seemed to agree. “Then are we off to find a first aid kit? Doctor? Something?”

He restarted the dune buggy. “We’ll find a store and figure everything out from there.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Angela hadn’t believed Sawyer planned to find a store and wing it. She’d been wrong. They walked into a dollar store as it opened for the day. Well, Sawyer walked. Her motion was more of a limp as they shuffled by an entrance decorated with a surplus of beach toys and ice chests. With a flip-flop on one foot and cactus spindles in the bare flesh of the other, she tried to blend in beside a shirtless Sawyer, who had a blood-soaked, bandaged arm. It wasn’t working.

A teenager operated the self-checkout area. When they approached, he took a step back. “Er, welcome to Dollar Island.”

Sawyer painted on his most endearing grin. “Could you help us out?”

The teenager’s jaw dropped. “Er. Uh.” His eyes jumped from Sawyer to Angela and back again. “Are you okay?”

“Not really,” Sawyer said.

“Yeah. It doesn’t look like it.”

“Could I use your phone and first aid kit?”

“I guess.”

The teen’s bloodshot eyes fell to Sawyer’s bloodstained bandage. “You going to call an ambulance?”

“No.”

Angela wasn’t sure that their appearance was all that clouded the clerk’s mind. Maybe he smoked a bowl before they arrived and was now trying to figure out what was happening.

“Um. Phone and first aid kit.” The teen pivoted from one side to the next as though he didn’t know where either item might be. “Yeah, over there.” He pointed at a phone behind the counter. “That’s a phone,” he said as if they might be unfamiliar with the kind of telephone that was attached to a wall. “And, uh.” He looked at Sawyer’s arm again. “The first aid box is inthe backroom. I’ll…” The clerk sidestepped them as though they might bite. “Go get it.”

“Thanks,” she said.

Sawyer rounded the counter, made a short call, and returned to her side. They waited for the teenager to arrive with the first aid kit.

“Did you call Parker?” she asked.

Sawyer nodded, wincing as he inspected his arm.

“What did he say?”

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