Page 133 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

But I didn’t get to finish because Cash came storming through the door with murder written on his face. “What the fuck happened?”

“She killed the guy.”

“I can see that, but why did she have to? You were supposed to be with her!”

“Excuse me,” I interjected, “but can we go back to why I was being followed?”

“Clearly, you needed it!”

“Clearly? Everyone’s throwing around that word right now, butclearly, I don’t understand why.”

The door swung open again and Eli came storming through with Kavanaugh and Red. “Fuck, I told you this wouldn’t work. Clearly, she’s not up for being on her own.”

I tossed up my hands in frustration and turned away. “Do you see what I did?” I pointed at the man. “Me, that was all me. I didn’t do it with anyone else’s help. It was all me.”

“See?” Cash grinned. “Clearly, she’s ready.”

“Ready for what?” I asked.

“To come home,” he retorted. “I knew it the moment I saw you all pissed off when he stormed in here.”

I was about to say something, but paused. “Wait, you saw me come in here?”

He opened his mouth, then shut it, clearing his throat. “Well…on the camera.”

“What camera?” I asked, looking around the gas station. “That one?” I pointed to the corner.

“No, the uh…the one on your shirt. See, I was able to have Rae bounce the image off the glass and I saw the whole thing as I was driving over.”

His lips tightened as he waited for my response. I didn’t know if I should yell at him or kiss him. So, he did worry about me leaving. He didn’t want me to go, but he knew I needed to. And he had cameras installed on me so he could keep an eye on me.

“What else did you do?”

“Sorry, what?” he asked, pretending like he didn’t understand the question.

“You had Fox follow me, and you had a camera put on my shirt. What else?”

“They’re…also in your purse. And there are tracking devices in your luggage, shoes…a few other places that might not be acceptable to talk about in mixed company.”

“And?” I pressed.

“And I also have a biometric sensor monitoring your vitals. It’s sent to my phone,” he said, pulling it out of his pocket and giving it a shake.

“Anything else?”

“Do you really want to know?”

The thing was, I really didn’t. I had unknowingly accomplished my goal of knowing I could hack it on my own in the first ten minutes of the trip. Cash felt better about it and so did I. So, why was I still fighting this? I didn’t need him, but I wanted him, and in the end, that was all that really mattered.

“I’m going to need my knife removed from his neck.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s evidence now.”

“And I’m going to need my own gun.”

“Not until you have a few more lessons.”

“And you can’t have Fox follow me wherever I go. I need to know that you trust me to take care of myself.”

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