20
Gideon
I pacedfrom one end of my office to the other, too keyed up to even sit down. The rhythmic hiss of the aquarium filter should have soothed my nerves, but at the moment it only sounded like an irritating thrum. What I really wanted to do was punch a hole through the wall, but I knew that chances were I’d break at least one finger in the process.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Gideon,” I muttered. “Get a grip on yourself.”
I was almost certainly the sharpest mind in this building, but I was also an idiot. Mercy had all but spelled out in neon lights that she wanted me. And I’d just sat there like it was nothing to me, when the truth was the total opposite.
If I was being honest, something about her had grabbed my attention from the first instant I’d met her, and she’d only become more fascinating since. The moment this evening when her lips had locked with mine—fuck, I’d never felt anything like that rush of fiery hunger in my life. But just now, I’d been out of sorts after spilling my guts, trying to pull myself back together, and then she’d tossed out that comment out of nowhere—
No, there was no excuse for gaping at her like a dimwit. She’d talked me down from the start of an attack. She’d listened to me confess the ugliest parts of my past and treated me as no less human, no less whole, than she had before. She understood the kind of darkness I faced, and she didn’t shy away from it.
She was everything I could have asked for in any kind of companion, and I’d given her the absolutely wrong impression.
I stopped in front of the espresso machine, but caffeine wasn’t what I needed. I needed that hot mouth under mine, that soft yet powerful body against me…
I’d just go and talk to her. Set the record straight. And she could make of it what she would. That was the only logical approach.
Of course, logical didn’t mean easy. I took several deep breaths and then marched out into the hall, my whole body jittering with anticipation. Unfortunately, the second I’d locked my office door and turned around, I found myself faced with Ezra Noble.
“Gideon,” he said in his typical smooth, assured voice. “Just the man I wanted to see.”
Really? Oh, shit, he probably wanted to know what I’d turned up from the surveillance footage, and I’d have to spell out my failure all over again. I held myself stiffly straight, bracing for it. “What can I do for you, Mr. Noble?”
He wagged his finger at me as if I were a petulant child. “I’ve told you several times, Gideon, you may call me Ezra.”
“Yes… Ezra,” I said.
Ezra smiled at me. It wasn’t a smile I trusted. He might have looked like an older version of my best friend, but Wylder had a number of qualities I appreciated that his father lacked. A willingness to think outside the box and see the strengths in those many would consider weak, for example. Ezra had only grudgingly allowed me to move into the mansion and barely acknowledged my presence until I’d worked out a solid enough setup to start delivering useful intel regularly.
This was a man who only cared about using everyone around him as thoroughly and brutally as possible. Yes, he did what had to be done, but he could also be unnecessarily cruel at times. Especially to Wylder.
He was the one person I’d never be able to protect my best friend from, not as well as I’d have liked to, and some part of me hated him for that.
But tonight he surprised me, though not in a good way. Instead of asking about the footage, he folded his arms over his chest and said, “What do you think of Mercy?”
I blinked. “I’m sorry?” Had he seen her leaving the office—did he have some idea that I’d been heading to her right now?
A flush started to creep up under my skin, but Ezra chuckled lightly and made a dismissive gesture. “Let me be more specific. What do you make of the recent activities on our property that appear to be targeting her?”
Interesting. I had the sense he was fishing for some kind of information. “I would agree that the perpetrator appears to be focused on her,” I said carefully. “All of the incidents have been tied to her in some way.” Did he know about the cat tail and the drawing as well as the more recent intrusions? If not, I wasn’t going to be the one to inform him.
Ezra nodded. “Have you uncovered any evidence pointing to who might be responsible?”
Something in the way he spoke put me even more on the alert. “Not yet,” I admitted. “But the available facts all point to Colt Bryant or someone acting under his direction. The nature of the incidents suggests someone with a deep personal vendetta.”
“Agreed.” Ezra tsked to himself. “She’s being targeted on our property to the point that somebody breached our home to get to her. I can’t help thinking that makes her a liability.”
My hackles came up. If he expected me to agree with that statement, he had no idea who he was talking to. Apparently he didn’t have much idea about Mercy either. But I couldn’t tell him he was an idiot to his face.
“I think we’d have to weigh both sides of the equation,” I said evenly. “We’ve faced some unpleasantness from this intruder, but no one has been harmed. On the other hand, Mercy has already provided valuable intel on multiple occasions and otherwise aided with the success of important operations. I believe her skills and experience will continue to benefit us in many ways.”
“Perhaps not enough to offset the damage if this unstable party continues to escalate their hostilities.”
“I don’t think we have enough data to make predictions about that yet,” I said, which wasn’t actually true. “Besides, you sent her to meet Jasper today, and her presence helped solidify that alliance as well, didn’t it?”
Something in my words made his expression harden. Wylder had told me that Jasper had called up Ezra to tell him something. Now I wondered what it was.