He blinked. "What do youmean?"
"I mean, why pick me? Don't you – doesn't Iris have girls to help you out? I'm not very good withsleuthing."
"You never know until you try," he replied, "and we were considering recruiting a few females anyway." I didn't like how he made it sound like I wouldn't be the only one. "Alex is close to Knix. We're all friends, but they've worked together, and when Knix mentioned wanting to recruit a girl, he recommendedyou."
That had me thinking. "Would you have considered me if he hadn't?" I had to know. Was I just aconvenience?
"Little Bit." Knix captured my chin, angling it towards his and holding me to face his piercing gaze. "We can't know the answer to that. It's like Schrödinger's cat. We would never know unless it hadn't happened that way. But it has. You're with us now." Those blue eyes flickered. "Unless...you don't want tobe?"
"I..." Did I? I stared hard at him, trying to find something in his blue eyes that would tell me theanswer.
"If you don't want to do this, Harlow," Bellamy said. I could barely make out his form in my peripheral vision. "We can find other ways. This job is not solely dependent on you. There's nopressure."
That wasn't quite right, though, because there was pressure. I felt it; the pressure to be good enough for them, to succeed, the pressure to take care of my mom, to finish high school. I shut my eyes, warding off Knix's penetrating gaze. The fingers on my face tightened, but not enough to hurt. He seemed to realize that I couldn'tanswer.
"Do you want to know the rest of the plan?" heasked.
I sighed, relieved, and nodded. He released me, and I relaxedback.
"We had to bump up our timeline because there's a meet and greet with heads of the company and their families. It's something they have never done before, and we assume it's because they want to assure people that everything will be alright, and there will be no morethefts."
"It's free?" I squinted inconfusion.
"The meet and greet?" Knix scrubbed a hand down his jaw line. "Yea, so is the actualretreat."
"Then how do they make money?" It made no sense. A company wouldn't want to be caught stealing from clients. Literally stealing, and not just money fraud, though they wouldn't want that either. It sounded like the boys considered the company the prime suspect. I said asmuch.
Knix's face bloomed into a stunning smile that lit up the room. "That's why you are perfect for our team," he said, causing a blush to rise to my cheeks. "The retreat isn't the company's source of income. They work with a variety of collaborated businesses and wealthy benefactors in the area. This is their way of saying thank you, a perk if you will. It makes them money by keeping their benefactors and business associateshappy."
"Having their things stolen wouldn't make them happy," Ireplied.
He continued to grin. "I was hoping you would pick up on where I was trying to lead you. You didn't let the opinionated version color your own thinking. That's an important quality to keep. But you're right. They wouldn't. We don't believe the company itself is actually responsible. We were informed of this via several different channels: Marv's and the companyitself."
"What's the name of the company?" Iasked.
"It's Sweratt Incorporated," Marv said. I tilted my head. "The company itself does a lot. They run the gambit for legal assistance to website development. There are so many branches to this company, it's difficult to tell where the head is. For this branch, though, it's mostly a contractor for local businesses on securitysystems."
"Has anything been stolen from the actual businesses they workwith?"
I jumped when Bellamy hooted. "Look at her, and she questions if she's cut out for this!" I frowned at him. If this was as crucial as Knix made it seem then he needed to take itseriously.
"Forgive him," Knix said, shaking hishead.
"No, as of right now, there hasn't been any reported breaking or entering. There hasn't been anything reported missing." Texas finally came around to stand next to the couch. "But that's not to say there won'tbe."
I nodded, and quiet fell over theroom.
After a few moments, Knix stood up. "I think it's time to get you something to eat and take you home," heannounced.
"I should probably go now," I agreed. "I haven't checked on mymom."
"Nope." Knix leaned down and plucked me up from the coffee table, throwing me over one wide shoulder. His broad arm wrapped around my waist, holding me up there like a box to be carried and I was so stunned, I didn't fight it. My stomach pressed down into him. His body was so warm. I could feel it through his shirt andmine.
"No?" Ihuffed.
"I checked on your mom just after you left this morning. Marv did it before he met you at themall."
"We actually went to the outlet," Marv said, ever sohelpfully.
Knix turned towards the front door."We'll go out and grab dinner for us and the guys, and then we'll drop you off," hecontinued.
I was still focused on ‘the checking on my mom’ bit. "I locked the door," I grunted, pressing my palms to Knix's back, and arced up, hitting my head on the ceiling. I dropped back down with a whimper. "I have the keys." I reached back, feeling for my butt pocket where the keys were …not. "Where are mykeys?!"
I heard a jingle and Texas rushed ahead to open the front door for Knix. He held my house keys up for me to see. "Marv grabbed them from you on the way to Knix’s this morning. He passed them off to me, and I made copies." He handed them to me and I noticed a few new additions. "You now have a key to our apartment and Knix'shouse."
"Knix's house?" Iasked.
"It's the house you saw this morning," Knix said. He shut the door and carried me down the hall, into the elevator, and out into the parking lot, before setting me down next to the SUV. "Hopin."
They were going to drive me crazy, but I got in the car anyway. Maybe I likedcrazy.