Blindsided (Sentinel Securities) (7 page)

"Not a
date
, date. We just had lunch. Jason is …"

"A
good
friend." The tone of Jason's voice implied far more than the simple friendship angle she was aiming for and she battled to hide her flustered exterior.

"I have to get back to work." She didn't have time for this now. She didn't want to be in the middle of two men eyeing each other as some kind of potential threat. "Thank you for lunch Jason. It was…lovely."

"It certainly was," he dropped his voice into an intimate murmur and from the corner of her eye she saw Steven's frown turn into a glower.

She stepped away before Jason could do anything to further provoke the situation, telling herself she would have
hated
the thought of him kissing her goodbye, and headed back into the hospital to face the last leg of her shift.

Her lunch time encounter with Jason had unsettled her more than she cared to admit. For the remainder of the afternoon she'd found herself avoiding Steven—a difficult task when the man seemed to be finding any excuse he could to come up to her ward. She didn't want to talk about Jason. How was she supposed to explain who he was to Steven, when she had no logical explanation to give herself? What happened to no complications in her life? What part of
no
, didn't the universe understand?

Later that evening as she settled into the corner of her lounge, with a cup of camomile tea, her phone began playing the theme from the movie,
P.S I Love you
and she eyed it suspiciously for a brief moment as the caller ID came up as unknown.
No way,
she murmured, picking up her mobile and accepting the call, albeit hesitantly.

“You didn’t think I’d remember your number did you?” Jason Nash’s deep, sexy voice filled her ear.

“I had my doubts…I stand corrected,” she graciously conceded.

“I’m a man of my word,” he told her feigning insult that she’d doubted him.

“I’m beginning to see that.” There was a small silence that followed and Brie chewed on her lip as she fought this silly wave of nervousness she found herself trying to rise above.

“I’d like to see you again.”

And just like that the quiver of something she hadn’t felt in a long time snaked its way through her nether regions and she panicked.
He may be sexy as sin, but he’s not the type who’s looking for a ready-made family,
her no-nonsense, sensible shoe wearing, side said.
Who said you had to lock into a serious relationship? You have needs, woman…for all that’s holy, jump that bad boy and end our misery!
her outspoken, stiletto wearing,
sex starved side,
begged.

“I’m really boring—I mean,
really
boring. I’m excited when I can manage to find all the matching socks in my folding pile. I work a lot of nightshift—I’m tired and grumpy most of the time, I can’t even remember the last time I went out on a date or wore clothes that have to be ironed. I spend most of my free time trying to keep up with the laundry and…I have a baby…” she blurted.
Are you serious?
her pathetic libido, screamed in outrage.
Don’t tell him that!

His chuckle played havoc with her senses once again. “I don’t know how you’ve come to the conclusion that I’m some kind of party animal,” he said, his voice laced with amusement.

His words gave her pause.
Had she been making assumptions?
She hated when people did that! She
never
usually did that. Instantly her resolve weakened. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I have been jumping to a lot of conclusions where you’re concerned,” she admitted somewhat sheepishly.

“Oh? Really? A lot huh? Well you better tell me what other things you’ve assumed about me so I have a chance to defend myself,” his voice held a hint of amusement and she found a smile beginning to tug at her lips.

“
A lot
, may have been a slight exaggeration…I actually haven’t had that much time to think much about you at all,” she lied.

“Really? well that sucks. I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

She was in way over her head with this guy…if she were thinking about dipping her toe...or any other part of her anatomy for that matter, into the waters of adult companionship,
she almost choked on that attempt to fancy up what she knew full well was really a one night stand with really hot sex
, then she shouldn’t be jumping into this end of the male specimen pool…she should be starting out with something far more beginner friendly...somewhere down in the shallow end…somewhere down near,
Steven.

Instantly there was a shriek of outrage inside her head
. Are you out of your freakin mind woman? Were you
not there
when the guy had his shirt off in your kitchen last night? We are
not
going to move down to the shallow end. We. Are. Staying. Right. Here!

“So, can I see you tomorrow?”

There was a part of her that was secretly thrilled by his forthright pursuing …but there was another part—a much, harder to impress part, the one that took her responsibility to her child and job seriously, who was a little less eager to melt into a gooey puddle at his feet. Men didn’t do this—they didn’t turn up at workplaces with gourmet picnic lunches in the park or appear on your doorstep with flowers or commit phone numbers to memory…not to
her
anyway! There was still that tiny niggle of a doubt…
why me?
hovering in the back of her mind.

“I’m working tomorrow,” she hedged.

“I’ll call you after work then,” he said, saying goodnight before she had a chance to argue.

Brie put her phone down on the coffee table before her, and glared at it uneasily. She could feel her good intentions slipping further and further away with every thought of the damn man. Maybe she’d just lose herself in a good book and forget about Mr tall, hot and annoying for a while. Two pages into the book, she met with a rather steamy love scene and found herself picturing Jason’s face as the hero. Realising she was more than a little aroused by the thought she quickly shut the book and tossed it onto the table next to her phone. Well that hadn’t worked, so it was off to plan B…a sure fire way to wipe any remaining wayward thoughts from her over stimulated body and mind…she’d
clean the bloody oven!

****

The afternoon was warm and the sky a beautiful, clear blue as Brie walked from the hospital and headed for the parking lot. She took a deep breath of the lemon gum scented air from the massive trees that bordered the car park and felt the tension of the day melt away. The loud growl and rev of a big engine drew Brie's attention as three large Harley’s entered the car park and began slowly idling up and down the rows. She waited on the gutter for the bikes to pass so she could cross over to get to her car.  A shiver ran up her spine as she took in the long hair and bandanas tied around the men's foreheads. The skull masks that covered their lower faces to protect them against the wind were more of a graphic warning not to mess with them as opposed to any form of safety gear, but it served its purpose. One of the bikers held her gaze in a cold, unflinching stare as he went by. Just as he passed by at the last minute, he lifted a hand, holding his thumb and fore finger in the shape of a gun, aiming it at her before gunning his engine loudly. Brie continued to watch their retreat, her legs not quite steady and her heart beating a great deal faster than it had been before. A quiver of something menacing tapped at her subconscious, but she refused to give it any further consideration. She had no idea what that had been about and she had no desire to stick around and find out.

Crossing to her car, she looked over her shoulder, and saw the three bikes parked and watching her. Picking up her pace, she fumbled for her keys. A look over her shoulder and she saw that the men weren't moving, they simply sat on the bikes, watching her from a few rows away.

Don’t be such an alarmist, she scolded herself. For goodness sake—you’re over reacting. They’re probably just bored and think this is fun to spook passer-by’s. Well it was working.  The way they were dressed, the terrifying masks that were designed to intimidate people with the evil, skull like features…everything about these men was deliberately… scary. And you scuttling around like a nervous ninny just providing them with entertainment!  She wasn't one to make rash judgments on others and she knew that bikers were sometimes given a bad rap even when most were not affiliated with the fearsome gangs that made the news. Most had hearts of gold and did amazing work throughout the community…but nothing about these three men could be mistaken for rough diamonds…there was a definite air of menace about them and the thought increased her haste to get inside her car and lock the door.

Once inside, she tried to ignore the thumping of her heart rate and slid the key into the ignition, closing her eyes against a rush of panic as she heard the bikes idle past and roar off down the road. Taking a few deep, calming breathes she carefully put her car in reverse and concentrated on backing out of her park. She didn't need any more trouble in her life; she had enough of it already. And most of it seemed to start with the moment she’d ran over Jason Nash.

****

"I'm going down there." Nash said, grabbing his helmet off the table and making to move toward his bike.

"Just wait a minute. We don't know for sure these guys have anything to do with the Three
of
Swords. Could be just a coincidence," Mac tried to reason.

"What if it isn’t? She's going to head back to the house and they'll be following her."

"And we've got Gracie, Casper and Nick within a cooee of her. She'll be safe, they won’t let her go back there if there's any sign of trouble. Now, just settle petal and see what happens."

Nash swore under his breath
,
but Mac was right, there was no point tearing down there if nothing was wrong. Not only would it make Brie suspicious, it would undo all his hard work trying to gain her trust…and yet he had a really bad feeling about all this. How could it be a coincidence that a bunch of bikers were patrolling in her neighbourhood like that?

"They’re tailin’ her, boss." Gracie's voice came over the radio again and Nash didn't wait this time, he grabbed his helmet and pushed the earpiece to the radio into his ear as he ran toward to the bike.

"Don't get in the way
,
Nash. Just hang back until the guys let us know what's going on!" Mac warned as he grabbed for the radio. He'd been around Nash long enough to know there was no way he was going to talk him out of hanging around the office this time. Nash had to get down there and see for himself what the hell was going on.

He needed to be there, all this waiting around was driving him nuts.

As he rode through the traffic, his mind was fixed solely upon the task at hand. He went through various scenarios in his head about what might happen once he reached Brie's house, but in the meantime, his reflexes were on automatic as he weaved his way through traffic and down back streets to avoid the worst of the afternoon traffic. 

He’d been happy to believe Mac earlier when he put forward the possibility these guys might not be connected to the Three
of
Swords…but there was no way they could deny it now—not if they were following her. They had to make sure these guys lost Brie before she led them straight to her house. Already he was running through a few ideas and organising a few back up plans. It was good to have his mind occupied. If nothing else, it gave him something useful to think about other than the bleak thoughts of Brie being in danger, which was not at all conducive to keeping a straight head on his shoulders.

****

Brie arrived home and decided to forget about the washing that was threatening to overflow from the washing basket onto the laundry floor at any moment and opted to take Lucy to the park instead.

The park was an easy walk from her unit and Brie chided herself for being so slack that she hadn't been down here more often. She used the excuse that Gladys always brought Lucy down here to play on the playground equipment through the day to justify coming here after work, but the truth was she was usually exhausted by the time she arrived home after afternoon shift to drag herself out of the house again.

The sun warmed her shoulders and the happy chatter of her daughter skipping along beside her brought a smile to her face. As tired as she was, it actually felt great to get out and walk. She was going to turn a new leaf, she decided. From now on, when she did afternoon shift, she'd make the effort to bring Lucy down to the park...unless it was raining…or it got too cold once autumn hit…with a sigh, she wondered just how many times she'd actually manage to keep this new promise. Life had a nasty way of ruining all her good intensions.

Her NUM had always been great to her, keeping in mind she was a single mum and had a 3 year old at home. As often as possible, she was given the day shift in order to be able to be home at a decent hour and spend time with Lucy, but Brie was aware that there were lots of others who also had children and she accepted without qualm that the shifts had to be shared around equally. Still, it could be worse, as much as she missed seeing her daughter when she had a run of early and lates, finishing at nine at night and starting the next morning at six, she could never repay the debt she owed to Gladys who was there to care for Lucy. The woman was as dear to her and as close as a mother. If she had to be away from Lucy, at least knowing her daughter had Gladys to take care of her was a small comfort. She would have hated to have left Lucy in a day-care centre all the time. Gladys was now family and that made all the difference in the world.