I stiffened. Mind racing as to what I should or shouldn’t say. I liked Deck. I wasn’t fond of Kai, but that was more because he scared me. Tyler was cute and funny, Josh quiet, and Vic… well, Vic was the scariest of them all, but he had gone panty shopping with me and hadn’t killed me even if he looked like he’d wanted to.
“He didn’t really want anything important,” I said.
Deck’s brows lifted. Yeah, that answer wasn’t going to cut it with these guys.
I was saved from saying anything else when Vic and Josh strode into the room. “Three windows need wiring upstairs,” Vic said. “Alarm on three doors downstairs, eight windows, new deadbolts front and side doors.” Then Vic’s eyes cut to me. “Use the air conditioner. Windows stay shut from now on.”
Deck said to Deaglan, “Do you need to call Kite? We’ll cover the costs.”
He shrugged. “No, he left me to deal with the house. And if it’s upgrades, I’ll pay out of the money she left us. Kite sure as hell doesn’t need the money and I don’t care about it so if we can use it to upgrade the house, all the better.”
Josh said something to Vic and they walked out, Vic with his cell in his hand typing something. Then the screen door opened and shut.
“You’re not on a job?” Deck asked Deaglan.
“Nope. Just tidied one up before heading to Ireland. I’m free.”
“Good, may need you. I’ll be in touch with the details.”
“Sure thing,” Deaglan said while taking out his phone. “I have to finish scraping that piece of shit cabana before dark.”
“Be faster to tear it down and build a new one,” Tyler said.
Deaglan huffed. “Reckon it would. But that was her tea spot, kind of attached to it now. Before she died, every fuckin’ afternoon unless the weather was bad, she sat there.” He headed for the door while typing on his phone then hesitated and looked over his shoulder at me. “You get scared, pet, my door is always open.”
Deaglan may not have the look of one of Deck’s commando guys, but he definitely had the arrogance of one. “Thanks. I’ll be fine.” And all of this was overkill. Deaglan went back to typing on his phone and left. I turned to Deck. “I don’t think all this is really necessary,” I said.
“Yeah. It is. He’ll be back.” That was Kai. “And from his fist smashing in to the brick wall above your head at the bar, I’d say you need a fuck of a lot more than an alarm. But Deck seems to think Connor will be more receptive to getting help if we don’t piss him off too much.”
Goose bumps rose on my arms at the thought of Connor coming back. They were making certain he stayed out of my house when all I wanted to do was let him in. Although, maybe the alarm wasn’t to keep him out, but rather a warning for them so they could find him.
Deck’s piercing eyes narrowed in on me. “Where’s his head at, Alina? What did he say to you in the bar?”
All eyes focused on me and I felt like I was facing a firing squad of hot men. I swallowed, not wanting to answer, but knowing he’d push until he had something, so I gave a partial truth. “He came to say goodbye to me.”
Kai chuckled while shaking his head. “Yeah, that’s bullshit. He had that chance when he left you tied up in a fuckin’ sewer.” My eyes shot to Kai. “The man I saw wasn’t coming to say goodbye. He may think that. May have told you that. But the only way that guy is saying goodbye to you is if he’s fuckin’ dead. And my guess is that’s the only reason why he left you in the sewer and told us to get you out in the first place. He thought he was going to die from the drug withdrawal.”
My eyes widened, heart pounded and my body quivered. I lowered onto the arm of the couch before my legs gave out.
Deck had his arms crossed, legs shoulder-width apart as he stared at his feet as if contemplating.
After a minute, he lifted his head. “We search every known place he used to go to in the area. If he’s remembering shit, he may return to one of them. Tyler, I want a printout of all hotel guests within a twenty-mile radius. Those who have paid cash and have no checkout time. He’ll be using another name. Not sure how he’s getting money, but I assume Vault had him set up with an account with access to cash.” Kai nodded to confirm this. “Okay, that means he can easily get what he needs. I want silence on this. No authorities unless he becomes a threat. All I want to do is talk to him for now.” His eyes landed on me. “Alina, I get you want to protect him. There’s history between you. But you know Connor is my best friend. Is, Alina. Don’t give a fuck if it’s been eleven years and he’s not the man he was. We don’t leave a man behind. You get what I’m saying?”