Page 3 of Guarding Bristol
“It’s made of fruit.It counts.”Bristol topped up Cassie’s glass and took the mostly empty board to the kitchen.“So, tell me about work.What’s the latest at CPS, the best security company in the entire Pacific Northwest that you love working for and will be eternally thankful I made you apply to earlier this year?”
Being a cop in Vegas had burned Cassie out, and a bad breakup she was annoyingly secretive about had made her miserable.Private security work—and the higher pay—suited her way better.
“Yeah, all right, I’ll give you that one.”Cassie took another sip.“Got a gig coming up later this week, not sure of the details yet.And after that, there’s a security detail for a celebrity coming into town.Good friends with Ryder, apparently.”
“Who?”
“Dunno.I don’t have the details yet.”Cassie got up and took her wine across the living room to examine the framed photos lined up on the shelves along the wall.
“Is this week’s upcoming gig a solo thing, or will you be working with a partner?”
“Partner.”
Bristol watched her.Cassie’s back was to her.That plus the nonchalant tone was a giveaway.“Who?Tristan?”
“Maybe.”Cass swirled her wine, kept her back to her.
Bristol chuckled softly.“Man, you are so twitterpated.”
Cassie shot her a look over her shoulder.“Twitterpated?Who the hell uses that word?”
“Me.And I’m right,” she added smugly.
Cassie huffed and went back to looking at the photos.“You’re not always right.”
“Mostly.What’s he like?Other than his sweet Kentucky twang.”She’d seen him and his twin Gavin around town but never met them.
“He doesn’t have a twang, it’s more subtle than that.And he’s...fine,” she said with a shrug.
“Girl, that goes without saying.As in, fiiiine.”And like most of the former military men around here, they were hot.“But I meant his personality.I’m seriously curious about what kind of guy would have you all tied up in knots.”
“He doesn’t have me tied up in anything, he—wait.”Cassie grabbed a framed photo from the shelf, stared at it a second before looking over at her.“Who’s this?”She marched over, holding it out for Bristol to see.
The one of Eric and four guys in their utilities on a deployment overseas a few years ago.“Some guys in my brother’s unit on deployment.”
Seeing Eric didn’t hurt as much anymore.Time had softened it to an ache instead of the jagged grief she’d felt for those first few months after losing him.
“When was it taken?”
“I dunno, a year or two before we pulled out of Afghanistan.Why?”
“This guy.”Cassie tapped the guy on the far left.“Who is he?”
“Buddy of Eric’s.Why, you recognize him or something?”
“Remember the good Samaritan I told you about from the Portland riots?”
“The guy who rescued Gavin’s daughter from the idiot who grabbed her to use as a shield?”
“Yes.I swear this is him.God, I knew I’d seen him somewhere before.Didn’t put it together until just now.”
Bristol looked at the photo again.“You sure?”
“Almost positive.We still don’t have much information on him.Even Ivy didn’t dig up anything when she looked.”
Ivy, the legendary female badass goddess living right here in Crimson Point.Engaged to one of the heads of Crimson Point Security, it was rumored she used to be some kind of government assassin or something.“Huh.”
“Do you know his name?”
