“He’s clean, not squeaky, but clean enough not to raise any red flags.”
Jack’s laugh caught me off guard.
“What’s so funny?”
“Sorry, man, but Ashley literally calls him Red Flag Finn.”
“Why?” My question was more of a barked order. Why the hell hadn’t they done something before he laid hands on her?
“Damn, dude, you need to calm down. Especially if you want to fix things with Ashley,” Jack said.
Great, another Sheppard butting into my private life and telling me what I didn’t want to hear.
“There’s nothing to fix with Ashley.” This time my tone was less aggressive, though no one would call it polite or friendly.
“Okay,” Jack said, drawing out the ‘o’ and clearly not buying what I was selling.
Jamie brought us back to the subject that mattered. “Apparently she broke up with him because he was exhibiting controlling behavior, and, I quote, ‘he’s a selfish douchebag’.”
“Why didn’t you look into him earlier?” I growled. If I hadn’t shown up today, he could have hurt her. I clenched and unclenched my fists as I thought about pounding the shit out of Finn. His social media posts gave me pause but wouldn’t have concerned me without hearing what they’d just told me. But add them together, and Finn could be more dangerous than I thought.
“Because we just found out. That’s why we’re looking now,” Jamie said.
“How’d you find out?” My frustration was obvious from my tone. It didn’t matter that I had no right to worry; knowing she might be in danger was killing me.
“Dude, seriously, you need to get a grip,” Jack warned.
I ran my hand through my hair, then down my face. My fingers brushing against my scar reminded me how quickly a situation could turn to shit. I had to remind myself the Sheppard’s weren’t just my bosses; they considered Ashley family and would do everything in their power to help her.
If they’d known, or even thought, he was a threat to her safety, they would’ve done something.
“I’m sorry. I’m worried she’s in danger and doesn’t realize it.”
“So are we.” There was a pause. “It’s late, and I’m done listening to you growl. Email us what you found, and we’ll discuss it in the morning,” Jamie said.
“Right. Sorry. You’ll have the email within thirty.”
“Thanks. Get some rest,” Jamie said.
Jack said goodbye before adding, “And Blaszek, let’s leave the caveman attitude at home, yeah?”
“Copy that.” They didn’t deserve my attitude.
I disconnected the call and opened my laptop. I hadn’t finished entering their email addresses when my phone alerted me that my dinner was here.
I chomped into my burger before typing out the email. By the time I finished, my burger was lukewarm and my fries were soggy. Shrugging, I took a bite.I’ve eaten worse.
Chapter 13
Ashley
“Gran I—” A thud from the kitchen interrupted me. “What the hell?”
I raced to the kitchen to see Prince sitting on the counter, licking a paw. On the floor in front of him was my bottle of vanilla creamer, creating a puddle as it spilled out of a crack in the plastic bottle.
“Stupid cat.” I grabbed the roll of paper towels and got down on my hands and knees to clean the mess off the brown marbled floor tiles.
I spent extra time to make sure it was clean and dry so Gran wouldn’t slip.
