“Fucking ass over teakettle for her. I’ve seen this happen before, and—” his hand went to the back of his neck and he rubbed it furiously—“a man sees red, steps in to defend his woman, and things get messy real quick.”
“Seem to recall things worked out well for you and Arden when you found yourself in that very situation.”
Kyle dropped his hand and shook his head furiously. “Nope, that’s different.”
Alex crossed his arms, amused. “How?”
“I wasn’t in charge of an agency then.” He grinned. “I was allowed to be stupid.”
Alex laughed. “Same old Pup.” He clapped a hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “Even though you’re all grown up now.”
“Jesus, shut it, Grandpa,” Kyle laughed. The men walked out into the hallway. Kyle looked back and forth, but they were alone. “Arden knows this woman. She’s all right, but her family’s trouble. Used to deal pot illegally until Colorado went legal, and now they own a dispensary.”
Kyle confirmed what Alex had already heard. “I thought they owned the coffee shop.”
“That’s her aunt and uncle, who took her in. I’m talking about her parents. Rumor is, there’s still something sketchy about them, especially her brother. He’s doing security for them at the dispensary. You know Sergeant Williams? In charge of Lyons?”
“I do.”
“Had a talk with him and he agrees, we need to keep an eye on this situation with Brianna. I don’t want any retaliation or shit like that.”
“Who’s fucking with Brianna?”
“Guy named Jerold Glass. Owns the car dealership outside of town.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’ve seen the ads.”
“Thinks he’s Tom Cruise,” Kyle said. “Now he thinks he’s top gun with a fiddle. For some reason, he’s decided to pick on Brianna.”
“A coward and a bully.”
“Affirmative. Brock says it’s jealousy, that Brianna’s a shoo-in for first place.” He grinned. “Badger might be a tad biased, but Rachael agrees.”
“She’s one of the judges, so she should know,” Alex said.
“Yeah.” Kyle’s hand almost sneaked to the back of his neck before he realized it and dropped his arm. “The two of them need to be worried about Glass crying favoritism now.”
Ouch. That struck too close to home. Alex searched Kyle’s face for any signs of a double meaning but if Kyle had aimed his remark at Alex, he was hiding it well.
“Sorry this has become a headache so early on,” Alex said.
“Thanks, Chief. Speaking of, I’m holding a security meeting up at the ranch later today. You wanna come?”
“If it’ll help, absolutely.” He clapped Kyle on the arm. “Look, Pup, just wanna say I’m proud of all you’ve accomplished here.”
Kyle shook his head. “You were one of the only guys who believed in me, back when…”
“No need to go into old history, Pup.”
“I appreciate it.”
Alex started toward reception when Kyle stopped him with a word. “Sylvie.”
Her name hit him like a knife between the shoulder blades. “What about her?” Alex turned as casually as he could.
“She’ll be done with training in what? Another month or two?”
“Something like that.”
