He nodded but tangled his hands together in front of him on top of the bar. To his credit, he only looked at the door once, but I could see there was something on his mind. If there was anyone suddenly capable of looking uncomfortably comfortable, it was Howard Sutton.
“They’re watching The Hut, Ayda.”
This wasn’t a surprise to me. Slater had noticed them, along with half of the other guys that had come and gone this morning. I’d already received a couple of texts about it. We’d been ignoring them, maintaining the fact that we had nothing to hide, but I could see why that would make Howard uncomfortable. He wasn’t supposed to be showing off his connection with us. Not as blatantly as this, anyway.
“You shouldn’t technically be here, I’m guessing?” I asked.
“Probably not.” He paused and looked around the place, his cheeks ballooning as he released his breath. “You want to take a ride to Rusty’s for lunch?”
“Sure. Let me text Drew and let him know.”
Howard rose beside me and watched as I pulled out my phone and typed in where I was going, who I was with, and who was watching my back before sliding the phone into my pocket and following Howard to the door. I knew, without adoubt, that Deeks would be following me any second now. He was set on automatic Protect Ayda mode, and that only ever made me smile to myself.
Howard and I were sitting in his car before either of us spoke again. He’d just waved to the two cops watching The Hut, and I couldn’t help but smile as they stayed where they were and just narrowed their eyes in our general direction. I wondered whether they would follow Deeks when he pulled out, forcing them to have to put yet another car on The Hut. With all the guys going in their own directions on any given day, I was pretty sure they’d run out of cars long before we’d run out of guys.
“Do they think you’re questioning me?”
“Not exactly sure what those a-holes think. They’ve been at my station moving crap around and making demands of my staff like they own the place.”
Howard’s frustration was very real. He didn’t like that kind of authority hanging around, and from the looks of things, he really didn’t like that they were using his station as a base of operations. Especially after they’d all but accused him of betraying his position after the mess at Rusty’s.
“You’ve been working a lot lately,” I commented quietly.
Glancing over at me for a second, Sutton quirked an eyebrow before turning his gaze back to the road. “I don’t like strangers in my house. They’re loud and disrespectful. Why? Has Sloane been complaining?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
Howard gave me a single nod as he turned toward the diner. The man still didn’t like to get chatty about his personal life. He never really had. I think that was why he’d always hated when Sloane and Tate had been together. He had to deal with all the pleasantries that came along with that—something Maisey had taken over for him after they’d married. Thinking about Maisey suddenly made me think about the kidsthey’d had together.
“How are the twins?”
“Growing up too fast,” he said after a beat. “They’ve been asking after their momma a lot. Sloane always manages to field the questions, but she’s spending more and more time with Tate and his friends. I’ve been trying to find them alternative care.”
“Bet that’s expensive.”
“It’s insanity, but I can’t keep asking Sloane to give up her teen years being a mother she’d never wanted to be.” He turned onto the highway and sped up. Rusty’s giant sign was barely on the horizon, so I kept talking.
“How’s Helen?”
Sutton did a double take on me like I’d lost my damn mind. I supposed it would seem that way after the warning Drew had issued with her release. Me? I was genuinely curious.
“Helen Taylor is terrified, Ayda. Her whole life has been turned upside down. She was being held captive, her husband was murdered, and now her life has been threatened.”
“Has she spoken to her girls yet?”
“What is with all the questions?”
“It’s called a conversation, Howard. I was just curious. I know Helen was worried about them while she was with us, and I figured the first thing she would have done when she was free was call them.”
“She did. Apparently, they’re fine and looking forward to seeing their mom.”
“That’s good.”
He looked my way again, disbelief keeping his gaze on me for an uncomfortable moment. It had only been a few days since Helen’s release. He surely had to know that we didn’t wish her any real harm. We were just protecting ourselves from a very real threat.
“So, you and her have history, then?”
“Nope, not going there. New topic.” He was pulling into a spot at Rusty’s, and he killed the engine. “Before you ask, I can’t tell you anything about Jedd, either, because I still don’t know anything. But I appreciate you holding off asking for this long.”
