The blue light filtering glasses are working overtime to combat the hours I've spent staring at my screen. I tried multiple times to convince Riggs to get me a second monitor, but he urged me to make do with what I had. I have, but I can't deny a second screen would at least cut down on the time I've spent pulling up and reducing windows. It's a stupid sticking point, but I'm already working under less than optimal conditions. An additional monitor seems like a small ask at this point considering my workload. Security, research, both take an exorbitant amount of time and energy.
The printer hums with the latest schematics for our next job. Similar in layout to the branch we pulled Callie from, I expect a fairly simple in-and-out. Just like every other bank we've hit, it's not the layout and security that are the problem. It's people as Callie was so kind to illustrate. They're unpredictable.
I don't know why Kace was even on my ass about getting started on them. It's not as if we can really pull another job right now. Not only do we have Callie to think about, but because of her, additional heat. While it'll never leave my lips, he is right about that. Callie's presence makes everything harder.
And now all I can think about is the way she tasted on my tongue. Not exactly the kind of thing that keeps my head focused. The only thing focused is the blood flow to my dick.
I will it to calm down with the most depressing thoughts I can, Nina Tucker. Full Metal Alchemist does it every time. Better than any naked grandma mental image. The shudder that flows through my spine is completely involuntary.
Between Kace breathing down my neck about the upcoming job and his need to research it, Riggs on me about Callie, and Jax's OCD at an all time high, I'm spread thin. Not that any of them notice.
It's fine.
Really.
It's the least I can do. Hell, if I hadn't been so adamant that they let me in the field, none of this would be happening. But that's a story for another day.
Our family meeting only let me share the surface of what I had found out about our brunette vixen. The girl I see on my screen is a far cry from the woman wrapping herself around my every thought. Sun kissed skin and haunted eyes pair with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes next to a picture-perfect cowboy whose grip is just a pinch too tight to be loving.
A far cry from the skittish woman who bites back when cornered. Further research shows the cowboy in a police uniform, then a sheriff's deputy. Accolades decorate the man, with numerous pictures of him and his high school sweetheart Calista Wallis. A person would have to be blind not to notice the light dimming in her eyes between each photo. She's a ghost compared to the woman that kissed me like her life depended on it.
Digging into her reveals a lot less than I would like. Calista Wallis all but disappears three years ago. In her place springs up Calista "Callie" Danvers. Just enough of a history to keep anyone from digging too deep. A high school career spent in Dallas; she could easily fall into the cracks of such a large school district. A job history spread out amongst mom and pop shops who have since closed or chain stores with managers who no longer work for the company, suspicious but not unheard of. Her references seem to have checked out when called upon.
Nah, the spot that has a hold on my attention is the name on her gentleman caller. Colton Barnes, decorated officer and deputy. Son of Christopher Barnes, Grayson County Sheriff for the past fifteen years. Well, if I was looking for any red flags, there are about fifteen of them all dressed in cowboy hats and boots.
I suck my teeth at my luck. No wonder she wanted us to stay out of the county. I do not want to be the one who tells her where we really are. Someone has to stay on her good side.
Judging by the pictures, I'm not too worried, but those only tell so much. I should know. I sure as hell surprised the federal agents who came bursting through my door with an arrest warrant. Suffice to say, they weren't expecting a pimple faced fourteen-year-old me to be behind one of their biggest breaches. It wasn't anything stupid like trying to see if Area 51 was real or not. No, I just wanted to see if the FBI really killed MLK. It was the CIA.
In my younger years, I had been too cocky and signed my work. Had to let them know who had outsmarted them. Should have known you can't out smart Uncle Sam. Locked in a room with Jax for twelve hours would have lesser men piss themselves. Instead I got signed up for a life of servitude and service to the good old US of A.
Nine years later and here I am, better trained, no less cocky, but a hell of a lot smarter. I like to think I cover my tracks better now.
Digging into the Carter County police records for who's on our case shows a transfer. Lucky us. As long as we stay focused on our goal of hitting the Hamilton's, we should be able to stay under the federal radar. Callie is a complication that could change that. If only we could have met her some other way.
No point wasting time with 'what ifs'.
Rubbing my eyes and the bridge of my nose brings an ounce of clarity. She's been worried sick over her Aunt. It shouldn't be too hard to look the woman up. If the officers on her case were smart, they'd have her flagged, but this is county. Rural county cops. I'm not too worried about their technical savvy. Not against me.
Just like I thought, her information was easy to find. Rachel Lee Danvers. Age 58. No biological children; became sole guardian of one Calista Wallis ten years ago after her sister died in a car accident. Currently resides at Happy Tree Friends Assisted Living. Incident reports for, I stifle a laugh as I read on. Callie did try to tell us she was a bit of a character. Whiskey socials that left other residents stumbling out of her apartment, and it appears she gave poor Mrs. Johnson down the hall a minor heart attack when she saw the strippers dressed as firemen that arrived for her birthday.
Not hard to see where Callie got her wild streak from. I wasn't lying to Callie earlier. Not on purpose. The look she had when I told her I was hurt, it was like her whole body crumpled. So I may have been a little less honest than I had been planning on.
Does it bug me that she hooked up Jax...no? Haven't exactly worked through my feelings on it. I mean I know Kace has no shot with her, at least if he insists on keeping that stick up his ass around her. Riggs, well I don't know what is going on there, but I'd have to be blind not to see the way they watch each other when they think the other isn't looking. But, Jax? It's not a betrayal exactly because her choices are her own and he's an... okay maybe great guy is a bit of a stretch. The man is terrifying. Though terrifying is great when it's on your side and he's loyal. That I can count on. Jaxson is an entity unto himself.
I just want to know that she still thinks of me as more than just safe. Maybe it's a bit insecure of me, but I want to be the guy she chooses, or at least one of them. I already share everything else with these guys.
Callie seems like a woman with more than enough heart to go around and I'd be lucky if she considered me hers.
My musings have me distracted enough from my work that my headphones lie half off my head allowing me to hear the knocks at my door for once.
"Come in," I wave out of habit. One day I'll remember that people can't see my hand gestures through a door or headset. Today is not that day.
Riggs stands in my doorway with a face full of restrained mirth as his shoulders shake. "Hate to add more to your plate, but is there any way we could get this out to her aunt? Without it being tracked back to us?"
He doesn't even need to say her name. It's obvious Callie is the only her in our lives right now. Funny how we're all on the same page about taking care of her. Well, most of us.
Dumbass.
Handing over the sheet of paper, I finally see what had him chuckling. "Do I even want to ask," my brow arches. This is so unlike the man he's been since 'the incident'. It's like a glimpse of the old Riggs.
"I wasn't going to just hand her a pencil. Pretty sure I still have lead in my hand left over from a first grade stabbing."
"Let me guess, the other half of the dynamic duo?"
"Always. Pretty sure it's what solidified our friendship. After I punched him in the face for it. Funny how I don't remember what it is he stabbed me over," he says with a twist of his mouth.
Looking over the words she's scribbled gives me an insight into her that I could only glimpse through her absent-minded murmurs when she thinks no one is listening. This girl.
"Do I need to double check anything or just get it out?"
I watch as his hands itch to rub at his neck. A nervous tick of his that he's worked hard to overcome. I doubt he even realizes he does it anymore. "No, just get it sent if you can. Don't take any unnecessary risks."
He should know me better by now. I keep to myself that this whole thing is an unnecessary risk. He already knows, but I get it. Saying the words helps to offset the knowledge that you're making a mistake. I'm guilty of it myself.
"Got it, Boss Man," I say with a quick salute.