Chapter 3

Opening my own security firm after getting more gig work at private security than I could handle had been my best idea. I had brought my brothers on board, each of them a remarkable asset in their own right, bringing the strengths of their own personalities and experiences to the table.

We had four full-time guards and twelve part timers currently, but it was time to add to the roster. I wanted to promote Ballard and Jenkins to full-time. They'd proven themselves and it would give us three full-time females in private security, which we needed. That put us with at least two vacancies for part-time private security guards.

I buzzed Jasmine and asked her to come to my office. She was through the door and seated before I figured out exactly what I wanted to say.

"What's up, boss?" she inquired.

"I was looking over the calendar last night and we're booked out solid for the next month and filling up for the six weeks past that."

"I thought that was a good thing," she said, sitting forward. "Is there a problem?"

"Only the good kind of problem to have, which is more work than we can handle responsibly with our staff. It's time to bring a few more part-timers on board to fill in the gaps and cover if anybody has something come up," I said.

"How many? Two more?"

"I want to talk to everybody today about moving Ballard and Jenkins up to full-time. That would give us a couple blank spaces on the part-time list. I'd like to add another one just to cover absences, family emergencies, that kind of thing."

"Three. Got it. Do I need to set up a time for you guys to meet about the promotions?"

"I'll message them. I'd like you to get an ad ready for our website and anyplace else you think."

"Last time, we advertised on Indeed, the local paper, the community job board on Facebook, and put it up on our site. Sound good?" she said.

"Perfect. Thanks."

"I'll email you the ad copy in a few minutes to see if you want to tweak anything. Let me know when you want it to go live."

I messaged my brothers in our group chat and asked when we could meet today about promotions and hiring.

Only free at noon, Ty replied.

In DC till seven,Drew said.

No word from Eli. When I looked at the calendar I saw he was in still in a meeting as interpreter for a Chilean entrepreneur.

All right,I messaged back, proves my point for me. We need more help here. I want to promote Ballard and Jenkins and advertise for three new part-timers. Thoughts?

Works for me,Drew answered.

Good call on promos. 3 is good, we need someone to cover, Ty said.

I approved the ad Jasmine sent to my email and gave her the green light to post it. I called Deacon Hodge, one of our full-time staff, and told him I'd pick him up in twenty minutes for our scheduled job. Looking around the office and thinking ahead to the tasks in front of me for the day, I slid my hands in my pockets and let myself have a moment of satisfaction.

My brothers and I got to work together in a business we loved and enjoyed the financial success that came with it. I had everything I wanted, and I was proud of the Burns boys. We made good, and our parents would be proud of us if they were here to see it. I was content and grateful for my place in the world and what I'd been able to accomplish. The only thing I didn't have was someone to share my life with—apart from my brothers.

We'd spent years building our brand and working hard to reach this level with our firm. I didn't have time for dating, and I wasn't going to put a cheesy profile on some dating application where I pretended to like long walks and shit like that. It's not that I wasn't looking to slow down, but I didn't watch Hallmark movies and wished I lived on a Christmas tree farm or anything. I did think that by thirty-two I would have had a family, but it wasn't to be, so I was content with my work success.

Four hours later I was doing a perimeter check for a client and noting how I thought they should adjust their exterior cameras to get a better field of vision and listing which parts of the landscaping were blocking the line of sight. I could tell that the gardener had a lot of trimming in their future. I thought about all these rich people with their giant, stupid shrubbery with special outdoor lights on it.

That was the zone I was in when my phone rang. It was Jasmine's cell number on screen, not the office. She never called while we were on a job as I was now, and it would have been unusual for her to text during that time unless it was critical. I answered instantly.

"Hey," I said, concerned.

She didn't answer immediately and my instincts picked up on it with a spike of adrenaline. Something was very wrong. I heard a squeaky sound and a ragged breath on the other end of the call.

"Jas, answer me," I said sternly, trying to hide my worry and sounding impatient instead.

"Sorry," she managed to say, her voice too high and shaky. She was crying.

"Are you okay?" I said, my voice too gruff.

"I'm okay. I shouldn't have called you," she blurted in a rush. "I just freaked out. I had a bunch of alerts that we had job applicants already. When I went to look at them, one of them was—was Chris. My ex."

Shit, I thought, but had to stop myself from saying it out loud.

"Okay. I'm glad you told me. You did the right thing calling. Now let me think," I said.

I pulled up the locations on my brothers, sent them an urgent text, Eli was the closest to the office and said he was on his way there the second he got my message.

"You're there by yourself, right? Okay, then lock up and stay put and one of us will be there in ten minutes. Can you do that?"

"Yeah. You don't have to send someone to babysit me, Jake."

"I'm not sending a babysitter. You know our mission. We protect our own at all costs."

"Thank you, Jake. There's not really any danger, nothing immediate, but it made me feel better to hear your voice if that makes sense. I needed you to know what was going on."

"It makes sense," I said, my gut twisting at the mix of tenderness and fear in her voice. "We've got your back. Do you want to stay on the line and talk to you until somebody gets there?"

"No, it's all right. I'm going to go lock up and pace back and forth like a crazy person now and be paranoid, okay?"

"The perimeter's clear on the cameras, I checked. Nobody's going to get anywhere near you on my watch," I said.

"Thanks for listening," she said.

Any time Jas." I hit the end button and dropped the call. No way on my watch, that asshole ex of hers was getting anywhere near her.