Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Carter

“D id you tell anyone where you were going?” Cade demanded from Ashley the moment they returned to the room.

“What?” She shook her head, shocked at the heat in his tone. “I didn’t even tell anyone I was leaving, much less where I was going.”

“They can’t find Julian. He went to all your usual places and got agitated that he couldn’t find you and then left,” Carter told her.

“Now what?” Ashley asked.

“You’ll stay here, of course,” Paisley said. “Both of you.”

“No. I think it’s best if we go somewhere else.” Carter didn’t like the crowd of people in the city, making it too easy to hide. “Maybe somewhere she’s never been that isn’t connected to any of you.”

“Agreed. What do you have in mind?” Ryker asked.

“You know, you’re awfully hands-on for someone that only wanted to back this company. Taking lessons on how to be a silent partner from Evan?” Catherine teased.

“Hush,” Ryker told her, but there was no force in the words.

“I’ve got a friend that has a hunting cabin up in Maine. I can contact him and see if he’s up for letting us use it.” Carter was already pulling out his phone.

“Is this really necessary? I want to see the babies and play aunt for a bit. Besides, what if it’s not him and we just have to do this again later for the right one? Or what if nothing happens?” Ashley countered. “Carter can stay with me, and I’ll stop getting away from him for a little while, but if nothing happens in the next month, I want to revisit the need for this.”

“Did you not hear that he was agitated? What if this guy comes after you here? With Garrett around?” Carter asked.

“Oh,” Ashley said quietly. “I don’t want to put anyone in danger, but I still think this is too much.”

“How about this?” Paisley jumped into the conversation. “How about you go with Carter for two weeks? If nothing is discovered about a threat to you in that time, you come on back home. But, you have to let Carter in and stop running. If something is found, then we can all discuss it again depending on what it is.”

Luke stepped beside her, pressing a kiss on her head. “Thank you,” he whispered. Carter wouldn’t have heard it if he hadn’t been standing so close.

Ashley looked stressed but she nodded. Carter breathed a sigh of relief.

“See? That wasn’t so bad.” Paisley smiled.

“Go make the calls,” Ryker told Carter.

When he returned, confirming they could use the cabin, Ashley and the other women were gone. Luke offered to tell Ashley they were leaving, but Carter needed to talk to her himself and convince both of them that she understood the danger.

He went upstairs to find them in Garrett’s room.

“Ladies.” He tapped gently on the door. “Can I have a moment with Ashley?”

She stood and followed him from the room.

“This is going to be interesting.” Carter overheard one of them say and couldn’t agree more.

He followed her into a bedroom and closed the door behind him.

“What?” Ashley turned to face him.

“Ah, there you are. I was surprised you didn’t argue with me when I asked to talk to you.” It was an act, he supposed.

She sighed. “What, Carter?”

“I know you don’t want to go, but I want to make sure we are on the same page and won’t have any problems now that we do have an actual threat.”

“We don’t have a threat, but yeah, I’m going without argument. I don’t want to make more issues for Luke with all he’s already got going on.” She sat on the bed, and Carter couldn’t help but sit next to her.

“This trip has been a lot all in one day, and we are leaving again. I’m glad you’re not fighting this, but I am really trying to keep you safe. You know that, right?” He nudged her with his shoulder.

She nodded. “I do. I just hate being told what to do like I’m an idiot or a mindless child.”

“Tell you what, let’s make a deal here.” If he could have had a calm conversation with her a while ago, they could have done this without all the running and arguing.

Ashley looked at him skeptically.

“I promise to keep you in the loop on all decisions I’m making and why if you promise to go with them.”

She huffed. “You’re already doing that. It’s the fact that I have no say in my own life.” Turning to face him, she leaned against the headboard. “I know what I sound like, but it took so much for me to get to this point in my life. Luke and I grew up in a rough area with no money other than when his father started coming around.”

“Don’t y’all have the same father?” After all, hadn’t they just asked her to take the same name last night and acknowledged her as a sibling?

“I don’t know. I never bothered to find out. It doesn’t matter to me, and the man is certifiable anyway. I’ll gladly take more family along with my brother, but that doesn’t change anything about how hard I worked to get to a point where I could be independent and live my own life.”

He shook his head. “I’m not taking that away from you. If I promise to include you when we make these decisions as much as I can, and it won’t be everything, will that help? No one, well, at least I’m not, is trying to take away your independence. Everyone in this house just wants you to be safe and to not have to go through what Catherine did, or worse.”

She looked down at the bedspread, and he thought she wasn’t going to answer. “I’d like to be included, but I’m not going to run again. It was never because I wanted anyone to be worried. I just needed a moment.”

“Oh, I noticed, Ashley. I see you draining when there’s too many people around. I don’t know how you’re doing here with all these people, but we are going to get out tomorrow morning and it will just be me and you for a bit.”

“Okay.”

It was weird to have an agreeable conversation with her. “I need to go finish making plans and let Ryker and Matt know where we’re going. We aren’t telling anyone else, and it’ll be a private place.”

“Sure.”

Reluctantly, he left her there alone to process what was happening to her. He believed it would be hard for her, but she would go along with the new plan this time. Telling her he’d keep her included wasn’t just talk. He fully intended to tell her what was going on every step of the way if it meant she would do her part to stay safe.

“Carter.” Ryker was waiting for him in the kitchen. “Come with me.”

He led Carter into an office on the first floor and motioned for him to take a seat.

“I need the details about where you’re going.”

Carter explained the location of the cabin they were borrowing. It belonged to someone that he’d been in the military with before and would be secluded with good security.

“There are a lot of cameras there for a rustic cabin,” Ryker commented.

“He’s got PTSD and struggled with it for a while. That’s why I thought it would be a good place to go. It’s also not connected to me directly.”

“I agree. Matt’s already in the camera system so he can scope out any blind spots ahead of time. He’s still working on locating Julian.”

“On the way here, there was a car that got off on the same exit, seemed to go the same distance as us. Neither of us recognized it, and when we took a turn after getting off the highway, we never saw it again, but I sent the plates over to Matt.” He hadn’t brought it up in front of everyone to avoid a panic.

“He told me he’s looking into it.”

“Anything else?”

“Not with Ashley. I’m wondering what you’re thinking about staying on with Guardian past this case?”

“Surprised you want me to with all that’s happened.”

“Ashley’s a special case, but I’d say you’re more than prepared to handle others. But we were really wanting you to help with training. I think Matt told you that?”

Carter gave him a sharp nod. “I’m not ready to commit to anything yet, but I’m definitely thinking about it.”

“Fair enough. I know you own a decent patch of land, and I wanted to throw this out there to give you more to think about. If you wanted to stay home, we could buy or lease land nearby to setup a training facility. You don’t need to move to the city for it, probably best if it’s not here anyway.”

Carter took a second to digest that information.

“If you’re not wanting to stay in the area, we can look to train somewhere else, but we’d be basing that on your decisions if you stay on.”

He didn’t know what to say to that.

“We are a small company and prefer to stay that way. While there are a few people we’ve brought on and will need more, we don’t intend to take every case. We want people trained properly and able to do their jobs, even when the client is a pain in the ass.”

They shared a smirk.

“I’ll let you know once this is resolved. It’s a lot to think about.”

Both men stood, and Ryker shook his hand. “Keep her safe.”

“I plan to.”

Carter let himself out of the office and avoided everyone as he went to the room he’d been offered for the night. That was a lot to take in, and he didn’t understand why Ryker and Matt would want him specifically.

On paper, sure, he had the skills to train others and had done so before. But in real life? He felt like he had screwed up more than once with Ashley getting away, and this was a lot of responsibility for someone they didn’t really know.

Later that night, when Carter found himself unable to fall asleep. He was still on edge about Julian and Ashley. No matter what her words were, he didn’t think she was taking this as seriously as she should be.

Someone heading down the hall had Carter jumping from the bed and opening the door. Luke stood there with Paisley, both half asleep and having a hushed conversation.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, poised for action.

“My father is being taken to the hospital. They said he’s had a heart attack,” Luke explained. “Nothing changes for you because I don’t know if this is true or a con or what.”

Carter nodded. “Understood.” He closed the bedroom door behind him and followed them down the stairs.

“What’s going on?” Ashley said over a yawn as she, too, came downstairs.

“As long as Garrett stays asleep,” Luke prayed. Everyone else was up.

“Father had a heart attack, or so the jail said. I’m going with Cade to the hospital. None of you need to be up.”

Ashley hugged her brother. “I’m sorry. I know this must be hard despite everything,” she told him sincerely.

“How are you going to be? I still need you to go with Carter and actually stay with him, please.” Just another prayer that she did what she was asked for once.

“I didn’t know him at all, and from the sounds of everything he’s done, I don’t think I missed much. I’ll be fine.” She held up her hand before Luke could say anything else. “I will stick with Carter like glue, and he will try to listen instead of direct. We talked.”

That was news to him. He sent a look to Carter. “Protect my sister,” he warned. “That’s it.”

“Shut up, Luke. Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Ashley practically pushed him toward the door.

“Come on, Luke. I’ll see you out so I can lock the door behind you.” Paisley looped her arm around his.