Some of them have families and might want to start looking for other jobs. That’s the least I can do.”
She looked at the cheap but functional watch on her left wrist. “In fact, I should go. Thanks for the coffee and the muffins.”
“Anytime.”
“Want company?” Doc asked as they walked back to his trailer.
“Thanks for the offer, but no. It would complicate things.”
He understood, but he didn’t have to like it. “Will you come back here afterward?”
“I don’t know. Let’s see how the day goes and take it from there.”
* * *
Doc watched her drive away, fighting the powerful urge to jump in his Jeep and follow her. He got as far as extracting the keys from his pocket before Heff’s disembodied voice called out from somewhere off to his left.
“Don’t do it.”
Doc sighed and shook his head. He wondered how long Heff had been eavesdropping.
“Seriously, don’t do it,” Heff told him, stepping out of the woods. “You’ll lose your sensitive, supportive guy cred and, more importantly, you’ll piss her off.”
“And you know this because?”
“Because I know women. Tina isn’t some fragile flower. She’s a strong, independent female, capable of taking care of herself, and if you go in there, trying to fight her battles for her, she’ll resent you for it.”
“So, what am I supposed to do? Sit back and wait for her to ask for help?”
“That’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. Stand on the sidelines and let her know you’re ready to step in at a moment’s notice, but it’s got to be her call, feel me?”
“Is that what you did with Sandy?”
“Yes, and it damn near killed me,” Heff said cheerfully. “But it all worked out in the end, so it was worth every agonizing moment. It’ll work out for you, too. I’ve seen the way she looks at you.”
“Yeah? How does she look at me?”
“Like you’re the cream to her peaches. The whoopie to her pie. The—”
“Enough,” Doc said, holding back a laugh.
Once Heff got on a roll, he kept going, and the last thing Doc wanted to do was encourage him.
Heff did have a point though. And while Doc would never feed the guy’s ego by admitting it, Heff did know a lot about the fairer sex.
Doc changed topics. “Is there a reason you’re skulking around my trailer? Besides channeling your inner love guru, I mean?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. We’re doing a conference call with the Callaghans, and Smoke said you had some info to share with the rest of the class.”
“You could’ve just texted me.”
“I did.”
Doc reached into his pocket and realized he didn’t have his phone on him. “I must have left it in the trailer when we went for breakfast this morning.”
“Good sex will do that to you,” Heff said with a knowing smirk. “Shorts the circuits. It’s how you know you’ve found the right one.”
Doc chose not to respond to that, but he agreed wholeheartedly. He and Tina fit in every way that mattered.
“When is this meeting?”
“As soon as everyone gets there. Cage and Mad Dog are on their way.”
The two men started walking toward the main building when Heff shook his head and muttered, “After we get you situated, we need to get Church a woman.”
“Why’s that?”
“So he stops calling these early morning meetings. Some of us have better ways to start the day, if you know what I mean.”
Doc laughed. Yeah, he knew, especially since his day had started off pretty damn good.
* * *
Once they were all assembled in the war room, Cage started a video call.
Doc shared what Tina had told him, feeling only a slight pang of guilt. Tina hadn’t explicitly asked him not to say anything, but she probably assumed confidentiality was implicit. However, he couldn’t exactly ask for her permission, not without explaining why he wanted to share and with whom.
He rationalized his decision by reminding himself that Tina had no idea how dangerous the men were that Renninger and her brothers were involved with. Sure, Tina was angry with them for what they’d done, but he didn’t think she’d want to see them made an example of by international cartel assassins.
“Renninger is in hiding,” Ian confirmed. “But we’ll find him. We’ve got flags on all of his accounts, and we’re combing through his list of contacts. If he so much as sticks his nose out from beneath whatever rock he’s crawled under, we’ll know it.”
His eyes found Doc. “How’s your woman holding up? She seemed pretty pissed off when she showed