Page 38 of Stopping Short

“Aw, is Jackson having a little meltdown?” Mason grins at him.

“Just a wee bit.” I hold my thumb and forefinger close together.

“How are you, sweetheart?” Mason wraps me in a hug. He’s always been like an uncle to me since Dad and him are so close.

“I'm doing well. It’s great to be back home.”

“I'm sure it is. How about the two of you come into the back and we can talk?”

Mason presses a button on his phone and a hidden door opens up. We follow them into their cave and I glance around. I haven’t been here in forever, but I always thought it was the coolest setup ever.

Mason and Dad own the private security company Bennett Bradley Security. They work in so many different ways with individuals and companies. They do private investigating, security for companies, personal security, and so much more. They’ve helped find missing people and when they were still working undercover with the police, they shut down a massive human trafficking ring. They’re rock stars when it comes to keeping people safe.

“What’s up, Jackson?” A tall man who looks scarily similar to Wyatt stands and shakes Jackson’s hand.

“Hey, man. Thanks for helping us with this… This is Harper.” Jackson places his hand on my lower back and keeps it there.

“I’m Peck. Sophia’s husband.” Peck holds out his hand and I quickly shake it.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“Alright, Peck handled the university. Most of your professors came back saying you don’t need to take the finals. They believe your grade is high enough that even if you failed the test, you’d still pass the class. Given everything going on, they don’t care enough to have you come take the test and risk something more happening.” Mason goes right into business mode.

He's always been like this. If you’re seeing him because of something business related, he wants to get it out of the way so when he’s finished you can hang out and chat. I love it. I’d much rather get the heavy things out of the way than having it be this elephant in the room.

“Most? So, I still have to go back for some?”

“You need to go back for your sociology final. I tried my hardest to get you out of it, but that professor refused to budge.” Peck frowns like he’s really annoyed with Professor Jameson.

“I need to go in person?” My voice squeaks and I swallow hard.

“Yes, but we’ll go with you,” Dad says gently.

“He said the test is on Thursday. We’ll head up Wednesday afternoon. It will give us a chance to pack up your house and move everything home. We were planning on going today, but figured we’d wait since you have to go back anyway.” Mason glances at his watch.

“Who is we?” I glance from one of the men to the next.

“The three of us. I'm assuming you have a game?” Dad meets Jackson’s gaze.

“Yeah… I can see if Owen will let me miss it.” Jackson runs a hand through his hair and grips the back of his neck.

“No, you can’t do that.” I shake my head. “I don’t want you messing up anything with work for me.”

“Well, then it’s just the three of us. Peck has to stay here and hold down the fort. Plus, Sophia will have a heart attack if we take him away from her even for the night.” Mason rolls his eyes, but Peck is grinning ear to ear. The man loves his wife more than life itself and he doesn’t care about anyone poking fun at them.

“Has Evan tried to contact you since last night?” Peck asks a few moments later.

“He texted me, but I ignored it.” I wave off their concerns.

“Let me see your phone.” Peck holds out his hand and when I hesitate, Mason rolls his eyes.

“He’s not going to snoop on anything other than your text with Evan, Harp.”

“Ok, ok! Jeez.” Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I hand it over to Peck. He glances down at the locked screen and arches a brow. “9-9-8-7,” I huff out the passcode to get into my phone.

“Thank you.” He grins as he scrolls through my phone. “Dang, you have a lot of puzzle games.” His eyes widen.

“I thought he wasn’t going to snoop.” I scowl at Mason, but the man doesn’t care one bit.