Jameson tapped the pencil against his desk in a piss poor effort to distract himself from the images of Candy’s place hiding on his computer. She didn’t want his help. He was an idiot to think this was going to ever work itself out. She was really done with him this time and probably rightly so. He’d crossed a line but, his brain screamed, it was for her own safety. Hell of a lot of good it did him now. She never wanted to see him again and didn’t that just chap his ass. Finally meet a woman who doesn’t look at the chair like it’s some fucking harbinger of death and she couldn’t be sweeter or softer and everything he could ever want, so he goes and fucks it all up to hell. Way to go maggot.

“Fuck it!” He threw the pencil at the wall in frustration and opened the damn tab on his browser. He’d just make sure Axel got there like he’d promised. Even he didn’t believe that lie. He needed to see her. Fuck, he hadn’t slept a wink last night trying to figure out how to justify his position. A total waste of time since he wasn’t going to talk to her again and she wouldn’t have listened to him anyway.

He glanced at the screen and grimaced at the black square where the feed from her bedroom used to be. It didn’t surprise him she’d pulled those out. He was actually surprised he could see anything.

A flash of movement caught his eye and he expanded that panel. Whatever it was, was gone now. He shouldn’t have cut the feed to the server, or he could have checked it out, but he hadn’t want to piss her off more than she already was. He’d erased everything too. The Beast was barking his head off, to the point you couldn’t make out whatever else was going on. He flicked through the other images and caught the plate of scones fresh from the oven in the kitchen. Damn, you could see the steam coming off of them. Just looking at them made his mouth water and it wasn’t for the damned scones.

The dog was still going nuts which wasn’t like him. Jameson saw a hand grab the dog and shove him in his box but not before the little guy got a good bite on him. Wait, he froze the image. That was definitely a male hand. Fucking fabulous, a goddamned guy. His gut twisted and he wanted to bellow like a wounded moose. But that wasn’t the kind of woman Candy was. If he hadn’t been an idiot he would have been there this morning. Jesus, that made his stomach churn.

The ringing of his phone pulled him from his pity party.

“What?”

“Damn, we really need to work on your interpersonal skills.” Axel’s voice hurt his ears. Right now there was only one voice he wanted to hear and the kid’s wasn’t it.

“Fuck you.”

“Nah, you’re not really my type. Hey, did Candy say anything about her leaving?”

“Why the hell would she call me? Remember, you’re supposed to be pulling everything today. She’s so pissed at me she doesn’t even want to see my face let alone talk to me.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m here but she isn’t answering the door. I just talked to her less than half an hour ago and she was expecting me.” Jameson sat up a little straighter and switched to the outside cameras. Sure enough there was Axel standing on the stoop with his phone to his ear. What the fuck? That wasn’t like Candy at all. The hairs on the back of his neck itched in warning.

“Can you hear any sounds coming from inside?”

“Just the dog going nuts but then I knocked, wait actually, he was barking like crazy when I got here.”

“I saw some guy there. Why don’t you try calling her, bang on the door some more?”

“Will do, boss.” The kid hung up. He stared at the black square that had held the feed from her bedroom and willed it to come to life. He concentrated on the one of Axel. At least that one didn’t scream that she was in trouble.

He watched Axel nod his head when he must have connected. They both waited for her to pick up, and waited. Axel shook his head and dialed his cell.

“Well?”

“Went to voicemail. Maybe she doesn’t want to be disturbed?”

“Maybe. Have you walked around, looked in any of the windows?”

“Shit, now you’re just trying to get her pissed off at me. She baked me those ginger scones I like too.”

“Yeah, I can see them on the kitchen counter. Fuck it. She’s already pissed at me anyway. How much worse can it get? Stay there.”

“Fuck that! I’m going in now.”

“Not without back up! You’re not getting killed on my watch. I’m leaving now. Call the cops. I’ll be there in ten.”