Callum (Blue Halo Book 7)

“Oh my freaking God, this room is packed.”

Fiona chuckled at Jenny’s words, her gaze sweeping over the mass of bodies in the library. “It really is.”

There were people everywhere, of all ages. Mostly women, all fans of the historical romance author who stood at the front of the room, but some obvious husbands who’d been dragged along. It was actually pretty special to have the author in a small-town library like Cradle Mountain.

Her gaze flicked to the back door. She could just make out Liam through the crowd. Callum stood at the front entry point, and she was pretty sure they had a third man roaming around outside. No one would be getting her out of this place except the guys.

It would have been easier to just take a day of leave, something she’d mentioned to her favorite boss, but Rick had insisted they needed all hands on deck. And actually, seeing how many people had turned up, he wasn’t wrong.

“Why are you two just standing there?”

Fiona jumped and spun at Rick’s voice. God, was he hearing her thoughts now too? Was she not safe anywhere? She cleared her throat. “We’re just making sure everyone has a seat.”

“By standing and watching?”

“Well, no—” Jenny tried, but Rick cut her off.

“Go.” Then he blew out a breath like he was trying to calm himself. “I’m sorry, I’m just…stressed. Please help people to their seats so we can get started.”

She’d told him about the twin sister and the danger. He’d looked shocked and gone really quiet. Since then, he’d been making an effort to be less of an asshole. He still was an asshole, of course, just a bit less. Even now, as she watched the back of him as he moved away, she knew if she ever got him alone in a room with a bat in her hand—

“You fantasizing about his death too?” Jenny asked.

“Baseball bat and an empty room.”

“Baseball bat? Ha. My fantasy has a torture chamber and a vat of acid.”

Fiona laughed before splitting off from Jenny and moving through the crowd. She spoke to a few people, helped a couple get to their seats, but intentionally beelined for the outer edge of the crowd near the front so she could see Callum. When her eyes landed on him, it was to see him at the door, talking to Tyler, who she guessed was manning the exterior of the library.

It all felt a bit like overkill. Even the craziest psychotic wouldn’t attempt to kidnap her in front of all these people…would they? If this sister did want to take her place, she wouldn’t very well kill her in front of everyone. That was just stupid.

But she hadn’t argued with Callum’s plan, because she knew he was nervous. He’d barely been himself for days, his gaze continually scanning every place they went, double-checking the locks and alarms at home, calling for backup on most of their outings.

As if he felt her gaze, his eyes shifted to her, and his deep frown eased, replaced by one side of his mouth lifting. Then he winked.

He’d also been doing that a lot—trying to hide how anxious he was by erasing it from his face when he looked at her. She returned the smile and walked over to him, not caring if Rick saw.

Immediately, his arm swept around her waist, and he kissed her. “You okay?”

“Mm-hmm.” She wet her lips, gaze skirting his face. “Are you?”

“Yeah, we got it all covered out here.”

Not really what she was asking. “I’ve got to get back before Rick sees me. But I was thinking Chinese takeout for dinner.”

His smile broadened. “Can’t wait.”

One more kiss, then reluctantly, she moved away. Wow. She’d actually gotten a kiss in without Rick popping out from the crowd and berating her.

Once this was over, she’d reach out to the Ketchum Library and see if there were any available positions. She’d be sad about leaving Jenny, but honestly, there was only so much Rick she could take.

She helped a few more people find seats, passed a couple of the librarians who looked as excited as the visitors, then reached Jenny again, who blew out a breath.

“Christ, I didn’t know this many women lived in Cradle Mountain.”

“I know, it’s like they magically materialized just for today.”

Jenny was just opening her mouth to respond when an exasperated sigh sounded to her right.

Good God, was he just watching them? Waiting for them to find their way back to each other?

“Seeing as you two are stuck at the hip,” he said, “I need you to get more paper plates. People are eating more snacks than I thought.”

Fiona’s gaze swung to the table, and sure enough, all the plates were gone. Crap. “I don’t think we have any more, Rick. Everything we bought was put out.”

He opened his mouth, presumably to chew her head off, when Jenny linked their arms and quickly said, “It’s okay. I think I saw some in storage.”

Her friend pulled her through the crowd toward the back. Fiona lowered her head and whispered, “Storage?”

Once they were in Rick’s office, Jenny moved to his desk and opened the top drawer, pulling out a small key. “Yeah, Rick keeps a few things down there. He’s made me get stuff before. It’s like I’m his slave some days.”

Jenny moved to a door at the side of the office, a door that was always kept locked.

“Uh, I’ve never seen that opened.” Granted, she didn’t go into Rick’s office much, but still…

“Like I said, Jenny equals slave.” She laughed and unlocked the door before stepping forward. Fiona craned her neck and saw… Holy heck, a staircase. There was a basement down there?

Jenny moved confidently down the stairs, and Fiona followed into the dark basement.

Callum was ready for this to be over. Hell, he’d been ready all damn day. There were too many people, and the crowd made him anxious as hell. The author was done with her reading and seemed to be at the tail end of signing books.

His gaze found Fiona for what had to be the hundredth time that day. She was smiling and helping some readers in the line. When she caught Callum’s gaze, her features softened. Rick moved over to her, and Callum’s muscles tightened. He fucking hated that guy.

Fiona nodded at something he said, then moved toward the staff room just as his cell rang. He tugged his phone out, watching as Fiona left the staff room with her bag, surprised as hell that Rick was actually letting her leave.

He answered the call. “Logan. Hey.”

His friend had gone down to the lodge today to check that Freddie had left.

When Fiona reached him, he touched a hand to the small of her back and led her outside, nodding at Tyler as he went. Tyler would also let Liam know they were done.

“I’m just leaving the lodge,” Logan said.

Callum scanned the lot as he walked, not wanting any surprises. When he reached the car, he opened the passenger door and guided Fiona inside. He waited until the door was closed to respond. “Was he there?”

“Nope. Room is empty and he’s checked out.”

Thank fuck. The asshole was finally getting the damn picture. He slid into the car. “Thanks for checking for me.”

“You got it.”

He hung up and started the car. “Happy with how it went?”

“Yes,” she said with a smile, pulling her seat belt across her body. “It was great. And even better that it’s done now.”

Yeah, exactly how he felt. He pulled out of the lot. “I’m surprised Rick didn’t make you wait until everyone was gone.”

“He’s been kind of okay since I told him about my twin…for Rick standard. Plus, he had big, intimating men at the door watching him.”

Good. Whatever the hell got her out of there was fine with Callum.

As he drove, he continued to shoot his gaze between the road and the rearview mirror. He didn’t want any surprises.

The drive home was pretty quiet. It wasn’t until they were a street away from his place that she touched his thigh. “Hey. You okay?”

Shit. He was doing a bad job at hiding the unease swimming through his gut. “Yeah, just worried.”

“You know, this twin hasn’t said or done anything for a while. Maybe she’s given up. Realized I’m too well protected.”

Callum’s brows twitched. In a perfect world, that might be true. Unfortunately, he’d seen too many messed-up people who didn’t give up on a cause so easily. “Maybe.”

He covered her hand with his own and squeezed it before pulling into his garage. When they stepped inside, he got her to wait by the entrance as he checked that every window and door was still locked.

“We’re clear.”

Fiona smiled. “Perfect. I might go and have a shower if that’s okay? It’s been a long day.”

She was just moving away when he grabbed her wrist and frowned. This was the first time he was getting a proper look at her, and there was just something…different. He frowned. “Is everything—”

His words were cut off by the ringing of his phone. He cursed and pulled it out to see Liam’s name flash on the screen.

“Take it,” she said with a smile. “Then we can talk dinner.”

She headed up the stairs, and he waited until he heard her step into the bedroom to answer. “Hey.”

There was the rumble of an engine in the background. “Hey. I’ve been thinking about something throughout the day…”

When Liam paused, Callum urged, “Tell me.”

“Have you seen the way Jenny looks at Fiona when Fiona’s attention is somewhere else?”

He paused. “No. How does she look at her?”

“I don’t know if it was just today, but there was an…intensity in her gaze. Like she was, I don’t know, studying her. I caught it a couple of times before the reading began, but I didn’t see Jenny after.”

Callum moved to his office, dropped into his chair, and cracked open his laptop. “I haven’t noticed, but then, I’m usually looking at Fiona or for an outsider to attack.”

“I was also thinking,” Liam continued, “we’ve assumed this person’s been watching her at a distance. What if they haven’t? What if they’ve been in her life this whole time but dressed in disguise?”

Callum’s stomach clenched at the thought. He put the phone on speaker and set it on the desk. “Give me a minute, Liam.” Then he started looking into Jenny, searching for information he shouldn’t be able to find.

It took him a couple minutes, then—

“Shit.”

“What?” Liam asked.

He leaned back in the seat, scrubbing his hands over his face. How had he not looked into this earlier? “The woman’s a fake,” he said, almost not believing his own words. “I can see from a timestamp that her driver’s license was created three months ago. Whoever did this for her did it illegally, using a back door.”

“So Jenny—”

“Isn’t Jenny,” Callum finished. “But she can’t be Olivia. She doesn’t look anything like Fiona. They have different colored eyes. She has a mole on her cheek. Hell, she even has a small scar beside her right eye. The only thing they have in common is their height and build.”

“Maybe she’s the person behind the texts,” Liam said quietly.

It was possible. They’d assumed Olivia was behind the texts, but maybe not.

Fuck. Fiona had been working with that woman, a fake, hanging out with her, all this time… “Have you left the library?”

“Yes. But before I did, I checked for Jenny and she was gone. She must have gone out the front after you.”

His gut tightened. “Can you go to the woman’s house?”

“On it. Send me the address.”

Callum dug until he found the rental in the name she was using. He sent it to Liam, all the while berating himself for his huge fucking oversight.