Bestfriend or Best Lover

FIFTY: SURVEILLANCE

Arden's POV

I growl as frustration builds. I want to barge through her office and pull her out of that room. Then beat the living shit out of that guy who has the nerve to look at what belongs to me.

I want her in this deep, cutting way that says I would bleed for her. But I don't tell her that I will bleed for her. I don't tell her that I will cross lines to protect her. I wouldn't do it for anyone else. I haven't done it for anyone else but her. For her I would do just about anything.

I kept telling myself it was to make sure she was safe. But the longer I stayed the harder it was for me to justify it as anything other than selfishness.

I was thinking these would be worth it if it gave me peace of mind. Now I'm just mad as hell and I'm ready to rip this building down brick by brick.

I send a quick text to Greg, my buddy and Campbell's family ex-security detail slash ex-bodyguard turned surveillance entrepreneur, but he immediately calls me. My phone is on silent, but I duck down anyway and whisper into it.

"You should be able to hear everything through the earpiece," he says, and I roll my eyes.

"I know," I whisper darkly, angry at him and at the situation. "That's the problem. I can hear every fucking thing they're saying. And I want to go in her office and rip this asshole's throat out."

I called in a favor with him last night, thinking it would be just one way for me to know my wife was all right all the time. I didn't ask questions, but he left an earpiece for me in my office this morning and told me I'd have audio and visual on her throughout the day.

"Arden, calm down," he says, and I hear him shuffle around. "Look, my wife—Trixie doesn't know I'm doing this for you. If she did she'd probably string me up by my balls. She loves Belle."

"Goddamn, so do I." I feel myself get loud and I take a breath. "The only reason I asked you is because you're the best in the business on surveillance." I peek back up into the screen and see my Belle still talking with that new employee. "I just needed to keep eyes on her. And I don't like what I see."

"I don't blame you, man. I've always got eyes on my woman, too."

I sigh again and rub my eyes. I'm not going to make it through the day. Watching her talked with other men drove me nuts. I know, She's keeping it strictly professional. I am proud at the work she was doing. But honestly, she doesn't really need to work.

We don't actually need the money. We were born with a silver spoon in our mouth. But I still work hard and made enough so we'd stay where we are and she doesn't have to worry, and she can buy anything she wants. I know she didn't have to do this job, It's for herself achievement.

"Listen, I warned you. You just need to check the app I put on your phone a couple times a day and let it go. You can't
watch her twenty-four/seven. Believe me, I've done the leg work on it. You'll drive yourself insane."

"Too late," I say, looking back into the window. "I don't like the app. I wasn't close enough."

"Arden, where are you exactly?" Greg says, and I hear the threat in his voice.

"Just, you know, outside her office window."

"Oh god, you're going to get the both of us in trouble," he says, and then I hear his name being called.