Page 8 of Ghost

My hand remained at her back as I guided her toward the protected edge of the staging area. She came with me, still quiet, but the warmth of her body stayed tucked against my side and told me she had not been spooked into retreating. The field might still be hiding threats, but Tamsin was already where I intended to keep her—within reach, involved, and learning that my unreasonable streak had no plans to improve.

4

TAMSIN

Istood close enough to Gavin that his hand easily slid to the small of my back every time someone drifted near. Although he smiled often, I now understood that didn’t mean he wasn’t taking this situation seriously. He could drop it in a blink, and he was the only one out of everyone here who’d caught things that I had missed. Which impressed me, much to my irritation.

But I couldn’t give more thought to the intensity of my reaction to him at the moment because my parents were barreling toward us.

“I was terrified you’d been hurt, Tamsin.”

My mom’s voice broke before she finished saying my name. She was on me a moment later, her arms locked around my back hard enough to make it hard to breathe.

When she finally let go, my dad took my face in both hands and pressed a kiss to my forehead. Then he stepped back to check for any injuries. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I promise. And the crew is too. Everyone’s been accounted for.”

“Good.” His chest expanded on a sigh of relief. “But I’m still worried.”

I felt Gavin shift behind me, hyperaware of how close he stood even though he hadn’t said anything yet.

“How come?” I asked.

Dad’s mouth flattened into a thin line. “Your signature was on the final safety approval.”

“It was,” I whispered.

“I know you followed procedure, just like always. But I’m afraid some people will be more interested in finding a scapegoat than the actual facts.”

It didn’t matter that I’d adhered to every rule and regulation, ticking off all the check boxes and then going over everything again just to be safe. I still felt so guilty because I had authorized the display. The rack had failed on my line, and people could have been seriously hurt or killed.

Gavin’s hand pressed against my back, pulling me from my dark thoughts. “She shut the system down before the worst could happen.”

Dad nodded. “I know how capable she is. I’m worried other people won’t.”

“People are often wrong.” Gavin moved to my side to look down at me. “Doesn’t make this your fault.”

His certainty hit differently than my dad’s. Gavin barely knew me, but he’d backed me up ever since things went horribly awry. And he knew better than anyone else what had gone down here tonight. Being so close to the blast, he had been close enough to see the failure happen. His quick thinking had prevented the worst-case scenario. And he trusted me after seeing how I’d handled this crisis.

It defied logic that he was so certain of me after only a few hours, but I had a feeling the lack of time didn’t factor into it for him. Gavin struck me as a man who didn’t second-guess himself.

As my father extended his hand and introduced himself to Gavin, Stryker cut across the grass toward us. His expression was blank, but there was a coldness in his eyes that I saw when he got closer.

“Just heard back from the men I sent to the warehouse. It’s been hit.”

“Warehouse?” My dad’s brows drew together. “You mean ours?”

“Yes,” Stryker confirmed. “Loading bay was forced open. Looks like controlled-material cases are missing. Must’ve heard my men coming because some were dumped by the rear access like they ran out of time. Fresh tracks leaving the property.”

Mom pressed trembling fingers to her lips while Dad raked his fingers through his hair and muttered, “Event this big, the place was emptied out.”

“We pulled anyone with experience.” I tilted my head back to meet Gavin’s gaze. “We had our hands full here.”

“They used that window of opportunity to get in.” The look he gave his club president was heavy.

My stomach knotted at what that could mean. Someone had known enough about Bellamy Pyrotechnics to pinpoint the perfect time to steal from us.

Stryker crossed his arms over his chest. “But we slammed that fucker shut when we showed up when they didn’t expect it.”