He knew the moment she saw him, tension shooting into her small frame like someone had fused a metal pipe to her spine. He stood as she got to their booth. She at least looked a little less tired than yesterday afternoon.
“I don’t have long. I have to clock in by seven,” she said by way of greeting.
“Good morning.” He ignored her abrupt words as she slid into the booth across from him.
“This isn’t a date, Cain. Not even a breakfast between friends. Tell me what it is you have to say.”
He slid into the seat across from her. “We’ll talk with breakfast.”
“I don’t have time for breakfast.”
“Tough. I already ordered for both of us.”
She glared at him, fire burning even higher in her eyes when the waitress brought their food less than a minute later.
“Presumptuous much?”
He just shrugged. “Everybody’s got to eat. You more than most.”
“What are you trying to say, Bennett?”
He definitely didn’t want to get into a fight with her and cause her to not eat just out of spite. “I’m saying you’re working a double today. So you need to eat.”
He dug in to his own food, relieved a few moments later when she did the same.
“You got what I liked. Thank you,” she said softly.
Fried eggs, hash browns with all the fixings, sausage, bacon. Nothing sweet. She’d always said sweet food made her coffee—which she took with a god-awful amount of cream and sugar—not taste sweet enough. He’d never forgotten, didn’t think he ever would.
He nodded and kept eating, waiting until she had a huge bite of food in her mouth before asking his next questions.
“Why are you working so hard, Hayley? At the Bluewater. Why so many double shifts?”
She looked like she was going to light into him. He expected it, actually, thus the timing of his question when she couldn’t easily answer.
“I know it’s partially because finding a job as an ex-felon isn’t easy and you took what you could get. But you shouldn’t have to be working so hard that you’re exhausted all the time. Timothy mentioned you work as many hours as you can every week.”
The man had also said it as though he’d been doing Hayley some great favor by allowing her to work that much.
She shrugged, finally finished chewing. “That’s what you have to do when you’re not even making minimum wage.”
Cain’s eyes narrowed. “Unless you’re waiting tables or something where you’re making tips, he’s required by law to pay you at least minimum wage.”
“You stay out of it. I will handle Timothy.” That pinched look was back in her eyes. Cain wasn’t trying to add to her stress.
“Even if he isn’t paying you quite minimum wage—” and Cain would be looking into that “—you still shouldn’t need to work eighty hours a week to get by here in Gainesville. It’s not like Georgia has some ridiculously high cost of living.”
“Is that what you brought me here for? To remind me that I have a crappy job and pretty crappy future ahead of me?”
“Hayley—”
“I already made my feelings about the arrest clear yesterday. As for every other part of my life, including when or how long I work, it’s none of your business.”
He held out a hand in surrender. He didn’t want this to get out of control. “Okay, fine. Just finish eating, okay?” If he had his way she would eat everything on that plate and then another whole one after that.
She took another bite and he relaxed a little. But he was running out of time.
And what did he expect, that she was just going to tell him everything going on in her life? Especially if it had to do with potentially illegal activities.
“I brought you here to offer you a job. With Omega Sector.”
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What kind of job could you possibly want me for?”
“We need your computer skills to catch someone providing critical information to a specific criminal.”
“Doesn’t Omega Sector have its own computer crimes division?”
Cain nodded. “Yes. But we have a mole inside Omega. A good one. I need someone who’s even better, who’s not in law enforcement. That’s you.”
“I’m not the only great hacker.”
“You’re the only one I know I can trust.”
She rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you can even say that with a straight face.”
He set his coffee cup back down. “When it comes to this, I do trust you. Completely. You may have made some questionable decisions four years ago, for whatever reason, but I know you wouldn’t want to ever hurt anyone. The person we’re trying to find is a murderer, Hayley.”
He thought of Grace Parker’s face as Freihof’s knife slit her throat. Catching the mole inside Omega would be a direct link to putting him away for good.
“Yeah, I’m not a murderer at least.”
“Of course you’re not. I hope you know I never thought you would hurt somebody else. No matter what damage you might be able to do with a computer, you’ve always had too big a heart to hurt people.”
She stirred the last of her hash browns around on her plate.
“Look, Cain.” It was the most gentle tone he’d heard from her. “I don’t really have time for another job. The Bluewater keeps me pretty busy. Plus, I’m not allowed near computers as part of my parole agreement.”
“Actually, I’m hoping you’ll be able to find the mole’s movements by looking through files of code I’ve printed. Won’t need you near a computer.”
He took out the file that held the contract for the work Omega wanted her to do, including what she would be paid, and slid it over so she could see it. He felt better when her eyes got a little wide at the number. Although, damn it, that meant the Bluewater really was paying her below minimum wage.
“This amount is to complete the project. Find the traitor inside Omega. That might take you a day, might take you three weeks. If it takes longer than either of us are thinking, then we’ll renegotiate for a larger amount.”
Cain knew she’d already read the contract, at least the pertinent details. Hayley could read twice as fast as the average person. But she still wasn’t looking up at him, giving him any indication if she was going to say yes.
“Hays.” He used his old high school nickname for her and reached out and touched her hand where it sat on the table. “I will help you. Whatever is going on, whatever reason you’re working yourself to death, even if you’re inching yourself back toward trouble, I’ll help you. You help me catch this mole, and I’ll help you with whatever it is that’s weighing so heavily on you.”
* * *
HAYLEY LOOKED AT where Cain’s big hand rested over hers, so strong and capable.
His words, the promise behind them, were just like old times. Back when it was the two of them against the world.
God, she was so tired. She wanted to lean into his strength. She wanted to tell him about everything—about Mason, about the people she was afraid would be coming after them once she could go near a computer again, about everything.
But that would