After spending a restless night, I came to the realization sometime in the early morning hours that I had been coming at this thing all wrong. Sure, I hadn’t meant to get caught by that simpleton, but I shouldn’t have shown my hand to Gabriel so soon, either.I know it was my circumstances that had caused me to act so rashly, something I never would’ve done had I not been so stressed. I’m usually more well-equipped to handle such things and give more thought to my execution when time allows, but there was no use crying about it now that the deed was done. I have to do damage control before it was too late. Though how I was going to hide my hate and disdain for the country bumpkin, I wasn’t sure. At least her ignorant backwoods upbringing would work for me this time, as I’m sure she’s not sophisticated enough to see through my ploy, and it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve dealt with something similar.The one thing I have going for me is that I always get my way. I’ve never lost out
I heard or, more like, sensed Wolf’s presence outside the door just as I was getting ready to head back to bed.“Starks just threw Sam in the trunk of his car,” Wolf said as he stepped into the room. I raised my brow in contemplation, not sure that was the best idea.“Don’t worry.” Wolf piped in as if reading my mind.“He put his official tags on the car and his shield on the windshield. No one is going to stop him unless they’re a rube.”I had a pretty good idea where he was going and thought about following, but that would mean being gone for at least a couple days. Besides, I doubt he’d appreciate the company on this one.“Well, I guess we can close that chapter.” I stretched to get the kinks out and fleetingly wondered why everything in this place seemed to move at warp speed. Then I noticed how uncommonly fidgety he was. “What’s wrong with you?”“Everything’s kind of cleared away here; I was uh….” I smirked and was tempted to prolong his agony, but since this was a first for him d
“Don’t cry. If you cry, then I’ll cry, and that will only make things harder for both of us.”“I know; I don’t mean to be such a baby, but I’m going to miss you.”“Speaking of which… wait, before I say anything, has Gabriel said anything more to you about going to school in New York?”“Nothing more than what I already told you. He knows someone who can get me enrolled in a very prestigious school there.”“You didn’t refuse him, did you?”“No, if my grades were horrible, I would’ve felt guilty accepting. But I know the only reason I didn’t get into an Ivy League school was because of Sam.”I shrugged my shoulder nonchalantly because she was giving me the side eye. I knew why she was asking because of my innate ability to shoot myself in the foot, but I had no plans of sabotaging myself this time.“Good girl! I thought I was going to have to go upside your head again.”“Why do you ask anyway?”“Because Wolf is making noise about me going to school out there. Apparently, he’s already look
I met with the two men Lyon had suggested after doing some digging of my own and was satisfied with his choice. I actually did feel better about leaving the place in their hands, especially after I told them about what Sam and Billy had been up to, and their reaction was pretty much what any decent red-blooded man should be.We worked out the particulars about what would be expected, and they seemed very on board. The fact that they had been the ones helping Dad with his charity thing that had started this whole thing in the first place made what I was asking that much easier.They were going to need some training on what to look for but seemed more than willing and ready to take on the job and even mentioned some others they thought would be of help. All in all, they were relieved to learn that I wasn’t going to close the place down and let me know about some of the other things Dad had been using this place for over the years.“Yeah, after you and your mother left, he took it really
Starks met me on the way back inside. I made sure Silla was busy helping Chantal get ready to leave so there was no danger of her overhearing anything when I took him into the office and closed the door behind us. He looked rough, like he hadn’t slept in days which I imagine he hadn’t, not to mention the fact that he’d driven for hours through the night and into the early morning.His clothes still showed signs of the dirt and brush he’d waded through, but I doubt he even noticed. “I’m not going to ask. As long as he’s out of Silla’s life for good, we’re square.”“He’s out of life, period.”“Good, now what?” He sat back with a sigh and rubbed his hands roughly over his face.“Now I pick up the pieces and try to make sense of the last twenty years. I’ve got to tell you, I’m having a hard time with the idea of letting you take my daughter away when I’ve only just found her.”I studied him for a minute longer than was comfortable for him. “I was just beginning to like you; let’s keep it t
“Wolf!” He slid into the hallway from the shadows and entered the bedroom behind us without waiting for another word from me. Everything inside me had gone cold as my protective instinct kicked in.My body turned to stone, and I found myself in an odd predicament, one I’d never faced before. On the one hand, I had to be gentle with the fainted woman I held against my chest, and on the other, there was such rage burning in my chest my body vibrated with it.Murderous rage is what I felt, and I felt that part of me that I’d kept so well hidden from her fight its way back, clamoring to be freed. What had I become that something like this could happen on my watch? That she kept being placed in danger when she was the one thing in this life that I should protect most of all?The others came running, no doubt alerted by her screams, and I didn’t even try to shield my expression. I hadn’t been this mad since we came here, hadn’t been this angry in a while, in fact, and this little, nowhere sm
After crying herself out again, she fell asleep against my chest, which was a blessing because I was helpless against her tears, and I hated nothing more than feeling helpless and out of my depth. After putting her to bed, I went back to the others who were waiting for me in the office.They’d cleared away everything, but I still felt off leaving her in that room which kind of solidified my decision to leave this place as soon as possible instead of waiting the few days like I’d planned. “Sorry, boss, we dropped the ball.”“It’s not your fault Garret; I’m the one who turned off the cameras in that sector.”I did it to give her more privacy and to avoid feeling like I was spying on her, not to mention my men also had access to those cameras, and I hadn’t wanted anyone seeing her going in and out of our shared bedroom for whatever reason, and now this shit happened, and I have no solid proof, just a gut feeling about what really went down.“I’m taking her out of here today. There isn’t m
As soon as my boys left, Starks entered the room as if he’d been waiting for the chance. “Something I can do for you?”“Yeah, you can answer this question. You told me to trust you, right, that you have it under control. So how did someone get by you to take out my kid’s pet?”He was pissed. Fine, I’m not so much of an asshole that I would think he had no right since he barely knew his kid, but I was close to being that asshole because of all that was happening. I reminded myself that I’m a trained professional, and what’s more, I’m not the type to lose my cool at the slightest provocation, but it was a very close call.However, I took my time answering him, doing my best not to let my anger get the better of me. “What is it that you want to say? Just say it and quit skirting around the issue; I don’t have time.” There, my tone didn’t even go up by a decimal.“What I’m trying to say is, how can I trust you after this? From my process of elimination, it was either your sister or her fri
This is insane. I thought I had it under control, but I didn’t expect the night to be like this. It wasn’t because of all the people that were here in the arena, though it had to be at full capacity, which was around two hundred and fifty thousand people, give or take about ten. No, what was bothering the hell out of me was the fact that my girl was in the middle of this shit. I didn’t think it would bother me this much, especially since I knew that there was no danger here, that the whole tunnel thing was the only thing going on, and the other players had already been taken down, but I couldn’t shake it off. I had this feeling like the feeling you get when someone has you in their crosshairs, but you don’t know which direction they’re in. It could be a case of transferred anxiety because Lyon has been ranting and raving since he got here about some shit going down. It was hell trying to hide my thoughts and feelings from Silla, who was happier than I’d ever seen her. Part
Lieutenant Morgan was more excited about the tickets than even I expected. She was so distracted that that excitement led to her being the one who invited me to tour the tunnels. I didn’t have to use my well-rehearsed speech to talk her into anything. It was so easy I almost grew suspicious until I remembered that this was just like the woman I know. She had no reason to suspect me of anything, and with my clearance, she’d see no issue letting me on site. But as we walked and talked, I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone else seemed to know her as well. Namely Lyon’s daughter. But how was that possible? I’m pretty sure the kid never met her in the flesh. While she talked about how excited her kid was going to be I was looking around for anything that would give any indication that there was more going on here and saw nothing. Not that I didn’t believe Lyon, I did, but that’s how good the operation was. We hopped into a golf cart, and she drove deeper into the tunne
“Where did you go? Did you have fun?” I tried not to sound too much like I was grilling her, but Flanagan and Quinn had me a bit paranoid with the things they’d said about their women and the shit they got up to. Not that I expect Silla to do any of those things; my little innocent is too sheltered for that. But there are other issues at hand. Like the fact that I’d only just started to convince myself that with Sam out of the picture, she was no longer in any danger, plus the fact that the mess I’d just waded through was geared toward kids, so she wasn’t in any real danger here. But I don’t know why I get the feeling that the guys are holding something back. I think Lyon might have told them to ease me into it, which begs the question of just how much worse it can get. I still have no idea what it is that they want me to do in the tunnels or even if I’d actually get the chance. Just because I’m military doesn’t mean they’ll roll out the red carpet, especially if they’re using
I guess Flanagan was wrong after all because the places the women drove to just seemed to be the usual tourist traps. They did take a little detour on the way back, but it seemed to be a more scenic route, something anyone might do when visiting a new place. It can’t be overlooked the fact that the mountains here are some of the most beautiful in the country. “I guess they did only go for a joyride after all.” I made the distinction out loud when I saw Flanagan and Quinn mapping the route they’d taken. “It’s good that you think that.” “What do you mean?” “Not sure yet; I’ll let you know when we figure out what they’re up to. I have to get this information to Lyon.” He reached for his phone while I went back to what I was doing, feeling at ease for the first time in hours since she left. Every once in a while, one of my boys would make a sound of disgust from across the room, but since I’d already given them the option to bow out, which they all refused, I saw it a
“What’s wrong boss? Something bothering you?” Mace asked me quietly as I watched the door where the women had just left. “No, it’s not that.” I couldn’t give him an answer because I didn’t know what it was that was making me twitchy about the whole thing. I wasn’t sure if it was my natural sixth sense or my new overprotectiveness where she was concerned. It didn’t help that Lyon’s men didn’t look too settled either at the idea of their women going joyriding in the middle of an Op. Maybe that was it. This whole situation has left me feeling more bereft than my first firefight. I’d rather dodge bullets in the desert than deal with this evil shit that I’d been pouring over for the last few hours. How anyone could deal with this shit day in and day out and not lose part of themselves is beyond me. It's only been a few hours, and my skin is already starting to crawl. Now, I’ve always known that men can be evil monsters; I’ve seen some of the worst they can do to each other, or
Shit, blast and damn. How do I leave her behind without hurting her feelings? She’s so dang innocent; I was sure a rebuff, though not meant to be one, would hurt her feelings. Was I ever this innocent? No, but some of my new sisters used to be when we first met, so I know the signs. I was thinking hard about a plausible excuse when she clapped her hands across her mouth and looked at me like she’d committed a crime.“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean… I just got so relaxed with you two; it’s like we’ve known each other forever. I didn’t mean to overstep; I’ll just go back to the room and leave you two alone.” She rambled off the words before starting to walk away, and both Kelly and I had to stop her. Okay, this one might be more sheltered than the others, and it almost broke my heart. Over the last couple of years, I’d come to recognize the signs of past trauma in women, and she had a boatload. “No, you didn’t overstep. I was just worried about how your man would r
This is happening. Things have been moving really fast in the last few days and the honeymoon was over. True to his word, Lyon had sent in a crew, or squad as he calls them. Two couples, the men seeming just as anxious as I was, having their women close to this shit. I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to do this, keeping the women in the dark, I mean. But I needn’t have worried because Quinn and Shane knew exactly what they were doing when it came to that part of the Op. Silla, I was happy to see, was only too happy to make two new friends, and these women must’ve taken classes or something because they had her hooked in no time at all. I’d barely seen her interactions with Chantal back at the house, but it was good to see that she played well with others. There was no cattiness among these women and I couldn’t help but notice the difference between these two, Arianna and Kelly and Nikki. It’s been days since I even thought about her, but I guess I figured one headach
I looked these people up when I had a chance, and I have to say, Lyon and his kid do get around. I wouldn't have pegged him for the type, but then again, what do I know? Silla was all but jumping out of her skin with excitement ever since I mentioned their names, but I have to count that as a plus since it kept her even more in the dark about what was really going on. I brought my boys up to speed on things later that night once she'd knocked herself out after playing Rodeo Queen on my dick. At least the news knocked the disrespectful smirks off my team's faces, and they switched gears from sticking their noses in my shit and got down to the business we were there for. "I'm only telling you now because it's been finalized on their end. When Lyon called earlier, it was just an idea they were playing around with, but now, apparently, it's a done deal. Here's the thing…" I filled them in on what Lyon had shared in his latest phone call, i.e., the fact that this Ryder person's past con
Penance, it has got to be. I can't come up with any other reason for me to be dealing with this mess right now. I've always prided myself on being at the top of my game in any given situation, but this shit has thrown me for a loop. For what has got to be the first time in my adult life, I find myself in a situation that I'm not completely in control of. Right now, I should be focused on the job; nothing is more important than that, at least there didn't used to be. But now, even with the danger I was sure was here, given the Intel we'd collected so far, all I could think about was her. And not even in a sexual, I wanna jump her bones every time I see her kind of way, but more like how can I put her in my pocket and keep her safely away from all this shit type of thing. It's not something I expected, not to this degree anyway, and no one ever told me that these things could happen, and if they had, I'd have said not to me. But I am living it, so it's real, and that brings me back t