The Alpha Bodyguards Books #1-3

Chapter Eighteen

“J esus, it’s hot as fuck out here,” Tank bitched through the comm.

I scanned the sidewalk for the hundredth time. “Not as hot as Afghanistan.”

“That was dry heat and sand,” Sawyer chimed in. “No comparison.”

“Tell me again why we’re out here?” Tyler asked.

“Because you and Tank fucked up,” I clipped.

I was over these half-ass assignments for dignitaries or whatever bullshit detail we were supposed to be on. Both of them had fucked up on an assignment with a famous actress and managed to get themselves on TV. Well, Tank did. Tyler got his ass filmed while he’d carried said actress, naked as the day she was born, over his shoulder across South Beach in the middle of the night. The video had gone viral within hours.

So now we did bullshit assignments like guarding the front of the state building in Miami in August while some asshole in a suit who was paranoid about snipers blowing his head off pretended he was worth four former Force Recon Marines’ time. Meanwhile he’d hired a rent-a-cop security detail for his close protection and those inexperienced pricks were inside. In air conditioning.

“Money is money,” Sawyer said.

“Two whole sentences strung together in one day? Damn, Sawyer,” Tyler teased. “You finally coming out of your shell after what… three years?”

Silence.

Tyler chuckled. “Guess Sawyer hit his daily word limit. ”

“Heads up,” Tank interjected. “We’ve got movement. They’re coming out the back.”

“Thank fuck,” Tyler muttered.

“What’s wrong, Pretty Boy?” I hazed Tyler. “You getting soft on us now that you’re actually getting laid?”

“First,” Tyler countered, “fuck you. And second, you should try it sometime. It’d do wonders for your shit disposition.”

“My disposition isn’t the problem, asshole.” Women were. All of them. Trouble with a capital T.

Tyler chuckled. “Case in point.”

“Southeast side of the building, Sawyer,” Tank cut in. “They’ll be coming your way next.”

“Copy,” Sawyer answered.

“So how long has it been, Collins?” Tyler asked. “None of us have seen you with a woman in… well, ever.” He laughed. “You need us to hold your hand? Tell you how it’s done?”

“Unlike you, I’m not a dumb shit letting bleeders or trouble into my life.” Fuck that shit. There were only two kinds of women, and I wasn’t getting involved with either one. Been there, done that.

“Client secure in his convoy,” Tank said. “They’re on the move. Sawyer, you’re up. I’m heading to my SUV to pick up the convoy’s six.”

“Copy that, I have visual,” Sawyer replied. “Three vehicles rounding the side of the building. Heading toward you next, Collins.”

“Copy,” I replied, scanning the southeast end of the building. “First vehicle approaching. Second close behind.”

“Hold up, hold up,” Tank clipped. “Two delivery trucks blocked me, I’m boxed in. You’re up, Sawyer.”

“Convoy already passed me,” Sawyer interjected. “I’m out.”

I started to jog toward my SUV. “I have visual. I’ll pick up their six.”

“Wait,” Tank cut in. “Coming back around now, one of the trucks moved. I can— Jesus fuck , what the hell? There’re kids all over the place. Twenty, thirty, another two dozen adults, they’re pouring out of the state building. ”

Shit. I stepped up my pace. “Were there any scheduled tours today?” The last thing I needed was to mow down some kid as I tried to keep a suit from getting his head blown off.

“No,” Tyler answered. “But the history museum and Miami PD are located in the state building.”

“Collins,” Sawyer cut in. “I’m coming at you from the northeast side. Let me know if you need backup.”

“Copy.” I was almost to my SUV.

“You’re gonna get blocked, Sawyer,” Tank warned. “Tyler, get on the comms with the convoy, tell them to divert at the next corner and head east. I’ll pick them up and lead them out of here. I’m coming around the southwest corner of the building now.”

“Shit,” Tyler swore. “Convoy is radio silent.”

“Switch to backup,” Sawyer clipped.

“I’m trying,” Tyler answered. “But the dumb fucks either forgot to turn on their comms or they don’t know how. You’d think these idiots would answer their phones.”

“Collins,” Sawyer clipped. “Heads up, heavy pedestrian traffic coming at you. The convoy will be caught at the light. You can redirect east.” Laughing kids sounded in the background of his comm.

A crowd of children and adults seeped around the corner of the building like an oil spill.

“Copy that, already see them.” The crowd of kids and parents took up the whole damn sidewalk as I headed toward the first SUV in the convoy. Fighting upstream pedestrian traffic, I dodged a chain of three kids and a frazzled middle-aged woman. “I’m almost to the front vehicle, I’ll tell them to re—” My words died on my suddenly dry tongue.

No.

No fucking way.

No motherfucking way.

Brown curly hair I’d dreamed about.

The traffic light changed and the first vehicle in the convoy sped past me .

“ Collins ,” Sawyer barked.

Full lips, perfect hips and haunted blue eyes.

But there wasn’t just one pair of eyes.

The second vehicle in the convoy rushed by.

“Goddamn it,” Tank cursed through the comm. “What the fuck are you doing, Collins?”

There was another pair. A light-brown pair. A color I knew intimately, one that I saw every time I looked in the mirror.

My nostrils flared, and her name left my mouth on a curse. “Brookelyn.”

“ Collins ,” Tank bellowed through the comm, as the third and last SUV in the convoy sped past me.

Her head snapped up and the smile on her face dropped like a stone.

Unconsciously, my right hand landed on the 9mm in my waist holster and I was striding toward her before my lungs could fucking catch up to the shock and anger flooding my veins.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sawyer pull over in his SUV and glance between me and her.

Tank sped around the corner and ran the light, barely missing half a dozen kids and adults. “Collins, you fuck, you—”

My eyes on her, I reached up and shut off my comm.

Her step faltered and her arms tightened around the kid perched on her hip.

A kid who was my spitting image.