Guardian Azrael (Mayberry Protectors #5)

1. Duke

ONE

DUKE

O f course it was fucking me. And not even in the good way.

Because let me tell you, if this situation could have fucked me real nice, real good, I’d have spread my legs wide open and let it take me to town. Pound-town. To cloud nine. To nirvana. Go to church. Make that fresh-squeezed milk. Pay the rent. Blow my top. Shoot my goo. Make that special sauce.

But alas, this situation was not interested in fucking me the good way. Only the bad way.

But I bet you’ve never met a guy who knows so many euphemisms for the sweet release of what the French call “le petit mort”— the little death .

Well, I guess that was what being a virgin slut would do to you. Because I was both. A slut and a virgin, I mean.

You may be wondering how that is possible, so let me break it down for you.

Ever been so thirsty, like, really thirsty for the D that your knees go weak just looking at a barely-even-fuckable guy? So desperate to nut that you know you’d come even by watching paint dry? Well, that’s me. Thirsty with a capital T . And H . Ah, who am I kidding? Add capital I-R-S-T-Y into the mix too.

But I’m also a pussy.

Not the good kind. The other one. The bad kind.

That’s funny, isn’t it? When did we decide pussies are so cowardly that we need to call ourselves that when we’re too scared to take a breath? Did the person who came up with the insult know pussies stretch to deliver babies five times their size? I’d like to talk to him about his life choices and education. And yes, he because there’s no way a woman came up with that.

Anyway, where was I?

Ah yes. Me being a chicken.

Well, I’m so chicken that I’ve never dared to do anything about my “fanny flutters.” By the way, I don’t even know where I heard or read that term—a British expression. Apparently, their fanny is our pussy. That’s weird, isn’t it? I may not know where I got it, but I haven’t been able to forget it since. It paints quite the picture, doesn’t it?

I digress. Again.

So, yeah. I’m a chicken. A coward. An idiot? Maybe.

There’s another reason, too, but excuse me, we just met. I don’t kiss and tell.

Please ignore everything I’ve just told you and pretend I’m just a little angel who never said the words pussy, flutters, or nut.

What was my point with this whole tirade about my hopeless ass?

Ah yes.

This fucking situation was screwing with me big time.

Thankfully, I knew just the guy to help me unscrew it. I looked out my windshield as he parked his red Wrangler and approached my car.

He was a silver fox if I ever saw one, though probably a little too old for me. And probably a little too straight, what with being a whole-ass retired Navy SEAL commander with a constant sourpuss expression.

He leaned against my window, and I waved at him like an idiot. As if we were here to chat and gossip after choir practice, which, by the way, I’d never done at school even though it had always looked interesting. If only my vocal cords hadn’t been so fucked up at the time. Or any other part of my body.

Ah, those good— horrible —times in high school. Or, as I preferred to remember it, “the big death.”

Max raised his head from the passenger seat and flopped back down with a sigh. God, he was getting old. I still remembered him as a happy and excitable puppy. Now, all that was left was gray hair and undying devotion.

“What’s up, Duke?” Wyatt asked.

“Hi, Mr. Goodman. I’m sorry to drag you to the middle of nowhere.”

Wyatt Goodman glanced around us and raised an eyebrow.

“Eh, I’m used to it.”

I didn’t even want to know what that meant. What kind of places he’d been to. What kind of deadly missions to serve and protect our country. I was such a chicken I couldn’t even manage to drive to Blueberry Beach, which was as remote as it got on our little island.

“Everything okay?” His blue gaze was so intense it made the hair on the back of my neck rise and a lump form in my throat.

I cleared my voice before I spoke.

“I…I found something. I don’t know who to turn to.”

Wyatt gave me a single nod, walked around my car, and opened the door. Max jumped to his feet but only to give him half a sniff and scoot closer to me, resting his head on my lap. I did what I’d been doing all the years I’d been blessed with his friendship—took comfort in petting his thick fur.

Wyatt watched Max for a moment, then turned to me.

“I don’t even know if it’s anything. Honestly, it’s probably nothing.”

God, I was hoping it was nothing. If it wasn’t…

No. I didn’t want to think what would happen. I couldn’t even fathom it.

“I’m listening.”

I bit my lip and offered him my ugliest of smiles. I really, really hoped I sounded like a fool because if I didn’t…

“I…was going through my invoices. One of my suppliers told me about an invoice amendment, so I checked it…”

Max looked up at me without moving his head. Even he was rolling his eyes at my idiocy. I had dragged this man all the way here for nothing.

“First, I can’t access all the records. I couldn’t log into the account, which isn’t unusual because I’m not the only owner and he deals with most of this stuff. But then…”

“But then?”

Wyatt was still staring at me. He wasn’t cringing or even frowning. He wasn’t shaking his leg, cursing himself for coming all the way to the middle of nowhere for a stupid kid. But that wasn’t a surprise.

I’d heard about him. About them . Hell, I’d met most of them. The team . The big, muscly guys who’d flooded our island with their testosterone and goodwill. I’d met Wyatt’s team. The retired Navy SEALs who had come to work for him, with him, and tackle the crime on this island.

Everything had been very weird and explosive since they started popping up. So many incidents, deaths, so many…let’s call them fireworks. But they’d been here. They’d done their job and saved my friends and my town, time and time again.

I really, truly hoped I was wrong, but if I wasn’t, I knew there was no one better than Wyatt and his team to help me.

“Well, the invoice I had was nowhere near the amount my supplier had. It was, like, four times that.”

Wyatt exhaled.

“That doesn’t mean anything. It could be a simple mistake.”

“Yeah. Sure.” I nodded. “But then I went through the rest of them. All of them had extortionate amounts. They were too high. And, I mean, don’t get me wrong, running an animal sanctuary is expensive, but not that expensive.”

“I see,” Wyatt said, and Max turned to look at him for a moment as the man looked out the windshield.

Then my old whore of a dog decided to go sit on his lap.

Really, Max? After everything we’ve been through, you dump me for the hot silver fox?

Can’t say I blame you.

Wyatt stroked my dog and pursed his lips. Oh boy, what I wouldn’t give to feel the strength of that arm on me.

But, you know, chicken.

And also, I didn’t want to be beaten to a pulp by a straight guy twice my size. Contrary to popular belief, I did have a self-preservation instinct.

“What are you thinking?” I asked him because my thoughts were wild. As usual.

“Have you asked your business partner about this?”

I shook my head. “I’m scared.”

“You’re scared of your business partner.”

It was my turn to purse my lips.

“That’s just the thing. I…I’ve never actually met him.”

Wyatt turned and glared at me.

“What do you mean you’ve never met him?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got time.”

Of course he did. Because I was looking to be even more embarrassed than I was already.

“You realize how stupid that was?” he told me after I spilled my guts.

“Yep. Yep. In my defense, I was desperate.”

“That’s not a defense.”

I deflated with a heavy sigh and banged my head on the steering wheel. The horn made both Max and me jump.

“It’s okay, buddy,” I told him. “It was just your stupid daddy being…well stupid.”

“You can say that again,” Wyatt huffed.

“I know. I know.” Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Deep breath in. Deep breath out . “I’m sorry.”

Wyatt frowned and cocked his head. I bit back a chuckle.

Lol. Cocked. I’m such a child.

“What the hell are you apologizing for?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but to my surprise—and probably yours because even though we’ve only just met, you can tell I’m a yapper—I didn’t find anything to say.

Indeed. What the fuck was I apologizing to him for? It was me I should be saying sorry to.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “For dragging you into my messy life?”

Wyatt huffed again.

“Duke, man, don’t be stupid. That’s what I’m here for. That’s what we’re all here for. There’s a reason I returned to Mayberry after I retired. Because I want to help my people. My island.”

Oooh, shiver me timbers. Who had cranked up the heat in here? Because I’d never felt hotter. Then again, I always thought that.

I needed to get laid one of these days. I was scared for my mental health. I feared I was losing my mind, one horny thought at a time.

“Thank you.” Yeah, that should work. Because if I said what was on my mind, this man would drive me all the way into the ocean and leave me there to drown in sea salt and regrets.

“Don’t thank me yet. We’ve got work to do.”

“Whatever you need.”

He shook his head with a grumble.

“Not us, we. Me and my guys.”

Together? In a bathtub. Completely naked? Yes, please.

“Ah, yes. Of course. Um…what do you have in mind?”

Wyatt looked outside again. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Spring was well and truly here. The sky was almost as blue as the Atlantic, stretching endlessly before us.

“Honestly? I think this could be nothing.” He glanced at me only to see my defeat. “But…the man behind the curtain, Salieri, the guy who’s running the show around here, has put his fingers in too many pies.”

“I…I don’t follow.”

Wyatt ran his hand over his face, nose, and mouth and took a deep breath.

“There’s a reason things have been unusually dangerous lately. That’s because there’s a crime syndicate on the island and the man that runs it goes by Raymond Salieri. Ex-lackey of the Ferraro family in New York.”

“Family? As in Mafia?”

He nodded.

“He ran away with Ferraro’s money and contacts and planted roots here.”

Geez. And all this time, I had no idea.

“Why hasn’t anyone arrested him?”

“No one knows what he looks like. And I have a hacker on my team. He’s a ghost. Much like your secret business partner.”

“Ah.” I smile. “I was hoping you’d forgotten that.”

Wyatt chuckled and gave Max a good scratch behind the ear, triggering a nerve and making one of his back legs kick me.

“Kick me to the curb already, won’t you? Slut!” I told him.

Shit. Did I say that aloud?

“Sorry. So…you think he’s behind this too? Salieri?”

“Not going to lie to you, Duke. Money laundering requires high-volume, fast-cash businesses. Bars, restaurants, nightclubs. But it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Like you said, running a shelter is expensive.”

It was like I could breathe again. Like I’d been holding it since yesterday when I found the discrepancies, and only now was I able to fill my lungs again.

“So, what’s the plan?”

“I have an idea,” he answered. “Let me…give it a little whirl, and I’ll get back to you.”

He lifted his hand from Max, who heavily disapproved of the betrayal, and tapped my hand like a comforting dad.

I had hoped he’d tell me I was overreacting and being a princess. I was hoping he’d call me an idiot. But now…

Maybe I wasn’t. Maybe someone was using my baby, my sanctuary, to do dirty, bastardly things, and I hated it.

I hoped I was wrong, but if I was right, then there were no better men to rely on than Wyatt and his team.

“Does that mean I get my own shiny Navy SEAL?”