Chapter 9 #2
“Yeah, I am. A guy who appreciates a good thing when he has it. In case you’re confused, you’re that good thing.”
“You’re so getting some,” she whispered, before leaning down once again. This time the kiss wasn’t short or sweet.
“You two can make out later, we have bags to sort through!” Fiona called out, the amusement easy to hear in her tone.
Bree stood, Smiley caressing her hip as she did. She had a feeling she was blushing, but for the first time in a long time, she felt utterly carefree.
Today felt like the first day of the rest of her life, and she was going to make the most of it. Go after what she wanted. And what she wanted most was Smiley.
“Go on. If you need anything, let me know,” he said, shifting in the seat.
Bree’s gaze went between his legs, and she saw his erection. She wrinkled her nose; that couldn’t be comfortable. But Smiley physically turned her and gave her a little push toward the other two women before she could comment.
“Go. Do your thing.”
“Yes, sir,” she sassed.
The second she crossed the threshold between the outer store and the backroom, Fiona and Julie began to giggle.
“Girl, you two are hot together!” Fiona exclaimed.
Julie waved a hand in front of her face like a fan. “Scorching.”
“Whatever,” Bree said with a roll of her eyes, even though deep down, she agreed with both women. “Where are we starting?”
“Right. The new stuff is over there,” Julie said, pointing at four large trash bags along one of the walls.
The back room was full of several racks of clothes, mostly dresses.
Some had dry-cleaning tags on them and others were wrinkled, as if waiting to be brought to the cleaners.
There were other boxes of supplies stacked up in the space as well.
It was a crowded room, but organized and clean.
There was a door that probably led to the alley that ran behind the row of stores along Main Street, and what Bree could see was a small bathroom as well.
“The first step is to take everything out of the bags and hang it up. Once it’s all out, I usually look at each piece, try to validate the authenticity of the brand, you know, see if it’s a knockoff or real, and then separate out what I think will sell and what I’ll bring over to one of the general goodwill stores,” Julie explained, as she headed toward the bags.
Bree followed, strangely excited to see what had been donated. It was like Christmas and her birthday rolled into one.
Forgetting about the arrest of Mateo Castillo for the moment, she lost herself in the pleasure of working alongside new friends.
Smiley watched the women with a small smile as they worked in the back room. If any of his teammates could see him now, they’d probably think he was sick and needed to consult a doctor. He didn’t usually sit around and do nothing…much less sit around and watch a woman shop.
But listening to Bree and the others giggle and gasp in surprise and delight when they uncovered something special was an experience he’d never had, and never expected to actually enjoy.
Bree might think this was a waste of his time, but the more he was around her, the more he discovered the joys of simple pleasures.
The ringing of his cell made Smiley jerk in surprise, and he chuckled under his breath. Some badass SEAL he was, scared by his own damn phone.
Looking down, he saw it was Cookie—and he tensed.
This couldn’t be good.
Tex’s call with Wolf’s team about Castillo had been postponed. Smiley didn’t know why and he hadn’t asked—but it was taking place today. There could only be one reason why Cookie was calling him now, and it wasn’t to say hi.
“Smiley,” he said as he answered.
“What the motherfucking fuck?” Cookie said in a low, pissed-off tone.
Smiley sighed as he studied the floor, frowning. Yup. Tex had definitely talked with Cookie and the others about Mateo Castillo. And the former SEAL clearly wasn’t happy that he’d been kept in the dark, which Smiley didn’t blame him for one bit.
As the days went by, Smiley had felt worse and worse about keeping intel from Wolf’s team. It wasn’t right, but he’d felt as if his hands were tied because of everything Tex was doing to help with Bree’s situation.
But not telling his friends was the wrong decision. Period.
“I told Tex it wasn’t a good idea not to tell you,” Smiley said.
“Damn right it wasn’t. I can’t believe he—and you and your team—kept this from me!
My wife went through hell at the hands of Castillo!
Well, maybe not him specifically, but the damn organization he worked for, and you all thought it was a good idea to not tell me that he might not only be in the US, but in motherfucking Riverton? ”
Cookie’s voice had risen as he spoke, and Smiley worried the women could actually hear him, even though his cell wasn’t on speaker.
“I’m going to step out front for a second,” he called out to the women.
“Okay!”
“We’ll be here.”
“No problem!”
Smiley quickly stepped toward the front door of the shop and stood outside on the sidewalk as he spoke to Cookie.
“As I said, it wasn’t my idea. I told Tex that you and Hurt deserved to know.”
“Fiona continued to go through hell when she got back. Tex knew how badly she struggled. Hell, he kept her calm when she was lost in the delusion that her kidnappers had come for her. And now, despite the possibility they really might have come for her, he stays silent? It’s bullshit!”
“It is,” Smiley agreed. “But there’s no evidence that Castillo knows anything about Fiona. Or Julie, for that matter. From what Tex was able to find out, he wasn’t even in the jungle when you rescued them.”
“I don’t care,” Cookie said, still sounding pissed off. “If there’s a one percent chance that anyone from that fucking organization even knows my wife’s name, I should’ve been informed.”
“And I’ve agreed with you,” Smiley told him.
“Tex truly doesn’t think Castillo is here for your wife or Julie.
He wants Bree. Paid money for her. I told Tex he should talk to you, but he asked for more time to confirm whether Castillo was even part of that organization from years ago to begin with.
He didn’t want to alarm you for no reason if he was wrong.
I gave him that time. It wasn’t the right decision, and I’m sorry. ”
He heard Cookie take a deep breath, could practically picture him running a hand through his hair in agitation.
“Anything that has to do with my wife and that time in her life brings out the worst in me,” he finally admitted.
“Actually, I think it brings out the best in you.”
“Right. Talk to me, Smiley. Tex already gave me the deets about the hopeful apprehension of Castillo today, but I need to know what you think. Everything you know about the man. Why he’s so determined to get his hands on Bree. All of it.”
Smiley wasn’t surprised by Cookie’s demand. He’d ask the same if the roles were reversed.
Ten minutes later, he’d told Cookie everything.
All his concerns about the situation, his opinions, and by the time he hung up the phone, his friend was much calmer than he’d been when he’d first called.
But he was on his way to the store to pick up Fiona, just in case.
He also said he’d call Patrick Hurt, his former commander, and give him the rundown of what was going on, which Smiley appreciated.
The last thing he wanted was to get his ass chewed by Hurt as well, after being on the receiving end of Cookie’s ire.
He re-entered My Sister’s Closet and called out, “It’s just me!” He didn’t want the women to interrupt what they were doing, thinking a customer had walked in.
But to his surprise, he didn’t get any kind of response.
The hair on the back of his neck immediately stood up, and Smiley reached for the KA-BAR knife he always carried. He walked quickly to the open door to the back room and looked inside.
His adrenaline spiked even higher when he saw the back door was wide open and the women were nowhere to be seen.
“Fuck! Shit, shit, shit!” he swore, as he pulled out his cell.
As he pressed on Cookie’s name in his contacts, Smiley knew he’d fucked up. He’d sworn that Bree wouldn’t be out of his sight until Castillo was caught—and yet he’d willingly walked out of the store, leaving not only his woman alone, but Fiona and Julie too.
It hit him hard as the phone rang in his ear.
Bree was gone. As was Julie and Fiona. The three women Mateo Castillo had every reason to want to kidnap. He was reclaiming what he felt was his. His friend’s fears were justified…
And Smiley had been standing fifty feet away when it happened.
Cookie was going to lose his mind. He had every right to be even more pissed than he’d been before.
Smiley knew down to his bones that Castillo wasn’t currently being apprehended by the special task force. He’d finally made his move.
So the hunt was on. No one fucked with the Navy SEALs and their women.
Castillo might think he’d won, but in reality, he’d just signed his own death warrant.