Chapter 16
Cameron
We spend the rest of the weekend together. And it’s awesome, mind-blowing. Addictive. Being with Lacey is addictive. I can’t get enough of her. Her taste. The way she moans when I make her come hard. The way she knows exactly how to get me off, especially when I’m balls deep in her.
Good thing we’ve got the entire place to ourselves since Liam is protecting the former bride-to-be. But the bubble we’re living in pops on Monday morning when Lacey’s got to return to Barringtons.
The first couple of days are uneventful. But we haven’t got any leads to help us discover Julian Vale’s whereabouts. To complicate matters, there’s still no sign of any of the guys she witnessed entering the shop the day her friend was murdered.
And I’ve been medically cleared to return to my team overseas.
The sooner the better, according to Beckett.
We can’t pretend life isn’t a tangled mess filled with danger lurking in the shadows. And I can’t pretend that I won’t be able to protect her indefinitely until Julian’s finally captured and behind bars. As we drive into the city from Liam’s, the tension is tightening like a noose around my neck.
“I’ve got to head to Starlight’s Headquarters for a com with the team,” I say as I enter the freeway to take Lacey to her job.
“Then who will pick me up after work?” she asks, then gasps as a gray Mercedes Benz swerves in front of us without signaling a lane change.
I brake to avoid hitting the jerk’s back end. “I’ll be back before you clock out.” I don’t want to leave the city, but I can’t be everywhere at once. For all we know, Julian could remain a ghost indefinitely, possibly assume a new identity, and disappear permanently into a new life, and a new scam.
I check the rearview for more Nascar wannabe self-entitled prick drivers.
There’s a black SUV weaving in and out of the multiple lanes, creeping closer.
Too close. Fuck. I maneuver around a Honda CRV with a bunch of little people stickers on the rear end.
Family car telling every creep out there how many kids the parents have along with their genders.
Never did think that a smart move. But they’re not mine to protect. Only Lacey is.
Her breath hitches. “What’s wrong?”
“Shaking a potential tail.” I accelerate and focus locating the next exit off-ramp while operating my hands-free encrypted text to contact Beckett.
We’ve got a problem.
Beckett: What’s the situation?
Someone’s tailing me. I need to ditch the motherfucker.
Beckett: Lose the tail then return to headquarters with Lacey.
Rodger that.
I end the text com. “Lacey, contact your manager at Barringtons. Let him know you’ll be late.”
“Okay,” she says, then texts the guy while I continue to weave in and out of lanes, attempting to get more asphalt between my vehicle and the black SUV following me.
“I know this is for my own good,” she says when she puts her cell phone way. “But I hate that I’m probably going to lose my promotion because of that asshat.”
“Don’t worry about shit you can’t control, babe.
” I see the next exit is in one mile and I make the necessary lane changes to get ready to dodge the bastards barreling toward us.
“The intel we’ve got from the USB revealed a shit ton of money laundering scams and connections to a powerful mafia operating throughout the southeast. Vale’s got a ton more to lose than a career.
So, he’s desperate. We can’t let him stop you from connecting him to Adrian’s murder.
He created the new network of scumbags after leaving the New Jersey family branch. ”
I catch sight of the black SUV getting stuck behind a dump truck. They manage to make their way around it to hit the same exit, but I’m already turning onto a side street that’ll give me time to lose them.
Lacey twists around in her seat. “Great. We’re in the clear, but I’m still in danger for the foreseeable future. And you can’t protect me forever so then what happens?”
“This will end,” I say as I take another left turn onto another street. “Now that Select Protectors is collaborating with the feds, they’ll unravel the multiple layers of corruption we discovered thanks to the USB’s.”
“Meanwhile, I’m constantly on the run.”
“Vale won’t risk his neck to come after you,” I say. At least, not yet. “You’ve got heightened security that’ll alert us and the local PD if anyone makes a mistake on his orders.”
“Thanks for reminding me that he’s got people to do his dirty work for him,” she says glumly. “Potential tail case in point.”
“True. But we will get him,” I say. “And then you’ll be free.”
“Free to hit the unemployment line, most likely,” she grumbles a bit. “Not to mention, free without you here.”
Frustration laces through her voice. A hint of sadness too.
“True, but I might explore other options,” I say.
Because I’m not sure I want to go. The idea of leaving Lacey behind, even temporarily, makes my stomach clench hard.
Could there be a way to make it work with her?
My breath temporarily bottles in my chest as I consider the possibility that it could happen.
“But you love what you do.”
“I do. But maybe not as much as I…” I don’t finish the sentence.
Saying the L word out loud this soon after we met can’t be right.
Or real. But she makes me feel more than I’ve felt in years.
I love my gig with Select Protectors, and I don’t want to lose my found family.
But I don’t want to lose her either. I’m so fucking confused, I tamp down the L shit.
“Hopefully we’ll get Vale behind bars faster than we think.
Then we’ll both be free to do whatever we want. ”
“Text your manager. Tell him you’ll be there in twenty minutes,” I say when I gauge the distance on my GPS.
“Better late, than never,” she says as she complies while I zip an all-clear to Beckett via my hands-free op.
When we finally arrive at the parking garage, it’s almost full. Other vehicles are piling in, circling the garage’s corners as drivers hunt for free spots. After parking, I exit the SUV and do a quick scan of the area, everything appears normal.
But nothing is normal until I believe Lacey’s not in danger.
And I’m sure as hell not normal whenever I think about leaving her to go on my next assignment overseas.
The thought of if claws at my gut, a constant gnawing tension that won’t let up.
I’ve spent years throwing myself into the job, forgetting the pain of losing my high school sweetheart to cancer.
I’ve made peace with the constant upheaval, new assignments, but she’s changed everything.
The idea of walking away from Select Protectors feels like stepping off a cliff. I want to stay with my brothers, my found family, but I haven’t figured out how to do it. And what if I have the chance of forming a different kind of family, with Lacey?
I start circling around the back of the SUV to open Lacey’s door, my boots crunching against the rough asphalt.
The early morning sun casts long shadows, but something feels off.
A cold sensation tightens my stomach, and the fine hairs at the base of my neck prickle to attention, a warning I’ve learned never to ignore.
Then, the sharp squeal of tires slices through the air, followed by the blaring honk of a horn. The sound reverberates off the concrete walls, echoing in a way that makes my pulse hammer. Adrenaline punches through my veins in a white-hot surge. My instincts kick in before my mind fully catches up.
“Lacey, down,” I yell, my voice edged with urgency.
A white Honda—non-descript, old, the kind you’d never look twice at, screeches around the cement barrier ahead of us, it’s tires squealing. The windows are tinted but I don’t need to see inside to know what’s coming.
The bastards inside wear black balaclavas that completely cover their head, their eyes dark voids behind the fabric.
And then?—
The flash of a muzzle.
The crack of a gunshot.
Time slows. The sharp, acrid scent of burning powder hits the air. I move on instinct, reaching for my weapon, but their shot is already fired.