Prologue
Vincent
“No,” I said without hesitation as I studied the men before me.
I’d talked to Ronan Grisham on the phone a couple of times, but Memphis was new.
Of course, I already knew as much about him as I needed to, though, since I’d done my homework on him as soon as Ronan had asked me to fly to Seattle for a meeting.
I could have told them before I’d even left my place in West Virginia that I had no interest in taking on any job they might offer me, but truth be told, the little group Ronan had going on here had intrigued me.
I suppose I had Ethan Rhodes to thank, or blame, for that, depending on how you looked at it.
I’d met Ethan Rhodes six months earlier when Ronan had asked me to take a look at a damaged phone in Ethan’s possession, which had had evidence of a murder on it.
From the moment I’d met the doctor, I’d been transported back to a time in my life that I’d had no wish to return to.
It wasn’t that Ethan had necessarily looked like David; it was more about the way he’d carried himself.
He’d had an air of vulnerability about him, but there’d been a fierceness in him as well.
It was the reason I’d helped Ethan go after his lover, Cain Jensen, when he’d feared the man’s life was in danger.
For all the struggles David had gone through in our final year together, he’d been unfailingly loyal…and protective. He hadn’t always been able to find the strength to fight for himself, but if there’d been even the slimmest chance I was in danger, he’d been ready to stand by my side, guns blazing.
It was that memory that Ethan had stirred in me that’d had me doing something I hadn’t done since I’d lost David to his demons.
I’d given a shit.
And that wasn’t a good thing.
Not in my line of work.
But I’d done it anyway, and I’d started wondering about the kind of work Ronan and his men did. I’d never actually met Ronan - our relationship had been more of a friend-of-a-friend kind of thing. He’d cashed in a favor and I’d paid one off.
It should have been a simple transaction.
I should have held up my end of the deal and been done. But then Cain Jensen had called me and asked me to stay with Ethan while he took care of the man’s vengeful ex once and for all. I’d been on the cusp of saying no, but I’d heard that thread of desperation in the young man’s voice.
And I’d known what he was feeling.
That need to do anything and everything to protect that one person in your life who completed you…
who was your reason for everything you did.
Every breath you took, every battle you fought…
going on day after endless day, even after you lost them, because without you, there was no one left to keep their memory alive.
It was the only reason I’d been able to get up every morning after David had been taken from me.
And despite the bullet he’d put in his own brain, he had been taken . The man I’d fallen in love with when I’d still been in my teens had started to disappear before my very eyes the moment he’d gotten that notice from the army that’d said his service to his country was no longer valued.
The same notice I’d gotten.
And all because David and I had made the grievous error of falling in love with each other .
“You’re not even going to hear us out?” Memphis asked.
We were sitting in his living room. A white cat had taken up residence on my lap the second I’d sat down. When Memphis had gone to move her, I’d waved him off. I’d take the presence of an animal over a human any day of the week.
I had no interest in hearing him out, but I decided to humor him and merely nodded my head at him. I would still be telling him no, though. Because I had absolutely no interest in playing bodyguard to anyone, since that would mean having to spend more than five minutes in another person’s company.
Yeah, no thanks.
“His name is Nathan Wilder. His brother is in a relationship with the son of a friend of ours and another man,” Ronan said.
I remained quiet, though I was intrigued by the concept of three men in an equal relationship with one another.
Memphis, himself, was in the same kind of relationship, though I hadn’t met either of his young lovers.
The research I’d done on him had just been the basics including financials, employment, and family history, but I could tell from the handful of pictures I’d seen of him and two good-looking young men in their twenties, that what they had between them was the real deal.
As someone who was pushing fifty, I’d seen a lot in my time, but a ménage relationship that appeared to be about more than just sex was a new one, even for me.
“He’s received some threatening emails and it sounds like there’s a chance the assailant has taken it to the next level. Brody, that’s Nathan’s twin, was mentioned in some of the emails, but we suspect that was more to rattle Nathan than anything else,” Memphis explained.
The assailant sounded like a smart individual…psychological warfare made a man an easier target. The stress alone of knowing his twin might be at risk would have had a lasting impact on this Nathan guy. Wear a guy down enough mentally, and he’d be an easy target in the long run.
“We were hoping you could check it out…sit on him for a bit and see what you can find,” Memphis continued .
Curiosity got the best of me and I said, “Why me? From what I’ve seen, your little operation here has plenty of qualified muscle.”
Ronan and Memphis exchanged a brief glance. Ronan finally said, “We think your skill-set and contacts would give you unique access and insight.”
If Ronan hadn’t said the words with a measure of hesitation, I would have thought he was sucking up to me. But the fact that he’d almost seemed reluctant to voice his reasoning had me straightening from where I’d been leaning back against the couch. “How so?”
The men looked at each other again. It was almost comical…like they were afraid to say whatever it was that was on their minds.
“Nathan is running for Senate-”
“No,” I said simply, and then I gently pushed the cat off my lap.
As I climbed to my feet, Ronan murmured, “He needs help, Vincent.”
“Not my problem,” I responded as I stepped past him. Irritation went through me as I thought about how hesitant both men had been.
Which meant they knew about my hatred of all things government.
Everett.
Fucking busybody. He’d known exactly what he was sending me into when he’d encouraged me to take the meeting.
No, I hadn’t made the decision to meet Ronan based solely on him, but between him and my curiosity about what kind of group would go to such lengths to protect a complete stranger like Ethan Rhodes for no other reason than it was the right thing to do, I’d climbed onto the private jet Ronan had sent for me with the expectation that at the very least, I’d get Everett off my back about the whole damn thing.
“Vincent-”
“I don’t give a fuck what Everett told you about me,” I snapped as I turned to look at both men. “You want to protect this guy, you go right ahead. But you sure as shit don’t want me doing it, because one less politician is a win in my book!”
“Memphis? ”
The sound of a man’s voice, along with a rhythmic knock on the front door, had me stopping my forward movement.
“In here,” Memphis called.
“Sorry, I heard voices, but I figured maybe you didn’t hear me knocking,” a man said as he rounded the corner from the front hallway. He was heavily built and in his early forties with a bald head. I stilled as I realized I knew him.
“No problem, Dom. We were just finishing up,” Memphis said.
“Tristan forgot some sheet music at our apartment…”
The man’s voice dropped off as his eyes fell on me.
“Major St. James?”
“Dominic Barretti,” I murmured.
I felt my heart constrict painfully in my chest as Dom saluted me.
It was something he’d done the few times I’d seen him after my discharge from the army.
And it was something he shouldn’t be doing based on the type of discharge I’d received.
While I knew it was a sign of respect on his part, it still cut me to the core.
I couldn’t bring myself to salute him back, but luckily, he didn’t maintain the position long. He strode forward and held out his hand. As soon as I took it, he leaned in and clapped his hand on my back. I wasn’t one for hugs, but Dom wasn’t just some guy off the street.
Not even close.
There weren’t a lot of people who’d stood by me after the shit that had gone down with the army, but Dom had.
And he’d taken it a step further.
He’d offered me something that I hadn’t had after the army had shattered my entire world.
I just wished like hell I’d taken him up on it.
“What are you doing here?” he asked as a wide smile passed over his lips.
I had no idea how to answer him. I knew enough about Dom to know he ran his business legit, and I was anything but.
“We asked Vincent to help us out on the Wilder case,” Ronan announced without hesitation .
Dom nodded and walked farther into the room, handing Memphis a folder, presumably the sheet music he’d mentioned.
“How do you guys know each other?” I asked, still completely caught off guard that Ronan’s group of vigilantes would have ties to Dom’s aboveboard security business.
“My husband and I met Ronan last year when one of his men began seeing our oldest son, Eli. And we met Memphis right after that. He’s in a relationship with Logan’s and my son and our nephew,” Dom explained.
“Tristan and Brennan aren’t actually related,” Memphis clarified. “Brennan’s brother and his husband are friends of Dom and Logan’s family.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” I said, smiling despite myself.
“Cade will be so glad to know you’re helping out Nathan,” Dom said. “Beck is worried sick about Brody who’s worried about Nathan…”
God, I needed a fucking whiteboard to keep up. “Wait, Cade…Cade Gamble?” I asked.
Dom smiled. “Yep…except it’s Barretti now. He’s married to my brother.”
“Cade Gamble is married?”
I couldn’t wrap my head around that. While I’d known Cade was gay when I’d met him and Dom while we were stationed in the Middle East, I’d also known him to be a player…to the extreme. The fact that he was married, and with a kid no less, was blowing my mind.
“Yep. Five kids, too,” Dom said with a laugh. “You should stop by and say hi.”
Part of me actually wanted to take him up on the offer, but the other part…the part that still mourned David even after all the years that had gone by, sent silent warnings to my brain not to get involved. I’d had the chance for a different life, but I’d blown it.
I’d chosen wrong.
And it was too fucking late to do anything about it.
But I couldn’t discount what Dom had said. “Tell me about Cade’s son,” I said .
Dom sobered and then he glanced at Ronan and Memphis. “May I?” he asked as he motioned to the couch. Both men nodded. I went to sit in an armchair because I could tell just by looking at the expression on Dom’s face that whatever he had to tell me was not going to be easy.
“Beck is nineteen…almost twenty, actually,” Dom began.
“Cade and my brother, Rafe, adopted Beck and his brother and sister when Beck was twelve. Beck has struggled with some mental health issues over the years, but we didn’t know until this past summer what was driving some of the behavior.
He’s finally in a good place, but with the threat against Brody’s brother, Beck and both his men are feeling the strain.
The mention of Brody in some of the emails Nathan received has made things even harder, especially on Beck. ”
My eyes shifted to Memphis and Ronan briefly before they fell back on Dom. When his eyes met mine, I felt anger settle over me.
But it wasn’t directed at him.
It was directed at myself.
I’d had a chance to have a man like Dom in my corner, but I’d been na?ve enough back then to think that the country David and I had served would step up and make things right.
Now David was dead and I’d served my country in a different way.
A way that would have shamed David.
I got up and went to Dom and extended my hand. He immediately stood up and shook it, though he looked both confused and surprised.
“You had my back when no one else did,” I said. “I’ve got your nephew’s.”
As much as the idea of going back to the world that I’d fought so long and hard to escape sickened me, I knew that was no longer a factor in any of this.
I didn’t give a shit about Nathan Wilder or whatever bullshit he wanted to sell to the American people so they’d give him the power he needed to push his own personal agenda, but I did want to do something that might have David looking down on me with pride instead of shame .
I turned to look at Ronan and Memphis. “If I do this, I’m doing it my way.”
Both men nodded. I turned to leave, but then thought better of it and paused long enough to say, “After this, lose my number. It’ll be better for all of you that way.”