Prologue Recruitment #2
His heart picked up as he tried to catch her eyes to verify if it was, in fact, her. When he spotted the tall blond man alongside her, he let out a hard sigh. “Yeah, I should go.” He left the cage and grabbed his belongings. He needed to get out of there. Now.
“Take the money. You earned it.” Angelo held out a wad of cash double the size of the one Asher had offered back at the bar.
“Nah, I’m good.”
Angelo smiled and tossed the roll of money to one of the guys behind him.
Asher surveyed the next set of fighters entering the cage. The itch to get back in there surprised him. Maybe something was wrong with him. Could the Navy be right?
“Well, guess I’ll see you in another ten or so years.” Angelo folded his arms. “Unless you’re thinking of staying. It’s been a long damn time since you’ve come to our part of town.”
“I can’t stay.” His throat thickened as more memories from his past, from the streets, blew through his mind.
Angelo wrapped a hand over his shoulder. “You really came all this way to knock me out?”
Asher stepped out of his reach and shrugged on his jacket, noticing Angelo was blinking a little as the blood near an open cut spattered his lashes.
“I guess I did.” But maybe he was also there to remind himself why he left. To understand why he needed the military. “I, uh, better—”
“Go.” Angelo nodded. “Do you want me to say hello to your pops when I visit next?”
He hung his head. It’d been even longer since he’d seen his old man. “Nah, but you can tell your dad I said hi.” He started for the exit. Time to leave the past behind. For good.
Outside, the dark night grabbed hold of him and absorbed some of his thoughts. He glanced around, expecting to find Luke Scott waiting for him.
“Hey,” he said when he saw Luke come out a different exit, Jessica striding behind him.
Luke stepped forward and extended his hand. “How’s it going?”
Asher shook his hand but kept his eyes glued to Jessica standing quietly off to Luke’s side.
The guy had retired three years ago, so this couldn’t be a work visit. But then, why was a spook with him?
Asher dropped his arm to his side. His breath visibly sailed from his lips in the cool air. “This isn’t the best place for a woman.”
Jessica’s lip caught between her teeth, and even beneath her coat, he knew her chest was slowly rising from the deep breath she was trying to hide.
“We need to talk,” Luke was quick to say.
“I, uh, figured.” Asher’s focus journeyed to the parked Escalade at the curb. “Your ride?”
“Yeah.” Luke gestured toward the vehicle and led the way.
“I’m guessing this isn’t a social call,” Asher said once in the back seat and Luke started to drive.
“Not exactly.” Luke shifted his rearview mirror to catch a quick look at Asher.
Asher remembered Luke being hard around the edges, but there was a grim darkness shadowing his eyes now.
Someone must have died. Someone close to him.
He hadn’t heard mention of any recent SEAL deaths, though.
“Marcus Vasquez,” Luke offered, reading Asher’s thoughts. “He died three weeks ago on an op.”
Asher squeezed his eyes closed as his heart worked harder in his chest at the idea Marcus was gone. He hadn’t known him well, but he’d been a Teamguy. A loss was a loss.
“I didn’t hear about that.” He’d been cut off from the world on a mission for over a month, though. “But I thought Marcus was retired.” He opened his eyes, leaned forward, and pressed a hand to the top of Jessica’s seat.
“To the world he was.” Luke stopped at a red light and shifted to the side to catch his eyes. “He worked with me.”
Damn. “Sorry, man.” Asher settled back in his seat. “You run that security company now?”
“Yeah, I do, but there’s more to it,” Luke replied.
“I still don’t get how you found me.”
“Finding people is what I’m good at.” Jessica spoke for the first time, and her voice had the hair on his arms standing at attention. “Why were you fighting?” she asked without turning to face him.
“That’s not relevant,” Luke interjected.
“I think it is,” she said.
“Drop it,” Luke commanded.
He pressed his palms to his thighs and stared at his now swollen knuckles; the memory of his hands pounding flesh snapped back to mind.
“We’re almost at our office. I’ll explain everything there. I promise.” Although the promise was aimed at Asher, Luke glanced at Jessica before focusing on the streets that became busier as they neared Manhattan.
He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear an explanation, though. Hell, he didn’t even know if he wanted to be in the car right now.
He was due back to Virginia in two days to find out his fate with the SEALs. Now that the fight was over all he wanted to do was get stupid drunk.
But curiosity got the best of him, so he stayed tight-lipped until they were in the parking garage of a skyscraper.
He eased out of the car slowly, as if he’d been the one getting battered in the cage tonight.
When he faced Jessica in the garage, she kept her eyes low as she tightened the belt of her coat.
When Luke came around to their side of the car, Asher waved a finger between them. “Are you two together?”
“Hell, no. This is my sister. Jessica.”
A rock dropped in his stomach, and he staggered back a step. Shit.
“I know, I know.” Luke showed his palms. “It’ll make sense soon.”
Did he really not know Asher had a history with his sister?
Luke pointed to the elevators, and Asher maintained his distance behind them as they walked, ignoring her long legs beneath skinny jeans and tall brown boots.
In the elevator, Luke punched in a passcode, and they began to ascend a moment later. “You good?” Luke angled his head, observing Asher.
“I don’t know what I am to be honest.” He fought the urge to study Jessica, now that they were in better lighting.
Brother. The word rotated through his mind like a record skipping.
There were rules, and one of them was you didn’t bang a Teamguy’s sister. Jessica had omitted that part before she’d ridden him like there was no tomorrow.
He rolled his eyes skyward and eased out a steady breath to stop his dick from leaping up at attention at the memory of her tits smashed to his chest.
Luke tipped his head toward the parting doors, but Asher motioned for Jessica to exit. “Ladies first.” He told himself he was being a gentleman, and it had nothing to do with his desire to check out her ass, which he wanted to sink his teeth into like a peach.
The khaki wool coat didn’t hide the sway of her hips with each step. Her buns of damn steel—undoubtedly hard-earned—had become a permanent fixture in his memory from the moment he’d laid eyes on her back in Aleppo.
“You sure you’re okay?” Luke arched a brow.
Asher blinked, realizing he was still standing in the elevator, simply watching Jessica walk farther and farther away. “Yeah.” He finally stepped into the lobby.
“We can talk in Jessica’s office,” Luke said.
Asher forced his shit-kickers, as his sister liked to call them, to move.
“So.” Jessica was standing behind her desk, coat off and arms folded, when he entered. The white cashmere of her sweater accentuated her curves and had his forearms tightening at the sight of her.
Long, light-blonde hair. Ice-blue eyes. High cheekbones. A straight nose. And kiss-me full lips.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her mouth, a mouth that had somehow taken every inch of his—
“Asher?” Luke’s voice effectively killed his thoughts.
“Yeah?” He went over to the chair in front of her desk and dropped down, gripping the arms to try and pull himself together.
Going back home. The fight. And now her. A parade of the past . . . Maybe it was too much in one night, even for him.
“So, why am I here?” He glanced at the hard set of her jaw. Did she hate him? Hell, she was the one who’d left his bed without so much as a goodbye.
Luke stood off to Jessica’s side in a rigid position. “I wanted to recruit you three years ago to our team, but you’d just hooked up with DEVGRU, so I didn’t think you’d want in.”
Our? His gaze flicked to Jessica before meeting Luke’s eyes.
“My sister and I run an on-the-books company with former Teamguys—Scott & Scott Securities. But we also lead a black-ops group for the president which very few people know about. It comprises of two teams—Bravo and Echo. Jessica, myself, and nine other guys.” A grimace touched his lips. “Er, eight guys.”
Marcus. He straightened in his seat but kept his hold on the chair arms.
“We’re a man down. Marcus was our best tracker.” A touch of anger reverberated through his tone.
“Did you catch the bastards who took him out?” Asher was back on his feet, his legs itching to rise. He couldn’t sit while having a conversation about losing a Teamguy.
“No.” Jessica’s arms fell to her sides. “Not yet.”
“We’re still active duty, but we handle ops DEVGRU can’t.” He pointed toward the floor. “This place is the front.”
“And you’re asking me to join?” He crossed his arms, the dull throb of his heart like an echo in his ears. Low. Steady. A constant booming. “You should know I might be off the Teams soon.”
“I know.” Luke shook his head. “You made the right call. I would’ve done the same as you. Hell, it’s one of the reasons I want you.”
“Because I don’t follow rules?” Because my superiors think I’m unpredictable? Uncontrollable? He almost laughed, even though it hurt like hell on the inside when he thought about it.
The Teams were everything to him, and he hadn’t been sure what would happen if he got suspended or the boot. Maybe he’d end up back on the streets or in the ring, like tonight.
Black Squadron—Charlie Team—had been his life, but Luke was offering him a second chance.
How many second chances had he already had? Maybe more than he deserved.
“You got the job done,” Luke said firmly. “And more importantly, you refused to leave a man behind even when your CO ordered you not to go back into the compound.”
Luke had left out the part where Asher had slugged his commanding officer across the jaw, but he wasn’t exactly itching to relive that moment.