CHAPTER TWELVE #2
Marshall is a former Green Beret. He’s been assisting with a...let’s just say a government search on a high value target. I already know it was a success, as I was notified in the middle of the night.
“Get some sleep,” I say as the elevator doors open.
He nods back in acknowledgment, knowing I’ll want to talk in more detail about the black op. Then his eyes drift over Cassy as he steps into the elevator.
I stiffen.
“Hi,” she smiles.
“Ma’am. The name’s Marshall.” And because he’s Texan, he dips his invisible hat and shows off his dimples.
Fucking hell.
Cassy’s eyes go glossy and I’m going to kill him.
“Get out,” I say when the doors open on our floor.
Marshall is one of the few men who isn’t scared of me. I respect the fuck out of him, but he irritates me.
Fucking Green Berets.
He wouldn’t be working for me if I didn’t think he was a valuable contributor to the team.
Fine, Aidan employed him.
“Welcome back, Marsh.” Ryder clasps his hand, and they backslap each other.
Cassy looks like a kid in a toy shop.
“Come,” I say grumpily and guide her through the building.
“Jesus,” she whispers under her breath as I clench my teeth.
“Josh,” Penny says, stopping in the doorway. “I didn’t expect you today.”
“You gonna introduce us?” Ryder asks behind me.
I stop and draw in a big, long breath, seeking patience. I fail.
Cassy keeps going and I clench my fingers around the material of her dress, and she bounces back, letting out a little welp.
Ryder snorts.
I turn us, guiding Cassy with my arm, and face all the staring faces.
“Cassy, this is Penny, my office manager. Ryder, come with me,” I say.
Cassy lifts her hand in a friendly wave as I move her along.
“He’s usually only this grumpy in the morning,” Penny mumbles behind us.
Cassy lifts her face to me and glances at Ryder behind us. Then she smiles at me.
I frown. “What?”
“Nothing.” She rubs her lips together, and I want to grip her face and kiss her.
I’m going to lose my mind if I don’t fucking kiss her soon. Maybe if I just do it and get it over with. Maybe she’ll be a terrible kisser.
She won’t.
I’ll want those lips around my cock.
“Nice to meet you, Cassy,” Ryder says, crossing his arms and leaning on the side cabinet in my office. It’s his usual spot. The guy is strongly opposed to sitting for some reason.
“You, too. What do you do?” she asks.
“I lead the private security division here at BHS,” Ryder says as I walk around my desk and sit.
Cassy drops into the chair on the other side.
“I’ll be working with Josh on your job over the next few days and weeks. However long it takes.”
“Oh.” Her eyes shoot to mine in question, and I want to give Ryder the bird and tell him she only wants me.
Because suddenly I’m eight.
“I can’t be there twenty-four seven.” I admit, leaning back in the large black leather chair and chewing the tip of the pen I picked up. “All my team are hand selected by me.” Except for Marshall. “Ryder is a trusted senior member of my team. I trust him with my life.”
“I wouldn’t. You still owe me two hundred dollars from poker night,” he says, winking at her.
Cassy chuckles.
Jesus, I’m trying to gain her trust, not get him a fucking date.
I roll my eyes.
“We have a strict but unofficial no fraternization rule at Black Hawke Security, so you can be sure their focus will be on the job and not on...anything else.”
I can hear the irony in my own words even as I wonder who I’m talking to. Cassy? Ryder? Myself?
“We do?” Ryder asks as Penny pops her head in. “Would you like a drink, Cassy?”
“No. Unless we’re going to be here for a while?” she asks.
“Can I speak with you?” Aidan’s face appears beside Penny.
Christ. It’s like Grand fucking Central Station here right now.
“Get her a soda.” I stand. “Be right back.”
“Just a water please, Penny,” Cassy says.
“Let me show you around,” Ryder says. “So I hear you’re a stylist?”
I follow Aidan to his office.
Every step I take away from her feels heavy. Like I’m the only person capable of protecting her. I know as much as any trained warrior that no man on his own is stronger than we are combined.
Sometimes you’re on your own—such as a Russian ship—but this is not one of those situations.
“I’ve briefed Ryder so you can unknot your panties—”
“Let’s talk,” Aidan says, leaning his shoulder on the wall.
I cross my arms.
“About?”
I know what this is about.
Aidan knows that I know what this is about.
He slides his hand out of his pocket, pushes away from the wall, and walks to his desk where he plants his ass on it.
Copying me, he crosses his bulky arms.
As a former US Marine, he’s just as deadly as every man in this organization. We met eight years ago on a special op assignment outside the United States.
That’s all I can share. Or, you know, kill you.
The operation was successful, and we’d hightailed it to the pickup point in the jungle.
Nine SEALs and marines.
The choppers had begun to lower as we crouched in the long grass, alert, with our weapons loaded and ready.
One of the men heard something and lifted this weapon, but Aidan’s hand shot up to halt us.
We’d all seen the kid by this point.
It’s fucked up, but our enemies use them all the time. They layer them with explosives or send them out to distract and then start shooting. Staring into the eyes of a terrified child, no matter what nationality they are...there are no words. Nothing can prepare you for that level of fuckedupness.
I don’t know how it happened, but Aidan’s eyes shot to mine—despite only meeting on this assignment—and I nodded. Then did the same to my team. Taking a side each, Aidan and I rounded the kid, while the others spread out around us.
If this was an ambush, we needed to deal with it. The chopper had been told to hold, but it couldn’t do so for long.
We were running out of time.
In three seconds, a bunch of all clears came in via our earpiece, then Aidan and I closed in on the little girl.
Under her arm was a dirty teddy bear.
Aidan nudged it with the tip of his gun, and she hugged it to her. I shook my head when he glanced at me for a quick opinion.
No kid hugged a bomb.
I hoped I was right, and so because I was the most senior and I’d made the call, I reached out and ripped it from her.
She began to sob.
But she didn’t explode. Neither did we.
Aidan reached out and searched the child for weapons, then said all clear. Next we heard the five seconds warning in our ear.
In the local language, I asked, “Where are your parents?”
“Dead. Shot.” She sobbed.
Jesus. She was an orphan, on her own, in an environment where men would kill her because she held no value and would only cost them to feed and house.
Or they would use her as a weapon.
“Fuck this,” Aidan said, scooping her up.
There were going to be major consequences, but as we both ran, sharing a look, no words were needed to be exchanged. We had each other’s back.
I’ll never forget that moment, though. The chopper lifting off the ground, the night as black as granite, and the scared little girl sitting on Aidan’s knee.
I slid my earmuffs on and handed him a pair.
After we cleared the area, Aidan stared down into her small, tear-stained face. She couldn’t hear his words as he said, “I know we save millions of lives with what we do, but sometimes saving one is just as important.”
We were all silent for a long time after that.
She would’ve almost certainly died if we had left her.
Later, we found out that she had followed us. I mean, Jesus, what courage.
Now Amy—her new name—is living with a family in Ohio, and she wants to be a cheerleader.
I’d been a SEAL for four years back then. It would take three more years of friendship with Aidan Black and about seventy beers over which we discussed many times how much more we could do without official restraints holding us back.
Then my grandfather died.
He was wealthy as fuck and left it all to me.
It should have been split between my brother and me, but...yeah, anyway.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just a bank account with cash. I’d studied business briefly before joining the navy and worked out I’d have to make some changes to create the cash flow I’d need to create what would become BHS.
I hired a managing director to run my grandfather’s company while I was still in active duty, then cashed out as many shares as I could without losing the majority holding.
Then I invested in high-risk stocks.
It paid off.
Then the stars aligned once again when Aidan won over two million dollars on the lottery. I honestly expected him to retire and buy a beach house in the Caribbean or something.
He didn’t.
He was still committed to creating our vision and now he would be an equal partner.
It was when we were working out of Pearl Harbor when a brunette Hawaiian bartender slid a cold glass of beer across the wooden bar to me, and I said to Aidan, “I’m ready.”
“To get married? I thought you’d never ask.” He grinned, sipping his tall cocktail.