Chapter 1
Five years later
Christian “Tinker” Knight stood at the back of the courtroom. Feet braced apart, arms crossed, chin slightly lifted, he stared at the girl sitting in the witness box. Her small frame and pigtails made her appear much younger than twelve.
The prosecutor stood beside the witness stand. “Melanie, is the person who hurt you in this room?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“I need you to speak louder, Melanie.” The judge’s voice was gentle, but firm.
The little girl hunched her shoulders and looked down but did as the judge asked. “Yes.”
“Melanie,” the prosecutor said. “Can you point to that person?”
Her eyes jerked up and briefly found Tinker at the rear of the room. He remained stoic.
“It was…” She faltered and looked quickly at Tinker. “It was John.” She pointed to the man sitting at the defense table.
“Thank you, Melanie. No further questions, Your Honor,” the prosecutor said.
The judge looked at the public defender.
“No questions, Your Honor.”
The judge looked at Melanie. “Thank you, Melanie. You can go.”
Melanie bolted out of the chair, passed her guardian ad litem as she dashed down the short aisle, and launched herself at Tinker.
He caught her in a tight hug when she wrapped her arms and legs around him, burying her face in his neck.
Sobs racked her frail body, and he felt the old familiar rage begin to build.
Giving in to it and breaking every bone in her mom’s ex-boyfriend’s body would be extremely satisfying, but it would do neither him nor Melanie any good.
He squelched the urge and got Melanie the hell out of there, not waiting for her guardian ad litem to reach them.
“Melanie!” Her mom stood from her seat across from the courtroom doors and rushed to them.
Melanie reached for her mom and Tinker transferred her over.
“She did really well,” Amy, the guardian ad litem, said when she caught up with them.
“She was a champ,” Tinker said. “She’s a brave little girl.”
Melanie tilted her head to look at Tinker. “Only ‘cause you were there.”
“Nah. You’d have done it even if I wasn’t there.” He tugged the end of her pigtail.
She smiled, which was what he was hoping for.
“I can’t thank you enough,” her mom, Becky, said. “I don’t know where we’d be without your help these last few months.”
Tinker ran a hand over his short beard. “It’s all part of what VACA does.”
“Let me thank you with dinner. You can come over tonight.” Becky looked at him with stars in her eyes.
He knew it was more than the hero worship her daughter had.
Becky had been dropping hints that she’d welcome more than the occasional drive-by he did as part of VACA—Veterans Against Child Abuse.
She was sweet, but he knew her type—a woman who defined herself by her man.
There was nothing wrong with it as long as the man valued her.
“It’s against VACA rules,” he said gently.
She knew that. And even if it wasn’t against the rules, he wouldn’t get involved with a woman in such a raw and emotional state.
Some men might take advantage, but he did not.
Plus, she had SERIOUS RELATIONSHIP written all over her.
He didn’t do serious, and he didn’t do single moms—too big of a chance the kid would get attached.
He was not fit to be a substitute father figure, and he wouldn’t let a kid get emotionally involved.
“Are we ever going to see you again?” Melanie’s bottom lip trembled.
“Of course. The whole club’s taking you to school on Monday.”
Her mouth opened in awe and her eyes sparkled. “Really?”
“Yeah. Your mom didn’t tell you?” He shifted his gaze to Becky.
She looked down. “I didn’t want to get her hopes up.”
Tinker pressed his lips together, then gave his attention back to her daughter. “We’ll be at your house at 7:45 to pick you up. I got to get back to work. Can I get a hug before I go?”
Melanie reached for his neck, and he hugged her close. She kissed his cheek and said, “Thanks for making me brave.”
He swallowed hard. Twice. “Thanks for being brave.”
The wrench slipped and he scraped his knuckles against the engine block. “Shit!”
Tinker dropped the wrench and shook his hand.
“You better not get any blood on Graham’s floor.”
He looked to his right as Paige, one of his bosses, approached from across the garage. In her four-inch heels and tight, knee-length skirt, she didn’t look like she would be the chief operations officer for a security company that sometimes ran tactical operations in non-permissible environments.
But Paige was a chameleon. She was as comfortable running face-first down a wall or staring down the sights of an M4 as she was schmoozing new clients.
She was an attractive woman. He wasn’t ashamed to admit he’d thought about suggesting a hot and dirty fling since she’d held a similar viewpoint on relationships. But even if she didn’t sign his paychecks, he didn’t shit where he ate.
And she’d recently settled into domestic bliss with her boyfriend.
Come to think of it, he’d lost a few of his teammates to long-term relationships.
Nash had fallen for Addison, who sometimes joined them for training and operations.
Shane was ass-deep in the Guatemalan jungle protecting some pyramid his woman found.
Fuck. Tinker hoped that shit wasn’t catching.
“How’d it go today?”
He checked out her arm as she rested both on the frame of the truck he was working on, no indication her wound bothered her. She’d been shot a few months ago. It had been his fault. He’d waited for the shooter to spill his guts instead of taking the guy out as soon as he could.
“She did good. Prosecutor’s going for max time with no chance of parole.”
She nodded. “How are you?”
He glanced at her sideways before twisting the cap off the wiper fluid reservoir. He knew it was full—he’d filled it three days ago—but busy hands and all that shit.
“Do we have any jobs coming up?”
“Feeling the need to shoot something?”
“Something like that.” He screwed the cap back on.
“Dani’s here. I’m sure she’d be happy to get in the ring with you.”
His mouth twisted. “Thanks, but I don’t think getting punched in the face by my kid sister is going to help.” Besides, Dani had started holding back when she realized she could beat his ass.
He hated that they all knew what had happened to him and Dani. Everyone at Leonidas had always supported them both and had helped him get his record expunged so he could work with VACA. But he didn’t like it.
It wasn’t even like Dani hid her past. She was open about being a survivor. She talked to survivor support groups and used her status as a champion MMA fighter to advocate for victims and raise money for programs.
For him, her openness was another reminder he’d failed her.
Paige stared at him long enough to make him uncomfortable. “What?”
“I’m worried about you, Tink,” she said.
“Why?”
“This is your, what? Third case in a month?”
“Something like that. I thought you and Graham were cool with the time I give to VACA.” If they weren’t, he would have to reevaluate some things. He wasn’t willing to stop volunteering with them.
“We are, that’s not the issue,” she said.
“Then what’s the issue?”
“I can see the toll it’s taking on you. You’re not hiding it as well as you think.”
He huffed out a half laugh. “Have you been taking classes with Addison?”
“No, but I’d like you to talk to her. Or someone else, but you need to talk to someone. We need you at a hundred percent and so do those kids.”
“I’m good, Paige. You don’t need to worry about me.” He had a tight control of his emotions.
“Sorry, it’s part of the job description. Talk to Addison. You can consider it part of your yearly psych eval, but I want you to talk to her.”
He rubbed his head. “Okay. I’ll call her this week.”
“Thank you. Dani said the Knights are having a party tonight. You going?”
The irony of belonging to a club called Tarnished Knights wasn’t lost on him. The last thing he wanted to do was hang around a bunch of people, but he wanted to be alone even less.
“Yeah. You?”
She shook her head. “No. Ash’s parents are driving up from Savannah for dinner.”
He grabbed the rag hanging on the frame and wiped his hands. “Wow. Meeting the parents already?”
She moved her arms when he waved her off to drop the hood. “Technically, I’ve already met them. This is the official meeting.”
Tinker smirked, knowing she’d hooked up with her boyfriend at his sister’s wedding. “Good luck with that.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” She flipped him off for good measure. “I’m here if you need to talk.”
“I know.”
She headed off to the exit. “Have fun. Don’t get arrested.”
He grunted and shoved the rag into his back pocket. He appreciated that she didn’t push him to talk. She’d drop everything if he needed her to, even dinner with the new boyfriend’s parents. He picked up the wrench he’d dropped earlier.
A few drinks, maybe a hot woman with no expectations, and he’d be fine.