Epilogue
EPILOGUE
“What is up with you?” Safe asked Smiley. “You’re an asshole, but lately you’ve been even more of an asshole.”
“Leave him alone,” Kevlar said in a tone the team rarely heard.
Safe looked at his friend in surprise. “I’m not trying to be mean, I’m trying to understand.”
Smiley stared at his teammate. He was well aware he was being an asshole to the people who meant the most to him. But he couldn’t help it. He was frustrated and worried.
And Jude Stark wasn’t the kind of man who worried. Life happened. You couldn’t control it, you could only ride the wave as best you could. But ever since the events with Ellory and Yana, he’d been on edge. The woman he’d been desperately searching for in Las Vegas was here . In Riverton. She’d been so close—and yet once again, she’d slipped through his fingers.
And once again, she’d been hurt.
He’d found a spot in that shipyard, way back in a corner near the fence line, that had a sizeable puddle of blood. He could easily envision what happened, especially after seeing the bruised knuckles of the asshole his SEAL friends had killed.
Bree had led the kidnapper away from the kids, allowing them to escape, and she’d found herself cornered. She might have fought back, but it would have been no use. The woman he remembered was small and slight…and she’d had the shit beaten out of her. Enough that he’d found a fucking fingernail on the ground.
Closing his eyes, he could picture what happened as clear as day.
Bree, lying on the ground, curled into a ball trying to protect herself, while she was kicked and beaten to a pulp.
The only consolation Smiley had was the trail of blood that led him to a spot in the fence, where she’d clearly crawled under and out of the shipyard.
He had so many questions. Why was she here? How had she gotten involved in Ellory and Yana’s rescue? Was she still here? Did she need help? And if she did, why didn’t she make contact with him?
He had no answers—and it was driving him crazy.
“Smiley?” Kevlar said his name quietly. “What do you need from us?”
Deciding if he was ever going to find Bree Haynes, he had to admit he needed assistance, Smiley turned to his team.
They were standing on the beach near the naval base. They were supposed to be working out, but in an extremely rare occurrence, Kevlar had stopped them after only three miles of running, saying it had been a long time since they’d really appreciated a sunrise. It was a ruse, of course. For Kevlar to talk to his team, to put his finger on the pulse of the men who were not only his friends, but who he felt were his responsibility.
They all had a lot going on, and Smiley actually appreciated being able to get caught up with everyone’s lives. He didn’t love being the current center of attention, but since he needed a sounding board, and help, he’d suffer through it.
“She’s close,” he told his friends. “I can feel it. I don’t know why she hasn’t reached out. But she needs help. That has to be why she’s here. And she somehow knew we were at that shipyard…which means she’s been following us. Me . I need you all to be on the lookout. For a car that’s hanging around, for a woman in places you wouldn’t expect. And if you see a woman who looks the way I described Bree, detain her.”
“I’m not sure?—”
“I’m not saying slap a pair of zip-ties on her and throw her to the ground. But…talk to her. See if you can get her to stay close by until I can get there. I have no concrete evidence, but this woman is in trouble. She wouldn’t be working so hard to stay under the radar if she wasn’t. And I haven’t been able to find any info on her ex, the asshole who sold her into sexual slavery.”
“Tex hasn’t come through?” Preacher asked in surprise
“I haven’t asked him to look into that part,” Smiley admitted. “Just asked him to let me know if she uses a bank card or credit card anywhere.”
“Why not?” Blink asked. “I bet he could have all the info you need in less than twenty-four hours.”
Smiley wasn’t sure how to answer that. Except… he wanted to be the one who saved the day. It was stupid. But all his life, he’d been the grunt. The guy who did what was asked of him and followed everyone else. One of the team. Just once, he’d wanted to be the savior. The guy who swooped in with the red cape.
“Because I’m an idiot?” he said with a self-deprecating shrug.
“No, you’re not…but you are kind of being one in this case,” Kevlar told him honestly. “And of course we’ll be on the lookout for you. If we see anything or anyone who looks like the woman you described, we’ll get in touch with you immediately. Believe it or not, we all want to find this Bree person.”
“Especially me,” MacGyver said. “I owe her everything. Without her…” His words trailed off. They were all well aware of what might’ve happened to Ellory and Yana without Bree’s sacrifice.
“How are they?” Preacher asked. “The girls?”
“Surprisingly good. Ellory had a pretty intense Crohn’s flare, and we had to go to the emergency room, but she’s feeling better. And Yana has been speaking a lot more. They were lucky. We were lucky.”
“And Addison? She coping all right?” Safe asked.
“She’s good. And…there’s a chance she might be pregnant.”
All the men smiled and congratulated MacGyver.
“Maggie’s gonna be thrilled. Having a cousin born so close to our kid would be awesome,” Preacher said with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“I think that’s what convinced her not to use any birth control,” MacGyver admitted. “She liked the thought of our kid having a friend close to his or her age to grow up with.”
“Yeah, that’s what Josie said too,” Blink mused, staring over the water as if remembering a particularly good moment between him and his girlfriend.
Everyone stared at the taciturn SEAL.
“What?” he asked with a small grin. “There’s nothing I can think of that would be better than our kids all causing havoc in the same class at school.”
“What are the odds of you having twins?” Flash joked.
“Well, since I’m a twin, my mom was a twin, and her dad was a twin, I’d say pretty good.”
“Right, so two of our women are knocked up, Blink’s gonna see what he can do about giving Josie a pair of little red-haired babies…what about the rest of you?” Preacher asked.
“Don’t look at me,” Smiley said in a rush.
“Me either,” Flash added. “I don’t even have the possibility of a girlfriend on the horizon.”
“Aren’t you heading to Jamaica?” Safe asked.
“Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m just sayin’…bachelor party, men being men…there are bound to be some hot chicks on the beach. Maybe you can turn on the charm and see what happens.”
“I still can’t believe you’re going to Jamaica, of all places,” Kevlar bitched.
“Come on. My sister begged me. You guys know she’s a decade younger than me, was a surprise baby for my parents. We’re also really close. I’ve been looking out for her since I was a kid. And when she got engaged, I wasn’t exactly thrilled, since her fiancé is kind of a player. When he said he wanted to go to one of those expensive resorts for his bachelor party, she said she’d support it only if her big brother was invited.”
“So you’re the voice of reason, huh?” Safe said with a chuckle.
“Pretty much. The guy knows if he does anything out of line, I won’t hesitate to tell my sister. So he’ll be on his best behavior.”
“But Jamaica?” Kevlar repeated. “I’m surprised the commander approved your leave request.”
“Right now, the state department’s travel advisory is only at level two,” Flash argued.
“Yeah, but a month ago it was level three, ‘reconsider travel.’ Crime is still a big problem there. The police aren’t very effective in responding to incidents, and the homicide rate is one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere,” Kevlar retorted.
Flash sighed. “I know. I argued against Jamaica for the same reasons…with no luck. My only consolation is that, again, we’ll be in one of those fancy resorts with security.”
“You know as well as I do that’s no guarantee that nothing will happen,” Kevlar said.
“Yeah. I’ll be careful, all right? We’ll only be there for three days. If I didn’t go, and anything happened to my sister’s fiancé, I’d never forgive myself because it would break her heart. I’m going to make sure he gets home safe and sound, as much as I am to keep an eye on him.”
Kevlar grunted, but nodded.
“So…Blink…you’re going to convince Josie to have your babies…you gonna marry her?” Preacher asked with a grin.
“Yes.”
“Sometime this century?” he joked.
To everyone’s surprise, he looked over at Kevlar. “You think Remi will stand up with me? Be my best man, so to speak?”
Kevlar’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. She’s the sister I never had, and after everything that happened with us…I’d be honored to have her at my side when I marry the most important person in my life.”
“Of course she will!” Kevlar blurted. “She’ll be honored. Will probably cry. What about your brother?”
“Oh, I want him there too. Can’t get married without my twin and the rest of the family. And probably his Night Stalker friends. Josie and I have already talked about it, we want a big party with all our friends and family.”
“Sounds perfect,” Kevlar said with a small smile.
“I want to know when our esteemed leader is going to make an honest woman out of Remi,” Flash asked.
“You know how offensive and out-of-date that saying is, right?” Kevlar asked with a roll of his eyes.
“Whatever, you know what I mean.”
“I do. And the answer is…soon,” he promised.
“Good. And what about you, Safe? You gonna marry Wren?” Flash asked.
“We aren’t in a rush,” he replied.
MacGyver frowned at his friend. “What are you waiting for?”
“I don’t know. I love her, she loves me, we don’t feel the need to be married. The thing between us is real, solid. A piece of paper isn’t going to change that.”
“Trust me, there are benefits to being married,” MacGyver said. “What if she gets sick? Or there are issues with a pregnancy? Or she’s in a car accident? We’re all one medical emergency away from going bankrupt. There are some protections she’ll have automatically if you guys are married.”
Safe thought about his friend’s words for a moment. “I’m not going to ask her to marry me simply as a ‘just in case’ kind of thing.”
“Then marry her because you love her. Because you can’t imagine spending the rest of your life without her. Because if something happens to you on a mission, she’ll have the support and backing of the Navy. Life insurance. Health insurance. She’s not going to think you’re marrying her simply because she’ll get money when you die. She loves you. It’s obvious to all of us.” MacGyver turned to Kevlar. “Same goes for you.”
“What if you two had a double ceremony?” Flash suggested to Blink and Kevlar. “Blink wants Remi to stand up with him…what if she was literally standing next to him while getting married to her man, at the same time he was marrying Josie?”
Kevlar looked at Blink. “It’s not a horrible idea.”
Blink smiled. “It’s not. But it means that you need to get off your ass and get a ring and ask her.”
“I have a ring,” Kevlar protested. “I was just waiting for the right time to ask.”
“No time is the right time,” MacGyver protested. “Just do it.”
“What is this, a Nike commercial?” Smiley muttered.
“We could make it a triple ceremony,” Kevlar suggested, looking at Safe.
“Nope. No way. I love you guys, but I want my wedding day to be just about me and Wren. Probably won’t be a huge shindig or anything, but even if it’s at the courthouse, I want it to be about us.”
“So…once you three make things official…it’ll just be Flash and Smiley we need to get married off,” Preacher said with a chuckle.
“What happened to us?” Smiley asked with a shake of his head. “We were all badass Navy SEALs. Now we’re sitting on our asses instead of working out, talking about fucking weddings. It’s a disgrace.”
“You’ll understand when you meet the woman you can’t imagine living one more day without,” Safe said.
“Whatever,” Smiley bitched.
“So…Addison is good, the kids are good; Maggie and Addison are knocked up; Kevlar, Safe, and Blink are getting married; Blink is going to spend all his free time trying to continue the family tradition of having twins. I’m going to fucking Jamaica to make sure my little sister’s fiancé keeps his dick in his pants during his bachelor party weekend. And Smiley is his usual asshole self, but we’re all going to help him anyway by being on the lookout for the mysterious Bree, so he can finally figure out what the hell is up with her and stop being such an asshole. Did I cover everything?” Flash asked.
“Pretty much.”
“I think so.”
“Sounds about right.”
“Good. So, since we chatted through the sunrise and covered all our bases, can we get the hell out of here? I need to pack, and I’m sure all of you want to go home and see your wives, girlfriends, and soon-to-be fiancées,” Flash said.
Everyone laughed but turned to head back down the beach.
Smiley held back when everyone began to jog toward the parking lot. He was blessed to have such good friends. He was happy for them, between all the babies and marriages. Deep down, he wanted that too. But the hard crust around his heart and his bad experiences growing up were both huge roadblocks to him ever enjoying what his friends had.
But if he could find Bree Haynes and make sure she was safe, it would go a long way toward making him feel as if he’d finally done something good in his personal life. That he hadn’t sat back and allowed another woman to suffer…the way his own mother had.
Shaking his head, not wanting bad memories to overwhelm him, he quickly jogged after his teammates. He would find Bree. One way or another. Then move on with his life with a clear conscience.
Even as he had the thought, the image of the dark bloodstain on the ground at the shipyard flashed in his brain. He hadn’t saved Bree from that beating…and it was possible he wouldn’t be able to save her from whoever was after her.
But he wasn’t going to give up.
He couldn’t stand back and do nothing. Not again. Not ever again.
* * *
Kelli Colbert didn’t want to go to Jamaica. She’d done her research. It wasn’t safe. Besides, the only reason she was going was because her cousin had been forced to invite her. She was an old, unwanted, weird, short and stumpy, unfashionable spinster.
At least according to Charlotte.
Kelli was well aware that she wasn’t what the media considered ideal when it came to her looks. She was only five foot two. Her shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair wasn’t trendily styled, and it boasted no highlights, no layers. She was twenty-eight to Charlotte’s twenty-two, and she’d never really had a steady boyfriend.
Charlotte was the complete opposite. Tall, slender, long blonde hair, beautiful big blue eyes. She’d been a cheerleader in high school and college, and had finally gotten her boyfriend, the quarterback on the college football team, to propose.
Of course, he was just the reserve quarterback, Kelli thought to herself with a small snort. From what she’d heard, he’d barely graduated. He was working for his father in his insurance business. Which was fine, but again, she’d heard through the family grapevine that he sucked at sales. That his daddy was financing the entire wedding.
It was safe to say Kelli didn’t get along that well with her cousin, so when she was invited to Jamaica, she was surprised. She’d tried to politely decline, but her mom had sat her down and told her that it was important she go. To try to deepen the friendship between her cousin and herself. Kelli tried to explain that they were never going to be close but, not wanting to disappoint her mom, she’d finally agreed to go.
She’d regretted saying yes ever since.
Charlotte had sent her an email of “rules” she’d be expected to follow. She was acting like a total bridezilla, even though there were still months to go before she and Kolson got married.
Kolson. He was as obnoxious as his name. Kelli felt bad for having such mean thoughts about someone who would eventually become a part of her family, but the entire bridesmaid trip was making her feel entirely unlike herself.
Kolson would be taking his groomsmen to Vegas the same weekend she and Charlotte would be in Jamaica with her bridesmaids. The three A’s, as Kelli called them—Afton, Alice, and Ava—were mirror images of Charlotte. Tall, skinny, blonde. She was going to stick out like a sore thumb, and Kelli had a feeling her role would be to fetch and carry for the others.
Screw that.
She would go to Jamaica, but her ass was going to sit in a chair on the beach for the entire weekend. She wasn’t much of a drinker, so she’d be content with her nonalcoholic frozen drinks and her ebooks.
It would be a nice vacation from her stressful job as a travel agent. Some people—meaning Charlotte—didn’t think her job was all that difficult. But dealing with airline changes, asshole clients, and the stress of trying to make sure trips of a lifetime went off without a hitch had finally left Kelli looking for something else to do with her life.
The topping on the shit cake that was this whole trip to Jamaica was the fact that Kelli had planned the entire thing. Charlotte was crazy demanding, and she’d changed her mind half a dozen times over the last few weeks as to where she’d wanted to stay. But the trip was finally planned, and even though it wasn’t the smartest place to go, Kelli was done arguing with everyone.
She’d attend, keep her head down, and breathe a sigh of relief when she arrived back home. Nothing was likely to happen in a resort filled with tourists. As long as she didn’t step foot off the property, she’d be fine. Her biggest concern would probably be trying to ignore the constant digs Charlotte made about her lack of a love life, and spending as much time as possible away from the three A’s and her bridezilla cousin.
She could do that. Piece of cake.
But no matter how much of a pep talk she gave herself, Kelli had a feeling this trip would change things. How? She had no idea, but she couldn’t shake the thought that by the time she returned from the tropical paradise, her life would take a drastic detour from the slightly stressful, yet boring existence she lived now. But good or bad, the decision was made.
She was going to Jamaica with her cousin and the three A’s.
* * *
I know you are all wondering about Smiley and Bree…but first up is Flash and Kelli’s story! You know things aren’t going to go smoothly in Jamaica…but how bad could things get? You’ll have to read their story to find out! Get Protecting Kelli NOW!