Destiny's Delta (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) (Delta Team Three Book 2)

by Becca Jameson

  “Yes, sir,” they all responded in unison.

  Chapter 12

  One week later…

  Trent was climbing out of his skin. He’d never spent so much time inside his apartment in his life. Not this one or any other. He was the kind of guy who would go to the store just to pick up three things as an excuse to be moving and doing something. He didn’t appreciate living in his new Fortress of Solitude.

  The rest of his team seemed to have put together a schedule to keep him occupied. They stopped by at regular intervals. Woof or Jangles often in the mornings. Merlin or Duff in the afternoons.

  Trent was known among the group for his outgoing positive personality. He was usually the first to crack a joke or lighten the mood. After seven days of being sequestered for long hours in his apartment, he was losing his patience. Worse, he knew they could all sense it. His attitude shift had made them all regard him with concern.

  Hell, he’d even come to realize one of the reasons he was probably as easygoing as he’d been labeled was the result of years of faking like his life was rosy and perfect without a woman in it. Specifically one woman. He’d never admitted that consciously, even to himself, but there was some merit to the acknowledgment.

  Now, he was actively lying to Destiny every day. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her he was in Killeen instead of the Middle East or California or some other distant location. He didn’t want to tell her he was in danger and worry her, and he knew if she found out he was nearby, she’d want to see him. On the flipside, he selfishly feared if she knew about the threat, she wouldn’t want to have anything to do with him.

  He couldn’t blame her. It was one thing to know your man traveled to far-off locations for covert missions. It was another thing altogether for those missions to endanger everyone he knew right at home. In fact, the only time he’d seen his parents had been on base yesterday. They’d met him there because he didn’t want to endanger them at their own house or let Destiny’s grandmother see him and tell her.

  Dammit. He wasn’t sure how long he could carry on this ruse, lying to Destiny. He had no choice because he wouldn’t risk her life, but part of him also feared she would run and never look back if she knew about this.

  He wanted to see her. This damn confinement was wearing on his nerves. Every day he worried she would discover his lie and tell him to go to hell, but she would at least be safe. More than anything, he didn’t want to involve her in this fucking blowback. She was innocent in his stupid mistake. Putting her life in danger was not fucking going to happen.

  He’d worked out all morning lifting weights in his spare bedroom before picking up his phone to read the latest text from her. He’d gotten it yesterday, but wouldn’t permit himself to respond until today. He needed her to think he was too busy or too far away.

  Hey. Thinking about you. I’m in Seattle today. I’ll be back in Dallas tomorrow afternoon. I have three days off. Wish you were able to spend them with me. Stay safe.

  He groaned. He could hear her voice every time she texted. Frustration mounted daily. It was time to respond.

  Des, got your message. That sucks. Wish I were available. I don’t know how long this mission is going to take. It’s dragging out. I hope your trip was smooth. I’ll update you with more when I know more.

  He hit send, set the phone on the coffee table, and dropped his head back, hating this situation with a passion.

  A knock on the door made him take a cleansing breath and rise. He looked through the peephole to see Woof standing in the hallway. Not surprising. It was apparently his day. Trent unlocked and opened the door, and then he turned and walked toward the kitchen. “I don’t need a babysitter, you know. You guys can stop with the hovering. I’m a grown-ass man.”

  “Yeah, well, we know you’re not the kind of guy who likes to be cooped up,” Woof responded as he shut the door and turned the lock.

  Trent didn’t respond. He grabbed a glass, filled it with tap water, and took a long drink. Leaning his ass against the counter, he met Woof’s gaze. “Any new information?” It was a longshot. Someone would have called Trent before anyone else if there was something to say.

  “No. Nothing new since intel determined the man who landed in the U.S. a week ago was for certain Onur’s brother, Farid. Surveillance videos confirmed. Same height and build. Dark hair. Dark eyes. He has a scar on his left cheek. He arrived in the U.S. alone. Didn’t even bother to use a fake passport. But you know all of this.”

  Trent nodded.

  Woof dropped down on one of the armchairs in Trent’s living room, his gaze shifting to the coffee table. “You have an incoming text lighting up.”

  Trent shoved off the counter and padded that way. Even though the texts he exchanged with Destiny were innocuous, he still hated sharing them. These intermittent texts were all he had with her right now. He grabbed the phone and read her latest response. She would be back in Dallas today, starting her three-day break.

  Trent, I’m on my way to Killeen to spend a few days with Grandma. If you happen to get back in town, you know where to find me.

  She added a smiley face emoji.

  Trent blew out a breath. Great. If she found out he was in Killeen, she would dump his ass without asking questions.

  “Everything okay?” Woof asked.

  “No. Everything is not fucking okay. I had one brief date with the woman I’ve wanted for half my life, and now I’m fucking lying to her about my location to keep her safe. She’s gonna lose her shit if she finds out I’m in town. In addition, she’s on her way here to visit her grandmother, which makes me fucking nervous. I can’t know for sure if Farid knows I have anyone important in my life or not, but I’d rather he didn’t.”

  Woof nodded. “I hear ya. I’d be freaking out too if I were in your shoes. No way in hell would I expose Nori to something like this. I don’t think I woulda kept it from her, though. I’m not sure you should have lied to Destiny. Why not just come clean?”

  Trent sighed. “Honestly, I had hoped we could find this fucker quickly and put an end to this threat. She could’ve gone her entire life without knowing someone had a hit on me. We’ve barely reached the stage in our relationship where we’ve expressed any feelings at all. I really didn’t want our first conversation about my job to be that someone wanted me dead and was probably lurking around in town.”

  “Zip, man, if she’s as into you as I suspect, she won’t freak easily.”

  “That’s also possible, and I’m not sure which is worse—her deciding she can’t take the heat of my job or her not taking the threat seriously enough and getting herself killed in the crossfire. Either way, I would prefer she not worry needlessly about something I can’t control. The entire thing infuriates me and makes me think I should never have gone out with her in the first place. I have myself half-convinced the right thing to do would be to cut her loose so she can find someone normal and have a stress-free civilian life.”

  Woof shook his head, but his lips were turned up slightly at the corners. “If only the heart were strong enough to pull it off. Trust me, Trent, I’ve been there. I’m still there. Nori is the one halfway around the globe. I worry about her constantly. Her job is almost as dangerous as mine, sometimes more so, but I wouldn’t give her up for the world. No matter what happens to either of us, I’d rather have spent every possible hour together between assignments than never see her again. Cutting her off has never been an option for me. I laid all my cards on the table and let her know how I felt. The rest is essentially up to her. But, Zip. If you don’t give Destiny choices, she can’t make the most informed one.”

  “I get it.”

  “So, let’s find this motherfucker and take him out. Then you can clear the air, and I can get back to my previously scheduled life.”

  Trent smiled. “I like this plan.”

  Chapter 13

  “You going to tell me what’s bothering you, Des, or do I have to start guessing?”

  Destiny chuckled a
nd then wiped her lips with her napkin. She was sitting across from her grandmother at her small kitchen table. Leave it to Stella Fisher to sense something was off.

  “Is it that obvious?”

  “Yes.” Stella picked up her cup of tea and took a sip. “You’ve been moping around since you got here last night. You’re starting to worry me.”

  “Maybe I’m just having a bad week.” Destiny knew her grandmother wouldn’t buy that. The woman had raised her from the age of five. It had always been just the two of them. They could both read the other’s moods well.

  “You haven’t moped like this since Sean died. I worried about you incessantly for a few years back then, but once you got more established in Dallas and developed closer friendships, you seemed to return to your old self. The woman sitting across from me right now is not happy. Is it your job? Or did you break up with a new boyfriend?” Stella prodded.

  Destiny swallowed her next bite of sandwich and took a deep breath. She’d never kept things from her grandmother, except when it came to her feelings about the Dawkins brothers. She regretted thinking she needed to keep Trent from her now. She realized it wasn’t necessary to leave Stella in the dark. The older woman would never breathe a word of Destiny’s private life to a single soul in Killeen if Destiny asked her not to. And that included Trent’s parents next door.

  “Funny you should mention Sean.”

  Stella lifted a brow and set her elbows on the table. Sometimes it was hard for Destiny to remember her grandma was almost seventy years old. She had the wrinkles and the age marks, but other than that the woman could still run circles around most people. She had the physique of a thirty-year-old, walked two miles a day, ate healthy, and kept busy even in retirement. She didn’t say a word, either. She was waiting for Destiny to continue.

  “I ran into Trent a few weeks ago.”

  “Yeah? How is he? You never mention him anymore.”

  “He’s good. He’s…” She wasn’t sure what she wanted to say or how to say it. Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with emotion. The last few weeks had been challenging. The sum total of her interactions with Trent included her spilling her heart in a drunken stupor, him confessing he also had feelings for her, and one amazing date that ended with her sleeping better than she had in years wrapped in his arms. Her daydreams about him that included fucking hot sex followed by the two of them riding off into the sunset were beyond absurd. She’d blown their relationship out of proportion. There simply wasn’t anything substantial enough to it for her to get so far ahead of herself.

  “Des? Hon? You okay?”

  Destiny sucked back a breath, but the dam finally broke, and tears fell down her cheeks right before she gave an audible sob.

  “Honey…” Stella reached across the table and grabbed both of Destiny’s hands, squeezing them. “What is it? Talk to me.”

  “It’s silly really,” Destiny murmured. “I’m being ridiculous.”

  “I’m sure you’re not. You’re a bright woman with a fantastic head on her shoulders. If something’s bothering you, I’m certain it’s warranted. What happened with Trent?”

  Destiny met her grandmother’s gaze and decided to lay it all out on the table. “I think I’m in love with him. I always have been.”

  Stella slowly smiled. “Honey, I know that.”

  Destiny flinched. “What?”

  Stella shrugged. “You always did have eyes for Trent. Even when you were five. He was the first one of them to catch your attention, probably because he was more outgoing and louder. He teased you mercilessly when you were kids, and you ate it up. Frankly, I was surprised when you started dating Sean, but I didn’t want to get in your business.”

  Destiny was speechless. Shocked. She should have realized her grandma would pick up on the cues. Why hadn’t anyone else? Especially Nancy, Sean and Trent’s mother.

  “I assume you two finally admitted you had feelings for each other?”

  Destiny nodded, pulling her hands back so she could wipe her eyes with her napkin. “I kinda spilled my guts and forced a confrontation,” she admitted, leaving out the part where she was drunk.

  “Good for you. And what did he say?”

  “He agreed, shockingly.”

  Stella smiled broader. “Not surprised. So, why are you so sad exactly?”

  Destiny couldn’t help but shake her head and chuckle. “I should have come to you years ago.”

  Stella lifted one shoulder. “I don’t know. I’m not sure I could have been helpful. You two had to figure out your feelings on your own in your own time.”

  “But you suspected Trent also liked me?”

  “Of course. He followed you around like a puppy for years, his gaze always on you in a crowded room. And then when you started dating Sean, he grew withdrawn and quiet. Not like himself at all. It was obvious to me, but I can understand why no one else noticed. After all, you three were inseparable. And Nancy…”

  “Yeah. Nancy.” Destiny smiled as she dabbed at another tear.

  “Her heart is made of gold. She loves you to pieces. All she could see was that you were going to marry one of her sons. She thought of you as her own daughter for most of your life. I’m sure she was elated and didn’t see what was happening right under her nose.”

  Stella’s astuteness stunned Destiny. She had underestimated the woman.

  “So, what’s the problem, Des?”

  Destiny’s shoulders fell. “It’s such a messy situation. Trent and I haven’t had a chance to really get to know each other yet. My feelings are a jumbled mess of hope and happiness and nerves. I told him I didn’t want anyone in town to find out about us until we were far more certain and solid.”

  Stella frowned. “Why would you do that?”

  “I just think it’s easier. People around here think I’m some sort of sad widow even though Sean and I were never even married. I’m afraid they’ll gasp and gossip if they find out I’m dating his brother. It was hard enough for the town to accept that the poor little half-black girl with the dark kinky curls whose mother abandoned her was dating one of their own white boys. Lord knows what they’ll say if I switch brothers.”

  “Destiny Fisher. Since when do you care what people think? I raised you to feel loved even without your mother or father in your life. To hold your head high. Own your heritage. Show the town you were just as good as any of them.”

  Destiny grinned. “You did. And I love you more than you’ll ever know. I was the luckiest little girl in the world. I owe you my life. When Mom disappeared, you could have let me go into the system, but you didn’t. You put your own life on hold to raise yet another child. You didn’t have to do that, and I love you for it.”

  Stella’s eyes widened. “Des, don’t talk like that. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me after your mother. I still miss her every day. She was such a happy, sweet child before she ran off right after high school. I hate that I’ll never know what happened to her. I don’t even know if she’s alive or dead. I’ll probably die without finding out. But then you came to me. You were like a blessing. A second chance. My own flesh and blood. And I wouldn’t trade that for the world. You’re the light of my life.”

  Destiny started crying again. “Thank you,” she murmured. She tried to swallow back her emotion and continue. “It’s more complicated than that—my relationship with Trent, that is. I’m worried about what his parents will think. How they might react.”

  “That’s lunacy, Des. They love you. Nancy will be over the moon.”

  “And you may be right, but I really don’t want to rock that boat unnecessarily. Why tell her anything and find out she either can’t understand or she understands so well that she chooses a wedding venue prematurely?”

  Stella’s shoulders shook as she chuckled. “You’re right about that last part.”

  Destiny smiled through her stupid tears. “I just want to take things slow and be sure before we make some sort of announcement. We haven’t had a chance to ge
t to know each other yet. If for some reason one of us just isn’t feeling it, we don’t need to have caused a disturbance.”

  Stella sighed. “I understand. I don’t think it’s necessary, and I don’t like it, but I hear your concerns.” She leaned forward again. “Now, explain to me why you’re sitting in my kitchen entertaining an old woman on your three days off instead of shacking up with the man you’re pursuing?”

  Destiny lost it to a fit of giggles. “Grandma. Shacking up?”

  “Well, isn’t that what you young people call it?”

  She rolled her eyes. “That’s so crude. But the reason I haven’t seen him is because he’s on an assignment. He’s been gone a week.”

  Stella frowned. “What do you mean?” She shook her head. “He’s not gone. He’s here in Killeen. I just spoke to Nancy yesterday evening while I was watering my flowers. She said she and William had been over to the base earlier having lunch with him.”

  Destiny’s heart stopped. She couldn’t move a muscle. Not even to blink. No way. It’s not possible. “Are you sure?” she whispered. “Maybe you misunderstood.”

  “Nope. I heard her fine. She told me he’s working on some sort of secret mission right here in town. It’s all very hush-hush. That’s why Nancy went to Fort Hood to see him. He’s too busy to come by the house.”

  Destiny swallowed, her mouth suddenly too dry. Trent was here in Killeen? She pulled her phone from her pocket and scrolled back to read through all of his texts. There were only about six since she’d seen him last weekend. He seemed to make a point of texting her once a day. Every communication was brief and unemotional. He’d said nothing personal, but she’d tried to convince herself that maybe he wasn’t the sort to share his feelings in a text. She had taken his lead and kept her own texts short and sweet, not wanting to push him. It was too soon to make assumptions.