She pulled away again and laughed. “Sam, we have to care. I don’t want to spoil anything.” She held up her hand and looked at her ring, looking like she was going to cry again.
I took her to a fancy restaurant, booked the whole section off, and we dined under the stars. I had guys playing the violin, then I popped the question.
She had no idea I was going to do it. It was perfect, exactly as it should have been. Like one of the movies she loved.
“Okay, we’ll stop kissing.”
“I don’t want to take it off.” She shook her head.
“Don’t.”
“What if he sees it? He’ll see it and have questions.”
“Then that’s what will happen, but I know him. Coop won’t notice a damn thing.” I chuckled. “So keep it on. I’m going to talk to him tonight.”
Although she smiled, she looked seriously nervous. “Oh God, really? Oh Sam, what if he’s not happy for us?”
I shrugged. “That’s his business. I love you no matter who’s happy for us or not. I’ll talk to Joe tomorrow.”
That was the plan. To man up and do it.
“Are you sure you can do all that? Aren’t you nervous?”
“I’m nervous as all hell, baby, but it has to be done. I have to tell your dad and your brother.”
“Me too. I should have said something.”
“We would have if I’d been around more. Come on, how many people can say they survived a five-year, long distance relationship? I guess we didn’t realize how in love we were.”
She laughed. “Speak for yourself. I always loved you.”
God, if I didn’t know that then, I was a crazy fool with a pea for a brain.
“Men are slow to catch up,” I joked.
“I’m inclined to agree.” Her smile gave me so much. She pressed her lips together and blew me a kiss.
“I want those lips on my cock.”
A flush crept up her face. “Later.”
The woman was temptation and angelic perfection rolled into one. She stepped away from me and leaned against the wall, giving me the full view of her perfect ass in those tight jeans.
She looked at home here. I was glad I got this place. I got a six-month lease so we could work out what we were doing. She was waiting to hear from her last interview, and if she got the job we’d head to New York. I just wanted us to have somewhere for us now. Just for now.
Us. Without sneaking around at the apartment I shared with Coop.
“Sam.” As she turned back to me the playfulness in her eyes was replaced with apprehension. “I’m nervous, and worried. Worried about Coop. He didn’t like the idea of this place, did he? I could tell.”
She wasn’t wrong about that. Coop didn’t like that I had moved out. It was a big surprise. It seemed that he thought we could get back to how we were. It was perhaps selfish of me to drop a bomb the way I did, but I didn’t want the hassle. I’d organized the place before I got home, so when I got back all I had to do was get a moving truck and take what little I had back at Coop’s.
He did not look happy at all. I felt bad, but this was for me.
I may not have been around but I knew all manner of shit must have happened here with him. I could feel it, and Olivia mentioned stuff a few times. Another stint in rehab.
I was happy to be home to be with Olivia, and it gave me a chance to keep a closer watch on Coop, but it didn’t mean I had to continue to live in the apartment.
“He’ll get over it.”
She released a sigh and stepped back into my arms when I reached for her. “Sam, I haven’t really said a lot about Coop. It wasn’t fair for you to be so far away and have to worry about him.”
“I could feel that it was hard here. Was it drugs? Olivia, do you think he’s using again?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. He seems clean. A few months back we had a massive blow up in the kitchen. When he calmed down Dad took him to rehab, but I think he’s doing something else. He has all this money and the other day I heard him on the phone. It sounded like he was organizing to drop something off to someone. Then he left the house and these guys in a black sedan picked him up on the roadside. Not even outside the house. He didn’t want us to see him get in the car. I was watching, though.”
I released a slow sigh. What did that mean?
Fuck. Coop, what are you up to?
“Listen to me. I’m home now, and I’m not going to let anything happen to him.” It was a big thing to promise, but I figured if I’d gotten by in a warzone for the last five years, then I could handle my best friend. “Olivia, do you hear me?”
“Yes. You’ll take care of him for me?”
I smirked. “You know I will. Things should be different now that I’m back. We’ll try to do what we can for him while we’re here. Before we go to New York.”
She smiled when I said that. “Thank you, Sam.”
“I’ll take care of him. Tonight I’ll see what I can do to find out what he’s up to. Just be happy.”
“Be happy.” Her eyes sparkled.
“Baby, we’re getting married.”
She squealed and hopped into my arms. We managed to fit a few more kisses in before the doorbell rang.
When Coop came in, he looked over the place and nodded with a smile when he looked at the wooden beams on the ceiling.
“Nice, very nice,” he stated with a big smile. “Liv, I can see you getting dibs on the TV on movie night. You’ll have us over for movie night, right?”
“You know I will.” I nodded.
“Okay fine. I guess it’s cool that you have your own pad. More room for me. I’m turning your room into a gym. Buy some weights and shit to kit the place out.”
“Well that means I’ll come over for weight training and you come over for movie night. I do weights a few times a week.” I was trying to make him feel better. Looked like it was working.
“Would be nice to see you a few times a week.” Coop chuckled. He looked over at Olivia and smiled again. “Looks like we’re back in business. The three of us.”
“Come on, let’s go out. I have something else to tell you.” I wanted Olivia to hear me say that. I didn’t think I could have done any more than I had to show her how serious I was about her, but this was different. This was almost the part that mattered. We decided it should be me who told Coop and Joe first, then she could talk to them after. We knew they’d both want to know why we didn’t say anything before now, but that was just how it was.
“Sounds good.”
“You guys have fun.” Olivia smiled. She gave me a quick hug but she also hugged Coop.
“God, you’re so dramatic. Every time with the hugging. I’m okay.” Coop put both thumbs up.
“I just love you.”
Coop bent down and gave her a kiss on her forehead. “I love you, too. Bye, girl.”
I grabbed my coat and looked back to Olivia before we left. I knew Coop wouldn’t spot the ring. I winked at her before I left. Couldn’t wait to get back.
* * *
The club was jam packed. Brimming.
Prior to the Marines I would have loved this. Maybe I’d gotten boring. Or maybe now that I was twenty-eight and found the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, this scene was a little too much for me.
Coop and I had a few drinks then found a place on the upper level to sit. It was less noisy there because the music had been turned down to a lower volume so you could carry on a conversation.
Or do other things. There was a couple seriously making out in the booth opposite us. They didn’t seem to notice or care about who was around them, or who was watching.
“Man, that’s what I’m talking about. I need me a girl like that tonight.” Coop beamed.
“You and women,” I chided.
He smirked at me and looked at me like I’d just said something crazy. “Same as you. Don’t forget who you’re talking to. I know you.”
“Whatever, I’ve calmed down.”
“Thought that was because of the Marines.”
“No. There was a girl. There is a girl.”
“A girl I didn’t know about?” His jaw dropped.
“Yeah. But um…” I stopped when I noticed the shift in his expression.
He looked over my shoulder and his eyes widened in fright.
I turned and followed his gaze. Over on the opposite side of the building the light was just bright enough for me to see a large Italian man wearing a suit. He was looking right at Coop.
“Sam.” The panic in Coop’s voice made me look back to him.
In all the time I’d known him I’d never seen him look so terrified.
“Who is that, Coop?” I demanded.
“Mafia hitman.” He continued to gape.
“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “What the hell are you saying? Mafia?”
I knew there was something going on but I doubted anyone would ever guess it was this.
“I have um… I have something to drop off to a guy, I can’t just leave.”
“What, here?” I frowned.
He nodded. “Sam, I need you to cover me, come with me or something. They’ll kill me if I don’t make the drop.”
“I thought we came here to hang out.”
“We did, I just thought I’d kill two birds with one stone.”
“We have to get out of here,” I snapped.
“No, not yet. He won’t get me in front of all these people.” Coop stood.
“Coop, I’m not asking you, I’m telling you to come with me. Let’s just go. If we get out of here we have a chance, why the hell would you insist on staying?”
He leaned close. “The package I have is worth a million dollars. I’m dead if I don’t drop it. They’ll think I stole it.”
I grabbed him, feeling the heat burst within me. “What the fuck do you have?”
“A pack of liquid opium.”
I’d never heard of liquid opium, but I didn’t need to to know it was worth shit loads of money. I released him and glanced over my shoulder. The guy was making his way down the metal stairs.
“You gonna back me up, Sam? You always had my back.” His nostrils flared.
“I’m backing you up now by telling you to come with me.” This had gone too far. It had, and giving in was like spoiling a child rotten, allowing them to have their own way and be the boss of you.
“No, I can’t.” He sneered, shaking his head.
“Fine, I’m done. I’m fucking done with you.” I didn’t mean it. I was trying to scare him more, hoping he’d come with me if I played the stubborn guy.
“Thanks, bro, thanks a lot.” He glowered.
I shook my head and walked off, walking in the opposite direction.
Once I got down the stairs I called Joe. His phone went to voicemail so I left a message asking him to come to the Glass House club.
I got out to the parking lot before I stopped and looked back to the club door entrance. I was hoping against hope that Coop was going to follow. I stood for another ten minutes, waiting, before I gave up and caved, giving in.
Damn it. What had Coop gotten himself into? What the fuck had he gotten himself into?
I’d never asked what he did to get a hit on him. That was the kind of shit you heard about in movies. I was too stunned at the realization that he was some kind of trafficker for a serious class-A drug.
Fucking hell. And what was I doing now, going back into the arms of danger? Out in Afghanistan I carried guns, knives—any kind of weapon to protect myself. I was a civilian now so I didn’t have anything.
My phone started buzzing in my back pocket. I pulled it out expecting it to be Joe calling back, but it was Coop.
I answered straight away. “Coop, what’s going on?”
“Sam, help me please. Come back. The guy has a gun. There’s two of them. They have guns. Please.”
Chills raced down my spine in long icy tendrils that hit the bottom of my stomach.
“Where are you?”
“Parking lot, level 3. Same level where we were. I came out the side. I’m behind a pillar that says T on the side.”
“Stay there. You hear me.”
“Yes.”
Damn it, fuck. I ran as fast as I could back up the steps leading to the third level of the parking lot. Only I was too late. I ran straight to where Coop said he’d be, but I was too far away. I stopped in my tracks when I saw two men holding Coop.
When one punched him in his face, I dove into action again, not caring what could happen to me, not caring about anything else.
It was the first time in years that anything had happened to me to wipe my brain clean of Olivia.
I saw what was going to happen before it did. The scenario played out before me like I’d seen it already and this was the second time, a re-run. The tallest guy pulled out his gun, aimed and fired. Fired the gun straight at Coop’s head.
I cried out but no words came out of my mouth. The rest felt like someone had slowed it all down. Coop crumpled to the ground. A black sedan drove up and the men got in. More shots were fired and the car drove away. I was so focused on Coop that I didn’t think to read the plates on the car or anything.
I screamed when I saw Coop. Blood was all over his face, a massive hole in his head, and more blood pouring from his chest.
I rushed to his side, holding him. Tears streamed down my cheeks. Tears poured from my soul.
“Coop! No, no…” My voice cracked the same way my heart shattered.
I held him until he started feeling cold. People who had heard the shots came. Someone was saying something to me, but I couldn’t hear them and I couldn’t let Coop go.
The paramedics came and I still held him, crying. I couldn’t let him go.
It wasn’t until I saw the all too familiar face of Joe, who was crying worse than me, that I let him go.
Joe, Coop’s father.
I looked at Joe and only then thought of Olivia. I promised her that nothing bad would happen to Coop while I was with him.
She trusted me. I told her I’d take care of her brother and now he was dead. Coop.
Coop…
He asked me to back him up, and I didn’t.
Now he was dead.
Chapter 22
Sam
Present day…
I walked into the warehouse with mixed feelings.
Mostly, I was trying to cool off. Patrick shouldn’t have approached me and Olivia the way he did.
I knew what he was doing, though, and that bullshit about not wanting to be rude was exactly that. Bullshit.
He’d followed me. No, not just followed me. He’d tracked me using my phone. We each had a tracker. They were great if we ever landed ourselves in trouble, not so much to be used to track me while I was having breakfast with Olivia. Having breakfast and trying to repair and rekindle.
I nearly breathed fire when I saw him. He knew he was testing me with his fucking words.
I expected to see him when I got inside but he wasn’t here. No one was here.
I wanted to give him a piece of my mind and tell him not to fuck around with me.
He tracked me. Asshole.
I jumped around my computer. There was just one thing I needed to do and then I was going back to Olivia.
I figured Bradley had no reason to think anyone would steal the chip from him, so I doubted he’d have any of the high tech security we imagined. Something good, but not as good.
I’d told Xavier that I was going to disable it from here. That was what I’d check out now.
I logged into the system, did my own trace of Bradley using his cell phone and found him.
Just from that I was able to use the signal as a router to tap into the security systems in the house. Downstairs where the chip was had something a little more technical linked up to the Archimedes system. That didn’t surprise me.
I was able to disable the security system for the house with one click of a b
utton, basically scrambling whatever triggers he had in place. A little beep sounded when it was done along with the sexy computerized voice Patrick installed on all our computers saying, “Access granted.”
With that done I noticed that the security system for down where the chip was wasn’t just linked up to the system. It was attached to his personal files. The whole thing worked together as one.
“Fancy, Bradley.” Curiosity got the better of me when I saw a file labeled Past Inspiration.
Maybe a little look would clear some stuff up for me.
I managed to disable the security there and opened the main file at the same time. I clicked on the folder that was last opened. It contained a video file from 1997.
When I clicked on it I smirked, seeing how old it looked. I knew in an instant that it must have come from a video tape. Bradley must have had the thing remastered so it could be uploaded and stored here.
A younger-looking Bradley came on the screen with an older man that looked just like him. His father. Had to be his father. Bradley was a year younger than me so in 1997 he would have been sixteen.
“Mission log,” the man said. “And…action, kid.”
“Introducing the portal,” Bradley said excitedly into the camera. “A super anti-virus software that can stop any kind of virus in its tracks. It’ll be ready when I work out some kinks.”
Oh my God, what was I looking at?
What was I hearing?
“No, don’t mention the kinks,” his dad chided. “The video log is for noting the accomplishments. We saw it work today on over fifty different types of the worst malware. That’s a good thing. We’ll sort out the rest. You’ll do it.” He laughed.
“Okay. Thanks, Dad.”
The video cut. It was the end.
I closed the file and opened another. It had documentation of trials conducted over the last fifteen years. The file listed everything from the intro to the software to its components. Different trials, different tests, all listed by Bradley on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
Jesus… He hadn’t stolen it.
“The research was his. It’s his.” I gasped. Everything was a lie.
Dear Olivia Page 17
