by Bex Dane
I had a wife. I failed to keep her alive, but I had her. I'd stopped wearing the ring because my shot was better without it. Moments like this I wished I still wore it.
"You asking for you?"
"Possibly."
"Listen, if Tyler isn't making you happy, dump his ass. You're a beautiful woman. Gorgeous, actually. But this shop is closed up. Has been for a long time."
She pouted her lower lip and scrunched her brow. "Why would you close up shop when you have such tempting goods to sell?"
I chuckled and shook my head. "Long story. Can't tell you. It's nothing about you. I'm just off the market."
"It's not me, it's you?"
"Something like that."
She blew out a long, slow breath. "Okay, Rogan. I'll let you have that, but you notify me when you're ready to open up the shop again because I'll be the first one knocking at the door saying open, open, open."
***
The following night, she showed up on the passenger side of my truck, crying and soaked from the rain.
"Get in. What happened?"
She could barely speak through her tears. "Tyler fired me."
"He's an idiot."
"It's not so much him. I stopped loving him a long time ago. It's just the money, the job, starting over."
"You're a smart girl. Great education. You'll make your way."
"I know. I just have to pony up and be strong."
"You can do it."
We talked a little longer till she collected herself. During a lull in the conversation, she leaned in close. "Thanks for talking to me, Rogan."
"Tori..." I should've shut her down right there, knowing there was no room in my life for her, but she'd used the tears on me and they always worked.
I'd carefully avoided situations like this for the last three years. A gorgeous woman was inviting me to kiss her. I didn't feel half the attraction to her as I had felt from the first moment with Eden.
But I kissed her anyway. She moaned and my dick perked up. I lowered her to the seat, and she wrapped her legs around my back, clawing at my shoulders. Damn. Her soft curves under me reawakened the man inside long dead. I pulled her top over her head and dove into her cleavage. God. Breasts. The velvety flesh rubbed my nose. I flicked my tongue across her nipple over her lacy bra. She responded with a loud groan that went straight to my cock. I unbuckled my pants and watched her lower her skirt.
Revealing purple underwear.
Ice water dumped on my boner.
"Shit."
"What? You don't have a condom? It's okay. I'm on the Pill. I'm clean."
"It's not that."
"What's wrong? Don't you want me?"
"I do. Damn, Tori."
"What?"
What the hell do I say to her? I took my place behind the wheel, buckling my pants again. "You need to settle your business with Tyler before anything happens with us."
It was a dick move, leading her on when I knew we had no chance. Eden was dead. Killing Jericho was all that remained in my life.
Chapter 18
"I'm marrying Cyan." Dallas stood with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched monitor three. Cyan sat at the far left end of the bar at Siege. She braced one of her impossibly tall high-heeled shoes on the rung of the barstool and crossed her legs, bobbing the other one above her knee. Her mass of sable hair covered her back as she twisted to talk to the bartender.
With the rock I'd seen on her left hand today and Dallas's focus on her the past few months, the announcement didn't surprise me.
He'd kept his word. Cyan turned out to be the woman for him, and he refused to let her go even if his work put her in the line of fire.
"Congratulations." I scanned all the monitors for threats. Looked clear.
"You'll be her driver for all the wedding events."
"You going the traditional route?"
"She wants the whole nine yards, she'll have it." On the monitor, Cyan swiveled on her stool, gripping a tumbler and sipping through a narrow straw. Dallas chuckled as she spun too far and her knees hit the bar on the other side, her frothy drink wobbling in her hands.
"Dubare still gunning for her?"
"Most likely. I've got a bounty on his head. Brock's out looking for him. He's in the wind."
I looked up at her on the monitor again. She was beautiful. I understood his desire to keep her as his, but if I were in his place, I'd let her go before I put her in this situation. Worst case, I'd leave my work behind and run off with her, but I'd never tempt fate with a woman like Dallas was doing with Cyan.
"Expect extensive shopping." Only a man blinded by love could conjure the patience in his voice. Cyan had expensive tastes and a flare for the extravagant. The wedding would be a huge endeavor.
***
As the afternoon sun set behind the Cambridge apartment complex, Cyan held her veil out of her eyes and looked down to carefully scale the stairs. Tori followed behind her, balancing the train of Cyan's wedding gown in one arm and an oversized tote bag in the other.
After checking the street again, I approached them and offered Cyan a hand down the steps. When she reached the sidewalk, I took the bag from Tori's shoulder. "I'll carry that for you."
"Thank you." Tori's long legs and toned body looked stunning in her silk bridesmaid's dress. I'd seen the women trying on their dresses when I drove them shopping and to subsequent fittings, but with full makeup and all the accessories, they looked like a couture show on the sidewalks of historic Cambridge. They also looked vulnerable out on the street like this, unable to move quick if something happened.
Dallas felt it was safer for them to get ready at their place instead of setting up security in the bride's room of the church. I opened the rear passenger-side door to the armored Range Rover Sentinel I'd used for the bridal shower and the rehearsal dinner events. As I opened the trunk, a black Mercedes tore around the corner and screeched toward us.
"Get down!"
Tori and Cyan froze and stared at the rapidly approaching car. I dove at them, pushing Cyan's back hard, forcing her into the Range Rover on her hands and knees. Shots rang out from the Merc and splintered the bulletproof windshield as I shoved Tori down. "Get in! Stay low."
They scrambled into the car. In a swift motion, I cleared their dresses from the gutter, threw them in the vehicle, and slammed the door. By the time I drew my weapon, the Merc turned the corner. I didn't even get one shot off.
I climbed into the driver's seat and zipped the Range Rover away from the curb. In my rearview, two Mercedes took up chase behind me. I gained ground with a quick right down a one-way street, but the attackers followed. I headed for the interstate.
"Were you hit?" I made eye contact with Cyan in the rearview.
"No, but Tori… Oh god." Blood coated Tori's fingers as she gripped her bicep. Cyan grabbed a towel from the bar and pressed it to Tori's arm.
"Wrap the towel around it. Keep pressure on it.”
With one flick on the bluetooth in my ear, I had Dallas on the line. "Tori's been shot. I'm heading north. Two black Mercs tailing me."
"Where was she hit?" Dallas asked.
I tore my eyes from the road to peek at the women on the floor in the backseat. "You hit anywhere else?"
They stared back at me with shocked eyes. "What?" Cyan asked.
"Was she hit anywhere else? Just her arm?"
"Yes, just my arm," Tori answered.
"Bullet wound to the upper right arm. Can't tell how serious it is right now. Not a lot of blood. Might be a graze."
"Is Cyan all right?"
"Yes. She wasn't hit."
"Continue to the church."
What the hell? "Two of Dubare's vehicles are tailing me."
"Use the back entrance. We're fortified. I've been waiting for Dubare to make his move."
"Tori needs medical care."
"Ruger's here. No guests have arrived yet. Let's take care of Dubare for good today."
"Ten-four." If Dallas
wanted a battle on his wedding day, I'd give it to him.
I exited the freeway and rerouted us to the church. I had to slow to keep my tail about five clicks behind me, careful not to tip them off I was leading them to an ambush.
In the alley behind the church, the familiar feel of eyes and weapons pointed at me trickled up my spine. I rolled the Range Rover to a stop and clicked it into park, keeping the engine on in case we had to make a run for it.
"Stay down," I said to the women in the back. "You're safe in here. We're fully armored. They're not getting in."
With two shallow breaths to center myself, I grabbed a rifle from under the console and slipped the barrel through the custom opening above the dash. I could only shoot forward with thirty-five degrees on each side.
I scanned the alley for more gunmen. We appeared to be alone in the dark, but my senses told me Falcon had my back and the rooftop was lined with Dallas's men.
"On my signal," Dallas said with a frightening calm in his voice.
Headlights made the ninety-degree turn into the alley. One of the Mercs approached us from the front, another from the rear. They stopped with their high beams blasting my windshield, blinding me for a second before they killed their headlights. We all sat in the dark.
Dallas had turned the Range Rover into a live target with limited methods of defense at my disposal. Cyan's life was in my hands—the man who'd failed to keep his own wife alive.
I had minimal range of motion and no idea where my own men were.
We all waited to see who'd open their door first. It wouldn't be me. After a tense ten minute wait, the driver's side door of the car in front of us opened. The driver took up position in the window crease above the door hinge. "Come out, Monroe. Or we shoot your wife."
"Not yet," Dallas said into my ear.
When we didn't respond, the driver left his cover and walked toward the Range Rover. Idiot. He walked right into my crosshairs.
"Got him in my sights," I said to Dallas.
"Hold your fire. I want Dubare."
Letting a known enemy approach a vehicle went against my training. I let him walk right through to my weak spot.
Dallas was putting all his faith in the Range Rover, but armoring wasn't always one hundred percent reliable, particularly at close range like this.
Dubare's man reached the vehicle and tried the door handles.
No, genius. I didn't leave the doors unlocked.
Cyan and Tori gasped on the floor in the back.
C'mon, Dallas. Light this asshole up and let me get Tori to Ruger.
"He's at your door!" Cyan said.
Dubare's man shot the door handle.
"I'm aware of that."
"Shoot him!"
"I can't. Dallas ordered me to hold my fire."
"Let me talk to him." Cyan climbed up on her knees and reached for my earpiece.
"Stay down!"
She dropped back to the floor.
"When your commander gives you an order, you follow. He's trying to save your goddamn life. Do not question him."
Cyan and Tori flinched as the man shot the other three door handles, but the Range Rover held steady.
"Why doesn't Dallas kill him?" Cyan's voice trembled.
"He wants Dubare. He thinks he's in the other vehicle."
Another man exited the Merc in front of us and aimed his weapon at my windshield. Four men approached from behind with their rifles drawn. Six armed men surrounded me in a vehicle with no door handles and a useless defense portal.
The last man to exit the vehicle in front of us was Dubare. He walked right into my line of sight.
"Open fire!" Dallas called.
My rifle blasted out a deafening shot. I nailed Dubare in the chest. He jerked back and dropped his weapon as he fell to the ground. All the men around the Range Rover dropped. It only took ten seconds to fell the attackers since they were out in the open and trapped in an alley. Falcon could have picked them off alone, but Dallas's men up on the roof assisted.
As the dust settled, Cyan and Tori lifted their heads, still holding their hands over their ears.
In my rearview, Falcon emerged from his hiding spot and checked the bodies.
"All clear," Dallas called on the earpiece. He stepped out from the church into the alley. "Open the doors."
I unlocked the Range Rover and reached back to force the passenger-side door open. Dallas snatched Cyan up, carrying her inside the church. Ruger crawled into the Range Rover and carried Tori out.
Falcon strode over to me. "That was fun."
"Thanks for watching my six."
"Always, bro."
I inspected the dismantled Range Rover. "This goddamn vehicle doesn't have gun portals in the sides or rear."
"You coulda opened the sunroof."
"Not with two women in the back."
"I woulda opened the sunroof."
"And you'd be dead if anything happened to Cyan."
He shrugged and walked away.
***
"My wedding is ruined," Cyan cried.
Falcon, Dallas, Brock and I stood in a room at the back of the church, all of us in matching tuxedos.
"No it's not. Tori's all bandaged up. The show must go on," Dallas replied.
"There's blood on my dress."
"Matches your roses."
"There's bodies in the alley!"
"Hush. Not for long. The cleanup crew is already working on it. We're getting married today." Dallas slicked his hair back with his fingers straight and his palms flat.
He turned to Brock. "Got the rings?"
"Right here." He patted the pocket of his tuxedo jacket.
"Let's go have a goddamn wedding."
As the cleanup crew worked in the alley, Dallas and Cyan exchanged vows in the church. Cyan and Tori's blood-stained dresses and Tori's obvious bandage on her arm made it a macabre site. Cyan grinned and shook her head at Dallas and he smiled back at her.
***
"Congratulations," I said to Cyan and Dallas at their reception. Cyan and Tori had changed into dresses with less evidence on them.
"Will you dance with Tori?" Cyan asked me.
"I don't dance."
"C'mon. She's hurt."
"It's my fault she's injured. I'm the last thing she needs."
"It’s not your—"
Dallas hooked his arm around Cyan's neck and spoke in her ear. "Leave Rogan be. Dancing with the bridesmaid is not in his job description."
"I apologize, sir. I holstered my weapon to help the women with their bags."
"No apologies. You made good choices holding your fire and keeping the doors locked."
"Not sure I'd have taken the risk you did, but it worked out." I'd never have taken that risk with Eden.
"I trust you with my wife."
Was this all some dangerous show to prove his faith in me? He coulda just told me. Crazy fuck.
"The Range Rover held up well. Whoever did the armoring would be proud of its performance," I said to change the subject from my ability to protect a wife. "Tell them to install rear- and side-facing gun portals on all future vehicles."
"Good idea."
"And change the range of motion to ninety degrees."
"You didn't trust me?" he asked with irony.
"I trust you and the men of Siege, but I never want to be pinned and defenseless like that again."
"Understood. Cyan, I need to speak to Rogan privately."
"Bye." She kissed him and his eyes followed the train of her gown as she walked to Tori and a table of guests.
"I have news for you, my friend." He moved to a private corner of the reception hall. His eyes scanned the room casually, his words spoken softly. "Operation Devil's Gate is a go."
Celebration drums pounded in my chest like a marching band on crack. Each time Dallas announced an Alpha Squadron mission, I prayed to hear those words. It was always some other operation. Never the only one of relevance to me anymore.
"When do we leave?"
"A week. Prepare yourself."
"I've been preparing for years, sir."
"I know that. Good luck. I hope you get him and find some closure."
"Thank you. I'll get him."
Chapter 19
Three months shy of the four-year anniversary of Eden's death, Alpha Squadron boarded the plane to complete Operation Devil's Gate.
As the jet reached altitude, I unhooked Takoda's tether, allowing her the freedom to stretch out at my feet instead of sitting crammed in a chair like a human.
Takoda rested her muzzle near my foot, blowing out a soft breath. Eden's spirit escaped her compartment, breaking the year of dull vacancy since I'd last heard from her.
Rogan…
Hey, baby. Missed you.
I struggled to see her. Only her voice surfaced in my head. No violet dress. The crisp vision of her I'd treasured had faded from my memory. As painful as it was to see her, my heart ached for the image. Even if it meant suffering her loss all over again when the visage receded.
You're going back to Afghanistan to kill him?
Yes.
Don't. Life's too short to live for vengeance.
It's not vengeance. It's justice. Different.
My grief over Nathan's death killed me. Don't let it make you an angel too.
Always challenging me like she used to do.
If I die, I'll be with you.
No. I'm letting you go. Don't hold on to us anymore.
I pressed my eyes shut and shook my head, but she kept talking.
I want you to live. Go on without me. You don't have to remain faithful to a ghost. I'm only a memory.
Please, don't...
You won't listen to me now, but someday, you'll remember today as the day I let you go.
An ember deep inside me latched onto the frayed thread of hope she was offering. If Eden released me, the future would shift. My expired heart might beat again. Free to love another woman, I could be the man someone needs. The man I knew I was capable of being.
No. Jericho raped her. He killed her. He still breathed air and she did not. Matters of the heart were inconsequential in comparison.
No, babe. I'm not trying again with someone else.
We fail, Rogan, then we get up and try again. You of all people know this.
You need to let me deliver the devil to hell for you.
