It turned out, there was no decision to be made. The next day at work, Florrie pretended like nothing had happened. She didn’t treat me like shit like I deserved, and she didn’t act hurt either. She was indifferent. I had fucked things up, and now there was no fucking way I would get a chance with her again.
CHAPTER FIVE
Alec
Three months later…
We pulled up to the meet. Florrie was posing as Carrie Hammond, whose daughter Gabby had been kidnapped. Our job was to go in, unarmed, and hand over ‘documents’ and get Gabby back. Meanwhile, the rest of the teams would be moving in, ready to pull our asses out of there. It was dangerous as fuck. There would be guards and plenty of guns pointed at our heads.
I glanced over at Florrie, praying to God she was ready for this. She was smart and quick on her feet. She had saved my ass a number of times in the field and I knew she was capable. The one problem, she was fucking hot and a distraction to any red-blooded man. She had long, blonde hair that curled slightly in the humidity and killer blue eyes that could bring a man to his knees. They were what always drew me in. Well, that and her amazing rack.
Florrie wasn’t shy about showing off her body, though it was never in a sexual way. She just dressed for whatever the occasion was, with no regard for whether or not she was making every man so twisted inside that his balls literally choked him from the inside out. And she had a style that drove me crazy, making me hard in an instant. She could dress up to look like a fucking doll, but underneath, she was loaded with weapons. It was fucking hot.
But I had fucked up any chance of having her three months ago in a bar. I was still seeing Michelle, but things weren’t going to work. She was so fucking sweet, too sweet for me. She was the kind of girl you brought home to meet your mother for Sunday dinner. That wasn’t me. And we didn’t live in fucking Mayberry. I knew it was going to end, but I hadn’t had the opportunity to break things off yet. Not that it mattered. Florrie hadn’t so much as looked at me with lust in her eyes since that night.
“Eyes forward,” I said as we pulled through the gates to the buildings. Men were surrounding the outside, holding automatic weapons. “Remember, our goal is to get Gabby out. Let the guys do their jobs so we can get out safely.”
I was mostly concerned about Florrie. It wasn’t in her nature to act like a timid and scared woman, and that was exactly the part she needed to play. The guards pulled us out of the car, manhandling Florrie just a little too much for my liking. I tamped down the anger as I held out my arms to be checked for weapons. I couldn’t even pack the smallest knife. If I was caught, they would most likely kill me before I even stepped foot inside the building, leaving us one man down. It wasn’t worth the risk.
One of the men grabbed Florrie so hard around the arm that I saw her wince and then anger flushed over her face. I shook my head slightly, reminding her to keep her cool. She whimpered, playing the part of the damsel to a T. We were dragged through the hallways, down to the basement and through a long hallway with doors on either side. They took us to the door at the end of the hallway. The trick was going to be whether or not Gabby gave us away. If she did, we were all dead. We just had to pray that she caught on and played her part.
The man shoved Florrie into the room, causing her to stumble and fall to the floor. She looked up right away at Gabby and tried to convey to her to play along. “Gabby, sweetheart, mommy’s here now. It’s going to be okay.”
Gabby looked at her strangely, but didn’t give us away either.
“We brought what you asked for,” I said, pulling out the envelope before anyone could look too closely at the way Gabby was looking at Florrie.
“Stop,” the man said forcefully. “You don’t fucking move unless I tell you to.”
I held up my hands in submission. The tension in the room was high and I could tell that anything would make these guys snap. A look passed between two of the men and I knew we were fucked. They planned to take the envelope and kill all of us. They didn’t care about the life of a little girl.
The man moved forward to take the envelope from me and I moved fast, stepping in front of Gabby as best I could. A weapon was drawn immediately and shoved against my skull. I clenched my jaw in anger, pissed that I was unable to do anything. Craig was in the same position as me, a gun to his head and nothing he could do. Hand to hand combat would only get you so far in a gunfight. If it was just the three of us, I wouldn’t hesitate to take the risk, but Gabby was in the room.
He snatched the envelope from my hand and nodded to the man standing next to Florrie. The air prickled and I knew this was it. An awareness washed over me, filling my gut with dread, not only for Gabby, but for my teammates. A flash of Florrie fighting me in the ring flitted through my mind and a sense of longing washed over me. It was Florrie and always had been from the moment I met her. But I had waited too long and now it was too late.
I shoved his gun up and away, yanking his hand back and snapping his wrist. Another man drew his weapon, aiming it right at Florrie. I charged, knowing full well I was about to get a bullet to the chest. The impact was like a freight train. Three bullets pierced my vest and lodged in my chest. At least, I was pretty sure they hadn’t gone through. It was strange because it wasn’t the type of pain I had expected. It was sort of like tiny pinpricks stabbing me all over the chest and then being doused in hot sauce. And then the burning started and pain enveloped me.
My legs gave out and I fell to the floor. The room was spinning around me and my vision blurred. After what felt like minutes, I sucked in a deep breath, cursing the pain in my chest. I vaguely heard the sound of shouting and gunshots. I felt a hand slip into mine, but I couldn’t see anything anymore. Everything was going black. The tang of blood filled my mouth and bubbled up my throat.
Pressure filled my chest, feeling like an elephant was sitting on me. As much as I wanted to stay and see her beautiful face one last time, I was too tired and needed to let go. Her crying was the last thing I heard.
CHAPTER SIX
Florrie
No. This couldn’t be happening. I kneeled on the ground next to Alec, refusing to believe what I was seeing. How could this be happening? I always thought of Alec as indestructible, but here he was, bleeding out all over the floor. Craig shoved me aside and started taking care of his wounds, something I was too shaken up to do right now. I wanted to hold him and tell him all the things that I felt for him, even though he had been an asshole, but now wasn’t the time. Then again, there might never be another time.
Craig lifted him in his arms and carried him outside. Luckily, Alec seemed to have passed out already. Hopefully, he wasn’t feeling any pain. I followed them out on autopilot, wiping the tears from my face. I was a professional and I needed to start acting like it.
At the hospital, I waited with everyone else, going through the motions of pretending to hold myself together. Inside, I was shredded. Craig walked over to me and held my hand, squeezing it tight in his. We were a team and like family to each other. They were all I had anymore.
“Do you know if Alec has anyone he would want us to contact?” Cap asked. “He didn’t list an emergency contact on his employee records.”
I shook my head slightly. “No, I don’t think he has any family, or he doesn’t speak to them.”
“Girlfriend?”
I paused as the air whooshed out of my lungs. Here I was pining away for my teammate and I hadn’t even considered the fact that he might be seeing that woman from the bar still.
“He was seeing someone a few months ago. I don’t know if they’re still together or not,” Craig informed him. I felt dizzy, standing there and trying to pretend that a potential girlfriend wasn’t the end of the world. Cap pulled out a phone and handed it to Craig.
“Look through his phone. If you find her information, give her a call and find out what’s going on.”
“What if they’re not seeing each other?” I asked almost desperately. “She might show
up here thinking that they might get back together or something.”
Cap looked at me strangely. “But if they’re together, she has a right to know.”
I nodded, even though my heart was telling me this was wrong. Craig scrolled through Alec’s contacts until he found what he was looking for. “Well, her number is still here, so I’ll give her a call.”
He walked away and I quickly blinked back tears that were trying to spill over.
“Are you doing okay?”
“Of course,” I said stiffly.
“You don’t look so good.”
“Yeah, well, my teammate was shot. If I looked good right now, you’d probably be asking me the same thing.”
Cap nodded and was about to say something more when we were called over by the doctor. It had been hours since Alec was taken into surgery, but I hadn’t expected him to be out of surgery so soon. I covered my mouth with my hand as a cry threatened to escape. This had to be bad news. That was the only way he could be done so soon.
“How’s he doing?” Cap asked in a rush.
“Mr. Wesley was very lucky. Two of the bullets struck his lungs, but were very close together. It made patching him up a lot easier. The third bullet was lodged in muscle and didn’t strike anything else.”
“So, he’s going to be fine?”
“With time,” the doctor smiled. “He’ll need about a week in the hospital to recover. We want to make sure that he’s on the path to recovery, but he should be just fine.”
“Thank you, doctor.” Cap shook his hand and continued to talk to him, but all I could think about was the fact that he was going to live.
As soon as the nurse came to get us to see Alec, I was heading down the hallway, completely ignoring anyone else that wanted to see him. As far as I was concerned, Craig and I had first rights. Seeing him lying in that bed almost crippled me. He was so pale and the tired lines on his face made him look older. I walked over to him and gripped his hand in mine, all the while aware of Craig standing on the other side of the bed. I didn’t want to let on to how I was feeling about Alec right now, so I took a seat and waited for the moment he woke up. He was out for the rest of the night and half the next day.
Craig was the first to notice him wake up. I had been drifting off, thinking about all the times that I had pretended not to be infatuated with Alec, wondering if there was anything I could have done that night in the bar that would have made a difference. When Craig ran out of the room, I leapt up from my chair and locked eyes with Alec. There was a burning intensity to them that I hadn’t noticed before. I wanted to say something, but what did you say to the man that you wanted, had been dreaming over, but just couldn’t have?
“Good to see the patient is awake,” the doctor said as he walked into the room. I was afraid that my feelings would show through if I didn’t step back, and I didn’t need everyone in the room knowing exactly what I was thinking. The doctor removed the tube from his throat and examined him, but Alec kept looking at me. He hadn’t said a word yet, but I could feel questions drifting off him.
As soon as the doctor left, Craig started in, joking with Alec like he wasn’t lying in a hospital bed. I smiled at the appropriate times and pretended that everything was fine, but I was dying inside. I wanted to yell at Craig to get the fuck out of the room and give us some privacy, but then I would give myself away.
“I’m gonna grab some coffee,” Craig finally said after what felt like an hour. “You want anything?”
“Sure,” I said, happy that he was finally leaving. As the door swung shut, I turned back to Alec and tried to figure out what I should say. I could feel the dried tears on my face and the sweaty stickiness that clung to my body. I was a mess, fidgeting and terrified of facing the man I needed more than life itself.
“You scared us,” I finally said, deciding on something neutral.
“All of you?”
“Of course.” I could feel the tears building again, and I wiped them away quickly, but not quickly enough. He saw it and he stared like he fucking knew. I was a wreck. I was usually the stoic one, but right now, I just kept seeing him on that floor, bleeding out like I might never see him again.
“I’m fine,” he said softly.
“I know, but…” I got all choked up and couldn’t get my words out. I wanted him so bad right now, just to hold me and feel his heartbeat. He must have read my mind because he tugged on my hand, telling me to get on the bed with him. I did as he asked and laid down next to him on the bed.
“Didn’t realize that I could scare you,” he chuckled.
I slapped him on the arm, immediately feeling guilty about it, but he just laughed more, groaning when it obviously hurt him.
“You have no idea what that was like. There was blood everywhere. I thought I had lost you.”
“You just don’t want Craig to be your team leader,” he said gruffly.
I glanced over, seeing his eyes drift shut. “Yeah, that’s what I was worried about,” I played along. The scruff along his jaw was a stark contrast against his pale skin. He was too pale. Too close to death. I couldn’t take it. I stood quickly, needing to be close to him and further away at the same time.
“Where are you going?”
“I just need…” I cleared my throat, fixing my ponytail to keep from fidgeting anymore than I was. “You were almost gone and now you’re here.”
His eyes burned into mine as he stared me down. It was uncomfortable and that made this so difficult. Nothing had ever been strained between us. He cleared his throat. “It’s strange. When I was lying on the floor, I could swear that I heard you crying.” His voice was soft and low, but his eyes were knowing. I swallowed hard and then his hand slipped into mine, intertwining with my fingers. “Was I imagining that?”
“You were bleeding out on the floor. Of course I was crying. I’m a girl,” I deflected. I wanted to tell him that I needed him, that I wanted him so badly. It was on the tip of my tongue, but I was so scared. I didn’t want him to hurt me again.
His eyebrows scrunched and he opened his mouth to say something, but the door swung open and a mess of a woman came running in, shoving me out of the way to get to his side.
“Alec, oh my gosh. When they called, I was so terrified. I was visiting my sister and I couldn’t get a flight back until this morning.”
She leaned over him, squeezing his body. I saw him tense and realized that she was pushing on his incision.
“You’re going to hurt him,” I snapped, yanking her off him. I was about to lose my shit with this woman. That is, until she turned to me with those sweet, kind eyes. She had the kind of face that said she was a good girl and a truly caring person. She wasn’t being unsympathetic to Alec. She just really was that scared and had overreacted.
“I’m sorry,” she smiled shyly. “I’m Michelle.”
“I’m Florrie, his teammate.”
“It’s nice to meet you. I didn’t know that he had a female teammate.”
She was nice, sweet even in the way that she spoke. I could tell that she wasn’t trying to be catty or bitchy. She just genuinely didn’t know about me. But I knew about her. This was the same woman from the bar. And if Alec had been with her for a few months, that meant that I really didn’t register anywhere on his radar.
I gave her a kind smile and backed up. “Well, I’ll give you two some privacy.”
I turned and walked out the door before either of them could say anything else. I didn’t miss the strained look Alec sent me, but I wasn’t going to sit there and decipher it. Alec had her and I had no one. Unfortunately, life was just like that sometimes.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Alec
The week in the hospital sucked. Michelle was by me every single minute of the day. And the whole time, I was wishing she was Florrie. I had meant to break up with Michelle a few days before my mission, but then she told me she was going to her sister’s. I had completely forgotten. Now I was in the hospital and she was doing everythi
ng she could to take care of me. It was annoying as fuck. Florrie still came by to see me, but she was more guarded around me, like she was trying to keep things strictly professional. I had been about to pour my fucking heart out to her when we were interrupted.
It was that moment in the basement, when my world stood still and priorities shifted. Florrie wasn’t just my teammate, never had been. I could feel it like being struck by lightning. She was meant to be mine. Now I just had to figure out how to break up with Michelle and make that happen.
“What’s up your ass today?” Craig asked as he walked into my hospital room. I was sitting on the edge of my bed, trying to fucking stand to go take a piss.
“Fuck off.”
“Well, it’s good to know that you’re not discriminating in your assholery.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Cap said he was by earlier and you threw a cup at him.” He gave me a crazy look. “It’s fucking plastic. What did you think you were going to accomplish?”
“It had water in it.”
“Yeah, good one. I’m sure he’s quaking in his combat boots.”
I groaned as I pushed off the bed. My stitches pulled, but I pushed through. Michelle pushed the door open and rushed over to me.
“What are you doing? You should have asked for help.”
“I can fucking do it myself.”
“Sure,” she snorted.
“I can,” I gritted through clenched teeth.
“It won’t kill you to lean on someone,” she reminded me for the tenth time today.
“I’m taking a piss, not fixing a car.”
She stepped away from me, hurt spread across her face. I sighed and shuffled off to the bathroom. I felt like an old man. When I finished in the bathroom, Craig was sitting in a chair, feet up on my bed, and sipping a cup of coffee. Michelle was nowhere to be seen.
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