“I’m guessing there’ll be a lot of fighting?” I said, cringing slightly.
He snorted. “I wouldn’t worry about the fighting. It’s the fucking you have to watch out for.”
I watched him hop out of the truck and sat in stunned silence for a moment. What the fuck had I gotten myself into?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Cap
“Do you actually need help?” Tony Tacos asked as I led him into the training area at Reed Security.
“Well, we’re rebuilding and we need to get out in the field again, start earning money so that we can afford to rebuild and upgrade. Let’s just say it’s been a rough year.”
The guy grunted. “Same here. Got discharged from the Marines a few months back. Trying to become a civilian again hasn’t been the easiest.”
“Why were you discharged?”
“Bedwetting,” he nodded. I stared at him for a moment. That wasn’t really a thing, was it?
“Bedwetting.”
“Yep. Oh, yeah, they’ll discharge you for that one. See, it’s not technically a medical condition, but they’ll discharge you under medical.”
“Huh.” I stood there, wondering what the fuck I was supposed to do now. He was a bedwetter? How was I supposed to put him with any of the guys if he always smelled like piss? I needed someone that didn’t smell very well. Maybe I could run an ad for men with bedwetting disorders and men that couldn’t smell anymore. I scratched my chin, trying to figure out how to proceed from here.
He burst out laughing, slapping me on the back. “I’m just shitting you. I mean, bedwetting will get you discharged from the military, but that’s not why I was. No, I got too close to a concussion grenade. It blew out my right ear. Doc said they might be able to do surgery, maybe give me an implant, but-”
“But then you couldn’t be in the military.”
“Pretty much. No hearing aides allowed. I couldn’t pass the hearing test, so I was discharged anyway.”
“Fuck, that sucks.”
He shrugged. “Pissed me off more than anything. I had planned on going the full twenty. They wanted to put me on a fucking desk job.”
“Same here. Left eye. Lost half my vision. There was no way I was sitting behind a desk the rest of my career. I got out and started this. At the time, I had two guys buy in, Derek and Cazzo. You’ll meet them later. They were silent partners at the time. Now, after our building was attacked and burnt to the ground, we all chipped in. It’s now an employee owned business.”
“I don’t have anything to contribute right now,” he said uneasily. “All my money-”
I held up my hand. “Not a problem. We’re just getting started again. We’ll have you run through tests with Knight. Everyone has to pass his training tests. When he clears you, we’ll get a team going for you to train with. We have one other guy, Storm. Not sure if he’s staying or going yet. We usually have three man teams, so we’ll see what happens over the next few weeks.”
“Do you know of any apartments for rent in the area?”
“No need. We have a panic room that has enough space to house everyone.”
“Sounds cramped.”
I laughed. “Just wait until you see it.” I looked around for Rocco. “Hey!” I shouted, jerking my head for him to come over. “Hey, this is Tony Tacos,” I said, introducing Rocco to him. “He’s going to be joining us. Why don’t you take him to the panic room and find him a place to stay.” I turned back to Tony, shaking his hand. “Take the rest of the day to get settled and we’ll see you here tomorrow at seven.”
“Any chance that whole Tony Tacos thing is gonna go away?”
“Not with this group of guys.”
I was just heading back to the exit when the doors opened and Axel, Chris’s son walked through. I grinned and pulled him in for a hug. It had been way too damn long since I’d seen him.
“You’re fucking huge.”
“That’ll happen when you’re in the military and you’re in training or on a mission twenty-four/seven.”
“Shit, do you hear how deep his voice is?” I asked Chris. “Holy crap, it’s been years.”
“Yeah, probably since I finished BUD/S.”
“I can’t tell you how proud you made your old man.” Chris was practically beaming as he stood next to his son. “He was fucking crying on the phone with you. We considered kicking him off the team for being a pussy.”
“Nah, he’s the strongest guy I know,” Axel said, looking up at his dad with the same admiration he had since we’d brought him home.
“Well, maybe you can give your old man and some of our guys a run for their money. I’m assuming Chris told you what we need?”
“Yeah, you want me to show them up, fuck with their heads. Are you sure you want to do that?”
“What I’d really like is for you to bring your team in here and show them all up,” I laughed, “but we’ll work with what we’ve got.”
“Alright. I’m ready.”
Chris and Axel went to the ring and got to work. They ran drills, did the training course, and worked with Knight. Axel held his own with Knight, just as he had done when he first started training. Only this time, it wasn’t luck on Axel’s part. He really was that fucking good.
“What’s going on?” Ice asked as he walked up to me.
“Axel’s home.”
“Ah, having some fun with his old man?”
“Kind of. We’re trying to see if we can convince him to join the team. You know, a little father/son team up. It could be really awesome. Hell, he could take over the company one day.”
“No shit?”
I didn’t look over at Ice, but I knew he was fuming. He was trying his best not to show me his frustration with his situation, but he needed to know that we were all behind him. And the sooner he realized that he still had fight in him, the sooner he could get back to work.
“Hell yeah. See how fast he is? He’s better than all of us. Hell, I think he’s gonna kick Knight’s ass.”
Ice grunted. “Heard you brought in a new guy last night.”
“Yeah. You can thank Freckles for that. Leave it to her to find ex-military walking down the street, lead him into a gun fight, and get him a job all at once. His name is Tony. Tony Tacos. He was working at Taco Bell.” I shrugged and turned back to watch Axel. “I figure the name should stick.”
Ice grunted again. It was pissing him off that Axel and Tony were here. Just what I needed.
“Well, looks like they’re done for the day. Now it’s time to see what I can do to persuade him to join us and give up on saving the world.”
“Yeah,” Ice muttered as he walked away. I grinned as I walked toward Chris. It was too fucking easy.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ice
Everything just felt so fucked up. I was in my forties and I was going to have another kid. And it would be a girl. I just fucking knew it. I was going to go gray long before my father ever did. And it wouldn’t be that pretty gray either, the one that blended in with blonde hair. No, I was going to be dark gray that faded into white and made me look fucking old.
“John, what’s wrong? I know you weren’t expecting this, but it’s not like we can change it now,” Lindsey said. I looked over at her, standing next to the bed where I was laying, and reached out my hand for hers. She was still just as fucking sexy as when I met her. Only now, she had these gorgeous curves that she never really got rid of after she had Zoe and Cade. Her breasts sagged, but I honestly didn’t give a fuck. I could still picture our kids sucking on her nipples, and I wasn’t gonna lie, it was hot. But where she seemed to get stronger and do better, I seemed to be falling apart.
“I don’t want to change anything. It was just a shock,” I finally admitted with a sigh. “Chris and I were talking about what’s coming up at Reed Security and I guess I’m just…scared.”
“Of what?”
“Of being too old.”
“John, you just produced a baby in my uterus. I�
�m pretty sure that means you’re still pretty virile.”
I rolled over and pulled her onto the bed with me, wrapping my body around hers. “This last year has really fucked me up. I’m not bouncing back like I always have. And before you say anything, I know it was bad, but in my line of work, there’s no room for a guy that can’t hack it.”
She rolled over to face me and smirked at me. “You really think you can’t hack it?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think. Cap had a meeting. He basically benched me and the rest of the guys unless we could prove that we could keep up with everyone else. And he’s hiring in new guys. And then Axel came in and Cap was telling me how he could take over Reed Security one day. ”
“And you bought that?” she laughed. “Oh my God! You’re so gullible! He played you. He totally played you!”
“No, he didn’t. You should have seen his face. The way he kept…” Wait…Now that I thought about it, Cap didn’t talk to his guys like that unless he was trying to motivate them. He had been the same fucking way with Cazzo when he was in PT. “Fuck,” I groaned as I dropped my head back to the bed. “He’s fucking testing me.”
“Yep, and I would guess that Chris is in on it with him. He knows you better than anyone. I would say Jules too, but he still seems to have spots in his memory, so chances are, he would have forgotten something like this.”
I stared at the ceiling in amazement. I couldn’t believe that I had let his words get to me so much. I had let him place doubts in my head, and it worked because I was seriously considering my future.
Lindsey straddled my lap and ran her hands up my chest. “I can’t believe you would think that this body couldn’t hack it. Sure, you’re not who you were ten years ago, but I can still feel how strong you are every time you hold me.” She ground her hips against my groin and continued caressing my chest. “I can still feel the strength of your body every time you fuck me.”
I slid my hands up her legs and under the t-shirt she wore for bed. She didn’t have any panties on and I let my finger slide between her legs.
“Do you feel how wet I am for you?” She wiggled her pussy against my fingers. “Do you think that if you couldn’t hack it that I would get this wet for you?”
“Yes,” I said instantly. “You’ve never cared about how strong I was.”
“True. See? You know me better than you think. And you know yourself better than to let someone talk you into thinking you’re old.” She readjusted herself and pulled my shorts down, sliding her pussy over my cock. “You’re not old, John. You get better with age.”
I flipped her over and thrust deep inside her, swallowing her gasp with my mouth. “I’ll show you how much better I get with age.” I pulled out and thrust into her again, “Fuck, how is your pussy still this tight?”
“You give me a lot of workouts,” she panted as her fingers curled over my back and her nails dug in. “Fuck me, John. Show me how strong you still are.”
I slid off the bed, dragging her with me, never letting my cock slip from her body. I slammed her against the wall, shoving my knee between her legs and telling her to wrap them around me. Her mouth was all over me, kissing me and licking at me. It was fucking hot. My hands dug into her ass cheeks as I thrust over and over inside her. I hadn’t felt this alive since I fucked her right after she found out I was alive. Only now I could move and I wanted to feel every twinge in my body, every clench of hers around my cock. I wanted to remember what it was like to take her and have her any way I wanted, before kids and before almost dying.
My heart pounded out of control in my chest and sweat dripped down my body. Her slippery skin slid across mine and mingled into the sweaty sex smell that I knew I wouldn’t let her wash off. And when I came, I laid her down on the ground and kept my cock inside her, keeping my cum stuck inside her tight pussy.
“Fuck, that was amazing.”
“See? I told you that you weren’t old.”
I chuckled and kissed her cheek as I held her to my chest. She kissed my pec and then worked her way over to the scar that ran down the center of my chest. “I wouldn’t have made it without you,” she whispered.
“Yes, you would have. You’re stronger than me.”
“John, I’m serious. I was holding on, but when it came time to bury you, it would have killed me. So, you get as strong as you can. And when you go out in the field again, you don’t think about anything except getting the job done right. And then you come home to me and you fuck me like it was that first time.”
“I can’t do that,” I whispered to her. “That first time was an accident, but every time after that was me taking you and having my way with you. Fucking you will never be an accident again.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Chance
I pushed harder, running until I was exhausted. I needed some fucking sleep and there was no way I was going to get it without some help. I’d already tried sleeping pills, but they only made it nearly impossible to wake myself up from dreams.
I glanced down at my watch as I walked to catch my breath. I had only been running for an hour. I had run an hour yesterday and that hadn’t helped. I needed to go longer. Looking around the area, I squinted when I saw something shiny in the distance. I quickly moved to the ditch and pulled my phone out, zooming in as far as I could.
My whole body was on alert as I tried to assess the threat. It couldn’t be those cartel bastards. We had already taken them out. So, who the fuck was watching me? I couldn’t get anything on my phone. The lens didn’t zoom in far enough. Fuck, I looked back at the road I had taken and tried to calculate how long it would take me to get back to Reed Security now. If I sprinted, I might be able to outrun the fuckers, but that was only if I could keep my pace. They had to know by now that I had spotted them. I was hiding in the fucking grass. Which meant that as soon as I made my move, they would haul ass after me. But I couldn’t just hide out here, waiting for these assholes to come get me. And I didn’t want to call any of the guys and put them in danger. They’d already risked enough to save my ass.
Taking a deep breath, I dug my shoes into the dirt and brushed my hands over the ground to wipe away the sweat. One last look in the distance, they hadn’t moved yet. Even though my heart was pounding out of control and my whole body felt like electricity was jolting through it, I was ready.
I took off like a rocket, knowing I didn’t have much time to get a head start. With every beat of my shoes hitting the pavement, time slowed just a little more. I felt like I was moving in slow motion, like I would never get back home. In the distance, I saw the building. I wanted to look over my shoulder, to see how much ground they had gained, but it would slow me down.
I dragged a few more ragged breaths into my lungs as I hit the last quarter mile for home. My legs spun faster and faster until I was just at the gates. I punched in the code, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand tall. Shit. They started to open and I slipped inside, slamming the button to shut them again. When I turned around, no one was there. Was it a test? Were they trying to see what I would do? I backed up toward the training center, never taking my eyes off the growing distance.
When I was finally far enough back on the property, I turned and ran for the entrance. Once inside, I made my way to the weapons center of the training center and grabbed my sniper rifle and scope. I took the stairs by two as I made my way to the top of the building and crouched down as I made my way to the edge of the rooftop. In the corner, I made sure my weapon was ready and my scope was in place and then started searching. It was doubtful I would have anyone to shoot at. They knew I was a sniper, so they wouldn’t get close enough for me to get a shot off. But I at least needed to find the target and identify them. I wouldn’t let anyone get attacked again.
I didn’t understand it. I searched for ten minutes, but I couldn’t find anyone in the distance. If they didn’t chase me, that meant they were hanging back to watch my movements. They wouldn’t have just left. I moved my sco
pe slowly over the distance and then stopped when I finally spotted the object that had caught my attention on the road.
I put the safety back on the rifle and sighed, resting my forehead against the barrel of the gun. Fuck, I was losing my fucking mind. It was a fucking solar panel. I quickly headed back down to the weapons center, avoiding anyone that would stop and question me. When I got to my room, I was so worked up that I didn’t even notice Morgan in the corner of the room until I had been pacing for a good five minutes.
I swallowed hard, wondering what she was thinking right now. I had stormed into the room and acted like an insane man. She stood and walked over to me, slowly running her hands up my chest. “It’s okay,” she whispered, and I fucking hated it. It sounded so much like pity, and that was the last fucking thing I wanted right now. I pulled her hands away from my face and yanked her against me, shoving my tongue down her throat. I didn’t want to hear her try to comfort me or have her look at me like I was damaged. I was her man and I was going to prove that.
I ripped her shirt from her body, tearing it right down the center. She gasped and looked at me like I was a fucking animal, and I felt like one right now.
“You got a problem with this?” I asked angrily.
She shook her head slightly and I attacked. Shoving her back on the bed, I climbed on top of her and tore the cups down from her breasts, latching on and sucking her nipples into my mouth like a starving man. My fingers found her zipper and fuck, I was practically straining to not dry hump her right now for some relief.
“Chance,” she pleaded as I tore her pants down her legs. “Chance, wait.”
“Wait for what?” I growled.
“Just slow down.”
“Slow down? Do you want to fuck or not?”
She looked at me with a hurt expression, but widened her legs. I looked down at my cock pushing at my pants and then back to her. She got to her knees and undid my pants. I only let her shove them far enough down to let the beast out. Gripping onto her hair, I pulled her toward my cock and nudged it up against her mouth. She opened and sucked me down, tears streaming down her face as I shoved myself down her throat. It felt so fucking good, but I needed to be inside her pussy.
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