Luca didn’t hesitate.
“She’s not.”
Asher said nothing. The doubt in his eyes told Luca that he wasn’t in complete agreeance though.
“Meet her and you’ll see.” Luca kept his eyes ahead, subconsciously speeding up his pace again.
“We didn’t even know we were being used as live experiments until it was too late. We trusted people we shouldn’t have. Put our lives in their hands. Hard to trust your gut after that.”
“I know.” And Luca did. The whole team felt the pain of being used and lied to.
“It tears me up, man. We were SEALs. We should have been better than that. It took the fucking government exposing them for us to know what shit was going down.” The rage in Asher’s voice mirrored Luca’s. “Then they think some compensation money is going to fix it? Make us go away? Not gonna happen. I’m going to find every last person who had something to do with the project and make sure they pay.”
“You’re not alone, Striker,” Luca said, using Asher’s team name. “Don’t worry, brother, we’ll find every last doctor, nurse, scientist, and soldier that thought we could be their drug testers.”
Asher nodded with steely eyes. At that moment, he looked as deadly as they’d created him to be. Asher was a weapon. Just like Luca and the rest of the team. Project Arma had seen to that.
“We should start heading back, I’m taking the early class today.” Asher’s voice pulled Luca back to the present.
With a nod, they started heading back to his house before they began work for the day.
The team used their blood money to open their own business, Marble Protection. It was where they were able to teach self-defense classes and provide community security services. Behind the scenes, the team also got called on by the US military to complete missions that ordinary soldiers couldn’t complete. That was in addition to their own team project of finding the missing members of Project Arma.
As they got closer to Luca’s house, his mind again went back to Evie. Maybe he would catch another glimpse of her today.
“Is that your girl?” As if conjuring her up with his thoughts, Luca looked up to see Evie’s face between the curtains of her window. She probably thought they couldn’t see her. A hint of a smile touched Luca’s lips at that. He could see every speck on her face right down to the spots of flour covering her left cheekbone.
“That’s Evie.” The feel of her name between his lips felt right.
“I can see why you keep thinking about her.” Asher’s words pulled Luca’s gaze to his friend. Realizing he wasn’t the only one staring at Evie. Anger rose in Luca’s chest, but he wasn’t sure why. He had no claim over her. Had only spoken to her once. Yet the thought of his friend with her made his blood boil.
“Eyes straight ahead, Striker.” A short chuckle escaped Asher, but he remained silent. Smart. “I’m going to ask Jobs to do a background check on her.”
Luca hadn’t realized he was going to say those words, but now that they were out, he knew it was the right decision. Jobs, also known as Wyatt, was part of the team and had a knack for technology. He was every bit as lethal as them, but he had the added bonus of being a genius. If they ever needed information, he was their guy.
“Good idea. We can never be too safe.”
Damn straight.
Luca knew the exact moment Evie realized he was looking at her. There was a slight widening of her eyes, and her lips formed an “O” as she gasped. The curtains were immediately drawn shut, and Evie disappeared.
Holding back a chuckle, Luca slowed to a walk as they approached his front yard. Even though they had just run the equivalent of a mini-marathon, neither Luca nor Asher had broken a sweat. It had been a year since their enhanced abilities had taken effect, and the whole team was still discovering the full extent of what they could do.
“How’s Jobs doing with the Project Arma file?” Luca asked as his mind flicked back to Project Arma. Their biggest lead right now was an encrypted file that had been sent to the gym by an anonymous source. Wyatt had been working on it for a while to no avail.
“No progress yet.” Luca tried not to feel dejected by the response, but the longer it took, the further those they hunted would run. It had already been a year. A year and all they had to show for themselves was a file that seemed impossible to open. “He’ll get it, Rocket. When has Jobs had a file he couldn’t crack?”
Luca needed to focus on that. Wyatt was a soldier first, closely followed by computer genius. He could hack any system, apart from seemingly this one.
Entering the house, Luca and Asher headed to the kitchen for water.
With three bedrooms upstairs and the living space downstairs, the house was slightly too large for just Luca. The moment he’d seen that the house came with miles of empty woods as a backyard though he’d been sold.
As Luca opened the fridge, he listened out for Evie next door. He could faintly hear her moving around.
Since acquiring the ability to hear almost anything, the team trained their ears to block out the sounds they didn’t want to listen to, but for Luca, that didn’t include Evie.
Both men moved to the kitchen bar.
“Want me to give Jobs a call about Evie?” Asher asked, opening his bottle.
“No, I’ll ask him when I go in today.” Giving a nod, Luca was about to sit when a bang next door made them both stop in their tracks.
Moving his body before his brain could catch up, Luca was stopped by a hand on his arm as he reached for the door.
“Knock, Rocket.” When Luca went to pull his arm free, Asher firmed his grip. “You don’t know what happened and you don’t want to show her anything that she doesn’t already know.”
Asher was right. Nodding, he moved through the door and across the yard at a slower pace. When he reached Evie’s door, Luca took a breath before knocking.
“Evie?” There was a sharp intake of breath on the other side of the door, followed by a shuffling sound. When that was followed by silence, Luca realized Evie probably wasn’t planning to answer.
“It’s Luca from next door.” More silence. “I was just out the back of my place and heard a bang, wanted to check you were okay.”
Clenching his fists, Luca had to forcibly stop himself from breaking down the door. The more time that passed, the more he thought of screwing it all and just going in. Preparing to kick the door in, he stopped at the sound of her throat clearing.
“I’m okay.” There was an awkward pause before she continued, “Thank you for, ah, checking.”
Glancing back at his own house, Luca noticed Asher’s eyes narrow through the window. Ignoring his friend, he turned his head back to the door.
“It would really make me feel better if I could see that you’re okay, sweetheart. I could call someone for you if you’d prefer.”
“No, don’t call anyone,” this time her response was instant and tinged with fear. He heard her movement before the door cracked open, stopped by a chain.
Luca felt like he’d been sucker-punched at the sight of those green eyes. They had been stuck in his head all day. The real thing was much better.
As he looked down, he was reminded of how small she was, at least a foot shorter than him. So damn fragile. There was no way this girl was the bad guy.
“I’m okay, Luca. Thank you for checking on me.”
Their eyes remained locked for a moment longer before she shut the door. Luca stood still and listened for any unusual sound. When there was nothing, he headed back to his house. He prayed that the secret she was keeping didn’t turn her into one of the people he was hunting.
CHAPTER THREE
EVIE TRIED NOT to limp as she left the bakery. She had been walking around from business to business all morning inquiring about job positions, but so far, no one was hiring. To make matters worse, Evie was doing it with an aching foot.
She had been trying to move a damn bookcase this morning so that it was closer to the back door. She figured it
would be easy enough to shuffle in front of the door to prevent an intruder.
Turned out the bookcase weighed a ton, and the whole damn thing had fallen on her. By her, she meant her foot. Then, as if her luck wasn’t bad enough, her sexy, dangerous neighbor had to show up at her front door.
That actually hadn’t been that bad. No one had checked on her about anything for a long time. It was nice to think someone she just met might care what happened to her.
Evie had contemplated postponing the job hunt until she could walk without her foot feeling like it would fall off. But one glance at her near-empty purse had gotten her out of the house and knocking on the door of every business she passed.
Even though she could live on very little, Evie did require some level of income. She had always been able to find something in each town, whether that be waiting tables, making coffee, or even working as a receptionist.
Nervous tension entered her shoulders at the prospect of this being the first town that no one was hiring.
Doing some quick mental calculations on how long she could go without a job, her mind was suddenly pulled back to the present at the empty-looking building in front of her. She had walked past it a couple of times that morning. At first, it appeared to be unoccupied with the dark windows and lack of signage, so she’d disregarded it. But throughout the morning, Evie had noticed quite a few people entering and leaving the building. Most had been wearing workout gear and clustered in groups. A gym, maybe? A sliver of hope entered her at the prospect that it might be a job opportunity.
Pushing through the door, Evie walked up to the desk, hoping she didn’t reek of the desperation she felt. Behind it stood a tall woman who looked a similar age to Evie. She had red curly hair pulled into a ponytail and was wearing activewear. She was beautiful.
Evie tried not to feel self-conscious talking to someone who looked like they could be a runway model. As the woman looked up, a huge smile spread across her face. Evie almost stumbled, surprised at the welcoming expression.
“Hi, welcome to Marble Protection, or as I call it, Marble. I’m Lexie. Are you here for the morning self-defense class?” A wave of jealousy hit Evie. She would love to be that confident. She had been once.
“Hi, I’m Evie.” Trying not to be awkward, she pulled her resume out of her bag. “I was actually wondering if you’re hiring?”
The girl cocked her head to the side. “You’re new in town, aren’t you? Well, of course you are, or I would have seen you.”
Evie didn’t know if an answer was required, but she decided it was safest to give one just in case. “I am.”
Lexie gave Evie another once over before the smile seemed to get even bigger if that was possible.
“Great! You might be in luck, Evie. I’ll just call one of the guys down. Give me a sec.” Turning her back to Evie, Lexie picked up the phone.
As Evie stood and waited, a grunt from the left pulled her attention. Not having taken her attention from Lexie, Evie turned to take in the rest of the large space. The room was huge and had soft mat flooring.
Turning her head, she was just in time to see a man being flipped over the shoulder of another man. Evie’s eyes widened. The men were huge, both in height and muscle mass, and they had an audience watching them.
The man who was flipped jumped straight back onto his feet, seemingly unfazed by what had just happened, and crouched into a fighting stance.
Taking an involuntary step back, a shot of fear passed through her at the sight of the violence. Violence filled her nightmares. It was what she saw when she closed her eyes or when her mind drifted for too long. No. She couldn’t be here. It would set off one of her attacks.
Not thinking, just acting, Evie turned. She needed to get out. Stepping forward, she hit a brick wall.
What the hell?
Evie felt herself flying backward when strong arms wrapped around and righted her. A brick wall with arms.
Glancing up, she realized that she hadn’t run into a wall at all, rather another huge man. Did this town have a factory of these men or something? Why was everyone so damn huge here?
Then her brain caught up with her body. This huge man was touching her. Pulling her arms free, she took a big step back. Touching. Another trigger for her. She struggled with any physical contact.
“Sorry, I thought you saw me behind you.” Evie tried to get her bearings as the man spoke. She looked up, realizing he was familiar. Had she seen him before? The next moment it hit her. The other runner. The man who had been with her neighbor this morning. Shit. Now she really needed to get out.
Evie mumbled something which she hoped resembled a polite but dismissive apology and went to step around the huge man.
“Hey, you’re Evie, right? You live next door to Luca?” The man casually stepped closer to the door, effectively blocking Evie’s exit. Not waiting for a response, the man continued, “Marble Falls is a small town. You can’t even walk five feet without running into someone you know around here.”
Evie wanted to correct the man and tell him that she didn’t know him or Luca. That would encourage further conversation, and Evie wanted to leave. Now.
“Yes, that’s me,” she answered, giving a tentative smile. Her gaze flickered up to his face, then back toward the door again. She wished she was brave enough to slide past. The exit was so close.
“My name’s Asher. Luca, some other guys, and I run this place.” Asher gave what most women would describe as a million-dollar smile. To Evie, it just made her want to leave faster. Dangerous. That’s what he was. In more ways than one. “What brings you here this morning?”
Now leaning against the wall, Asher looked like he was there to stay. He may as well be a statue. Resigned to the fact that she was now a part of this conversation, at least for the moment, she worked to maintain eye contact.
“Um, I just moved here. I’m walking around town to see if anyone’s hiring. I didn’t realize this was a fighting gym… or whatever it is. I was just leaving.” Evie made a motion to move around him.
The polite response would be for him to thank her for stopping by and step aside. Asher remained where he stood, giving no indication that he planned to move anywhere anytime soon. Either the man couldn’t take a hint, or he was intentionally trying to block Evie from leaving.
“Job hunting? Well, Evie, it is your lucky day because we happen to be in search of a second receptionist.” Dragging her eyes from the door, Evie gave Asher her full attention. This place was hiring? What were the chances that the one place Evie did not want to work was the one place that had a job available?
Chewing her bottom lip, Evie tried to hide the indecision she was sure was written all over her face.
“And we’re a company that specializes in self-defense and security, not a fighting gym, whatever that is. Lexie probably mentioned we’re called Marble Protection. We’re your one-stop-shop for all things security and defense.”
Flashing another dazzling smile at her, Evie turned her head and glanced around the room. The two men who had been throwing each other were now talking to their audience. The audience, she now realized, was, in fact, a group of teenagers.
Evie wanted to say no. Her mind screamed at her that being around these clearly lethal men wasn’t a great idea. Being around violence was dangerous.
Spending a large part of her time on the run, trying to recover emotionally from what Troy had put her through, the fear he had instilled in her stayed with her every day. The very sight of violence could trigger an attack, even on a good day.
Was saying no even an option? Her chances of getting another job in this town seemed slim. No job meant no money, and no money meant no rent, no new town, and not staying hidden.
If Evie didn’t take this job, she would either need to wait around for someone to be hiring and hope she didn’t run out of money in the meantime or find another town with cheap rent that she could pay in cash. Not to mention the money she would lose from relocating here already.
Turning back to Asher, the decision was clear. Instead of seeming impatient by the time she was taking, Asher looked like he could wait all day, just as Luca had yesterday. As Evie paid more attention, she also noticed he looked just as “former military” as Luca did, as did the guys that were teaching self-defense too.
“The job’s yours if you want it, Evie.”
Evie gave a resigned sigh. Survival. That’s what she needed to keep reminding herself. She needed to survive until she could figure everything out, then hopefully, she could start living her life again. If she’d survived the hell that her life had been a year ago, she could survive working in a gym with people who had scarily similar backgrounds to the man she was running from.
“When would I start?”
Asher’s smile widened. “How about now?”
Evie tried to hide her surprise. “Ah, sure.”
“Lex, wanna take your morning break and I’ll show Evie the ropes?”
Lexie’s head popped up from behind the bench and zoomed in on Evie. “Welcome to the team, new friend.”
Walking around the desk, Evie expected Lexie to head down the hall. When she walked straight over to Evie instead and threw her arms around her shoulders, Evie stood frozen in shock for a moment. It had been a long time since anyone had hugged Evie. Too long.
Pulling back, Lexie held onto Evie’s shoulders. “Once I come back from my break, I’ll show you everything that this guy missed.”
From the corner of her eye, Evie noticed an eye roll from Asher before Lexie turned to leave.
“Women.”
Evie didn’t know if Asher intended for her to hear, but it sent a touch of a smile to her lips. Maybe it wouldn’t be all bad working here. Following Asher behind the desk, her gaze zoomed in on the high-tech computer.
“You hurt your foot?” Asher asked, not taking his eyes away from the screen. Evie looked down then back up in shock. She thought she’d been hiding the limp well.
“I just dropped something on it this morning,” Evie said, looking over Asher’s shoulders at the expensive-looking piece of technology. A bit of excitement entered Evie at the prospect of getting to work on it. Maybe there’d be more perks than just Lexie. “It won’t affect my work.”
Luca Page 2
