Page 17 of Thaddeus

Thad

“Was that—?”

“Yes,” I cut Kyle off.

“Does that say—?”

“Yep,” I stopped Declan from saying my name.

“Holy fuck,” Kyle muttered.

Declan’s hard gaze swung back my way and I braced. I’d known it was coming, knew I deserved it, but that didn’t mean I wanted to hear his shit.

“What in the actual fuck was that?” he seethed. When I didn’t say anything, he asked, “Is she going to be a problem?”

“Yes,” I answered honestly.

There was no point in trying to hide the truth. Emerson was going to be an issue for me.

“Christ.” Declan’s arms crossed over his chest and his head tipped back. He was staring at the ceiling, and if I had to guess, he was trying not to murder me for bringing this shitstorm on his doorstep. “What’s her story?”

“No clue.”

“What do you mean no clue? You know her, don’t you? She’s got your fucking name scrolled across her back like a walking billboard.”

“I don’t have the first goddamned idea who that woman is.” I tried but failed to keep the contempt from my tone. “The Emerson Pierce I knew was a sweet, all-American college student. She studied. She worked. She smiled. She went to the beach. She went to school. She was down-to-earth. Never wore makeup. Never dressed like she was on her way to a high-class gala. And she certainly wouldn’t have ever been caught dead near a man like Garcia.”

She’d also laid in my bed and whispered her dreams. She’d taken both my cock and my heart with vigor. She was sweet and kind and so passionate about the things she cared about she could make even the most cynical man believe. She was also the best fucking con-artist I’d ever met.

I didn’t see her play coming. I was wildly in love with her. The morning I’d left for my work-up she’d been dancing in our kitchen trying to stay positive, telling me how much she’d miss me. However, she was not in our kitchen when I returned. Not only was she not there, none of her shit was either. Emerson had packed her belongings and ghosted my ass. Poof—sayonara—gone.

Dec scrubbed his hands over his face before he reached into his pocket, angrily pulled his phone out, swiped the screen, and with the same irritation, he pounded in his security code before he brought the abused device to his ear.

“Garrett,” he greeted. “I need a work-up on Emerson Pierce.”

There was a pause and he turned to me. “Do you know her DOB?”

I gave him Emerson’s birthday and he went back to his conversation. “Did you get that? Right. Last known residence San Diego. Yep. Thanks, we need that ASAP. And do me a favor, yeah? Tell Zane my per diem just doubled. Blame it on Bench. We were smooth sailing until he decided it was time his cold, lonely heart woke up from its long winter’s nap. Now we have a shitstorm in the form of a sexy blonde who has Thaddeus’ name written all over her. And I mean that literally. We also need evac for her. The sooner the better or we’re all in trouble. Right. Thanks again.”

Anger rose at Declan’s callous jabs. I knew I’d fucked up by grabbing her, but what hell was I supposed to do? I may’ve hated the woman. Okay, that was a lie. But no man would’ve left a woman unprotected around a bunch of wolves who would’ve snatched her in a heartbeat.

“You wanna share now how shit went bad between the two of you?” Kyle asked.

“She’s the one,” Max knowingly said. “The one you told me about when we were on our first training op. The one you’d refused to talk about after we got back.”

I knew he’d put it together.

“Later,” I told them. “Right now we need to debrief and figure out where the hell Leon Brown bolted to. Not to mention, there’s a stable of women that may or may not be getting ready for transport. All of the other shit needs to wait.”

“I agree.” Thankfully Brooks spoke before Declan could chew my ass some more.

“We hit the back entrance of the warehouse, and just as Gumby had warned, that shit was whacked. The ring was in full view. Two dogs were in a chain-linked fence enclosure tearing each other apart. Glad we talked to Faith first because she was also correct. As pissed as I was—and I was beyond disgusted—there was no way we could’ve saved those animals. Hell, even if we could’ve gotten to them through the hordes of men and women, the dogs would’ve turned on us. I’ve never seen an animal so enraged or vicious. I don’t know what the fuck they do to those animals to make them that way, but the owner and trainers should have their balls cut off,” Declan told Max and me.

Kyle continued the story, “There was so much commotion with the fight going on, no one saw us skirting the back wall. The men who weren’t watching the fight were either taking bets, paying out money, or passing out drugs. It was loud as shit in there. Dogs barking and growling, men and even women shouting and cheering. It was enough to make you want to nuke the whole place.”

Tatiana rounded the corner, coming back into the living room with Emerson following behind her. All thoughts of how grateful I’d been to have a reprieve from talking to my team about her evaporated with a single glance.

Gone was the fancy-assed dress. She was wearing a pair of Tatiana’s cargo pants and t-shirt that would’ve hung loose on Tatiana but was skin-tight on Emerson. Her blonde hair had been washed and was pulled back into a ponytail. She’d washed the blood off her face and all of her makeup went with it.