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CHAPTER TWO - HARLEY
It still felt fucked up to be in a crowd full of people going about their work days. After four months of retirement, I still couldn’t shake off the surreal feeling that it was over. All of those years being a killer, a death-dealer when needed, and here I was - a free man. Funny enough, being back in the real world left me feeling like a shit-storm was going to smack into me any minute. I felt like I was completely out of place.
There was a time when I had a purpose and a strategy. Meticulously preparing myself and my men for battle – they were my brothers and I would have done anything for them. Death shadowed me everywhere I turned and it became the norm – but I never expected tragedy to strike from home. Finding out about Mom’s cancer screwed with my head and my mind started to unravel beyond my control. Fucked up dreams plagued my mind day and night - dicking with me as I walked around the dusty streets of the middle east. It was what it was, and I wouldn’t change a goddamn thing about it. My mom meant everything to me, and the decision became easy when I focused on her.
I stood on the sidewalk in front of Logan’s downtown Queens office, realizing that the voices in my head had once again taken over. It was more like a run-down brick building on the corner of an abandoned lot that needed someone to cut the weeds down.
I stared at the building with faint skepticism. For as much money Logan told me he made by employing bodyguards for the rich and famous, I expected a better building to conduct business. Cheap bastard.
The front door opened, and Logan stepped out into the sunny afternoon with a grin. He waved me over from where I stood across the street.
“Good to see you, bro,” he said, embracing me tightly. “It’s been what… two years now?”
“Yep. Two long ass years,” I said, grinning. “I’d say nice place, but it’s not exactly what I pictured for a business like yours.”
Logan glanced up at the cracked red brick building with a grimace. “I know. I’d like to move, but you know Jade is determined to live in Queens for the rest of our lives.”
“At least fix it up,” I said. “It’s about ready to fall over, or collapse on your head.”
“Do you have any construction experience you smug son-of-a-bitch?”
“No,” I said, laughing. “Good point.”
“All right then. Come inside.” He walked through the door, reaching back to hold it open for me.
I followed him through the front office that smelled like cinnamon past a young female receptionist who smiled up at me as I passed by. The tight shirt she wore pressed against her tits, outlining beaded nipples. How the fuck Logan got anything done with her sitting up front was beyond me.
“Who's the receptionist?” I asked when Logan shut the door behind me. I took a seat in front of a neatly organized desk.
“Jade’s younger cousin,” Logan said.
“I thought Jade was against the whole working with other women.”
“It doesn’t count if their family apparently.” Logan grimaced as he took a seat behind his desk. “Don’t point out how bad that is. You don’t have a wife to deal with back home.”
I held up my hands. “Backing off. What do you need help with exactly?”
“I have a wealthy client who needs to hire a bodyguard for his daught—”
“No,” I cut him off sharply. I shook my head when Logan opened his mouth again. “No, bro. I’m not going to chaperone some spoiled rich brat around. I thought you needed help with something serious. I’m not into the babysitting business.”
“I lied on the phone,” he said, plainly as he lifted his hands in what looked like surrender. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for the guy, but watching some rich twit for any length of time, even a few minutes, was fucking out of the question.
“I wouldn’t be here if I knew you were going to pull this shit bro.”
“That hurts. Just listen to the details of the job. It might change your mind.”
“I doubt it,” I said, wryly. “How did you even end up in this business? Four years in the fucking Special Forces and this is where you ended up?”
“I’m not happy about it,” Logan said. “Never said that it was sunshine and fucking daisies here, but I had a wife and a child on the way two years ago. I had to do something that wouldn’t risk my head getting shot at.”
“Not saying that isn’t honorable, but damn, bro.” I sat back in my chair in disbelief as I clasped my hands over my stomach. “How did we end up like this?”
“Too much death,” he replied, grimly.
I looked down at my forearms. Four fucking years in the Special Forces meant watching death up close and personal. I couldn’t count how many times I’d watch the life leave someone’s eyes. I also couldn’t count how many times I was relieved to see it too. It seemed morbid, sick now that we were out, but in the heat of battle, it was what we were trained to do.
Logan had gotten out of it the second he learned Jade was pregnant with their first child. At the time, we had lost two friends in a mission during the middle of the night. Too much death had a tendency to scar the soul in horrible ways. I didn’t blame him for ending up in a position with a business that didn’t involve guns, or terrorists wishing you were dead.
