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Thursday
I’d been called out of town shortly after dropping Stormy off at her house. She rented a cute second story to a house in Tremé. Not the safest neighborhood, but far from the worst in New Orleans. It had a big fenced-in backyard for Honu to run in. The beast’s full name was Ele’ele Honu Kai. Roughly translated into black sand beach turtle. Stormy’s friend Bernie had a tattoo of a turtle he’d found on his first trip to Hawaii. He’d taken a picture of the turtle and found a local tattoo artist the next day. Honu’s sire and dam belonged to one of Bernie’s patients. She’d given the pup to Bernie as a thank you gift.
It was Wednesday evening. Smoke and I were in the sandbox searching for a missing billionaire’s son. We had forty-eight hours to wrap this up, so I can get home in time to take Stormy to Sunday brunch.
Closing my eyes, I pictured her face when I dropped her off. We’d kissed at the door until I wanted to carry her inside and make her mine. The need to be inside her clawed at me. If I wasn’t buried deep in her warm, wet pussy soon, I’d have a serious case of the blue balls. The worst in my life. Never in my life had I wanted anyone as badly as I want Stormy St. James. She would be mine soon, and not just her body. I intended to win her heart, her soul. All of her.
“Prez, we’ve got eyes on the target.”
I jumped up from my chair, picked up my bag, and headed toward the door. My gun was already in its holster. Wrath waited for us outside with the engine running. Smoke and I jumped into the Jeep. Wrath floored it and we took off outside the city. This place is even more of a hell hole since the troops left last year. The terrorists took over the city we were in moments after the last troops pulled out. Luckily, we kept informants in the sandbox. My brothers and I took missions from time to time.
Here, the big payout was for all the renovations to the new compound. Including decking it all out and a new heated pool. Mr. Smith, their employer, wasn’t the most upstanding citizen, but he didn’t deal in drugs or human trafficking, so we took the job.
Wrath drove their jeep through the rubble, like it was stolen. It was. We landed in Syria and crossed the border. Doubling back to stay near Qa’im. Wizard’s latest intel said they spotted Mr. Smith Jr. in the area. They gave each client the surname Smith to use in the field. We referred to the target as Smith Jr.
Cosmo, their newest prospect, had eyes on the target. He’d only been with them four months and had been on three missions with them. Wrath, the youngest Jackson brother and newest patched member, served with Cosmo in the Marines. The man got his name from his killer Cosmo Kramer impression.
We arrived a few blocks from our final destination, blending into the background and waiting for dark to fall.
Stormy
I’M ON CLOUD TWENTY-nine by the time Gambit and I finally break apart and say goodnight. After unlocking the door, I walk through my darkened house to the backdoor to let Honu outside. A growl had me pivoting on my heel to realize he didn’t follow me through the house. Honu stood in the entryway to her kitchen, lips pulled back in a snarl. I froze for a few moments. The dog never moved. What or whoever was here must be gone. Honu was on alert but hadn’t moved to attack.
My feet finally moved forward. My legs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds each as I made my way through the darkened house. My second story house is what they call a shotgun shack. You can open the front door and see all the way through to the back door.
Thank the Goddess I have excellent night vision. My senses were heightened. My heart was beating so fast, I thought I might hyperventilate. Finally, I reached Honu and peered into the kitchen. The kitchen was empty. Movement caught my attention. The curtain behind the small table fluttered in the breeze. I shut and locked that window before I left. Anytime Honu went with me, I locked the house down. Even double checking each door and window before I left.
Paranoid? Who, me?Yes, and I have every reason to be. A week before I moved here, my stepbrother assaulted me and tried to rape me. I shivered from the memory. Tyler Barnes III, Ty, was obsessed with me from the moment we met. When we were kids, it was just an odd attention. He was never far away. Making it a point to follow me.
Ty’s the main reason I’d never been kissed until today. He ran off any boy that showed interest in me. If the boy tried to stick around, Tyler, my stepdad, would use his influence to put pressure on the boys’ family, or worse, to ruin them. From the moment the Barnes men entered my life, it was irrevocably changed forever. And not for the better.
My stepfather, Tyler, ruled every moment of my life. Everything from clothes to food, to friends. He orchestrated it all. Bernie was my only port in the storm until I started college and made a few friends. At least I thought I made friends. In the week following the attack, each of them turned their back on me.
I didn’t dare go to the police. My stepfather is the governor of my home state, Indiana. Knowing him, I would have wound up in jail, while Ty would get nothing. Not even a slap on the wrist.
The wind blew the curtain again, drawing my attention back to the present. I turned on the light. Nothing looked out of place. Room by room, Honu and I searched. The open window was the only thing we found.
Later, I went outside with Honu for his last evening's walk. I couldn’t help but feel someone was watching me. Could Ty have found me?
