AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I bristle, not wanting to share any similarities with the man, a difficult endeavor since we both served in the US Military. When it’s my turn to move, I fall in line until we get in the car. In the tense silence, Ethan’s jaw works double time and if I listen closely enough, I swear I can hear his grinding teeth. His negative feelings toward me stir my seething emotions until I can no longer sit still.
He parks the car and as he reaches to open his door, I say, “While there’s no one here to stop us or listen in, we should clear the air. What is your problem with me?”
He straightens in his seat and stares at me in the rearview mirror. “My problem with you? Precious,” he sneers. “You’re reckless, selfish, and compulsive. Those impulses should have been beaten out of you during training.”
“You don’t know shit about me,” I grumble, not liking his code name for me. He has yet to put respect on it.
“I know enough. I lead a team of thirty men to protect Mayor DeLuca at all times. Without a care in the world, you put his security at risk when you showed up at the mansion. I bet you never considered that you weren’t the final target.”
“That’s where you’re wrong asshole. I took precautions and I wasn’t followed.”
“You got sloppy in the end, though, didn’t you? The mayor has mentioned how many times you’ve slipped my protection to see him before. Yet this last time, you made a fucking spectacle of your arrival, putting eight of my men in the hospital. And you expect me to trust you took enough precautions? Sell that shit to someone else.”
His grievances are a bitter pill to swallow, but they are legit. With one exception.
“I would never endanger Valentino or Tácito’s lives. Never. When I got to the mansion that night, it was the first time I let my guard down because I knew with absolute certainty that no one followed me. There are reasons why I couldn’t put off seeing them.”
“You needed the doc’s talent.”
“While I believe Tácito is the best, I could have found someone else to patch me up. But if I had and things went to shit, what hell would Valentino have to live through? I will never put him in that position. His and Tácito’s safety and peace of mind are my priority.”
Ethan scoffs and shakes his head. “For me and my team to do our job effectively, we can’t be caught between you and the mayor’s contest of who can protect who the best. My men and I are part of the fucking equation. And you have not made protecting the mayor easy.”
“If you want easy, become a mercenary. Wait…” I stare incredulously into his mirrored eyes. “Valentino’s security isn’t the only bee up your bonnet. You’re mad that I can beat your security whenever I want.” I smirk at him and taunt, “Be careful, you keep grinding your teeth so hard, you’ll need a good dentist.”
“Thanks to the mayor, I have excellent coverage. Let’s go…Precious.” He opens the door, shutting down the rest of our conversation.
The petty bastard stands next to my door and waits instead of providing his former albeit begrudgingly deferential treatment. I shrug and whistle a happy tune, my heart much lighter than it had been when he arrived.
“Now that you’re the First Lady of Douglas, you’ll have fewer freedoms than before.”
I pat Ethan on the shoulder, ignoring his stiffening posture. “I think I’ve proven that you can’t hold me if I want to go anywhere.”
He does a quick surveillance of our immediate surroundings then drags me to the side of a building and shields me with his body while attempting to intimidate me with his closeness. “Do you want me to admit that you got one over on me? Fine. But I will not let it stand. Mayor DeLuca trusts me to be the best for his protection, and—”
“And I will help you. We both want him unharmed.” I sigh and drop all signs of mockery. “Ethan, evaluating your team and pointing out the weak areas in your coverage will put me at ease because it means we’ll foist Valentino’s enemies. You win, I win.”
Color stains Ethan’s cheeks. “Uh…well, if that’s settled, we should…”
I take pity on him, liking this rare display of human emotion outside of anger and rigidity. “Go question the employees working at the convenience store? See if they have footage my man couldn’t access?”
“Right. Follow me.”
I nod, barely suppressing the grin I feel wanting to spread wide on my face. “Hey, since I’m not one hundred yet, how about we spar on your downtime? From what Valentino said last night, you might actually be a challenge for me.”
“You’re not one…” he sputters. “You’ll want to take your grievances up with Mayor DeLuca, Mayoress.”
I smile at the new name. “He’s made a decree, hasn’t he?”
“You’ll want to take your grievances up with Mayor DeLuca, Mayoress.”
My grin widens. “Message received. Let’s find out what we can from this store.”
* * *
Sloane
I enter the kitchen fresh from a post-exercise shower for a bottle of water. Boring, single-person exercise with no sparring. I can’t wait for Valentino to come home. I intend to gripe at him about Ethan’s dogged refusal to spar with me. We’re on good terms now, so blows will be friendly. Nothing like what we could do to each other if we still had bad blood between us.
