GoodKnight: A Reed Security Romance

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  I flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, begging for sleep to overtake me. I would give anything for a few hours sleep where I didn’t think about Kate or my kids, but it never came. It was getting to the point that if I didn’t get sleep soon, I was going to fuck up a job. That would only get me killed. And even though Hunter said he would understand if that happened, I found myself needing to stay alive just so that he didn’t feel guilty if something happened to me.

  My phone buzzed and I pulled it out, seeing an email flashing new on the screen. It was for my next job all the way out in Idaho. Fuck, I didn’t want to drive all the way to Idaho, and if I was going to make it there in time, I would have to leave now. The job was easy. The hit was for a woman that had hooked up with a drug dealer, then left her kids alone with him. The kids had all been molested before being tortured and killed. It would be easy to take her out. I accepted the job and stood. There was no way I was getting any sleep tonight. I checked out of the motel and was on the road ten minutes later.

  I had avoided going to anyplace near Pennsylvania. I had been overseas and I had worked on the west coast, but the east coast was out. There was too much temptation to go home. I drove for two days, only stopping for gas and the occasional stop at rest areas when I felt like I would doze off. When I finally reached my destination, I reluctantly found a motel and dropped my shit off.

  Staring at the lonely room, I tried to reconcile my decisions with the outcomes of the jobs. I knew I was doing good, but my heart wasn’t in it like before. The kills weren’t gratifying. I didn’t feel the thrill of snuffing out an unworthy life. I felt depleted. I didn’t care about these people or what they had done. It could be left up to someone else to deal with their crimes. The only reason I continued was because I needed something to do. But as I stared at the empty motel room, the only thing I could think of was all I had left behind.

  If only I had made different decisions over the past few years. If only I had considered what I could lose by getting involved in these other issues. Was any of it worth it? It sure as hell didn’t feel that way. If I could do it all over again, I would.

  I laid down on the bed and waited over the next few hours for the time I had to leave. I should be there casing the place. I should be studying my target. It just didn’t seem worth it. When it was finally time to go, I checked over my weapons and tossed my bag in the truck just in case. I wasn’t sure why I even bothered getting the motel room.

  I pulled up to the house in a rundown part of town. I sighed heavily, wondering why I even bothered to take this job. What a waste of time and energy. I got out and walked around the house, carefully scoping it out. It was dark inside aside from a light at the back of the house. I slipped in through the front and the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I scanned the darkness of the house, but I didn’t see anything. Moving quickly and silently, I cleared all the rooms before reaching the back room. The woman sat on the couch watching TV. My breath caught in my chest. She had hair just like Kate.

  My eyes started to water. I was so fucking pathetic. I was seeing Kate everywhere I went. When would the pain stop? When would I finally be able to move on without feeling this constant pain?

  I adjusted my grip on my gun, gritting my teeth as I steeled myself. Just finish the job. I moved around the couch to confirm her identity and that’s when my heart stopped in my chest. I had to be seeing things. It was Kate. I blinked several times, sure I was just hallucinating. The lack of sleep was killing me. I glanced around the room, sure I was being set up or my eyes were playing tricks on me.

  “Hudson, I would appreciate if you would lower the weapon,” she said casually, like I wasn’t pointing a fucking gun at her.

  I shook my head. This couldn’t be real. I was going insane. My sleep deprivation was making me see things. Maybe I was dreaming and none of this was really happening. It couldn’t be.

  She stood and walked over to me, her hand reaching out to touch mine. My heart beat wildly in my chest as she slowly put her hand on my weapon and lowered it to the ground. I swallowed hard as I stared at her face. She smiled slightly at me, relief pouring over her features when I finally relaxed my arm. I didn’t know what to say. I was on the verge of breaking down in fucking tears. I needed her, and as the days went by, I wasn’t sure that I could hold out. Something had to give. And then she showed up here, where I was supposed to be killing a woman.

  “How is this possible?” I asked, my voice catching in my throat.

  “That would be my doing.” I spun around, raising my gun as Hunter walked into the room. “I think it’s time for you to retire. I’ve been in the house with you the whole time and you missed me. Shit like that will get you killed.”

  I lowered my weapon again and shook my head. What the fuck was going on? “I’m…How did you find me?”

  “Oh, that was easy. I put out a hit on Kate. Well, you know her as Tamara Brown. Yeah, it was the only way I could think of finding you.”

  “But how did you know how to get ahold of me?”

  “I called Ty. He has all these contacts now, and when I told him that you pussied out and ran away from your family, he was all too willing to help me out. Not that he wouldn’t have done it anyway. I mean, he was actually pretty pissed. He went to all that trouble to save your wife and then you left her unprotected.”

  “I left her with you,” I growled.

  “And that was your first mistake. You should have known that I wouldn’t just do as you said. I mean, it was fine at first, but Lucy’s starting to get jealous because of the amount of time I was spending with Kate.”

  I narrowed my eyes at his implication. “I asked you to look after her, not follow her around.”

  “Right, well, considering how she’s doing, someone had to look out for her.”

  My eyes shot to Kate and I studied her face, trying to figure out what he was talking about. She looked paler than normal and she had deep bruises under her eyes. And her face was skinnier. “What’s wrong? Are you sick? Is it the virus?”

  “Nothing like that.”

  “Then what’s wrong?” I asked, panic running through me. I couldn’t handle the thought of her having some disease. My heart started racing out of control. I felt like I was losing it. I couldn’t handle this shit again.

  “I’m pregnant.”

  My eyes dropped to her stomach and flashes of her on that gurney in the hospital shot through my head. I closed my eyes, seeing all the blood on the floor and swallowed down the bile. “Get rid of it.”

  “What?” she asked in confusion.

  “You have to get rid of it.”

  “Why would I do that? Why would you ask me to get rid of my child?”

  “You can’t do it, Kate. Not after what happened with Cade. I can’t lose you like that.”

  “But you’re not around,” she said, tilting her head to the side. “Why would it matter to you?”

  I clenched my fists tight and stared at her stomach. I could see now that she had a pretty sizable bump, which meant that she was further along than I thought. She was going to have a baby. It could kill her. I wouldn’t be there to help her. Who would stay with her in case something went wrong? Fuck, I couldn’t do this.

  “Right, well, anyway, we have to get going. We have an early flight in the morning, so…Kate?”

  Kate stared at me, waiting for me to make a decision. I knew what she was hoping for. I knew she wanted me to go with her. Could I keep her safe? Could I promise her that I would never put her in danger again? I knew that I was terrible for her, but there was a bigger part of me that really wanted to take her hand and walk out that door.

  “I just thought you should know that you were going to have another child,” she finally said. “Anyway, I told you, and I really hope that you change your mind and come home. But if not…well, I just want you to know that I love you, and even though you left me without a word, I would still take you back in a heartbeat. Because you don’t walk away from t
he people you love.”

  Except I had. I had left her to deal with everything on her own, all because I was scared. And I was still scared, but the overwhelming relief of having her here in arm’s reach again had me rethinking everything. Being on my own was even more miserable than I had imagined and I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t want to go kill people. I didn’t want to go from place to place, hoping to get rid of the pain. Nothing was helping, and I was exhausted. I just wanted it all to stop.

  Kate headed for the door with Hunter, barely glancing back to see me. I had a decision to make, but if I chose to go with her, I couldn’t leave her again. It wasn’t fair to her or my kids. If I went back, it would be for good. If I went back, I had to erase Garrick Knight from my life. No more killings. No more snooping. I just needed to go to work and live my life with Kate, the way I always should have been.

  “Wait.”

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Kate

  I had said everything I could and now it was time to go. Hunter and I had discussed what we should say when I showed up. We agreed that less was more. If I showed up and he didn’t immediately decide to come back with me, there would be no convincing him. He had to want me more than he wanted to save me from himself. I prayed that was the case.

  Hunter grabbed my hand as we walked for the door and gave a gentle squeeze to reassure me that everything would be okay. I wasn’t sure that everything would be fine. I could see the indecision on Hudson’s face. He still thought he wasn’t good enough. I wished that I had the words to convince him he was wrong. I wished that I knew how to make him see things through my eyes.

  “Wait.”

  I paused, my breath catching in my chest. My eyes slid closed as I waited for what he would say. I couldn’t take it if he said goodbye. Tears built in my eyes and I took a deep, steadying breath before turning around. I stared at him through watery eyes and waited for what he had to say. My heart thumped heavily in my chest as I waited for his answer.

  He walked slowly toward me, his body lacking his usual swagger. He stopped in front of me, reaching out slowly to grab my hand. “Are you sure you want this?”

  “Want what exactly?”

  He swallowed hard, his hand squeezing mine. “Me.”

  I shook my head slowly, tears spilling from my eyes. “Hudson, why can’t you see how great you are? What’s it going to take for you to realize that your kids and I want and need you? Do you really think I would have stuck it out with you all these years if I didn’t want you?”

  “I put you in danger,” he said in a low voice. “I destroy everything I touch.”

  I pulled his hand up to my chest so he could feel my thumping heart. “Do you feel that? It beats for you, because of you. I have this wonderful life that’s filled with love because you’re in it. I can’t just replace you. I won’t ever find someone that loves me as hard and as fiercely as you do. Yeah, we’ve had a few close calls, but not once did I regret my choices. My life is with you and only you.”

  His hand slid up around my neck, pulling me into him. His lips pressed against my forehead as he held me close. I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight, praying that this meant that he was coming home with me. I couldn’t stand it if he walked away.

  “I swear to God, Kate. I’ll never put you in danger again. I swear I’ll keep you safe.”

  “I know.”

  “No,” he said, pulling back from me. “I promise. No more digging or killing. It’s just you and me and our kids.”

  I smiled, laughing as I swiped the tears from my face. I couldn’t believe he was coming home with me. I threw myself back in his arms and kissed him with everything I had. Everything was going to be okay from here.

  “Not to break up this love fest, but this isn’t exactly the best part of town. Can we move this along?”

  Hudson wrapped his arm protectively around my waist and held out his hand to Hunter. “Thanks for bringing me home. I didn’t know how much I needed this until I saw her there.”

  Hunter shrugged, taking. “Yeah, well, I always knew what was best for you. It’s about time you listened.”

  Hudson nodded slightly. I could tell that he was trying to hold it together. My husband was not an emotional person, but he had been through the ringer over the past few months. We just needed some normal now.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Cole

  I paced Kate’s house, waiting to hear from them. I knew that Kate had seen Knight and they were coming home, but I was nervous as fuck that he would chicken out and change his mind. The way he slipped out on her in the middle of the night was harsh, but I knew why he did it. It wasn’t that he was chicken. He was terrified that he wouldn’t be able to do it otherwise. I had to give Knight credit, even though I didn’t agree with Knight’s choices, I knew he had the right intentions.

  The kids were upstairs playing. I hadn’t told them that I had talked to their mother. I had to see Knight with my own eyes before I would trust that he was back for good. Maybe an ass-kicking would make me feel better.

  I heard the SUV pull up outside and I shot to the door, flinging it open. Three doors opened. Knight stepped out, opening the door for his wife and wrapping his arm around her waist. I stormed out to see him, not caring that I was breaking up their happy reunion.

  Knight locked eyes with me and stepped away from Kate. He knew why I was coming at him. I swung, striking him in the jaw. When he didn’t go down, I swung again. He didn’t bother to defend himself. He knew he had this coming. Kate screamed at me to stop, but when he dropped to the ground, I swung again and again.

  Kate was begging at me to stop, but Hunter just stood there watching the show. I was heaving above him, my anger boiling out of control. I grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and hauled him up to meet me.

  “I told you if I saw your face again I would kill you.” His eyes bored into mine, almost in a challenge to go through with my threat. I heard Kate’s gasp and Hunter’s low chuckle as he walked over and pulled her back a little. “You ever do something like that again, I’ll follow through on my threat. No more chances, Knight. You made a promise to my cousin to love and protect her. You follow through or you get back in that SUV and drive out of her life forever.”

  He swallowed hard and nodded. “I swear.”

  “Good.”

  I released his shirt and held out my hand to help him up. He accepted grudgingly and swiped the blood from his face. Turns out it was just in time because the kids came running out and practically threw themselves in his arms. I could swear I saw tears in his eyes as he held them close. Everything was going to be alright now. Kate had her husband back and those kids had their father. Alex walked out of the house and wrapped her arm around my waist. I pulled her in closer, thanking God that I never had to go through anything like Knight had just gone through. I knew after watching him that there was no way I would survive it.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Parker

  “I never thought I would see you again,” I said to Knight as he walked into the training center. “When Cap told me you were back, I almost thought he was joking.”

  “Yeah, I’m not going anywhere. Besides, Cap told me that he had a new round of recruits coming in. Someone had to make sure they were properly trained.”

  I laughed at the idea that none of the rest of us could train recruits, but I wasn’t about to argue with him. I had heard about some of his tactics. The man definitely took training to the extreme.

  “So, are you sticking around?” he asked, nodding to Blake. She was running the training course against some of the other guys.

  “Uh, things are still up in the air with us right now. Blake has her hearing coming up, so we haven’t made any plans.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine. They won’t prosecute her for saving lives.”

  “You sound awfully sure about that.”

  He shrugged slightly. “Just call it a hunch.”

  “Parker! Blake!” I
turned to see Cap standing in the doorway, motioning us over. I walked over to him, noting his impatience at being kept waiting.

  “Yeah?”

  “There’s someone here to see you.”

  “Me? Who?”

  “Not just you. Blake also,” he said. “Hurry up.”

  Blake ran up beside me, following me out of the training room to the elevator. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know. Someone’s here to see us.”

  “He didn’t say who?”

  We stepped onto the elevator with Cap and waited as he took us to the parking garage.

  “Is this a clandestine meeting?” I joked.

  Cap turned to me with a glare. “Just be on your best behavior.”

  I looked at him funny. That was a weird thing to say. I didn’t know anyone that I would have to be on my best behavior for. Except…

  “Oh shit. Do you think your family’s back?”

  Blake paled and shook her head slowly. “I wouldn’t put it past them.”

  “You don’t think they planned a wedding for us, do you?”

  “God, I hope not, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  I was fucking nervous as we stepped into the parking garage and waited for whoever was supposed to be here. We stood there for a good five minutes, just waiting. A line of black vehicles pulled into the garage, all bearing American flags. And then I saw the Seal of the President of the United States on the side of the car.

  “Holy shit,” I whispered.

  “Is that?”

  “I think so.”

  “But why…”

  Blake shook her head beside me, leaning over to whisper to Cap. “You could have told me the freaking president of the United States was coming. I’m in a fucking sports bra.”