When I pulled the trigger, it was because the person in my scope was the enemy and had a gun pointed back at me, it was that simple. I learned years ago after a conversation with my dad, that the brass didn’t give a frog’s shit about anything but how things looked for them. My team and I got the reputation for doing things my own way, going in where no one else would. It had not taken long for our success rate to get the attention of the people making decisions. Once they figured out that our way was not only the best way but also what we did didn’t invite the media attention that unfortunately came with war, they were fine.
Team FIVE worked within our own set of rules and parameters, we answered to a selected and trusted small group of commanding officers, and were pretty much left alone to do our jobs.
Still, the last mission came with a fuck tone of headaches in the form of meddling politicians and pen pushing do-gooders hell-bent on running the army PC, and stuff the actual meaning of keeping a soldier safe.
So, there I was, pissed off, exhausted, homesick and ready to jump on my bike and haul arse back to Ballarat, that was until a five-foot-nothing sexy pixie was coming towards me with three yapping dogs.
Standing on flat ground in front of her, her tiny frame became very apparent. From the top of the dune she looked small, but here, she barely reached past my pecs… I liked that. I also liked the swooning look on her face as she stared opened mouth at me and… called me pretty? Choking back a laugh, I smiled at the gorgeous woman. “Pretty? I’m not sure that men are pretty, sugar.”
“Oh no, I disagree. Matthew McConaughey is pretty, Scott Eastwood is pretty, ooohh and Zac Efron is really pretty, then—” Holding up my hand, I stopped her amusing rant, however. Annoyed that she didn’t have any trouble coming up with males that she considered pretty.
“I get your point, but I prefer rugged, strong, devilishly handsome, even hot and hunky,” I rattled off enjoying the giggles escaping from her perfect bow-shaped mouth.
A mouth that would look amazing wrapped around my thick, fat cock.
The thought jumped into my head and before I could stop it that said cock thickened in my tight jeans. Today was not the best day to get out of my looser fitting fatigues, but after being in uniform and the jungle for the last few months civvies were called for, for comfort.
A cute O formed on her pretty mouth, then quickly morphed into a blinding smile.
“Oh, you are definitely all those things as well, in fact, I would add trouble and dangerous to the list,” she sassed back at me, her torso was doing that thing that some women did to get a man’s attention when they moved in a twisting motion. This woman however had innocence written all over her, she had no idea what she was doing to me. Or course, if she was to lower her eyes she wouldn’t have to look far to see that I was sporting a semi. Which in itself didn’t surprised me, months without a woman, not even a hand job you would think I should be a walking talking hard-on.
Truth be told, my job hindered my romantic life. That never bothered me, yes, I liked women and yes, I enjoyed sex… when I took the time to meet and get to know a lady. Being sent to war-torn countries at a moment’s notice, staying anywhere from weeks to months at a time and being in charge of my team’s lives tended to take much of my focus.
I came to terms with my choice to put my team and my country first, I wasn’t one for one-night stands or just sticking my dick in any pussy that came my way. Team FIVE came to a quick decision many years ago that overseas affairs were off-limits, no quick hook-ups or romantic dalliances to mess up our heads. We all agreed, and the pact was unbreakable, but now I was on home soil and suddenly very interested.
“What’s your name sweetheart?” I asked her, my hands fisting tightly at my sides so I didn’t reach out and spear my fingers through her short pixie cut and pull her into my body and kiss her senseless.
“Devon Mercy,” she said, holding out her small hand for me take, which I wasted no time in doing exactly that. Something inside me shifted when I engulfed her soft feminine hand in my much larger and much rougher one. “And you are?” she asked me, one perfectly shaped brow raising.
“Captain Gabriel Booth, I get either the full name or Gabe,” I told her, gently pumping her hand, my thumb slowly rubbed over the top of hers. I couldn’t bring myself to let her go and going by the way she was shyly smiling at me; Miss Devon Mercy didn’t seem to mind one bit.
“Ah, so you live here at the base?” Devon asked, nodding her head to the side in the direction of the military base located at the end of the island.
“I am a soldier based here yes, but I have my own place behind the dunes.”
“Are you talking about the complex of town houses all by themselves near one of the bird sanctuaries?”
Giving her a quick nod, I smiled at her. “Yep. My team and I all occupy the entire complex. Living on a base gets old pretty quick, luckily we all get to enjoy a few luxuries and perks for our service,” I said being deliberately evasive. I was always pretty tight-lipped about my job; we had to be. Even my father didn’t know half of what I did overseas in my capacity of Team FIVE commanding officer. He knew and understood how important secrecy was to the security and the safety of any armed force. It was good to know I could unload on him whenever things got too heavy for me; certain missions in the past, duties and orders I had to preform sometimes just got a bit too much.
“You some kind of ninja or something?” Devon asked me giggling.
“Or something,” I agreed barking out a laugh.
Devon narrowed her pretty bright blue eyes at me. “All right, Gabriel have your secrets,” she pouted prettily, but I was stuck on hearing my full name coming from those luscious natural red lips. Yeah, Gabriel sounded really nice.
Around our feet, the yapping dogs started getting annoyed with not moving any longer. Their yaps turning into demanding barks and growls.
“Oh boy, looks like I need to get these boys moving again.” Her reluctance to leave could be heard in her tone, and if I was a complete idiot and missed that, then the sad look on her gorgeous face confirmed it.
Panic suddenly caused my mouth to dry, I wasn’t ready to let her hand go let alone her leaving and never seeing her again.
“What are you doing later on? Say for dinner?” I asked thinking quickly.
“Oh… um… nothing?” she said more like a question than answering me.
“Go out to dinner with me? You know the Ozone Hotel?”
Devon laughed lightly. “Of course, I do, I was born here and have spent every day here since. And yes, Gabriel, I would love to go out for dinner with you if that’s what you are asking,” she answered me, blushing an adorable shade of pink. I let out a breath not even realising I was holding it while I waited for her to answer.
Relief poured through me. I didn’t know what it was about Devon that made my usual cool and reserved demeanour take a leap and turn me into a horny teenager again.
Reluctantly, I let go of her hand so I could pull my phone out of my back pocket, I swiped my finger across the screen and pulled up my contacts then handed it to Devon which she took and immediately entered her number.
Handing it back to me, I outright laughed at the contact she created for herself.
“Pixie hey?”
“Well, it was your suggestion soldier.” Her eyes twinkled with mischief, then turned around several times to untangle the leads from around her legs, each turn gave me a delectable view of her firm arse encased in insanely skin-tight black work-out leggings.
Muffling a groan, I made myself look away from the best view I had seen for a very long time.
“What’s your address darlin?”
Devon suddenly faulted in her quest to free herself nearly stumbling over the small terrier.
“Oh… um… it’s… how about I met you there? I live across the other side of town, hard to find ya know,” Devon stuttered and just like that my instinct and training kicked in. I knew when someone was lying, I also knew when a p
erson was hiding something. Keeping my face neutral, I covertly scanned her fingers for a ring or a mark left by a ring but saw nothing but the evenly tanned skin of her long slim fingers.
“All right Devon, have your secrets,” I said throwing her own words back at her. Bending down, I captured her face between my hands, holding it closely to mine. “You should know I don’t like people being evasive with me, and you Pixie are doing exactly that.” Pressing my forehead to hers, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, the scent of lilacs filling my nostrils.
“G—Gabriel—”
“Six o’clock Pixie, we can continue this then,” I said, stopping her from saying anything else. The tremble I felt from her when I took hold of her face, and the intake of breath was enough of an answer for now. She felt it too, that much I was sure of, what she was hiding… I would find that out too in time, otherwise — I didn’t want to think about that because thinking about walking away from this beautiful woman may just do me in.
CHAPTER SIX
DEVON
“What on earth was I thinking!”
“What was that, Devon?” Burt, the taxi driver, asked me from the front seat of the ancient car he used as a cab, making me realise I asked myself that question out loud.
Get a grip Devon, for god’s sake now is not the time to start your babbling. This time I closed my lips shut tight so the words didn’t get a chance to spill from them.
“Ah, nothing Burt. Thanks for the ride, how much do I owe you?” I asked in a rush, slipping a hand into my handbag and rooting around for my wallet.
“No charge for you sweet girl,” Burt said waving his hand at me, “you know your mum used to ride in this taxi when she was just a little thing herself.”
“Yes, Burt, I know,” I replied gently. Burt was getting a little long in the tooth and to be honest he probably should’ve had his driver’s licence revoked a decade ago. But he was an institution in our seaside town and no one really had the heart to do that to him. The local police kept a close eye on him and because he rarely collected a fare he wasn’t really an official taxi driver, just a kind-hearted man doing the community a service.
Taking a twenty out, I sneakily slipped it into the pocket on the back of Burt’s seat, then grabbed a fifty and added that as well. The old man lived off a fortnightly pension, not enough to cover the fuel costs let alone allow him to eat properly. I wasn’t the only one that made sure to leave money in the car for him, and Burt knew to look. It was simply letting the man keep his dignity… and eat.
“Okay Burt, I better get going, thanks for the lift,” I shouted as I got out and slammed the heavy door, Burt was not only stuck in the old days with the massive Cadillac, he was also half deaf. Most of the trip he probably didn’t hear a word I said to him, not that he cared, he talked enough for ten people.
Turning away from the curb, my foot caught a tree root and I started to fall, and I would have if it had not been for a warm wall of heated man flesh.
“Falling for me already Pixie?” The amused deep voice of my saviour rumbled against my ear, sending another trickle of shudders through me, exactly the same kind earlier in the day when he took my face in his large hands and held me captive with his gorgeous grey eyes. Just like they were doing now.
“Oh um, yeah I fall a lot, not for men, well I would like to fall for a man, a man like you… oh crap,” I muttered the last two words, the last thing I needed was to show Gabriel my real self too soon.
Whoa, I was getting way too ahead of myself, this was our first date and we didn’t even know anything about one another. Taking a minute to control my wildly beating heart, which was not going to be achievable if Gabriel didn’t take his hands from my hips.
Thankfully, he chuckled then removed one hand and laced it with mine. “Okay Pixie, let’s go have dinner and get to know each other,” he suggested, his eyes on our joined hands. The look on his face said he liked seeing our hands entwined, which was just as well because I know I certainly did.
“I don’t think it has ever taken me twenty minutes to get seated at a table in a restaurant and not be waiting for a table,” Gabriel said with an amused grin as we finally sat down at a table in the far corner of the hotel.
“Yeah, sorry about that, what can I say? I am a local and my business is the rest of the town’s as far as they are concerned,” I offered shrugging my shoulders helplessly. As soon as we entered the hotel, the patrons and the publicans jumped on us. Questions flew, glares were given and interrogations commenced. With each question they asked Gabriel I had my fingers crossed behind my back praying the C word didn’t get thrown out there.
Normally, I wasn’t so sensitive about my childhood illness, it is what it is, I had cancer, twice and beat it twice. And while I was proud of that fact, it was such a little town, which was much smaller in population in the off-season when the tourists went back home to their lives and jobs.
I was still known as the girl with cancer.
The girl that saw her mother decapitated, then got cancer.
The girl no one would hire because she had cancer.
Yeah, I wasn’t all that keen on the C word.
Gabriel’s smile was reassuring, as he shook the napkin and placed it on his lap.
“No need to apologise. I wasn’t complaining, I grew up in a unique situation with a lot of people always up in each other’s business.”
“Oh, how so?” I asked, suddenly intrigued to know more about this hunky soldier. “Do you have lots of brothers and sisters?”
“Nope, I am an only child, actually. See, my father is the president of an MC back in Ballarat, the Wounded Souls, or used to be until recently. His club brothers and their wives are my extended family, all I have known is life in the club, living in the compound.”
Gabriel’s shock announcement did exactly that, shocked me.
“A motorcycle club? Aren’t they into illegal things like drugs and guns?” I asked, completely surprised by this information. “And women! Prostitutes and hookers?” I whispered fiercely.
Gabriel looked like he wanted to laugh. Laugh! Oh my god was he going to wine and dine me then bury my body somewhere where no one would ever find me? My eyes flickered to the door leading to the kitchen, an escape if I needed it.
“Hey Pixie calm down. I can see you looking for the nearest exit. You going to let me explain or do you want out now before we go any further.” His voice was neutral and if it wasn’t for the way his throat bobbed up and down, I would think he was just talking about something far less serious. Maybe he was, maybe I was letting my over-active imagination take the lead and was possibly stuffing up what could be special.
Looking deeply into his beautiful grey eyes, seeing the integrity behind them, I slowly nodded my head. “ I want to hear you explain,” I answered softly, and saw relief sweep over his handsome face.
“Phew, you had me worried there for a second,” he said, blowing out a breath.
“When I say MC, yes it means motorcycle club, but not an outlaw one. The Souls was started by my dad and his army mates after they got out of the service. They had a hellish deployment where they lost comrades, some of them suffered injuries, some worse than others but all of them suffered PTSD, my dad included,” Gabriel said with a far away look, and all of a sudden I felt foolish. I went to say something but Gabriel reached over the table and took my hand in his much larger one, encasing it with warmth and instantly I was calm.
“He was the CO of his commando team, just like I am. He served his country and came home alive,” he said with a shrug.
I wasn’t sure if Gabriel realised or not that he divulged what his job was in the army. Earlier on the island he was evasive about what he was in the army. However, I bit my lip and kept that to myself, purposely not reacting. I wanted him to keep talking, sharing and most of all I wanted to hear more of his deep, smooth voice. My god the man could lull me to sleep by reading the phone book.
“And the club?” I asked, prompting him when
it looked like he wasn’t going to say any more.
“Dad, Deck, Steel, Mannix, Creed and Darth came back home and still wanted that brotherhood they had in the army together. They found an old defunct boy’s home, set it up as their home, put together businesses and made money pretty quick. And they always, always stayed on the right side of the law. No questions.” He finished vehemently, but I was stuck on something else.
“Oh my god, those names! They are so cool!” I squealed a little too loudly, catching the attention of the men at the bar.
“Yes, they are, in fact most of us kids have different kinds of names. Shiloh is Deck’s daughter and the current Pres of the club; her husband Zander is the road captain. Then there is Bastian, her brother and my best mate, and also my LT.”
“Oh wow, any other groovy names? I love Shiloh, very unique,” I gushed, eager to know more about his family, so happy he seemed to be enjoying sharing with me.
“Oh yeah,” Gabriel laughed. “Let’s see, Evie and Lacie are twins, they belong to Mannix and Rainn; Meagan, Annie and Mylee are Steel and Mia’s girls. Zander, Dane, Cole, Chase and Willow are Creed and Memphis’. And then me.”
“What about Darth, didn’t he have any kids?”
“Darth died before I was born, thirty years ago the club was harassed by a crazy man out for revenge on my dad. He targeted the women of the club and a young Shiloh. He died protecting her and Memphis. See Shiloh was raised by the men of the club and her uncle Jason, after her mum died giving birth to her. Darth was her personal bodyguard, all of the members had a hand in bringing her up until she was three and Deck met Charlotte, who Shiloh considers her mum.”
Gabriel (The Wounded Sons Book 1) Page 4