Black Dog Security- Complete 5-Part Series

by Camilla Blake

  He glanced at me, his expression saying it all. He was hurting, but he was okay. “Call the cops. The real cops.”

  Cookie stepped out of the dark and held up her phone. “Already on it.”

  “You don’t have to do this. We can put it on Hayes. Hayes was the real monster here.” Williams held his hands out in front of him, seconds from begging. “Please, just put it on him. It was all his idea.”

  Mercer aimed the gun at the judge and shook his head. “You’re going to pay for killing Jessica.”

  “I didn’t have a choice! I was married. I was going to be promoted to DA in the next year. She was going to ruin it all! She was going to take everything from me.”

  “It looks like she still is.” I moved to Mercer’s side and wrapped my arm around his waist. “You are going to rot in prison, Paul. Murder in the first degree, conspiracy to commit murder, everything else you’ve done here. Not to mention anything else you might’ve done. I have a very skilled man right now going through everything you’ve ever touched. You think he’ll come up empty-handed?”

  The man who’d been so big and tough before just crumpled before us. Sobbing into his hands, he didn’t bother begging more. He knew that it was all over. He’d made his bed, once and for all.

  Chapter 24

  Mercer

  “Macey! Come on!” Cooper shook his head as he came into the office. “There’s snow on the ground and it’s like she wants to get the flu.”

  Sonnie grinned up at him. “You sound like someone’s grandfather.”

  Macey darted into the building and slapped my hand in a high five as she ran past. I watched her go and figured she was racing to find the new puppy. Apparently, Black Dog needed a friend, according to Lauren. The new mutt was in the back somewhere, doing God only knew what.

  “We brought cake.” Sonnie pushed a carrier into my hands and patted me on the shoulder as she moved past. “I need to see this puppy.”

  I frowned at Cooper. “Everyone else is already back there, ruining that dog. Even Black Dog has been staying inside to be closer to it.”

  “Who knows? Maybe he fell in love too? Seems like everyone else did.” He groaned. “Gross.”

  I led the way back to find everyone else and nodded. “He’s too old for the new puppy.”

  “There’s less of an age gap there than there is with you and Lauren.”

  “I’ll punch you in the face.” I put the cake down on the table with the rest of the food and glanced over at Lauren. She had the puppy in her arms, rocking it back and forth.

  “Yeah—right. You’ve gone soft. You barely even yell at people anymore.” He elbowed me. “I’m happy for you, man.”

  I shook him off and moved towards Lauren. “Just stop talking.”

  She looked up at me and grinned. She was glowing. It was crazy how much happier she seemed these days. Everything about her radiated it. I couldn’t help but feel guilty for being the reason she’d been anything but overjoyed during the last few years.

  “Stop looking at me like that.” She handed the puppy off to Macey and took my hand. “Come here. I want to talk to you.”

  I let her pull me away from everyone and took her into my arms once we stopped. “What is it?”

  “I just wanted you alone for a second.” She kissed my chin and sighed. “I’m glad we’re doing this today. Everyone deserves a break and it’s been forever since we’ve all had a cookout here.”

  “What else is on your mind?” I could tell there was something else she wanted to talk to me about and the fact that she wasn’t bringing it up made me nervous. Since everything had come out with Hayes and Williams, we’d been inseparable. She clung to me in her sleep and I watched her like a hawk during the day. We hadn’t really talked about anything, though. I was just assuming that we were together and that was that.

  “Come and get your food!” Vince yelled over all the commotion. “I’m not cooking it and serving it!”

  Lauren grinned. “I’ll tell you later. Come on.”

  I let her pull me over to the food and watched as she did what she always did. She grabbed two plates and started piling food on both. “Lauren, I can make my own.”

  She gave me a hard look. “I like doing this.”

  “Lauren.”

  “Mercer.”

  I laughed. “Fine. Do it. I could do it myself, though.”

  “Yeah, and there will be plenty of times that you do. Right now, though, I’m doing it for you. Now, go get our drinks and sit down.”

  I slapped her on the ass and did as she said. When she sat down next to me at the table, she sat close and put her hand on my thigh. I looked down at her and gave her a questioning look.

  “I’m just happy.”

  I wanted to talk to her more, but everyone settled into their meals and talked loudly at each other from across the table. I watched and listened as Vince and Tucker argued about something. Cookie and Lauren whispered together, while Branson swooned over his very pregnant Elizabeth, who was happily showing Charlie their latest ultrasound. Even Cooper was getting in on the arguing while Sonnie chatted away with Macey about the puppy they were sneaking food to under the table. Everyone was happy. Things had come together.

  With Williams and Hayes going to jail for a very long time and my name cleared, business was just doing better and better. We’d interviewed several men we knew from different SEAL teams and were working on hiring on more people so we didn’t work ourselves to death.

  Lauren leaned into me and pressed a kiss to my arm. “I like doing this with you by my side.”

  “Yeah?”

  She nodded. “It’s kind of perfect.”

  I wanted to pick her up and run off with her. I couldn’t get enough. Luke couldn’t have found flaw with me being with his little sister when she seemed so happy with me. Why she was so happy with me, I didn’t really understand. She was so much better than me. I was going to do everything I could to make her stay happy, though, if she’d let me.

  I was starting out by taking her on a vacation. A real vacation. The cabin was being remodeled and we were going to redo our time there, the right way. I was going to make it up to her for how I’d been so cruel.

  She leaned into me again and smiled even bigger. “I know about the cabin.”

  “What?”

  She laughed and flicked my nose. “I know everything, Merce. You’ll learn that eventually. I love the plans you sent over to the contractor, but I’d change the bathroom to the south corner.”

  I sat back. “What the hell.”

  “Brother, you should’ve known you couldn’t keep a secret from her. She literally knows everything.” Vince shook his head. “Because she’s nosy as hell.”

  Cookie smacked him. “She knows everything because she has to. You fools are a wreck waiting to happen. Just last week you tried to guard someone who wasn’t our client. You made someone think you were going to kidnap them. Lauren saved your asses.”

  “Because I knew that you hadn’t listened to me in the meeting and you were definitely going to the wrong place,” Lauren added.

  “And then there was how she solved a decade-old mystery and made everything right in the world.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Lauren is pretty much the reason this place exists.”

  Tucker scoffed. “Hey! We’re the muscle.”

  “And she’s the brain.” Charlie laughed and high-fived Elizabeth.

  I watched with a knowing grin on my face. She didn’t know everything.

  “What are you smiling about?” Cooper questioned. “I’m still not used to it, by the way.”

  “Yeah, help us out here. Tell us how Lauren had your help solving the case and we’re just as useful as she is.” Tucker motioned for me to go on.

  “No—she did that all by herself.”

  “With the help of these amazing women,” Lauren added.

  “But I’m smiling because there are things Lauren doesn’t know.” I stroked her cheek and shrugged. “At least a
few of them.”

  “Like what? I knew about the cabin. I know about the vacation, too.” Looking proud of herself, she bit her lip. “Henry told me.”

  “That old coot. He likes you so much more than me.”

  Branson snorted. “Well. We don’t even have a chance, man. Look at us and then look at our women.”

  Cookie shook her head. “Don’t start with that our women shit.”

  “You are my woman.”

  She smacked Vince. “I am my own woman, and on days that I feel like it, I let you sit next to me. Okay?”

  Lauren hushed them. “What don’t I know, Mercer?”

  “What don’t I know?” I kissed her gently and lowered my voice. “What are you wanting to tell me, Lauren?”

  She blushed, making the table erupt. “You tell me yours first.”

  I scooted my chair away from the table and faced her. “You sure?”

  “Unless it’s bad. Then, never tell me.”

  “It’s not bad.”

  “Is it another puppy?”

  “No, woman.”

  “Then what is it?”

  I dropped to my good knee in front of her and pulled the ring box out of my pocket that I’d been holding on to for the past two weeks. Crazy as it was, once I’d had her, I knew it was forever. There was no going back. The only worry was whether or not she wanted me.

  Lauren’s eyes went wide and she screamed. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m trying to propose, if that’s okay.”

  “Oh, my God. Now we’re all going to have to…” Vince grumbled.

  “Feel free to choke on your proposal with that attitude,” Cookie retorted with an eye roll.

  I cleared my throat. “Jesus. I should’ve waited until we were at the cabin. These idiots are ruining it.”

  “No, they’re not. Do it.” Lauren grabbed my face and nodded eagerly. “Do it.”

  “I want you. Not just now. Not just for another couple of months. I want you for forever. I’ve known that I felt this way since one of the first days you came to me after everything happened… I didn’t want to live. I thought I’d lost everything. You told me that I had you and what kind of idiot would I be to miss a chance like that?”

  Lauren went to her knees in front of me, tears streaming down her face. “You’ve been such an idiot for so long.”

  “You saved me. I didn’t show you, but when you turned away, I couldn’t help but smile. I could see you struggling, too, but you fought for me. Just like these last few months. You saved me again. You never stopped fighting.” I opened the box. “Marry me. Spend the rest of your life with me and make me the happiest man, Lauren. I know I’m not perfect and it’s not perfect, but this is right. I want to be with you for the rest of my life and then some.”

  She launched herself into me and I tumbled into Tucker’s chair behind me. He caught me and helped me right up, laughing the whole time with suspicious moisture in his eyes.

  “Yes! Oh, my God, yes!” She kissed me hard, open and hot, uncaring that all of our friends were watching.

  “Put the ring on! We want to see it!” Charlie clapped her hands together, excitement radiating off of her.

  Lauren stopped me when I tried to put it on her. “I have to tell you my thing first… You have to be okay with it before you commit to me. It’s big.”

  My stomach clenched and I took a deep breath. “Tell me.”

  Lauren opened her mouth, but was cut off by the doorbell. She laughed it off and shrugged. “Maybe I’m not supposed to tell you.”

  I pulled her tight against me. “Tell me. Fuck the door.”

  “You’re going to have to start watching your language.”

  I made a face. “What?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s what you wanted to tell me?”

  Cookie gasped. “Oh, my God!”

  “What?” I looked around and found all of their faces matching Cookie’s excitement. “What?”

  Lauren leaned in and pressed her lips against my ear. “I’m pregnant.”

  “What?” Without even realizing it, I was on my feet and spinning Lauren around. “What?”

  “Somebody fix Mercer. He broke.”

  “I’m pregnant. We’re going to have a baby!” Lauren cried, tears streaking her face.

  Everything was right. I pushed the ring onto her finger and spun her around again. “We’re going to have a baby!”

  “He’s definitely broken.”

  I laughed. If I was broken, I never wanted to be fixed. We were having a baby. I was going to be a father. Lauren was going to be a mom. My stomach tightened even further. “No more cases for you. You have to stay in the office.”

  “Mercer.”

  “Lauren.”

  She rolled her eyes. “This ring isn’t going to make me fight with you any less if you’re still being an asshole.”

  I kissed her, hard. She could fight with me all she wanted, as long as she stayed by my side. “I love you.”

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