It isn’t something that I dwell on, I’ve seen too many men think about it too much and all it did was send them into a tailspin. Sometimes I wonder whether it’s a good or bad thing that I can separate it so easily.
Does it make me cold? Or will it catch up to me at some point?
“Okay.” She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip and I nearly groan out loud. The worst thing is, she’s not even aware that she’s doing it. “If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?”
I scan her whole face as she watches me with those blue eyes, wondering why she’s asking such a random question but having no doubt in my answer. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here.”
“Me too,” she whispers, looking back out at the water.
I have a feeling that we both mean it for different reasons though.
“What’s it like having three big brothers?” I chuckle, trying to get my mind off her lips.
“Ugh, it can be a nightmare at times.” She turns to face me. “But I love how they’re always there for me, no matter what, and now that I’ve met Jackson,” she sighs. “I feel more at home at college now.”
I don’t want to think too much into the sigh that she just did. Either way, it’s none of my business so I ignore it.
She shuffles closer to me as the sun starts to set and leans her head on my shoulder.
“I really did miss you,” she says on a yawn.
“Yeah, birdie, so did I.”
Saying bye to everyone is so much harder this time around. This place really is home and last time when I left to go to college, I didn’t realize how much it meant to me but this time around I do.
I almost don’t want to go back but I have classes to attend and a job to work so I hug Elena and Trevor goodbye and try to hold back the tears that are trying to surface.
“You need to come home more often,” Elena says, wiping a tear off her own cheek.
“I will,” I promise.
I step into Ty’s arms next and close my eyes. “Gonna come down and see you real soon.” He grunts as I pull away. “Gotta make sure people know who they’re dealing with, right?”
I chuckle, knowing that he will most probably make some big entrance. I’ll have to talk to Kay about that, she’s the only one who can change Ty’s mind; there’s no point in me even trying.
“I’ll call you on Saturday,” Charlie tells me as he wraps his arms around me.
Nodding my head against his chest, I pull away and walk over to Jackson who’s waiting by the open passenger door.
“I’ll look after her,” he announces, puffing his chest out.
I turn back to them all and roll my eyes at his dramatics. I have no doubt that Jackson can take care of himself, I’ve seen him do it after all, but it’s the way he stands there puffing his chest out as far as he can, it’s just too comical.
“Yeah, alright, lil’ bro.” Ty snorts.
I smirk as I get into the truck and watch them all disappear slowly in the rear-view mirror.
There’s only one thing that nags at me as we drive out of town; why Corey hadn’t come to say goodbye?
We had an amazing day together yesterday and I woke up nestled in his arms early this morning with my head on his chest. For a second, I thought about waking up every morning like that but I swatted that thought away as soon as it came.
When he cracked his eyes open and said good morning, butterflies took flight in my stomach. His voice was deep and gravely all the time but when he’d just woke up, it was even gruffer.
We both watched the sunrise together before he took me back home and in that moment, I couldn’t imagine anything that could have been more perfect than that.
So, why hasn’t he come to say goodbye?
I don’t say much on the drive back to college and when Jackson drops me off at the apartment, insisting that he walks me up, I huff and let him follow me.
“I’ll text you tomorrow, okay?” he says, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and pulling me in for a hug. I wrap my arms around him and close my eyes as he plants a kiss on my head.
Once he’s gone, I go straight to my bed, not bothering to get undressed, and wrap myself up in the blanket, remembering the lake.
Pulling my car into the parking lot, I push out of it and slide my sunglasses down onto the bridge of my nose. Looking around, I spot him straight away; sat out front of the Italian coffee shop.
Blowing out a breath, I walk towards him as I scan the area. He always has people with him and I want to know exactly where they are, I know they won’t hurt me but I still need to be on alert.
I clench my hands into fists as his cocky smile turns my way. I hate how over confident he is but he had a right to be, he’s one of the mostly highly trained men and from what I’ve heard, he’s tried to be recruited nearly as many times as he’s tried to be killed.
“Anderson.” He tilts his head at me in greeting. For a second I’m shocked. The last time I saw him he had bright blond hair and his face was clean shaven, now though, his hair is dark brown and he has the start of a beard. I’m about to ask him what’s with the change, when I realize that the last time I saw him he was undercover, so he had to look different.
I nod back, knowing better than to call him any one name in particular. Kay and the guys know him as Daley but that isn’t his real name. They’d stumbled upon a case he’d been working on under a fake identity and thought he had something to do with it all. They’d investigated him not knowing who he really was, until I forced him to come out of hiding to help Kay when she was taken by her ex.
And now, I’m at his beck and call because of that.
“Have a seat.” He waves his arm at the chair opposite and I sit, not drawing any unnecessary attention to us. We’re meant to be incognito after all. “Enjoying your break?”
“Yeah,” I say and turn to the waitress, asking for a black coffee.
“Seeing the family?” I grit my teeth to stop myself from saying anything that I’ll regret.
They’d be the first ones that any enemies would target to try and get to me. For years I managed to keep them a secret, until Kay was taken and I had no choice but to ask for Daley’s help.
Now I wasn’t sure who knew about them, the only thing that kept me at ease was the fact that they live on an enclosed compound, with top security and a whole team at her back.
Being back there now though, it doesn’t feel like home. I move around so much that planting roots in one area is hard, I tried to do it before I started working for Daley, and I intend to make those roots more secure with my time off, although I have no idea how long that’s going to be.
“Yeah,” I finally answer and smile at the waitress as she places my coffee on the table. “Let’s cut to the chase. Why am I here?” I grit out once she’s out of sight.
I’m meant to have three weeks leave before I can potentially be called back in but I know how it works. I rarely manage to have all of my leave, I’m almost always called back to clean up someone else’s mess.
See, that’s the problem when you’re one of the best; you’re relied upon. People don’t know how to survive without you. That’s not me blowing smoke up my own ass, I’ve been told the same thing countless times.
Sometimes I wished I wasn’t as good as people think but then that thought drowns me in guilt and I push myself to be better, thus, making me even more indispensable.
“Just thought we should catch up.” He shrugs and pushes an envelope towards me. Frowning down at it, I lift the seal and pull out the photo that’s inside it.
“Who’s this?” I squint at the poor quality picture, not being able to make a lot out but still being able to build a profile in my head.
“Your next target.” He leans back in his seat and pulls his sunglasses off the top of his head and down over his eyes that are also a different color now too. I swear if I was to have seen him on the street a week ago there would have been no way that I would have recognized him. “We need h
im brought in, discreetly.”
I open my mouth to tell him that I’m on leave and then think better of it.
However much I hate spending time away from my family, I can’t deny the thrill that the job gives me and the obligation that I feel to keep people safe.
“When?” I ask instead.
“Your team will be ready at nineteen hundred hours.” I look down at my watch.
That gives me seven hours.
“Then what?”
“Then,” he says, pushing up out of his seat. “You go and visit your girl.” He winks.
“Wait.” I stand, not taking a step closer, knowing how that will look to his guards. I’ve already spotted three of them but I know they come in even numbers so there has to be at least one more out here somewhere. “I don’t... how did you-”
“I know everything, Anderson,” he says with a flick of his wrist and walks away.
I sit back down and watch him drive away, his men following at staggered intervals behind him.
Fuck! I don’t like that Ava is out there without any real protection. Now that I know that he’s aware of her and thinks that she’s my girl, means that he thinks he has something over me.
I don’t think he’d hurt her, he isn’t that type of guy, but he will use her against me to get what he wants and dammit, I’ll do anything to keep her safe.
“You’ve been called back already?” Kay frowns.
I’d come straight back to the compound after leaving the coffee shop, needing to tell Kay first that I’m leaving, again.
Looking down at my watch, I will the time to go slower but faster, all at once.
“Yeah, but not how you think.”
“I don’t understand.” She shakes her head, looking up at Ty who’s stood next to her.
“I’ve gotta do a job and then I’m going on vacation.”
I smile at that, I want to go away, somewhere sunny. Somewhere I can relax without gunfire surrounding me but as soon as I picture lying on a sun lounger, Ava’s face pops into my mind.
Dammit.
“Vacation?” she gasps, standing up. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”
I smirk at her smart assery. “Yeah, yeah.”
Standing up, I meet her in the middle of the office and engulf her in my arms. I love spending time with her, Ty and Eli but if I’m honest, there’s only so much I can take being around the two lovebirds.
Just thinking about birds makes me think of Ava again.
Fuck me, I just can’t get her off my goddamn mind.
Shaking her from my head, I step towards Ty and lock hands with him in a half hug then pat him on the back.
Just as I’m about to pull away, he yanks me closer and says, “You going to see her?”
I pull back slightly and look him in dead the eyes, the warning loud and clear. One which I find really fuckin’ irritating.
“See who?”
“Ava,” he grits out through clenched teeth. “She ain’t for you, bro.”
“Yeah?” I chuckle, letting go of his death grip on my hand. “Real fuckin’ rich coming from you, Mackenzie.”
“The fuck?” He steps forward, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.
“One... you’re with my little sister so you ain’t got a leg to stand on.” I pick up my duffel and sling it over my shoulder. “Two, you may treat her like a little sister but she ain’t.” I grab my weapons bag and hold it at my side. “And three, even if I was, it would have jack fuckin’ shit to do with you.” With that, I wink at them and saunter out of his office with a ‘see ya later’ thrown over my shoulder.
I hadn’t planned on going to see Ava but maybe it isn’t such a bad idea after all.
She gives me peace and calm like no one else ever could. I just need to find out where the fuck she lives.
I’ll do this mission, check in with J and the bar, and then I’ll find her.
Shaking my head, I put my bags on the passenger seat of my car and speed out of there. I don’t have time to think about it right now. I have a target to apprehend.
For days I’ve gone back and forth on whether to go and visit Ava or not. I don’t like the fact that Daley knows that I’ll be going to see her but he’s the one that put the idea into my head in the first place.
Was he up to something? Was there a reason he wanted me to go and see her?
Nobody knew how Daley worked but there was always a reason behind his every move.
The job went off without any hitches and I was out of there six hours later. That’s how I liked to work; get in and get out as fast as I could.
Now it’s time to check on my other business venture. A couple of years ago, I bought an abandoned warehouse and had it turned into a bar. Having it renovated while I was out of the country wasn’t easy but having a manager who understood that I’d be away a lot, and could make those decisions for me, was something I needed.
That’s how I found Jamie.
Her husband was one of the men on my squad in the forces and he’d made me promise to look after her if anything ever happened to him. After he died, I knew I had to keep my promise and she was the first person who I thought of when I bought the place.
I didn’t know whether she would relocate or not, but she practically deafened me with her answering squeal when I had asked her and she was packed and moved across the country within days. She’d been a Godsend and had kept me as informed as possible which to be honest, wasn’t much with the way the mission had worked out.
I’d only seen pictures of the place so I couldn’t wait to see it properly.
Since the moment I saw the building, I imagined what it would look like and I was hoping that I had explained my vision well enough to Jamie for her to do it justice.
Being in close distance of two colleges meant that I would always have business and from what Jamie had told me, we were doing really well and the books reflected that. I was looking forward to seeing how the bar ran on a normal night.
Parking outside the bar, I push the door to my car open and smile, spotting Jamie stood outside the club, her auburn hair cut into one of those messy bobs and her sunglasses covering her eyes.
“Corey!” she shouts and runs up to me. I wrap my arms around her and lift her feet off the floor.
We’ve become close since she took on the bar, not in a romantic way but I think she’s probably the closest thing I have to a best friend. She understands the life and she knows her stuff, even though she’s only in her early twenties.
“Hey, J.” I grin and place her feet back down on the floor.
“I can’t wait for you to see this,” she squeals. Shaking my head, I chuckle at her as she bounces over to the door and pulls it open waving me inside.
When I walk in, I stop at the entrance, taking it all in.
It’s just how I imagined it, there’s a shiny black bar that runs in an L shape with hundreds of spirits stocked behind it and beer on tap, something that I insisted on. When I first envisioned the place, I was going for a fusion kind of style, something that would work well during the day as well as at night.
I run my hand across one of the leather booths and spin around in a circle.
This is way better than I had imagined it.
“Well?” Jamie asks, hands on her hips. “What do you think?”
“Hmm, think I need to try the drinks first.” I smirk, walking towards the bar.
She rolls her eyes but I can see the grin on her face as she walks behind it, pulling a glass out and pouring me some IPA. “So...” she says, handing it over to me. “What’s the plan? You gonna let the staff know that you’re the boss?”
“I dunno.” I shrug, taking a sip and closing my eyes as it hits my tongue. Damn that is good. “I think I wanna see how it runs first, watch from a distance.”
“Yeah.” She agrees. “I thought you might.”
Leaning my arms on the bar, I squint at her. “How you doin’, darlin’?”
“Me?�
� she asks, leaning back and folding her arms across her chest. I can already see her closing off from me, J is all good when it’s about anything but her, but ask her about herself and she clams up like nobody’s business. “I’m good.”
“Yeah? And Billy?”
“He’s good.” She says, not giving much away.
I hate the thought of her being out here on her own and not having any family around. But when I first offered her the job, she’d said that she needed a fresh start. Somewhere she hadn’t ever been with Billy Senior.
When she found out she was pregnant he’d been over the moon but he’d been killed before he even got to meet his son and now I know that I have to step up and be there for the kid as well as J.
I shake my head, trying not to go to that place. So much shit happened over there that I’ll drive myself insane just thinking about it.
“Right.” I clap my hands together and step back. “Show me the books.”
I see the relief on her face as I step back off the stool, and I follow her as she leads the way to the office.
She sits in the chair and I perch on the edge of the desk as she shows me everything; the daily ins and outs, profits, orders, that sort of thing. She then starts to tell me about some ideas she’s had. Themed nights, live bands, the list goes on.
She’s in her element and I love seeing her like this. After looking through a load of paperwork and essentially frying my brain, I sit down in the chair opposite her and lean back, resting my hands on the back of my head.
“I think we should start doing days too,” I tell her.
“Yeah.” She replies, shuffling some papers around. “There’s more to it than just opening the doors though, Corey.”
I nod my head in agreement and when I open my mouth to say something else, she interrupts me. “Staff will be coming in an hour,” she tells me looking down at her watch.
“Okay,” I respond and lift up off the chair. “I’ll be back tonight for a good look on how it all works.” I walk back through the bar and kiss J on the cheek before I leave then pull my sunglasses back over my eyes and get into my car.
Flying Free Page 9