by Cat Johnson
One glance at the multiple notifications on the readout had her heart pounding. Scrolling down she saw a missed call, a text and a voicemail, all from her neighbor.
It could be nothing. Maybe Hannah was just wondering if Isabel needed a babysitter this week.
Or it could be something—like Tito snooping around the apartment again.
The only way to find out would be to call—and that scared the hell out of her because in some misguided effort at self-preservation not knowing felt safer than knowing.
She was wrong of course, but she hadn’t been right a whole lot lately so . . .
Meanwhile, her battery icon was showing in the red. She could only hope her battery lasted long enough so she could listen to and deal with whatever the message from her neighbor was.
She needed to plug in her phone. To do that she had to find where she’d put her charger yesterday during the great exodus from the apartment. It had to be with her stuff stashed at Rick and Darci’s house. Either in her suitcase in Darci’s bedroom or in the garage in one of the many bags of stuff.
She let out a long shaky breath.
“Everything okay?”
Isabel spun away from her locker to see Jasmine had come into the dressing room. “Yeah. Fine. I just missed a call and my battery’s dead so I can’t get the voicemail.”
“You worried that call is about the ex?” Leaning in to check her makeup, Jasmine met Isabel’s gaze in the reflection of the mirror as she asked the question.
The other dancers were all aware she had a baby and that the situation with her ex was bad, which is why she’d left Miami. When she’d arrived today she’d revealed the latest to Jasmine.
She’d realized early on that she needed to tell them about the situation. The girls could be in danger because of her. Tito had never cared much about collateral damage.
“I’m a little worried that call from my neighbor might be to tell me he was back snooping around my apartment. Not that there’s anything there for him to find anymore since I moved out.”
There wasn’t much that survived Rocky and Jon’s sweep. Some food in the cabinets and fridge was allowed to stay but only if it didn’t hint at Lola’s existence. Everything else went.
Jasmine turned to face her. “Anything you need, you know you’ve got it. Money. A sofa to crash on.”
The generous offer from her coworker, on top of the stress that already had worn her down, had Isabel tearing up. She drew in a breath to settle herself. “So far I’ve got it covered. But thank you.”
“Where are you staying? A hotel?”
“Actually, this is going to sound strange, but you know Rocky? The Navy guy who’s here sometimes. The one with the beard.”
Jasmine’s eyes widened. “If you mean the one who was here for your entire shift today, then yeah, I know him.”
“I stayed with him at his friends’ house last night.” Isabel decided she’d better expand her explanation as Jasmine looked as if she was making assumptions. Untrue assumptions. “His friend’s sister stayed at her boyfriend’s place and let me and Lola sleep in her room and Rocky slept on the sofa in the living room. Though actually I’m not sure he slept at all. I think he stayed up all night keeping watch for Tito.”
All her babbling did was reinforce the shock visible on Jasmine’s face.
“I didn’t know you knew him. I’ve never seen you even talk to him.” Jasmine folded her arms and waited.
“I didn’t.” She sighed. “It’s a long story. I’m sorry. He’s still yours when he’s here. You know, for any lap dances or . . . whatever. I wouldn’t steal your customer.”
Isabel swallowed hard as it hit her. Her knight in shining armor might have saved her, but he also knew Jasmine, possibly intimately.
She liked Rocky. A lot. Liked him as much as she hated the image of him being with Jasmine and probably the other girls too.
Various scenarios involving Rocky and her fellow dancers ran in her head. It was enough to have her stomach churning.
Jasmine snorted out a laugh. “It’s okay. He’s not mine. I don’t know what you did, but he’s clearly yours now. It’s pretty obvious he’s only got eyes for you.”
Isabel shook her head. “I didn’t do—”
Jasmine held up one hand and interrupted Isabel’s defense of herself. “This happens all the time. I can dance a hundred times for a guy in the back room, but inevitably he’ll meet a girl who he’s interested in for more than just dances.”
“He’s just helping me because of Tito.”
It wasn’t because he only had eyes for her, as Jasmine had said. That was crazy. Ridiculous.
Even with as nice as the idea would be that a man like Rocky would be interested in her in spite of the mess she’d made of her life, it would never happen.
“Sweetie, I know men. It’s more than just helping you he’s after.”
Again, Isabel shook her head. “I don’t think so.” Her friend Jasmine said she knew men, but she was wrong about Rocky, even if she did know him well. Isabel swallowed the bitter taste in her throat at that thought. “Jas. Did you and Rocky . . . Um, have you and he—”
“Have I done the deed with your man? No, sweetie. Never.”
The question that had been poking at her had come out before Isabel could stop it, but now that she had asked it, she wasn’t sure she believed the answer.
“But you know he has a tattoo . . . down there.”
Jasmine smiled. “One of the girls who used to work here part time also worked at the tattoo studio. She did his tattoo.”
“Oh.” The relief flooded her.
“Now that that’s settled, you might want to get moving. Your man is waiting outside for you to finish up in here. I saw him hanging around eyeballing the hallway when I came back.”
“He’s not my man.” Isabel rolled her eyes, but still couldn’t squelch how giddy hearing Rocky called that made her. She pulled her bag out and slammed the locker door. “But I guess I should go.”
“Dressed like that?”
She was almost to the door when Jasmine’s comment stopped her. She turned in time to see Jasmine’s gaze drop down her body as she smirked.
Isabel smothered a curse that would have gotten her a hundred Hail Marys from her grandmother as punishment back when she was younger in Cuba.
She glanced down at her costume, or what remained of it after her dance. “I have to change.”
Jasmine lifted a brow. “You sure? I think your new beau might enjoy that outfit.”
Screwing up her mouth, Isabel shot her so-called friend a glare and opened her bag. She pulled out yoga pants, a T-shirt and ballet flats. She’d throw on her clothes and then she’d find Rocky and they could both go to Rick and Darci’s so she could safely collect Lola. Because that was what this was all about. Keeping Lola safe. Nothing more.
But it would sure be nice if it were.
CHAPTER 12
Rocky had taken to pacing by the time he glanced up and finally saw Isabel emerge from the dancers’ hallway. He’d been about two minutes from heading back there and looking for her.
It had been a stupid move on his part to not have checked out the back himself the moment they’d arrived. Made sure Tito couldn’t get in through some back door to grab her.
If he’d been so lax on a mission, it could easily cost lives. They might not be in a warzone or some hostile region, but Tito was no less of a threat when it came to Isabel’s safety.
Next time he’d be more careful . . . if there was a next time. As it was, it was looking less and less likely that he’d be able to sit watch during another one of her shifts.
He pocketed that thought and forced a smile as Isabel neared. “Hey. You ready to go?”
“Yes. Sorry I took so long. I had to change my clothes. We can go.”
“Not a problem. Um, so—” He didn’t get the rest of the words he needed to out as she interrupted him.
“When we get to the house I really need to find my c
ell charger.” Not realizing he had something to say, she continued talking as they pushed through the exit and into the waning light of early evening. “My phone just powered off because the battery is dead but before it did I saw there was a message from my neighbor.”
That information gave him pause as he opened the passenger door of his truck. “The same neighbor who told you that Tito had been looking for you at your apartment?”
“Yes.”
Before she climbed into the cab of his pickup he could see the worry beneath the glitter still dusting her face. Funny how the presence of the glitter he usually despised didn’t bother him on her.
He shoved that notion aside and considered the unheard voicemail from her neighbor. He understood her concern completely. He’d like to know what that message said himself. The sooner the better.
Forewarned was forearmed.
He walked around and climbed into the driver’s seat. “What kind of phone do you have?”
She held up her cell. He saw that his charger wouldn’t work on her phone.
One more piece of bad luck added on to the shit pile of his day.
“Okay. We’ll find your charger when we get to Rick’s.”
That put an end to Rocky’s plans to tell her his bad news, at least until they found out what the message from her neighbor was about. Rocky’s worse fear had come true. Command hadn’t confirmed it yet but all the signs were there—he was about to be called in.
The text had arrived about an hour ago. He had to be at the base at the crack of dawn.
He’d stepped outside of the club and taken his eyes off Isabel only long enough to call his commander, Grant Milton.
Rocky had asked about the possibility of putting in a request for time off. After Grant had asked if it was a matter of life or death, and Rocky had to tell the truth and say no, the request was swiftly squashed.
If he had to wager a guess, he’d say there was a good chance they’d be shipping right out after the meeting tomorrow.
He should have realized this was coming. There was always shit happening around the globe, but incidents had increased lately, becoming closer together, more deadly.
With the recent ramped up Coalition offense against ISIS the retaliations had been coming steadily. Bombs in a café in Turkey and a park in Pakistan. The deadly attacks on the US firebase in northern Iraq. The Brussels airport and metro bombings.
It was only a matter of time before command would call his team in. This meeting and Grant’s rejection of his request was a sign that time had come.
The only question left was where they’d be sent and for how long.
He couldn’t get the time off he needed to deal with the Tito situation. He likely wouldn’t even be in the country. So what was he supposed to do to protect her?
She was safe while she was physically on the base, but how long would they let her stay in the room he’d booked without him being there? He didn’t want her at a hotel out in town. Hell, he didn’t even want her going to work but he knew she wouldn’t give that up and accept a loan easily. She was too proud.
The more he thought about it the more he was certain, he couldn’t leave Isabel on her own, unprotected. But neither could he dump the responsibility on Jon or the guys from GAPS. The GAPS team had assignments of their own that took them far and wide on a moment’s notice too.
By the time Rocky had pulled the truck into Rick’s neighborhood, he was ill about the whole thing.
He’d take on any mission anywhere fearlessly but this situation—having his hands tied and being unable to help Isabel when she needed it—knocked the wind right out of him and had him feeling completely helpless.
At the sight of the house, Rick’s words from the day before flew into Rocky’s brain.
Marry her.
It was a crazy idea . . . and the more he thought about it, the better he liked it.
Rick might have been joking at the time, but what he suggested was actually a damn good plan. Possibly the only plan at the moment.
Heart beating faster as the idea flew through his mind Rocky parked and cut the engine. Shaking, he got out and ran around the truck to open Isabel’s door.
Independent woman that she was, she already had the door open. He waited for her to step down and slammed the door behind her.
At the front door of the house, Thom answered their knock. “Hey, come on in. Boy, are we happy to see you.”
Uh, oh.
“Why?” Rocky asked.
“Nothing bad, but I think Lola’s about to start teething. She’s, uh, cranky.”
Isabel was in the house and heading toward the sound of Lola’s wails before Rocky made it through the front door.
“Everything else okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. No sign of anyone. I’ve done a few sweeps of the neighborhood. Jon got back about half an hour ago so he’s been keeping an eye out too.”
Rocky glanced around the house. “Where’s Rick?”
“He conveniently had some official event with Sierra tonight so he abandoned us about an hour ago.”
Rocky glanced into the kitchen to see Chris, Darci, Ali and Jon all huddled around the high chair where an unhappy Lola was being lifted by Isabel.
He laughed. “Dude, you still had five adults to take care of one baby. Rick didn’t exactly abandon you.”
“You listen to that crying for a few hours and get back to me.” Thom glanced at the kitchen and leaned in. “Don’t tell your girl but we even resorted to rubbing scotch on Lola’s gums.”
“Jesus. You can go to jail for doing shit like that.”
Thom scowled. “It was a few drops on my finger. That’s all. We didn’t give her a bottle full to drink. And my mother did the same to me when I was teething. Yours probably did too, so get off your high horse and babysit yourself next time.”
“The next time might not be for a while. You got the text about the meeting, right?”
“Yeah. You thinking we’re getting sent out?” Thom asked, voice still low.
They were the only two in the house still on active duty.
Chris and Jon might be former SEALs but officially they were civilians now, as were the three women. There was a good chance they’d guess, but they couldn’t be privy to the details of the team’s movements or missions.
“I’m almost positive. I called Grant and asked about the chances of getting some time off to deal with this shit and the answer was a firm no.”
“I think Brody agrees with you. He texted me saying he couldn’t come over because he wanted to get on Skype with his girl in Alabama in case we end up leaving tomorrow.” Thom sighed. “Shit. There goes my plan to drive home next weekend.”
As much as it sucked that Thom couldn’t go home to Massachusetts or Connecticut or wherever to visit his parents and his girlfriend for the weekend, Rocky had more pressing issues.
He decided to get Thom’s take on the situation since he was the only one there who’d ever been married or had kids.
While everyone else was occupied in the kitchen, Rocky tipped his head toward the back door. “Come outside with me for a second.”
Thom didn’t question the request. He just nodded and said, “Okay.”
After they’d walked across the room and out the sliding door to the deck, Rocky glanced sideways at Thom. “Rick said something yesterday.”
Thom let out a laugh. “Rick usually has a lot to say about a whole lotta of things.”
“Yeah, but this was particularly interesting.”
“That’s new. You going to share this mysterious wisdom from Rick or keep it to yourself?” Looking like a smartass with one brow cocked high, Thom leaned back against the railing, arms folded.
Rocky raised his eyes to meet Thom’s gaze head-on. “He said I should marry Isabel.”
Thom lifted his brows higher. “It was my understanding that baby in there isn’t yours. Was I wrong?”
“No. She’s not mine.”
Frown firmly in place
, Thom continued, “And I thought you barely knew Isabel.”
“Correct. We met a couple of nights ago at the club.” They may have only just met, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know her. He felt like they’d been through a lot together in a very short time. “But what if I did marry her?”
Thom’s eyes widened. “Why? Rick was obviously joking when he suggested that. You can’t take what he said seriously.”
“I know he was, but if I did marry her then she couldn’t get deported, and she and Lola could stay on base in family housing even while I’m deployed.”
“But marriage is a legally binding contract.” Thom’s eyes couldn’t have gotten any wider. “Believe me. I know from personal experience.”
“I know it sounds crazy.” Rocky held Thom’s gaze. “But what do you think?”
“I completely agree with you. It’s crazy.” Thom drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “But if you’re seriously considering this, I can’t tell you what to do. It’s your decision to make. It’s your life.”
That wasn’t exactly an opinion Thom had rendered but Rocky supposed it didn’t matter all that much what his friend and teammate thought about the idea. Thom was right. It was Rocky’s life and his decision to make.
Well, his and Isabel’s, which left one big question—what would she think about his proposal?
Proposal. Rocky swallowed away the dryness. It wasn’t exactly how or why he’d ever imagined he’d propose or get married but hell, life was unpredictable.
Unlike Thom, Rocky might be lacking in marital expertise but when it came to knowing that life could and would throw you a curveball when you least expected it—that he knew well from personal experience.
Rocky let out a breath. “Okay. Moving on . . . we gotta find her cell charger or at least have her call her neighbor from another phone. There was a message she couldn’t retrieve and I’m worried it’s news about her dick ex.”
“Damn. Okay. Let’s go figure this shit out.” Thom pushed off the railing and headed for the door to the house. As he reached for the handle he glanced over his shoulder at Rocky. “Wouldn’t be so bad being married to her, I suppose. She could dance for you at home.”