Badass - The Complete Series: A Billionaire Military Romance

by Leslie Johnson

  “Please, ma’am, let’s get back to the, uh, building,” the soldier-looking guy says. “All of you, please come with me.”

  “I want to know what’s going on down here,” Papaw says, lifting a finger in the younger man’s face, then tossing Rob in his direction. Rob falls to his knees and the soldier-guy yanks him up. “This is my property and I have a right to know.”

  “Yes, sir,” the man says, holding tight to Rob’s arm. “You’ll be briefed shortly.” His eyes look behind us, scanning the woods. “To the building, please.”

  Taking Papaw’s arm, I lead him back to the fishing shack’s front porch. “Why are you here?” I ask them both and papaw answers.

  “Stocking up the supplies in case you came here.”

  Dad gives me a squeeze. “We had faith that you would, you know.”

  Papaw picks the story back up. “Heard the awful racket and thought we better check it out. Grabbed the guns. Found that thing…” he nods at Rob “…skulking around in the woods, hightailing it out of here. Then these kindly gentlemen…” he scowls at the man holding both shotguns “…introduced themselves.”

  I shiver, wondering what would have happened if it had been the other men who had ‘introduced’ themselves to my father and grandfather first.

  Before I allow myself to think too much about that, I hear the front door of the shack slam and turn to find Link limping through the door, leading Fate on her leash. I jump the stairs and run to him, urging him to lean on me.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m fine. Battery’s dead on the leg. Not used to it not doing its thing.”

  Link’s friend comes out after him and nods to me again before sticking out his hand. “Tate Rodgers, ma’am. Good to see you’re safe.” He looks at my shoulder. “Were you hit?”

  I look down and see blood seeping through my shirt. Link pushes my shirt aside and frowns. “Busted open the wound.” He turns me around and looks at the back. “Just the front.” Until that moment, I’d forgotten how much it hurt. As I pay attention to it, it begins to throb.

  “What wound?” my dad says, coming up behind me and inspecting it for himself.

  Link sticks out a hand and my dad takes it. “Link Duffy, sir. I’m afraid I’ve put your daughter in terrible danger over the past few days. She took a bullet for me. We’ll need to get her patched back up.”

  Papaw looks through the window of the shack. “Looks like I’ll have to patch this old place back up too. What the hell happened down here?”

  Link offers a hand to Papaw and it’s grudgingly shaken by my silver haired grandfather. “I’ll pay for everything, sir. We’d hoped this place wouldn’t be found, that Grace would be safe here. Still don’t know how it was discovered.”

  Tate steps forward and takes Rob by the arm. “I can solve that mystery. Pretty boy here sold the information to the rival team for ten thousand dollars.”

  My jaw drops open, then I feel the heat of anger boiling its way through my system. Rob drops his head, then brings it back up. “Then I helped him find you,” Rob says quickly, pointing at Tate. “Jumped in that chopper and showed ‘em the way as soon as I realized I’d put you in danger.”

  Link grabs Rob and shoves him against the shack’s wall. “Is that how things went down? I bet you were handing out that information like candy.” Link pulls a knife from his pocket, clicks a button and a wicked looking blade pops out. He holds it to Rob’s throat then looks at me. “Want him to have an accident?”

  My papaw laughs and slaps my dad on the back. “I like this guy,” he says as I consider the question. God help me, I really consider it.

  I look at the man I used to love. The man I should hate, and feel nothing but revulsion and pity for him now. This pathetic man is now looking at me with a cold, desperate fear and I have a jolt of momentary giddiness with the power I wield over him.

  That’s what stops me. I won’t let him change me. I won’t let him make me someone I’m not. But … maybe I can have a little fun.

  Placing a hand on Link’s arm, I silently urge him to pull the knife away and I take it from him. “You told me you would hold him down while I cut off his balls. Does that offer still stand?”

  Link grins down at me. “Sure does. Waterboard before or after?”

  I pretend to consider it. “Both.”

  Rob begins to cry. “Don’t. I’m sorry, Grace, sweetheart—”

  Link punches him and Rob falls straight down to the porch floor. “Don’t call her sweetheart,” Link says through gritted teeth.

  Rob holds his hand to his busted lip and bleeding nose. “Sorry. I’m sorry. Sorry for everything. I—”

  His words cut off as I crouch down in front of him. “You’re right. You are sorry. You are a sorry excuse for a human, but I won’t take your life or your balls. In fact, I don’t want anything from you. Ever.”

  I stand up and Link pulls me to him, kissing my hair and Tate moves closer to us both, ‘accidently’ stepping on Rob’s fingers. “We need to go. Rival team appears to be waiting for something. Unless you want to discover what they’re waiting for, I suggest we leave and find the bastards holding this bond over your head.”

  Link nods. “I need everything salvageable from the truck. Grace, get what you need from the shack.”

  Tate turns and gives one of his men an order to empty the truck and the man rushes off to do as he’s asked. He turns to my dad and papaw. “Sirs, it would be best if you come with us. We can make sure you get your vehicle later, after we know this area is cleared and safe.”

  Papaw looks ready to object, but I put a hand on his arm. “Please. I’ve had enough to worry about this past week. Come help me gather my stuff and let’s go.”

  He still looks ready to argue, but then nods and follows me into the shack, kicking Rob in the thigh as he steps over him. He curses as he sees the dead bodies inside. Curses at the bullet holes and the mess. “You’ve got some explainin’ to do, young man,” he says to Link, who followed us in.

  “Yes, sir. I wish I had all the answers.”

  My dad asks, “What’re the questions?”

  Link gives them a quick explanation of all that has happened so far, beginning with the failed raid in Syria and ending with us coming here. “I still don’t know who is behind all this, who is holding the bond.” He nods toward the other room. “That guy was Russian though, and one of my leading theories is that someone in Washington with a high level of clearance tipped off the Russians to ensure our Syria mission failed. Now, they’re covering their asses by eliminating the survivors.”

  “Think it’s the Secretary of Hate?” Papaw asks and Link laughs at his play on words.

  “Could be. Or the Joint Chief of Staff. The President. VP. Anyone with enough clearance to know about the Syrian raid and who has their hands on a list of survivors.”

  “What about the CIA?” my dad asks. “Heard there is a lot of muck in those waters.”

  “That’s also possible, Mr. Johnson. They were the ones with intel on the hostages and ISIS leaders being there in the first place.” He shakes his head. “That’s the frustrating part. It could be any of them or none of them. Could be Chinese or Russian hackers who got their hands on the information and sold it. You would not believe what these hackers are able to get access to. Information security is a war in itself.”

  My papaw grumbles, “Told your nana that the internet would destroy the world, but no … she still wants to post her damn flowers on that damn pinning place.”

  I grin at him, then the smile dissolves as I watch Link pick up the notebook from the corner of the room. “Link, no!” But it’s too late. He’s reading it now.

  I blow out a breath as he turns to me, his face a mask of devastation. “You were saying goodbye.” The words are so soft, so ragged. They seem to have been dragged from the very edge of his soul.

  No need to lie. No need to layer it with ribbon and a pretty bow. “Yes. I’m turning into a ‘just in case’ kind of gi
rl.”

  Then I go to him, giving him something living to hold onto as I watch the souls of all the dead haunt him again.

  Chapter 9 – Duffy

  She thought she was going to die and the last thing she did was write a note … to me. The asshole who left her here.

  The words are scrawled, rushed, not the pretty, flowing handwriting she usually has. A testimony as to how terrified she had been. How alone she had felt. How utterly helpless she had found herself.

  “I’m so sorry,” I say as she walks toward me and takes the notepad from my hand. “I left you here…”

  “For what you felt were the right reasons. You thought you were protecting me.”

  I push her hair back from her face. “I was cruel.”

  She turns her cheek into my palm. “Yes. But I shot you, so can we call it even?”

  Adorable.

  And brave and strong.

  She’s the real badass of this group.

  “You’re not going to make me grovel?” I ask her, holding her head against my chest. I watch her father and grandfather watching the two of us hold each other so intimately and swallow. Grace won’t be the only one I’ll have to grovel to. I wonder if a state-of-the-art hidey hole will be enough to rid her papaw of the scowl that’s riding his face.

  I feel her smile. “Oh yes, I’ll expect full scale groveling from you, Mr. Duffy.”

  I lower my head and whisper directly in her ear, breathing in the scent of her hair. “I’ll grovel forever if necessary. Because that’s what I want. Forever.”

  Lifting her head, she looks at me, those beautiful hazel eyes shining with tears. “Will I ever be able to stay mad at you for anything?”

  I grin down at her, flirting with her, making sure my dimple shows. “I hope not. Because I’m sure I’ll make mistakes and do stupid shit and …” I’m silenced by her fingers on my lips.

  “True. You are a man, after all. Stupid shit kind of comes with the package.”

  In front of her father and grandfather, I kiss her. My fingers sliding into her hair, tangling in the curls, pulling just enough to make her open her mouth. She’s wet and warm, open and inviting. She’s—

  “Holy fuck, Duff.” Tate’s gruff voice causes her to jump and bounce back a step. “This isn’t Gone with the Wind. We need to go.”

  Grinning bigger, I grab her hand, the notepad as well as a couple of bags and pull her out of the little cave. Past her dad who looks worried and her papaw who’s scowl has morphed into an evil eye.

  As I pass Tate, he dramatically rolls his eyes. I pull her out onto the porch and stop only long enough to grab the little dog who looks absolutely thrilled to see us.

  One of the armed escorts pick up the bags I recognize from my truck and I wait for Tate and the other men to come out. I glare at Rob. “What’s the plan for him?”

  Tate’s eyes narrow. “Guess we could drop him off at his place, seeing as he’s, unfortunately, going to continue to take up needed oxygen. I have enough room in my helo for all six of us. My team will take Bird Two, rendezvous with us once we know our next directive.”

  I look at my old friend. In all the rush of him showing up, sliding down that rope and covering my ass, I haven’t said the thing that most needs to be said. “Thank you, T-rod. I don’t know how you got here or where you came from, but thank you, man. You saved my ass.”

  He claps me on the shoulder. “I just need to save your ass a couple more times and we’ll be even. You saved mine often enough.”

  As we turn toward the chopper, I ask him, “How did you find me?”

  He laughs. “That, my friend, is a very long story.”

  Less than fifteen minutes later, we literally kick Rob out of the chopper. And by literally, I mean that Tate pushes out a rope and forces him down the damn thing.

  The wind from the chopper stirs up all the clothes tossed out on the lawn. It’s also stirring up the little robe the blonde chick I remember as Chastity or Charity or some shit like that is wearing.

  Grace growls beside me as the woman tries to keep her robe together, but flashes us all in the process. She growls again when the blonde waves and blows a kiss at the chopper. I’m pretty sure she’s thinking about kicking Tate when he blows the mostly naked woman a kiss right back.

  Then Grace laughs and I join her when the woman strikes Rob with a fishing pole, hitting him on the head. Then she tosses out another armful of clothes. The last I can see is Rob banging on the rusty trailer door.

  Increasing altitude, the pilot asks for instructions and Grace’s dad begins the process of directing him to her parent’s house. With Grace and Fate tucked beside me, I take the time to stare out the window at the beautiful countryside below us. The layers of mountains, newly minted with green spring leaves. Flowers blooming in brilliant patches of red and yellow.

  Shortly, we touch down in a pasture near Grace’s childhood home and I remember the white house and surrounding orchard from the vigil. Black and white cows dot the land, large bales of hay sit beside a barn. Ducks float on the still water of a pond. Peaceful. Beautiful. And I remember the stories Grace told me while I was rehabbing of growing up on this land.

  Grace stares out the window at it all as if it’s providing the very air she needs to breathe. She points out some new calves, the little things staying close to their mothers as they all run from the foreign looking vehicle hovering over their heads.

  “Is this all yours?” I ask her father when the engines cut and the rotors slow above us.

  He smiles at me. “Home sweet home.”

  I smile back. “Very sweet indeed.”

  As we all step from the chopper, a brunette woman comes running out onto a back porch. Even from a distance, I know it’s Grace’s mother and I let go of her hand so she can run to her, the dog on her heels.

  “Well, Mr. Duffy,” her papaw says, turning to me. “Now that you’ve just about gotten my granddaughter killed, what are your future intentions?”

  I look at Grace’s dad and he simply gives me a ‘you’re on your own’ lift of his shoulder and seems to be enjoying my discomfort. “Well, sir, I’m in love with your granddaughter and—”

  “How do you know it’s love?” he asks, interrupting me. “You two haven’t known each other that long and from what I’m startin’ to understand, what you think you feel for her might all be from some sort of adrenaline rush.”

  “Well—”

  He cuts me off. “Also heard you got your leg lopped off. Could be you see her as an angel of mercy for helpin’ you get back on your feet.”

  Tate coughs into his hand beside me.

  My tongue feels thick. “Uh—”

  He hooks his thumbs in the top of his overalls and verbally runs right over me. “Mightn’t it be that she got your willy stirring again after the trauma. I got shot in the leg back in my time, nearly lost my wiener in the process. First girl that got it saluting again, I damn near married her.

  Tate walks away, shoulders shaking. Grace’s father groans and walks away too. I can only stare at the old man. Everything above my shoulders has gone numb.

  “Well, say something, boy. I asked your intentions of our Grace. If you’re just wanting her for sex, then you might oughta get back on that suped up helicopter and git back to that fancy mansion of yours.”

  The silence between us stretches as the question hangs in the air. A cow moos somewhere in the distance.

  “Well, sir, It’s not just about attraction or adrenaline or—”

  “How do you know?”

  “I just know,” I snap and immediately regret it as his eyes narrow considerably. I take in a deep breath. “I knew from the first moment we met that she was special. Sweet. Kind. Brave. Funny.” Damn, I feel my nose begin to burn with emotion. “She made me laugh when I had nothing to laugh about. She soothed me when I was filled with despair and so much anger I didn’t know what to do with it.” I wipe the back of my hand under my nose. “I’ve given her a hundred reasons to hat
e me and she doesn’t. She loves me. She understands me. She … she knows me. I don’t know how she knows me, but she does.”

  He waits, staring at me as if he’s waiting for me to say something else, but I keep my mouth closed, afraid I’ll start crying like her pussy ex-husband if I say anything more.

  Then he nods, takes a step toward me and slaps his hand on my back. “Let’s get you cleaned up so we can all have some breakfast. They have gravy and biscuits out there in Hollywood?”

  I smile at him. “No, sir. But I’ve heard rumors about them.”

  He picks up one of the bags at my feet and hefts it over his shoulder. “Let’s go see if those rumors are true. After you get cleaned up. You look like the south side of hell.”

  Chapter 10 – Grace

  I find myself holding my breath as I watch papaw and Link still talking by the helicopter. First, Tate walks away, his hand over his mouth. Then, Dad walks away, his hand over his eyes. Link just looks slightly ill.

  Finally, Papaw slaps him on the back and they head in our direction. As they get closer, Link gives me an ‘I can’t believe I just survived that’ look. I think he would have rather taken another bullet.

  “He’s so handsome,” Mom says to me as they get closer, her arm still around my waist, still holding me tight to her side. She’s tall too, although a couple inches shorter than me. Same curly brownish, reddish, blondish hair. Same hazel eyes. It’s interesting, and comforting, to know what I’ll look like in twenty years. At least I hope I age as well as she has.

  I’d given mom a super quick version of the story while we waited, but I’m not sure how much she heard, she was crying too hard. Holding me tight and telling me over and over how much she loves me and how she never, not for a moment, thought I was gone.

  “Oh my goodness,” she whispers as he gets closer. “I think he might have a thing for you, Grace.” Her fingers dig into my side, like she’s unsure if the advancing predator is friend or foe.