The Hot Sergeant (Second Chance Military Romance) (Hargrave Brothers - Book #2)

by Alexa Davis

  I jumped up and half-ran, half limped to the bedroom closet, where I’d stowed away boxes I either didn’t have time to unpack, or didn’t have the energy. The small, light-blue box in the Tiffany & Co suede bag was somewhere in the mess I’d left. It fell under the second storage heading. I knew I should get rid of it, but I’d never been able to let go of that last piece of the idea I’d once had of Callie and me.

  Xavi whimpered as I buried myself up to my ass in the closet. I pulled myself free of the mess I’d made with my prize in hand. I pocketed it and took Xavi out for his nightly tour of the neighborhood so he could piss on everything he’d pissed on three other times that day, my fingers clutching the box in my pocket the entire time. As soon as he had jumped up on the bed and flopped down on his side to sleep, I turned out an overhead light and took the ring out of its box.

  It was an antique design, with a vine motif that wrapped around the band. The largest diamond was 1.5 carats and nearly perfect. It was small by Hargrave standards, bought for the unassuming, modest woman who would wear it, rather than for the busybodies who would gossip about it. The two diamonds that flanked it were under a carat each. The designer who had created it had said it represented the three phases of our relationship, past, present, and future, with the emphasis on the present.

  I stared for a long time at the ring, without moving. I wanted to see it on her finger so badly, but I was afraid it was tainted by our past and would spoil the future if she knew how long I’d held onto it. I kept scrolling through websites and comparing the ring I’d chosen to those I found. It seemed that since I’d bought the ring, colored diamonds had gone from being the shitty, cheap rocks to being in high demand. It gave me an idea, and I put away the ring in my sock drawer until I had time to make the changes I wanted.

  In time, I would be in a position to ask again. The time we had spent together tonight had proven that to me more than any hot sex ever would that we were good together. I finally had a chance to be her hero. I had failed so many times in the past that the screwed-up part of my brain dragged me back down to where all I wanted was a beer and solitary confinement.

  “Well, that’s bullshit,” I told myself. My voice was louder than I expected in the midnight silence of the apartment. “There’s no such thing as a lone wolf, asshole. You need people, and fucked up as it seems, people need you.”

  I stumbled into the shoebox kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge. I popped the cap and downed it like water, pouring it down my throat without actively swallowing, then I reached for another, and then a third.

  Mid-reach for that last beer, I felt a cold nose on my leg. Xavi was staring up at me with his big cow-eyes. Tears stung my eyelids and I slammed the fridge door shut, collapsing in a heap in front of it. He leaned up against me, a solid weight that anchored me. I couldn’t afford to get stupid or pass out in my own piss or vomit. He was looking out for me, and I owed him the same.

  A few sloppy tears snuck past my eyelids and ran down my cheeks, but I let them fall. Here in the dark, there was no one to judge me. No one to try to make me happy or make my unhappiness their problem. This was why I’d left Callie in the first place. Before she saw me turn into a raging alcoholic, we ended up screaming at each other, or she left me for a man who she could count on not to cry.

  I was from a family of original Marlboro men. Hargraves didn’t cry. God, they didn’t admit to feeling anything but “pride in the land.” I’d never been quite like my brothers. Too quick to anger, to laugh…I was too much like my mother, which would have been fine if I’d been a daughter.

  I didn’t know how long I sat with my back against the white, base-model fridge, but I must have dozed off because the vibration of my phone in my pocket made me jump.

  I pulled it out to look at the time as much as see who was calling. It was two in the morning, and Callie was trying to reach me. I cursed to myself. How long ago had I been drinking, and could I drive, just in case she needed me? I tapped the phone to pick up the call, just in case.

  “Hey there, pretty lady. What could I possibly do for you at this time of night?” She sighed on the other end, so deeply I would’ve sworn my cell vibrated in my hand from the force of it.

  “I woke up from a bad dream and couldn’t shake the feeling. I just had to know you were okay.”

  “Sweetie, I am fine. But, I shouldn’t be sleeping sitting here, so I appreciate your wake-up call, so I can go to bed.”

  “Damnit. I knew I shouldn’t call, but I was so worried about you. I dreamed that you got attacked because you found out who was stealing materials and siphoning money. Please, just be careful when you start your detective work, so that you don’t get hurt, okay?” It was my turn to sigh. But I agreed to be careful.

  “I don’t think the mob is in on this, Callie. Just some dumb guy or two who thought no one would notice and nothing bad would happen.”

  “My sane, waking mind is aware of that. My unconscious, fretting, woman brain is freaking out.” Her voice was muffled, and she sniffled.

  “Please, tell me this didn’t upset you enough to make you cry, love.”

  “I called you at two in the morning, and I’m not asking for sex.”

  “Fair enough. But, hey, I wasn’t planning on doing this alone. Are you worried about Nell or yourself?”

  “We’re not Hargrave men. We don’t push against bullies and worldly evil until it punches us in the face.”

  “Baby, I don’t know if you’ve ever described anything as succinctly. Point taken. I’ll be really careful and won’t try any crazy antics.”

  “That’s all I ask. Let me know if there’s anything I need to look at. The legislation I helped write is out of my hands now, and frankly, I could use the distraction from watching my red state throw it out because they don’t want to spend money on dogs that could be spent on guns.”

  “How about we just plan on you coming by in the morning then. Goodnight, you liberal.”

  “Sound good. Night, G-man.”

  She ended the call, and I stared at the phone for a minute or two while I finished rubbing the feeling back into my legs so I could stand. Xavi thumped his tail against the cupboard as he hovered under my hand, ready to help catch me if I fell. I thanked him for his hard work with a piece of dog jerky, and he devoured it before following me to bed.

  Thankfully, I fell asleep almost immediately, my last thoughts filled with the sound of Callie’s voice, as she told me without saying the words that she still loved me.

  12. Callie

  My dad was my first call of the morning. He and Mom were sitting around the breakfast table, he explained, and wanted to let me give my thoughts to a conversation he’d had with George recently. I told him not to worry about it. George had only told him out of respect what had gone on between us in case Dad didn’t want to hire him knowing.

  “What about you? Are you okay with him being around after hurting you and sending you away like that?” Mom pitched in over the speakerphone.

  “Mom, he has PTSD. It’s not like he slept with other women then told me to just ‘get over it.’” The silence on the other end of the line had mass. It was thick and heavy and wound itself around us like tar.

  That was our dysfunction. All it took was a little time with the outspoken and deeply honorable Hargrave brother, and I was ready to spar with anyone who crossed me. “Did y’all hang up?” I finally asked, even though I could hear angry muttering, too quiet to make out the words.

  “Callie, you need to stop bringing up things that don’t concern you.” My mother had on her disappointed voice. I pretended to gag myself with the spoon I’d been using to stir my coffee.

  “Ditto, Mom. Though, I’m not sure how you could think that your dysfunctional marriage wouldn’t be your only child’s concern. Y’all might want to rethink that, ‘cause you sure as shit messed me up with it.”

  “Callie! Do not speak to your mother in that tone.” My father’s voice was tired. I instantly felt bad for pi
cking a fight.

  “You guys called me. I gave you an answer. We’re okay, and we’ll figure it out. No matter what George’s choices, you can be sure that they were made honorably. Let the rest go. I did.”

  “I’m going to visit the job site today. I’d like you to come by.”

  “I’m on my way there as soon as I get my shoes on, actually. George noticed some irregularities and wanted me to double check them before he bugged you with it.”

  “All right, Bug, I’ll see you soon.” He used his pet name for me, so I was forgiven, at least by him.

  My mother had never forgiven me for catching him and bringing his infidelity to light in the first place. I’d never forgiven her for her initial reaction. I thought it was weird that I’d forgiven him, but not her, until I figured out that if she’d forgiven him, what other choice did I have? What was between me and her, however, she still owed me an apology for.

  I poured too much thick, real cream into my coffee and added a truckload of sugar on top of that. My travel mug smelled of coffee but looked like there wasn’t any actual coffee in the rich concoction. It was my favorite way to skip breakfast, to add so many calories to the coffee that it was breakfast.

  Slinky and I braved the rush hour traffic to the condominium site. The steel frame was completely in place, and there was a working elevator. The elevator car slowly creaked and jerked down the lines from about the fifth floor, halfway up the building. As it came closer to ground level, I saw the familiar shape of my father’s shoulders, next to the silhouette of a man on a cane. George.

  The sight of him standing, just standing, with only a cane to help support him, made my chest tight. His hair was still too long, and his face was rough and ruddy from so much time in the sun, but he was the most handsome man within view and easily the strongest, despite his injuries and desk job. He turned as though he felt me watching him and looked at me through the metal mesh of the elevator door. He lifted his hand in reply to my wave.

  The foreman and some supervisor I had seen around, but hadn’t met, nodded at whatever George was saying and strode off toward the large machinery without looking back. George and my father advanced, laughing and talking like old drinking buddies. It was good to see George so in command. My mind flashed back to the dreams that had kept me dripping sweat and panicking until I called and woke him in the middle of the night.

  In my sleep, he’d been in a bloody pile, crumpled in the corner, and the shadows had chuckled menacingly and moved toward him as though they were alive. Now, he and my father were plotting something together. They laughed as my dad slung his arm across George’s shoulder like he had after a score of football games. The conversation died just out of hearing range, and by the time they reached me, they were all business again.

  “Hey, guys, what’s up?” My dad reached out and drew me into a bear hug.

  “You need to talk to your mom when you can, okay?” he whispered in my ear. I nodded when he released me, and he winked and stepped back. George looked at me like I was something to eat, and he was a starving man.

  “You look amazing, as usual,” he greeted me. I swished my short skirt and curtsied.

  “Thanks. I dressed to work in the office instead of the kennel. It feels good.” I grabbed the coffee and muffins I’d picked up off the hood of the car. “So, George, have you talked to Dad about the stuff we’ve found, yet?”

  “Yeah, we were waiting for you to start checking out the paperwork. After all, I fully admit I don’t know my ass from a hole in the ground here. It’s hard to go off about it when you aren’t sure if there’s even an issue.”

  George led the way into the office, where Nell was piling files on his desk as Xavi followed her around, a huge grin on his face.

  “Here’s the last of the paperwork you need to go over. Good luck, cowboy.” George gaped like a fish at the mountain of paperwork on his desk. Dad laughed and slapped him on the back.

  “How about this. Whatever money you find in there, I’ll give you a finder’s fee of twenty percent as a bonus.” Dad shook George’s hand and walked out, chuckling to himself.

  “Is it even worth it?” George asked me once we were alone. I nodded my head.

  “Dad needs someone to take over the business for him. It’s one of the things he promised Mom when she told him she’d stay with him, that he’d work less and work more on their marriage. I started the pet store and turned him down, and Nell is going to retire in the next couple of years, and like she said, she just does book. She wouldn’t know how to handle the day to day running of the business.”

  “Okay, then why me?”

  “Because you’re a Hargrave, which means everything you touch will turn to gold. Maybe he thought we still had a chance. Everyone seems to think we should be together.”

  “Everyone but us.”

  “Everyone but you, George. You were the only one who walked away.” I held up my hands in surrender. “Not here to rehash this. I am here to help. Looking at this work, you are definitely on the hook for lunch…and probably dinner.”

  I slid behind the desk and sat while he brought me files and started asking questions. It was best for us both if we stuck to business. Never mind the fact that he smelled so good I wanted to lick his neck every time he leaned into me, or the electricity that shot me through every time he brushed against me in the tight space between the desk and the back wall of the trailer. No, it was time to be all about business, and as he pulled the pieces together for me, I was amazed at how accurate he’d been for someone who had no idea what they were doing.

  We broke for lunch having barely made a dent in the files, but even as far back as George had gone, the gap between what the number should have been and what they were was slowly increasing. We loaded our pups into the truck and headed into town. One the way, I called my father. We filled him in over speaker phone, and as I expected, he gave us his blessing to keep going.

  Lunch was over too soon, and we slogged through the work until the sun was setting. Nell had gone home, but came back with pizza and beer to help us out. We gladly accepted her offer to take the dogs for a walk around the job site to stretch their legs. The light in the trailer flickered and buzzed, throwing menacing shadows on the walls around us.

  I shivered despite the warm summer night. The list of possible suspects was still too long for my comfort. Several assistant foremen, five head foremen, and five architects all had the ability and the access to change paperwork.

  On top of the changed inventory, I was impressed by the sheer audacity of the theft, if that was what it ended up being. It was thousands, but almost undetectable, the theft of not ten thousand dollars all at once, but one dollar ten thousand times. Because who other than an overachieving, super-soldier, war-hero would think to look that hard at the inventories?

  Nell had been gone for almost twenty minutes when I looked at my watch. I went to the door and looked around outside, but she and the dogs were nowhere to be found. I glanced back at George with a tight ball of fear pulsing in the pit of my stomach.

  “What’s wrong, Cal?” George walked out with me and rubbed my arms. “You have goosebumps. You know, it’s like, seventy-five degrees out here, right?”

  “Nell’s been gone a long time. I just don’t like them being out in the dark on the site. The lighting out there isn’t exactly great.”

  We agreed to go find them, and I ducked back into the trailer to grab my phone. George was just locking the office door when we heard a short scream, followed by Xavi’s deep bark. He didn’t let up, and George grabbed his crutches. We were at a jog, me in heels, George using his crutches, following that sound into the shadows of the steel skeleton.

  We found Nell huddled by the shutdown elevator with the Slinky. Xavi pulled at the leash, straining to chase whatever had frightened our grandmotherly bookkeeper. The pitch of his bark changed as soon as he recognized George, who limped over at an impressive clip for a man with one good leg. He gathered Xavi up and let me past
to see to Nell.

  “Are you hurt?” I began sliding my hands down her arms and touched her ankles, looking for point tenderness that might indicate a break. Slinky was obviously fine, bouncing around me like we were at the park, instead of performing triage in the dark by an elevator with no power.

  “I’m fine, just scared. I startled someone who was where they shouldn’t have been.”

  “Were you hiding here all this time?” George began to walk a perimeter around our immediate area with Xavier, while I talked to Nell and got her on her feet.

  “No, I heard something as we wandered back. There was a bang, like something getting dropped. I thought I’d just scare them off, what with Xavi barking to scare the dead.”

  “His bark is pretty terrifying if it’s coming out of the dark at you,” I agreed, chuckling.

  “Well, I guess we were closer to them than I thought. A big man came around the corner and slammed into me, then took off running as Xavi tried to get away from me. The only place I’m hurt is my wrist, where the leash got caught up.”

  We walked back toward the office, where the outside lights were closer together and provided better light. There was a blossoming of color where the leash had yanked tight against the skin.

  Nell rubbed her aching wrist and sat on the steps next to me, and we waited for George. When he returned, his face was grim, but he was unharmed.

  “There’s no doubt someone was back there. The only thing I can see is missing at first glance is the night guard. But, we’ll look again in the daylight.”

  He made the call to Dad, and we followed Nell home, for my peace of mind more than anything else. George dropped me off without asking to come in, promising to pick me up bright and early the next morning, and I kissed him goodnight, on the cheek.

  George had stumbled on internal theft, and now we’d caught someone trying to physically steal our building materials. If he had any doubt to his worth before now, I hoped he recognized the greater cost of not having him around.