Her Relentless SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 10)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  “Hey, Mads. How’s everything going? I warned you not to take the blender, it was a piece of shit. But no backsies.”

  “That’s not why I’m calling. Trenda said you were putting all your eggs in the math and sciences basket. I was calling to remind you about the book report you helped me with.”

  “What are you talking about? What report?”

  “To Kill a Mockingbird. Don’t you remember?”

  Evie searched her memory and came up empty.

  “Nope.” Evie stopped wiping the kitchen counter, took the phone off speaker and put it up to her ear. “Seriously, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I’m not surprised you don’t remember. I was sick the week the report was due, you read the book one night, and wrote the report for me the next day. I got an ‘A’.”

  “You’re lying to me. I don’t remember that at all.”

  “Really? You read the book while you were working at the LeeHy motel. You told me that it was a distraction from making beds. Does that ring a bell?”

  Suddenly Evie remembered the paperback book that she’d read at the motel. There had been the two kids, Boo, and their dad Atticus. Everything came roaring back. How could she have ever forgotten that book? At the time it had seemed like a parallel of her life, another example of Southern injustice.

  And there it was. After she had written Maddie’s report, she had balled up those feelings from the book and pressed them deep down in her psyche so she wouldn’t have to think about them ever again. So she wouldn’t be reminded about Drake being forced to leave town, Dad almost killing Piper, and what Huey and the sheriff had done.

  “Evie, are you listening to me?”

  “Yes, I’m listening.”

  “Mr. Roark loved that report. He said I had real promise as a writer. He was really impressed with my ability to relate to the characters. Evie, you need to major in English.”

  She heard a click on the phone.

  “Hold on, I’ve got another call coming in.”

  Evie waited, thinking about what Maddie had said. She’d totally blocked that memory. Now that Maddie was telling her about it, she remembered how pleased she’d been to read the notes from Maddie’s teacher. But a year later she found herself struggling to pass the GED classes. She’d been so tired. Maybe she’d been selling herself short.

  “I’m back,” Maddie said.

  “That was fast.”

  “People must think we’re stupid. I swear, do they really think we’re going to give out a bunch of personal information over the phone? This is the fifth time in the last three weeks. This time I finally blocked him. I should have done it sooner.”

  “Good for you. I hate that shit. So what can I nag you about? Are your classes going well? Are you dating?”

  “Classes are great, and you know damn well that I’m not dating.”

  “Mads, come on, you’re going to have to eventually try again. That one guy was a bastard, but there are good guys. You have to put yourself out there to find one.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

  “Okay,” Evie sighed. “Thanks for jogging my memory about the book report.”

  “No problem.”

  “Have you talked to the others?”

  “I babysat Bella the other day while Trenda went to Knoxville to see a client. She got the contract, she’s pretty excited. It was weird seeing her in a business suit. She’s going to knock their socks off.”

  “She’s such a great graphic designer,” Evie enthused.

  “I always thought she should do web design,” Maddie said.

  “Nah, that’s too techie for Trenda. Anyway, she’d be on-call more often if she had to support the websites, and then she wouldn’t have the schedule flexibility that she has right now. Nope, this is perfect for her.”

  “Yeah, I see what you mean,” Maddie agreed. “Here’s the scoop on the twins. Chloe is focused on school, Zoe is focused on getting a part time job.”

  “Why the hell is Zoe getting a part time job? For God’s sake, she’s getting a check in a month.”

  Maddie giggled.

  “Holy Hell, it’s a guy, right?” Evie guessed.

  “Nope, it’s guys plural. The fire department is putting together a fundraiser, and they needed someone to help coordinate it. The job doesn’t pay. Zoe is competing with thirty other co-eds.”

  Evie rolled her eyes. “So Clive is off the radar.”

  “She’s on his radar, she says he doesn’t register on her radar. Personally I think she’s lying to herself.”

  “Does Trenda know about the fire department job?” Evie asked.

  “I’m sure as hell not going to tell her,” Maddie responded.

  “Zoe is going to be the death of her.”

  “She’s going to be the death of all of us,” Maddie laughed.

  ***

  Aiden had known that this would eventually happen. He drove up to the house and thought about how he was going to break the news to Evie. Of course, she’d known that his job required him to be gone at different times, it’s just that this was the first time they’d had to deal with it. He parked the SUV and went inside and was immediately assailed with the scent of salmon.

  “Hi, Handsome! You’re right on time,” Evie called from the kitchen. “Take a load off, and I’ll get the table set.”

  “Do I have time for a quick shower?”

  “Absolutely.”

  When he got to the bedroom he noted ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ on the nightstand. She’d cried last night as she’d read some of it. She’d told him what part of the book she was reading, and he remembered talking to his mom about it when he was reading it in high school.

  That was one of the best things Evie had done for him, she had brought his parents back into the light. He could now think of the happy times with them. When he was under the spray of the shower, he heard a noise. He looked up and saw Evie standing there with a beer in her hands.

  He turned off the water, and stepped out of the shower, and reached for a towel to dry off. “Whatcha doing?”

  “Bringing my man a beer.”

  “Thank you, Kitten. You didn’t have to.”

  “It had the side benefit of letting me ogle your naked body.”

  He laughed.

  “You think I’m kidding. I’m not. I really like looking at you,” she said softly.

  His face heated. She grabbed the towel out of his hands and stared at him. It should have embarrassed him, but how could it when he felt the exact same way about her?

  “Put the beer down, Eva.”

  She set the bottle down on the bathroom counter.

  “Will you strip for me?” He monitored her reaction. He didn’t want to bring up any bad memories. If her sultry smile was anything to go by, she was just fine with his suggestion.

  “The salmon’s ready,” she protested.

  “We can reheat it. Take off your clothes.” She unbuttoned her blouse slowly, looking up at him from beneath her lashes. She let the cotton fall to the floor. She was wearing a delicate peach bra with a front clasp. She took her time unfastening it, until finally the cups fell forward, and his mouth watered as her pretty pink breasts were revealed. She smiled at him knowingly.

  Evie seemed to get into the program, because she slid her right hand down the front of her stomach until it reached the button of her jeans, then she popped it open. Slowly she unzipped the denim, but she didn’t start taking off her pants, instead she pushed her hand inside the front panel of her panties.

  Game over.

  In two strides he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.

  “I wasn’t done,” she softly protested.

  “Oh, you were done all right,” he said as he followed her down onto the bed. His lips covered hers. She welcomed him, and he devoured her.

  He knelt up and pulled her jeans off.

  “Yes, now.” She rolled towards the nightstand, but he wasn’t done with her ye
t.

  He slowly shook his head and she shuddered. He parted her legs and realized that her little strip tease had left her wet and wanting. He positioned her thighs over his shoulders.

  “No Aiden, I need you inside me.”

  He chuckled, just before he speared his tongue deep. She moaned. It was so good. There wasn’t a part of her that wasn’t made for him. He took his time, driving her higher, listening to her sounds, and feeling the flutter of her delicate muscles. When she was at the precipice, he stopped and lunged for the condom.

  “God, yes,” she cried as he drove inside her. She came apart in his arms.

  ***

  The salmon ended up being beyond repair, not that either of them cared. They fixed themselves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They were eating cross-legged on the floor in the living room.

  “Kitten, I need to talk to you.”

  “You have your serious voice going on,” she said as she dunked the last bit of her sandwich in her grape juice.

  “We’re being deployed tomorrow morning. I have to leave at oh-three hundred.”

  She kept her hand steady as she finished off the last bite. She was proud of that.

  “Do I get to ask you where you’re going?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing. Not where I’m going or how long I’m going to be gone. Nothing. I might, or might not be able to phone.”

  Evie gulped down the rest of her juice. They’d talked about this, of course they had. But now that she was faced with it, it had come too soon. She wiped her mouth with the paper towel, her mind racing.

  “You need to get to bed. You need your beauty sleep. And this isn’t a good enough dinner. Do you need help packing?” She was babbling.

  “Eva, it’s going to be all right.” He picked the dishes up off the floor and put them on the coffee table.

  She nodded, letting her hair fall over her face. He was too good for that. He pushed it back so he could see her eyes.

  “I’ve been doing this for sixteen years. I’m good.”

  “You have scars.” He did. There were two bullet wounds and a knife wound.

  “That was from when I was younger. I’m older and wiser.”

  “You probably move slower now,” she mumbled.

  “The other guys on the team are younger, I’ll hide behind them,” he teased.

  “Sure, I believe in the Easter bunny, too.”

  “Kitten, this is what I do.” He cupped her face. “I’m seriously good at my job. If they didn’t think I was, they’d put me behind a desk.”

  She searched his deep blue eyes and took comfort in what she saw.

  “Okay, but you need your rest, and have something better to eat than a PB&J.”

  “Let’s go to bed, and you can make me a good breakfast.”

  “Ewww, I have to get up that early?” she complained teasingly as they got up off the floor.

  He smacked her ass. “Some girlfriend you are.”

  “Hey, you liked my strip tease.”

  “I surely did, and I want another one when I get home.”

  “Deal.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Aiden and Drake had been gone for a week and a half. She had only heard from Aiden once. Luckily time wasn’t dragging by. She had finished her applications to three different community colleges, two of them really close by. Today she was headed over to Karen and Drake’s apartment to pick up Karen’s mother. She’d invited Mrs. Eastman to stay in one of the rooms at her and Aiden’s house for the next four days while she was helping Karen plan the Christmas wedding.

  As she was grabbing the keys to the SUV off the kitchen counter, her phone rang. It was Zoe.

  She was immediately met with swearing. “Calm down. I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

  “I think my identity was hacked, or stolen, or something,” Zoe wailed.

  “What?”

  “Yeah, I went to the car dealership and they had no record of me. I thought I was going to get a car, and they didn’t have any of my information. What am I going to do?”

  “Honey, calm down. What does a car dealership have to do with anything?”

  “I tried to buy a car or course.”

  Evie felt a headache of mammoth proportions start coming on. “What does that have to do with your identity being stolen?”

  “Trenda already lectured me. Somebody tried to pull the same scam on her, but she just blocked them. But after she was done, she said I should call you. She said you have freaky computer guys who could maybe help me.”

  It was like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall, or herding cats.

  “Zoe Ann Avery. Listen to my question. Why did you go to the car dealership?”

  “Some guy called me up. This is the fourth time he called from the dealership, and this time I filled out the application over the phone because he had the car I wanted. He was really trustworthy. I swear it. He had an English accent and everything.”

  “Oh, Zoe, what were you thinking.”

  “Evie, I was cautious, honest. I only gave him my email address the second time, and he sent me pictures of cars. See, I was good.”

  She didn’t rail at her young sister like she wanted to.

  “Can you help me? Was Trenda right? Do you have some people who can help?”

  “Let me make a few calls. But, Sweetie, you know you might just have to close down all of your accounts, and put fraud alerts on your credit cards, right?”

  “Will that take care of me?”

  “I don’t know. Let me talk to Dex.”

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re the bestest sister in the whole universe!”

  Evie hung up the phone and called Karen to say she would be late picking up her mother.

  “That’s all right. We decided to order in Chinese food. We were going to call you and ask what you wanted,”

  Evie explained what was going on.

  “You know, you might want to call Lydia Hildalgo. She might appreciate something to keep her mind off Clint being out on that mission with Drake and Aiden.”

  “Do you have her number?” Evie asked.

  “Let me get it for you.”

  ***

  Evie had met Lydia once before. She and Clint had come to see her soon after she was brought home from Turkey. Drake and Aiden had explained how she, Dex and Clint had worked together to rescue her.

  This time she went over to Lydia and Clint’s townhome and she was blown away with all of the computer equipment. “No wonder Karen said you might be able to help Zoe.”

  Lydia had her sit down in front of a bank of monitors. “I can’t access items on your sister’s phone, only the phone records associated with your sister’s device. Does that make sense?”

  Evie nodded.

  “So I tracked the phone number that made the calls. There were plenty of calls, made to Zoe, but only four actual pick-ups. I then did a search on the number. It’s a disposable phone, that was just recently purchased at Wal-Mart in Tennessee. It doesn’t have a real calling plan, instead they’re using purchased minutes. But I found something interesting. They’ve made calls to only seven numbers, five of which are good, two of which are out of service.”

  “How did you do that so fast?” Evie asked.

  Lydia motioned to the computers. Evie nodded. Lydia could probably hack into the Bank of China with this set-up.

  “But hold on, this is important. The calls went to, Jim Evans, Blake Tenkins, and your five sisters.”

  “Holy Fuck!”

  “Exactly, we’ve got a problem. Can you think how they all trace back to you?”

  Evie’s brain raced. Think, Avery, think!

  She pulled her phone out of her purse and looked at it.

  “All of those numbers were in my cell phone, the one I had in Turkey.”

  “Do you know what happened to that phone?”

  Evie thought back to the room she was in when she was rescued. They’d found her fanny pack, but it’d been empty. />
  “They used my phone to make the calls to Jim, and send the videos. It was the man with the English accent who had it.” She stared at Lydia, aghast. “Zoe said that the man who took her information over the phone had an English accent.”

  “Holy Fuck,” Lydia breathed. “Call Zoe. Now!”

  Evie fumbled then dropped her phone when she went to call Zoe.

  “Dammit,” she said as she picked it up off the floor.

  “Take a breath,” Lydia advised. Evie pulled in a deep one, then hit Zoe’s number on her phone. She got voicemail. “Zoe, call me. It’s important.” She then sent her a text. Next she called Chloe. It went to voicemail. She checked her watch. It was after school for them, where were they? Hell, Zoe had called only two hours ago, how had she managed to disappear already?

  She called Trenda next.

  In the background, she could hear Lydia placing a call to Clint. She felt a lot better knowing that Clint would be talking to Aiden and Drake. That is, if they were allowed to pick up messages.

  “Hi, Baby Girl,” Trenda answered the phone.

  “Where’s Zoe?” Evie asked urgently.

  “She’s probably at her place.”

  “The man from Turkey who kidnapped me, is the man who’s been making the phone calls to all of you. He has Zoe’s address and information. She’s a target. Where is she?”

  “She could be anyplace.”

  “What about Chloe?” Evie asked.

  “She’s probably with Zoe,” Trenda answered.

  “Where’s Maddie?”

  “At home. I’ll call her.” Trenda said.

  “Trenda, you need to leave your house. He could have found out where you live. If he found Chloe and Zoe’s address, he could have found you. You need to bail now. I’ll call Maddie.”

  “Are you sure this is the same guy?” Trenda asked urgently.

  “I’m sure. Get out of the house now!”

  “What does he want?”

  “Don’t ask questions. Get. Out. Of. Your. House!” Evie hung up and called Maddie. She was barely keeping it together.

  In the background she heard Lydia’s phone ring. Please ,God , say it was Clint.

  Maddie picked up on the first ring. “Hi, Evie, I was just going to call you. Great minds. How is ‘To Kill A-”

  “Maddie, you need to leave your apartment.”