He set me down on the mattress, and I cuddled against his chest when he dropped down next to me. “You don’t see me complaining, do you?”
“Unless complaining includes you begging me for more, no,” he chuckled.
“Yeah, yeah. One of these days, you’ll be the one begging.” I swatted at his chest.
“Oh, really?” He waggled his eyebrows and smirked at me. “How’re you planning to accomplish that?”
“I’m not sure,” I sighed. “But it might involve me borrowing your handcuffs, a blindfold, and some chocolate sauce.”
“As long as I get a turn at some point, you’ve got a deal,” he laughed. “But I think I’ll go with whipped cream instead of chocolate sauce.”
“Hmmm, I’m not sure about that since it wouldn’t involve chocolate.” I pretended to consider it for a moment. “But as long as you promise not to get any whipped cream on my new watch, you’ve got a deal.”
His green eyes lost a little of their sparkle. “Trust me; I’m not going to do anything that’ll damage that watch.”
I hated seeing how worried he was. “And I’ll do whatever you need me to do to keep me safe,” I promised, sealing it with a quick kiss.
“Because you love me,” he whispered against my lips.
“Yes,” I agreed. “But also, because you love me and I never want to do anything that’s going to cause you pain.”
“That’s why I know that everything’s going to turn out okay, Charlotte. Because neither of us will accept any other outcome.”
“Team Tomlinson, all the way,” I added, wondering if it was too late to get us a pair of custom T-shirts for Christmas.
10
Chad
Tex called to give me an update barely three days after I reached out to him. “Found your guy,” he drawled.
I ducked into the locker room for some privacy. “You found him? Already?” I asked quietly, pacing down the row of lockers to check under the bathroom stalls and make sure I had the place to myself.
“Sure did. He put some effort into trying to cover his tracks, but not enough that I wasn’t able to uncover him with a little digging. I started out with the username you gave me and managed to backtrack to his IP. I got his name and home address from there.”
I dropped down on the bench in front of my locker. “Who is he?”
“Stanley G Parrish. Twenty-four. Lives in Inwood with his parents. Works at some bar on Dyckman Street as a bartender. He doesn’t have a criminal record. No girlfriend, either.”
The name didn’t ring any bells for me. “How’d Charlotte end up on his radar? Is he a hard-core gamer or something?”
“You could call him that since he’s a graduate of the same game design program at NYU as your girl.”
“But he’s working at a bar?”
My phone vibrated with a notification. I glanced down and saw it was an email from Tex. I opened while listening to his answer.
“Yeah, from what I could find so far, he’s done a whole lot of nothing with his degree besides come up with ideas for games that nobody wants to buy.”
I thought about the contracts Charlotte received yesterday. “Meanwhile, some girl he went to school with has a top ten selling app in the iTunes store and a six-figure offer to license the rights to her game.”
Tex whistled in response.
“So what you’re telling me is that the guy who’s been sending her threatening messages is some dumb schmuck who’s jealous because his stupid ass hasn’t made any money?”
“That’s my read on the situation, yeah,” Tex agreed.
“Dammit!” I punched my locker. “What if he’s not happy with being a jackass via messages and decides to ball up and do something about his frustrations? What if he decides to physically go after Charlotte?”
“Trust me; I understand the concern. My wife was stalked by someone she knew, and it turned violent. Some bitch from high school who was holding a grudge that Mel had no idea about. I’m damn lucky that we both made it out of that mess alive.” He paused for a moment, and his voice was husky when he continued. “Nothing in Stanley’s life makes me think he’s going to turn psycho and go after Charlotte with a gun, but I’m going to keep an eye on him anyway.”
“That’s not good enough for me.”
“I thought you might say that,” he sighed. “In that case, you’ll want to know that he’s home right now and plans to stay there for the rest of the evening. He’s not expected at work. No plans with friends. Nobody to miss him if he doesn’t turn up until his shift at the bar tomorrow at four o’clock in the afternoon. I can wipe the street cams for a one-mile radius surrounding his home. Make sure to power your cell phone all the way down, so it doesn’t ping any of the towers near his place. And if you have someone there you can trust to go with you; I’d recommend taking him with you so you have backup who can be your alibi later in case you need it.”
Holy shit, it sounded like Tex had put a lot of thought into this. “I’m not gonna kill the guy.”
“Never said you were, but sometimes shit happens and it’s best to be prepared when it does.”
“Hooah!”
“Hooyah!” Tex echoed, and the slight difference in how he pronounced it since he was a Navy guy made me chuckle a little. “If you can laugh, then maybe you won’t need to dig a hole for Stanley today after all.”
“I’m not going to kill anyone today.”
“Mm-hmm,” he answered non-committedly. “Either way, I wanted to let you know that I’m going to keep Charlotte on radar. The gaming industry is hardcore, especially when it comes to the successful women in it. So I set up some alerts in case there are any red flags in the future.”
I was humbled by the offer. “I don’t know what to say except for thank you. I’m not going to say no, but it’s more than generous since you barely even know me.”
“I know enough,” he disagreed. “You served your country for six years. Now you serve your city as a cop. You found the girl next door from when you were a kid and made her your woman. No way in fuck am I going to let you lose that when it’s as simple as me adding another red dot to a map that I’m already watching.”
“If you and your wife are ever in New York, I’m treating you to the best damn steak dinner you’ve ever had in your life.”
“Deal.”
I wasn’t sure how he’d learned that much about my relationship with Charlotte or exactly what he meant about the map, but in the end it didn’t really matter. Knowing he had her back virtually while I had it physically was more than enough for me.
“Dude, you’re being all mysterious and shit. Where the hell are we going?” Luke asked.
I’d gone looking for him after I got off the phone with Tex, and we were only a few minutes from the address he’d given me for Parrish. “Charlotte’s been getting some threatening messages from an old classmate who’s jealous of her success with Cop Car Clash.”
He turned in his seat to face me and cracked his knuckles. “We gonna go fuck him up?”
“I’m not planning on it, but I haven’t exactly ruled it out either. It depends on how he reacts.”
“Works for me.”
I slid a glance his way as I parked in the unloading spot in front of Parrish’s building and tossed my badge on the dash. “You’re down for whatever, just like that?”
“You’re my partner.” He pulled his badge out of his pocket and set it next to mine. “And you made it clear that this thing with Charlotte is permanent. So if you need to do something to keep her safe, I’m down for whatever that is.”
We’d only been partnered together for a couple of months, and Luke had gotten us stuck on some of the worst beats possible—but right then and there he earned my undying loyalty. His presence by my side as I walked up to Parrish’s apartment and knocked on the door meant more than Luke would ever know.
“Yeah?” a thin guy with light brown hair asked when he answered the door. He looked even worse than the crappy socia
l media picture that Tex had included in his email.
“Stanley Parrish?”
“Who wants to know?” he asked belligerently.
“Charlotte Manning’s boyfriend.”
As soon as I got her name out, he tried slamming the door shut. But I stuck my foot in the doorway to stop him.
“Did he forget to mention we’re both cops and he’s former Army with Spec Ops friends who’d be more than happy to disappear you?” Luke asked, jerking his thumb my way.
The guy’s eyes got big, and he gulped nervously as he opened the door partway again. “I didn’t do anything.”
“That’s not completely true. Is it, Stanley? You bought her app and sent her messages through the Help function. Messages that prompted her to file a police report. You know what happens when a report like that is filed? An investigation. One that I can make sure involves lots of questions being asked at the bar where you work. And if your place of employment is anything like the other bars in this city, your boss isn’t going to want to have to answer them. How happy will they be with you if that all happens?”
He held his hands up, palms facing me in a gesture of surrender. “Please. Don’t. I’ll delete the app and leave her alone.”
“Do it now.” I watched as he yanked his phone out of his pocket, pulled up the app, and turned the screen towards me as he removed it from his device. “Those friends of mine that my partner mentioned? One of them is the best hacker the Navy has ever seen, and he’s keeping his eye on you.”
“He won’t find anything. I swear.”
I leaned forward, getting in his face. “He’d better not. If he does and I have to come back, one of us is going to leave in a body bag and it sure as fuck isn’t going to be me.”
He nodded jerkily, and I let him shut the door this time.
“Damn, partner. Remind me not to piss you off,” Luke chuckled as we headed back to the car.
As soon as we dropped the car off at the precinct, I dialed Charlotte’s number.
“Hey, boyfriend of mine. You still coming over for dinner? I put a lasagna in the oven and hit up the Victoria’s Secret to help celebrate the offer for Cop Car Clash.”
“Hell yeah, I am. And I’ve got more good news for you.” I told her about Tex’s call and my visit to Parrish’s place.
“Wow, it sounds like you had a busy day, and we have another reason to celebrate.”
“That we do,” I agreed.
“I’ll plan on stopping at Victoria’s Secret again tomorrow. See you soon. Love you.”
“Love you too, beautiful.”
The threat was neutralized, and I was heading to Charlotte’s place for the night. If that wasn’t a happy ending, I didn’t know what was.
Epilogue
Charlotte
Since Tex and Mel hadn’t made it out to see us in New York City, I’d insisted that we take a road trip to visit them in Pennsylvania—with a pit stop in Hershey, of course. I loved chocolate too much to miss out on the chance to visit the factory and buy giant, five-pound bars of deliciousness. Luckily, I’d had the perfect excuse to buy lots of them because we needed to have plenty to share with Tex and his family.
My hand stroked my belly as I turned to look at Chad and Tex. They were in front of a gas grill, cooking up the steak dinner my husband had promised the former SEAL a couple of years ago.
That’s right—I called him my husband. Chad surprised me with an engagement ring on Valentine’s Day when he took me to the observation deck of the Empire State Building to propose. We were married the following November; exactly one year to the day after we’d first seen each other again at Target. It was also the same day that Xbox released their version of Cop Car Clash. That was only eight months ago, and we were already expecting our first child.
“How far along are you?” Mel, Tex’s pretty blonde wife, asked me.
“Four months,” I answered, offering her a smile.
“Out of the first trimester and past the worst of the morning sickness?”
“Yes, thank goodness,” I sighed, feeling slightly nauseous just thinking about how bad it’d been for a little while there. “If it’d lasted any longer, I’m not sure what I would have done with myself.”
Mel’s gaze moved to the part of the yard where her two daughters were playing with their dog. “They’re worth every moment of discomfort, and you’ll forget all about it once you hold your baby in your arms.”
“Don’t let her fool you,” Tex chuckled. “She still remembers the morning sickness every time I cook something she hates.”
“Only because it works so well to guilt you out of it,” Mel teased.
“I’ll have to keep that in mind after the baby’s here.”
Chad came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me to rest his hands over mine. “Feel free to hold it over my head for the rest of our lives, beautiful,” he whispered in my ear. “It’s my job to protect you from anything—even foods that make your stomach turn.”
This is my second story in Susan Stoker’s Special Forces: Operation Alpha world. Protection Crisis also features Tex. He’s one of my characters that Susan has written.
Please note: the Brooklyn Blades and Chicago Cavaliers are fictional hockey teams from my Bachelorette Party series, which begins with Sucked Into Love.
Also by Rochelle Paige
BLYTHE COLLEGE SERIES
Push the Envelope
Hit the Wall
Summer Nights (novella duo)
Outside the Box
Winter Wedding (novella)
BACHELORETTE PARTY SERIES
Sucked Into Love
Mixed Into Love
Checked Into Love
CRISIS SERIES
Identity Crisis
Protection Crisis
FATED MATES (BLACK RIVER PACK & McMAHON CLAN)
Crying Wolf
Shoot for the Moon
Thrown to the Wolves
Bear the Consequences
Bear It All
Bear the Burden
Ask for the Moon
BODY & SOUL SERIES
Bare Your Soul
Save Your Soul
Sell Your Soul
Feed Your Soul
STANDALONES
Star Pupil
About the Author
I absolutely adore reading—always have and always will. When I was growing up, my friends used to tease me when I would trail after them, trying to read and walk at the same time. If I have downtime, odds are you will find me reading or writing.
I am the mother of two wonderful sons who have inspired me to chase my dream of being an author. I want them to learn from me that you can live your dream as long as you are willing to work for it.
Connect with Rochelle online:
www.rochellepaige.com
[email protected]
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Charlotte (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 5