by Ciana Stone
“Oh, well, you know I think I may know someone.”
“Yeah?”
“Um hmm.” He claimed a kiss that had her almost regretting her decision to report for duty.
“Damn, Grady, you really make it hard on a woman.”
“Honey, you don’t know the half of it. I’m feeling like a seventeen-year-old boy who just got his first taste of woman.”
Charli laughed. “God almighty, I can’t imagine any women keeping up with you when you were seventeen.”
He chuckled and kissed her lightly. “Let me know what Tom says about your proposal.”
“I will.”
“And come back here after work.”
Charli gave it a moment’s thought before deciding. “Okay, on one condition.”
“And that would be?”
“You cook.”
“I can do that.”
“Then you’ve got a deal, big guy.” She gave him a short, noisy kiss, then got in her car and started it up. “Oh, and I’ll get the bike later. See ya.”
“All righty then. See you soon.”
Charli thought about Grady as she drove. The last two days had been chock full of revelations. Not just about sex, but about the person he was. Grady wasn’t just a badass SEAL, he was a man with true compassion for his fellow man, and someone who didn’t believe he was deserving of love and happiness.
She didn’t understand that, but then he hadn’t shown her his demons, and she knew firsthand what those demons could do to a person’s self-worth and self-love. She was just now setting her foot on the path of healing. Thanks to Grady.
That still freaked her out a little. Did that really happen? What kind of person could talk to the dead? It wasn’t natural and she’d always been a person who put her faith in what could be proved, what could be seen and heard, touched and felt.
This? This was so far outside her experience she didn’t even know how to start wrapping her head around it. She made up her mind right then that she was going to find time to pay a visit to Jaxon Riggs, Cody’s husband. Charli thought it was time she met the Cotton Creek Angel, Joe, and Jax seemed like the perfect person to make the introduction since he’d been acquainted with Joe longer than anyone else.
It occurred to Charli that since she’d met Grady, her life had gotten complicated. Not that it was his fault; it just seemed to be the first in a series of events that had her now pondering the idea that heading for Mexico might turn out to be a bad decision.
Charli wasn’t stupid. She knew that if Estevez was part of a drug cartel, he’d have protection. He’d probably be surrounded by people 24-7. Paranoia that someone is out to get you went along with a position like his because there always was someone out to get you. Competitors, DEA, and the Mexican government, to name a few.
Maybe the smartest move would be just to let law enforcement handle it. The problem was that they wouldn’t factor in Juanita’s family, which meant there was no one to fight for them.
Everyone needed someone willing to fight for them. In this instance, it looked like it would have to be Charli. And perhaps Grady.
Was she wrong to ask him for help? Yes, he was the biggest and baddest man she knew, but what if something were to happen to him? Could she live with that?
The answer told her exactly what she needed to do. With her mind made up, she turned her thoughts to how she was going to accomplish her objective.
*****
Grady stripped out of his sweaty clothing in the laundry room, tossed the dirty clothing into the washing machine, and then went into the kitchen to get a cold bottle of water from the refrigerator.
With the bottle in one hand and his phone in the other, he headed upstairs. He’d just reached the bathroom when his phone rang. One look at the screen had him answering.
“Judd.”
“Briefing at eighteen hundred hours.”
“I’ll be there.”
Grady hung up, turned on the water in the shower, and got in. Ten minutes later, he was clean, dressed and headed out of the door. As he got into his truck, he dictated a text to his foreman Al. “I’m headed out. See you when I see you.”
He then placed a call to Charli, but got her voice mail. “I have to leave. I’ll see you.”
Grady thought about saying more, but what was there to say? Charli understood. He just hoped she wouldn’t decide to head to Mexico on her own. That thought prompted him to call her again and leave another message. “Don’t go alone, okay?”
He wanted to say more, but couldn’t bring himself to speak the words. Maybe it was too soon anyway. He’d tell her when he returned.
*****
“You can’t be serious?” Charli didn’t bother to keep her voice down. She was furious and didn’t care who knew.
“I am and you can lower your voice now, Deputy.” Chief Greene looked across his desk at her with an expression that would have caused most grown men to back down.
Charli wasn’t a grown man and she didn’t much believe in backing down. She did, however, believe in a chain of command and respect for those superior to her in rank and because of that, she lowered her voice if not the rancor in her tone.
“If you send her back, she and her family are liable to be killed, you know that, don’t you?”
“I do and I don’t like it any better than you, Charli, but the matter has been taken out of our hands. The DEA is in charge now.”
“Why?”
“Because this is a lot bigger than we realized and because Juanita isn’t just some mule. She’s Estevez’s mistress.”
“Bull.”
“It’s true.” He picked up a folder and handed it to her.
Charli accepted and opened the folder. Before she was three pages in, she felt the anger of betrayal bubbling in her belly. “She played me.” She looked up at the Chief. “That little bitch played me.”
“Afraid so.”
Charli returned the folder to him. “Well, color me embarrassed and please accept my apology. I’m normally a better judge of character.”
“It could happen to anyone, so don’t beat yourself up about it.”
“It shouldn’t have happened.” She was more than a little upset. How could her intuition and judgement be so compromised? Grady? Surely she wasn’t letting her case of the hots for him interfere with her professional judgement.
Or was she? That rankled and scared her all at the same time. “Cut yourself some slack, Charli. We’re only human. Now get outta here and let me get this damn paperwork done.”
“Yes, sir.” Charli stood and left the room. She checked her phone as she headed for her desk. There were two voicemails, both from Grady. It took the wind from her sails when she listened.
He was gone, no telling where and no telling when or if he would be coming back. Charli understood. She’d been in his shoes. She’d just never worn the shoes of a person waiting. What was she supposed to do while she waited for him to come home?
And what if he didn’t? That thought made her realize just how much she was already emotionally invested in Grady, and just how tough it was going to be to wait and hope he’d soon walk through her door.
It also made her wonder just what she’d do if he didn’t.
Chapter Fourteen
Ten days. Grady had been gone ten days and she could barely think about anything other than him. Charli had never found herself in a position where a man made her sloppy in her job.
Yet that had happened. Juanita had played her like a big fiddle and Charli had never seen it coming. Was that because she was so wrapped up in her infatuation with Grady?
And what about that…that place she went to when he drowned her? Her thoughts kept returning to that. So much so that she’d asked Jaxon Riggs to meet her at the Honky Tonk during the day when no one would be there but Cody and Hannah.
She got out of her car and spotted Jax sitting on one of the picnic tables in the grassy area beside the building. Charli walked over to him. “Thanks for making ti
me to talk to me, Jax.”
“What are friends for?”
Charli was struck, as she always was, by his good looks, sexy as sin voice, and his good nature. He and Cody were perfect for one another. And made beautiful babies.
Like the one he held.
“Can I hold him?”
“Sure.” Jax waited until she sat, then handed her the baby.
“Hey there, beautiful boy.” She nuzzled Billy and grinned when he laughed. “God, he’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.” That’s when she saw Bernice, sitting on a little patchwork quilt under the tree.
She had a big pair of red earphones clamped on her head and an electronic table clutched in both hands. “What’s Bernice up to?”
“Some kind of game she’s addicted to. She gets an hour in the morning and one in the evening, so don’t even speak to her while she’s playing or you’ll get a lecture about cutting into her time.”
Charli smiled. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
“Actually, I was hoping you could introduce me to someone.”
“Sure, who?”
“Joe.”
It was obvious that the request surprised Jax. “Can I ask why?”
“Yes, of course.” Charli believed in honesty between friends, and Jax and Cody had been very good friends to her.
She told him what happened at Grady’s house, but didn’t mention Grady’s name. When she finished the tale, she added. “The way I see it, if anyone would know if what happened was real or just some weird oxygen deprivation hallucination, it would be Joe. He is an angel, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, that’s what we call him.”
“What does he call himself?”
“An angel, but not the kind I think you mean.”
“What other kind is there?”
“Heck if I know, but the point is, I’m not sure Joe would have the answer to that question. Still, I’ll introduce you if you want.”
Charli looked down at the baby in her arms. “Thanks. I…I don’t know if that’s what I want or if I’m just grasping at straws.”
“Well, the think that happened with your friend and the drowning. Did it do anything positive? Bring you peace or hope or comfort?”
Charli realized with a measure of surprise that it had. “Yes. I wonder why I didn’t think about that? All I’ve been able to think about was how weird and unbelievable it was.”
“And it sounds like it was. But you and I know there’s more than what we can see or hear or touch. Strange stuff happens and sometimes we can’t make sense of it. Maybe we’re not supposed to.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. Trust. Believe.”
Charli blew out a breath. “That’s a tall order at times.”
“Don’t I know it.” Jax smiled. “There was a time I figured I could look into the future and see exactly how things would go for me. I’d work and play, run from involvement and commitment and die alone.
“Now, look at me. I have what I never dared to wish for.”
“Thanks to a pushy little hot package of vibrancy called Cody Sweet.”
Jax laughed and Bernice looked up and smiled. Even baby Billy laughed. Charli watched it all and grinned. “She’s all that and more,” Jax agreed. “The love of my life, no doubt about it.”
“I envy you.”
“One day you’ll be there yourself,” Jax replied. “Your friend took you or showed you the way.”
“What way?”
“Just forgive yourself, Charli. As much as we want to, we can’t always save everyone. And as much as we don’t like to accept it, some people’s fate is to be here for only a short time. At least during the go-around we know them in. Maybe in another, they’ll have a longer run.
“But the point is, you take what you’re given—the love and joy and pleasure and blessings—and you give thanks every day that you have them. And when they leave you, you give thanks that you had them at all and hope that’s not the end of it for you. But you don’t cut yourself off and deny yourself happiness because you couldn’t change fate. No one who ever loved you would want that from you.”
“How can you know that to be true?”
Jax shrugged. “Well, let me ask you this. Do you think your parents or your sister, begrudged that you weren’t in the car with them that day?”
“Oh God no. I know they were happy I wasn’t there. Happy I’d survived.”
“And that child would have been too. So, first, look at this through the eyes of your experience and expertise. You know she never felt it. It happened too fast. But even if she had known it was coming, she would have wanted you to live. Because she loved you.
“That’s the way love works. So maybe what this is really all about is that you’re a lot like I was. So locked into thinking that you don’t deserve it that you’ve forgotten how to accept love.
“Well, except from these guys.” He gestured toward his children. “We and they know you love them. And you must know they love you, so why not take that one step more and let that fella in who was willing to walk into the in-between place for you?”
Charli was dumbfounded. Not because she’d ever considered Jax superficial, unaware, or less than in the smarts department, but because he’d put things in a way that resonated, a way that sledgehammered away the walls that had kept her in the dark and not allowed her to see.
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re one hell of a man?”
Jax chuckled. “Not the normal thing folks say about me.”
“Then they are woefully unaware.” Charli handed the baby back to him. “And I’m really lucky to have you as a friend. Thanks, Jax. I owe you.”
“Nope, not a bit. But you can take trade houses with us for a weekend if you want. It’d be nice to take Cody for a night swim.”
“How about this weekend?”
“Really?”
“Sure.”
“Girl, you’re on. I’m gonna go get Hannah to make sure the bar is covered. What time?”
“After lunch? I’ll ride over, spend the afternoon and night with the kids. I’m off all weekend, so you have until Monday morning to get back home.
Jax planted a kiss on her cheek. “Have I told you lately that I love you?”
Charli laughed and stood. “I’ll see you on Saturday. And thanks again, Jax.”
“Anytime. Hey, you still want that introduction to Joe.”
“No, thanks. I think I already found my angel.”
Charli got back into her car and headed home. She still had Grady on her mind, along with a lot of other things, but now her thoughts were more of what might be possible for her future instead of things from her past that might poison her chances.
*****
Eighteen days. That’s how long Grady had been gone. Eighteen days didn’t sound like long unless you were waiting on and worrying about someone. Then it seemed like forever.
Charli finally understood how the families of soldiers, particularly Special Ops personnel, felt when they had loved ones deployed. It was hell.
She’d spent not one, but two weekends with Cody and Jax’s kids, had dinner with Kyle and Liz, gone riding with JD and Jo, worked out, helped Stella make cookies for some church event and had even gotten shit-faced drunk with the girls one night.
And still she couldn’t get Grady out of her mind and stop counting the hours and days since he’d been gone. If this was what it meant to fall in love, then it truly sucked.
She finished her sweep of the town, returned to the station, and had just poured herself a cup of coffee that looked old enough to stand without a cup when the Chief spotted her.
“Charli, come in here.”
She left the cup sitting on the counter beside the pot and hurried to the Chief’s office where two other men were seated in the chairs in front of the desk. They stood when she entered and Chief Greene introduced everyone.
“Gentlemen,
this is Deputy Charli Sampson. Charli, these men are from the FBI. Agents Waterford and Dillard.”
That piqued her interest. “Agents.” She shook hands with them and waited for them to be seated. The chief remained standing.
“The FBI believes that several disappearances in our county are linked to missing person cases in three surrounding counties.”
Agent Waterford spoke up. “We have eleven missing people in all and the only links are the area in which the disappearances are happening and the sex of three victims who disappeared from Taylorsville.”
“I’m assuming that eleven in the geographic location and population is larger than normal?” Charli asked.
“Far larger.”
“Are there any similarities in the missing people?”
“No. Aside from the sex of the three missing from Taylorsville, we’ve not been able to discern a pattern in sex, age, profession, religion, or political affiliation.”
“And you’re here because?”
“Because we need feet on the ground. As many as possible.”
“There are no clues at all?”
Waterford and Dillard looked at one another before Waterford answered. “One. Two of the missing were runaways, reportedly living on the street in Taylorsville, over by the old cement plant.”
“I know that area. A lot of runaways take shelter with the homeless there. What did you find?”
Dillard took a photo from the breast pocket of his jacket and handed it to Charli. She looked at it and then at the Chief as she handed him the photo.
“A livestock tag?” Chief Greene handed the photo back to Agent Dillard.
“We’ve traced the tag back to a farm in South Carolina. The animal was sold six months ago at auction and is currently on a farm in Georgia.”
“In other words, a dead end,” Chief Greene said.
“Or a clue intended to mislead. Whatever the case, if there are any reports of missing people, we’d appreciate you contacting us immediately.”
“Of course,” Chief Greene agreed. “We’ll do anything we can to assist.”
“There is one thing, if you’re agreeable.” Waterford directed the comment to Charli. “I mentioned three missing from Taylorsville. All are women. Tall, big women. No discernable pattern in their age or race, but size was the one common element. Would you be open to going undercover?”