SEALionaire Book 1: A Military Romance

by M. S. Parker

  “The point is, you don’t need to go hungry because you’re too damn proud to eat food you aren’t paying for,” he said quietly. “It’s part of the job, Bobby. Just like the clothes.”

  I stared hard at the food. My skin felt tight, hot with shame. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t take what I hadn’t earned.

  “I’ve gone hungry before, too.”

  Whipping my head up, I stared at him.

  A faint smile crooked his lips up and he shrugged. “I spent half my life on the street, Bobby. My mom, she died when I was six. We lived in Los Angeles, an area called Compton.”

  Shit. I figured he was about five or six years older than me, and while I wasn’t a news junkie, I paid enough attention to know what Compton had been like when I was a kid.

  “I ended up in a foster home.” He paused, hesitated for a moment before he continued, “The first place wasn’t so bad, but then the woman got pregnant, and I went to another place. The guy there...” Ryan’s face tightened. “He was a sick son of a bitch. I ran away when I was eleven. Spent the next four years on the street, ended up in a gang. Then I lucked out. Ended up getting arrested.”

  He leaned his hips against the table and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at me. My respect for him was growing. When I’d heard he was a lawyer, I definitely hadn’t expected this in his background.

  “Six months in juvie, then another foster home. The guy was a cop. Lucked out again. And yeah, I lucked out when I got arrested. If I’d stayed where I was, I’d probably have ended up dead. Half the guys I knew back then are either dead or behind bars now. And even the ones who’re still alive don’t have the kind of life I do. Getting arrested was the best thing that ever happened to me.” He laughed and the sound was soft, almost bemused, like he still couldn’t believe it. “The cop and his wife adopted me when I was sixteen. For the first time in years, I had a real home, a real family. They changed my life.”

  Now he nudged the plate closer and my stomach gave a painful clench. I hadn’t had much beyond the hamburger the night I was hired.

  “But that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be hungry, Bobby. Or to have pride. If you have to, think about it this way. Carly’s paying you to do a job, and that job comes with room and board. You aren’t any use to any of us if you end up with pneumonia, stomping around in sub-zero temps in that pitiful excuse of a coat or dropping dead because you don’t eat enough to keep a goat alive. Now eat, you stubborn son of a bitch.”

  “Shows what you know,” I muttered. But I grabbed the plate.

  “What?”

  I shoved a mouthful of eggs into my mouth before I answered. “Goats will eat a whole damn lot.”

  He chuckled. “You’re a smart-ass country boy, Bobby.”

  “You’re a dumb-ass city boy.”

  He went back to reading while I emptied the plate.

  I’d no sooner finished the last bite when my cell phone rang.

  I hated the stupid thing. If I had my way, I wouldn’t have one at all, but I needed a way for my parole officer to contact me, and the pay-as-you-go cellphone was the least annoying option. Especially since a landline in the dump where I lived wasn’t always reliable when it came to retaining messages.

  If I were being honest with myself, I would’ve admitted I’d been waiting for the call since the second I’d seen Dale Mitchell last night.

  The phone number that flashed up belonged to Detoine Sampson, my parole officer. Dread crowding my throat, I answered. “Hello.”

  “Hey, Bobby. It’s Detoine.”

  “Detoine.”

  “Listen, man. I know we just met a couple weeks ago, but I need you to come in.” He sounded nice and casual, but I was good at reading people, and he wasn’t happy.

  Perfect. I didn’t let my annoyance seep into my voice. It wasn’t Detoine’s fault, after all. “Sure. When?”

  “Today. This morning, actually.”

  From the corner of my eye, I could see Ryan watching me. The man was like a fucking hawk. And I had a feeling he knew who was calling. “I...uh...okay. I’ll make it work.”

  “Make it work soon...okay, kid?”

  “I’ll do what I can, sir. I just have to speak with my employer.” I knew a job wasn’t an excuse to skip, but it would at least give me bonus points when I got in.

  The call ended without another word.

  “Let me guess,” Ryan said, his gaze shrewd.

  The doors swung open before he could say anything else.

  Carly, clad in vivid blue and her face glowing, came in, Jake at her back. He was in workout gear despite the cast. So was she, now that I was actually noticing anything besides the bared skin and the flush on her face. Two more men in suits were at their backs, but they didn’t come into the room. The doors closed behind them, and Carly looked at me, a wide smile on her face. As I watched, it faded. I hated that I was the reason she wasn’t smiling anymore.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, darting her eyes towards Ryan.

  “It was your PO, wasn’t it?” Ryan was still watching me.

  “You read minds too?” My voice was rusty. Unable to look at any of them, I stood up and gathered up the few dishes I’d used, carrying them away from the table, only to stop. I didn’t see a sink. Maybe there wasn’t one. I stopped and put them back on the table. I kept my tone even. “I’m afraid I won’t be available this morning. Maybe not at all. I’m sorry.”

  “What’s going on?” Carly asked.

  I just shook my head and took a step toward the door, but before I could leave, Ryan cut me off.

  “Was it your PO?”

  “Yes!” I snapped. Not that it was any of his business.

  “What’s a PO?” Carly asked.

  Through gritted teeth, I answered her. Maybe this was what she needed for it to sink in. “My parole officer. I’m an ex-con, remember? I’m on a leash, Carly. The cop last night decided to tug on that leash. My PO got a call and I have to go in. That’s the way it works.”

  “What does he want?” she asked.

  “I don’t know!” I shouted the words.

  She paled and I swore. Spinning away, I shoved my hands through my hair. Dammit! I just kept fucking things up. Yet another reason it would be the best for all involved if I was far away from her.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, quieter this time. “Look, I tried to tell you this was a bad idea. This will all end up reflecting badly on you. It’s my fault. Just...we’ll call it quits now. No harm, no foul, right?”

  Saying those words hurt more than I’d thought it would.

  “Not so fast.”

  I hadn’t even made it five feet before Carly’s voice, calm and controlled, split the tension.

  I turned around and glared at her. “Don’t you get it? I’m trouble, Carly. As in big. Fucking. Trouble. With a capitol T. If I’m in the car with you and local cops know it, they just might pull you over for the fun of it now. For all I know, they’ll decide to start doing drug searches every time they see us. Ever had your car searched for drugs?”

  She jutted her chin. “Yes.”

  It took a few seconds for her answer to penetrate. “Ever had anybody...wait, what?”

  She stormed toward me, a fury in electric blue. She poked me in the chest with her finger, and I had a feeling that if she’d had her purse, she probably would have hit me with it...again. “You heard me. The answer is yes, Bobby. I’ve had my car searched for drugs. My mother considers the law an optional thing, and half the cops around town think I’m just like her.”

  Something in her expression shifted and she suddenly looked years older.

  “Remember me telling you about how I met Ryan? That he was a cop and I’d been dating this guy? Well, the guy I was dating, he was a cop’s kid. He tried to rape me one night, and when I got away from him and called the police, the only one who listened to me was Ryan. The rest of them said oh, she was asking for it. You see how that little slut dresses. Oh, they had a few
too many drinks...” She glared at me. “Want me to go on?”

  I caught her arms. My fingers curled into her skin and I had to remind myself not to squeeze. I didn’t want to hurt her. “Somebody tried to rape you...”

  I was going to kill him. Cop’s son or not. I was going to find him and kill him...

  Her lashes swept down. “That’s not the point.”

  The hell it wasn’t! I’d beat the shit out of any guy who tried to force himself on someone, but the thought of someone trying that with her...it made me sick.

  She reached up and cupped my face, bringing my attention back to the present. “Some cops are just assholes, Bobby. And some aren’t. But you got into this mess because you were with me. So I’ll be going with you.”

  “With...no.” I let go of her and backed away, shaking my head. Turning on my heel, I recounted the events of the last few days through my head. How had I gotten into this mess? I’d just been walking home. I’d gotten fired from my job and I’d walked home. That was it. I should’ve been in my shitty apartment, trying to find another job. I couldn’t drag Carly down into my world. “You can’t go with me.”

  “I don’t see why not.”

  Of course she wouldn’t. I had a feeling Carly Prince pretty much went wherever she wanted to go.

  But my PO’s office would not be one of those places. No way in hell.

  Somehow, a woman with pin-up girl curves and twisty blonde curls had steamrolled her way into controlling my life, and I had no idea in hell how it’d happened.

  It was roughly two hours after I’d gotten the call, and we were sitting under the harsh fluorescent lights while everybody stared at us. Well, maybe it wasn’t everybody, but it sure felt like it. Even in my nice clothes, it was clear I belonged. Just as it was clear the rest of the people with me didn’t.

  We would have been there earlier, but Jake had gotten a call that his replacement would be landing at the airport in a half hour, so he’d said we’d wait to go see my PO since I apparently wasn’t going alone. I’d told him this wasn’t one of those things I could put off, and that I was perfectly fine going alone. He’d just smiled and told Ryan to make some phone calls.

  Those phone calls somehow included taking my phone, so I had a feeling he’d made a call to my PO. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Beyond pissed off, obviously, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel a bit like I was one of the team for real, not just a temporary replacement.

  The new guy showed up at the hotel an hour after we’d heard he was coming in. His name was Ridley and, apparently, he’d been the one on vacation. Neither Jake nor Ryan seemed pleased to have called him in early, but Ridley hadn’t complained. Then again, he hadn’t said much of anything at all. I’d gotten the impression that he didn’t talk much in general, but he did thank Carly for calling him in.

  Based on the look I’d seen on Jake’s face, it’d been her decision and he hadn’t agreed with it. If I hadn’t been trying to think about ways to go see Detoine alone, I might’ve tried to get a sense of the sort of guy Ridley was. But my head was already too busy.

  It still was.

  Detoine appeared in the door just as I was getting ready to get up and pace. I’d quit smoking not long after I got out, but sometimes, like now, the urge for a cigarette hit hard and strong. Pacing helped. Lifting weights helped. Other physical activities helped even more. Anything helped.

  Well, maybe not anything.

  Talking to Detoine and explaining that I was only here because Detective Dale Mitchell hated my guts for destroying his family definitely wasn’t going to help.

  For a moment, his gaze lingered on the four people with me, and then he just gave a small shake of his head. “You’re sure keeping interesting company these days. You know that, kid?”

  Too nervous to say much, I just shrugged as I stood up. While I never enjoyed coming to see Detoine, and I was always a bit anxious since he could get me thrown back in prison, I was even more keyed up than usual.

  And I knew exactly why.

  Carly bounced up right next to me. “Hi!” She gave him one of those smiles that managed to light up the entire room. “I hope you don’t mind that I came with Bobby. I think it’s probably my fault that he’s here.”

  Detoine’s eyes widened as he took in the force of nature that was Carly Prince. “Ah...of course it’s not your fault. But I really need to talk...”

  At that, several people started to crowd closer. Jake and Ryan calmly placed their bodies between Carly and everyone else. Ridley stayed at our back...and that was when it hit me that they weren’t only protecting Carly. Jake and Ryan were making it clear that I was with them, part of them.

  My stomach gave a strange flip and I was starting to regret having eaten breakfast.

  Detoine dragged a hand down his face, and then he smiled.

  “Ms. Prince. Of course, you can come back.”

  Somehow, I was sure she’d known that would end up happening, despite the fact that I’d told her the meeting would have to be between me and Detoine. Like I’d said before. She wasn’t the kind of person who was used to being told she couldn’t do something.

  “So run this by me again,” Detoine said fifteen minutes later.

  Instead of only Carly and me back here, it was Carly, Jake, Ryan and me. Only Ridley had been left outside the office. We’d needed someone to guard the door, after all, and he didn’t know me. I was certain, however, that he didn’t like me. The look he’d given me when I followed the others into Detoine’s office had been one I was all too used to.

  “Just how did you get this bodyguard job, Bobby? By knocking her down?”

  “I didn’t exactly knock her down,” I said, shooting her a look before she could interrupt me. Again.

  Carly rolled her eyes and I narrowed mine. She grinned at me and reached into her purse – the deadly one – and pulled out her phone. Once she seemed occupied, I explained how I’d been walking home from the body shop before I’d gotten caught up in the melee that was Carly’s life.

  “So you were walking home from your former place of employment.” Detoine nodded. He cocked his head at me. “I know where your old job was and I know where you live. That’s a hike. Why didn’t you ride the bus?”

  “I felt like walking.”

  Detoine’s forehead wrinkled. “Man, it was like twelve degrees that day. I damn near froze my ass off just walking to the car. It’s gotta be close to five miles from the garage to your apartment.”

  “For fuck...” I stopped and cleared my throat. Focusing on the wall past his shoulder. “Look, I just lost my job. I didn’t know how long it would be before I had another one so I wanted to make my money last, okay? It’s not like work’s a dime a dozen for guys like me. I didn’t want to waste money on the bus if I could walk it. It’s no big deal.”

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Carly’s hands slow on the phone. I could feel Ryan’s and Jake’s eyes on me. That just made me stare at the wall even harder.

  “So how did you end up near the Seelbach?” Detoine asked. “That’s a block or two south out of your way.”

  I answered honestly, knowing better than to lie about something like this. If Detoine thought for a minute I wasn’t telling the truth about why I took a detour, he could make my life even more miserable. “There were cop cars blocking the street. Several of them on East Mohammed Ali, a few on Fourth near the bars.” I shrugged. “Me and cops don’t get along. You know that.”

  Carly winced. “Shit.”

  I looked at her.

  “That’s, um, that’s my fault. I was over there. And, well.” She looked at Detoine, and then at me. “They blocked it off for crowd control. Bobby, I’m sorry. You were out there walking in the cold because of me.”

  “I was walking anyway,” I said. Irritated with all of it, I drummed my fingers on the arm of the chair. “I cut up Fourth by the Seelbach. It’s usually quiet there this time of year, but it was crazy busy. I was too cold to care. A b
unch of reporters were grouping up there. Then somebody bumped into me. It was her. I didn’t...” I stopped, tucking my tongue against my lower lip, unsure of where to go at that point.

  “He didn’t know me.” Carly smirked, looking completely delighted with herself now. “I was pissed off because one of the reporters started asking me about my little sister. She’s my step-sister, actually, and the poor kid is in rehab again and they just won’t leave her alone. Then they go asking me if I’ll be joining her. I do not need rehab, but they are always running at the mouth and...” She sighed, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was giving way more information than Detoine needed. “I let it get to me. I wanted to get away from them, so when we got inside, I told the guys I needed to use the restroom, then I ducked out a side door. I know better. Really. But I was just going to take a few minutes, walk it off. Maybe tell a reporter off. Then I crashed into Bobby. I wasn’t paying attention at all, and if he hadn’t grabbed me, I’d have been a pancake.”

  “I saw the video,” Detoine said. His voice was dazed.

  I looked at him. He was staring at Carly, looking, well, spellbound. He had good reason. Carly was like a whirlwind.

  Abruptly, he shook his head and then leaned forward, pinning me with a look. “Okay, she bumps into you. You grabbed her, kept her from walking in front of a car, and then she pays you five thousand as, what, a thank you gift?”

  “No!” Carly cut me off before I could attempt to answer.

  “Carly,” I said, gritting my teeth. “Believe it or not, I can speak for myself.”

  She made a face at me, and I heard Jake smother a laugh. “Fine.”

  I turned back to Detoine. “There were reporters. We made a commotion, me yelling at her and her yelling back. The reporters started rushing us, and well, I tried to stop them from hassling her, and then they all asked if I’d help out.”

  “After he broke Jake’s arm,” Carly interjected.

  “For fuck’s sake!” I closed my eyes.

  “You broke...” Detoine glanced at the two men who’d been mostly silent up to this point.

  “Jake’s arm,” Jake supplied with a wry smile. “To give Bobby credit, I tried to grab him. He caught my arm, locked it, warned me not to move.” He shrugged. “I didn’t listen.”