AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cutting her out of his life—well, as much as he had been able to—felt like cutting a piece of himself away. While before being tortured in Somalia he had never been the manwhore he’d turned into afterward, he had dated his fair share of women. There had never been any intention of it being anything long-term, but it hadn’t been a one-and-done thing either.
He dated because he liked companionship and having a pretty woman to hang out with and have fun with, but he wasn’t looking for marriage and forever.
Not until Lila anyway.
Surf had no idea what it was about her. Her quiet strength, her intelligence, and her pretty baby blues that seemed to see deep down inside him to a place that not even his team could see into. Her cute freckles, adorable giggle, and stunning beauty combined into a woman who had managed to knock him to his knees and barge her way into his heart without even trying.
And now he’d lost her.
He could have undone the pain he’d caused her. She had tried reaching out a couple of times, but he never answered when she called, and he’d ignored both her voicemails and her texts asking him to call back. It was better for both of them if they made a clean break.
Maybe if he kept telling himself that it might become true.
A dark vehicle switching lanes behind him caught his attention.
Given the known threat to his team, Surf didn’t hesitate, he called Bear immediately.
“I just picked up a tail,” he announced without preamble when his team leader answered.
“Hold on,” Bear said, and a moment later he could tell he was on speaker and the rest of the guys were there.
“Are you near Lila’s?” Arrow asked.
“Yeah, picked it up not long after I left.”
“Could they have been watching her?” Mouse asked.
“No. Definitely not. I didn’t see anyone suspicious, and I don’t recognize the vehicle from any that were parked outside her building.”
“I hate that we haven’t made any progress identifying Dark Beauty,” Domino growled. Since he was the one to kill his brother, he blamed himself for all of Alpha Team having a bullseye painted on their backs.
“I took Phoebe and Lolly out for dinner last night because they were both getting edgy from being cooped up, and I’m positive someone was tailing us,” Mouse said. “They didn’t approach, and when I went to intercept them, they hightailed it out of there. Phoebe and I talked once we put Lolly to bed and decided to move into Prey.”
“I want Mackenzie and Mikey there as well. She’s been reluctant, but if she knows you guys are in, she’ll probably be more amenable to the idea,” Bear added.
“Piper is there basically all day anyway. I don’t think it would take much to convince her to stay there. I know I’d feel better, especially with her lingering health issues,” Arrow said. Piper had been badly beaten by Pete Petrowski, and some of her injuries were still yet to fully heal, going on four months later.
“Vehicle still following you, Surf?” Bear asked.
“Yep. Keeping its distance … hold on,” he said as the black SUV switched lanes and began to gain on him.
“Surf?” Bear demanded.
“It’s approaching,” he said, keeping his attention focused on the vehicle.
A moment later it pulled up beside him, the back driver’s side window opened slightly, and the barrel of a weapon appeared.
Preparing to perform evasive maneuvers right here on the busy road and hoping no innocents got taken out, before he could, the weapon withdrew, the window went up, and the vehicle sped off down the street.
A warning.
A reminder that the threat was still there, that Dark Beauty wasn’t giving up.
He’d memorized the license plate, but the vehicle would turn out to be stolen, or rented under an alias, nothing that would lead anywhere.
Whoever Dark Beauty was she wasn’t going away, wasn’t backing down.
If there had been any doubt in his mind that he had done the right thing when he broke up with Lila it was gone now. As much as it hurt, and as much as he couldn’t stand the thought of her hating him, at least she was alive and safe.
