“Why will you miss him?” Jay said as he stepped in.
Griz saw that the other men had arrived. It was time to tell them all that he was leaving. “I’m putting in for retirement. I think it’s time.”
Squat patted him on the back as he passed by. “Your woman is good. Heck, I’d leave, too, if Asher lived somewhere else. I would hate to be away from her.”
Shine shook his hand. “I’ll miss you, brother. But I get it. How long until your time is up?”
“Around five months, maybe six. I just think it’s time.”
Apple came over and hugged him. “I’ll miss you, man. You’ve been a great mentor. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me over the years. I hope I can hang on as long as you have.”
Griz chuckled. “You’ll do great in your career. You’re all tops. I know you’ll all do well.”
Sharp looked like he was going to speak when their phones went off. Griz groaned as he pulled out his device.Something big must have popped off for them to get a text this morning.
He read the text and shook his head. They weren’t headed out, but they would end up spending the night on base. Just great.
Chapter 23
Elowen neededto check her property, so she strapped on her handgun in addition to the rifle she carried, and wore a canister of pepper spray, wishing she didn’t have to walk around fully armed. It wasn’t the wild animals she was wary of, but humans which was why she had the handgun.
As she made her way to the river, she made plenty of noise so she didn’t startle any of the animals. For the first time in a long time she wished she had a dog. She should look into getting a retired military dog, or a well-trained dog. It would be another expense, though. She had the money, but the dog would have to be really good. She couldn’t afford to have any of her guests attacked by an aggressive dog. Really, she wouldn’t expect the dog to attack anyone. She wanted something to scare off potential attackers.
Maybe she was making too much out of the cameras that had been found. Why would anyone want to record her? Maybe it had been a joke. But she didn’t know anyonewho would play a practical joke on her, much less one that involved cameras where she could be seen naked.
She was coming back from the river, a little lost in thought, when she heard something in the forest. Normally her mind would flick through possible animals based on the sounds, but her first thought was human.
Elowen paused and took account of her immediate area. Her gaze rose as she looked deeper into the forest. She didn’t see anything at first, then she spied a deer walking through the darkest part of the forest and she relaxed.
There wasn’t anyone watching her. It was just a deer that might have been disturbed by her. Usually they didn’t move unless she walked amongst the trees. It was odd, but she could have disturbed a fox and the fox disturbed the deer. Anything could have happened, because it was the wild, and things happened in the wilderness.
Jenkins had beencareful to not make any noise until that stupid deer stood and started moving around, alerting Elowen to someone being in the forest. At first, he thought she’d seen him, but her eyes tracked the deer instead of him standing beside a tree not too far from her.
He liked this. Watching her do her morning chores then take a break and do some yoga on her porch had made him feel exhilarated. He should do this more often. Cameras had been a good idea, but he didn’t have the money yet to purchase something new.
Coming out here let him ascertain she was alone. The asshole who’d kissed her was gone. It would be easier to take her without some goon hanging about. The main cabin was empty, too. Maybe he could get her tonight.
He’d found a barn that would do. It wasn’t locatedclose to his home, but it was remote. Maybe it was too far away. He didn’t want to be without her. But no one would know to look for her out at the barn. He wished he could just take her to his home, but his mother was nosy.
She began walking again, her gaze flicking over the forest at a regular interval. He’d spooked her, no doubt. She didn’t need to be afraid of him. He would take care of her.
He’d been smart enough to turn off his phone when he’d come out here, but that meant he couldn’t look up information. He checked the time on an old watch he’d found in his dad’s things, seeing he’d been out here for a little over six hours. If his mother tried to text or call and he didn’t answer, she would be pissed. But he couldn’t risk alerting Elowen of his presence. He needed to separate from his mother, but she had control of all the money he wanted. The only way for him to get that money was for her to die.
A thought occurred to him and he slowed. Maybe he should speed his mother’s demise along. She lived out the useful part of her life and was just a drain now. No one would miss her, not really. Then he could take Elowen back to his house instead of to a barn. But the neighbors…God, figuring this out was taking too much of his time.
The basement was small, and no one would hear her down there. The outside entrance hadn’t been used in years. It was the place he went when he wanted to be alone and his mother never came down there. If she heard someone bumping about, she would get curious, though. He couldn’t wait for his mother to die.
Chapter 24
Griz shotoff a quick text to Elowen, telling her that he would be at base and unreachable until morning. The number of times they’d had to work overwatch had increased recently. That meant there were more wars being fought, and that wasn’t a good thing. The world needed to cool it instead of becoming more volatile.
Around the time he was settling down for lunch, he received a text from Elowen. He smiled as he read her understanding words. She really was the best. If they’d gotten together way back when, he knew she would have made a great military spouse.
She had to run to town to do shopping for the new guests coming in. They wanted certain wines and alcohol available so she was headed out to wine country to pick up a case of wine from a specific winery and wouldn’t be back until later. He told her he would text once he was done in the morning.
“You texting your girlfriend?” Squat asked as he took a seat across from Griz.
He nodded. “Yeah. She’s headed out to get wine for the group that will arrive in the morning.”
