Love,
Olivia soon-to-be Montgomery
I riffled through the rest of the pages she’d included, looking for the picture she colored for me. As soon as I found the coloring page, I huffed out a laugh. Olivia had picked out a picture of Superman and colored him to look like me in my tactical gear.
I could only imagine how scary we all looked, busting into the warehouse where she was being held captive. It had thrilled me to know that she was able to turn that day into something happy.
“Whatever it was seems to have lifted your spirits a little. Care to share with the class?”
I’d forgotten Josh was still in my office, reclined back on the couch in the corner like he owned the place. “She wrote us a group letter, thanking each of us who were there the day of her rescue. There’s a picture in here she colored for us. Yours has your name on it.”
I stood and walked to the corkboard that hung on the wall in my office, passing the handful of pictures to Josh on my way. When I found a pushpin, I carefully placed her picture among the rest that were scattered on the board. I loved when the clients we helped sent us things in the mail as a thank you, but my favorites were always from the Little boys and girls we saved.
Shadow Force Tactical started as a PI company, but it had evolved into personal security as well when the job needed it. I ran a tight ship of eight men, all of whom served in some formof military service, most of them being special forces, just like I had been.
With a step back, I glanced at the board. Knowing that every picture represented someone we’d helped brought a smile to my face. When I was discharged from the special forces, I didn’t know what my life would be like. At eighteen, serving my country was all I ever focused on. When that ended abruptly following an ambush, I thought my life was over.
During one drunken night sitting at the bar, I had decided that I was tired of going down the path that I had been on. I cleaned up my act and started SFT and found purpose again.
It had been a long and hard road, and I still battled my demons daily. When those urges came again and the nightmares started up, I looked at this board, remembering those who wouldn’t be here if not for my team.
“You’ve got that look again, man. Are you sure everything is good?” Josh asked, standing beside me. Fucker moved silently, which made him a great tracker but also a pain in my ass.
“Shit, warn a guy before you just pop up beside him. I’m fine, just thinking about the things that I’m missing.”
Josh would knowexactlywhat I was talking about. While it wasn’t a requirement for the men on my team to be Daddies, every single one of them was. That was something else they had in common; yet just like me, none of them had a Little to call their own.
“Come out with us tonight, find a hook-up to take your mind off things.”
I grunted at his statement. The last thing I wanted to do was sit in a bar surrounded by drunk people listening to thumping music.
“Nah, man, I’m good. We can have a poker night this weekend at my house, though. Fire up the grill and just shoot theshit, decompress from this last case,” I said, hoping to ease the refusal that he had just been given.
Josh nodded, pulling out his phone. I was sure he was texting the rest of the guys. None of them was going to turn down a poker night at my house. Sure enough, my watch buzzed, alerting me that he had texted the group chat.
Josh clapped me on the back before heading out the door. Finally, alone again, I let out a deep breath and collapsed onto the couch. With my eyes closed, I decided to catch a few hours of sleep before going back to the stack of never-ending papers on my desk.
After pullinginto my driveway several hours later, I turned the ignition off before sliding out of the truck. I noticed that the house across the street had taken down the for-sale sign that had been in the yard for the past several months.
Honestly, I was surprised that the city hadn’t condemned the place months ago. There was no way that it was up to code, but that wasn’t my problem.
The sucker who bought it had better not come knocking on my door when something inevitably went wrong because it was bound to happen. Shaking my head, I grabbed my mail and headed inside, throwing a TV dinner in the microwave before dropping onto the couch for another lonely night at home.
Maybe Josh was right. I probably just needed to find someone to ease the tension in my body. Someone who was only here for a good time, not a long time. Maybe I needed to reapply for membership at the club and find a Little to play with for the night, that sounded better than the alternative.
Clearing my mind, I turned the TV off, made sure the house was secure, and headed to bed, knowing the thoughts would still be here tomorrow.
CHAPTER 2
REBEKAH
Standing in the kitchen,I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face. This was going to be my new beginning. Perhaps the house needed some TLC, but it had character. YouTube University existed for a reason, and I knew that I could handle the remodeling.
The best part of it all was that there was no one around who could tell me what to do. I’d had enough of that; it was time to start living for me. With no family around, I had to rely solely on myself, but I was okay with that.
Tomorrow was the first day of job hunting, and I knew I should be well-rested for what that meant. After turning the brand-new locks, I installed and made my way into the bedroom, I dropped onto the mattress on the floor and wrapped myself up in my blanket.
The tattered, light green blanket had seen better days, but it was one of the last things that I had of Alicia. It no longer smelled of her, but I liked to believe that wasn’t the case. I held on to the fleeting memories and handful of items, knowing that they would never bring light into the dark part of my world that had ended so many years ago.
