“Trust me, he’s exactly like Landon, so there's no talking the crazy out of him. You just have to distract them long enough so they forget what they are going crazy over.” She just shrugs her shoulders, unfazed by it all.
“Remind me never to get married. I will live in blissful peace being a bachelor. Besides, I'm married to my job already.” Adrian shivers as if falling in love is a bad thing.
“You're going to eat those words one day, my friend. Someone is going to come along and knock you straight on your ass and you're going to want to stay there.” Landon says as he wraps his arms around his wife.
He holds up his hands as if that can stop love happening to him. For someone as big as him, he looks scared at the prospect of love making us laugh. “Hell no, I’m happy with how things are now. Thank you very much.”
Turning to look at him, I have a massive smile on my face, making him narrow his eye at me. “I honestly can’t wait for it to happen. I hope she gives you all kinds of hell.”
He sniffs the air as if he's offended, but I can see the sparkle in his eyes as he bends down, looking at me. “I think you're spending too much time with my brother. You're becoming mean like him.”
Just then Tyler walks into my office, making it smaller than it is with how many people are in here. I don’t think any of us are getting any work done. “Dude, what happened to your balls? Did you lose them in the army? Man up.”
It sets off everyone laughing. “Man, fuck you. You wish you had balls the size of mine.”
“Why the hell are you talking about balls in front of my daughter Private Wade?” Comes a booming voice from the door. Everyone parts revealing my dad and Alexander.
“Dad.” I smile, so happy to see him.
“Sergeant Doyle?” Adrien stands to attention as if he’s back in the army.
Everyone makes room for them to come into my office. Not that there's much left, mind you.
Adrien looks down at me with narrowed eyes. “You didn’t tell me my sergeant was your dad and that he was coming?”
I can’t help the smirk that takes over my face enjoying this too much. “Must have slipped my mind.”
“I take it back. You're more evil than my brother.” He hisses it so only I can hear him making me laugh.
“I think that’s our queue to leave and let them talk.” Landon steers everyone out the door.
Before they can walk out, I grab Tyler’s attention. “I will have a look at the file and have the numbers to you by next week, if that’s okay, Tyler. I’m just finishing up something else.”
“That's fine with me. No rush on this. Thank you for taking it over.” They all walk out the door, leaving just the four of us.
Dad sets the food on my desk as I walk over to him, giving him a hug. “Hi dad.”
He pulls me closer to him. There’s nothing like my dad's hugs. “Hi baby girl. How are you doing?”
Pulling back, I smile up at him. “I’m okay. How’s mom doing?”
“She’s good, but worried about you, so call her later. That's why I came early and then I met Alexander in the lobby.” He lowers his voice so only I can hear him. “He’s a good man Selene, you picked a good one.” Dad winks at me as he releases me.
I walk into Alexander's arms as he envelopes me in his hug, making me sigh. I look up, smiling at him. “Hi. What are you doing here?”
“Hi Angel. I missed you and couldn’t get any work done. I figured once you have lunch with your dad, we can go home and relax.”
My heart beats faster at hearing him say he missed me. “I missed you too and I would like that.”
Dad walks over to Adrian, shaking his hand. “It’s good to see you, Adrian. How are you doing since being out?”
I see Adrian relax his shoulders. “Doing good sir. The guys and I started a security business. After getting out, most of us were lost, not knowing what to do with ourselves, so when I suggested they come and work for me, they followed me home. You should stop by sometime. I'm sure they would all love to see you again.”
“Enough of the sir shit. We aren’t in the army anymore. Call me Peter. I would love to come by to see what you guys have set up. Erica and I would love to have you guys over for a bbq one day to catch up. Now what I really want to know is what the hell are we doing to find my daughter's stalker? I called in a few favors so I have my own people looking into it as well.” The smile leaves my dad’s face as he mentions John.
“The fucker has gone to ground, and we haven’t been able to track him since he’s not using his credit cards. Either he is dead in a ditch somewhere, which, let’s face facts, wouldn’t be a bad thing, or he’s good at hiding and just biding his time. But I have every available man on this, and we won’t rest until he is caught.” I can hear the sinister tone in Adrian’s voice, making me shiver.
“Let’s pray he’s in a ditch somewhere then and we can put this to rest. Nothing can happen to my baby girl.” Jesus, these guys are bloodthirsty. It's a little scary. I’ve never seen my dad like this before. But then again, I’ve never been threatened before either. I just need this nightmare to end.
