Page 3 of Guarded Knight

After finally spending some time in therapy, seeing my brother, Enzo, get engaged and my sister, Shay, with another baby on the way, hell…I guessed it was time to at least try to enjoy the good things I have left in my life.

Maybe I’ll break the cycle of my flight response. Maybe I won’t. But I have to try. My therapist gave me an assignment to stayhere for three months, and for the first time in my life, I figured the homework would be good for me.

When I came back and found Anton living in the house at Monarch Hills my brothers built for me, I wasn’t happy. At first, I wanted him out, the way I want most people out of my space. But Anton isn’t like most people.

He invited me in and made me a fancy, undersized coffee from a Nespresso machine he’d bought for the place. I planned to throw him out, but that coffee turned into a cold one. One beer turned into a night swapping war stories, the kind you don’t tell normal civilians. The kind only another SEAL, another man with ghosts, would understand.

His stories blew me away.

But more than that, something about the sheer impossibility of how un-fucked-up he is, despite everything, earned not only my respect but my friendship.

And maybe that’s why, by the time we chucked a twenty on the table at the bar in Echo Valley, I was sold on his idea for Shadow Justice. Anton had described it like some badass vigilante firm, an adventure, something edgier, less douchey than the celebrity bodyguard jobs I’d been picking up in between drifting.

But now? We’re watching a businessman’s wife sit in her bathrobe, eating ice cream, binge-watching true crime instead of screwing the pool boy.

“This is depressing,” I mutter, watching the lifeless house. “Maybe we should’ve opened up shop somewhere that isn’t a town with more horses than crime.”

Anton smirks. “Yeah, but then we wouldn’t get the joy of watching people ruin their marriages for a living.”

“You say that like this lady’s even having an affair.” I gesture toward the house. “I bet her husband’s the one screwing around. Probably hired us to make himself feel better.”

“Trust me, this isn’t my idea of a dream gig.” Anton sighs, tossing his phone onto the dashboard. “But I’m not leaving Ava now that she’s getting married. She’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a family, and soon enough, I’m sure she’ll have one. I’m not missing that.”

Anton isn’t old enough to be Ava’s father, but I can see how he feels like one, or at least a big brother, after what they went through together. How young she must have seemed when he took her under his wing back when they were in captivity.

I spin my cell around between my fingers. “Ava doesn’t seem ready for kids. Enzo told me she’s planning a world tour.”

He puts the binoculars to his eyes. “Maybe…” Anton huffs. “I’m catching something, even if it’s someone leaving dog crap on their driveway.”

Before I can laugh, my phone buzzes on the console. I glance at the screen.

Xander Young.

We grew up together in Starlight Canyon, my best friend, my brother in the SEALs. Thankfully, he’s found a lot more meaning on this side of the military than I have and has become an advisor in Washington.

I swipe to answer. “Young? You all right?”

“Hey G… I got a favor to ask.” He sounds hurried, but that’s nothing new. “I need you to do something for me.”

Xander doesn’t ask for help. I sit up a little straighter. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Lara.”

Her name has my gut feeling full and empty at the same time. It still feels impossible that we shared so many years of…shit, I don’t know what to call it. Closeness? A bond? She was everything to me at the time, like we were soulmates who had found each other but had yet to fuse.

How we shared our entire childhoods, the same root system, and now don’t even talk is bittersweet. She’s still there filling up my heart, my thoughts, even though she won’t let me close to her.

My grip on the phone tightens. “Start talking.”

“It’s her ex.”

My jaw clenches involuntarily. Xander mentioned Lara’s ex, Cameron, the last time he was in Echo Valley. He told me she should’ve never gotten involved with him in the first place and that he had a bad feeling about him.

He never even had to breathe the bastard’s name in front of me. I already knew the man didn’t deserve her. Nobody does.

Not even me.

Maybe once I did. The fateful day I decided to kiss her, I thought we were meant to be. But she deserves more than my baggage, and the more I know about the human race, the more I know we all have it, so yeah, no man deserves her.