Page 58 of It’s Always Been You (Always #1)

It all turned out for the best, and Declan was one hundred percent behind his friend’s decision to break the contract with the Saudis.

Getting trapped in a foreign country as hostile as Yemen was no picnic.

Declan and a few other contractors loyal to Kade got thrown into a Yemeni jail controlled by the rebels.

And yet he’d been more in his element in that dank prison than he’d been in the Loudon County one.

The traffic on the DC beltway was stop and go, amplifying the silence in the SUV.

“I wish you had come to me instead of taking matters into your own hands,” Kade said finally.

“The man is a pedophile. He was making a fifteen-year-old student squirm—”

“And you decided breaking his nose was the answer?”

Snapshots of the other afternoon came back to mind. The congressman was meeting with the student council from a high school. One of the students was a pretty cheerleader. Congressman Douche had no business putting his hand on the curve of her ass regardless whether she was wearing a short skirt.

The first time. Declan took notice and gritted his teeth, telling himself it was an accident.

The second time. He was clenching his fists.

When it happened yet again, the girl flushed and flinched away from the politician. The damned congressman grabbed her arm and was speaking to the girl in a sickening skeevy voice.

Declan saw red and before he knew it, Tomlin was on the floor with blood all over his face.

“Didn’t mean to put the company in a bad light.” He stared out the window.

“Fuck the company,” Kade growled with such vehemence, it pulled Declan’s gaze back to his friend. “I told you to get help. You’re having trouble transitioning into civilian life and I get that. Fuck. Do I get that.”

“The congressman wasn’t an ideal client.”

Kade smirked. “No, he wasn’t. No immediate threats against him to feed the adrenaline junkies in us. He doesn’t really need a bodyguard, but it makes him look important. We wouldn’t have taken the job if it wasn’t a favor to Yara’s dad.”

The traffic began to move and Kade changed lanes as their exit came up.

“Let’s stop playing the politics game, shall we?”

His friend cleared his throat but didn’t respond. It was a gesture Kade was doing more lately when he didn’t know how to broach a subject. Transitioning into civilian life wasn’t easy on him either, but he had Yara to keep him centered.

As for Declan, he didn’t need a woman. He’d figure this shit out eventually. Or maybe the JAG would lift the restrictions on them and let them take jobs where they were needed.

Kade made the turn into the exit leading to Declan’s condo. “How about the Hollywood game?”

“What?”

“I know you used to live there, Roarke.”

“And I left for a goddamned reason.”

“Whoa there, buddy.” Kade laughed but threw him a shrewd look. “I know you changed your name from O’Connor to Roarke before you got accepted to Ranger school. At the time I checked, your records were sealed by the military.”

“And yet you never pried, so why bring it up now?”

“It’s relevant.”

“I’m not going back there.”

“Hear me out.”

“No.”

But his friend wasn’t easily dissuaded. This was confirmed when Kade parked the SUV instead of dropping him off at his condo.

Declan lived in a maintenance-free high-rise building in Reston.

The two-bedroom unit was enough for his needs given a job could send him across the country at a moment’s notice.

Since it was late in the evening, the front-desk concierge had left, so Declan punched in his code to open the glass doors of the vestibule that led inside the building.

“You like the area?” Kade asked as they stepped into the elevator.

“Yeah.”

“How much is it costing you?”

Declan told him how much then asked, “You and Yara plan to stay in Manhattan?”

“Both her office and ours are there so it makes sense, but we’re thinking of getting a place in Brooklyn.”

The elevator doors opened on the tenth floor. Declan had the unit farthest on the right near the stairwell. When they entered his residence, he didn’t apologize for the state of his place.

Stacks of unpacked boxes, some opened and some still sealed, laid in a row.

He had one couch, a leather recliner, and a coffee table. Strewn on its glass top were tactical magazines and stacks of books.

“Still don’t watch television?”

Declan shrugged. “No need. I’d just use it for the news, but I can get that on the tablet or my laptop. Want a beer?”

“Sure.” Kade surveyed his surroundings. “What do you do for entertainment?”

He walked to the kitchen. “Ever heard of reading, Spear?”

His friend chuckled. “When your fiancée is a staunch supporter of the performing arts, you can’t just not have a television.”

Snagging two beers from the fridge, he popped the cap off each and handed one to Kade. He leaned against the counter and took a long pull from the bottle. “You haven’t told me why Congressman Tomlin didn’t press charges.”

“He decided to forget the incident. Can’t you leave it at that?”

Kade was messing with him judging from the twinkle in his eyes and the twitch at the corners of his mouth. The grumpy soldier was a memory. Now his friend was quick to smile and was rarely in a bad mood. It was sickeningly sappy.

But he was thrilled for Kade and Yara. They deserved all the happiness after what they went through.

“Nope. Start talking, man.”

Kade contemplated his beer. “Let’s just say we found other shit on the congressman. Nothing to do with his predilection to underage teens, but we have damaging information that would turn off a majority of his conservative base.”

“Who’s we?”

“Garrison.”

“What the fuck? Is he dragging us into his shit again?”

“Well, not me,” Kade said. “But you definitely.”

“Let me guess. You volunteered me?”

“No. He said you were who he needed, and it was for your own good.”

“Motherfucking spook,” Declan snorted. “Let me get this straight. He expects me to do his shit, no questions asked.”

“Pretty much. Says he saved your ass, he’s collecting a favor.”

Declan crossed his arms. “Tell me exactly what he wants and maybe … I’m gonna do it.”

“You know we have a gig with the net streaming giant, right?”

“Primeflix? Teaching their actors survival skills. Isn’t it for some kind of sci-fi supernatural series?”

“You really need to watch TV or start streaming shows at least.”

“No thanks.”

His friend scratched his jaw. “Yara said you had movie-star good looks. Were you an actor? Wasn’t in your file.”

“You were talking about Primeflix.”

“Their main producer is Revenant Films.”

Lead weighed down his chest, making it difficult to breathe. “Go on.”

Kade eyed him closely. “You knew Peter Woodward and his daughter.”

“Why the fuck is Garrison digging into my old files?”

“It seems that it was buried in the Army’s special section recruitment databases.”

Declan took another pull from the bottle. “Not doing this. Not stepping back in fuckin’ LA.”

He looked anywhere but at Kade as uncomfortable emotions rattled around the chambers of his heart. Seconds passed and his friend stayed silent but the burn on his face from Kade’s intense stare forced him to meet his eyes. “If there’s something you want to say, say it.”

Kade cleared his throat. “Gabrielle Woodward—you were married to her.”

Hearing her name was like the proverbial gunshot to center mass.

“I’m not sure if that’s a question or a statement.” Declan couldn’t help the sarcasm that crept into his tone. “I’m assuming it’s the latter. So, let’s cut this introductory bullshit and get to the point.”

His friend exhaled heavily, a somber expression darkened over his face and suddenly, a sensation akin to panic seized Declan’s chest. “Is … is Gabby all right?”

“Peter Woodward was found dead in his Beverly Hills mansion a week ago.”

“And Gabby?” he pressed fiercely. “How … how is she?”

“As far as I know, she’s fine.”

His mouth turned dry and he swallowed with difficulty. Declan drank his beer, trying to buy himself time as he absorbed this news while wrestling with the memories that came roaring back, trying desperately to keep them in a compartment he could control. “Was he murdered?”

“Still under investigation. Detectives working the case are trying to see if it’s more than robbery and homicide. Garrison thinks it’s related to what he’s investigating.”

His eyes narrowed. “What is he investigating?”

“He wouldn’t say.”

Declan snorted a derisive laugh. “And he expects me to pack up my things and do his bidding?” He hated himself for wanting to jump on that plane to make sure his ex-wife was all right.

Not that he knew where she was at the moment, but with Revenant Films as a client, Kade had a file on her for sure. “Is Gabby in danger?”

“How much of her life did you keep up with?”

Declan clenched his jaw and averted his gaze, not wanting his friend to see the pain in his eyes he was sure he couldn’t hide. LA took two people who meant the world to him—his sister Claire, and then Gabby.

Draining his beer, he turned back to his friend. “Pretty much none of it after I left LA.”

“That bad, huh?”

Bad was an understatement. Gabby married someone else three months after the dissolution of their marriage.

It showed how little he knew her, what she thought of him, how disposable and forgettable he was.

From that moment on, and for his own sanity, he avoided news of her, refusing to look her up.

Whatever part of his heart that was capable of love was crushed in that place, and he’d gladly exchanged it with one encased in ice.

And now it was laughable how thin that ice was because given the suspicious nature of Peter’s death, there was no doubt Declan would never be at peace until he saw for himself that Gabby was all right.

Call him a sucker.

He’d been better off in ignorant bliss, which explained his avoidance of the television. But he was ignorant no more, wasn’t he?

Damn Kade.

And damn Garrison.

Circumstances had left him with one reluctant choice.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he clipped with more conviction than he was feeling. “When do I leave?”

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