Page 46 of Kyle (Gold Team #3)

Max

Un-fucking-believable.

I’d watched Declan stroll up to the front door of a small but well-kept house in a nice and quiet neighborhood and knock on the door. I’d also watched a very beautiful blonde open the door. In her defense she did scowl at him before she allowed him in.

Un-fucking-real.

I should’ve felt like a dick for following my teammate and invading his privacy, and I had, right up until I saw who’d opened the door. Now I was fucking pissed. Declan wasn’t stirring the pot, he was shaking a hornet’s nest and it wasn’t just him who was gonna get stung.

At least I now knew where he’d been sneaking off to when he said he had shit to do the last month and a half. He didn’t have shit to do, he had someone to do. Jesus Christ.

I hadn’t stopped staring at the door he’d entered thirty minutes ago and I was debating whether or not I should go knock, then knock some sense into him. This was a disaster waiting to happen. No, fuck that—this would be an atomic bomb that when detonated would wipe us all off the map.

Goddamn it.

My phone vibrated, clattering in the cupholder, and I angrily picked it up. But when I saw the caller ID, my anger slid to worry.

“Tex,” I greeted. “Everything okay?”

It was late and even though the man worked all hours of the day, his evenings were normally dedicated to his gorgeous wife Melody and their two daughters.

“I need a favor.”

“Anything,” I agreed immediately.

“I need you to go to Florida and grab a woman. You got two choices, bring her up here and Mel and I will figure out what to do with her, or you keep her until I work something else out.”

“Is there a reason you’re coming to me about this and not Zane? You know I’ll have to clear it with him first.”

“Zane’s my next call, but I wanted to talk to you first, see if you’d be willing to go.”

“Of course I’ll do it, but who is she?”

“She’s…just someone who got herself wrapped up in something she had no choice but to get involved with. She did something she’s not proud of, something she had to do, and believe me, I wouldn’t have helped her out of it unless I didn’t believe she was sorry for what she had to do.”

Well, that was cryptic as fuck, but I also knew Tex had a moral compass that pointed north.

There was no bending it, so if he said he believed her, I’d trust him, even if that trust wouldn’t be extended to the mysterious woman.

I didn’t share the same compass as Tex. Mine tended to lean into the gray and I sure as fuck didn’t trust people.

Particularly women.

Especially women who got themselves wrapped up in situations that forced them to fuck over those they’d once said they loved.

Learned my lesson and I learned it well.

“When do you need me to go?” I asked.

“She has two kids.”

Fuck!

“Right.”

“As soon as you can. The longer she’s there, the more danger she’ll be in.”

“Does she know she’s in danger?”

“No.”

Fucking hell. Great, so now I needed to go to Florida, nab a woman and her kids, and convince her it was for her own good. A woman who’d already gotten herself into enough shit that Tex had to bail her out. Perfect. Fantastic. Should be a walk in the park—not.

“But I’ll call Zane, explain the situation, then I’ll call her and tell her to expect you.”

“Don’t tell her when I’m coming, just to expect me.”

“You’re gonna investigate her.” It wasn’t a question, Tex knew me well enough to know that was exactly what I was going to do.

“Respect, Tex. I trust you. But if she got her shit jacked once, I wanna make sure she’s not playing you.”

“She’s not.” His answer was firm.

“Then me watchin’ her a few days won’t be a problem. Bonus is, she’ll have protection while I’m doing it.”

“Appreciate it. I owe you—”

“Shut the hell up with that nonsense. You owe me nothing, you always have our back.”

“Can you leave tomorrow?”

I looked back at the door Declan had disappeared into and figured the damage had been done. What was a few more days ?

“Sure can.”

“I’ll be in touch with the details.”

“Great. Later.”

I rang off with Tex, started my Jeep, and drove home, to the house I shared with Brooks, Thad, Kyle, and their women. Declan lived there, too, when he wasn’t off doing shit he wasn’t supposed to be doing.

Goddamn clusterfuck.

Now we’d have a woman and her two kids to deal with. Perfect. What’s three more people to contend with when we were still at war with Omni?

Easy day.

** To find out who the mystery woman Tex needs help with is, read Susan Stoker’s Securing Zoey .

And then pick up the next book in the Gold Team series, Maximus and find out all about what happens in the next installment!