Page 28 of The Ranger (Black Hawke Security #5)

COLE

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T urn back.

Every bone in my body—even the one she hates right now—is screaming at me to turn around and go back to my house.

Leaving Zara and Scarlett is hard for two obvious reasons. One; they were recently kidnapped, and two; I’m on the verge of losing them.

Oh, and three; Zara is a newborn. I might not be her mother, but the need to protect her is all encompassing.

I couldn’t share how I felt because I’d just get accused of wanting sex. Okay fine, maybe not, but I’m mad and confused.

I want to wring her neck and tell her to wake up and realize there’s a man standing in front of her who’s madly in love with her and to stop being a stubborn and defensive goddamn idiot.

Jerking off last night wasn’t even enjoyable. Yes, I want to fuck her, but I want to make love to her, and what is wrong with that?

It’s not like I’ve abandoned her and Zara at any damn point.

I feel like a muttering old lady as my thoughts go around and around my head.

Perhaps I’m the one in denial.

You think I want you to stay so I can have sex on tap and my daughter here full-time?

Jesus.

She may as well have called me my father and been done with it. I have tried to do everything right. Give her space, protect her—fine, I failed at that last week—and was even willing to name our kid after Mother-Goddamn-Nature.

Thankfully, it was a Scarlett prank.

Now I’m moody, horny and torn between doing my job and racing back to stand guard in front of the two most important people in my life. Because they are.

I don’t want them to leave.

They both belong to me. What do I have to do to get her to fucking understand that?

I pull into the parking lot at BHS much too quickly and then call Theo, who is sitting in a car outside my house. Josh offered security until Chen is behind bars, and I wasn’t saying no.

“They’re fine.” Theo answers on the first ring. “You left fifteen minutes ago.”

The guy is special ops like me, so fully capable of protecting them. But who am I kidding? If I’m not there, it’s not enough.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll call again soon.”

“I’ve got this, Cole. Focus on the meeting,” Theo replies.

I end the call and climb out of the Maserati, then head upstairs.

Jake Murphy, my favorite Marshal (cough) is standing with Josh, Aidan and Ryder in the lunchroom sipping a cup of coffee. Like he belongs here.

“Congratulations on becoming a dad,” he says when he spots me.

“Thanks. Catch my wife’s kidnapper yet?”

Josh lifts a brow at the title.

Not yet, but she will be , and Jake Murphy doesn’t need to know that.

“Yup. Two hours ago,” he says like it’s no big deal while I recoil.

I look at my teammates. “Really?”

“Stopped at customs. Trying to leave the country under a different name.” Josh smiles, walking to the sink to rinse his cup.

“Thank fuck.” I run a hand up and down my jaw.

We all walk over to a table and sit.

“Have you told Dr. Whitaker?” I ask, referring to Nathan. “Wait, what about the chip?”

Jesus, my own personal worries aside, there was national security at stake here. Fortunately, I was able to mentally put that aside and focus on my kid coming into the world.

Zara.

I wonder if she’s asleep or feeding.

I wonder if Scarlett is missing me or plotting my death.

“We searched the cargo at the ports after getting a court order,” Jake replies. “Took some time and a lot of resources, but as it turns out he wasn’t able to get it put into the South Korean shipment.”

“There were only two chips missing from QuantumCore,” Aidan shares. “As far as Nathan can tell. Both were in Chen’s luggage. Very well hidden, but we found them.”

“All staff have been interrogated, and the system has been audited, so it looks to be accurate,” Josh adds quickly when I open my mouth to ask that very question.

Jake nods at Josh then turns to me.

“We will continue investigating and digging deeper, but it looks like we stopped what could have been a globally disastrous turn of events.”

“Great job, Cole.” Josh reaches out and slaps my shoulder.

“Thank fuck. What a week.” I laugh.

“This afternoon I’ll be briefing the man at the top,” Jake says, meaning POTUS, and it really starts to sink in now just how critical stopping Chen was. “He’ll be happy to know it never left US soil.”

Ryder stands and reaches out his hand to Jake. “Hey, it was a pleasure working with you guys.”

Ah, what?

“You too. I wish I had the resources you guys do for every job we work on.” Jake shakes his hand. “We’d get a shitload more done.”

Aidan and Josh share a knowing look.

What the hell did I miss?

“See you this weekend.” Ryder slaps him on the shoulder.

“What’s this weekend?” I ask, frowning.

“Dude. Marshall and Trina’s wedding.” Aidan shoots me a look. “That is, if you are both up to it. You and your wife .”

Dickface.

“I’m sure my wife will want to attend, but I’ll check with Scarlett tonight.”

How did Jake get an invitation to the damn wedding? I’m just gonna say it; the guy isn’t exactly a charmer, but he seems to have bonded with everyone like they went through a fucking war together.

I keep staring from face to face, waiting for the penny to drop.

Jake stretches out his legs and crosses his ankles and laughs. “You know I’m a US Marshall right?”

“You may have mentioned it,” I mutter.

A few times .

“So, I know you two aren’t married.” He grins. “Am I missing something?”

“No?”

Penny walks in. “Hi, Jake!”

“Hey, Penny. No cookies today?”

What in the flying fuck...

“You are worse than this lot.” She mock laughs, waving him off. “Maybe next week. You will have to visit.”

Then she grabs a bottle of water and walks out. I glance at Josh, then Aidan, then Jake, and Ryder.

Josh laughs. “A lot has happened the past few days. We’ll catch you up. Nathan is on his way to wrap up the job, so I wanted you to be here to sign off and talk about when you’re coming back to work.”

Christ. I didn’t officially take the time off; I just didn’t come in.

“If you need me, I can come in tomorrow. Or stay today,” I offer, despite wanting to get home to my girls.

My wife.

It rolls off the tongue.

And yet, I was the one who announced I wasn’t asking her to marry me.

If I could take back those words, I would.

“Take the rest of the week.” Josh says, then glances over at the door when Penny pops her head back in.

“Nathan is here.”

I follow them all down to the boardroom, where Dr. Whitaker is waiting for us. We sit and start going through the details, but all I can see in my mind is Scarlett in a wedding dress walking down the aisle toward me.

She’s wearing black, of course.

Zara is tossing rose petals on the ground before her.

My two girls.

The meeting wraps up quickly, and an hour later, I’m back on the road and headed home.

With Chen now in custody, there’s nothing to keep them at my house. I have to be truthful and tell Scarlett it’s safe to go home.

My chest tightens, and I’m pretty sure a piece of my heart just got torn off.