LOGAN SEAL Team Seven (Book 2) (2 page)

I’ve seen the underbelly of mankind when I was in the trenches. Society can get fucked; I’m tagging her ass from the get. Wherever she goes, I’m gonna know, not because I wanna control her, but because I wanna keep every other motherfucker out there with an agenda away from what’s mine, and keep her ass safe at the same time.

Her dad is one of those who don’t know the difference, either that or he thinks that’s his role and had a hard time relinquishing that shit to someone else, especially someone like yours truly. I’m sure I’m nobody’s ideal of their little girl’s prince charming; I could give a fuck and told him so in no uncertain terms. If he or anyone else in this town thought I was giving her up because of their fucked up prejudices, they were out their fucking minds.

Things were a little more civil between us these days. I guess a couple of weeks without any contact had been too much for her mother and she had put her foot down. My girl had stood her ground, if her dad didn’t apologize to me she would never step foot back in their home again. What she didn’t understand was I hadn’t punched her father in the face because he’d insulted me, but because of the insult to her.

She was priceless as far as I was concerned and her happiness meant more to me than anything else. If I’d thought for one second that me being in her life wasn’t good for her, I loved her enough that I would’ve walked away, okay that’s a fucking lie but whatever. I admit to a shitload of selfishness on my part, Gabriella is the best thing that has ever happened to me, no one or nothing had ever given me that feeling of completeness I get when I am with her, there was no way I was giving that up, not for anything.

I’d given my blood for my country, why the fuck didn’t I deserve one of the best it had to offer? Meanwhile I hadn’t been looking for her, but that didn’t stop me from going all in.

Not even the unmerciful teasing I’d had to endure from my brothers had swayed me; I was locked in there for good. The thought didn’t even scare me anymore, not like it did in the beginning when all I could think is ‘what the blue fuck?’

The fact that she loved me made life a hell of a lot more bearable than it had been before. I didn’t have the best of childhoods, my mother was a truck stop waitress, who got knocked up by a trucker, who used to come through town and sell her dreams. Until the day she told him she was pregnant and she never laid eyes on him again. As a kid, I spent lots of time alone. Being raised in a small- town, people didn’t follow the same tenets as big city dwellers.

No one thought too much about a young single mom leaving her five-year old son alone while she went out to make a living during the summer months when school was out. That kid learned a lot about the streets at an early age.

The old guys who hung around at the local bar didn’t have any problem teaching him the facts of life. When most kids my age was learning to read and write, I was learning the ins and outs of a hard knock life.

Mom did the best she could I don’t hold anything against the old girl. In fact, after I started making real money a few years ago, I’d set her up in a nice little house in the middle of town. It had always been her dream, the white picket fence, and the little flower garden. I made sure she had everything she’d ever wanted, including a cruise every year for her birthday for her and one of her girlfriends. She didn’t need to work anymore if she didn’t want to, but she liked to always be doing stuff, so she’d taken up sewing, and now had a nice little business.

Some of my old mentors had passed on a lot of knowledge. The less hardcore had taught me that an education was the best escape from Thomasville. The thing is, I never wanted to escape my town, I loved the picturesque small town with the Rockies as a backdrop; no I wanted to escape poverty.

I went into the service where I met my brothers and the commander, which led me here to another small town on the other side of the country, and her, my fucking life.

My brothers and I had our shit together, I made sure of that. And with the inheritance from the commander, we were pretty much set. All that was missing for each of us was a good woman. My brother Connor had found his with my new little sister Danielle and I was pretty sure the others won’t be far behind, no matter how much they bitched and moaned.

The only fly in my ointment was the illegal activities that seemed to be plaguing our little slice of heaven. That, and the fact that pretty soon I was gonna have to leave and go take care of something for Uncle Sam, the fuck.

When she was through prattling away at me about everything under the sun, we had a rushed breakfast together. Being in the service had taught me a lot of disciplines and structure and shit, so I was big on doing things a certain way.

Not that I was regimented or anything like that, but I believed having some kind of routine between us would work, so breakfast together in the mornings and dinner at night was a must. We fucked around the clock so I had no fear of shit going dry there. If I hadn’t been running late, we would’ve been at whomever’s turn it was to cook this morning, another one of our traditions I aim to keep.

“I want you home before dark and don’t let the sunset catch you in the other town you hear me?” I was expecting an argument, she argues me to death about everything, and sometimes I let her, if it’s not a big deal, other times, like now, all it takes is a look.

“But Logan we have so much to do. I know to a man it might not seem like much, but planning a wedding is not a nine to five operation.” I guess my silence alerted her to the danger she was about to walk her ass right into. I’d told her about that shit, but things were still new and it looked like it was gonna take her some more time yet, to get the hang of this shit.

She looked up from her bowl of fruit and caught the look on my face, nothing sinister, just a raised brow; but that was enough to have her backtracking and acting like she had some damn sense. “Fine, I’ll be home before dark.”

“The fuck is it that y’all got to do today anyway, build the damn hall?”

“Very funny Logan, I will have you know, we’re looking at patterns for the tables and chairs, we still haven’t chosen the crystal…”

Her mouth was moving but I wasn’t hearing shit. I held my hand up for her to stop. “Sorry I asked.” Was Connor really getting involved in this shit? I have got to have a word with my brother; this was some female shit, and no place for warriors.

“I know that look Logan and you promised so don’t even.”

“The fuck did I promise?” I drank the last of my coffee and rose to leave before she talked me into some shit I was not even interested in, she’s good at that shit. Usually she waits ‘til I’m inside her to start her shit, but if she’s pulling her stunts at the damn breakfast table that means I’ve been slipping.

“You said we could discuss this stuff and you’d help but so far you always come up with excuses…”

“Uh huh and when did we have this conversation about me having anything to do with this shit, or more to the point, handing over my balls? Just book the church, put on a dress and let’s do this shit already.” I knew she was gonna have something to say about that, and was in no way surprised by the loud screech. My baby can make some annoying ass noises when she wants to.

I put my shit in the dishwasher and tried to make my escape before she wound down. If that bottom lip of hers starts to tremble she can talk me into pretty much anything, so I needed to be out of dodge in case that shit was next on her agenda. “But Logan…”

“Ehhhh, gotta go to work baby.” I kept my eyes forward as I held up my hand for silence and beat feet for the door. Fucking sly ass female, she sped up behind me and I moved faster, it was a bitch move but what the fuck was I supposed to do?

The woman was driving me crazy with this shit. Connor was looking like he was weakening on this front and I’d be fucked if I’m gonna be knee deep in tulle and flowers and whatever the fuck else she’s always lecturing me about when it comes to the wedding.

That shit’ll just be fodder for Ty and his smartass mouth, and I really didn’t want to have to off one of my brothers over this shit. But if he called me bitch made one more time because of this wedding shit, I’m gonna have to cap him.

Chapter 3

LOGAN

“You fucks ready let’s roll.” They were lined off like sentinels outside in my yard waiting for me. I ignored their disrespectful smirks and grabbed the cup of coffee Connor held out to me. It was his turn for breakfast again I guess, then again since he’d brought Dani home I don’t think any of the others had seriously taken up cooking duty again.

It was sexist I know, but I preferred a good home cooked meal prepared by someone who knew what the fuck they were doing, to a half ass job by one of my brothers. The bra burners could go fuck themselves. Gabriella was shy about cooking for them for some reason, but I wasn’t about to push her, she’d come around when she was ready or the fucks could eat take out when it was our turn.

“We were waiting for you bro damn, it’s getting harder and harder to get a move on these days. Those of us who aren’t leg shackled would like to get the day started at a decent hour you know.”

Quinn was always the other one starting some shit. It’s like he and Tyler took turns being the assholes of the bunch. I took a sip of hickory and headed for my bike.

“Fuck you Quinn.” The laughter that followed brought a smile to my face. Things had been kind of tense since we’d got the orders that were still up in the air.

We were all just getting into the groove of things here and no one was looking forward to heading back into the deep dark hole that was this war. Especially since we’d already fought this particular fight once before; it smacked of repetition.

Not to mention it was extremely rare to be given a heads-up about an upcoming mission like this one. Usually an order came in and you had to be out in the next five minutes, no questions.

I wasn’t too thrilled about that and I’m sure my brothers were probably starting to think along the same lines, but we were all waiting to see which way the wind blows. If anything looks too hinky to me I’d scratch the fuck no questions, I wasn’t about to walk my team into some fucked up situation that some asshole in a higher position pulled together out his ass.

It’s been known to happen more than the American public may know. That’s what happens when assholes start using the armed men and women of the nation as their own personal mercs, evil, twisted fucks.

On top of that we’d made some moves that could set things off here in our own backyard, and we were waiting to see the results from that. After much deliberation we’d gone ahead and moved the laundered money that someone had put in Danielle’s name through her family’s charity. Robert her ex was still insisting that he didn’t know who he was working for and Crampton had given up all he had. Whoever was pulling their strings was still in the shadows, which was a dangerous thing for all involved; it was like chasing smoke.

Our stakeouts down at the pier still hadn’t given up anything and the old guys weren’t having any luck either. It’s as if whoever we were dealing with had eyes and ears all around and knew when to lay low.

I didn’t like that theory, it spoke volumes as to what we might be dealing with here and that wasn’t good. I guess we could’ve called in local law enforcement by now, but what were we gonna tell them? And besides, we’re not big on trusting that shit. More often than not those fuckers were on the take. How else can you explain an operation that was so well insulated? Nah, I’ll hold off on that for now

***

We rode out in formation, some of us on our bikes and some in trucks, according to what role we were gonna play today. Sometimes someone had to make a supply run or some shit, so a bike wasn’t gonna cut it. I could see why the people here were still getting used to us we were a militant a little bunch to be sure. Even the way we rode shouted military, do not fuck with us. Add the tats and shit and well you had blueprint for stereotyping.

Quinn and Ty were fucking with Connor in his truck, tailgating him like fucking teenagers as they left through the gate. I waited for the others to pull out ahead of me as I sat my ride. I always ride in the back just in case some shit is about to go down. Cowards hardly ever come at you straight on, so I knew whatever popped off would more than likely come from the rear. I wasn’t expecting shit to go there in this little town, but I was trained to prepare for anything, and never let them catch you slipping.

My phone rang just as I turned the key in the ignition. I didn’t check the readout because I thought it was my woman. She likes to call and fill my ear with cutesy shit to start my day off, even though I’d just left her body not an hour ago.

“Hey.” I was already smiling like a sap.

“Do you know what your commander was up to before he died?”

“Say what?”

“You should really look into that before you go digging into things that don’t have anything to do with you. Some of us don’t appreciate nosy fuckers messing around in our business.” The line went dead. I slammed out of the truck with my hand up in the command position. I was sure they could all see me since we hadn’t cleared the fucking property yet.

To a man they all stopped and came towards me, faces already set in stern lines because they knew some shit had gone down. I waited until they were all within spitting distance so my words wouldn’t carry.

“Just got a call, don’t know who yet, but listen.” I’d hit record on my phone as soon as the robotic voice had started talking. The same message replayed and my brothers already had their backs up before it was over.

“That’s bullshit.”

“Of course it is Connor, we know that. But this hump is obviously up to something. We gotta think, why would they go to all this trouble, for what? Did you hear him say ‘nosy fuckers in our business? What have we been sniffing around in lately?”

“Whatever the fuck is going on around here might be more than we first thought. If they’re making voice altering phone calls and shit like this is a damn action movie, we must be getting too close. But this crosses the fucking line, what does he mean what the commander was up to?”