One Down: Bayou Heat (Pantera Security League Book 1) (12 page)

“Trouble?” Hauk demanded.

Rafe grimaced. “The real estate agent left a message saying she has a buyer for my grandfather’s house.”

Hauk looked predictably confused. Rafe had been bitching about the need to get rid of his grandfather’s house since the old man’s death a year ago.

“Shouldn’t that be good news?”

“It would be if I didn’t have to travel to Newton to clean it out,” Rafe said.

“Aren’t there people you can hire to pack up the shit and send it to you?”

“Not in the middle of fucking nowhere.”

Hauk’s lips twisted into a humorless smile. “I’ve been in the middle of fucking nowhere, amigo, and it ain’t Kansas,” he said, the shadows from the past darkening his eyes.

“Newton’s in Iowa, but I get your point,” Rafe conceded. He did his best to keep the memories in the past where they belonged. Most of the time he was successful. Other times the demons refused to be leashed. “Okay, it’s not the hell hole we crawled out of, but the town might as well be living in another century. I’ll have to go deal with my grandfather’s belongings myself.”

Hauk reached to pour himself another shot of tequila from the bottle that had been waiting for them in the center of the table.

Like Rafe, he was dressed in an Oxford shirt, although his was blue instead of white, and he was wearing black dress pants instead of jeans.

“I know you think it’s a pain, but it’s probably for the best.”

Rafe glared at his friend. The last thing he wanted was to drive a thousand miles to pack up the belongings of a cantankerous old man who’d never forgiven Rafe’s father for walking away from Iowa. “Already trying to get rid of me?”

“Hell no. Of the five of us, you’re the...”

“I’m afraid to ask,” Rafe muttered as Hauk hesitated.

“The glue,” he at last said.

Rafe gave a bark of laughter. He’d been called a lot of things over the years. Most of them unrepeatable. But glue was a new one. “What the hell does that mean?”

Hauk settled back in his seat. “Lucas is the smooth-talker, Max is the heart, Teagan is the brains and I’m the organizer.” The older man shrugged. “You’re the one who holds us all together. ARES would never have happened without you.”

Rafe couldn’t argue. After returning to the States, the five of them had been transferred to separate hospitals to treat their numerous injuries. It would have been easy to drift apart. The natural instinct was to avoid anything that could remind them of the horror they’d endured.

But Rafe had quickly discovered that returning to civilian life wasn’t a simple matter of buying a home and getting a 9-to-5 job.

He couldn’t bear the thought of being trapped in a small cubicle eight hours a day, or returning to an empty condo that would never be a home.

It felt way too much like the prison he’d barely escaped.

Besides, he found himself actually missing the bastards.

Who else could understand his frustrations? His inability to relate to the tedious, everyday problems of civilians? His lingering nightmares?

So giving into his impulse, he’d phoned Lucas, knowing he’d need the man’s deep pockets to finance his crazy scheme. Astonishingly, Lucas hadn’t even hesitated before saying ‘yes.’ It’d been the same for Hauk and Max and Teagan.

All of them had been searching for something that would not only use their considerable skills, but would make them feel as if they hadn’t been put out to pasture like bulls that were past their prime.

And that was how ARES had been born.

Now he frowned at the mere idea of abandoning his friends when they were on the cusp of realizing their dream.

“Then why are you encouraging me to leave town when we’re just getting ready to open for business?”

“Because he was your family.”

“Bull. Shit.” Rafe growled. “The jackass turned his back on my father when he joined the army. “He never did a damned thing for us.”

“And that’s why you need to go,” Hauk insisted. “You need—”

“You say the word closure and I’ll put my fist down your throat,” Rafe interrupted, grabbing his glass and tossing back the shot of tequila.

Hauk ignored the threat with his usual arrogance. “Call it what you want, but until you forgive the old man for hurting your father it’s going to stay a burr in your ass.”

Rafe shrugged. “It matches my other burrs.”

Without warning, Hauk leaned forward, his expression somber. “Rafe, it’s going to take a couple of weeks before we’re up and running. Finish your business and come back when you’re ready.”

Rafe narrowed his gaze. There was no surprise that Hauk was pressing him to deal with his past. Deep in his heart, Rafe knew his friend was right.

But he could hear the edge in Hauk’s voice that made him suspect this was more than just a desire to see Rafe dealing with his resentment toward his grandfather. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“Hell, I have a thousand things I don’t tell you,” Hauk mocked, lifting his glass with a mocking smile. “I am a vast, boundless reservoir of knowledge.”

A classic deflection. Rafe laid his palms on the table, leaning forward. “You’re also full of shit.” His voice was hard with warning. “Now spill.”

“Pushy bastard.” Hauk’s smile disappeared. “Fine. There was another note left on my desk.”

Rafe hissed in frustration.

The first note had appeared just days after they’d first arrived in Houston.

It’d been left in Hauk’s car with a vague warning that he was being watched.

They’d dismissed it as a prank. Then a month later a second note had been taped to the front door of the office building they’d just rented.

This one had said the clock was ticking.

Once again Hauk had tried to pretend it was nothing, but Teagan had instantly installed a state of the art alarm system, while Lucas had used his charm to make personal friends among the local authorities and encouraged them to keep a close eye on the building.

“What the fuck?” Rafe clenched his teeth as a chill inched down his spine. He had a really, really bad feeling about the notes. “Did you check the security footage?”

“Well gosh, darn,” Hauk drawled. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“No need to be a smartass.”

Hauk drained his glass of tequila. “But I’m so good at it.”

“No shit.”

Hauk pushed aside his empty glass and met Rafe’s worried gaze.

“Look, everything that can be done is being done. Teagan has tapped into the traffic cameras. Unless our visitor is a ghost he’ll eventually be spotted arriving or leaving. Max is working his forensic magic on the note, and Lucas has asked the local cops to contact the neighboring businesses to see if they’ve noticed anything unusual.”

“I don’t like this, Hauk.”

“It’s probably some whackadoodle I’ve pissed off,” the older man assured him. “Not everyone finds me as charming as you do.”

Rafe gave a short, humorless laugh. Hauk was intelligent, fiercely loyal, and a natural leader. He could also be cold, arrogant, and inclined to assume he was always right. “Hard to believe.”

“I know, right?” Hauk batted his lashes. “I’m a doll.”

“You’re a pain in the ass, but no one gets to threaten you but me,” Rafe said. “These notes feel...off.”

Hauk reached to pour himself another shot, his features hardening into an expression that warned he was done with the discussion.

“We’ve got it covered, Rafe. Go to Kansas.”

“Iowa.”

“Wherever.” Hauk grabbed the cellphone on the table and pressed it into Rafe’s hand. “Take care of the house.”

Rafe reluctantly rose to his feet. He could argue until he was blue in the face, but Hauk would deal with the threat in his own way.

“Call if you need me.”

“Yes, mother.”

With a roll of his eyes, Rafe made his way through the crowd that filled the bar, ignoring the inviting glances from the women who deliberately stepped into his path.

He was man enough to fully appreciate what was on offer. But since his return stateside he’d discovered the promise of a fleeting hookup left him cold.

He didn’t know what he wanted, but he hadn’t found it yet.

He’d just reached the door when he met Teagan entering the bar.

The large, heavily muscled man with dark caramel skin, golden eyes and his hair shaved close to his skull didn’t look like a computer wizard. Hell, he looked like he should be riding with the local motorcycle gang. And it wasn’t just that his arms were covered with tattoos or that he was wearing fatigues and leather shit-kickers.

It was in the air of violence that surrounded him and his don’t-screw-with-me expression.

Of course, he’d been thrown in jail at the age of thirteen for hacking into a bank to make his mother’s car loan disappear. So he’d never been the traditional nerd.

“I’m headed out.”

“So early?” Teagan glanced toward the crowd that was growing progressively louder. “The party’s just getting started.”

“I’ll take a rain check.” Rafe said. “I’m leaving town for a few days.”

“Business?”

“Family.”

“Fuck,” Teagan muttered.

The man rarely discussed his past, but he’d never made a secret of the fact he deeply resented the father who’d beaten his mother nearly to death before abandoning both of them.

“Exactly,” Rafe agreed before leaning forward to keep anyone from overhearing his words. “Keep an eye on Hauk. I don’t think he’s taking the threats seriously enough.”

“Got a hunch?” Teagan demanded.

Rafe nodded, as always surprised at how easily his friends accepted his gut instincts. “If someone wanted to hurt him, they wouldn’t send a warning,” he pointed out. “Especially not when he’s surrounded by friends who are experts in tracking down and destroying enemies.”

Teagan nodded. “True.”

“So either the bastard has a death-wish. Or he’s playing a game of cat and mouse.”

“What would be the point?”

Rafe didn’t have a clue. But people didn’t taunt a man as dangerous as Hauk unless they were prepared for the inevitable conclusion.

One of them would die.

Rafe gave a sharp shake of his head. “Let’s hope we have culprit in custody when we find out. Otherwise...”

“Nothing’s going to happen to him, my man.” Teagan grabbed Rafe’s shoulder. “Not on my watch.”

Alexandra Ivy
is a
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of the Guardians of Eternity, as well as the Sentinels, Dragons of Eternity and ARES series. After majoring in theatre she decided she prefers to bring her characters to life on paper rather than stage. She lives in Missouri with her family. Visit her website at alexandraivy.com.

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author,
Laura Wright
is passionate about romantic fiction. Though she has spent most of her life immersed in acting, singing and competitive ballroom dancing, when she found the world of writing and books and endless cups of coffee she knew she was home. Laura is the author of the bestselling Mark of the Vampire series and the USA Today bestselling series, Bayou Heat, which she co-authors with Alexandra Ivy.

Laura lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two young children and three loveable dogs.