Promises: Part I (Bounty Hunters Book 1)
Read Promises: Part I (Bounty Hunters Book 1) Online
Authors: A.E. Via
Promises – Part One
Bounty Hunters I
Published By: Via Star Wings Books
Copyright © September 2015
Edited By: Ally Editorial Services
http://allyeditorialservices.weebly.com/
Cover Art By: Jay Aheer of Simply Defined Art
Formatting & Illustrations By: Fancy Pants Formatting
http://www.fancypantsformatting.com
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author, Adrienne E. Via.
No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without permission from Adrienne E. Via. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights and livelihood is appreciated.
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following trademarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Academy Award: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: adidas: adidas America Inc.
Amazon.com: Amazon.com, Inc.
Armageddon
: Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Valhalla Motion Pictures
Arrow
: Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television
“At Last”: Mack Gordon and Harry Warren : Audi: Audi of America
Bleu De Chanel
: CHANEL, Inc.: Bluetooth: Bluetooth SIG, Inc.
Catfish
: MTV Networks: Chevrolet Nova: General Motors
Chevrolet Silverado: General Motors: Clarks: C & J Clark America Inc
Coke: THE COCA-COLA COMPANY: Crown Royal: The Crown Royal Company
Dallas Cowboys:
NFL Enterprises LLC.:
Deadliest Catch
: Discovery Network, Original Productions
Die Hard
: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Gordon Company, Silver Pictures
Dockers: LEVI STRAUSS & CO.:
Dodge: Chrysler Group LLC.: Dolby: Dolby Laboratories
Ford F350: Ford Motor Company : Glock: GLOCK, Inc.
Google: Google Inc.:
GQ
: Condé Nast
Ice Road Truckers
: Original Productions, A Fremantle Company, History Channel
Ideal Home
: Time, Inc. (UK) Ltd Homes Network: Jell-O: Kraft Foods
Macy’s: Macy’s, Inc. (formerly known as Federated Department Stores, Inc.)
McDonald’s: McDonald’s:
Men’s Health
: Rodale Inc.
MTV: Viacom International Inc.: Netflix: Netflix, Inc.
Northmen: A Viking Saga
: Elite Filmproduktion, Jumping Horse Film, Two Oceans Production (TOP), Anchor Bay Entertainment
Parker Duofold: Parker
Person of Interest
: Kilter Films, Bad Robot, Warner Bros. Television, CBS
Polo: Ralph Lauren Coproration: Ralph Lauren: Ralph Lauren Coproration
Range Rover: Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC: Sig Sauer: Sig Sauer, Inc.
Solo: Dart Container Corporation : Superman: DC Comics, A Warner Bros. Entertainment Company
TASER
:
TASER International, Inc.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
: Spartina Productions, CBS Television Studios
To Catch a Predator
: NBCNEWS:
To Kill a Mockingbird
: Harper Lee
Vicodin: AbbVie Inc.
I’m so glad I was able to finally give Duke the HEA he so deserved after Judge left him to follow his own path. Duke holds a very special place in my heart so I had to put him with a man that wasn’t as hardcore and rough as what Duke was used to being around. Welcome…Vaughan Webb, Esquire. But because of their age difference and of course, Vaughan being Duke’s best friend’s son, I had to develop a situation that would make Vaughan undeniably the best thing to happen to Duke. I hope you enjoy their story.
As usual I had a lot of help putting this story together from a group of very talented people and long list of friends.
I have to thank my family for all their support and understanding of the long days and nights closed up in my office. My husband is the most patient and understanding man in the world and I love him with everything I have.
Tina Adamski of course is the most amazing editor, not to mention the most amazing
person
I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. She doesn’t even blink at my ridiculous deadlines and I appreciate her most for that. You don’t find many editors that respect or even give a damn about deadlines or release dates. I’m really fortunate to have this very talented lady on my team.
Casey of Fancy Pants Formatting, as always, thank you for coming through and putting everything together into a beautiful package. You were also extremely patient and lenient as always. Thank you so very much
Of course, the biggest thank you I can express goes to Jay Aheer for the amazing cover. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Thank you! It’s absolutely perfect to start out the series. The graphics, posters, teasers, just everything you do always blows my mind. You are an amazing artist and so easy to work with. I look forward to working with you a lot more.
Thank you to Andrea Goodell, River Mitchell, Jennifer Wedmore, Pam Ebler, and Stephanie LaSalle of Man2Mantastic Blog for beta reading for me. You are the ladies I run to for advice with every book. You know my passion, you love my guys, and I trust your opinions. Thank you very much.
To my dedicated fans and the new ones. I love you to pieces. I hope you enjoy this book and continue to watch for more real soon.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Get 'em before he goes in that house Duke!” Quick’s deep voice could be heard a half block away. Knowing that his long-time trusted friend was there always made doing the job that much easier. Quick was not only his best friend, but his most efficient bounty hunter. He rarely made mistakes and his retrievals were almost always clean.
Duke saw his bail skipper clear the four-foot fence, running full speed towards a small, ranch-style home whose front yard was littered with toys.
Oh no. Not kids
. Duke only had a second to decide if he could clear that gate. He wasn’t a spring chicken at forty-five years old and aging–what felt like every day. Duke pumped his legs faster and leaped into the air, his back foot just grazing the top of the fence. He landed harder than he wanted, losing speed as he righted himself.
Fuck me, that hurt
.
The young bail skipper dodged a few toys but face planted into the kiddie pool when he turned to gauge Duke’s distance. Double-timing it, Duke hurled himself forward and collided with the kid’s back, sending him back down to the wet grass with an angry thud. Air left Duke’s lungs with the impact, but he didn’t have time to rest. He scrambled to get the scared kid’s hands behind his back.
“Stop fighting, Troy,” Duke hissed. “It’s over. It’s over.”
After tussling for a few more seconds, Quick was there, coming down on one knee and helping secure the skip’s other arm. “Easy kid. Easy,” Quick grumbled, his voice like something out of a scary movie.
Duke let Quick take over and crab walked backwards, plopping down on his ass to drop his head between his knees, still gasping for breath.
“You alright over there?” Quick laughed, his green eyes glistening with humor, while zip tying their skip’s hands behind his back.
“Yeah, I’m good, man. But that fuckin’ fence wasn’t a great idea.” Duke huffed a breath.
When they heard the sound of tires squealing, Duke and Quick both rolled their eyes. “Why the fuck does he always do that?”
“Beats the fuck out of me.” Duke shrugged. “It’s like the cliché scene in action movies; when the cavalry comes barreling up the street, lights and sirens blaring—after all the shit has already gone down.”
Quick pulled their skip up to his feet. “When you gonna let Charlie go, man? He’s not feeling this anymore, Duke, and you know it. He hardly shows up to the office, much less for recon; which is his damn job.”
Duke raised his hand, cutting off Quick’s tirade, because he knew the man could go on for days. “I’m not firing him. He was my dad’s right hand man, and when I took over this business I swore that Charlie would always be welcome.”
“This is a business, Duke. Now that Judge is gone and you’re back in the field again, we all need to be capable, or someone’s gonna get hurt. This ain’t a barbershop, dude. No loitering,” Quick urged.
“Shut up. Here he comes.”
“Duke.”
“We’ll talk about this later. Now shush.”
“Boss, you okay? Got here as fast as I could. There was traffic on Cascade Ave,” Charlie said, out of breath, like the short walk from the truck to the yard where they waited took a lot out of him.
“You do know you can put the siren on and go through the traffic, right?” Quick said sarcastically. Duke shot his friend a warning scowl.
“I didn’t want to scare anyone,” Charlie said defensively.
Duke stood up. “It’s cool, Charlie. Here. Load our skip up and get him ready for transport. Call County and let ‘em know we’re coming in.”
“Duke, please. I was gonna go to court. I swear,” Troy whined.
Duke shook his head sadly. Troy was only twenty years old. He’d been arrested more than a few times on petty drug charges since he was seventeen, and Duke had bailed him out every time. But this was the fourth time in two years that Troy hadn’t shown up for court, and instead of Duke taking Troy’s mom’s car – which she’d used as collateral this time – he chose to pick him up. Bail skippers were the most unpredictable defendants they dealt with. They made a million promises to get out on bail, but once they were released they had no loyalty.
“Your court date was nine days ago, Troy. You are breaking your momma’s heart. She hasn’t seen you in days. Getting off these streets is the best thing for you right now, buddy. You’re gonna have to stay behind bars until your next appearance is scheduled.”
Quick and Duke stood there talking while Charlie ambled over to the large, gutted-out Silverado and loaded Troy into the back.
“He should’ve retired ten years ago.” Quick checked his weapons while they walked back to Duke’s truck.
“Maybe. But everyone doesn’t retire at sixty anymore,” Duke said wearily.
“No. Most people retire from this job by fifty. He can’t run at all, his reflexes are nonexistent. He shouldn’t be in the field like that. It’s dangerous,” Quick retorted. “Hey. Maybe we can throw him a surprise retirement party and just have him show up to realize he’s the guest of honor.”
Duke laughed, slapping his friend on his broad shoulder. “I don’t think that’ll work.”
“You’d better think of something.” Quick got in the passenger side of Duke’s F350. They followed Charlie, driving less than forty miles per hour, to the jail so Duke could make sure the paperwork was done correctly. As much as he hated to admit it, Quick was right. Charlie was having a hard time pulling the hours needed to do the job. His eyesight hindered him when using the computers and especially doing surveillance. He’d have to come up with a tactful way to retire Charlie. If his hunters didn’t want to have Charlie in the field covering their backs, he had to do what made his employees feel safe.
“That’s fucked up about Troy, huh?” Quick threw his last dart, this one hitting in the outer ring of the bull’s-eye. He pumped his fist and went to the board to count up his points. Duke drank another gulp of his dark lager and took up his spot to throw next.
“Yeah, it is. Never thought he’d skip on me. He used to always show up for court, but he’s changed the last year or so.”
“He’s caught up in that crowd.”
“I really feel for his mom, ya know. That woman’s been through enough.” Duke stood about eight feet back and aimed to throw his first dart. This was their ritual after securing a bail skipper or bounty. They needed to unwind and have a little fun. Since they were both older and single, their night of fun usually consisted of beer, darts, pool; sometimes watching a game at their favorite sports bar. Random conquests never made the list. Duke had been there, done that. That ship had sailed when his last chance to fall in love hightailed it out of his bed and into the arms of a hotshot detective right here in Atlanta. Speaking of… “Judge was supposed to be meeting us here.”
Quick snorted. “He can’t get away from that hottie long enough to meet up.”
Duke jerked his head back, a coy smile curving his lips. “You think Detective Michaels is hot?”
Quick flicked him off. “Not in that way. Well if I went that way… you know… He’s no Brad Pitt. I-I mean, he’s not ugly. If I was that way… But I’m not… Soooo….”
“Shut the hell up.” Duke threw the dart, not really caring where it landed. “He better get in here soon so he can update me on the new case.”
“I still can’t believe you let him run your PI business after what he did to you.”
Duke threw his last dart and sat down next to his friend. “He didn’t do anything
to
me. He met someone and fell for him. What did it have to do with me?”
“But weren’t y’all sleeping together at the time? You were practically in lov—”
“Hey!” Duke cut Quick off. “I wasn’t in love with Judge. I liked him. We had a comfortable arrangement. That’s it. It was nice for a time and then it was over.”
“Mmm hmm.”
“He’s a good man and a damn good business partner. A real man doesn’t let petty shit— like the loss of good sex—fuck up his money. I needed someone to run that side of my business and Judge was… is the best man for the job.”
“Mmm hmm,” Quick hummed again, with his beer bottle to his lips.
Quick’s tone said it all. He was calling Duke on his bullshit. But Duke needed to say those things about Judge out loud over and over.
I don’t need Judge. I especially don’t need love
. Anything to get through the long, lonely nights. He’d had to admit to himself though, that he’d probably liked Judge a whole lot more than he let on, but the man had made his choice and it wasn’t Duke. How could he compete with a guy that was twenty years his junior? He was guessing; he had no clue what Michaels’ actual age was – with his perfect hair and exciting job. He was smart, adventurous…
What the fuck am I doing?
Duke frowned. He didn’t need to think about them.
“Anyway. He had better let us know what’s up soon. I’m a partner in this business, too, and I don’t give a damn if he has David Beckham in his bed. He needs to keep us up to date with what’s going on over there. Monthly reports were a stipulation when he agreed to run the Atlanta PI office.” Quick signaled for the waitress, ordering them another round of beers.
Duke grinned, watching his friend.
“What?” Quick grumbled.
“You think David Beckham is hot too, huh? You know. Not being gay and all, you sure do have an arsenal of guys in your mental bank that you think are hot.”
“You’re an asshole.” Quick threw a few bar nuts at him, making him laugh, and forget about his loneliness, if just temporarily.
“On another note. Guess who’s on his way home this weekend?”
Duke stopped his beer midway to his mouth. “Who?”
“Vaughan.” Quick smiled proudly.
“No shit! He’s done with school already?”
“Man. He was done with school six months ago: he’s been studying to take the bar. Which he just passed, so he’s coming home.”
“Wait. How come I wasn’t invited to the graduation?”
“He graduated during the summer, so he opted out of the ceremony. You know Vaughan. He’s all about just getting shit done and moving forward.”
Duke chuckled softly. “I think I do remember that about him. How old is he now?”
“Thirty-one going on sixty-one. That boy has always been too damn mature.”
“I remember that, too. So, he’s coming to Atlanta. He knows you left Charleston with me, right?”
“Yep. Says he wants to spend more time with his old man now. Possibly look for work here.”
“And Remy is cool with this?”
“She’s his mom, man. Remy’s had him his whole life, while I got scraps. Some weekends and occasional holidays. Then only a year after high school, he was off to college and then Europe to study abroad and right into a rigorous law program. It’s like I’m finally getting a chance to have some time with him now.”
Duke nodded his head in understanding. Vaughan was Quick’s sole purpose for living. His son was everything to him, so Duke was happy for him. Damn, he hadn’t seen Vaughan in a few years. Every time he came to visit during school breaks, Duke was gone on a retrieval or out of town.
“He’s really something, Duke. A chip off the old block. Wait until you see him.” Quick beamed.