Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
But it’s always a relief when they leave, and I have a few weeks between sessions.
I’m ready to work the ranch with my brother, Ryker, for a couple of weeks. I have some work to do on the firing range, since I want to add another lane and extend it farther, for sharpshooting. I need to clean the armory.
There’s always shit to do.
My phone rings again, but this time it isn’t Bishop.
It’s Eagle.
“Madam President,” I say in greeting. “What can I do for you?”
“Why are you avoiding Bishop’s calls?” she asks.
“Because I’ve been working, ma’am.”
“I have a situation, Gid,” she says, and I can hear fatigue in her voice. “I won’t tell you what it is over the phone. I need your help with Blackbird.”
What the fuck has she done now?
Lena is the bane of my existence. She made every day on the job difficult. Every. Fucking. Day.
“I’m no longer—”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass,” she says, cutting me off. “I need you here in twenty-four hours. And Gideon?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“You’re taking her back with you.”
Stunned, I hold the phone against my ear, sure I’ve heard her wrong. “I’m sorry, could you please say that again, ma’am?”
“You heard me. Twenty-four hours.”
She hangs up, and I pull my hand down my face.
What the fuck is going on? What has she gotten herself into now?
“No.” Willow shakes her head adamantly as she wipes down her kitchen counter. “Absolutely not, Gideon. I don’t want her here on this property. She’s the reason you got hurt and lost your career.”
It wasn’t her fault.
But I can’t tell my best friend that because it’s all classified.
“You’re getting worked up, Trouble,” Ryker says as he pulls her into his arms and kisses the top of her head. He’s watching me with sober eyes. Ryker is my brother in every way that counts, including in name. Ray and Debbie adopted us the year we moved here.
And then, after twenty years of life as a family, of Ry going pro in hockey and kicking ass, me going into the Rangers and then the Secret Service, we lost them both. Debbie passed seven years ago, and Ray followed her two years later. I miss them like crazy every single day.
But Ryker, Willow, and I, along with Willow’s nephew, Aiden, are a family. These are my people, my best friends. We all live on the Triple Creek Ranch, and they need to know that Lena’s coming here.
“I have security locked down,” I continue, as if I’m giving a report to a superior. “No one gets on this land unless we want them to. I don’t know why they want her to come here. I haven’t had any contact with any of them since I retired four years ago.”
“Then tell them no,” Willow insists, and it about kills me when she has tears in her eyes. “No, handsome.”
“The president of the United States has asked for my help, and although I don’t work for the government anymore, she wouldn’t have called me unless there was no other option. They would never involve a civilian unless it was necessary.”
Fucking civilian. I hate that word. I’m not a goddamn civilian.
Except, I am.
“When?” Ryker asks, rubbing his hands up and down his wife’s back.
It’s been four years, and it still gives me a little jolt when I’m reminded that Ry married Willow. We’re still the Three Amigos, but it’s different. Not worse or better, just different. Ryker retired from professional hockey when Ray died, and moved home to take over the ranch. And then, he and Willow reconnected and fell in love.
Or admitted that they belonged together. I’d seen the writing on the wall for twenty years, but no one listens to me.
“I’m leaving in the morning. We’ll likely be back by tomorrow night.”
“I don’t like it.” She shakes her head again. “Gid, your leg—”
“Is fine. And I’m not asking you to like it,” I remind Willow. “I’m telling you what’s happening. I don’t know how long she’ll be here. I don’t know what kind of shitstorm is going on. And I likely can’t tell you about it once I’m filled in.”
“This is your home,” Ryker reminds me. “You don’t have to ask our permission for this.”
“I know. But you’re my family, and I need to keep you in the loop.”
“Do I have to be nice to her?” Willow asks.
“You’re nice to everyone, sweetheart,” Ryker says.
“She hurt him,” she whispers and buries her face in Ry’s chest. “So I don’t want to be nice to her.”
“She didn’t hurt me,” I say before I can keep the words back. “I can’t tell you more than that.”
I want to defend Lena. I hate that Willow has so much animosity toward the First Daughter. Sure, she caused a lot of irritation in the time that I was on her detail, and I wanted to take her over my knee more than once, but my injury wasn’t her fault.