Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99399 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99399 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
“Back where it all started,” Derek said. “Only this time, we’re ready for the worst with a bona fide EMT on our team.”
I rolled my eyes. “Hopefully no volatile subjects this time.”
Someone muttered, “He means meth heads,” under their breath.
Someone else added, “Just don’t let ’em have a beer bottle they can break and start waving around at people.”
Derek shook his head and tightened the arm around my shoulder. “This man saved my life. His quick thinking meant that my kids…” His voice broke on the word, and he took a beat to get control of himself.
Meanwhile, Jude patted the center of his chest and looked at him with stark affection. “We can never thank you enough for intervening that night, Trace. You’re officially part of our family now, and we couldn’t be prouder of your hard work.”
Derek nodded and swallowed. “Family’s everything. The reason we all do what we do.”
Everyone around the table, employees of On Your Six Security, nodded and cheered before clinking glasses. “To Trace and to family!”
A few minutes later, Jude had moved closer and lowered his voice. “If there is anything we can ever do for you, Trace…”
I remembered my incredulity that night. That anyone could be so generous. So welcoming and supportive. That these two strangers could have taken me into their family so quickly and offered me safety, employment, acceptance, and, eventually, love.
I’d been working a double as a barback, trying to impress the bar owner enough to promote me to bartender so I could afford more than a nasty sleeping bag in a back alley, when a man had come in from the street, raging. He’d smashed a beer bottle on a nearby table and lunged for one of our customers’ faces. After that, everything happened in a blur.
I’d managed to get a drinks tray between the man’s broken bottle and the back of the customer’s neck in time to block a deadly attack, and then I’d used the tray to shove the man back toward the door where he’d tripped and fallen on his ass. Some of the customers helped subdue him while my boss called 911.
The guy I’d saved turned out to be a legit bodyguard. An ex-military badass out drinking with his badass bodyguard friends. He was also the husband of world-famous country-music singer Jude Marian.
I found out later, the only reason Derek and the other guys hadn’t pounced had been because they’d already been drinking for a few hours after a particularly stressful security job.
I’d simply been in the right place at the right time. But it had been enough. Enough for Derek Marian to practically adopt me. To offer me a place to live. A path to better employment. A fresh start. A chance at a real life.
My situation had changed overnight from exhausting and almost hopeless to wide-open and limitless.
I owed him everything. My search and rescue career, the entire existence of SERA, which had been originally financed by their family foundation, and unofficial membership in the largest, most supportive family I could ever imagine.
Now I finally had a chance to pay Derek back.
I continued researching and investigating until I finally couldn’t stand still being here in my cabin in Legacy while Wolfe was out there somewhere, presumably alone.
Derek hadn’t said it, but I knew he was worried about a worst-case scenario. That Wolfe was sick or injured. Lost or taken. It wasn’t unheard of for the children of celebrities to become targets themselves, even if they were almost thirty.
The need to get out there and start asking questions burned in my gut, so I slept just long enough to allow Jude and Derek’s plane to arrive to shuttle me down to LA.
Wolfe Marian was a gentle soul. Someone who’d never thrived in a big city.
I’d often wondered why he’d stayed in San Francisco with his family rather than moving somewhere less… overwhelming. Maybe even Legacy, now that his siblings and several of his cousins had settled here.
As a kid, he’d liked nature and quiet. Warm sunsets and curious animals. He’d been inspired by the world around him, no matter where he was, but he’d always seemed to come most alive during his visits out of the city, either to his uncles’ vineyard in Napa or his grandparents’ property in Montana.
I tried to imagine where he would have headed in his new camper van. Anywhere that would speak to his soul and help him find peace and quiet. Clarity. Inspiration.
Was that what he sought? If so, maybe I was the last person he wanted searching for him.
Before dawn, I hopped in my truck and made my way to the airstrip. Within an hour of arriving in LA, I’d befriended the salesperson he’d worked with at the RV dealership and discovered quite a few interesting details about their conversation, including the exact adventure van he’d purchased and a suggested campground in Palm Springs for him to check out.