“Motherfucker!” she screamed her thumb on the trigger forcing her digit to break.
“I warned you.”
Behind me, Jayden’s overpowering presence resonated. His footfalls not the least bit silent. “Back off!” I shouted.
Jayden held up his hands. “Just checking on the girl.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, walking her away from the crowd to take care of her.
Anger soared within me. What was Emma doing at the commune? Did she live here now?
“You know Emma?” Ian asked, a smile on his face, laughing under his breath and wincing after getting the shit kicked out of him. “Of course, you do. We all do. The girl gives magnificent head.”
I rammed into him headfirst, tossing him to the ground, scuffling on the floor. My fists slammed against his chest, one punch after another.
I wasn’t happy with Emma, but I liked even less the way Ian spoke about her. “You will learn to respect women.”
“I respect them. I respect letting them ride me,” he said and sneered.
Ian knew just what to say to get under my skin. He slammed his forehead upward against mine, knocking me back for a moment and landing a blow to my left cheek. I hadn’t expected him to make a good play. Fuck, that hurt.
Snickering, he pushed me off him.
I stumbled backward. My head throbbed, and while I was prepared to kick his scrawny ass until he bled to death, that wasn’t why we came. We were here with a warning and a firm message that she was under our protection. “Ariella is off-limits. You and your buddies stay away, or you’re going to deal with Eagle Tactical.” I made my voice loud and clear for all the off-gridders in the complex to know that if you messed with her, you messed with all of us.
“Fine, keep your tight little Ariella. We’ve got Emma for a good time,” Ian said and winked. He was trying to get a rise out of me.
I threw another punch and landed on his chest. I slammed my knee upwards into his groin and watched him double over, collapsing onto the ground. I stared down, waiting for him to get up. He groaned and cried like a little baby. He was definitely alive, just discovering the burn of a good ass-kicking.
Mason had Seth in a headlock, the off-gridder on his knees. “How’d you find out who Ariella was?”
Seth’s hands flailed and Mason loosened his grip to let him answer.
He coughed and gasped for air, bent forward, his hands on his knees. “At Lumberjack Shack, Ian and I overheard two guys talking about her, how she was loaded. Emma mentioned getting drinks with her friend Ariella. We put two and two together. How many Ariella’s could there possibly be in Breckenridge? A google search turned up the rest of the information. We thought it’d be an easy payday and a fresh start for all of us.”
Mason slowly eased up and let go, tossing the thug on the ground.
I took the opportunity to step forward and crouched down, fisting his shirt in my hand, snarling at him. I ignored his stench, the smell of piss and filth that burned my nostrils. “Ariella is under our protection. You so much as look at her the wrong way and you’ll find yourself in an unmarked grave.”
“You’ve been warned,” Mason said, standing beside me. “Next time we won’t be so nice.” He patted me on the back, a silent message that we were done and to let the asshole go.
The crowd dispersed, no longer interested if a fight wasn’t ensuing. I didn’t see Emma. Jayden probably was tending to her wounds.
With our message made loud and clear, we left the compound and headed for the truck.
“Listen,” I said, climbing into the vehicle. “With what happened tonight, the fact Emma was at the compound, do me a favor, and let’s not say anything to Ariella. The two of them are friends, and I don’t want to further complicate matters.” Ariella was delicate, and while she’d been through hell, I didn’t want her questioning Emma’s motives for being her friend. That would be my job to deal with, not hers.
Mason started the engine and stomped on the gas. “It’s not like I have coffee with her every morning. Speaking of which, I’m surprised you didn’t bring up that we could use someone like her on our team, ex-C.I.A., surveillance skills, and she needs a job.”
“It had crossed my mind.” I wasn’t sure the guys would go for it. We were always looking for talent and people we could trust.
“I’ll talk to the others, but I think we could make it work under one condition.”
There it was, the catch that made my stomach sink. “Which is?” Deep down, I already knew the answer. We were equal owners, the guys and I, in Eagle Tactical. She would be our employee.
“You two have to keep it professional. If she works for us, then you’re her boss. You can’t sleep with her and not expect matters to get more complicated than they already are at the moment,” Mason said.
My jaw tightened. I didn’t like his stupid rules, but he was sensible. I needed to think about the team and Ariella, what was best for them, not myself. “Just friends.” Could I let her go because it was in her best interest? The thought tore me up inside. But a relationship was far more dangerous. She would be in the office, I would be in the field, and we couldn’t let our feelings impede our missions. Mistakes can cost lives. Distractions were deadly.
“Right.” Mason shot me a look as we turned down the road for my house. “Can you keep in it your pants while the two of you are living together?”