Chapter 13

Hound

“Where the fuck is she?” Kincaid says after opening my door with what I presume is the master key to the building.

“What?” I sit up in bed, trying to scrub the sleep from my eyes. I did nothing but toss and turn all night after I escorted Gigi out of here. How I can feel both regret over it and proud I did the right thing is beyond me.

“Where is Georgia?” he asks again.

“She’s not here.”

“She was here.” He holds up the shoes I handed Gigi before throwing her out of my room. “I found these outside of your door in the hallway.”

“I gave my word to you, Prez. She showed up. She’d been drinking.” I swallow and refuse to tell him that she offered herself to me. I squeeze my eyes closed, a futile attempt to block out the memory of the tightest, pinkest slit I’ve ever had the pleasure of sinking inside of. “I made her leave.”

“What time?” he asks, defeat clear in his tone.

“Two-thirty? Maybe three.” I stand and pull on a pair of jeans. “Think she took off again?”

“She packed her bags,” Shadow says as he steps into my room behind Kincaid. “Misty checked her room.”

“Did she tell you where she was going?” Kincaid’s eyes are back on mine. He’s pleading, grasping at straws, trying to control a daughter who has no interest in such a thing. I want to tell him to lay off of her and maybe she’ll stick around, but he’s only being a protective father.

I shake my head. “It wasn’t…last night wasn’t pretty.”

“The fuck does that mean?” Kincaid growls, dropping the shoes and taking a menacing step in my direction.

“She made…advances. I didn’t reciprocate.” He growls, and I know he’s torn between her being rejected and his command that I stay away from her. “I kept my promise.”

“Are you saying you forced a drunken girl out of your room last night?” Seems the rejection is winning out right now.

I can’t win for fucking trying at this point.

“I kept my promise,” I repeat. “But, yes. I had to physically remove her. I didn’t hurt her, but she wasn’t happy when I closed my door on her.”

“She ran,” Kincaid says with disappointment. “Again. Shadow.”

“On it,” Shadow says and leaves us in the room.

“Did she ever mention going somewhere? A city? A certain job? Friends?”

I shake my head. “We never really talked about life goals and futures.”

I’m disgusted, standing in front of this man and practically telling him I treated his daughter like a whore. Even after knowing who she was, I took her to bed, and if I’m honest, I can admit that the thrill of fucking her, the pleasure I gained from sleeping with the boss’ daughter was part of the appeal.

“Pack your shit,” he hisses.

I should’ve seen this coming. Fuck her or don’t fuck her. The end result was always going to be the same.

“You, Scooter, and Rocker are heading to Tijuana. Simple extraction. Three days max.”

He leaves without another word. My head is spinning from everything that just happened. Gigi is gone, more than likely left because I pissed her off, and I still have a job? Either Kincaid has something planned for me of devious proportions, or he actually is a decent man, and isn’t holding a grudge even where his daughter is concerned.

“Fuck,” I mutter scraping my hands over the top of my head. “I don’t even know if I’m coming or going in this fucking place.”

***

“This,” Scooter says handing over a flash drive, “has all of the forms you have to complete before we can leave Mexico. Send them to Blade so he can finish the mission remotely.”

I look at the sleek black device in my hand and then to Scooter’s and Rocker’s back as they turn to leave the hotel suite.

“And where are you guys going?”

Rocker grins over his shoulder. “Tijuana nightlife is the best thing ever. Sexy-ass girls all half-naked and ready to fuck.”

“We’re heading to the club,” Scooter adds.

“And I’m staying here to do the paperwork?”

They both grin. “Being the boss sucks sometimes.”

I look at Rocker, and he just shrugs.

“You can come with us,” Scooter offers. “We can show you how Cerberus celebrates a successful recovery, but you’ll still have to have that shit submitted before we leave.”

My eyes cut to Rocker, who sobers a little, his smile falling to a flat line. He knows as well as I do that this mission wasn’t as simple as we all thought.

One of the guys guarding the young girl that was abducted got the jump on him. He also got a bullet to the head, but Rocker was mere seconds from having his throat slit in the basement of a makeshift whorehouse that caters to men who have singular tastes, their sexual proclivities leaning toward pre-pubescent girls and toddlers. He was distracted by the depravity, and it almost cost him his life.

“It’s no big deal,” I offer. “I’ll knock this out and grab some sleep. I haven’t slept well in a couple of weeks. I’m sure I’ll crash like the dead tonight.”

“Your loss,” Scooter says and turns back to the door. He turns back when he realizes that Rocker isn’t with him. “You coming?”

“Naw,” Rocker answers before grabbing a laptop out of his bag and sitting down on the bed. “I’m gonna help Hound fill out this paperwork.”

“I appreciate it, man,” I tell him. “But you don’t have to do that. I can handle it.”

“Shut the fuck up. The sooner we knock this shit out, the sooner we can slip inside of some sweet Mexican pussy.” I can hear the playfulness in Rocker’s voice, and for the very first time since joining Cerberus, I feel like part of the team.

“Dammit,” Scooter mutters, but he grabs another laptop from his bag and opens it.

Rocker and I work in silence, but Scooter feels the need to hum stupid ass songs as he works. What would’ve taken me several hours to complete alone is finished in just under one with all three of us working.

“This is what Kincaid and Shadow spend all of their time on after missions?” I ask as I close my laptop.

I verified all of their forms and made sure they were sent to Blade.

“I guess,” Rocker answers. “I only went out with them a few times when I first started. Grinch usually heads up the missions, but since he’s in South Africa with the rest of the guys, Prez picked you.”

“And if I wasn’t an option?”

“More than likely we wouldn’t be here,” Scooter says as he puts his laptop away. “They only allow the guys with ten or more years in the Corps to head up the missions.”

“So the girl we extracted tonight would’ve just been left?”

“Not necessarily,” Rocker begins. “There are other companies. The family would’ve just gone down the list until they found someone available.”

“Cerberus needs a bigger team,” I mutter.

“Kincaid is expanding as fast as he can. I know you saw them breaking ground across the street. They have to have somewhere to house the new members. The new clubhouse will look more like a two-story hotel. We’ll be able to have three times the amount of men, but until then we have to wait. You took the last available room.” Rocker slaps me on the back and heads to the door. “You coming?”

I waffle between building a relationship with these men or just staying the hell inside. Getting laid, for the first time in my life, doesn’t appeal to me.

“We can always bunk up together,” I offer as a solution to the lack of space back at the clubhouse.

“Never,” Scooter objects. “That’s Kincaid’s view. When we’re in New Mexico, we’re home, and having to share space with others is something he wouldn’t force on us. We live that way when we’re working. He doesn’t want it to be that way all the time.”

I nod my head in understanding but knowing more men means more chances for us to help those in need.

“Besides,” Rocker says with a quick laugh. “You’d change your mind the first time you saw Scooter rutting around in some chick too stupid to turn him down.”

I laugh. Scooter shoots Rocker a double middle finger.

“You coming?” Rocker asks again. He stares at me when I don’t respond. “She always runs.”

As if he’s reading my mind, Rocker responds to thoughts I’d never verbalize to these men.

“Every once in a while, she’ll show up like a lost dog, but she never stays long,” Scooter adds.

“Who?” I ask playing dumb.

They both laugh and shake their heads.

“Come on,” Scooter urges. “Tijuana is the best place to fuck her off of your mind.”

I stand and join them. Not doing so would raise more questions, more suspicion than I’m willing to answer for.