Chapter Thirteen
Juan felt likehe’d been kicked in the gut. He’d tried to warn the team they were making a mistake, but he’d been overruled, and now, she wanted to leave. When he started forward, Sage McCall caught his shirt sleeve in his beefy hand and gave a quick shake of his head.
“Wait. Let Jen help. She may be a wild child at heart, but it’s a heart of pure fucking gold—watch andlearn.” Juan didn’t like having his fate in someone else’s hands, but the emptiness he’d seen in Lakyn’s eyes when she’d looked his way told him he didn’t have anything to lose.
“Before you make a decision, let’s go down to the gym. When I’m pissed off at the world, I like to vent… sometimes it keeps me from digging myself into a hole I have to ask for help to escape. And damn it all to hell,it frosts my cookies to have to ask the people responsible for my snit for help.”
Juan saw Lakyn’s shoulders relax marginally as Jen led her from the room. He watched as the two women strolled down the long path toward the onsite training facility, noting Jen had walked right past several motorized carts—smart girl, she was using the distance to buy time. God love her compassionate soul.
“Don’tforget, our hot wife worked for the State Department, once a diplomat, always a diplomat. One of the great things about being the second-in-command to a boss who didn’t do diddly squat, she learned to negotiate. Hell, by this time tomorrow, she’ll have talked her way into renegotiating Lakyn’s contracts and the lease on her apartment.”
“Sage is right. Tobi loves to take Jen in as a ringer whenshe is sealing a deal with a new club. Don’t get me wrong, Tobi and Gracie built a phenomenally successful business from the ground up, but Jen has helped them refine their skills to the point I expect Wall Street to show up any day, asking the three of them to conduct training seminars.” Kyle’s smile reflected his pride in his wife’s success and his respect for the fact they’d done it on theirown. Juan remembered hearing his bosses bragging that Tobi and Gracie had been adamant in their refusal to take any financial help from their husbands.
Turning his attention to Trac, Juan glared at his best friend. “I told you. I fucking told you it was a mistake to leave her out of the loop. You can’t play those games with smart women.” Looking around the room with pointed looks, Juan wavedhis arm sweeping them all up in his frustration. “You all have wives who would take you apart if you pulled this shit with them, and yet you set us up for a fall without blinking. Why? Because you wanted to bring Cooper Hicks in without any interference from the one person who cares more about him than anyone else? Fucking hell.”
For the first time in his life, Juan Rivera felt like walking awayfrom the career he loved. His family would welcome him with open arms—hell, they’ been trying to talk him into joining the family business since they learned he was resigning his commission in the SEALs. Juan was straight up pissed, and he knew better than to say any more or make a decision until he’d cooled down. Turning to walk from the room, Kent West stopped him with a single word.
“Wait.”Juan turned to the other man, schooling his expression. “You’re right. We fucked up, and we’ll set it right, I promise. Trust is essential, and we’ve betrayed hers and yours.” Sitting down on the corner of Kyle’s desk, a move he and every other member of the team knew Kyle hated, Kent let one of his long legs swing back and forth. “You know we aren’t going to let her leave, right?”
Of course,he knew they’d do everything possible to keep her from leaving, hell, she was in danger and damned well didn’t need to be unprotected in Austin or New York. Shifting his frustrated glare from Kent to Kyle, Juan could see the remorse in the other man’s expression. Turning to Sam McCall, Juan asked, “What’s your wife’s favorite flower?”
“Calatheas.” Sam answered without hesitation, a flicker ofa smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
Turning to Trac, Juan nodded and said, “Take care of it. Weekly. For a year.” Trac’s brows lifted in surprise, but he didn’t argue. Turning back to Kyle, Juan studied his friend and boss closely before shaking his head. “Whatever you’re paying Jen isn’t enough. Fix it.” A slow grin spread across Kent’s face before he nodded once, then Juan turned andwalked out.
Tomorrow he’d make a healthy donation in her name to a local children’s charity he knew Jen favored. Every member of the Prairie Winds team was encouraged to adopt a local charity and many of them supported more than one. The Wests and their parents were believers in giving back, their generosity was just one of the many reasons he respected them.
Walking down the long drive leadingto the training center, Juan was grateful no one had followed him. He needed a few minutes to cool down before he tried to talk to Lakyn. Juan couldn’t let her walk away—he had to find a way to fix this mess. His phone vibrated in his pocket, and when he pulled it out, the simple message was from Micah Drake. “Side door.” Without questioning the directive, Juan heard the electronic lock disengageas he reached for the handle of the heavy metal door. Walking silently down the hall, Juan could hear Jen’s voice encouraging Lakyn to follow through on her punches.
“Make the bag swing. Remember, you’re trying to hit the other side, not the one closest to you.” More thuds against the bag, then soft laughter. “Much better. I should have had Micah send pictures to the printer, we could have tapedthem to the bag. That would have been fun, but we probably would have gone through too much paper.”
Lakyn’s soft laughter was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard—it was so much better than the emotionless speech he’d heard when he’d entered the office less than a half hour ago. Leaning against the wall at the end of the hall where he could see the women’s reflections in the glass at the frontof the building, he watched as Lakyn vented her frustration on the bag. They were both still wearing their street clothes, and he understood why Jen hadn’t wanted to take time to change.
The sheen of sweat reflected on Lakyn’s flushed face as she pounded her gloved fists against the heavy bag. Her form might not have been perfect, but she was putting everything she had into each punch. He flinchedwhen she slipped and fell against the bag. Grasping it as is moved slowly away from where she stood, she groaned.
“I’m so out of shape. When the stalking started, I stopped going to the gym because I didn’t want to be exposed long enough to walk down the street.”
Jen’s mouth dropped open as she looked at Lakyn. “Why not take a taxi? I can see not wanting to go if you were worried the stalkerwas someone at your gym, but why not just call a cab? Holy crap, girl. You have to be making a shit-ton of money, and from the report I read, you don’t spend it partying or traveling to all the world’s hot spots.”
“Taxis are expensive. Why should I pay some driver, who spends most of the three-block trip leering at me in the mirror, twenty bucks?”
Juan was amused at the indignant look on Lakyn’ssweat covered face, but the shock reflected on Jen’s face made him snort a laugh and quickly step back when she seemed to sense his presence.
“Girl, I don’t know about you.” The two shared a laugh before sliding to the floor and leaning against the wall facing the windows. God love Jen, she’d made sure he could see Lakyn as they spoke. He listened as Jen tried to explain the rationale behindthe decision to keep her brother’s visit to the hospital a secret.
“Do you think Cooper has confided in you every time he’s been hurt?”
He saw Lakyn’s shoulders sag, but he couldn’t hear her response.
“If you’re going to walk away from Juan and Trac, you need to know they weren’t on board with the decision. Juan was particularly adamant you be told, but he was overruled.” Jen played with thehem of her shirt while she appeared to be choosing her words carefully. “You’re a movie star, have you ever had to play a scene the director’s way even though you were sure it was all wrong?”
Lakyn nodded and he fought to stay hidden as Jen shrugged.
“I’ve never seen team members stand up to Kyle the way Juan and Trac did. You have to remember, these guys are former military, respect for thechain of command is practically in their DNA. Arguing the way they did was very telling because it was so unusual—not unusual for me… but almost unheard of for the men on the team.”
This time Juan saw a small smile play over Lakyn’s lips and felt a wave of relief sweep over him.
Jen was amazing. She hadn’t told Lakyn to give them another chance, she’d simply given her all the information sheneeded to make the right choice. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket again and noticed Jen pull hers out at the same time.