Chapter Sixteen
Cooper watched TracHughes and Juan Rivera escort his kid sister out of the room, fighting the urge to tell them to keep their bloody paws to themselves. With a flash of insight, Cooper realized Lakyn was no longer a little girl. The white-hot lance of pain piercing his heart at the loss was sharper than the discomfort he felt at his sharp intake of breath. The fucker whobroke his ribs would pay someday; the world was a big place, but hired thugs tended to show up time and again.
“They’ll take good care of her. They’ve been looking for a woman to share for a long time.” Cooper turned to look at Kent West and cocked his brow.
“Does everybody here share their women because I’ve never been very good at sharing my toys.” The flash of fire in Kent’s eyes told Cooperhis words had hit their mark.
“Our wife isn’t a toy although I’ll admit I like playing with her. When you meet her, you’ll do well to curb that attitude, or she’ll take you apart, and no one here will help you. She’ll also serve your manhood up to you on a silver platter if you make that insinuation about your sister. They’re friends, and Tobi protects her friends as fiercely as she does herfamily.”
Cooper hadn’t met the infamous Tobi West, but he’d heard about her, and he looked forward to it. She’d befriended his sister without knowing Lakyn Hicks was also Lakyn Storm, and she hadn’t walked away when she’d learned her internet pal was, in fact, an international celebrity. Cooper had always been equally baffled by the number of people in Lakyn’s life who were there because shewas famous as he was by those who walked away because she was too much trouble to be friends with.
Leveling a look at Kent, he knew it was time to clear up the other man’s misunderstanding before things became any more strained between them.
“I’m looking forward to meeting Tobi. I’ve heard a lot about her, and she has already earned my respect simply by befriending Lakyn. I assure you, I’llnever give her any cause to think I don’t respect her or my sister. Keep in mind, the woman who just walked out of this room holds my heart in the palm of her hand.” He ran his bruised fingers through his shaggy hair and sighed.
“Knowing someone is targeting Lakyn because of me is tearing me apart with worry, and I’ll happily kill whoever is behind this and never lose a moments sleep over it.”It was the God’s honest truth. If he lived a hundred lifetimes, Cooper didn’t think he’d be able to make up for the things he’d done. It didn’t matter that he’d been acting in the name of justice or on the orders of the United States government—each of those acts was a mark against his soul.
Kent nodded and smiled. “Tobi loves loud, and she loves large. She has a heart the size of Texas and isexactly what she appears to be—there is nothing remotely phony about her. But you don’t ever want to underestimate her ability to slice and dice you if she thinks you aren’t treating one ofhersright. And just to be sure there are no questions, she considers everybody remotely associated with the club or our teams to be hers.
“She has a vocabulary to rival a drunken sailor, but she’s never meta stranger. Tobi expects everyone she deals with to be as open and honest as she is, and remarkably, she’s always surprised when they aren’t. All of this leads us to be extremely protective of her, we don’t want someone diminishing her light. It’s also the reason we’ve known about their friendship for quite some time.
“We knew your sister was on her way. What we didn’t know was she’d rented apiece of shit that would crap out on her up the road during a Texas dust storm. Of course, the other subs at the club will wax poetic about it being fate Juan and Trac found her, but I’m more inclined to chalk it up to them being lucky bastards.” Kyle rolled his eyes and Cooper had to laugh. Evidently, the boss wasn’t a big believer in romantic fate.
“Hell, if they are men of integrity like you’veassured me they are, maybe I’m the lucky one because it’s obvious her manager and I aren’t doing enough to keep her safe. Speaking of Reggie Parks, I need to call him. He’s been leaving me at leastonepanicked message every two hours for a fucking week. Hell, I talk to his pansy ass more often than I talk to Lakyn.” Cooper paused and shook his head. Looking out one of the floor-to-ceiling windowstoward the club, he sighed before turning back to the men in the room.
“I can’t believe she got out of the car. What the hell was she thinking walking down the highway alone, let alone in those conditions? Fuck me, she’s been scaring the hell out of me since she learned to walk.”
When the other men looked surprised he knew the details, Cooper gave them a pointed look. They’d evidently forgottenCameron Barnes was still unofficially on Uncle Sam’s payroll and Cooper’s mentor. Cam’s continuing role with the agency wasn’t public knowledge, but Cooper was certain the Wests were aware of the connection.
Cooper had often likened a career in the CIA to joining a gang, the damned organization was as close to blood in and blood out as you could get in a government entity. Having a stellar militaryrecord was the fastest track to covert work, and that meant having an impressive number of kills. No one was naïve enough to believe getting out was easy—Cameron Barnes was a great example. The bottom line was if you lived long enough to be good, you were too valuable to let go.
*
Kyle watched Cooperclosely as his mind seemed to wander. It was always a sure sign a spookwas ready to drop in his tracks when he wasn’t completely focused on the conversation and aware of the location of everyone in the damned building was at any given moment. Hell, at any given moment, Cam could give you a detailed account of the location of people Kyle didn’t know were in the club which was damned humbling for a former SEAL.
It was time to stop wondering where the other man’s mindhad gone and make sure he got some much-needed rest. Kyle was anxious to talk to Cooper about joining the Prairie Winds Team, but that discussion could wait. This was the time to step up and help out a fellow SEAL; because everyone who’d ever served on the teams knew there was never anythingformerabout a U.S. Navy SEAL.
“Head on upstairs and get some rest. I’ll call Lakyn’s manager and findout what’s so important he’s blowing up your phone.” He already suspected what the man was concerned about, but he didn’t want to mention it to Cooper until he had spoken with Parks personally. The Prairie Winds team had been checking on the man since they’d learned Lakyn was on her way to Texas. None of them had been able to figure out why she hadn’t gone to Parks when she’d realized she was introuble.
The attempted snatch and grab off the street should have sent her running to the only man she seemed to have any significant rapport with aside from Cooper, but it hadn’t. Granted, Reggie Parks interest in Lakyn was financial rather than personal—the man’s sexual preference probably one of the biggest reasons Cooper had approved him. And if there was one thing they’d learned from monitoringReggie Parks’ communication, he was money driven. It appeared the only thing the man feared more than being poor was Cooper Hicks. Kyle understood Cooper’s desire to protect his sister, but he’d made a critical mistake—he’d entrusted her wellbeing to a man who saw her as an asset rather than a bright young woman with much more to offer than her beautiful face. People motivated solely by moneynever saw anything in others outside of their earning potential.
Fifteen minutes later, Kyle leaned back in his chair and looked pointedly at his brother who’d listened to the call but hadn’t participated. “I can’t believe her manager is responsible for the attempted kidnapping. If she’d reported it to the police, the FBI would lock him up without blinking.” Kyle agreed with Kent’s assessment,but he was undecided about whether it would have been necessary.
“I think he’s an idiot to try it because Cooper isn’t going to take the news well. As far as the authorities, they’d probably assume it was a publicity stunt and brush the whole thing aside.”
“Or whoever put those sophisticated listening devices in her apartment would have taken over the case, and Parks would have vanished intothin air.” Kent wasn’t a big fan of the Agency, and even though he didn’t publicly denounce it, he didn’t make any effort to hide his disdain from Kyle.
“Listen, you and I both know that technology isn’t available on the open market yet. Hell, the only reason we have it is because Micah has the patent.” Chuckling, Kent shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “Uncle Sam and all his fellowworld leaders need to thank their lucky stars Micah Drake works on the side of good rather than evil.” Kyle rolled his eyes and propped his booted feet on the corner of his desk.
“There has to be more to this than eavesdropping in hopes of hearing some juicy gossip about the latest fashion trend.”
“Well, since every one of the operatives I’ve ever met who works for them dress like a fuckingfashion model, we probably shouldn’t discount the idea entirely.” Kyle knew his sarcasm wasn’t wasted when Kent rolled his eyes to the heavens and groaned.
“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, brother.”
“True, but it’s the only form I’ve always been assured you’d understand, and old habits die hard.” Kyle laughed and ducked as a cork coaster flew over his head. “I think we should draw strawsto decide who tells Cooper.” Kyle doubted it would work, but it was worth a try. Sometimes childhood games were closer to the surface than they should be.
“Fuck you. You’re the one who volunteered to call, you want the glory, you gotta eat some dirt, brother.” Kent wasn’t about to tell Lakyn’s brother the man he’d trusted with her safety had sent her running halfway across the country in fearfor her safety. Hell, Parker Andrews is right, plausible deniability is the best game in town.