READ AN EXCERPT BELOW
She believes he betrayed her. To him, her lack of trust is her betrayal. But now someone wants her dead. No matter what is between them, he won’t ever let anything happen to her. Now he plans to show her enemies he can live up to his name, he is the devil. She already believes it. They will, too.
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“Tell me again, why the hell am I on a damn horse, riding it in the middle of hellfire heat?” Adam and Savage, two of my cohorts from Walker Security, our employer, flank me left and right, but it’s Adam I’m glaring at now. “I wouldn’t have saved your life down on the border six months ago if I knew you’d drag me back into the hellfire on horseback.”
He laughs. “It’s Texas, and it’s not that bad. The food is good and the women are hotter than the sun.”
“And the mosquitos are the size of small birds,” I grumble, smacking at one on my arm.
“Training, man,” he says. “Bossman Blake wants us to be versatile.”
Walker Security is an elite worldwide operation, offering a broad range of private hire security, but they also run security for most of the airports, and consult with almost every facet of law enforcement. I came to them well-trained, but in a year and half, I’ve learned you’re never well trained enough to suit the Walker operation.
I snort. “You never know when we might need to escape by horseback despite living in New York City.” Of course, we’re rarely in New York City. We’re all over the world, where I hope like fuck I will never have to count on a horse to escape trouble.
Savage, the general troublemaker of our group, chimes in with, “What he’s trying to tell you there, cowboy, is that asses need to know how to ride asses.”
“Says the biggest ass I know,” I reply because everyone knows that comment resembles Savage. Savage, like Adam, is tall, broad, and wears his dark hair military-style. However, Savage, unlike Adam, is tatted up, with a big-ass scar down his cheek, which he probably got from being a dick to someone with less patience than me.
“If it looks like an ass,” Adam says, “and acts like an ass, he is an ass.”
I’m not sure which one of us he’s talking about or if it’s both, but Savage assumes the retort to be directed toward him. “Shut the fuck up,” he grumbles, and in true fashion to his usual stupid jokes, he adds, “Adam minus his Eve makes for a man with nothing better to do than talk about asses.”
My cellphone buzzes and I grab it from my pocket, eyeing the text that reads: Luc, man, we need to talk. Call me. Sooner than later. It’s life or death.
This is coming from a voice from my past, and when this voice speaks, you take him seriously. I’ve officially had enough horseback riding for one day. While me and my tats and unruly blond hair might not look the part, I did plenty of cowboying in my youth. Enough to last a lifetime, actually. I give Melvin, my horse, a nudge and head for the stables. By the time I’m dismounting, Adam and Savage are headed my way and closing in fast. While the Walker team has been good to me, they’re as sticky as a bottle of Gorilla glue.
I offer my reins to the awaiting ranch hand eager to claim my ride and give Melvin a short thank-you pet. He’s a fine boy. It’s not his fault this place reminds me of a long time ago, better kept in the past. Eager to make this call on my own, I start walking before I end up with company. Adam, an ex-SEAL Team Six member who’s a good guy, a better man than me, and still thinks I’m not worthy of my nickname, Lucifer, a label he believes I got for my crazy stunts flying fighter jets.
He’s wrong. So is anyone else who believes that bullshit.
But I’d rather keep them keeping on believing.
I am not the blond-haired, blue-eyed angel my mother believed she brought into this world, and some who know me from another life would say that’s never going to change.
