21. Damian

Reaching over to hold Carly’s hand, Damian wove through traffic. He was exhausted after shopping all day for cosmetics, which made him cranky. Who needs that much makeup, and why the hell was it so damn expensive? He would never say that to Carly, and obviously, she did need that much makeup in her line of work, but dang. He could have practically bought a new car with the amount of money she’d spent.

For some reason, he’d been on alert all day. There was something that was making him feel uneasy, and he couldn’t put his finger on it. He stayed extra close to Carly at all times, and luckily, she didn’t seem to notice or mind.

His phone began to ring, and the car’s touchscreen told him it was Nash. Reaching out, he clicked “answer” on the Bluetooth system.

“Hey, Nash, you back in town?”

It sounded as though he was driving too.

“Yeah, just leaving the office. Wanted to see if you want to go to the gym in the morning? I could really use your face as a way to let off some steam since you’re the one who sent me on that clusterfuck of a job.”

Damian laughed. He and Nash were both into boxing, and they sparred together sometimes. The guy had a history in MMA and was a bit more intense in the ring than Damian, so he usually left the ring pretty sore when they did spar. It wasn’t uncommon for them to end up with blood on their gloves.Usually, it was Damian’s blood.

“I’m on a job, so you’ll have to get some other sorry sucker to take your beating,” Damian said.

Nash laughed.

Looking in the rearview mirror, Damian frowned when he noticed the same car that he’d seen twice earlier in the day was driving just a few cars behind them.

“Nash, what’s your location?”

Damian could see Carly looking over at him with concern at his sudden change in tone. Purposely changing lanes, Damian watched as the black SUV changed lanes behind him. The car remained several cars back, but it followed him as he changed lanes again.

“I’m not far from the office. What’s wrong?”

Nash knew things had turned serious, and his voice was as hard as steel.

“I have a tail, and my client is in my car with me. I’m on I-5 North,” Damian said.

“Got it. What exit are you near?” Nash asked.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?” Carly asked softly.

Damian could hear the fear in her voice, and he hated that she had to be a part of this and know what was happening.He didn’t ever want Carly to have to experience anything scary or dangerous.

“Don’t worry, baby. Daddy will take care of it.”

He hoped he sounded reassuring, but his adrenaline was already pumping, and he was going from soft Daddy to soldier very quickly.

“I’m going to take exit one seventy-nine and go right on Hearthwood road. I don’t want to be on the freeway for this,” Damian said.

“Roger that. What’s the vehicle description?”

Damian looked in his rearview mirror again to confirm what he remembered.

“Looks like a newer Chevy Tahoe, all black with tinted windows and chrome rims. It doesn’t have a front license plate. I can’t tell for sure, but there may be two people in the car.”

“Got it. I’m about five minutes out. I’m in my Camaro,” Nash confirmed.

Carly reached out and touched his arm. “Daddy, I’m scared.”

She was whispering, probably hoping that Nash wouldn’t hear her. It didn’t matter if he did anyway since he was also a Daddy and would understand.

“It’s going to be okay, baby girl. You just need to listen and do exactly as I say, do you understand?”

Damian glanced over at her as she nodded. Her face had turned completely pale.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, baby doll. Trust Daddy?”

She nodded again, “I trust you, Daddy.”

Warmth filled him, knowing that she trusted him. It was reassuring knowing that she knew he would take care of her. And he would. He would fucking kill for her.

“I see the SUV. I’m going to hang back until we get off the freeway,” Nash said.

Looking in his rearview mirror, he located Nash’s maroon Camaro and breathed a sigh of relief. The odds were always better when you had backup. Especially when Nash was the backup. Turning on his blinker, Damian took the exit and watched as the SUV followed. Nash kept his distance but took the exit as well.

“What’s the plan, boss?” Nash asked.

The plan. He didn’t know what the plan was because he didn’t know what kind of crazy person he was dealing with. Since the break-in at the salon, there hadn’t been any other known danger until now.

“I need you to ram them until they stop or drive into the ditch. I’ll flip around and come assist once they’re stopped.”

Nash let out a string of swear words, and if the situation weren’t so serious, Damian would have laughed. He knew what he was asking of Nash. The man loved his car.

“I’ll buy you a new car,” Damian said seriously.

“You sure as fuck will. Fuck!” Nash yelled. “Here we go.”

Damian continued to drive while keeping an eye on the rearview mirror as he watched Nash speed up to catch up with the SUV. While the SUV was bigger, he knew Nash’s car had way more power. It was his souped-up baby.

He watched as the scene unfolded. Luckily they were on a two-lane back road that had almost no traffic, so the “crash” would happen without anyone else seeing. Not that it mattered. Damian didn’t give a fuck about the law at that moment. His mind was on protecting his girl, no matter what the stakes were.

Nash swerved quickly into the cross-traffic lane and sped up until the front of his car was parallel with the back of the SUV. Suddenly, Nash swerved right, crashing into the SUV. They could hear the loud crunching noise over the phone. Damian saw theSUV swerve and then speed up slightly, but Nash kept on them and rammed it again.

“There are two guys in the SUV,” Nash said.

“Got it,” Damian said.

The next time Nash rammed into the SUV, Damian could see smoke coming from the tires of the Camaro as it pushed the SUV into the ditch until it came to a stop. As soon as he saw the car was stuck, Nash leapt out of his car with his gun drawn. Damian spun around and sped back to the scene to provide Nash with backup.

“Carly, stay in the car. As soon as I get out, you lock the doors and don’t open them for anything.”

“Daddy, I’m scared.”

He reached into the center console and grabbed his gun along with a backup magazine.

“I won’t let anything happen to you. Just do as I say. I want you to unbuckle and get down low and if you hear gunshots, you crouch down as low on the floorboard as you possibly can. Understand?”

Her eyes widened even more, and he hated scaring her with the what if’s but in a situation like this, they needed to be prepared for anything. She nodded, though her entire body was trembling, and he wanted nothing more than to pull her to him and reassure her.

The urge to tell Carly that he loved her was at the tip of his tongue. He had no idea when he had figured it out, but Damian realized that he didn’t want to live without her in his life and he was completely head over heels in love with her. This wasn’t the time to confess his love though, so he didn’t say it. Instead, he leaned over and kissed her quickly before jumping out of the Jeep with his gun pointing toward the SUV.

Nash was approaching the back of the vehicle as Damian crossed the road.

“Put your hands up!” Nash shouted to the occupants.

Damian could see two men in the front while Nash looked through the tinted windows in the back. Giving Damian a zero signal to let him know that there were no people in the back, Damian approached the driver’s side while Nash slid around to the passenger side.

The men in the car weren’t showing their hands, and Damian couldn’t see what they were doing in the car with the dark tint. Keeping his gun trained on the driver while Nash was approaching the passenger side, Damian looked through the window and saw a silver pistol in the driver’s hand. Damian’s blood ran cold and his fight instincts went into full force. He was going to take these men down.They were fucking with his Little girl and no one would get away with that.

“Gun!” Damian yelled.

Both Nash and Damian ran forward and used the butts of their guns to smash the windows so they could open the doors and drag the men out. The men in the car shielded themselves from the flying glass, giving Damian time to grab the driver”s wrist and pull, twisting it until the man’s pistol loosened in his hand and fell to the ground.

Nash reached in and opened the passenger door from the inside. As soon as it was open, he grabbed the passenger by the collar of his jacket and dragged the man out of the car, dropping him onto the ground. Once Damian knew the driver was no longer armed and Nash was handling the passenger, he tucked his gun into his holster and reached in to unlock the driver’s side door. Opening the door while he still had a tight grip on the man’s arm, he shifted quickly, grabbed the driver by the collar, yanked him out of the driver’s seat, and slammed him to the ground.

“Who the fuck are you?” Damian shouted.

The man he had pinned to the ground tried to struggle free, but Damian had a firm grip on him. Nash came around the car dragging the passenger of the SUV whose wrists were already restrained with zip ties. Dropping the guy onto the ground, Nash grabbed another zip tie and wrapped it around the driver’s wrists, tightening it until the man screamed in pain. Yanking the man up until he was in a sitting position, Damian crouched down to get level with the man and got in his face.

“Answer me, who the fuck are you? Who sent you to follow me?”

Nash left Damian with the men on the ground as he started rifling through the glove box of the SUV, looking for registration papers to try to identify who these men were.

The driver gave Damian a smug look, “Fuck off, bro.”

Wrong answer.

Before Damian could respond to the lowlife, he heard Carly walking up behind him and he instantly felt his temperature rising. She had disobeyed him and he was furious.

“I know that guy,” she said slowly as she approached.

Nash was on the alert as she approached, and Damian swung around, glowering at her.

“Get back in the fucking car, Carly!” he snapped.

She froze, and her gaze moved from the driver up to Damian, who was now looming over her, ready to paddle her ass for going directly against a safety order.

“I recognize him. He was at the house before, meeting with James,” she said, pointing toward one of the men.

Damian wrapped his hand around her bicep and turned her, pulling her toward his Jeep.

“I told you to stay in the car,” he said between gritted teeth.

Carly scowled up at him, “You’ve got them restrained. What are they going to do?”

He instantly peppered her bottom with several hard smacks. Carly yelped and reached back to rub her bottom.

“I don’t give a shit if they were dead. If I tell you to stay in the car, I expect you to stay in the fucking car. There is no way of knowing for sure that there isn’t danger still around us. Get in the damn car, Carly.”

He opened the passenger door to the Jeep and hoisted her in before slamming the door shut and stomping back over to where Nash was interrogating the men.

“Who hired you?” Nash asked.

Damian was seething and half tempted to go back to his car and spank his little brat’s butt while Nash handled the assholes, but he would deal with her later. He needed to cool down before punishing her.

The men were uncooperative, spitting out insults to Damian and telling them to go to hell until Nash crouched down in front of them and smiled. He pulled out a knife and let it dangle from his hand, the point very close to the driver’s crotch.

“It would really suck for you to live the rest of your life without a dick, if you know what I mean. I suggest you start talking before I start cutting,” Nash said, lowering the point of the knife little by little as he spoke.

Damian knew he wasn’t bluffing. Nash was a former marine who’d had the shitty job of interrogating terrorists in foreign countries. He wasn’t afraid of blood and violence when it was needed.

“It was James and Sandra! They wanted me to find out where she’s been staying since she hasn’t been at her house in weeks!” one of the men said.

Both men were sweating profusely.

“What was their plan with her?” Damian demanded.

“I don’t know,” the driver said.

Nash rose quickly, going behind the man, grabbing him by his hair, and pulling his head back. He lined the knife up to his throat. The man’s eyes widened, and Damian could see him cracking.

“I will fucking cut your throat without a second thought if you don’t start talking,” Nash said harshly.

“Okay! Okay! Fuck!” the man said, his eyes as wide as saucers as the blade of the knife was pressed harder to his throat.

Letting the man’s hair go, Nash pulled the knife away just slightly while Damian scowled at the men.

“Who sent you, and what did they send you for?” he demanded.

“That bitch just told you,” the driver said.

Damian grabbed the guy by the collar in one swift motion and hauled him to his feet before landing a right hook into his nose. The guy fell back, hitting his head against the side of the SUV, and blood immediately started running down his face.

He smirked at Damian.“Hit a nerve, did I?”

“What did James send you to do?”

The passenger spoke up, and Damian wasn’t prepared for what he said.

“He paid us to do a hit on her.”