2

There wasn't any air in my truck's cab. I tried to inhale, but my dry throat clenched and I coughed instead. My knuckles were white from my grip on the steering wheel and blue spots danced in front of my eyes. I would have to pull over soon if I couldn't pull myself together.

I turned onto the road, leaving the parking lot, and it felt as though someone had unplugged a sink. My throat opened up and air rushed into my lungs.

I heaved in two large gulps until my chest hurt from expanding. Only then did I allow myself to think.

What the hell just happened?

I wasn't exactly excited about the blind date Sarah had set up, but she seemed intent on making it happen, so I thought it easier to go through with it. I didn't feel nervous or annoyed as I drove to the donut shop. I felt nothing at all. Just numb.

Then I saw her standing there in a long, gray wool coat. One hand gripped her collar while the other clutched her phone. There wasn't anything about her stance or her features that made me panic. But something in her eyes, when they locked on mine, made alarm bells go off in my head. There was trust, innocence, and hope. All the things I'd lost long ago. That look terrified me. The expectation behind it made me panic, so I ran. I just kept driving.

I didn't go home. Undoubtedly, my sister would show up on my doorstep in less than an hour, and I had no explanation for her or me. I don't know why I reacted that way.

Well, maybe that was a lie. But it couldn't be because of Janine. That was more than three years ago. I was over her betrayal.

My fingers clenched again, and so did my jaw. This time, I did feel something. Anger.

Well, if I wasn't over it, then it was best that I left the poor woman standing there. It was a shitty thing to do, but maybe the lesser of two evils. She didn't need to deal with my issues.

I drove to the one place I felt like myself. The one place I knew would make me feel better. Western Security. My office. Well, our office. It belonged to me and my three best friends.

It was past seven on a Friday night, so I was surprised to find a light on inside one of the second-floor rooms as I pulled in front of the gray stucco building.

I pressed my thumb to the keypad next to the door, and a green light appeared just as the front doors unlocked.

My footsteps echoed down the marble hallway. I skipped the elevator, taking the stairs instead. If there was someone in our office who wasn't supposed to be here, I preferred that the elevator ding didn't announce my arrival.

I slowly turned the handle at the top of the stairs and crept toward the light at the end of the hallway. It was Will's office. My hand clutched the holster at my side as I stepped closer.

I heard Will's voice before I reached the office. Sighing, I relaxed my hand. I was definitely on edge tonight.

Will's dark hair fell past his jaw as he looked down at a letter on his desk.

"What are you still doing at work?"

Will jerked back, taken by surprise, his hand reaching inside his jacket. I put my hands up, "Whoa!"

He shook his head and his hand fell to his side. "I've warned you not to sneak up on me. I didn't even hear the elevator ding."

I smiled, and he rolled his eyes. "You took the stairs, didn't you?"

"Yup."

"Smart."

"So? What are you doing here?"

Will looked down at his Rolex. "The better question is, why are you back? I thought you had a date tonight."

Taking a seat in front of his desk, I crossed my arms. "It didn't work out," I said, coughing into my fist. "I decided to catch up on some work instead. Did my request for a background check come in?"

With a flick of his wrist, he threw the paper at me. "Here it is. Rejected again."

I grabbed the paper before it hit the desk, but quickly crumpled it into my fist. "Not again."

"Yup," Will nodded. "What are you going to do?"

I stared at the crumpled paper, signed by the police chief himself. It was the fifth such request I'd been denied this month. Only me. None of my friends had any trouble getting access to police files.

But none of them had dated the police commissioner's sister, Janine, except for me.

"I've waited long enough. I have to talk to him."

Will nodded. He advised me to do so after the first rejection, but I had made excuses. I thought it was probably a mistake. But after a fifth rejection, there was no mistaking his grudge against me.

"He's making it impossible for you to do your job. How can you protect people if you can't run simple background checks on their employees?"

I had avoided the commissioner because he reminded me of one of the most painful times in my life.

"You don't want to bring up the past, do you?"

Will knew me well. I couldn't deny that. I knew him, too. We'd joined the military at the same time and went through training together. We were at the top of our class. One day, we were pulled from training and asked to join special ops. We'd both agreed without hesitation. We'd known each other before the program had changed us. I knew that he had a dimple on his chin that only appeared when he grinned widely. I rarely saw it now, and I'd bet most people probably didn't even know it existed.

"I don't want to talk about the past, and I don't think he does either. My purpose is to get the background checks approved."

Will shrugged. "If you plan to grovel, can I come watch? It's not often that someone gets the best of you."

I narrowed my eyes. "Don't let this get to your head. Or I'll remind everyone of the time I carried your drunk ass home after only two beers in Germany."

"Hey, European beers have higher alcohol content. No one told me that."

I grinned as I walked down the hallway towards the elevator. It wasn't until the doors closed that I realized Will never told me why he was still at work. If I avoided my problems, then Will masked his well.

I started my truck and headed to One Police Plaza after calling to check if the Commissioner was in. There were 77 precincts in New York City and so far, five different police chiefs had rejected my requests, no doubt on the order of their commissioner.

It didn't take long before I pulled up to the rectangular thirteen-floor building. I breezed through security and took the elevator to the top floor.

A man in his early twenties greeted me from his desk. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. I'm here to see the commissioner."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No."

He stared at me and tilted his head as if to say, ‘Then what do you want me to do?'

"Can you tell him Jake Devereux is here to see him?"

He pursed his lips, perhaps wondering if it was worth angering the commissioner over me. I played the one card that always worked.

"Commissioner Rodriguez and I have some business to discuss. My private jet is scheduled to depart in an hour, so I don't have much time to waste."

"You have a private jet?" The way his lip curled showed how much he doubted my statement.

I sighed. I wasn't lying about the jet. Only that it was leaving in an hour. I pulled up the paperwork on my phone. It was embarrassing how often this worked to impress people. "Here are the ownership papers, and you'll see my name and face match my driver's license here." I opened my wallet to show him the picture.

His smile grew as his brain processed the truth. "You're much better looking in person," he grinned, looking up from the photo.

His reaction was typical of the others. I grew infinitely better looking the richer I became in their eyes.

I didn't earn my wealth from the military. Definitely, not that. Our bodyguard business was successful, but it wasn't bringing in billions. No, those funds were thanks to Jager. The brains of our brotherhood. Jager was the hacker in our special ops group. He understood complexities and saw strategies that no one could. He saw trends in stocks before anyone else and knew which companies to invest in and which to drop. We all trusted him with our meager savings and it had paid off a billion-fold. He still managed all of our portfolios. None of us trusted anyone else.

"The commissioner's office is the last door to the right. Do you want me to show you?"

His grin indicated he knew exactly what he was doing. I smiled. "I think I can figure it out. Thank you."

I kept a smile on my face until I drew closer to the commissioner's office. The closer I got, the narrower the hallway became until it felt as though those beige walls would swallow me up.

Come on, Jake. It's been three years. He can't still be holding a grudge. This is all just a big misunderstanding.

His door was only slightly open, so I knocked once.

"Come in."

I cleared my throat and walked inside. Before he could even look up from his desk, I addressed him directly. "Commissioner Rodriguez. I need to speak with you."

He stiffened, his eyes still not looking at me, but I knew he'd recognized my voice. It felt like an eternity until he raised his head and met my gaze. "Sir," I said when he finally looked at me.

"You…" His voice quivered and his fingers clutched the desk. "You think you can come in here and talk to me whenever you'd like?"

"I've tried making an appointment, sir. But I've always been denied."

"Then you should have taken the hint. I don't want to see you." His voice was low, but somehow it felt as though he had shouted.

"I gathered that, sir. But there's something I need to discuss with you urgently."

He raised his eyebrows and relaxed his fingers. "Well, you've finally come to explain yourself?"

If he thought I was here to discuss my relationship with his sister, he was mistaken.

"I was hoping you could explain something to me," I said.

He tilted his head, anger simmering behind his eyes.

I looked him in the eye with my back military straight. "I want to know why five different police chiefs have denied my requests—and only my requests."

His eyes narrowed. "You know why."

"I don't."

"Get out of my office," he shouted and pointed to the door.

"Not until you tell me why."

He shook his head. "Are you serious right now, Devereux?"

"As a heart attack."

"You think you can dump my sister, leave her in shambles, and I would be happy about that? She was a wreck for months."

He just confirmed it. Janine had never told him the reason we broke up. I'd come home early from a tour to surprise her. Unfortunately, she had a surprise waiting for me, too, when I found her in our bed with my best friend.

"I don't know what she told you, but Janine stepped out on me. I only picked myself up and walked away. I'm sorry Janine was a wreck afterward, but we both had a hard time."

"What'd you do to make her leave you?"

My jaw ticked. I had asked myself that question so many times.

He scoffed. "Don't have an answer, huh? Well, she's gone and shacked up with some loser and now refuses to speak to me. And it's all your fault, Devereux, so get the hell out of my office."

He stood this time, and his face reddened. His eyes burned with hatred I felt ten feet away.

I licked my lips, trying to choose my words carefully. "I need those requests, sir. I need them to do my job."

"And what job is that?"

"I'm a bodyguard."

He snickered without humor. "No, you're not. Not in my city. Not as long as I'm commissioner here."

My hand fisted inside my coat pocket. "You can't do this."

"I can, and I will. You will never work in my city. Now, for the last time, get the hell out of my office."