“If I can keep it between us, I will.”
Her eyes were wide and wet. “Please, Zach. Please don’t tell.”
“I’ll do my best, Kayla. I swear.”
“On your honor as a SEAL?”
He didn’t hesitate. “On my honor as a SEAL.”
She pulled in a breath. Met his gaze evenly. “The other day, I went to get lunch for everyone at the salon. You know the diner on the corner?”
“Yes.”
“I walked over there, picked up the food, and walked back. A man in a car slowed down and started talking shit to me. Catcalling. That kind of thing.”
His gut twisted with anger on her behalf.
“I know that doesn’t sound like anything. Just some asshole who saw a woman walking alone and wanted to harass her.” Kayla pulled in a breath. “But that wasn’t all. When I didn’t respond, he said I was going to get what was coming to me, and then he squealed his tires and left. Which still might be nothing, I know that. Anyway, I told the girls about it and that was the end of it. But something else happened later, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
The back of his neck started to prickle with warning. He’d learned never to ignore that feeling during countless missions overseas and into enemy strongholds. It was that feeling, that tickle, that kept him alive. He wasn’t the only one who had it. Every operator he knew—the good ones anyway, and HOT only had the good ones—had some version of that warning system.
“Go on.”
“Bailey came to the salon a couple of hours later to pick up Ana. When she left, I got a phone call. I thought she’d forgotten something.”
He waited for Kayla to continue. She shredded the tissue some more. Closed her eyes. He reached out and put a hand on her knee. Her bare skin was warm, soft. He ignored the way touching her made his cock ache and gave her a light squeeze for comfort before pulling his hand away again. She sucked in a breath and lifted her gaze.
“It was a man. He said he knew where I was and what I did.”
The prickling intensified. “There’s more.”
Kayla nodded. “Yes. I asked who he was. I didn’t recognize the voice. He said I’d find out—and then he mentioned my shoes, the ones I was wearing that day, and how hard it must be to run in them. He also talked about what Bailey looked like. I asked him what he wanted—and he said he wanted what I owed the club. He said I was going to pay.”
Anger flared, scouring his insides with acid. Some fucking lowlife asshole from the motorcycle club had stalked her and scared her. He clearly wanted something from her. But what?
She swallowed. “I told him I didn’t have anything of value. And he said… He said I had Ana.”
Neo saw red. No way would he let that happen. No fucking way.
“I told him I’d call the police and he said….” She closed her eyes. “That I shouldn’t do that because I was an unfit mother and she might end up in state custody.”
Neo growled. “There’s no way he can make good on that threat, Kayla. It’s not a matter of making an accusation and they take your child away. There’s more to it than that. He wanted to scare you. Fucker.”
She looked pale. “I know.”
“And you don’t think you should tell Bailey about any of this?”
She shook her head. “No, not yet. Bailey already went through so much because of me. And it might be nothing other than some asshole from what’s left of the Kings who wants to harass me. It might even be James making it happen from prison for no other reason than to scare me.”
“If you believed that, you wouldn’t be here.”
Her gaze dropped again. “No, that’s true. But if I tell Bailey, then what? What can she do? It was one phone call, and that was a couple of days ago. I blocked the number, but he could call again from a different phone. He hasn’t so far. I haven’t seen anyone watching me either. I make sure to check my surroundings thoroughly, and I don’t go anywhere alone. It’s work or home, and that’s it. I only go other places when someone is with me, like today. But if I tell Bailey, then she’ll do something drastic, like quit school or postpone the wedding until the danger is past. She’d upend her life to protect mine, like she always does, and I don’t want that. Alexei would have to spend his time watching out for me and Ana instead of planning his future with Bailey. I’d like to prevent that, if possible.”
Neo didn’t like any of this shit. Someone was threatening her. But there was still a lot to unpack here.
“How will us getting married fix anything?”
Her pretty hazel eyes skimmed over his face. “You’re a SEAL. If we were married, whoever is out there would think twice about coming after me because it would mean trouble with the military. And I wouldn’t be parenting alone anymore. I’d be married and Ana would have a dad. I could put her into daycare on the base since she’d be entitled to it then. She’d be safer there than at the salon every day. When she isn’t in daycare, she’ll be with me and you together. She’d be safe all the time, and I wouldn’t be as scared that something might happen to her. I also don’t think child protective services would be as likely to take her. If they did, the military would help us.”
Now he understood. She wanted to protect her baby. She was terrified that whoever’d threatened her could make good on the threat to have Ana taken away. He didn’t believe it was likely, but he didn’t need to. She did.
He also understood why she’d want Ana in base daycare. The base was a fortress guarded by military dogs and armed military police with automatic rifles. No one who wasn’t supposed to be there was getting in. Camel couldn’t get Ana into daycare before because she wasn’t his, and he wasn’t marrying her mother.
Which, if Bailey got involved, he might. Temporarily, and so Kayla and Ana could have his military benefits until such time as it was safe for them to divorce so he could marry Bailey instead. It wasn’t all that far-fetched either, because Camel would do anything for Bailey. If she asked him to protect her sister, he would. Even if he had to marry her to do it.
Shit, what a mess. It made perfect sense why Kayla had come to him. She knew what her sister was like. What she would sacrifice.
“You know that I’ll have to deploy, right? My job isn’t nine-to-five, five days a week. I can be gone for weeks at a time. I can’t guarantee I’d be here with you all the time.”
She twisted the remains of a tissue. “I know. But I’d still feel safer because Ana would be on the base during the day, and we could stay with Bailey when the team deploys.”
Neo rubbed his forehead. The whole thing stunk, but he understood why she didn’t want Bailey to know. She was happy, planning a wedding, moving on with her life. Still, Camel was his teammate and Neo wasn’t going to be able to keep this from his brother-in-arms. Not for long anyway.
Kayla reached out and cupped his face in both hands. It shocked him enough that he stilled, waiting for whatever she wanted to say. Her hands were cool, but his skin still sizzled where she touched. His cock twitched to life at that reminder of what it had been like between them.
He’d owned her hot little body once, and he’d wanted so much more. He’d wanted to drown in her. He still wanted it.