Page 2 of Unlocked

“I need a drink,” Lance declares the moment we reach the table. “What would you like Shelby?”

“I have a Diet Coke, but thanks,” I tell him as I take a sip of my drink. He frowns down at me.

“That’s not a drink,” Lance protests. “You need a real drink, something with a high proof of alcohol!” He whoops and his buddies join him. “I’ll be back in a minute.” He flicks his headtoward the bar as he looks at his friends. The guys make their way through the crowded room to get drinks.

“He’s cute!” Estelle comments the moment they are out of earshot. I nod, feeling my face heat, knowing I’m turning red. I can’t help the strange feelings Lance has stirred in me. He seems really nice, even though every now and then I get a weird feeling from the way he looks at me. Not that overwhelming desire, it’s more of a he isn’t being completely honest with me vibe, but I haven’t had a lot of experience with guys, so I tell myself I’m just being overly cautious.

“Are you enjoying your first night out?” Hillary asks with a knowing grin. She’s the only one who knows I’ve never really dated or been out to clubs before. I nod unable to hide my happiness and excitement. We huddle together talking about how cute the guys are. Hillary tells me that the one she’s been talking to said they are all on the rowing team at University of Virginia.

The guys are gone for a while but eventually return with drinks in hand. Lance hands me a blue colored drink. I look at it skeptically. I’m not twenty-one. I can’t legally drink alcohol, but I don’t want to have to say this in front of these guys we just met. I tentatively take a sip. The alcohol burns as it goes down, but the overall flavor is good. It’s a sweet fruity flavor. I sit the drink back down.

“Don’t you like it?” Lance questions, looking disappointed.

“Oh, yeah, I do,” I assure him. “I, uh, I don’t drink much.” He frowns like he doesn’t understand.

“You’re a college student,” he counters. “How can you not drink much? That’s why we go to college, to get hammered. Am I right?” He turns to his buddies for confirmation. They all nod their agreement. He points to me. “Drink up, beautiful. I want to dance again.” He waves his hands at my drink. Not wanting to disappoint him, I take a couple of big sips, but cough from thestronger liquor. He chuckles before taking my hand to lead me out on the dance floor when a slow song comes on.

He pulls my body so close we are touching from shoulders to hips. He begins to sway suggestively, pressing his lower body into mine. I’m a mess by the time the song is over. I want him so badly. He’s been whispering to me the whole song about how beautiful he thinks I am and all the things he wants to do to me when we are alone. As the song ends, he pulls back a little to look down at me.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” he informs me and without waiting for permission he captures my mouth with his. I’m shocked but so elated, too. His lips are soft and warm. Moving gently against mine. In the background I think I hear cheering, but I’m sure it’s a figment of my imagination. I’m so lost in the closed-mouth kiss, which doesn’t last long, but is amazing all the same. He breaks the kiss to stare down at me. “Let’s go back to the table.” I’m still trying to catch my breath, so I nod without speaking. I can feel my cheeks aching from the huge smile on my face.

We reach the table. Lance’s friend gives him a high-five. I stare at them curiously, wondering what that’s all about. I reach to take a sip of my drink to help me calm down, but I don’t even get the straw to my lips before Lance speaks.

“I told you I could get her to kiss me. Now ante up.” Lance holds out his hand to his friends who begin slapping money into his hand. I stare at them in confusion. What the hell is going on? “The fat ones are so easy. I probably could have gotten a blow job out of it, too, but I didn’t really want her mouth on me.” I can feel the color drain from my face as the shock of his words wash over me. It was all a lie. The last hour he spent dancing and flirting with me was some sick, twisted bet with his friends? I feel the hot tears falling, and a sob escapes me, much to my horror. Lance turns to me with a sneer. “Did you really think I was intoyou? Look at me, then look at yourself. No one who looks like me would be interested in a fat slob like you.”

An image of my father flashes to the forefront of my mind. I can’t take anymore. I turn and blindly push my way through the crowd, eager to escape my tormentor and his friends. Rushing out into the night, I stumble down the street. I have no idea where I’m going just anywhere away from here. I can hear Hillary calling my name, but I ignore her. I can’t face her. I spot a taxi coming down the street. I wave frantically. It stops, and I jump in, not caring it will likely take every penny I have to get home. I give the driver the address of my dorm as I cover my face with my hands and sob.

Chapter 1

Bo

Present day…

My phone pings with a series of text messages as I’m about to pull into the parking lot at Invictus Security and Protection Agency’s headquarters, my place of work. It just happens to also be my oldest brother’s security company. Luke opened the company about ten years ago. It has grown into a highly successful business with a good reputation among local, state, and even federal authorities. When my younger brothers, Rosco and Enos, and I left the military, we joined Luke, and now we all work together along with two of our closest friends, Kelvin and Dalton.

The six of us have formed a close bond, and while Luke is the owner, we each bring a special skill set to the company. Rosco and I are former Navy SEALs. We both have a variety of skills we honed during our years of service. Kelvin is a computer expert. Dalton is an explosives expert, and Enos is superior at gathering intel. Luke never served in the military, although he’d had every intention of becoming a Marine, but that had been before his accident, which had left him a paraplegic at the young age of seventeen. He hasn’t let it keep him from living a full life. He’d went to college majoring in computer science and criminaljustice. He’d worked for an established security company for a few years before opening Invictus. Then he recruited the rest of us to come work for him.

I roll into my parking spot before pulling my phone from my back pocket. Luke is getting married in a couple of weeks. Marley Morrison, Luke’s fiancée, is on a sort of house arrest, not because of anything she’s done, but because some radical terrorist group has set their sights on her. The group, The Brotherhood, has been causing her problems for months. First, they messed with her financially, causing her to lose her car, her home, and finally her job. When Luke had found out, he had taken Marley into his home and his heart. He’d stepped in and had managed to fix the financial damages done to her, but then the group kidnapped Marley along with our sister, Daisy. The women were rescued by a group of Special Forces Marines within hours of their abduction, but not before Marley and Daisy had been beaten. The two men who’d taken them had been killed by my sister, who is a combat surgeon for the Navy, just minutes before the Marines had reached them.

Luke had been half in love with Marley for nearly a year, before all of this began happening, but he hadn’t asked her out for fear she might say no. He had feared she might not be interested in a paraplegic, but his fears had been unfounded. Marley is as in to him as he is into her.

Being as Marley is currently under FBI protection, after we recently learned The Brotherhood still has intentions of abducting her again to use her in a terrorist attack, I’ve been tasked with picking up her friend who is coming to stay a couple of weeks to help Marley plan her wedding to my brother. I’m still processing the fact that my brother, who is more of a father figure to me, is getting married. It’s not that I don’t think he is lovable, because he is one of the best men I’ve ever known. It’s just none of my brothers have ever really had seriousgirlfriends before. Our parents’ marriage had ended abruptly when our father left for work one morning and never came back. Our mother went off the rails, after that, running from man to man, leaving us to raise ourselves. I don’t think any of us ever entertained long-term relationships, because we never wanted to have children who could suffer the same fate we had.

Checking my phone, I see Luke and Marley have both sent messages. They are sending me the details of Marley’s friend’s flight. I open Luke’s text conversation, first.

Luke:Marley’s friend Shelby will be at the airport in Norfolk in about an hour. Are you still good to pick her up?

Me:Absolutely, I got this.

Luke:Please behave yourself, for once. Shelby is important to Marley, so she’s important to me. I need you to be respectful and not do something to embarrass her or hurt her feelings before you get here.

What the fuck! Is that what my brother thinks of me? I know I’ve been a little immature, but it’s just to lighten the mood. Luke is so serious all the time, at least he was before he met Marley. He’s loosened up a lot since they’ve gotten together. I suppose regular sex will do that to a man.

I’m like the class clown. I’m there to alleviate the atmosphere, help everyone relax, but it seems that now everyone thinks I can’t be an adult. That’s not true. I can. I’ve just chosen not to be most of the time.

Me:I’ll be on my best behavior. I won’t do anything to upset Marley’s friend.

I really hope Luke is finished with his lecture on my behavior. Putting that out of my mind, I click on Marley’s message next, and I’m fairly certain my heart stops beating. The most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen is smiling so brightly in the photo Marley has sent. The woman has long, wavy, blonde hair with a few streaks of golden honey in it. Her blue eyes are lit up with hersmile. It’s like they are piercing my heart from the photo. I suck in air, getting lightheaded from holding my breath. I continue to study the picture for another minute, unable to pull myself away. Then I read Marley’s caption underneath.

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