Page 7 of Unlocked

I made the mistake of seeing a girl more than once when I first got out of boot camp. I thought I’d made it clear that I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend just a ‘friends with benefits’ arrangement, but she quickly became clingy, calling and texting day and night. I stopped answering her calls and texts, but she showed up at base making a scene, declaring I’d broken her heart. Never again did I want to be responsible for another fiasco like that, so I’ve avoided them. Perhaps I need to rethink my intentions with Shelby. I shouldn’t be having thoughts of seeing her. I’m not cut out for relationships. Besides she lives in Maryland, and I’m here in Virginia Beach. It would never work…right?

My mind is running everything on a loop as I exit the house to the patio where everyone has gathered for dinner. Luke has a fabulous patio with outdoor grill, griddle, pizza oven, mini-fridge, sink, and bar. It is one of my favorite places to hang out with the guys and now Marley, since she’s joined the family. Marley looks up expectantly as I exit the house. “Where’s Shelby?”

“She’ll be down in a bit. She was still napping when I got upstairs.” Marley nods and focuses back on my brother who is playing with her hair distractedly. Marley is again perched on his lap as is their habit of late. It should be weird seeing my serious brother, the one who’s been like a father to me even though he is only three years older, all dreamy-eyed over Marley, but it doesn’t. It seems normal, natural. I can see how contented she’s made him. I’m very happy for him. I’d never tell him, but after his accident, I’d worried he would never be truly happy again, and I certainly never though he’d find love.

I stroll over to the grill to see if I can be of any assistance to Rosco who is turning the steaks. I need to redirect my trainof thoughts that seem to be stuck on feelings and relationships. “You need some help?” Rosco gives me the side-eye like I’ve just grown an extra head.

“No,” he replies shaking his head. “Since when have you decided to be helpful?” He raises an eyebrow at me, giving me a knowing look. I roll my eyes and huff a laugh. Leave it to Rosco to call me out on my bullshit. I can never get anything over on him. I guess because we are so close in age, only eleven months difference. He knows full well I would normally never volunteer for grill duty, but I need something to distract me from all the shit in my head.

“That obvious?” I ask, my shoulders drooping under the weight of my turmoil. My brother gives me a hard assessing look. I drop my gaze not wanting him to see all my secrets. Rosco has always been good at reading me and my emotions. I notice him frown in my peripheral vision as I intently study the meat on the grill as if it holds the answers to all the world’s problems.

“What’s going on with you, Bo?” Rosco asks after a few moments of quiet regard. I debate whether or not I should disclose all the things running through my head, but I’m not sure I can put all of this into words that would make sense. Shelby stepping out onto the patio saves me from having to answer Rosco as her arrival draws a shout from Marley.

“Shelby!” Marley rises up from Luke’s lap and hurries to greet the woman who’s intrigued me. “Did you have a good nap?” My head snaps in Shelby’s direction at the question. Our eyes meet. I can see her begging me to not dispute the lie she lets fall from her lips. She looks at Marley.

“Yes, thank you,” Shelby replies with a half-smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. Her gaze finds mine once more. I subtlety nod my agreement to allow her secret to remain between the two of us. No good will come from revealing she’d been screaming from a nightmare when I’d gotten upstairs. I don’t know what hadbeen in her dream, but it had been bad whatever it was. I’d seen the fear in her eyes and felt her body tremble as she’d let me hold her. She gives me a grateful look that lights up her face, stealing my breath. She turns to face Marley with a truly beautiful smile that does reaches her eyes. “I’m so happy to be here with you, Marley.” The women link their arms together and head over to a lounger to sit and chat.

I head over to the mini-fridge for a beer. I open the door and see there is only a couple bottles left. I turn to Rosco. “I think I’ll go pick us up some beer.” He studies me for a long beat before he nods. I stride to the patio doors, willing myself not to look back at the woman who is fast becoming a distraction I don’t need. I’ve spent way too much time thinking about her already. I turn the knob, opening the door. I make to step inside the house, but my body doesn’t want to cooperate. My foot stops mid-step, and my head turns as if it has a mind of its own. My eyes take in Shelby sitting next to Marley. She is truly a stunning woman. She looks up meeting my regard as if she can feel my eyes on her. She has the haunted look in her eyes that she’d had when I woke her earlier. I suck in a sudden breath. I’m, again, struck with the desire to hold her, chasing away whatever causes her nightmares. Her eyes widen as if she can read my thoughts, my desires. Her face flushes a lovely shade of pink. I shake my head and force myself to turn away from her. I hurry into the house through the dining room and out the front door. I jog out to my car and climb inside firing up the motor before I’m fully seated.

Putting the car in reverse, I tear out of the driveway like the hounds of hell are on my heels. I try taking a deep breath to clear my head, but it does no good. Shelby’s delicious scent still lingers in my car where she’d ridden here with me. How could her scent burrow so deeply into my car in such a short amount of time? I think of her in my bed, knowing it is going to smell like her too.

I make my way to the liquor store my brothers and I frequent since it’s close to Luke’s. I purchase way more alcohol than is necessary, but I need the time away from the house to clear my head. My brothers and I like to have a beer or two with our dinner most days. We rarely drink to excess. However, I’m feeling that tonight is going to be one of those nights that I need to lose myself in the drink. Perhaps then, I can have my head on straight come morning.

I arrive back a Luke’s, shooting a text to Rosco to come help me carry in my purchases. I hear the door opening as I’m popping open the trunk where I’d stored the beer, bourbon, and wine coolers that I’d gotten for Marley. She’d let us know her first night at Luke’s that she didn’t care for beer. So the guys and I have made it a habit to pick her up some wine or wine coolers when we make a beer run.

“What’s wrong with your arms?” Rosco asks as he reaches the trunk of my car. His eyes widen in shock as he takes in the haul I’d picked up. “Damn man, did you buy the liquor store?” I chuckle at his assessment. I’d gotten three cases of beer, two large bottles of Marley’s favorite Moscato, two large bottles of Woodford Reserve, and a variety box of Seagram’s.

“Nah, I just thought we’d be celebrating our soon to be sister-in-law and the arrival of her friend,” I tell him. He quirks a brow at me, but doesn’t comment further. Thankfully, Dalton has followed Rosco out to join us. Between the three of us, we managed to get all my purchases inside.

I leave two cases of beer in the extra refrigerator in the kitchen before taking the third case out to the patio, depositing it into the mini-fridge. Marley and Shelby have now been joined by my sister Daisy. The women are pouring over something on Marley’s tablet. Their chatter and occasional laughter catch my attention more often than I’d like to admit. I take up residence in a chair close to the women, drinking one beer after another.

After we’ve eaten, the women head upstairs to look at Marley’s wedding dress options. While Rosco, Enos, Kelvin, Dalton, myself, and Luke remain on the patio discussing the information we’ve uncovered on the Brotherhood organization. It’s a radical terrorist group with aspirations of global recognition through acts of terror, namely bombings with maximum damage. They have set their sights on Marley, with plans to use her as an unwilling suicide bomber at an upcoming Fourth of July Celebration in less than two weeks. It’s imperative that we uncover where they are hiding out and gather enough evidence to put them away for a very long time, before they can put their plan into action.

Our company has been working with the FBI since Marley and our sister Daisy were taken by the organization a few months ago and held for several hours. Our sister had been able to overpower and kill the two men who’d beaten Marley for information she didn’t have. We later learned Marley, who until recently had been a waitress at a local restaurant called The Bistro, had waited on some of the men in the organization. They’d been raided by the FBI the next day and had assumed that Marley had overheard their conversation.

My brothers and I had actually been in the restaurant the same day. We often had working lunches at The Bistro. It’s where Luke first met Marley over a year ago. They’d been attracted to one another from the beginning, but both had been reluctant to ruin their budding friendship by making a move to date. When bizarre financial problems began to plague Marley, she hadn’t known what to do or who to turn to.

A few months ago, my brothers, I, and our two friends, Kelvin and Dalton had had another working lunch at The Bistro. Marley had been our waitress, as usual, but she’d suddenly disappeared, which set Luke into a frenzy. As we’d been leaving the restaurant, vowing never to grace the establishment againafter learning Marley had been fired, Luke had spotted her in her car in the parking lot, crying her eyes out. He’d taken her into his home after learning someone had wiped out her bank accounts, then made it appear she hadn’t been paying her rent, car payments, or her school tuition. He promised he’d get to the bottom of the issues and fix everything.

He had been able to fix things financially, but then Marley and Daisy were taken. Even after they’d been rescued, Rosco, Enos, and I had found mountains of evidence on the organization in a warehouse in Atlanta. We’ve slowly been combing through their paper and electronic documents. It seems this organization has been on the FBI’s radar for a number of years, but they’ve never been able to get enough evidence to arrest the key players despite having an informant on the inside.

This informant recently discovered the leaders are planning to abduct Marley a second time, wanting revenge for the deaths of their friends. We’ve discovered one of the men Daisy had killed had been the brother of the local leader of the organization. He’s hellbent on punishing Marley for the man’s death. The FBI had wanted to take Marley into protective custody, but Luke nor any of the rest of us believe the FBI can keep her safe, not like we can, but they are the government. They can and will do whatever they want. Luke had contemplated taking Marley on the run from both the Brotherhood and the FBI, but eventually settled on allowing two FBI agents to watch Marley here at Luke’s home. The poor woman is basically on house arrest, but at least we are all here to watch over her, and she can still plan their wedding.

“I think you’ve had more than enough,” Rosco says in my ear, drawing me from my thoughts. I glance over at him, not understanding what he’s talking about. “You’ve been drinking allevening. I’m cutting you off.” He takes my half empty shot glass from my hand and promptly downs the rest of it.

“What the fuck?” I ask, becoming pissed at my brother. Who does he think he is to tell me how much I can drink? I’m a grown ass man, for fuck’s sake. I stand up, swaying slightly, and I make my way to the mini-fridge. I open the door to see it’s empty. I frown, didn’t I put a case in here just a few hours ago. I look back toward the table, blinking in an effort to get my eyes to focus. The bottles seem to be dancing on the table. Despite their rapid movement, I can tell there are several of them around where I’d been sitting, as well as a half empty bottle of Woodford Reserve. Well shit! I guess Rosco is right. I have had more than my share. I slam the door to the fridge. “Guess I’m turning in,” I inform the rest of them, only slightly slurring my words.

Luke has already headed upstairs, no doubt to ravage Marley. Luke’s house is well built, but the walls aren’t that thick. We’ve all heard them going at each other at some point. Daisy and her man are staying here, too. I grimace as an image of my sister doing the nasty with Ace flashes in my drunken brain. Nope! Do not want that image in my head. I climb the steps only stumbling a few times before reaching the top. I make my way down the hall to my room. The lights are off, but the curtains are open allowing a near full moon to shine just bright enough I can see to make it into the bathroom.

I strip out of my clothes before taking a long piss. Man does beer run through me. Once I’m finished, I leave the bathroom and head for the bed. I have to admit I’m drunk, and I need to sleep this off. I lift the covers and slide between the sheets, letting out a sigh as I breath in Shelby’s sweet scent.

Chapter 4

Shelby

I’ve almost managed to drift off to sleep when I hear the door to my room open. I glance at the door thinking that Marley or Daisy has come back with some new thought on the wedding, but the silhouette in the doorway isn’t either of the women. It’s a man. Bo Robertson to be exact. He sways before he closes the door, leaving the room mostly dark once more. I had left the curtains open so the moonlight would serve as a nightlight. I never sleep in complete darkness, in case I have a nightmare. It makes it easier to come back to reality when I’m not in the dark.

What is Bo doing in here? Is he checking on me? I shake my head, that’s a stupid thought. Why would he check on me? Just because he’d been sweet to me earlier today doesn’t mean he has any concern for my nightmares. Part of me knows that I’m lying to myself. I saw his trepidation when our eyes met on the patio. He’d been kind then, too, not calling me out on my lie to Marley about sleeping well.

---