Page 6 of The Vigilant

“Fine. Then how did you violate your parole?”

She huffed and pulled her hair over one shoulder, the length like a swathe of the finest black silk. My fingers twitched, wanting to run through it. To fist it. To—fuck.I grunted. Thankfully, she thought it was a sound of warning to answer.

“It was bullshit. I went to my friend’s apartment to get my phone, and she wasn’t home, so I picked the lock.” She rolled her bottom lip through her teeth, and my dick surged. “It wasn’t like I hadn’t been there before, but the stupid security guard downstairs is a scumbag.”

My head tipped. I wasn’t getting the full story here, that much was pretty fucking obvious. What was equally as obviouswas that she might never trust me with the full story, and even though it shouldn’t make a difference to me, it did.It really fucking did.

“So, do you live around here, or is there a couch somewhere in this place that I can sleep on for the next couple weeks?”

A wave of tension rolled through me.Shit.All the answers in the world didn’t change reality; I’d just been entrusted tobabysither for the next six weeks…and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

No, there were plenty of things I could do about it. Plenty of things Ishouldprobably do about it. But this was Jon’s daughter. He hadn’t cared about much outside his military career—one of the many things that went wrong between Angela and him—but damn, if Sutton wasn’t the thing he cared about most.

The least I could do for the man who’d done everything for me was spend six weeks guarding his daughter. To make sure she was set on the right path when it was all said and done, just like Jon had done a lifetime ago for me.

“No. Not here,” I snapped too quickly and reached for my phone. “I have to make one call, and then I’ll take you to where you can stay.” I started to walk away, scrolling for Dante’s number in my phone.

Dante Lozano worked for Covington Security about twenty minutes south of the garage in Carmel Cove. We’d worked adjacent to the private security firm from time to time, all in the pursuit of justice, and were friends with the nine-man team. Dante and his wife, Lenni, had a townhouse there that they used to live in before it couldn’t fit their brood of kids. When they moved, they either rented it to vacationers or let friends or family use it as needed.And right now, I fucking needed it.

When the line started to ring, I turned back to Sutton, catching her eyeing a different bike now.Mine.

“Sutton,” I clipped, capturing her attention before I warned, “Stay right here—and don’t touch…or sit on anything that doesn’t belong to you.”

The way her mouth curled into a sultry smile was the kind of thing that would haunt me for the rest of my miserable life.

Chapter Two

Sutton

In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.

The mantra seemed to rumble on repeat right out of the engine of the massive gray Harley underneath me, my arms locked tight around my father’s best friend who was taking me…I wasn’t sure where.

The idea of my father was made up of a few foggy memories and endless words of wisdom, all pilfered from Sun Tzu’sThe Art of War. War. Fighting. Victory. Those were the things that mattered to Jon Brant, and because I’d wanted to matter to him in the way all little girls wanted to matter to their heroes, they became the things that mattered to me. The things I clung to as I grew up with him absent. And that was why my life was punctuated by philosophies of war, Sun Tzu being the only steady advice as the world around me crumbled.

Like it was now.

In the last twenty-four hours, my life had turned to chaos. Breaking into my missing best friend’s apartment. Gettingcaught by the police. My parole officer getting involved. I was sure I was going back to jail, but then Daws brought me here. I didn’t know how or why, but there had to be an opportunity here somewhere. To escape. To find Mara.To ogle Dad’s hot best friend.

Gone was the white knight from my earliest memories, and in his place, six plus feet of hewn, hardened muscle, wrapped in dark wash jeans and a worn leather cut. He was broad and strong and that silent kind of viciousness. When Tynan had towered over Officer Daws, he reminded me more of a big, bad wolf growling and snarling at Daws to leave than some fictitious, gallant protector.

The six-year-old princess might’ve preferred the knight, but now, this twenty-one-year-old parolee was definitely attracted to the beast.

The much older, off-limits beast.

Then again, being fresh out of juvie, it was no surprise that breaking societal expectations was a favorite pastime of mine. Unfortunately, this time, I’d have to pass.Maybe if I wasn’t looking for Mara…

The bike slowed, and we turned into the driveway of a townhome. Tynan stopped at the keypad in front of the gate, entering a code I couldn’t make out. The gate and the garage door underneath the house opened, and we pulled inside.

I guessed working on motorcycles paid really well.

As soon as we stopped, I slid off the bike. Being so close to his heat was like standing next to a crackling fire; the longer I remained, the hotter I became and the less I wanted to move away.

I pulled his helmet off my head, my long black hair tumbling down my back, and set it on the seat of the bike.

“Code is 0727,” Tynan grunted like he wanted me to go ahead into the house just as much as I wanted to.

From the moment we’d pulled into the gated garage underneath the townhouse, I knew the inside was going to be luxurious. Though most things were luxurious compared to the hostel I was staying at in the city.

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