Page 13 of Braxton

“I’ll be in touch.” She spun and ran, but Brax didn’t bother to give chase. Instead, he strolled after her, admiring her pluck. And her ass in those fitted, black jeans. Quinn never ceased to amaze him. Or turn him on. The woman had balls of steel to break into his team’s warehouse and confront him in the shower. And, hell, he’d liked every moment.

Christ, they were dysfunctional.

Chapter Six

If Quinn thought he was letting her go that easily, she had another thing coming. Braxton watched her race out the open balcony door and use a grappling device to launch herself over the railing. Fucking magnificent and so damn brazen. Turning around, he strode back into his quarters, pulled some clothes on and called Zane.

“What up, Pharaoh?” Zane answered.

“I need you to pull up the security cams we planted on the surrounding blocks.” After the incident at the parking garage, they’d decided to set up a series of hidden cameras covering their block and the next closest two. The cameras ran on a separate network and couldn’t be tampered with, even if someone hacked into the ones running at the warehouse. Plus, Brax liked keeping an eye on their extended perimeter.

“What’s going on?”

“I just had a visit from my ex-wife,” he stated dryly.

Zane cursed. “Let me round the crew up.”

“See you soon.” Brax disconnected the call and scraped a hand over his face. He couldn’t believe she had waltzed right in like she owned the place. She must’ve been staking it out and the second his team left, she struck. So ballsy. He’d always loved that, though. Her take-no-shit attitude and fearless nature.

One thing was certain, though. If she wanted him dead, she would have shot him while he was in the shower. She’d said she wanted to talk, but Neo skittering past had ruined their “moment” and seemed to have spooked her. The possibility of his team returning would’ve sent her running eventually anyway.

Well, now he planned on finding her just like she’d found him. The security cams carefully concealed throughout the neighborhood would help him track her down. They had a lot to discuss, and if she thought she was getting away from him again, she was sorely mistaken.

The moment his team and their significant others returned, they got down to business. With a team of tech geniuses like Zane, River and Lucas “Cipher” Sheridan on his side, they had the answers he needed within minutes.

“She’s driving a dark blue Ford Explorer,” Zane informed him and rattled off the license plate number which his wife, River, immediately plugged in on her end.

“Looks like she looped the cams here at the warehouse,” Lucas reported. “I’m resetting them now. Fortunately, she completely missed the perimeter ones.”

“Do you have an image of her?” Inda asked. She was sitting beside her man and Lucas shook his head.

“I do.” Zane’s fingers flew across his keyboard and, a moment later, everyone’s phones buzzed.

Brax opened the message and stared down at the still image of Quinn captured by one of the cams planted on the block. Even though the grainy picture wasn’t the clearest, there wasno mistaking her slender figure and the way his heart thumped harder.

“Damn, Pharaoh, your ex-wife is hot,” Ryland announced, earning a slap on the shoulder from Harper. He pressed a quick kiss to his petite wife’s lips. “But not as gorgeous as you, baby.”

“Good save,” the blonde said with a chuckle.

“She’s really pretty,” Inda agreed.

“And deadly,” Brax reminded them.

“I ran the plates. The car is registered to Cherry Bordeaux. I got a nearby address, too, but it looks like a storage unit.” River shrugged. “Let me do some more digging.”

Cherry.His stomach did a weird drop and tumble. Why had she used his nickname for her?

Brax stood up. “What’s the address?”

???

Parking in the shadows across the street, Brax put the SUV in park and turned his attention to the three-story building which housed storage units. He’d told his team he was merely doing a drive-by and then grabbing something to eat. If he saw anything suspicious, he’d call. But the moment he drove past, he felt the overwhelming urge to hang out for a few minutes. He seriously doubted he’d see Quinn, but his gut said otherwise.

It was quiet this time of night and Brax’s mind inevitably wandered back. He didn’t let it happen too often because memories could turn painful fast. Especially the good ones, andknowing how he’d never have another one with her made his chest ache.

Before returning to active duty, his superiors highly recommended he file for divorce. Truthfully, it felt more like an order—one he couldn’t disobey if he didn’t want to kiss his military career goodbye. They said it was important to distance himself from her. He didn’t want to do it but, at the same time, he couldn’t stay married to a ghost. Because one thing was certain—she was never coming back. She was in way too much trouble.

As a last attempt to get over her and end things, to get his life back on track, he’d filed for divorce. Since they’d been living in California, he didn’t have to prove she did anything wrong. Even though she did abandon him. As a no fault state, all he had to do was cite irreconcilable differences. Ironically, the law made it far too easy to give up on the person you vowed to love and cherish forever.

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