Page 101 of Operation K-9 Brothers
Epilogue
Noah Alba leaned against the wall of the nightclub in Virginia Beach, his gaze on the woman in the red dress that hugged every curve.He eyed the fine ass that the dress barely covered.Maybe she could make him forget for a few hours.Nothing else had worked—not the whiskey that was his new best friend since being sent home, and not the shrink his commander ordered him to see.
“You look like you could use a little pickup.”Rocky held out his hand, a small dime-size baggie of white powder in his palm.
“What is it?”
“The best kind of candy.This one’s on the house.”Rocky tucked the baggie into Noah’s shirt pocket, then pushed off the wall and walked away.
“On the house, my ass,” Noah muttered.It hadn’t taken long after Rocky had sidled up to him earlier in the evening and introduced himself to figure out the man was dealing drugs.He hadn’t tried to hide the money and baggies changing hands.
Noah knew the reason for the freebie...get him on the hook and then wait for him to come back for more.He put a finger to the outside of his pocket, feeling the outline of the baggie.Maybe it was the answer to helping him forget.
“Babe, have you seen my wallet?”Jack said.“I thought I left it on the coffee table.”
Nichole walked out of the bedroom, and Jack let out a breath, forgetting about his missing wallet.She had on his favorite dress, the black one with the slashes of red that she’d worn on their first date.
He moved next to her, then trailed his hand down her bare back.“As beautiful as you are in this dress, all I’m going to be thinking about tonight is getting you out of it.”
She laughed.“You think the same thing when I’m wearing my ratty potter clothes and covered in clay.”
“Not my fault you’re sexy as hell covered in clay.”It was Heather’s birthday, so he and Nichole were treating her and Deke to dinner at one of Asheville’s finer restaurants.He rested his finger at the low V of the dress, so tantalizingly close to her gorgeous ass.“We could call them and say you’re sick, and I have to stay home and take care of you.”
“You have a one-track mind, Jack Daniels.”
“Not denying it, and it bears repeating...Your fault.”
“Well, if I have to be blamed for something, I’ll take that one.”
And damn if that smile of hers didn’t still make his heart twitchy, but he was good now with twitchy.Real good.“I guess since you won’t let me call in sick, we should go.I just need to find my wallet.”
“Have you checked Maggie May’s bed?”
“Right.Should have thought of that.”Maggie May had turned into a master thief and hoarder.Nothing was safe from her thieving.Fortunately, she never chewed things up, just wanted to own them.It was good he had a soft spot in his heart for the idiot dog.
Sure enough, his wallet was in her bed, along with Nichole’s Kindle, one of her bras, and a collection of dog toys.He’d cleaned out her bed this morning, and already she’d amassed a hoarder’s treasure trove.
Dakota walked up next to him, and Jack glanced at her.“Can’t you do something about your kleptomaniac daughter?”All he got from her was a doggy sigh.“I know the feeling,” he said.
As he headed back to the living room, his wallet safely in his pocket, his phone rang.He frowned at seeing his former commander’s name on the screen.Why would he be calling?
“Sir?”Jack said on answering.
“I need you to come get Double D.”
Huh?“Get him from where?”Jack had heard that an operation Noah Alba was on had gone south, but he hadn’t heard the details.
“From here.He’s in trouble, Jack, and you’re the best plan I can think of for saving him.”
There was no one Jack respected more than his commander, a man he couldn’t say no to.“Maybe you should tell me what’s going on.”
“He made a mistake that resulted in the team’s dog and translator getting killed.He’s drowning in an ocean of guilt.I’ll brief you when you get here.”
Even though Jack was no longer in the military, his former commander was giving him an order, one he wouldn’t ignore.
“I’ll leave in the morning, sir.”
Noah groaned at the hammering in his head that kept time with whoever was pounding on his fucking door.A full bottle of whiskey might not have been the smartest thing he’d ever done, so why he kept doing it was...whatever.He couldn’t follow his own thought process because some asshole was banging in his head!
