Singe (Guardian Protection #1)

Jeremy Lark was the resident family man at Guardian. He had to have been at least forty, but he still had a head full of thick, auburn hair. He loved to brag about it to all of the guys who had so much as a hint of a receding hairline. He’d settled down later in life, saying he hadn’t found the right woman before. And, clearly, he still hadn’t, because six months ago, he’d gotten a divorce. It made me a bad person, but I was happy at the news. Mainly because his ex-wife was a raging bitch. But also because he had three-year-old twin girls he got from their mother every other weekend. And, if Lark was called in on one of those days, he’d drop the girls off with me. I got a whole day of princesses, ponytails, junk food, and painted nails.

“Rhion’s apparently a stripper. But don’t worry. She manages to fit this in between running a Bible study and her cake-decorating business,” Devon filled in.

Lark tipped his head to the side and then asked around a mouthful of fritter, “Does that mean you’re giving up the tattoo shop?”

I laughed as they all stared at me. They were thoroughly perplexed but not fazed enough to stop shoving food into their mouths.

I turned to make my escape. “Right. Well, I should probably let Johnson know breakfast is here.”

Devon caught my arm. “Not until you reward me for my chivalry by way of a chocolate croissant.”

“Don’t you dare give that asshole my croissant,” Johnson rumbled as he rounded the corner.

I spun to face him, my smile growing wide as I laid eyes on him. Aidan Johnson was hot in the most unorthodox way possible. He may not have resembled the Prince Charming little girls dreamed about, but he’d never once walked into a room without turning the head of every woman there. He sure as hell had turned mine the day he had shown up at my door, reporting for duty.

“Sorry. A deal is a deal.” I made a show of lifting the pastry in the air like a precious jewel and then presenting it to Devon with a bow while whispering, “He who helps me shall receive the coveted chocolate croissant.”

Devon didn’t waste a second before taking a huge bite and flashing Johnson a closed-mouth, chewing grin.

I giggled as Johnson scowled at both of us, but his hand dropped to my lower back as he leaned past me to grab a bagel.

“Where ya been hiding?” he asked. “I was about to bust your door down. We seriously need to talk.”

I swung my gaze around the room and then whispered, “I’ve been…working.”

A sparkle of understanding hit his eyes. “Oh yeah?”

I nodded enthusiastically.

His hard face softened, and a smile that warmed me from the inside out pulled at his lips. “Finally.” He lifted the bagel to his mouth and clamped it between his teeth as he went back for two of the muffins.

“Any chance you can enlighten us on what exactly that work is?” Braydon asked.

Johnson removed his bagel from his mouth and replied, “Computer hacker.”

“Bullshit,” Devon groaned.

Lark, Braydon, and Alex all mumbled a similar sentiment.

I ignored them. Tipping my head back to catch Johnson’s attention, I asked, “Everything okay this morning?”

He stopped chewing and arched a thick, black eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

“Because Devon is currently eating your specially requested chocolate croissant for the very first time in over two years.”

He settled the muffins on a napkin and folded the edges over so he could carry them in one hand. “I’ve been helping Leo prep the new guy. Speaking of, I gotta get going.” He started to back away. “Hey, I’m home this weekend. You and me need to have a talk. Wanna grab a drink tonight?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Devon answered.

“I’m free,” Braydon added.

Alex sighed. “All right. If everyone is going, I’m in.”

Johnson glared at them. “I was talking to Rhion.”

“You know, I could get a sitter. Maybe come out after the girls go to bed,” Lark announced, ignoring Johnson.

“Guys’ night out!” I exclaimed before turning my best doe eyes on Johnson. “And me!”

It could be said that Johnson wasn’t exactly the most social person. Group activities were as high on his list of desires as an unmedicated root canal.

However, he knew I’d been struggling recently and he lacked the ability to tell me no.

He lifted his eyes to the ceiling, muttering, “For fuck’s sake. Yeah. Fine. Whatever.” He waved his handful of muffins in the air and pointed them at the guys. “Work out the details with these assholes and let me know.”

I smiled in victory. “Thanks, sweetie.”

“Don’t thank me yet. First round’s on you.”

I nodded—like a million times. “I can do that.”

Shaking his head, he turned around and started out of the room, calling over his shoulder, “Don’t forget to pick up your paycheck from the slaughterhouse.”

My lips stretched so wide that I feared my smile would swallow my face.

The guys broke out into a symphony of disgust and disbelief.

“Thanks for the reminder! Have a good day, and stay safe. Remember to look both ways before you cross the street, and don’t talk to strangers.”

He offered a salute with his bagel before disappearing out the door.





I watched from the passenger seat as Leo scrolled through his phone, stopping every once in a while to type out a message. The engine on the black Escalade was running, but he’d not even put it in reverse in the over fifteen minutes we’d been sitting there.

And that didn’t include the twenty minutes I’d been waiting in the parking garage before he had come down.

“Anything I can help with?” I asked.

He kept his eyes on his phone. “Nah. Just killing time answering some e-mails.”

Killing time? We were supposed to be on our way to my first assignment. It wasn’t much. One of Leo’s bigwig clients’ kids was having a sixteenth birthday party and I’d been chosen for the elite position of working security. I could only imagine that meant making sure the nerds didn’t sneak in, the goths weren’t too goth, and none of the wannabe socialites spiked the punch. But, after the week I’d had, I would have tripped over my own dick while racing to volunteer for the job just to get out of that godforsaken office.

“Gotcha,” I replied, scrubbing my palms over my slacks and going back to staring at the cracks on the cement wall of the parking garage.

It was official. I hated this job. And, to make matters worse, I still hadn’t found an apartment that wasn’t a hellhole in my price range. You would think that, coming from LA, I’d have been used to being robbed on rent. Oh, but Chicago was a different kind of criminal. Even a place in the burbs was insane.

As the days ticked on, I regretted more and more the decision to come back to Illinois. I couldn’t sleep. My Butterfly had been haunting me more in the last week than she had in years. Every time I closed my eyes, I watched her fall. And, thanks to Johnson’s stunt with my phone, at first, I couldn’t even call Valerie—the only one who knew about the nightmares. Luckily, midweek, I’d been able to get a new personal phone and recover her number by using the digital voodoo known as The Cloud. Talking to her helped in some ways, but in other ways, it made it worse. I never should have left her in LA.

Right as I decided to shoot her a text, Leo caught my attention.

“Finally,” he muttered, dropping his phone into the cup holder and then yanking the truck into reverse.

Thank. Fuck, I thought. Well, that was until I caught sight of a pair of black gauges in the side mirror.

“Here,” Johnson said, climbing into the backseat and then shoving a fist full of muffins between the two front seats.

Oh hell no. This is not fucking happening.

Leo eagerly took one.

But I shook my head. “Thanks, but I’m good.”