Shielding Blair (Special Forces: Operation Alpha): A Fierce Protectors Novella Read online

  He’d hoped that the more they learned, the more it would all look like it was some sort of harmless prank.

  Only everything inside him and the looks on his partners’ faces told him that not only was this not a prank, but likely the work of a serial arsonist.

  One who liked to play games with people and loved the sensual dance of the flame.

  And from the note on the back of the picture…someone who wanted payback.

  His phone vibrated and he hit the button to answer as he rolled up his windows. With the cell connected to his Bluetooth, he didn’t want to risk any of the parents overhearing, many of which had lined up in the car loop and stepped out of their vehicles to chat with one another while they waited.

  “I’m here,” Evan said.

  “We’ve been at work breaking up the list of duties. I’ve reached out to Tex and Mozart. Tex is going to pull criminal arson records of everyone within a three-hour radius to start,” Dylan said over the sound of tapping keys and Cole and Slyder’s hushed voices in the background.

  Evan wrapped his fingers around the wheel and flexed them. “Good. And Mozart?”

  “We’re going to have him consult with us over everything we find. He’s the best we’ve got for serial crimes and tracking killers.”

  “If this guy is a killer,” Evan said.

  “He might just not be a killer yet.”

  Leave it to Dylan to not sugarcoat it. Dylan had always been the practical one, even more so after finding out he had family he knew nothing about and now a baby due any day. “Yeah, let’s not test that theory. I want this guy off the streets, yesterday,” Evan said.

  “Not planning to. That’s why I figured you wanted the best and every resource we could pull.”

  “Yeah. I gotta tell you, I’m not happy with the fact that we’re human and need sleep. I want to go at this hard and fast before anything—”

  “You don’t have to explain to me. I get it,” Dylan said quietly.

  “It’s not like that.” Evan closed his eyes and sighed, summoning every last ounce of patience he could. Ever since the guys found out he had dated Blair, they’d given him knowing looks as though this was a neat row of dominoes and fate had its index finger poised and ready to push over the first in line, making Evan the next to fall. Of course, what did Evan expect after each of his partners had fallen for their matches in the past year.

  “Whatever you say,” Dylan said with a singsong lilt to his ordinarily low voice.

  “Seriously. I don’t love her,” Evan said, adjusting in his seat.

  “Understood.”

  And now the son of a bitch was placating him. “It’s just—she’s good. To the core that is.”

  “And you’re not?”

  “I didn’t say that,” Evan said.

  “You didn’t have to. I thought you had pushed past that shit,” Dylan said.

  Evan would forever regret the night Dylan found him stinking drunk, holding the blood-stained shirt that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to get rid of.

  Why the hell did he keep it anyway? As a reminder of what he’d done, or more accurately, failed to do?

  Or did he let the memories keep him in his place. In some purgatory between the past and present, never going back or moving forward? “I did let it go—I am. Look, I’m working on it.”

  “You didn’t kill that family, Evan.”

  The image punched him in the solar plexus, knocking the air from his tight lungs. Their faces frozen in death, the blood still running from their throats, down their skin, only to land on the rough, wood floor.

  “No, but I may as well have. Their blood is on my hands.” And no matter how much time went by, no matter what he was doing, when he glanced down at his palms, he always saw the flash of blood dripping from his fingertips, reminding of who he had been, what he had done, a stain on his soul that nothing could erase.

  The bell rang, shattering dark memories, at least for the moment.

  They’d return. They always did.

  “She’ll be out soon, I have to go. Send me a breakdown, and I’ll get to work.”

  “If you want, we can meet at your place,” Dylan offered.

  “I’ll be at hers.”

  “It might be easier if you brought her ho—”

  He wouldn’t uproot her. He wouldn’t let a looming threat take everything from her. “She’s a teacher. She needs to be in her space. There’s as much homework for her as there is daytime work. It’ll be easier for her this way.”

  “It might not be a bad idea for the school to call in a sub for a day or two.”

  “Not yet. Until I wrap my brain around this and talk to Mozart, I don’t want to tip our hand to whoever might be watching.”

  “Fair enough. Mozart is getting the same reports from Tex we are, and I’m sending all of this to him in the meantime. He’d prefer to get down here in person if he can disentangle himself from a couple of loose commitments. He’s reaching out to Dude to keep him on standby in case any of these arsons are tied to explosives.”

  “Thanks, man. I appreciate it,” Evan said.

  “You’d do the same for me. We have other issues to discuss, but they can wait. Go keep a lookout for your girl.”

  “She’s not my girl.”

  “Yeah, that’s what they all say,” Dylan said with a laugh.

  The double doors opened, one held in place by a resource officer and the other by the principal he recognized from the local news when they featured her as the youngest principal in the country.

  Kids scurried out in a flurry of energy, arms and legs flying, backpacks bobbling, with big, toothy grins as they found their parents, loaded up, and headed out.

  Evan kept his gaze locked on the front door, his heart kicking up at the thought of seeing her. It was absolutely normal for adrenaline to spike as he waited for visual confirmation that his subject was unharmed.

  Nothing more to it than that.

  Chestnut curls fluttered in the gentle breeze the minute Blair stepped out. Plump, pink lips curled into a smile as a little boy tugged on the skirt of her floral sundress.

  She crouched down to his eye level, keeping her knees tight together, ladylike manners as much a part of her as the hieroglyphics chiseled into the stones of ancient pyramids. Ruffling his hair, she listened to whatever he had to tell her, her focus completely on the little boy despite the chaos around her.

  It was that dedication that made her a phenomenal teacher.

  That attention to her students could also be her demise.

  They were going to have a long talk about being aware of her surroundings.

  * * *

  Blair smiled despite the headache pounding in her temples. School had been in session for three weeks and still her kindergarten class hadn’t settled into a routine.

  It might be time to invest in Excedrin stock.

  Keegan chattered on and on about the new guinea pig he won at the fair, his excited voice slicing into the headache from hell.

  But God, the boy was so cute with his gap-toothed grin and the freckles sprinkled over his fair skin.

  Maybe one day she’d have one or two of her own.

  Pain sliced at her heart at the dreams that seemed so far out of reach they might as well have been launched on a rocket right out of Earth’s atmosphere.

  Stop it, Blair. You know it might not be in the cards for you.

  She’d always have this, though.

  She blinked and ruffled the boy’s hair. “I’ll tell you what, Keegan. You have your mama give me a call, and we’ll make arrangements for you to bring in Boots for show and tell. How does that sound?”

  “Really, Ms. Sullivan? It’s really okay?”

  “Sure, as long as your mom says so,” Blair said, careful to not mention Keegan’s father since he wasn’t in the picture and Keegan had finally gotten to a happy place since his father walked out.

  “She thought you’d say no. This is great!” Keegan yelped as he
pumped his little fist in the air and turned away.

  She pushed up onto her feet and shielded her eyes to keep a better eye on him.

  He took off at a run toward his grandmother’s car but skidded to a stop just a few feet away. Biting his lip, he ran back to her and threw his arms around her legs and hugged her tight. “You’re my favoritest teacher, ever,” he mumbled against her thigh.

  She squeezed his shoulders. “Aww, thanks, buddy,” she said, despite the fact that it was kindergarten and he’d likely have many more favorites to come.

  Well, that was fine. In this moment, she’d ride the wave of glee at having won over one more student. “You’d better hurry now, your grandma is in the car waiting for her hugs and kisses.”

  He tipped his head back, and his eyes squinted shut with a grin. “She’s my favoritest gram, too.”

  “Make sure you tell her that,” Blair called after him as he took off toward the car where one of the fifth grade safety patrol students held the back door open for him.

  “Someone has a crush on you,” Lavinia said, sidling up next to Blair.

  The woman had been a fixture in the school forever. When Blair attended at five years old herself, years ago, Lavinia had already been a revered employee at the school with her constant hustle and no-nonsense attitude.

  “It’s okay, he’ll get over it. They all do,” Blair said as she watched the last line of cars roll through the loop. She loved the new set up where kindergartners had their own separate pickup and drop off on the opposite side of the school.

  This way, they didn’t have to keep an eagle eye on the big kids, some of whom lived to torment the newbies. Despite all the work they did to ensure their students were polite, responsible, and caring, some had crappy home lives, and that tension and damage from abuse trickled into the school.

  Plus, it gave the teachers and administration crowd control while the children, brand-new to the wonders of full day classes, learned the schedule and procedures in their new environment.

  All around, this routine kept everyone safe, and she couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

  Okay, that might be because it had been her idea. It wasn’t an ego trip. She didn’t need to shout it from the rooftops or anything. She just needed to know that she did something to make a difference in a world where so many things spiraled out of control.

  The salty breeze kicked up, tossing a lock of curls across her eyes. She sighed as she tucked the wayward strands behind her ear, a gesture that might tame them for all of a couple of minutes before they sprung free of their confines.

  Nothing short of a tight bun that threatened to pull her scalp so tight she’d lose the ability to blink could keep her hair from springing free.

  “Well, well, well, now who is that?” Lavinia asked, an appreciative grin forming on her 1980’s red lips.

  Blair followed her gaze, and her lungs seized on a gulp. “What’s he doing here?”

  Lavinia’s drawn-on eyebrows disappeared under a poof of bleach-blond hair dropping low over her forehead. “You know him?”

  He pushed away from the hood of his sleek, black, luxury whatever the heck it was car that might actually be just as mysterious and exotic as the man now walking toward her.

  And so far out of her price range, it made her heart pinch.

  “I’m not sure anyone really knows Evan,” she murmured as her mouth ran dry at the sight of him.

  Black dress pants, probably designer from the sheen and quality cut, hugged his thighs as he strode toward her with one hand in his pocket and the other flexing at his side.

  Tension radiated from him, but Lord help her, she didn’t care. She’d known from the first moment they’d met when she’d spilled her cup of spiced tea at her favorite coffee shop that he was something different.

  He’d been polite, with those Clark Kent, square-jawed looks and dark-framed glasses designed to make the wearer look scholarly, but in his case, they only made her fingers itch to slip them from his face so she could get lost in the warm, amber depths behind them.

  Fire and ice.

  Cool and detached on the outside, but those eyes—God, those eyes told a whole different story.

  An elusive tale likely no one would get to the bottom of.

  He’d offered to buy her another tea, but in a hurry and distracted by the end of the school year chaos, she’d tossed him a “maybe another time” and softened the dismissal with a smile so she could escape her humiliation.

  She had clutched her planner to her chest and turned to go when he took her elbow and searched her face.

  “How about tomorrow? A little earlier so you don’t have to rush out?” he’d asked.

  And she’d known better than to say yes. Because even then, in that moment, she sensed a part of him closed off. A part struggling to fit in to a world full of common people when he was anything but.

  It’s not that he was better than her. Not at all.

  Her needs were simple. Fun, laughter, and love.

  His? Well, if you asked him, he’d tell you he didn’t need anything.

  He didn’t stop until he was maybe a foot from her, his proximity making her want to take a step back for a fraction of self-preservation.

  “Blair,” he said, the words drifting out on a wave of his deep rasp that made her knees weak every single time.

  “Evan,” she said for lack of anything profound to say back. “This is my friend Lavinia Drummond. Lavinia, this is—well, Evan Brooks.”

  “I guess that makes me not a friend,” Evan said, giving Lavinia an amused smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. He took her hand, and she’d swear that Lavinia swayed next to her.

  Down girl.

  He’s potent.

  But sealed off from us mere mortals with the force of a bank vault buried thirty stories underground with the Mall of America smack-dab on top.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “We need to talk,” he said with a curt nod toward her.

  “I don’t see what about. You were crystal clear the last time we talked,” Blair said. And it still stung. All the things she wished she had said then struggled for purchase on the tip of her tongue, but to go there now would only add an extra dose of humiliation and prove to him that she had been agonizing over it since.

  “I’m just going to leave you two alone to discuss this privately,” Lavinia said, backing away with a knowing grin.

  “I’ll call you,” Blair said before turning back to Evan. “You don’t strike me as the type to go around and around over a breakup.”

  Not that we were really together in the first place. Dating, but no boyfriend designation.

  Or at least that was the point he’d made when he’d broken things off.

  “Your father came to see me this morning,” Evan said.

  “Of course he did. Seriously, ignore him. It’s fine. I’m fine. You can go about your business and pretend I don’t exist. You’re absolved from any guilt he might have laid on you.”

  He straightened, his mouth flattening into a tense line as his eyes narrowed on her. “You’re not fine. You’re in danger. And I’m not going anywhere.”

  Chapter 3

  Blair glanced all around making sure no one heard him. “Not funny, Evan.”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding?” he asked, the tension in his jaw making the muscle in his cheek jump. He clasped her elbow. “Come on, let’s discuss this in private.”

  “Are you insane?” she hissed, yanking out of his grip. “I’m not taking you into the school.”

  He reared back, and his brow furrowed. “Why the hell not?”

  The throb in her skull hit a blistering point. “Listen, I love my coworkers, but there’s no way I’m going to march you into a school where at least eighty percent of the staff is female. No.”

  His lips twitched, surprising her considering his intensity just a moment before. “Afraid someone will try to take me from you?”

  She grabbed his crisp
, white shirt at the elbow. “You’re not mine. But then, you made that choice. I just can’t understand why you keep forgetting it,” she said with a glance back and forth before dragging him to his car.

  He had to outweigh her by at least sixty pounds and stood almost a foot taller than her, but she hauled him along the sidewalk just the same.

  Well, because he let her.

  He stood at his door and waited for her to get in, only doing so himself when the passenger door snapped shut.

  “Explain,” she said, crossing her arms and turning to him.

  “Your father came in worried because a few of the places he took you as a child have fallen victim to arson.”

  She hadn’t heard about them, but then, her father knew how she felt when it came to hearing about fires. “Coincidence.”

  Evan squinted at the school and glanced at her. “You have cameras all around the campus?”

  “Yes, why?” she asked.

  “Just collecting information. As I was saying, your dad has been suspicious, but it wasn’t until someone left a picture for him, burned at the edges with a threatening note on the back, of you with him at the Sugar Shack. A picture that had been in his house. He came to us to take the case.”

  Goosebumps rose up on her arms and thighs despite the heat of the day. “This is crazy. Why would anyone go after my dad?”

  “And you,” he said, giving her a hard look. “He’s in the business of investigations. Evidence he’s collected over the years has put people in jail. It wouldn’t be unheard of for someone to hold a grudge.”

  “But to destroy property and threaten lives? If it’s someone who did time for arson, isn’t this only going to land them in jail again? That doesn’t sound logical. Maybe someone is just trying to scare him.” She had to tell herself that because she couldn’t lose her father. Not after everything he had been to her.

  Despite having a career, her own home, and responsibilities, it seemed like it was only yesterday that she took off the training wheels and jumped into the unpredictable waters of adulthood. She relished those moments when she could tap into her father’s wisdom, and sometimes, when she was lucky, she’d glean advice that her mother would have imparted to her had she still been with them.