Collision (Delta Protectors Book 1) Read online

  “Well, you best make sure you don’t turn into some kind of alcoholic, alright? I don’t want none of those crazy drunkards in my bar, you hear me, boy?” Frank said, mildly threatening.

  I didn’t know what kind of thing an old man can do to a six-foot bulky guy like Chase, but Chase seemed scared enough to just nod and promise he wasn’t going to be any trouble. Frank turned his attention towards me and nodded his head.

  “Who’s this fella?” Frank asked, and Chase clapped his hand on my shoulder with a smile.

  “Oh, crap. Where are my manners? Frank, this is Jason. He’s a friend of mine. We met a few times when our services crossed each other,” he introduced and I nodded at Frank respectfully.

  “Really, now? What unit are you?” Frank asked. Chase answered before I could open my mouth.

  “He’s ex-Delta Force. He completed his mission a couple of days ago.” Frank looked at him in annoyance.

  “Will you quit answering for him? Let the man speak for himself,” Frank barked, and Chase raised his hands up in surrender. Frank looked at me again with a critical eye. “You look too young to finish your service. What happened to you? Were you dishonorably discharged?” he asked.

  I’m a little irked he didn’t even bat an eyelash asking me that question, but then again, he was a soldier and probably ended his career higher ranked than mine. He was probably used to getting the answers he wanted.

  I shook my head in reply. “No, sir. I got injured, and they told me I should take a little vacation. I opted for a more permanent leave,” I answered truthfully.

  We stared at each other for a long moment before he broke off his stare.

  “What can I get you two?” Frank asked. “And before you say it, the first round’s on the house,” he remarked, and Chase whooped before giving him our order.

  We spent the next couple of hours drinking and reminiscing about our days back in service, even though it wasn’t so long ago on my end. I stopped after the third beer and stuck to drinking water instead. I really wasn’t in the mood to get wasted on my first day back. Chase didn’t have the same problem and kept repeating that it had been a while since he had a drink, so he was going to make the most of it.

  “Who’s going to drive the car back, though?” I asked him, watching his face turn red from the alcohol. He raised his eyes up to the ceiling in thought and Frank coughed and flicked him on his forehead with his finger.

  “None of you rascals are going to take that car out. You’re leaving it right outside my bar and you’re taking a cab home,” Frank said, and Chase shrugged, not even arguing with the older man.

  The place got really rowdy all of a sudden and I frowned, turning my head towards the entrance to see where the noise was coming from. Six men in uniforms walked in, laughing and shouting about whatever the fuck it was that seemed so funny they had to disturb the ambiance of the place. Frank cussed under his breath and shook his head.

  “Those damn buffoons are here again. Commanding officers must not have enough bravado to drill some discipline into their subordinates these days,” he muttered.

  “I don’t recognize them as one of your regulars, Frankie. Have they been here long?” Chase asked, looking curiously at the group as well. Frank grimaced and shook his head.

  “That’s because my regulars stopped coming due to this ragtag bunch. Cocky sons of bitches, always really loud and ruined the place for them,” Frank answered.

  My jaw clenched as I listened to the old man recount how these bastards ran his regulars out of the place. It made my blood boil, that guys like these assholes were even allowed in the Army when they’re practically ruining our good name. Fucking pissed me off.

  And, they had to come at a time when I was moderately drunk.

  “Give me a glass of Scotch, Frank,” I said, tapping the counter with my fingers, still looking at those guys.

  Frank tilted his head in confusion but grabbed the bottle from the stock, taking another glass and loading some ice cubes into it before pouring my drink. He slid the glass onto the counter and I caught it with one hand and proceeded to down it in one gulp, the alcohol burning a line down my throat as it fired my system. I slammed the glass on the counter and stood up from my seat, cracking the knuckles on one hand and then the other.

  “Hey, Frank,” I said, cracking my neck from side to side to get rid of the knots formed there. “Mind if I help in taking the trash out?” I asked.

  “Oh, that’s alright, son. I close up at 4am and I can take the trash out then,” Frank said, taking my question literally.

  “I don’t think that’s the kind of trash he was talking about, Pops,” Chase said, and I could feel him staring at my back.

  I walked over to their table and all of them stopped mid-conversation. The guy sitting in the middle, the name on his uniform read ‘Lynch’, nodded at me.

  “What the hell do you want?” he asked, and his buddies start to size me up while simultaneously flexing their muscles to make them look like they’re even remotely a threat.

  I ignored his lackeys and looked him straight in the eye.

  “You and your boys. I want them out of here,” I said, my voice getting several degrees lower and coming out menacingly.

  Lynch scoffed at me and smiled, his mouth agape.

  “Are fucking kidding me right now?” Lynch asked.

  “I’m not much of a kidder,” I said.

  The guy on Lynch’s right, Sanchez, gets up and flexes his arms while he clenched his jaw, glaring. He was a couple of inches taller than me and had more muscle, but that didn’t matter.

  If I wanted to, I could kill him in my sleep.

  “I think you should turn around and walk away, small fry,” Sanchez said, and I smirked at him. Lynch got up, the rest of his buddies following suit, forming half of a circle around me. They stared me down while I stared at Lynch, and the place was dead quiet until Chase shouted.

  “You need some help, buddy?” Chase offered, and I couldn’t help but scoff.

  “No thanks,” I said, scratching my nose with my thumb before clenching my fists, keeping them to my sides. “This’ll only take a minute.”

  “Alright,” Chase replied.

  Lynch growled and in the next second, all hell broke loose.

  It took about two minutes to take them down and another thirty seconds throwing them to the curb, but I did it without breaking a sweat. There were a total of three casualties by the end of it though, which was a table and two chairs, so I bent my head and apologized to Frank, promising him I would pay him back for the damages.

  He clapped my shoulder and chuckled, prompting me to look up at him.

  “Son, never mind about the furniture. I appreciate you ‘taking the trash out’. One more visit from them and I might’ve run out of business!” he exclaimed, and I smiled.

  Chase was still in awe of what he just witnessed, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Well, if I wanted a demonstration of what you can do, I just got it,” he said, and I chuckled. I remembered his job offer and it might’ve been because of my good mood, or because I wanted to put him out of his misery, hell maybe even a bit of both, that I said these next words.

  “Oh and hey, about that job offer earlier?” I said, and his eyes widened at me. I smirked. “Count me in,” I said.

  Chase’s eyes twinkled and he let out a big whoop, raising his arms in the air in triumph. He shouted at Frank to come over and ordered another bottle of Jack.

  “Drinks on me, guys! Phew! Thanks, man,” he said, smiling widely at me, his eyes shining with relief. “You won’t regret this, trust me.”

  “This Veronica chick better not be one of those prima donna types or else, you’re totally going to pay for this,” I threatened, and he shook his head adamantly.

  “She won’t be! She’s a fantastic girl! I promise!”

  Chapter 4

  Veronica

  My alarm started blasting that stupid Miley Cyrus song and I groaned, not want
ing to leave the comforts of my bed. My soft satin sheets, 900-thread count were meant for long hours of sleep, relaxation, and sex…

  Okay, cut that last part. The Lord knows I sure as hell wasn’t getting any of that.

  I slammed the heel of my palm on top of the alarm button and sighed as the sweet silence returned in my room. I smiled a little as I buried my hands under my pillow and felt the slow pull of slumber spreading through my body—

  Until I heard the door bang and the sound of a noisemaker’s horn blasting so loud I jumped out of bed.

  “I knew you’d be going to sleep again!” Sasha cried, coming over and looking down at me from my spot on the floor with her hands on her hips. “That’s why I took it upon myself to get your ass out of bed,” she said.

  “But did you really have to do it so painfully?” I grunted, getting on my knees and massaging my bum. She laughed at me, as if seeing me in pain was fucking hilarious. I’d like to see her fall five feet out of bed.

  “That, my dear, was a bonus,” she quipped, and I rolled my eyes at her and got to my feet, fixing my night gown. “Come on, Henry will be here any minute, and we have plenty of things to discuss,” she said, clapping her hands together excitedly. I rolled my eyes once more.

  “Great. Can’t wait. Now can you please get out of my room so I could shower? Maybe get dressed for the day?” I asked, my voice bleeding with sarcasm. It was her turn to roll her eyes at me but she walked out anyways, waving her hand in the air to get me to hurry up.

  If I were a petty person, I’d probably take my sweet time and make Sasha and Henry wait for ruining my plans of staying in bed all day…but I wasn’t. As much as I found these work discussions boring and really draining, I cared a lot about my job. I put in a lot of work to get to where I am, and slacking off even just a little bit could kill my career in a heartbeat.

  So I heeded Sasha’s advice and took a quick shower, giving my hair a run through once with my brush, and picked a black tank top with the Game of Thrones logo on top, and a pair of workout leggings to wear for the day. Regardless of how important Sasha made today out to be, it was still my day off, so I was wearing my casual and comfy clothes at home, and maybe get a little workout in. This body isn’t going to keep looking this good without me putting in the work, after all.

  I pulled a pair of white beach sandals on and went downstairs, resisting the urge to slide over the banister like I usually did when I was alone. I peered down below and saw Sasha sitting on the couch, her eyes fixed on the TV screen, flipping through the channels aimlessly with her head perched on her knuckles. No sign of Henry yet.

  The doorbell rang and Sasha threw the remote on the couch as she stood up to get the door. Huh, speak of the devil.

  I walked over to the couch and sat down as Sasha let Henry in, the latter carrying a brown folder, as well as that small bag he always carried around. He was wearing another brown business suit again, and I wondered whether he only had one pair he always used, or if he had a closet full of the same brown suit over and over. I shuddered to think the latter was true, but that would be totally creepy, and despite Henry’s appearance, he was actually more of a father figure than—okay, I was not going to get into that.

  “Hello, Ronnie! How have you been?” he asked cheerfully, sitting down on the solo couch facing me. I smiled and shifted my position so I was sitting with my legs crossed like I was about to meditate.

  “Hey, Henry. Everything’s okay with me. Why do you ask?”

  “Considering you almost got kidnapped, pumpkin, of course I’d be worried about you,” he said, his brows furrowing in concern.

  I shook my head as I felt my brain start to retrieve the memory of what happened, refusing to remember it again. I was safe and sound, so there was nothing to worry about.

  “That’s really sweet of you, Henry, but I promise I’m doing just fine,” I assured him.

  “Regardless, we can’t deny that this situation has made us see the light,” Sasha said, prompting Henry to nod in agreement. “The action of this crazy stalker of yours, whoever he is, has escalated to the point where it’s endangering your safety. I’m actually ashamed to face you right now,” she continued, her eyes downcast and her shoulders slumping with regret. “If I had taken those threats, those letters he sent seriously, then that incident back in Arclight would’ve been avoided. I am so sorry Veronica.”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Sasha. You couldn’t have known what was going to happen. You don’t have to beat yourself up over it,” I told her, accepting her apology.

  “That said, we both thought it would be best to tighten security around here, just to be sure nothing like that happens again,” Henry said.

  “Well yeah, sure, if you think that’s the right thing to do,” I said, not seeing anything wrong with his statement. He nodded, smiling lightly.

  “Most excellent. I’m glad you see it that way. Which brings us to the next topic,” he said, placing the folder he was holding on the coffee table and I picked it up to review the contents. A file with a grainy picture of a guy was attached to the file, and I have to say, even with such a crappy quality, the guy at the picture was pretty good-looking. His angular jawline could cut glass, at the very least.

  “Veronica, we thought it would be best to hire someone to protect you. You know, someone to look out for you at all times, be it at home or during your shootings or appearances, that sort of thing,” Sasha said brightly, and I wrinkled my brows at her in confusion.

  “Wait a minute—what do you mean by ‘all times’ and ‘be it at home’?” I asked, looking at the two of them. They looked at each other quickly, almost as if they want the other to answer my question for them. “You don’t mean he’s going to stay here and stick to my side 24/7, right?” I said, laughing a little at my ridiculous idea.

  They didn’t laugh at my joke, and the expressions on their faces quickly killed the humor in mine.

  “No,” I said, and Sasha groaned.

  “I knew you were going to say that, but if you just considered--,” she started to explain but I cut her off.

  “There is nothing to consider, I am not going to have some random guy come here and take away my privacy!” I said, getting up from the couch and making my way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I threw the folder onto the island before grabbing a glass from the cupboards.

  I could not believe they were even trying to convince me to go along with this. I mean, they knew how much I valued my alone time. I needed this little piece of privacy I had for myself after hours and hours of being exposed every single day. How could they do this to me?

  “Pumpkin, please stop overreacting about this. This is your safety we are talking about here!” Henry said, the both of them following me into the kitchen. “Look, I know you want to be by yourself, but at the current state of things, it’s just not an option right now,” he said.

  “So I’ll get Leila to stay with me for a few days,” I countered, offering up another solution. Sasha grimaced and shook her head.

  “It’s not that easy. Sure, you’ll have company with you, but neither Leila nor you are capable of defending yourselves should something dangerous arise. Also, she can’t hang around with you during your appearances for the movie,” she replied, shutting down my idea. “You need to be around someone who’s experienced, someone who could protect you if things go awry.”

  “But we’re talking about a total stranger here,” I said, still not willing to accept the idea. “How sure are you that this--,” I waved my hand over to the folder on the island. “—guy is even any good? Or trustworthy, at least?” I asked them.

  “Remember that man back in Arclight? Chase Lincoln?” Henry asked, and I nodded, remembering the redheaded guy who saved me. But he looked nothing like the guy in the picture. So what did he have to do with this?

  “He ran the security detail for Arclight Hollywood that day,” Sasha answered, reading my mind. “Henry talked to him about setting you up with security your
self, and he’s sending this guy.”

  “Why can’t he be my bodyguard then? I mean, I know him, he saved me already. I trust him,” I said. I was beginning to understand they weren’t going to drop this ‘bodyguard’ thing no matter what, so I was going to look for a silver lining. I mean, it was better to entrust my life to a man I barely know than to a complete stranger, right?

  “The thought had crossed my mind,” Henry said, raising his hand to fiddle with the side of his mustache. “I actually asked him if he would personally take on the job, but he told me he didn’t think he was the appropriate person to do it.”

  I scoffed at this.

  “And this guy is?” I asked. “This--,” I picked up the folder and read his file again. “This ‘Jason Keyes’? What does he even do, anyway?” I asked, irritated. Sasha shrugged, raising her arms up in an ‘I-don’t-know’ gesture.

  “But hey, at least he’s hot, huh?” she said, trying to placate me.

  Unbelievable.

  Chapter 5

  Jason

  “Captain!”

  I finished my clip at the enemy and ducked towards an upended car for cover. I took another mag from my left cheek pocket and loaded it into my gun while another explosion happened back where I was standing mere seconds ago.