American Made (Against the Tides #2) (15 page)

The door closes quietly behind me, cutting off anything else that is being said in that room and leaving me in silence. I rip open my locker, switch back into the clothes I showed up in this morning, and slam the door shut. Grabbing my bag off the bench behind me, I search for my keys and head for the parking garage. When I reach my truck I hit the button to unlock it and grab the handle to open the door, only to have it slammed shut before I can get in. I spin around completely prepared for it to be Miles wanting to fight some more, but when I look up, it’s Rush staring down at me.

“What?” I ask, completely deflated now that I know who it is.

“He was tryin’ to get a rise out of you.”

“No shit. I figured it out and still kept goin’. He got exactly what he wanted.”

Rush grabs my bag from me and tosses it into the bed of the truck. “I’m supposed to be down here to tell you that we’re not done, but I’m not makin’ you go back in right now.”

“Probably a good idea,” I mumble. If I went back in right now and he started in on me again, one of us would probably walk out jobless.

“I’ll let you go now but you have to promise me you’re comin’ back tomorrow.”

I sigh. Pulling the door open, I climb into my seat but turn so my legs dangle out the side. “This isn’t what I signed up for. I don’t need someone watchin’ my every move to see if they can find a weakness and get me to quit. I’ve been through worse things than Miles could ever imagine.”

“I know, he had no reason to say the shit he did,” Rush agrees, leaning against the side of the truck. “But you can’t quit because of the shit he said.”

“Quit?” I scoff. “Fuck, if I quit every time a guy thought they could do my job better than I could I wouldn’t have made it through basic, and I damn sure wouldn’t have gone through everything I did to get this job.”

“Good.”

“But I wouldn’t wish the images that play in my head most nights before I fall asleep on anyone, Rush,” I mumble.

I have to force myself to keep my eyes open because I know if I close them right now images of the boy will be waiting for me. I find a spot on the garage wall and stare at it. Out of the corner of my eye I see Rush hang his head and exhale.

After a few minutes of silence he finally opens his mouth again. “There’s only two people on this team that have been through the shit you’ve gone through. Reid and Cody are the only ones that could say anything to you about it without me jumpin’ their shit, and it didn’t take long after you left for Cody to rip Miles a new ass. I’m sure before the meeting is over Reid will have something to say about it too.”

“I don’t want people fightin’ my battles for me. I’m a big girl. I can handle my own.”

“No doubt, but we’re a family here and the second you signed on, you became part of it.” Turning toward me, Rush hits my leg. “We weren’t standing up for you because you’re a woman; you’ve got bigger balls than all of us. You don’t need us to. We did it because we protect our own. Miles can either get on board with you bein’ here, or he can walk away. It’s his choice.”

Family? Fuck, that isn’t how it works in my family.

Rush pushes away from the truck and starts to head back inside but I yell for him. 

“Ice Queen?”

He smiles and shakes his head. “You don’t talk about yourself, Emerson. He can’t find anything out about you. And it pisses him off because every time anyone asks you something personal you freeze them out. He wants to know why you surpassed him and he can’t find shit. Go home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“But you said you found out everything about me…”

Shrugging, Rush starts to walk backwards into the elevator. “Just because I know doesn’t mean they do. I only told Reid the stuff that pertained to your career.”

“Seriously?” My mind instantly drifts to Sam and everything that happened with him. All this time I was worried that they knew, but they don’t and that takes a huge load off my mind.

“What you’ve been through is nobody’s business but your own, Em. Just because I dug it up and know doesn’t mean anyone else needs to know. If you wanna tell ‘em that’s up to you, but I’m not gonna.”

I don’t know what I expected when I walked through the door of Emerson’s house, but finding her cooking wasn’t it. Lately I’ve been beating her here unless I get called out at the last minute, but by the looks of the kitchen she’s been at it for a while. Rush texted me a while ago so when I got off I rushed over here thinking she might be having a rough night. 

I should’ve known better.

If any other woman went through the shit Rush said went down today, they would be a mess right now. There would be tears and sappy conversations about feelings. Neither are things I want any part of and haven’t had to deal with while with Emerson. What we’re doing works for the two of us. We know there are feelings growing between us but we don’t have to define them and that’s what I like.

Slipping out of my boots, I step up behind her and hope she doesn’t attack me when I wrap my arms around her.

“Are you wearin’ a frilly apron?” I ask, pressing my lips against her neck. She sinks back against me and laughs but I can tell it’s forced.

“I know it looks better when you wear it, but I didn’t want to get my clothes dirty.”

Spinning in my arms, she kisses me, but it’s nothing like it normally is. She’s holding back and as much as I don’t like it, I can tell she doesn’t want to be called out on it. Over the past few months that we’ve been together I’ve gotten to know her more every day. I can tell when she wants to talk about something serious, and I can tell when she wants me to let her figure it out on her own.

“It only looks better on me because I wear it naked and you like lookin’ at my ass.” I choose to let her mull over whatever is going on by herself. If she wants me to know, she’ll tell me.

“You know me so well.” Smiling up at me, Emerson slips her hands under the edge of my shirt and sighs when her skin meets mine.

“What’re you cookin’?”

She looks around the kitchen, twisting her head so she can see every dish that is littering the counters around us. Her eyebrows draw together when she looks back at me.

“Everything in the house, apparently. Hope you’re hungry.”

“I could eat,” I whisper. I slide my hands down and grip her ass, pulling her against me.

I break away from her after a minute because I really
am
hungry and she put all this work into cooking. I know it was a distraction technique to get her through the hours she spent alone but she’s a hell of a cook so I refuse to let it go to waste.

“So,” Emerson says after we finish dinner and put everything away. “What day do you leave for this trip?”

I grab her hand, pulling her into my lap and relax back into the couch. “Two weeks from yesterday,” I mumble against her neck. “Are you sure you can’t come?”

I know what she’s going to say before she even says it. She hasn’t been working long enough to ask for time off even though it’s a trip that Rush will be making. Every year for the past five years we’ve made the trip to Rush’s place in Maine to celebrate his birthday. It’s usually just us and Envy, but this year Knox is trailing along with us and it won’t be including the usual birthday festivities.

She shakes her head, running her hands over my stomach. I’m not even sure when she managed to get me out of my shirt, but she did. Not that I care. I’ll take her hands on me any day of the week.

“Go have fun with Rush, I’ll be here when you get back.”

“Well I fuckin’ hope so.” I laugh, sweeping her hair out of her face so I can kiss her. 

Every time I hear those words it scares me, reminding me that I can lose her at any time. It makes me want to stick around instead of going on the trip, but I know she won’t let me. She’ll tell me exactly what I already know: my job has just as much of a chance to take me away as hers does, so I’m not allowed to worry like it doesn’t.

“Gun call, New England Aquarium,” Talia, our dispatch woman, calls out over the intercom.

I rush through hauling my gear into place as the alarm screams through the building. Snapping my thigh holster into place, I hustle out of the locker room just as Miles starts banging on the door.

“Let’s go, Ice Queen!” he yells before he sees me. I hate that he still calls me that, but I’ve given up saying anything. As long as we don’t have any more issues that result in a screaming match we’ll be fine.

I barge past him, fitting my headset over my ear. Pulling back the door to the weapons cage, I begin grabbing everything I need, checking safeties as I go. Once I’m done I jog out toward the garage, passing Miles on the way.

“Knees to chest, asshole.”

I hear his feet slam against the floor as he attempts to catch up with me. Sliding into the back seat of the Suburban behind Reid, I adjust my hat as Miles jumps in next to me and gives me a dirty look.

Reid waits until we’re on the road with the rest of the team trailing behind us before he tells us what we’re walking into. As usual he is straight to the point, his voice stoic.

“The subject is a sixteen-year-old male wandering around the New England Aquarium with a handgun. Staff says he has fired off one shot but reported no injuries. There are four classes of young children on site for a field trip along with a high school class that are confined to the top floor with him.”

I stay quiet, absorbing all the information that is being fed to us while trying to figure out what is going to happen.

“What’s the plan?” Miles asks, tightening the strap on his vest as we skid to a halt in front of the building.

“Plan is you and Emerson are with me. Rush you’re Alpha One. Cody, Alpha Two. Nolan’s in the truck.”

“Wait,” I stammer, sliding out onto the sidewalk. “I’m with you?”

“Cross-training, Emerson, we all do it,” Reid says, looking down at me with a concerned look in his eyes. “Today you’re with me. It’s time to start learning a part of the job that doesn’t let you hide behind the scope of a rifle.” 

I take a deep breath and nod. There’s no use arguing even though I’m more comfortable behind my scope because I knew this would happen before I started the job. Everything is a blur as people rush around us until Reid taps me on the shoulder and gives me the go ahead to move in.

Shouldering my weapon, I advance step for step with Miles flanking me on my left. Reid stays two steps behind us as we scan every inch around us. If I was here for another reason I would stop and admire the large tank that the ramp wraps around, stretching up four floors in the center of the building. 

The closer we get, the louder the yelling is. It’s a mixture of children screaming and them being yelled at to be quiet. We stop at the entrance of the top floor exhibit and wait to see if Reid will be able to talk the kid into putting the gun down.

“Talia,” Reid speaks quietly to his walkie-talkie. “Do you have any information on this kid yet?”

“I’m still working on it,” she replies, her voice filling my ear.

The kid paces with his back to us, smacking the butt of his gun against his temple while he yells about everything being his fault. When he turns around, the breath I was taking gets stuck in my chest.

“Reid.” I try to get his attention without bringing attention to our presence. He ignores me, continuing to tell Talia and Nolan that he needs information on the kid. I take a step back, never taking my eyes off the scene in front of us.

Reid presses his hand against my shoulder, letting me know that he sees me. “Emerson, what are you doing?”

“I know this kid. His family lives down the road from me.” 

Reaching in front of me, he pushes the barrel of my gun down and asks me to tell him what I know. I stand to my full height but still can’t take my eyes off of what is going on in front of me.

“The kids name is Maverick Lee, he’s sixteen, parents are happily married. He has two sisters. Had. He had two sisters,” I correct myself. Stopping, I shake my head and try to push the thoughts of my own past out of my head.

“What do you mean he
had
two sisters, Emerson?”

I clear my throat quietly, trying to hide the fact that simply thinking about this hurts. “His older sister was killed in a car accident with her friend a few years ago.” 

Thoughts fly through my mind as I watch him pace in front of us.
Why is he doing this? What got him to this point?

“You know this kid?”

I nod. “His parents were the first ones to welcome me to the neighborhood when I moved in. We became friends. They watched my house when I was deployed. Family cookouts. Stuff like that.”

“You have a connection, Emerson, you have more of a chance to get through to him than any of us.”

I begin to panic. First he takes me away from my comfort zone, and now he’s thrusting me into this. “I can’t do this, Reid.”

“You can,” he assures me. Miles mutters something under his breath that I only picked up on because his microphone caught it. I ignore him, choosing to focus on the words of encouragement that Reid is saying to me. 

“Nobody understands!” Maverick screams, making some of the children huddled in the corner of the room cry harder. “It’s all my fault and nobody gets how much it hurts!”