Deadly Spurs (5 page)

“
I have no clue, look at the menu next to you, but if they do I want one too,” he teased and then laughed when she bounced in the seat and pumped her fist.

“
Oh ya,” she crowed and then looked at the people surrounding her. “Uh…where are we?”

West shrugged, “
Lost.”

“
Oh good, for a minute there I thought you intended on coming here,” she snorted.

“
Well, they have a hotel, mechanic, and food. We are good here for a while. At least until we make some calls.” West smiled.

“
Hotel? Like hot running water?” Arden asked wistfully.

“
I can't guarantee anything, and when I say hotel, I mean ‘Vince’s Roadside Motel'. I just thought it sounded better. In fact, 'The Bank of Bob' is across the street.” West laughed.

“
Whatever, if it has a shower, and clean sheets, I will be in heaven. Stop teasing about the small town feel.” Arden smiled and then looked as a young girl wearing skates rolled up to West’s window.

He noted the girl was w
earing short shorts and a tank top, but clearly looked comfortable in what she was doing, spinning in a little circle as she stopped so she was leaning against the door with one shoulder. She flipped an arm on the window and blew a bubble with the watermelon gum she was snapping in her mouth. He knew the flavor because it was the same smell as his much younger brother chewed.

“
Hey, what can I get ya’ll?” the girl said grinning at Arden as well as West.

Arden giggled and then leaned over him. “
Do you have chocolate malts? Like the old fashion kind?” Arden asked.

“
Yes, ma’am, we do. Malt powder and Jimmy uses only the real ice cream, not ice milk,” the girl said and smiled. “Hey, you don’t look familiar, are you tourists? We don’t get too many of them but I guess you are, considering you have bullet holes in your fancy truck. Did ya get freaked out by a gator or something? That’s what we see mostly with the tourists, come down here to see gators,” the girl snorted. “But when they actually see them, they think a gun will protect them. Hell, it just pisses them off.”

“
You get many cars with bullet holes in them?” he asked innocently.

“
Do one legged ducks swim in circles,” the girl laughed and swung her head wide. “Half these folks here are guides, just look around.”

Arden and West swung their head around, sure enough, half of the trucks had a visible bullet hole, and a few had a lot more than that. But what drew West
’s eyes was the car parked across from them and down a few. How in the hell had he missed that monstrosity? He had to ask because it was too funny not to get an explanation.

“
What is the deal with that one?” West used his head to motion to the truck he was talking about.

He saw Arden put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing
aloud. The truck in question was an old 94’ Ford F150 truck, with a missing windshield as well, along with about a dozen or more bullet holes that he could see. That was not the disturbing part. The once, black or dark blue truck, now was spray painted baby blue on one side, and pale pink on the other. He could only assume the words he saw on the blue side were repeated on the other for a girl, because in yellow words with a duck looking blob next to it said, “It’s a boy.” In the gentle bayou breeze a flag flew from the antenna, it looked like it would be something a baby’s sheet would be made of, but in thick black Sharpie, a date was written. The date was about a month away.

“
Oh, that is Jabo’s truck. His girlfriend is pregnant with their second baby. He didn’t want to know the sex, so he painted his truck so he has his bases covered, something about the Bayou Queen’s dream. Anyway, he is just excited, and plus you can see the damn thing from a mile away. Sassy said she could find him anywhere now. Good thing too, she had a craving for craw daddies one night, damn near caused a riot at Bolo’s Bar. She called demanding they deliver five of the specials in five minutes or she was gonna shoot up the place. Bolo told Jabo who was sitting in the bar, chatting up some fancy tourist. Never seen that man move so fast, plus he doesn’t let his eyes wander much anymore. Sassy hid his gun.”

By the time she was done filling them on the continuing saga of Sassy and Jabo, West just wanted to give his order so he cou
ld crawl in the back and laugh his ass off without offending the town of “Guns-r-Us”.

Arden apparently had more control than he did and she quickly gave their order and waited for the waitress to walk away before sliding to the floor and
burying her head in the soft seat and laughing. He could tell it would have been loud because of the way her shoulders were shaking. Finally, he lost the battle and laid down the seat as far as he could and put his arm over his mouth and let go.

Shit
, Arden's place was trashed. Mason went from room to room, making sure she wasn’t lying in the apartment dead. This sucked. Dagwood was pissed, as the shadow of a man roared threw the apartment looking for his little sister. The only time he had heard Dagwood yell like that was on one of their missions, in fact the last one they had done solo. Dag had been pissed at him for covering his ass. Apparently, he had failed anyway, his friend was dead, and his sister was on the run.

S
hit, if he had told Dag about his sleeping with his sister and asked permission to date her this would be all for not. Voodoo would have been here, it was what he wanted but the guilt had sucked him in. He dreamed of Arden, the night they spent together had been amazing. They connected, and now he was going to have to face her and tell her he was too fucked up for words. Let her go, so she could find someone that would be able to take care of her—a whole man.

“
These bastards are dead. Voodoo, find her,
” Dagwood ground out while the rest of his team stood in the background. Marie, Raider’s wife, stepped forward and put her arm around Dagwood and whispered something in his ear. It seemed to comfort his friend who nodded.

Marie had always been the steady
girl in their lives. When they found out she had been killed all of them felt the pain. But they had found their baby and she was their reminder of the couple and all of their lost team members. So were Sable and Jolie, their addition to the family were key to the healing he had seen going on. But Voodoo knew he was beyond hope. He was going to be the protector just like he had always been. He would make sure nothing happened to his remaining family.

“
LC!” Mason yelled and his friend appeared in the doorway with a phone in his hand. He held up a finger and spoke into the phone. Mason became instantly alert.

“
Yes, sir, last contact was with North who was heading to her. I need approximate coordinates of his last communication, we will head that way and wait until they call back in. Hell, maybe we’ll stumble across them,” LC said and Mason paused, his heart beating fast.

‘
North’, shit, West Trete had somehow become involved in all of this. That was great.
West was part of SEAL Team EIGHT, they had been their extraction team on the last solo mission Dag and Voodoo had completed. They were also the Team who was supposed to come in for the kill, and they had missed it. At the time, North had teased them relentlessly. If there was a man Voodoo trusted outside his team, it would be North, they had been in training together and on graduation gone to different teams, but the bond that had started years ago still held.

“
Mase, we need to move. Arden called in and asked for help from North, we need to get to his last coordinates. There have been reports of an explosion about a half an hour away from his house. They are investigating but so far, no info of it was related,” LC said with a clipped tone.

“
Well, what are we standing around for?” Mason’s mother said. “Let’s move, boys. I have a daughter-in-law to find!” she crowed.

Mason rolled his eyes and shook his head lowering it. This was going to be a nightmare. He lifted his head and glared at Dagwood who was standing there smiling.

“Really? We had to share that?” Mason hissed at Dag.

His
friend shrugged and showed no signs of being sorry. “Dude, you have to find her, she is the key to your healing.”

“
Whatever,” Mason said, following his slightly crazy mother who was leading his spirit friends down the stairs. It was official—he had lost control of his life, and right now he didn’t care. Arden needed him and he would not let her down like he had Dagwood.

West settled into only one room with Arden.
He needed to watch her
, he thought. She was going to be a handful. When they were at the drive-in restaurant, she had finally come up from the floor and proceeded to get out of the Hummer and meet the local people who were there. She loved their characters, as he watched and in just a few minutes she had won them all over.
Damn she was good
.

When he asked her why she did that when she got into the car after the food arrived
, she laughed and said, “Really? A town full of armed people who could be on our side, like I was gonna pass up on that.”

West had not even thought about it. It would be helpful to have someone watching their backs for a few nights. He wanted to call and check in, bu
t until he knew exactly what he was dealing with. His plan included leaving Arden here, safe and sound, with people watching out for her. Driving with Jabo to the next town and picking up burner phones, and a few other things he needed, and then come back and hunker down until the Commander could get someone here.

He heard the water stop and almost groaned out load. He had tried to ignore what his
body’s response to the X-rated thoughts he had when Arden had gone into the bathroom, the noises of pleasure had made him hard and ready.
Shit, it was more than that, it was a connection he felt when they met.
She was sexy, hot, sweet, and dangerous. Totally his idea of the perfect woman. Hell, she shot better than some of his friends, what wasn't there to be attracted to. Now, as he imagined her drying her wet, slick, perfect body alone in the next room, West tried to hold himself back. He needed to breathe deep and relax or he was going to get up and burst into the bathroom to see if his imagination fit what he was thinking she would look like naked.
Damn, he had to stop. Mission.

Besides he knew who Arden was, had known when she told him who her brother was. She was not only
Dag's sister, that would have been enough for him to help her, she was also someone important to Mason, that made it more personal. He wanted to call his friend and tell him he had her safe, but he had thrown his phone out, and needed to get another one, and soon.

He heard the door open and
turned, the breath was sucked out of his lungs when he saw Arden, her hair pulled back into some kind of twist, it showed her gorgeous neck off, but she wore a pair of tiny little sleep pants and a tank top.
Shit, she was the poster girl for temptation.
Once again, his cock went rock hard and now not only could he not breathe, but he was sporting a woody.
Fucking great
.

“
Hey, can we see if they have a snack machine, I would kill for a Pepsi about now.” Arden laughed and looked at him.

He
had changed. He could see the appreciation in her eyes as she scanned his shorts, legs, and tank top. He was comfortable. At least he knew she wasn’t immune to him.

“
Sure give me a minute, I think there was one in the entrance. I will run and see,” West said, grateful for the chance to actually get some fresh cooler air, maybe it would work like a cold shower.

Shit…
shit…shit.
She felt the attraction between West and her. Damn, she was torn, this was the first time in months she actually thought she found someone who could help her forget Mason, the prick, as she liked to think of him. But how fair would that be? Arden knew how the SEAL community loved to gossip. If she did something and it got back to Mason, how would she deal with it?

Mason was a little more in your face when it came to certain things, one of them was her. She knew it, she had seen it.
Mason, before they had gotten together, had been protective. He ignored her now and she had the right to move on. Nodding to herself, it was her decision to get back into life, and she was going to take it.
Well, probably when the whole running for their life thing would be a bit of a damper on the situation for a while, but she was determined to actually make this work.

She heard the click of the door and ran for the bed, she jumped on the side she always slept on and tried to look like she had been comfortable. When he enter
ed she felt the sizzle of attraction, it was like a living breathing thing in the room with them.
Damn, fuck waiting
, she thought when he smiled at her and walked to the bed and handed her a candy bar. Her eyes refused to leave his, it was like they were locked together, unable to take their eyes off each other.

She broke the contact first, knowing if she didn
’t she would strip her clothes and scream ‘take me’ in a second if the tension in the room didn't change.

West cleared his
throat, walked to the other side of the bed, and sat down.
Awkward
, she thought and held her breath, chocolate forgotten since her female parts were currently on fire from wanting the man sitting on the bed with her.

“
TV?” he grumbled.

“
Sure,” she murmured and then picked up the chocolate. Seriously, she had to get some kind of pleasure tonight, even if it was a sugar high. They leaned back on the headboard together and West picked up the remote and began to flip through the channels.

She ignored it and focused on her candy bar, if she didn
’t she would grab the obviously hard cock that West had and proclaim it hers. The silence in the room was stifling, they were dodging the subject. Finally, she saw he put the TV on a movie channel.
Huh, who would have thought he would pick a completely unromantic action movie.
At least she had one secret, she didn’t do the chick flicks, she never had, watching movies with John had always been action and she loved losing her thoughts in the story on the screen. This time was a little different, she couldn’t concentrate, but she tried.

Arden sc
ooted down lower and got under the blankets. She snuggled with a pillow between her arms and rested her head on the pillow. Maybe it would be enough for her to snuggle with tonight. Tomorrow was something different.

She felt and saw West get under the
covers and she tensed, would their naked legs touch, would they set her on fire any more than she already was. Shifting slightly, she was on the edge of the bed, perched precariously.
This was gonna be a fun night
.

She heard him groan and then West tur
ned to her. “This is so not going to work. You are on the edge. I am freaking tense. We have to get this out of the way so we can get a good night's sleep.”

“
Get what out of the way?” she said softly, hoping they were thinking the same thing.

“
The kiss. Maybe I suck, maybe you suck, maybe we are imagining this, but damn it if we don’t see it is gonna drive us both nuts," West said and slowly pulled the sheet between them until he could reach her scantily clad body.

“
Shit,” she whispered when she felt an electric current run through her even with his touch.

West pulled her until she was laying flat on her back, and
he leaned over her. The closeness was enough for her to know this was so not going to suck; it was going to change everything. Was she ready to let her feelings go for Mason?

With a grin
, he leaned down and gently put his lips on hers, moving them gently, testing to see if what they were feeling was real.
It was
. Without a thought, she reached up and wrapped her arms around him and he pressed himself on her upper half deepening the kiss.
Fuckin' amazing was an understatement
.