Sawyer, p.1
Sawyer, page 1
SAWYER
ALPHA COMPANY RENEGADES BOOK 11
KALI HART
Sawyer is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Kali Hart
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without express written permission from the author/publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Epilogue
Alpha Company Renegades Series
Sneak Peek BENSON
1
BLAIRE
“Still a strawberry kind of girl, huh?” Sawyer, my best friend of ten years, asks me. Midnight milkshakes are a cornerstone of our friendship. Even when we were separated for years at a time, we kept the tradition going strong through FaceTime.
I hold my glass goblet up in toast. “Always a strawberry kind of girl.”
It feels so good to finally have my best friend close by again. For years, our friendship has survived through text and phone conversations. I’m pretty sure the thing I missed most was texting him to go with me on a late night milkshake run at Dani’s Diner.
Midnight milkshakes have solved many a problem for the both of us, from relationships, family conflicts, and major decisions.
When Sawyer and I first met, we were both in the Army. For me, that feels like a lifetime ago. I did my four-year commitment and got out just after I turned twenty-two. But Sawyer is going on twelve years, and has been all over the world because of it. He’s only stationed here for the next four years, but I’m still excited to have him close by while I can.
“Are you sure you can’t come to the lake this weekend?” I give him my best pouty face, but all it does is make his eyes sparkle. I still can’t believe the man isn’t married with a couple of kids. I know he’s always wanted that.
“Got a training exercise that starts Saturday afternoon,” he says, stirring a straw around his chocolate shake. “Plus, I don’t know how much your boyfriend will appreciate my company.”
Sawyer and Brett haven’t met yet, but not because I’m trying to keep them apart. Sawyer’s just been busy, getting settled in and everything. I even took the day off work to help him get his household goods unpacked into his rented house. They could’ve met when Sawyer picked me up, but Brett was already dead to the world and not answering my text messages. Having a boyfriend who works graveyards for a security company puts a damper on a lot of introductions.
“I want you to meet him.”
“You sure about that?”
Over the years, we’ve always vetted each other’s significant others. I can’t remember a single boyfriend that Sawyer actually approved of, but that’s not surprising. My choice in men won’t win me any awards anytime soon. “He’s a good one. I promise.”
I’m pinning a lot of hopes on this weekend out at the lake. It holds the potential to take our relationship to the next level. I don’t think Brett is quite ready to pop the question, but I think he’s ready to move in together. I’ve hinted at it a few times, and I think he’s finally ready to give me a key.
“You say that…”
“Oh, come on. Like you’ve dated any great women yourself, mister.” On the flip side of this, I’ve never really liked anyone Sawyer dated either. He’s a great guy, and it’s entirely possible my standards for the perfect woman he deserves are impossibly high. But I stand by them. I’ve seen one too many take advantage of him.
When Sawyer and I first met, we were both in the Army, stationed in the same unit. He was engaged to another woman, which made it easy to be his friend. Unlike all the other guys in my unit who only talked to me because they wanted to get in my pants, Sawyer was genuinely kind.
His fiancé, however, was totally taking advantage of him. Taking the money he sent to her and using it to party it up and cheat on him. He didn’t figure any of this out until after we parted ways.
“Fair point,” Sawyer finally says, pushing an empty shake cup to the edge of the table. “Thanks for all your help today, Blaire.”
A shiver races through me. I blame the ice cream. It’s definitely not that smoldering gaze he sends my way. Sawyer…let’s just say the man is easy on the eyes in so many ways. And he’s only grown more attractive over the years. But he’s my best friend. That’s it.
It only makes the mystery of how he’s still single more puzzling.
“I couldn’t let you go through another disaster like last time.” When he unpacked at his last duty station, he made a mess of things. Putting plates and cups and sauce pans in the same cupboard. Don’t even get me started on the linen closet. “Until you find yourself a wife to do these things for you, I guess I can’t just stand idly by.”
“I appreciate it.” He places his hand on top of mine. A friendly gesture, nothing more. But dammit if some odd zing doesn’t strike my fingers at the contact and shoot straight up my arm.
SAWYER
Blaire pulls her hand away from my touch like she’s been struck by lightning. Maybe she was. Because damn…her touch has never had that effect on me.
“You’re the reason I have clean sheets and a made bed. I would’ve slept in my sleeping bag on the couch,” I say, winning a light chuckle. The unnerving tension eases back out of our comfortable friendship.
I don’t lie to myself and pretend I’m not attracted to Blaire Denizen. She’s an incredibly beautiful woman, and time has only been kind. More than once over the years, I’ve yearned for her to be more than a friend. But I’ve never acted on that impulse or said anything to her. I’d never risk our friendship.
Plus, every time I feel that way, she’s always dating someone else.
“Tell me a little more about Brent.”
“Brett.”
“Yeah, Brett.” I haven’t met the guy, but for some reason I don’t care for him. What man lets his girlfriend spend an entire day with a single man and doesn’t bother to check on her even once? Blaire probably thinks I didn’t notice, but I watched her check her phone a dozen times, frowning each time it held no texts or missed calls.
“He’s a nighttime security guard.”
“Sounds interesting.” Though, it might very well mean he drives a car around a box store parking lot at night.
“Yeah.”
“How old is he?”
“Twenty-seven.”
Younger than Blaire. It’s only by a year, and it shouldn’t matter to me. But I’ve always pictured her with someone older. Someone mature who would know how to love her just right. Someone closer to my age.
“I know that look,” she says to me without reservation. “You think I’m cradle robbing.”
“Just didn’t picture you with a youngster.”
She kicks me gently under the table. “Don’t say it like that!”
Damn how I’ve missed our easy banter. We talked often enough on the phone and through FaceTime and Skype when I was deployed, but it’s no substitute for being together like this. I haven’t seen Blaire in more than three years, and that was for one too-short midnight milkshake catch up before she caught a plane.
“I want to meet him,” I say, never wavering in front of those narrowed eyes that tell me she doesn’t care for my protective side. I don’t care. I’ll always protect my best friend. She’s the most important person to me.
“Then come to the lake.”
“Can’t.”
“You could come out Friday night.”
This lake she mentioned is a two-hour drive away. If I didn’t have to report to the base by noon Saturday, I’d do it. But the one thing we didn’t fully unpack today was my military gear. I’ll spend all day tomorrow getting that ready for my training. “Next time, I promise.”
“I’m holding you to that.” Blaire, having abandoned her straw to scoop out the remnants of strawberry ice cream at the bottom of her cup with a long spoon, points her utensil at me. After she licked it clean.
I have to look away.
Blaire, with the blonde highlights that frame her face, and that deep vee neck in her t-shirt, has got me all jumbled in the head. I’m doing my damnedest to behave. To censor my thoughts. She’s with someone else, no matter how alluring I find her. I can’t let her know. I’d rather lose my right arm than my best friend.
“You’ll text me though?” I ask, hoping the plea doesn’t sound as desperate to her as it does in my head.
“Of course, dummy.” She rolls her blue eyes playfully at me.
“Good.”
“Why are they making you go to this training deal so soon after just getting here, anyway? I mean, I know it’s the Army…”
I shrug, taking the check from the server before Blaire can try. The sizzling glare I get makes me laugh so hard the booth across from us looks over. We’ve been playing the fight for the check game since day one. “They’re short a platoon sergeant, and it’s not like I have a family to get settled in or anything.”
“Why is that anyway?” s
I shimmy out of the booth, slipping my wallet in my back pocket. “Just haven’t found the one I guess.” My gaze rakes slowly over Blaire without her noticing. Sometimes, I think I’ve already found her.
2
BLAIRE
This lake party blows.
I thought it was going to be a romantic, quiet weekend. Just me, Brett, and two other couples. He didn’t bother to tell me they invited a couple dozen other people.
“It’s just for tonight, babe,” Brett says when he finds me in the kitchen seconds after I slammed the refrigerator door. I can’t even find a damn bottle of water because the whole thing is loaded with alcohol. “You’re not mad, are you?”
“Why would I be mad?” I say through gritted teeth, but because Brett is on drink number five or six, I doubt he notices. My dreams of him asking me to move in are starting to evaporate. This isn’t the first time a quiet evening has turned into a party. I guess I was dumb enough to think that two hours from home, we’d have some time to ourselves.
“Babe, c’mon.”
The way he says babe makes me cringe. “Just go back outside to your party.”
“I’ll be in the hot tub. Bring me a beer in twenty?”
I don’t even justify that with a response. Instead, I push past him and head straight for the door into the garage. The same one that’ll allow me to escape the madness without dealing with the entourage of people out back.
When the music grows faint, I pull out my phone to text Sawyer. Happy to see that there’s already a message waiting for me.
Sawyer: Having fun without me?
Blaire: So much fun. NOT.
Sawyer: Uh-oh. Trouble in paradise?
When I told Sawyer about my boyfriend earlier, I got the immediate sense that he didn’t approve. Have I gotten so bad at picking men that my best friend doesn’t even have to meet them anymore to know they’re a dud?
Sawyer: Blaire? You ok?
Blaire: I’m going for a walk.
Sawyer: Is that safe?
Tired of text messages, I decide to call him. “Better?” I ask in regard to my safety he seems so wrapped up in.
“A little.”
“What are you doing?” I ask, eager to talk about anything other than my shitty night. I let Sawyer know how out of hand the quiet weekend got earlier. Right now, I just need my best friend and some air.
“Inventorying my TA-50.”
An automatic laugh huffs out of me. I wonder if any of the other women Sawyer has dated before would even know that means his tactical gear. I don’t think he’s ever dated a military girl before, though, so it’s doubtful. “Why didn’t you go through that yesterday?”
“We were too busy unpacking my kitchen and doing my laundry. And by we, I pretty much mean you.”
“I’m such a terrible friend.” The lighthearted banter with Sawyer puts me immediately at ease. It reminds me that he’s not three thousand miles away this time—or worse—halfway around the world in the sandbox. He’s less than a ten minute drive from my apartment. Suddenly, my weekend doesn’t feel like such a terrible loss.
The laughter fades, and I can feel the gentle but serious tone he’s about to use before the words are even out. “You okay, Blaire?”
“Yeah. I just…I just don’t think he’s asking me to move in.” Reluctantly, I head back toward the cabin. I’m stuck here until we leave Sunday morning—which will no doubt be midafternoon as Brett and all of his buddies will have a mad hangover.
“Maybe he’s not the one, hon.”
I steel myself, fighting back the tears as the music gets louder. “Maybe not.” I’m not certain I’m in love with Brett, and honestly, I don’t think I’m there yet. But I am ready to take the next step with him. Or at least, I thought I was.
“Call me if you need me, okay?”
“Yeah. I better get back to the party.” Though I’m not a huge fan of Brett’s friends, I still don’t want to come off as some stuck-up prick. I may not be getting in the hot tub to show off my curves for this superficial audience, but I can still hang out on the deck and sip on a wine cooler.
I pocket my phone, plastering a smile on my face as I turn the corner of the cabin.
But that smile quickly fades when I see Brett in the hot tub. Making out with a topless girl.
SAWYER
Dammit, I should’ve gone to the lake tonight.
I spent all day rushing through the last of my in-processing to make sure I’m cleared to go out to the field tomorrow, but I could’ve stolen an extra hour for myself to get my duffle bag packed. It’s not like I own that much.
A glance at the clock warns me it’s too late to get in my truck and make a surprise appearance. By the time I’d get there, I have a feeling Blaire and her boyfriend might not care for the company.
Still, some gut instinct twists inside me.
With my luck, it’s probably jealously.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Blaire all day. The sound of her voice is so much better in person than over a phone or computer speaker. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until our day spent together yesterday.
But it’s not just her voice, or the way she laughs. Blaire is one of most—no the most—beautiful women I’ve ever laid eyes. And I’ve been all around the world. She has a few more curves than she did when we were in the Army together, but she looks better for it.
My dick twitches against my zipper in agreement.
I shouldn’t let myself slip into a fantasy of her now. Not when she’s on a weekend trip with her boyfriend. But I slip my hand inside my pants and wrap it around my cock, imagining my fingers are her fingers.
My eyes fall closed, and the inventory is forgotten. “Blaire,” I say in a raspy whisper, stroking myself to her image.
My phone rings, pulling me from the inappropriate fantasy about my best friend. I feel like I’ve been caught stealing cookies from the forbidden cookie jar.
Blaire’s name flashes on my screen. I didn’t expect to hear from her again until tomorrow. The unexpected call doesn’t help my hard cock behave any better.
“Blaire, everything okay?”
“It’s over,” she snivels into the phone.
Anger pulses through my entire body, like a surge of electricity. My fingers balls into a fist at my side, furious that any man has brought my Blaire to tears. “What happened?” I force myself to ask in as calm a tone as I can manage. Inside, I’m screaming and ready to rip out a throat.
“He—he’s cheating on me.”
“Right now?”
“In—in the hot—hot tub.”
I spring into action without any forethought, grabbing my wallet and keys off the kitchen counter. Packing for the field can wait. Blaire is all that matters right now. “Get your stuff together. I’m coming to get you.”
I make the two hour drive in ninety-three minutes, but it still doesn’t feel fast enough. Getting arrested for reckless driving wouldn’t go over well with my new commander, but I took my chances anyway.
I’ve kept Blaire on the phone the whole time, wanting to make sure that the asshole doesn’t try to talk her into staying or forgiving him. From what Blaire described to me, what that asshole did is unforgiveable.
“I—I’m ready,” she says to me when I’m two miles away. “I’ll meet you outside, okay?”
“Blaire, hon, please stay on the phone with me.”
“I need to tell him I’m leaving.”
Every muscle bristles, but I’m close enough that I don’t tell her not to confront him. He won’t have enough time to beg for her forgiveness, or worse, make a fool out of her. I’ve learned from Blaire’s past breakups that she moves on a lot faster if she gets closure.
Finding a parking spot is damn near impossible, so I block in the asshole’s car, leaving just enough room not to get clipped by someone driving down the packed road. The music is deafening the second I jump out of my truck.
