G-Men: The Series (153 page)

One of Sammie and Lindsey’s current customers for their design business is Darcy! She is having a playroom designed for now two-year-old Weston. Along with that, she is having a brand new nursery designed and we’re told everything is being done in soft shades of pink. Their little bundle of joy is due in early spring.

Easton’s mother, Sophia passed away several months back. She is finally at peace now, and so is Easy-E, having found the unconditional love he had been denied for more than thirty years.

And they all lived happily ever after…

^{bonus chapter}

[Author’s Note: Readers wanted a glimpse of what went down after Slate took out the “Rat Bastard” in that New York City Park on the night of September 15th, after having located his captives being held in an old deserted warehouse.

Here is Slate’s version.]

The Aftermath—September 16th, 2:30 a.m.

~ Slate ~

It had been three fucking weeks since I’d been home with Sammie and the boys. The assignment in NYC seemed to have taken on a life of its own, once we’d established the operation and had gone live. Of course, there were always going to be the intermittent issues with bad Intel; this one was no exception.

We were set to apprehend seven individuals we knew were smuggling weapons out of the country through Canada. Two of them happened to be on the FBI’s most wanted list as being connected with Abu Sayeif, a terrorist organization with operational cells in several countries. This particular organization was known to provide arms to “unfriendly” nations. We’d been working with the Canadian authorities for three months prior to the field assignment. What we hadn’t known or expected was that this operation was going to produce a bonus collar: Sammie’s ex-husband, a.k.a. Jack Dennison, a.k.a. the “Rat Bastard.”

It had been through Taz’s brother, Easton and his apparent penchant for tracking his girlfriend, Darcy—who happened to be my step-daughter Lindsey’s best friend, that some not-yet-released track-ware brought us full circle with Jack Dennison. His newest cohort in crime happened to be his fucking mother. That’s right. It was still unbelievable to me.

His trail had gone cold more than a year before, and to be honest, Dennison wasn’t at the top or even in the middle of the FBI’s most wanted list. He was, however, at the top of mine. After what the mother-fucker had put Sammie and Lindsey through? Yeah, I wanted him. I wanted him bad.

I had gotten an adrenaline rush like no other when he came into my line of fire for that split second, and I made sure it wasn’t wasted. That was only several hours ago, but it seemed longer. Our agents had been perched on the rooftop of that building, waiting patiently for the opportunity to present itself.

The worthless mother-fucker had used his own daughter as a human shield. What the fuck? That made it totally up close and personal for me. I wanted—no, I
needed
to be the one to take him down. One perfectly executed shot from my 30mm SWAT Sniper Scope at long range was all it had taken to rid the planet of Jack Dennison, garbage that he was. This one was for Sammie. I was sorry that Lindsey had to witness his demise, but there was no other way.

Taz had insisted Lindsey get checked out by the medics, scared she might be in shock, and it was easy to see that she was. She’d be okay once the shock had worn off and she faced the reality of what her father had been. There was no better person to help her with that than Taz. He’d just completed his Ph.D., and would be joining the BAU after the first of the year. I’d miss the hell out of him, but it was a good move. He was living his dream. And Lindsey was a major part of that.

Now as I pulled my black, government-issued Suburban into our driveway, I knew I’d have to give Sammie the news. I had wondered on my flight back what her reaction would be. I’d only told her on our brief phone call that we’d wrapped things up in New York, and that I’d be home immediately. She’d teased me in her coy way, asking what my hurry was, and then started spazzing out before I even had a chance to respond about how she hadn’t heard from Lindsey all day and she wasn’t answering her cell.

I had assured her Lindsey was fine—which I knew she would be—and that she was spending time with Taz. At least that had calmed her down on that front.

Now she could put her focus on me. Where I wanted it, and hell, where I needed it. My cock would be a stranger no longer to her sweet warmth. My only trepidation was whether to tell her before or after we fucked. God, I hoped like hell she wouldn’t get fucking emotional over the Rat Bastard’s demise. I mean, how could she? He’d been such a fuckwad to her for all of those years. Still, women were forever surprising me with their abstract emotions and reactions. My Sammie was no exception.

I let myself into the house silently. I was good at that, occasionally causing Sammie to jump when I’d sneak up on her, planting a kiss on her neck, or groping her ass. I typed the pass code into our alarm system, shutting it off.

I headed down the hallway towards our room, hoping she wouldn’t bitch too much about my waking her up. I smiled as I saw she’d left a night light on in our suite for me. Then I saw why.

Bryce was curled up next to her, his thumb in his mouth, sleeping soundly.

Don’t think so, little dude.

“Come on little man,” I whispered, as I pulled his pajama-clad body up into my arms. “Time to go to your own bed. What’s bubby gonna say if he wakes up and you’re not in your bed, huh?”

He opened his eyes briefly, a smile lighting up his face as he recognized me. He snuggled against my chest, putting his thumb back in his mouth, and was back to sleep by the time I pulled his covers up over him, tucking him into the “big-boy” bed we’d gotten him once Sidney had taken over his crib. I leaned down, giving him a kiss on his soft cheek.

I crept quietly over to Sidney’s crib, checking to make sure he was covered up. He was clutching his stuffed skunk against his chest. Bryce had appropriately named it “Skunky” since he was the older brother and saw fit to run Sidney’s life—for the moment. I leaned over the crib rail and gave my baby boy a kiss on his chubby cheek. Damn! I loved my babies. I had never imagined in a million fucking years that I could feel what I felt for them—and what I felt for Sammie.

Reflecting on my wife brought my cock to immediate attention. Shit. Three weeks.

Back in our room, I stripped my clothes off down to my boxers and crawled beneath the sheets, wrapping my arms around Sammie, drawing her against my chest.

“Slate,” she murmured, her eyes fluttering open to gaze up at me. A slow smile graced her full lips as I fisted her hair, pulling her face closer to mine.

“Hey baby,” I whispered, giving her soft kisses. “Told you I’d be home before breakfast. I’m thinking I might need a snack to tide me over though.”

She came fully awake, straining to look for Bryce.

“Relax, babe. He’s back in his bed sound asleep. By the way,” I teased, “I thought we discussed this business of him being in our bed, didn’t we?”

“Oh Eric,” she laughed, “I don’t make a habit of it. He crawled in during the night babbling about you. He knew you were coming home and he was excited, that’s all.” She curled up alongside of me, now running her fingertips over my triceps.

I knew I needed to let her know what happened before we got down to business. It was the right thing to do, my horniness notwithstanding.

“What?” she asked, furrowing a brow.

Fuck. How should I put this?

I sat up in bed, looking into her eyes and seeing the fear that I was about to deliver bad news. Only it wasn’t bad news. Not for me anyway.

“Sammie,” I breathed, rubbing my forehead with my thumb. “You need to know that our investigation in New York led to an unexpected twist. Jack Dennison was remotely involved with the smugglers we were tracking. He surfaced while the sting was going down and…”

“Oh my God,” she interrupted, pulling herself up and kneeling beside me on the bed. “Is he in jail? Does Lindsey know?”

“He’s dead,” I said flatly. What the fuck else could I say?

“What?”

“He’s dead, Samantha. He resisted law enforcement and posed imminent danger to others. He had a weapon drawn on officers and agents—he even…,” I faltered, what the hell? Did she really need to know he used Lindsey as a human shield? Fuck yeah, she needed to know!

“Look,” I said, clasping her hands in mine. “He had Lindsey around the neck, dragging her along as a hostage, thinking he could get away. That wasn’t going to happen. I took him down, babe. I had no choice.”

“My God, Lindsey!”

“She’s fine, babe. I promise you, she’s fine. She’s shaken up, but Taz is with her and they’ll be back tomorrow, okay?”

She nodded, turning the information I’d just given her over and over in her mind. I watched her expression closely because shit, I was curious to see if she had any sentiments left for the son-of-a-bitch after everything he had pulled. I saw nothing that resembled anything other her concern for her daughter.

“So,” she said slowly, picking her words, “how did he get to Lindsey? I mean, I don’t understand.”

I rubbed her fingers with mine. “Apparently, Lindsey’s been keeping in touch with his mother, Louise. She had no clue that Jack and his mother were in contact. She only wanted some kind of connection with her father’s family. That’s how she explained it to Taz.”

“Oh my God! Louise was involved too? But why did they involve Lindsey?” I watched as her puzzled expression morphed into one of understanding. “It was money, wasn’t it? Oh God, Slate—Lindsey’s not in any trouble, is she?”

“No, sweetie, don’t worry about that. We’re getting it all sorted out, but she didn’t do anything illegal. I think Taz might have a thing or two to say about her keeping stuff from him, but she’s safe and right now, she needs to be with Taz.”

Sammie nodded, looking up into my eyes again.

“She’ll be back tomorrow for sure?”

“Yeah, sweetie, I promise you, okay? I mean, she’s upset for sure, but I also think she’s dealing more with the realization of what her father was, you know? I grew up with a rat bastard father of my own, so I guess I can empathize with what she’s going through. It’s gonna take time, but she’ll get closure; Taz will make sure of that.”

“Okay,” she murmured, crawling into my lap. I wrapped my arms around her.

“What about you, babe? Are you alright?”

I felt her hair as she nodded against me. “I am now,” she replied softly, her arms now wrapped around my neck.

She lifted her face, looking into my eyes deeply making me feel like she was fucking looking into my soul. Sammie was the only person that could do that to me. She owned me and she probably knew it, but that was okay because I fucking owned her, too.

“Thank you,” she murmured softly. “Thank you for saving my daughter; and, thank you for saving me. I love you, Eric Slater.”

“You can call me Slate,” I teased, kissing her forehead, and brushing a strand of her hair back behind her ear. She was so gorgeous and she was mine. Somehow Jack Dennison’s death made that more official; I wasn’t sure why.

She sighed audibly and snuggled closer against me, her fingers now caressing my jaw line that was rough with stubble from going more than a day without shaving.

“Fuck me, Slate,” she whispered hoarsely. “I need you to fuck me hard and long. I need to feel your cock inside of me.”

“Umhmm,” I whispered against the soft skin of her neck as my tongue leisurely traced the familiar territory. I felt her shiver with pleasure. “I’d be more than happy to oblige, Diamond.”

^{bonus chapter}

[Author’s Note: Readers were interested in knowing how things went with Taz and Lindsey after her father was taken out by an FBI bullet, while using Lindsey as a human shield during his attempted escape from FBI agents in New York City.

Here is Lindsey’s version.]

The Aftermath of September 15th

~ Lindsey - One Year After ~