The Marine (Black Hawke Security #3)

CHAPTER EIGHT

AIDAN

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I f you think that’s where this ends, you are wrong, Briar Sutton.

Because you belong to me.

But after fucking her twice, I’m now determined to find a way around this. My plan, however, is a little more complicated than I first thought.

She’s fucking married.

Married!

To a guy who’s violent with her.

That bruise has been there at least a week, which means it likely happened the day I left the country.

I hate that she’s not protected.

The fact they’re not living together is good, and I’ve already organized one of junior BHS security guys to watch her house.

Okay, fine...and Briar herself.

It meant looping in Marshall, who is now Savannah Sinclair’s bodyguard. He’d spot Trent a mile away.

Then I called Thomas into my office and asked him to pull up all the data he could on her.

“On Briar? Sutton?” he asks.

Fuck, it's annoying that everyone knows her.

“Yes,” I reply and don’t offer anything more.

He stares at me, surprised.

“Everything, including medical records. And I want them sent only to me. Keep this confidential,” I say.

The door to my office is closed for this very reason.

“Can I ask why?”

“No.” Thomas is former army, and I’m surprised he asked. But I know why he’s asking. Like me, it’s his nature to protect. Briar is so damn likable. So I add, “She’s not in danger, but this information will ensure it stays that way.”

“Got it. Good. Okay.” Thomas nods and his shoulders drop.

Good, now go do your fucking job.

I excuse him and then sit back in my chair.

Immediately, my mind is back with her. Briar is married. I fucking hate that.

I hate that another man gave her his name, even though she doesn’t seem to use it. I hate that this asshole saw my Briar walk down the aisle toward him and that she promised her life to him.

Even if it’s coming to an end, then I’m going to do all I can to encourage it. First and foremost because she’s admitted he hurts her.

I’m trying to divorce him.

I wanted to throttle her pretty little neck myself the moment she said that. There is no trying in life. Divorce or otherwise. You either do or you don’t.

It’s not that easy. You don’t understand.

She’s right. I don’t.

But if the guy is still hurting her, where the hell are her friends or lawyers? Or the fucking cops.

This is what I want to look at.

Is she pressing charges?

And has Ryder not noticed anything?

I’m gathering data before I start crushing skulls. But once I do, I’ll have to confess that we know each other.

Maybe.

It’s not something I want to explain.

I lost Briar the day her father died.

I don’t know if she still believes the bullshit her mother said back then. Hell, anyone within a four-hundred-mile radius heard her screaming it from the rooftops. The accusation lost me Briar, and it almost cost me my career.

It took months to clear my name.

A long damn time when you’re being questioned and under suspicion. And while I was never charged, and it wasn’t on my record, when I joined the Marine Corps, I was nervous as fuck that it would cost me.

You see, her father was former army.

His death was in the news and so was my face. The media spent a whole lot of time talking about me while I was a suspect. Then fuck all when I was cleared.

So the recruitment team at the Marine Corps knew all about it. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t on my record.

They had questions.

I had to work through my whole lot of anger at the impact her fucking mom had on my life. And grief at losing the woman I thought was my entire future.

But I never stopped loving her.

Being a US Marine did, however, give me a purpose and the distraction I needed to move on. I had to walk away. Briar didn’t want saving.

She made that very clear during those dark days.

And she might not want saving now.

Not by me.

Thing is, I’m not the young man I once was. I’m a thirty-three-year-old man set up for life—financially and emotionally. I co-own a multimillion-dollar business and have a solid group of friends who would die for me—literally.

I’ve seen the world.

Saved children from life-threatening situations.

I love my mom.

I pay my taxes.

Reluctantly...but I pay the fucking things.

What I want now that I’ve had Briar back in my arms is to shake some sense into her and marry her.

I’ve never stopped wanting and loving her. It’s just now, I can’t ignore it any longer.

Briar is the one for me.

She always has been, and god help me, she always will be.

The big question—aside from will she have me—is if she’s ready to accept a man who can love and protect her. The bruise on her neck tells me she hasn’t healed from her childhood wounds—the invisible ones inside. Until she does, she might not know how to accept true love into her life.

I read that in a book when I was trying to make sense of everything. Hurt people find it difficult to let love in.

Most of it is unconscious behavior—they’re unaware they do it unless they go through a time of self-exploration.

Facing the truth of that can be confrontational and uncomfortable.

So, fuck. Where does that leave me?

I tap my pen on the desk and resist the urge to go hover over Thomas’s shoulder while he gathers the information I need.

Only just.

Instead, I pull up the security details for Ryder and Savannah’s wedding and start finalizing the team.

It’s less than ten days away.

After the wedding, I’m making my move.