The Marine (Black Hawke Security #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

AIDAN

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J osh kicks Ryder in the back of the leg and he almost goes flying. The camera clicks and we all crack up laughing.

Next minute...wedding brawl.

“Stop!” Savannah cries. She’s half laughing, half serious.

“Do not upset my wife.” Ryder punches Josh.

“You just wanted to say wife.” I laugh and pull them both to their feet.

“Oh my god, you have grass stains on your shirt.” Briar slaps at Ryder's arm.

Then, she abruptly stops and takes a step back.

Josh and I quickly glance at each other.

Battered wife syndrome much?

There is a gun in the back of my pants, and I am so damn ready to spin around and point blank shoot Johnny Trevis in the middle of his forehead.

So fucking ready.

Briar licks her lips nervously and glances around, then stares out across the view of the city. Then suddenly hands Savannah her bouquet.

“Here. I just need to use the restroom,” Briar says.

Savannah takes the flowers without any fuss. Expecting Briar to turn and leave, I’m surprised when she lays a hand on her arm.

The hell is going on here?

I know this woman, and something isn’t right.

I watch her.

“The ceremony was so beautiful,” she says. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you.” Savannah smiles, but like me, looks slightly confused by the little speech. “Hurry, we have a bunch more photos to do before the reception.”

She doesn’t hurry.

She smiles, nods, and then kisses Savannah’s cheek.

“That’s a goodbye speech,” Josh says quietly beside me.

“Yup. It is.”

“He’s planning to take her out of here.”

“Yup.” I press the comms into my ear. “Eyes on our target.”

“The eagle,” Marshall says.

Josh snickers.

My sense of humor is dead. All I’m focused on right now is getting Briar safely away from Trevis and getting him behind bars.

“Sorry Ry, shit’s about to go down.” I slap him on the shoulder.

“Goddamn.” He sighs and feels for his weapon.

It’s hidden, but I know it’s there.

Josh pulls out his phone. “Detective White.” He listens for a moment. “Yeah, well, we can discuss that another day. Right now, I have a fugitive you might want to pick up.”

He chuckles and gives him the address.

Telling the cops any earlier wasn’t going to benefit anyone. We didn’t know if Kael would show up. And once he did, he wasn’t going anywhere.

Josh gives me a nod and I make my way over to where Kael is hovering with a glass of wine. I wave out to a waiter, and he serves me a tumbler of whisky from his silver tray.

“Can I get you anything else, sir?”

I shake my head, sipping as I watch Trevis. I know he can feel my eyes on him. I keep staring. Because I want this moment with him.

The cops will be six minutes.

Possibly four.

It takes another thirty seconds for him to turn his head. There’s no warmth. No surprise.

But there is a familiarity in his gaze.

Well fuck, he’s been expecting me. He knows who I am. And if I’m right, he knows I’ve been sleeping with Briar.

I lift my glass, toasting him, and take a sip.

Taunting him.

He drops his glass on the table and wanders over, stopping a few feet in front of me. Sliding his hands into his pants, he tilts his head.

“So, you fucked my wife,” Trevis says.

“Did I?” I lift a brow.

He watches me carefully and I have to say, for a fugitive on the run, he’s extremely calm.

Then again, the fact he’s standing here tells me he thinks my interest is in Briar. Not his criminal record.

“Why lie? You think she’s going to leave me for you?” he asks.

“Yes.” I sip again.

The tips of his ears turn a little red and I know I’m aggravating him. I finish the dark golden liquid, and the server appears rapidly, taking it from me. Then I take a step in Kael’s direction.

We’re both uncomfortably close for enemies.

“Briar won’t be leaving with you today. Or any day.” I speak slowly and carefully as the sound of sirens fills the air.

Not an unusual sound in Los Angeles.

It doesn’t matter now if he tries to run. He’s surrounded by no less than twenty-five paramilitary experts who have faced far more dangerous men than him.

Piece of shit.

“She will do as she says. I’m her husband.” Then he hisses, “Touch her again and I-’ll—”

I step right into his face.

“Finish that sentence and it will be the last thing you ever fucking do.”

Josh walks up behind him and stops. Johnny freezes as the cold metal of the gun against his skin catches his attention.

I smile.

“Now, be a good boy and walk out of here really quietly.”

“The fuck is this?” He hisses once more.

“The boys in blue have new accommodations for you...Johnny Trevis.”

Trevis jolts in surprise, turns, and, like an idiot, tries to run. I reach out and grab his neck as Josh stabs the gun into him hard.

“Whoa there, tiger, settle down. This is our buddy’s wedding.”

A few people around us react.

Marshall steps in.

“Nothing to see here, folks. Isn’t it time for the Macarena?”

Josh snorts.

“Make a sound and he will shoot.” I warn, but honestly, my fingers are so tight around his throat he really isn’t able to.

Or breathe.