Cajun Protection (4 page)

I finish my set and untape my hands when
someone taps me on the shoulder. Going on instant alert, I snap
around and see a leggy blonde with a hot pink sports bra on and
skin fitting black shorts.

“Nice job. I enjoyed watching your
technique.” I can’t help but raise an eyebrow at her. No one has
ever said that to me before.

“Thanks,” I say back, trying to be somewhat
polite.

“I was wondering if you’re done, maybe we can
get out of here and get some coffee.” She cocked her hip and I
can’t help but follow the movements with my eyes. She is smokin’,
but the more I look at her, I just don’t feel it.

“Don’t want any this late,” I mutter.

“Oh, well how about a drink instead, I can
definitely go for a beer or something stronger, if you’re up to
it?” Damn where did this chick come from. The more I look at her,
it is obvious she isn’t from here.

“Where you from?”

“Oh, I’m from California, came to visit my
friend’s family during spring break. Why?” Figures. She is too
fresh looking, too fake for these parts.

“Look, you’re hot and can find anyone, try
them. I’m busy.” What the hell am I thinking? I must have fallen
and hit my head to turn away free pussy. But shit, I have too much
on my mind to worry about getting a piece of ass.

“Wow, umm, I didn’t see that coming.” She
looks at me shocked.

“Well, welcome to Louisiana, doll. Have fun
visiting and be sure to try the beignet while you’re here.” I grab
the towel I brought with me, wipe my head, and make my way back to
the showers. Finally feeling almost normal, I can head home and
sleep.

Hawk takes off to the gym and I just did the
damn dishes. Nights like these nothing sits well with me. The
gathering information shit is for the birds. I enjoy the hunt more.
But Hawk had a point with gathering Intel of the subject. Going
into the swamp unprepared can be a suicide mission. However, Hawk
and I can handle ourselves. Dishes done, I head to my room. It’s
the larger one of the rooms, so my king size bed fits better in my
room than Hawk’s king in his room. I won the arm wrestling contest
for the room. In the corner is a large chair I use to sit and
think, not that many people think I do. Grabbing the map Hawk was
looking at earlier, I start to create various routes Andrew might
take. The downfall with this damn map is it isn’t accurate. There
are so many levees that’s aren’t listed. Zoey said he used the one
by his house, but just looking at the map there are three, and my
guess would be the locals never checked it out. They didn’t seem
too friendly and it worries me some that she isn’t being looked
after. I really hope she will be okay for the night, but the more I
think about it I should have told her to stay someplace else. I
know a chair behind the door will help keep her safer than her puny
lock, and I know she won’t put it on the one downstairs, but on her
bedroom door. Why the hell am I thinking about her so much? Maybe
it’s because she has a natural sex appeal that I’m drawn to. She
isn’t a stick by any means, but just by looking at her I can tell
she has lost some weight, and not naturally from exercise. But more
like she isn’t eating right. But her tits were big and plump and I
wanted nothing more than to pull down that small top she was
wearing and latch onto her fat nipples that were pushed to the
shirt and suck them. Damn, now my cock is hard, fuck. I hate when
that happens, I’m not one to jack off so if I need relief I find a
chick for the night. Trying to put my mind off Zoey, I look at the
map again.

I’m good at this type of thing; it was part
of my job in the Marines. I was part of a special recon task force
that was deployed when shit happened, and shit always did happen
over there. No one ever said it on the news, didn’t have to, anyone
in any service knew what was going on, but we kept our mouths shut.
I was a tracker of sorts, I can find ways in and out of situations
getting us in and out without too much noise. For the most part, it
worked, but a few times it hadn’t. It all came from the many years
Hawk and I spent in and out of the bayou huntin’ critters. But each
mission was different, and each proved to have their own dangers. I
still have the bullet mark on my upper thigh to prove that last
mission. Needless to say, I use the training when we are out in the
swamp, to deal with the injury while we were out in the field.
Andrew may know the area because he is local, and most likely he
has done some gator huntin’, but so have Hawk and I. We just need
to narrow some points down. I throw the map on top of my dresser
and decide to jump in the shower. We need to talk to Zoey again, to
see if she knows which ones he might use more.

Stripping out of my clothes, I make it to the
bathroom and look into the mirror. I can’t help but smirk at the
way I look now. A five o’clock shadow, shaggy hair, maybe more
muscle than before too. It’s different than what I had four years
prior, being clean cut and shaven. Hell, Hawk grew his hair out.
The water is warm and I make quick work jumping into it washing
away the grime from today. Resting my head against the cool tile, I
let the hot water cascade down my back easing the sore muscles
there. Tomorrow is going to be interesting, and right now the
sooner I collect this bounty, the sooner I can get Zoey out of my
mind.

I think the last three nights have been the
first time I slept better than I have in at least a month. Knowing
Hawk and Wolf are after Andrew and they are at least pretending
they care means more to me than everyone else in the town and it’s
comforting. Today I went into work and now being off I want to stop
by Gran’s house. I haven’t been there in a while and with how I
have been feeling lately, I wanted something that reminded me I’m
not completely alone. It is a short drive, but my little Echo can
handle it. I brought some flowers for the old oak tree Gran is
buried underneath too. She liked daisies, just like me, so I made
sure to get them in all sorts of colors.

When I was a little girl and daddy would be
working late, Gran and I would go have a picnic in the meadow area
of the backyard. It is filled with all sorts of wildflowers, but we
loved the bright and fun daisies. Sure, all of my school friends
loved roses and more elaborate flowers, but I love the daisies the
most. We would lay for hours and talk about everything. She would
tell me how she wished I would go to college and make something of
myself and not depend on anyone to survive. Guess I failed in that
area. But the more I think about her, I know she wouldn’t be mad at
me, but she’d be sad that I got myself into this situation. But to
be honest, Andrew is the first real man who paid any attention to
me. I didn’t have many friends who were female simply because they
annoyed the crap out of me. It is all about fun and parties, and
‘look at me, look at me,’ all the time. I didn’t like to draw
attention to myself at the time, and sometimes I still don’t. I’m a
lot more comfortable with my size than before, but sometimes, I do
feel a pang of regret that I didn’t exercise more. Sure, I have
lost about five pounds, but it is because I am hungry and only
eating what I can afford, which isn’t much.

I met Andrew through a few girls here in
town. They said it would be fun so we all met during Mardi Gras,
Andrew was from my town, and we seemed to hit it off. He didn’t
even comment on how much larger I was than the others. If anything,
he made me feel special. It went pretty good the first few date
nights, but warning bells went off later on with him. He called or
texted me at least three times a day, wanting to know when I got
home from work, where I was, what I was wearing. Then during the
six or seventh date he showed his true self. He demanded I cover up
more, unless I was planning to pay for the meal in other ways. I
got offended and cut the date short, telling him I didn’t think it
would work out anymore. But the texts and phone calls from him
didn’t stop. It didn’t seem to stick with him and Andrew started to
show up at work with flowers, roses—go figure—and said I was his
soul mate. He became obsessed. It got to the point I had to I get a
restraining order against him, but it didn’t work. He showed up at
my old apartment and slapped me around saying he could get to me
whenever he wanted and no one would stop him. Stupid cops did
nothing, of course, because Andrew left. It went on for a good two
months, until he killed Penny. I was a wreck and they had to arrest
him. But being he is from here, they let him go on bail, and now
I’m back to square one; however, I now have Hawk and Wolf after him
too.

I need something distracting so I click on
the radio to bring me back to the happy place I want to be in. The
radio is blaring some music and I feel pretty good as I sing along,
and
way
off key, but I don’t care—my car, my radio. Giggling
as I sing some more, I almost miss the large amounts of cars up
ahead. It is odd, not many cars come this way. But that’s when I
notice a large billow of smoke starting to fill the air. Panic
starts to seize me, is a house on fire? There are only five houses
on this road, and for once in my life, I pray that it’s someone
else’s house, but reality is a different story.

The more I drive the closer I get and as I
make the final turn, there it is, Gran’s house—all red and on fire.
I don’t remember shutting the car off or even putting it in park as
I jump out and run to watch everything I have good in my life start
to disintegrate in front of me. People in the yard just look at me,
and the house, but no one did anything.

“Someone call the fire department,” I yell,
but still no one says anything. I watch a few people even smile. I
run to my car and grab my phone, but again, money is tight and I
don’t have enough minutes in the damn thing and it is dead.
Screaming in frustration, I run and find a hose that’s attached to
the back part of the yard Gran used for her garden and flowers. I
spray what I can, but the hose sucks and has about ten tiny holes
in it, soaking me in the process. Instead of the damn hose, I find
a bucket and start to fill that up and throw what I can. Trying to
save something, anything, until help can come, but it isn’t, and
I’m fighting an endless fire with a broken water hose and a
bucket.

Hawk came home sometime late last night and
woke early getting both of us coffee before I even got a chance to
tell him my plan. It’s a good idea, and for once Hawk agreed.
However, that was two days ago, and we ran into a snag at work and
never made it out there. We cleared things and are now on our way
to see Zoey. I dropped off some paperwork at the courthouse from
the last case, and really wish we had someone at the office to do
all this crap. We were fucking Marines and didn’t deal with
paperwork. It ended up taking longer than expected and I now have a
sinking feeling something is going to happen before I have a chance
to get to her.

I don’t need a map to tell me where she lives
or work. The uncanny urge to get there sooner rather than later
hits me, and I press my foot on the gas. My gut is never wrong.

“In a hurry, man?”

“Just wanna get this job done, collect the
bounty, and move on.” Okay so I wasn’t being completely honest with
Hawk either.

“She is something, isn’t she?” Hawk states as
he looks out the window. Is he thinking the same thing I am? Could
he be wishing she was something more than just a victim? We have
never dated a victim, or anyone we are working a case for. Hawk had
a no fucking the staff or customer policy, and I agree with it. But
with Zoey, I just might bend that rule, as I bend her over too.

“Yeah, not sure what to make of it. She isn’t
like the other woman ‘round here,” I say pointedly.