At those words, he could see the decision made in her eyes. Even though she still looked slightly unsure, she nodded. “Get in.”
Noel gripped her steering wheel tight, using it to ground herself. When she’d heard Juanita’s panicked tone, fear had taken over. She’d met that piece of crap, Dwight Gomez, before Juanita’s mother had broken up with him and she didn’t like the way he looked at the young girl. She was only fourteen.
“So, condoms, huh?” Travis, the man she’d been lusting after for six months, asked.
Since they were at a stoplight, she glanced at him in surprise. The man was so hard to read sometimes. He rarely smiled, but his expression was never harsh or anything. He was just…reserved. Noel never had a problem talking to people, but she was occasionally tongue-tied around Travis. That was because she was constantly wondering what he would look like naked. She’d seen flashes of tattoos—some around the neckline of his shirt and a few on his arms—and she really wanted to see how much of his body was covered in them. Before meeting him she’d never thought having ink on your body was sexy but Travis…the man was delicious. Since he didn’t seem like the kind of man to ever purposefully embarrass someone, she had a pretty good idea what he was doing. “Are you trying to distract me?”
He shrugged those impossibly broad shoulders she’d love to smooth her hands over. “Maybe.”
Feeling her damn cheeks heat up under that intense gaze, she turned back to the road. When the light turned green, she sighed. “One of my employees—also a dear friend—thinks I need to get laid and thought it would be a funny birthday present. So she got me condoms and stuff.”
“Happy birthday. What do you mean by stuff?” There was a note of amusement and real curiosity in that last word.
She cleared her throat. Um, yeah, she was definitely not telling him that her friend had also gotten her flavored lube, a pink whip, a purple rubber paddle and vibrating nipple suckers. Until today she hadn’t even known nipple suckers existed. “We are not having this conversation. So, why were you hoping to catch me before I got off work?”
Please let it be because you wanted to ask me out.
She’d thought about asking him out herself, but the man was just so hard to read. Whenever she worked up the courage, he’d disappear for weeks at a time. She knew it was for his job, but then by the time he would start regularly visiting her shop again, her courage would go back into hibernation. He just had that intimidating effect on her.
He shifted against the passenger seat, his long legs looking cramped even though he’d pushed the seat all the way back. She was five feet ten so she guessed him to be six feet three. Give or take. “I wanted to see if you had plans tomorrow night. If not, I’d like to take you out to dinner and maybe we can walk around Bayside Marketplace afterward.” He said the words in a rush, as if he’d been practicing.
Which made her feel a lot better. Despite the way her day was going and the worry building inside her over Juanita, elation burst inside her. Still, she needed to understand what he was asking. “Would this be as friends or a date?”
He paused a long moment. “I was hoping for a date.”
And there it was. Finally. Fighting the giant grin on her face, she nodded. “Okay.”
The tension in the car seemed to crackle for a moment until her ringing cell cut through the air. When she saw Juanita’s number, panic surged through her again. Noel had told Juanita to turn off the lights in the house and pretend she wasn’t home. She just hoped the girl had listened. “Hey.” She answered on the first ring, putting the girl on speaker so she’d have her hands free.
“My mom got home from work early and she and Dwight are in the driveway arguing. I don’t know what to do.” Fear and tears laced her voice.
“Where are you right now?”
“I did what you said, but then I heard shouting. He’s holding onto her arm and she’s yelling at him. I don’t know what to do.” Juanita let out a sob.
“Do you have a backyard?” Travis asked, before Noel could speak.
There was a moment of silence so Noel said, “Honey, this is Travis. He’s a friend and he’s coming with me to help.”
“Okay. And yeah, we have a backyard.”
“Is it possible for you to make it to your backyard without being seen?” Travis asked.
Juanita sniffled. “Yeah.”
“Good. Forget what’s going on in the driveway. Get the hell out of your house. Sneak out back, climb a fence, whatever it takes. Just stay hidden and call the cops. They’ll listen to you when you tell them what’s happening.” There was no room for argument in Travis’s voice.
Noel was so grateful for his presence. She’d been scared of having to face that jerk alone and now she was just worried for Juanita and her mom. “Juanita, listen to what he says. I know you want to help your mom, but there’s nothing you can do now. Get out of that house. We’ll be there in two minutes.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “Stay on the line with me.”
“We’re not going anywhere, honey.” Out of the corner of her eye, Noel watched as Travis pulled out his cell phone. He began texting furiously then asked for Juanita’s address. Noel gave it to him while listening to Juanita moving through her house. She heard the squeak of a door opening. She could faintly hear shouting in the background.
“I can hear them,” Juanita whispered.
“I can too. Just do what I say. Your mom will want you to be safe more than anything.” The young girl’s mother, Alisa, worked two jobs to provide for Juanita. She was caring, hardworking and though she’d never said it, Noel was pretty certain the reason she’d ended things with Dwight was because of the way he’d been eyeing her daughter. Noel knew from past girls she’d mentored that not all moms were that caring. Sad, but true.
“Okay, I’m climbing the fence to my neighbor’s yard. I’ve got to put the phone down for a sec, don’t hang up!”
“I won’t, I promise.” They’d be there in less than thirty seconds. “We’re close, Travis.”
There was a rustling sound then she was back on the line. “Okay, I’m hiding behind the shed in my neighbor’s backyard. He won’t be home for another two hours.”
“Good, stay there. And don’t worry about contacting the police. I’ve taken care of it,” Travis said.
Noel wondered who he’d texted, but figured it must be someone he worked with. She didn’t know all the specifics of who exactly ran Red Stone Security but she’d heard rumors and she knew for a fact that a lot of former military people—Travis being one—and law enforcement worked for them to protect really wealthy people. She guessed Travis must have connections or something.
Before Noel could say anything she heard a loud boom in the background. Next to her Travis tensed, his entire body going on alert.
“Juanita, do not get out of your hiding place,” Travis ordered.
“But, what was that? Did you guys hear—”
“Stay where you are!” Noel shouted as realization dawned. That had been a gunshot. Her heart beat an erratic tattoo as they turned down Juanita’s street. It was a nice neighborhood with neatly kept lawns. Lower middle class with all working families and a lot of kids.
“Park here and stay on the phone with her. Whatever happens, don’t you dare follow me.” Travis motioned to a yellow one-story ranch style house with red trim on the shutters. The two palm trees in the yard were strung up with Christmas lights.
Noel nodded, stark fear latching onto her chest. “What are you going to do?” she asked even though she was pretty sure she knew the answer. There was a determined glint in his dark eyes she’d never seen before.
He didn’t respond, just slid from her car like a ghost. She watched as he crept down the sidewalk toward Juanita’s house, four homes down. Taking her by surprise, he hurried into a neighbor’s yard then disappeared from sight. In the distance she could hear sirens and just prayed they were coming for them. If Alisa had been injured…Noel shuddered, unwilling to think that. She said a silent prayer that everyone would be fine.
* * * * *
Even with his lack of sleep, the adrenaline that pumped through Travis’s system had completely revived him. That had definitely been a gunshot and he hoped he got to Juanita’s mother in time. To think that Noel had planned to come over here on her own—he shoved that thought away.
Now was the time to focus on diffusing whatever was going on. He’d texted Grant Caldwell, who was Harrison’s brother and a former detective with the Miami PD. The newest Red Stone employee had gotten back to him immediately telling him that help was on the way.
But Juanita’s mom might not have time. Dusk had just fallen so it was dark enough for him to blend into the shadows. Something he was damn good at. After eight years in Force Recon, most of those spent in violent warzones, he knew how to be invisible.
Weapon in hand, he jumped fences and ran until he reached the address Noel had given him. Creeping along the neighbor’s house, he moved until he had a perfect view of Juanita’s home. There were two cars in the driveway along with a woman’s purse. The belongings had been strewn in the yard and on the driveway, indicating a struggle. Though they hadn’t been turned on, he could see that they’d decorated their bushes and palm tree with lights. There also weren’t any lights on in the house.
There wasn’t much Travis hated more than a piece of shit who liked to hurt women. Jumping the last fence, he crept to the side of the one-story home until he reached the metal fence surrounding the backyard. Instead of vaulting over it, he quietly opened the gate. Leaving the door open, he moved silently to the corner of the home, and rounded it into the backyard. He was directly under a window. The curtains were slightly cracked so he grasped the sill and started to push up.
That was when he heard the male voice, slurred and shouting. “Tell me where she is, you stupid whore!” It was followed by a muted crack, like a palm hitting a cheek.
Gritting his teeth, Travis half-stood and peered through the window. A dim light above the stove was the only illumination but it was enough for him to see what was going on. A woman with straight, dark hair and pale skin sat at a round wooden table, clutching her upper arm with her free hand. Her hand was covered in blood and a tall, muscular man wearing a flannel shirt and khakis was waving a gun around and shouting, wanting to know where Juanita was. The woman was crying and shaking her head, mumbling in Spanish.
Shit.
Ducking back down, he made a split second decision. There was no way he could wait for the police. This guy was clearly agitated and had already escalated to extreme violence by shooting the woman. Travis’s steps were silent as he covered the next half of the house until he reached a sliding glass door. Since Juanita had escaped into the backyard, he hoped it wasn’t locked.
When the door slid open soundlessly, he let out a silent sigh of relief. The shouting grew louder as he moved farther into the home. He mentally catalogued his surroundings in case he needed to make a fast exit, but he didn’t have much doubt he could take this one guy who sounded drunk.
Following the voice, he didn’t stop until he was in a hallway directly outside the kitchen. From his limited perspective, he could see half the table, and the left half of the woman still sitting in the chair. Blood had created a crimson pool on the floor and it was growing by the second.
Travis had to get this woman help and fast. When the man appeared in his line of vision, gun in his hand but held loosely down by his side, Travis moved into the entryway with his weapon drawn.
“Drop your gun or I’ll shoot to kill.” Travis raised his voice only loud enough to be heard over the crying woman.
The man with slicked back dark hair looked at him in shock. He was definitely wasted. His dark eyes were red-rimmed and glassy and it looked like he hadn’t showered in days. His gun hand twitched.
“Don’t do it. You only get one warning.” Travis took a step closer, his gun pointed right at the man’s head.
He saw the decision in the man’s eyes the second the guy made it and Travis inwardly cursed. But he didn’t have a choice.
As the guy began to raise his weapon, Travis fired.
Travis didn’t bother checking the guy’s pulse. He’d hit him right between the eyes and he’d do it again. It wasn’t the first time he’d had to kill and to save a woman and child, he knew he would never wrestle with his conscience over this. It was justified.
After kicking the gun away, he turned to the woman who was now shrieking, crying, and still losing blood. She’d jumped up from her seat and had backed away, pushing the chair against her legs. “Where’s my daughter?”
He tucked his gun back into its holster even though he knew the cops would need to take it for a while. He wanted to make this woman feel as safe as possible considering the crappy circumstances. While he might have seen more death than one man should in a lifetime, this was probably the first time she’d seen someone killed in front of her. “Juanita is safe. My name is Travis and I’m friends with Noel. Juanita called her and we came over to help your daughter.”
All the air seemed to leave the woman’s lungs in a rush. “You’re friends with Noel?”
“Yes.” He remained still even though he wanted to rush over and depress something over her wound.