Absolution: The Hunter Mercenary Series (Book Two) Read online

  “Yeah, that’s what I said.”

  “Oh, Sarah,” he muttered. “Why the hell would you do that?” he asked.

  “Well, Rogue and I bought it. He’s not allowed in there with Julius running it, and I wanted to give us a place to be able to listen to the criminals around us.”

  “Oh, Jesus,” Zayn stated. “That’s bad, Sarah. Day one in there, half the criminals will want your blood, and the other half will want your pus…”

  Dakota stopped him.

  “Please don’t go there. I’m already seeing spots in my vision. I’m sure this is a stroke. Stella, what are the signs of a stroke?”

  Before she could answer, Sarah tried to rationalize with him.

  “Dakota, they’re being blackballed this...”

  He cut her off.

  “Sarah, stop. I’m angry that you did this behind our backs. I’m pissed you went to Rogue and set this up.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  Anger clouded his judgment.

  That rage was there.

  Dakota wanted to shake some sense into her. Only, he didn’t think it would work. Sarah ran headlong into the storm, and this was normal, only this time, it was going to get her killed.

  That fear filled him that he was the reason she was going to be hurt. This was on him.

  She chased him.

  She showed up in New Orleans.

  She bought freaking Purgatory.

  Instead of being honest, and weeping in terror, Dakota went with the easier emotion.

  ANGER.

  “Because this is my team!” he stated, going with the least offensive thing bouncing around in his head. “You didn’t ask if that was a good idea! For the record, it’s not!”

  The room got silent.

  Dead silent.

  It was clear his words were a HUGE mistake.

  She stared at him.

  “Your team?” she asked. “Ask you? As in you’re taking ownership of everyone who works on it and we need your permission to do anything?”

  She gave him room to retract it.

  If he loved her…

  “Yes.”

  Stella sighed.

  She knew this was about to get ugly. Dakota had just made Sarah feel like an employee—not his better half. That was going to blow up in his face.

  “You should have given me a heads-up BEFORE you bought it, or maybe skipped buying it at all. It’s dangerous, and when do we have time to tend a bar?”

  She blinked.

  Then it was on.

  “I see. This team is yours. It’s not ours. It’s yours. I need permission to do anything you don’t agree with—like I’m your fucking property.”

  She stood.

  Her heart hurt.

  She’d purchased Purgatory for all of them. Sarah did it for her new family. Her intent was to give them the inside track on the city and what was coming. Odds were against them, and she really liked the place. It made her happy.

  Maybe bars were in her blood.

  It made her think of her dads.

  And then he ruined it with his idiotic masculine bullshit.

  Well, she was done.

  “I’m going out for the day. I need a break from this place,” she stated. “I’ll be back later when you and YOUR team go into that drop site that YOU got over the phone. I mean, I was just there to cheer for you, right? YAY, DAKOTA!” she added sarcastically.

  He could see this being a mess.

  “Sarah.”

  “No, Dakota. I’m done.”

  He stood too.

  Normally, he wouldn’t argue in front of people. Dakota was a firm believer that dirty laundry stayed in your own closet where it wasn’t there for people to view.

  But this…

  He was panicking.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, getting angrier about the whole thing and how she was reacting.

  Sarah laid down the law.

  He didn’t own her. She was a free agent even if she said she’d marry him.

  “This isn’t the US Marshals, Mr. Rakin. We all bring something to the table, and apparently, you think it’s only your skills that matter. Well, I think you have a lot to learn about so many things.”

  “Sarah, are you walking?” he asked.

  She stared down at her hand and the ring he’d placed there. It was clear that he hadn’t learned anything in the last few weeks. If that was how he felt, she wasn’t about to become one more possession for him.

  “I think you need to rethink your choices in women. I’m not the girl for you. I don’t want to be owned. I’m not looking for someone to boss me around.”

  His heart skipped.

  Oh, this was bad.

  “When I told you that I was going to make New Orleans my home, I welcomed you to stay and be my partner here. I think I made it clear that I was going to make the city my new adventure.”

  “Sarah.”

  She cut him off.

  “I didn’t ask you to boss me around, make me feel like my skills didn’t matter, and to make me feel bad about my choices. When you walked out of your job, leaving me behind, I never once yelled at you, called it a mistake, or made you feel horrible. You had to do what you were compelled to do, and so did I.”

  He didn’t know what to say.

  “This is exactly why last night I asked you not to get mad. I saw this coming. A real relationship shouldn’t need anyone to beg for someone’s understanding. It should be a given.”

  Well, her mind was made up.

  It was time to go their separate ways.

  AGAIN.

  She chased him last time, and she was done begging for him to see her and understand that she had feelings too. He forgot that a little too much.

  “Sarah,” he said, as he watched her slip the ring off her finger. It caused his heart to skip in his chest.

  Apparently, this wasn’t just a fight.

  It was an end.

  “Please think this through.”

  Oh, she had.

  Maybe Purgatory was more than a place for them. Maybe she was preparing a place for her when he broke her again.

  Like now.

  “Until you see the real me, Dakota, I can’t pretend. I want a real relationship where you don’t make me feel like I’m less than you. I want to be part of something bigger than YOUR team. I want to be Sarah. I want to be Bunny. I want to feel like I matter, and what you just said did the exact opposite. I’m not YOUR fiancée. I’m a human being, and you’ve hurt me enough for one lifetime. I’m done.”

  She tried not to cry.

  “Oh, and I’m going in tonight for the drop site. I’ve been trained to do it, and I’m not sitting here playing games while you puff out your tailfeathers and act like you’re God. I guess I OWN a bar with my business partner, Rogue. You can come in as a customer—not my fiancé or husband—and barely my friend.”

  He actually felt like someone had punched him in the solar plexus.

  “I’m sorry,” she said to Stella and Zayn. “I’m sorry we did this in front of you, but I can’t let him kick my heart around anymore. I can’t feel like I’m not a whole person even to save everyone the embarrassment. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

  Stella was up and hugged her.

  “Oh, honey, don’t apologize to us.”

  She went to Zayn.

  “Hulk, I’ll see you later. I’m sorry.”

  He hugged her.

  “If you need me, you call me,” he said, figuring this was the last time they would see her. He knew that Dakota had fucked this up big time.

  He was, after all, Dakota. That was what he did.

  “Come see me,” she said. “Friends are welcome in my establishment.”

  She walked away.

  Dakota watched her head to the door, grab her purse, and then slam it behind her on the way out.

  He let out the breath he’d been holding.

  His heart hurt.

  Dakota could only imagine how s
he felt.

  “Well, good one. That was all kinds of awkward,” Zayn stated. “Now who is going to interrogate anyone we find? Sarah was the best at it.”

  Dakota couldn’t believe this.

  He’d just been dumped.

  “What the hell?” he asked. It took some of the anger out of his sails and replaced it with fear.

  BONE.

  CHILLING.

  FEAR.

  “What do I do now?” he asked.

  Stella said nothing. When Dakota looked over at her, she shrugged.

  “I’m with Sarah. You’re an asshole.”

  “Oh, I’m not shocked,” Dakota stated, knowing women tended to stick together.

  “Yeah, and I think that’s her point. Cavemen died out for a reason,” Stella stated. “All of the women got sick of being dragged around by their hair, and they killed them in their sleep,” Stella added. “Way to go. You have an expiry date.”

  Okay, two women hated his guts.

  He was on a roll.

  “I think I’ll go upstairs and paint my nails. You know, since it’s your team. You don’t need my medical expertise. There’s a hospital across town.”

  “You too?” he asked. “Really? I haven’t had my ass handed to me enough?” he asked, squeezing that rock of a ring in his closed hand. It cut into his palm, reminding him that pain sucked.

  His life sucked.

  “We heed the primal call of the female before the annoying whine of the breeding partner, whose very presence is viewed as an affront to everything they have battled for years to conquer,” Stella said, walking away.

  He didn’t understand a word she’d said.

  “What the hell does that mean?” Dakota asked Zayn, as he was the ONLY person left in the room.

  “She told you chicks before dicks. Hoes before bros. Girls before…”

  Dakota got it.

  “You understood that?” he asked.

  “Uh, she’s my woman. Of course I know what she means. It’s my job to listen, do what she wants, and know that if I ever want to get my sweet-lovin' on again, that I wouldn’t piss my girl off with saying shit like you do. You’re an idiot.”

  He stared at the ring.

  “This is bad.”

  “Yeah, well, you hurt her. Wait until Rogue gets here. He’s going to whip your ass when he hears all about this. You know how protective he is of Sarah. Way to jack up a perfectly fine team dynamic.”

  “She bought Purgatory, Zayn. What the hell? How do I deal with that?”

  Zayn had learned a lot about these people in the last couple of weeks. He knew there had to be something deeper that had Dakota upset. The man was pretty chill. In fact, that was why they let him play leader. He sweated the things they didn’t want to deal with, and he was good at it.

  But now…he was clueless.

  “Why do you have to deal with it? You’re missing her point. You don’t own her or her decisions.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  Zayn had a sneaking suspicion it had nothing to do with actually buying Purgatory.

  “It was because she went to Rogue and not you, isn’t it?” he asked.

  He didn’t speak.

  That was answer enough.

  “Yeah, well, maybe you should have just said that to her. Maybe you should have told her it dented your ego that she went to another man to be partners in something you didn’t even think she would want to do.”

  Yeah, he was aware.

  Sarah slipped through his fingers.

  Anger got to him.

  “Let’s just work. My girl dumped me. I’m not feeling so friendly right now. I need to think about anything else but this.”

  Zayn shrugged.

  “It’ll get better,” Zayn offered. “Unless she left here and is on her way to Rogue’s place,” he stated, rubbing it in. “She is single, and so is he…”

  That horrified him.

  “You’re a dick.”

  “Yup, and I can peel one with a knife in ten seconds. So what’s your point?”

  He focused on work.

  Dakota had to do it. If not, he’d die. The only good thing in his life just walked out the door, and he couldn’t chase her. He couldn’t bear to battle more for his soul.

  He was alone.

  Sarah had made her choice, and he’d respect it. After all, she was better off without him.

  Some people were meant to be alone.

  “Let’s work.”

  Zayn shrugged.

  “Okay, since it’s just us. What do you want to start with?” he asked, feeling bad for the man. Dakota looked like he’d lost his last hope.

  “We have one person that we know of who is connected to all of this. We have to find Stella’s father, and I doubt he’s going to walk up to us or go to Purgatory. He’s our next step. He knows Rosemary, and he clearly knows the driver of the car Storm was transported in to New Orleans. Let’s start there.”

  “Okay, so let’s have Sarah look up any of his possible financials…Oh, snap. She usually does the research on YOUR team.”

  He held out the tablet for Dakota to prove a point. This was a unit—a family. He couldn’t just boss people around like he was king. Sarah was right, and now he needed to learn it.

  Fast.

  “That had to hit you in the feels, bro. You can’t type, so this should take us about two-point-five months to start to…”

  “Shut up.”

  Zayn smiled.

  There was no doubt Dakota felt a great deal for Sarah, or he would have brushed it off. He was internalizing, so that meant her walking had stung.

  Good.

  There was hope.

  “I don’t do research,” Zayn offered. “Next in line would be Stella, but you…”

  “FINE. Give me the tablet. I can do what she does. I was a marshal before she was even out of school. I’m not a stranger to doing searches.”

  Zayn genuinely liked the man, or he would have left his ass sitting there alone too. If Dakota didn’t wise up and learn from his mistake, he would have to put his fist through his head to snap him back to his senses.

  For now, he’d let the man simmer in his own juices. For once, he wasn’t the odd man out with the ladies.

  His wife didn’t want him dead.

  “I can do this,” Dakota muttered, as he hunted and pecked around the digital keyboard.

  “Two-point-five months,” Zayn stated again, trying to make a point.

  “Zip it, Mr. Hair.”

  Zayn found that funny.

  As Dakota started typing, all he was thinking about was Sarah, Purgatory, and if she really meant what she said.

  Was he flying solo?

  Were they really done?

  Was she out of his life, and on to a new adventure without him?

  Could she do that to him?

  Apparently, she could.

  And that stung.

  * * * H U N T E R * * *

  Outside The

  Mysterious

  House

  Detective Harding was parking her fanny right there until someone came out of that building, and once they did, she was going to be on them like white on rice.

  Now that she was ‘off duty’ she could spend the day copping a squat there outside the mansion to see who came and went. They had to be rich.

  The house was something.

  It looked grand from the outside, so she could only imagine what the inside looked like.

  Yeah, it likely looked like HIM. It looked like someplace Rogue would hang out.

  It was Mr. Ravenscroft rich.

  Cordy had to stop using his first name. It made a personal connection, and what they had was anything but. What happened last night was a fluke.

  That kiss…

  It had been so damn hot.

  And it was in the past.

  Going forward, Cordy was going to use her head—her brain was what would find Charlotte’s murderer, not her lips. That had to be her plan.

>   For her sake.

  She didn’t come from a world like he did. She came from welfare, foster care, and never owning anything in her life. She started at nothing and built a nice little life for herself.

  Now she would work to keep it. Rogue Ravenscroft would never get that. He was an heir.

  That was funny.

  The man didn’t have to work, and clearly, he didn’t. They were from opposite sides of the track, and it was time to forget him.

  As Cordelia sat there, she saw two people heading down the street, and she couldn’t believe her eyes.

  It was her partner.

  Was he working this case, too, on his downtime? That could be the only reason. He didn’t live anywhere near the French Quarter.

  So, Cordelia sent him a text, asking what he was doing for the day, and he got the reply back.

  ‘Hanging at home with the wife.’

  HOME?

  What the hell?

  That was Boone Savage, right? It had to be. The man walking down the street had stopped, pulled out his phone, said something to the woman beside him, and then she received the text.

  What was going on?

  Cordelia was confused.

  So, she did what any investigator would do. Cordelia sat in her own car and watched as Boone and his wife walked up to the gate, entered the code, and then walked right into the house.

  WHAT?

  THE?

  HELL?

  How did her partner get the code to access a house that they couldn’t find an owner? How did he manage this?

  What the hell was going on?

  Then her boss’s words played over and over again.

  ‘The FBI has operatives on the ground, I guess…’

  Was her partner playing for the Feds? Was that a possibility? His wife was an ex-Fed, and maybe he’d been brought in to handle this.

  Well, shit!

  Without her?

  It was time to find out.

  Cordelia rattled off a new text, asking if she could stop by later to talk to him about the case.

  Then she waited.

  ‘I may not be home. Text before you come, and maybe I can meet you in the park.’

  Yeah, the park she was currently sitting in front of as she watched him wander into the mystery house.