FORGIVING BAILEY (Gray Wolf Security Texas Book 2) Read online

  FORGIVING BAILEY

  A Gray Wolf Security, Texas Novel

  Glenna Sinclair

  Copyright © 2016

  All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Prologue

  Bailey

  He burst into the cabin, shaking the rain from his jacket.

  “We’re not getting out tonight. The roads are all flooded.”

  “But I need to get back home.”

  “Not tonight.”

  I stared at him as though just the desperation on my face would be enough to make him do something about our situation. But he didn’t even look at me. He moved around me and went to the fire, shaking out his jacket in front of it. Like a dry jacket was the most important thing here.

  “Ingram, I really need to get back home. And I’m sure you’re needed back in Austin.”

  He shook his head. “No one back there to miss me.”

  “What about your job? Daddy was always bragging about your working for the security firm out of California, like it was a big deal.”

  He glanced at me. “He knew about that? Before, I mean.”

  “He’s known for a while. Daddy always liked you, probably more than he ever liked me.”

  He sort of grunted as he turned his attention back to the fire. A fire in the middle of June. How many hurricanes had we survived down here? How many had brought this much rain and this much cold? Why was I panicking, acting like one of those tourists who’d come here to pay my dad too much money to take them on a trip they could very easily have done on their own? Why was I acting like a fucking child?

  It was Ingram. I knew that just as well as I knew my own name. Being alone with him like this…there were too many memories. Too much water under the bridge.

  “I’m gonna go see if the four wheeler will start.”

  Ingram grabbed my arm before I could get the door open.

  “You’re not going anywhere in that weather.”

  “Why? What do you care?”

  His eyes moved harshly over my face. If they were razors, he would have just shaved half the flesh from my body. His hand came up to grip my throat, pushing me harder against the door.

  “I don’t care about you,” he said quite bluntly. “But I promised your father.”

  “He’s dead.”

  “Yeah, well, some of us know what loyalty means. Some of us know what it means when someone trusts you at their word.”

  “Ingram…”

  He pushed me again, shoving my hip hard against the side of the doorknob. I thought he might hurt me, or he might actually take that swing I’d offered him the last time we were alone like this. But he didn’t. I deserved it. Even wanted it. But, instead, he kissed me.

  And—oh, my God!—I melted against him as if no time had passed. Like he was the only man who could make me feel this way. Because he was the only man who could make me feel this way.

  I was so completely screwed.

  Chapter 1

  Ingram

  David Grayson walked into the room behind his little family, the smile of a proud father on his face. Every time I saw him with his son, with that smile in place, I felt a little stab of regret in the center of my chest. That’s where I should have been at this point in my life. I should have been the one with the kid and the pretty wife and my fucking life in order. But it wasn’t meant to be.

  Jealousy was never my thing. The one other time I let jealousy get under my skin, I ended up in the brig. I couldn’t let it ruin me again.

  “Okay, let’s get started,” David announced. “Knox, Ingram, if you could catch us up on what you’ve been doing.”

  Knox, a leggy red head, stood up from the seat she’d just taken beside me at the table and began a recitation.

  “My target is a fifty-year-old man whose wife is convinced he’s hiding assets. I’ve been working undercover at his office as a personal assistant, keeping an eye on his movements. As far as I can tell, he’s not up to anything nefarious, but I’ve only been there a few days. I go back today.”

  Then it was my turn. I stood, giving Knox a high five in the process.

  “I’m on a doctor being harassed by anti-abortionists.” I glared at Tony who chuckled at me for my choice of words. “The cops are getting them cleared out and it looks like they’re losing interest. It should only be another week or so.”

  I sat back down and listened to Sara and Michelle—the ladies who ran the computers—as they talked about the background checks they were running for a couple of companies. One was hiring new people for an expansion and the other was looking into a company they wanted to merge with. And Annie, our receptionist, office manager, and basic den mother, announced that we had three new clients coming in later in the day.

  The place was busy. David seemed pleased by that fact.

  “Alright, everyone,” he said at the end of the meeting. “Get to work. Don’t get dead.”

  I settled at my desk in the pit, working on a few reports I hadn’t gotten around to. We were supposed to submit reports once a week on active cases and at the end of a case. I hadn’t filed a report since the case before my last was finished. But I wasn’t the only one. Everyone else struggled to keep up with paperwork. But I was probably further behind than anyone else.

  I saw Alexander come in a while later. Alexander and I met not long after I came home from the Navy. There was a vet group here in Austin where people from all branches of the service could go for help, for companionship, or just because they had nowhere else to go. Alexander played poker there from time to time. We met one night when a buddy of mine talked me into going. It was Alexander that told me about GWS 2 and convinced me that David Grayson would give me a chance if I asked for one.

  It's not easy to find a job when you have the words dishonorable conduct on your discharge papers. It’s even harder when a prospective employer calls that 800 number on your records and learns that you’ve spent five years in the brig.

  But David Grayson was just as accommodating as Alexander said he would be. I owed Alexander one.

  He seemed angry when he came back from meeting with David. I went to his desk, leaning against the front of it as he read through a file on an iPad.

  “New case?”

  Alexander is a tall, slender fellow who hides his physique under his loose fitting clothes. Me, I preferred to show off my physique. I picked up weight lifting in the brig because there was nothing else to do. I wasn’t one of those who wore sleeveless shirts all the time, but I didn’t wear loose clothing, either. I worked hard on this body. I was going to show it off.

  “Playing bodyguard,” Alexander grumbled.
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  “Sounds fun.”

  “What are you up to?”

  “The same thing. But my target is at work right now in a building surrounded by half a dozen cops, so I thought I’d hang out here a while, see what kind of trouble I can get into.”

  “Lucky you.”

  “Yeah, well,” I said, crossing my huge arms over my chest, “the lady is a bit of a bitch. Wants me to act like her chauffeur, assistant, and housekeeper all in one. I’ll be happy when the assignment is over.”

  “Like the next case will be any better.” Alexander was still staring at the iPad, clearly not pleased with what he was reading.

  “You never know. We might actually meet someone during one of these assignments whose worth protecting.”

  He grunted, clearly not optimistic. But me? I was pretty sure that I’d meet some stellar personality through this job, someone whose work or whose lifestyle would change the world in some way.

  “A group of us are going to dinner Saturday night,” I told him. “If you’re free, you should join us.”

  He glanced at me. “Sure.”

  I slapped his shoulder and headed back to my desk.

  “See you around, brother. Give me a call if you need help.”

  He only grunted again, clearly not happy with life at the moment. I’d seen him that way quite a few times. He had a sister who was something of a shut-in. I tried to help him out with her when I could. I’d go to her place while he was on assignment, take her groceries and what not. But she wasn’t very comfortable with me, so I didn’t do it often.

  I wandered back over to my desk, but I was never a sit-behind-a-computer sort of guy. I needed noise and people around me, so I grabbed the heavy-duty laptop that David provided all his operatives and headed out, pausing at Annie’s desk.

  “I’m going to get some coffee, then I’ll go by and check on my target. So if you need me…”

  “I have your number, Ingram.”

  “Then why don’t you call me more often?”

  She looked up, surprise brightening her eyes. Then she laughed, slapping my arm lightly.

  “Quit teasing an old woman.”

  “But I like teasing you.” I leaned over and kissed her cheek before heading out. “You’re the highlight of my day, Annie.”

  “Oh, you!”

  I chuckled as I made my way out of the main house.

  GWS 2 was a branch of another security firm located in Santa Monica, California—Gray Wolf Security. I’d heard that David was the brother of the original owner, Ash Grayson. They were both the sons of a much-loved politician who’d lived in this very house, a state senator who was moving up to the federal government when he died in a car accident. The house belonged to the senator, having sat empty for many years after his death. But now it was brimming with life again—the offices of GWS 2 on the ground floor, and the family lived on the second floor. Each of the operatives were offered a cottage on the grounds, free of charge. It was the nicest house I’d lived in for years. In fact, this was the best job I’d had in years. No one had ever given me as much as David Grayson had with this job.

  And the car. David provided all his employees with black SUVs. Mine was a Ford Expedition with leather upholstery and satellite radio. Beautiful.

  I tossed the laptop into the passenger seat and tore out of the driveway, burning the road to town. There was a coffee shop not far from the clinic where my target was working. I settled at a table, attempting to pay attention to the reports I needed to finish. It was difficult, though, with all these pretty coeds walking into the shop in their short shorts and their skintight tees. I was a single man, after all. And the view was lovely.

  I was chewing on my bottom lip, considering one particularly lovely brunette when a hand clamped down on my shoulder.

  “Hello, Ingram.”

  I looked up, surprised to see Laurence Greer standing beside me. I stood and wiped my hand on my jeans before offering it to him.

  “Hello, sir,” I said politely, suddenly feeling like a teenager confronted by a well-respected teacher.

  “Sir is a little formal, isn’t it?”

  He opened his arms and we hugged. It wasn’t even a bro hug. It was a genuine, glad to see you sort of hug. A bear hug. That surprised me almost as much as seeing him after all these years.

  “May I join you?”

  “Of course!”

  I moved my laptop out of the way and gestured for him to take the seat across from mine. We just stared at each other for a minute, both of us clearly noting the changes the years had brought in our faces, our physique. Laurence was a man of about sixty, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at him. His hair was just beginning to whiten at the temples and his skin was dark, a little rough, but not nearly as wrinkled and dull as one might think a man his age would be. He had piercing blue eyes that were as easy to read as an open book. And those eyes were full of pleasure at the moment.

  “I can’t tell you how great it is to see you. I’ve thought a lot about you these last five years.”

  “Have you?”

  “I started that hunting business we talked about. Down in Galveston.”

  “No kidding?” I inclined my head slightly, trying to avoid showing him the rush of disappointment that suddenly ran through me. The hunting business was something we were supposed to do together, a sort of father-son thing. But, of course, I went to the brig instead. “Doing well?”

  “Making a profit. Bailey helps me run it.”

  It didn’t take long for her name to come up.

  Bailey Greer.

  I could have gone a million years without hearing her name again. Just the sound of her name brought to mind golden brown hair, blue eyes like her fathers, a lovely, heart shaped face that was made even more beautiful by the dimples that showed in her cheeks whenever she smiled.

  She was the love of my life, the only woman I ever truly trusted. The only woman I ever loved.

  They say that only the ones you love the most have the power to destroy you. In my case, that was exactly right. Bailey destroyed me when she testified against me at my court martial. At the same time, she destroyed the best parts of me.

  The only feeling I had left for Bailey now was hatred.

  I could feel Laurence watching me.

  “She still talks about you from time to time.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t really want to talk about her.”

  “I know. But you should know that she had reason for doing what she did.”

  “I’m sure she did. But it doesn’t change what happened.”

  “Ingram, Bailey—”

  “Please, Laurence,” I said, pushing my chair back like I was about to stand. “I don’t want to talk about her.”

  He inclined his head, his eyes filled with grief and sorrow. I hated that, hated that this man I so respected could feel pity for me. I didn’t need his pity. I didn’t need anything from anyone.

  “Tell me about the business.”

  “We have a group of cabins out on the tip of the island. You know, on the property where our hunting lodge was?” He smiled a little. “Tourists either stay there or closer into town and we take parties out early in the morning. Sometimes over night. We also do fishing trips and charter boats. We have a couple of rivals, but there’s enough business to go around.”

  “That’s great,” I said, finding it easy to imagine. “I’m glad you made a go of it.”

  “Yeah, well, when I retired from the oil business, I knew I needed something to occupy my time.”

  We were quiet for a minute, just kind of lost in our separate thoughts. He studied my face a moment, looking for something I wasn’t sure he would find.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t at the court martial hearing.”

  I bit my lip. We were back to that.

  “I didn’t know until—”

  “How has retirement been treating you?” I hoped he caught my intention. I really, really didn’t want to talk about it.“Besides the
business.”

  Laurence shrugged. “It’s been good. I enjoy being hands-on in the business. And I’m grateful to have so much time to spend with Bailey. I don’t think we were together nearly this often throughout her entire childhood.”

  “Do you offer some sort of gun training?”

  “Not exactly. But we make sure everyone we take out is well trained.”

  I nodded, remembering how precise he always was with his guns.

  “I’m glad it’s worked out for you.”

  “Yeah, well, there are some aspects of the business that aren’t what I’d expected. The clientele…” He looked away, distracted by something I couldn’t see or didn’t understand. Then he focused on me again. “Let’s just say there’s been a little more trouble than I anticipated.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “You’d be surprised, the kind of people who want to charter a boat or disappear for a couple of days in a remote cabin. Sometimes you see things you wish you hadn’t.”

  I frowned. “Has someone been causing you trouble, Laurence?”

  He brushed my concern away with a wave of his hand. “I hear you’re working security.”

  “I’ve been working with a firm here in Austin for a few months.”

  “That’s great.” He looked me over again. “You look great. Bailey would be pleased.”

  I shook my head. “I would think Bailey couldn’t care less.”

  “I’m telling you, son, she didn’t mean what she said at the court martial.”

  Rather than encourage this line of conversation, I picked up my coffee and took a long swallow of the scalding hot liquid.

  “Well,” he said softly, “it was great to see you.”

  “We should have dinner.”

  “I’m headed back to Houston in an hour or so. But, next time for sure.” He smiled widely. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re out and you’re making a go of it.”

  “I’m doing the best I can.”

  He stood and stopped, studying my face again. Then he suddenly leaned down against the table, looking me directly in the eye.

  “Promise me something.”