Defenseless Read Online Free PDF Page A

money.
    “Stay where you are, man. Natalie is here, and she can manage more than we give her. Aaron is fully capable, too.” I laugh at the idea of leaving them together. “Plus, Erik has been taking on more. He’ll handle the communication system since Aaron is tied up with other stuff. Besides,” I pause. “There’s no way Cat will be on board with this. She’s got her clients and can’t leave. Let’s not forget, your office is barely even functional yet. What will you do here that you can’t do from there?”
    He huffs. “I want to be kept informed.”
    “No.”
    “No?”
    “You heard me . . . no.”
    “This is my company, in case you forgot.” I can hear the anger rolling off him.
    He needs to keep his hands clean. If this goes south, which it could, he needs to be completely clear. “Listen, I’m not going to explain all the reasons you need to have no knowledge of what I may need to do, but I’ll sum it up in two words: plausible deniability.”
    “Mark.”
    “No. I’m not telling you shit. I’m doing this my way so you can be happy in California with Catherine. I’m the only one in this goddamn group who has nothing to lose.”
    “I’m not okay with this.”
    “I really don’t care.”
    “As your boss I’m ordering you to keep me informed.”
    “Eh . . .” I pause. “I’ll think about it.”
    “You’re a fucking pain in my ass.”
    “And you’re ugly.”
    Jackson sighs. “I’ll hold tight until I need to. Look . . .” He pauses. “We need to talk about what you keep avoiding.”
    “Not now.”
    “Mark,” he chides. “I’m serious. I want you to buy in, become my partner.”
    “Good bye, Muff.”
    I hang up the phone and push back from my desk. I should be happy—thrilled, ecstatic even—that he wants me to become his partner, but I’m not. It’s not because of the issues that seem to plague it. My entire post-military life has been about Cole Security Forces, but that’s just it. How much more do I need to make this my life? Is this all I’m destined to have? Jackson has Catherine. Liam and Natalie are married and making babies. Even Aaron has moved on and started dating.
    I’m just here.
    Stuck.
    Stagnant.
    Mark the eternal funny guy. Yet, I’m the one they all come crying to because they can’t keep their lives together. People get shot, divorced, screw up because they can’t tell each other the truth. I’m not sure if I want to do this for the rest of my life. I may want to open a surf shop in Hawaii, but if I buy into this, I wouldn’t be able to. Typical Jackson, though, he’s on his timeline and is pushing me.
    I spend the next few hours wrapping up anything I can here. My e-mails are cleared, now I need to meet with the team.
    Everyone sits in the meeting room with weary eyes.
    “Welcome, my people!” I boom as I enter. Natalie smirks, Aaron looks unimpressed, Erik laughs, and the rest of our team appear confused. The only thing that shocks me is Liam standing in the back of the room with his arms crossed. “Well, it seems we have a new employee.”
    Liam tips his chin down and eyes me cautiously.
    Interesting.
    “I’m just here to pick up my wife. She informed me that you were addressing the team. I figured I’d save her the hassle of replaying everything.”
    Half of me wants to kick his ass, put him in his place because we’re not in the Navy here. The other half wants to clap him on the back and congratulate him on his balls dropping.
    “Okay.” I clap my hands, loudly drawing their attention back. “I have some information to go over, and it’s going to be a while.”

Charlie
    “Y es, I understand.” My mind is at war with my mouth. I can’t seem to say all the things I want to. It’s years and years of perfecting my self-control, now coming to bite me in the ass. The truth is . . . I don’t understand one single thing.
    “We’re not fully removing you, Charlie.” Tom sounds as though he actually believes the bullshit he’s